Chocolate Cake

In my family, mostly non of them fancy of chocolate. They prefer vanilla over chocolate more. For me, I prefer chocolate, I like the rich and aromatic cocoa. And do you know that chocolate makes people happy and reduce of sarrow and stress, isn't better than seeing a psychiatrist.

It has been so long since I baked a chocolate cake and I'm kind of wanted to eat too. This chocolate cake does not required a lot of ingredient. Just the few simple ingredients that you can find in your kitchen if you are a regular baker. (◕‿-)

Recently the strawberry selling in the supermarket are so bright (red) in colour and consider sweet (the fruits) and it's so match with the dark chocolate cake when placed together.

The chocolate cake is so moist, rich and fragrant even thorough I use fresh milk instead of whipping cream. I bought and used van houten cocoa powder as my hershey cocoa powder had finished up. I glad I bought van houten cocoa although it cost slightly more than hershey brand. I think houten cocoa powder is better even the colour of the cocoa is darker than hershey.

I miss the chocolate cake right now after talking so much here.

Recipes source: Oksashi Book

Ingredient A (Egg Yolk batter):
- 4 egg yolks
- 35gm cake flour
- 50gm cocoa powder
- 100gm sweet chocolate (55% cocoa)
- 80gm unsalted butter (cut into small cubes)
- 40gm castor sugar
- 50 whipping cream (I use low fat fresh milk)

Ingredient B (Egg White/Meringue): 
- 4 egg whites
- 100 castor sugar
- Icing sugar for dusting on the cake

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Prepare an 18-cm round cake pan with a removable base. Line with parchment paper on the base and side. 
2. Sift flour and cocoa powder together twice and set aside.
3. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water. Once chocolate and butter have melted, add sugar, egg yolks and cream or milk and mix well using a hand whisk. Set aside. *I add in the yolk one at a time and whisk it after every yolk add in.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form and glossy. With a hand whisk, fold in 1/3 of the meringue to chocolate mixture and fold. Add flour and cocoa powder and fold in thoroughly. Add the remaining meringue and fold just until incorporated. 
5. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for about 50 min or until a toothpick inserted into the centre and side comes out clean. 
6. When cake is done, unmould from pan and leave to cool on a wire rack.
7. Dust cake with icing sugar, slice and serve. 

Purple Sweet Potatoes Chiffon Cake

Falling in love with purple sweet potatoes, love the original sweetness, colour and how it transform into a dessert. 

I think this is my 4th attempt after trying again n again to success making this purple potatoes chiffon cake. The previous 3 times fall off from the mold after cooling when it was inverted. What a dishearten when I saw the whole cake fall off from the mold.

The amount of the batter can bake one 21 cm and two small (mini) chiffon. I kept the two small chiffon in the freezer for my breakfast when I run out of bread.

I afraid the batter might turn into grey colour after mixing the yolk with the potatoes (which I encounter before) instead of purple colour so I added half of a lemon juice into the batter. Guess what? The batter turn into light pink colour, so gorgeous. I saw this idea from http://www.maameemoomoo.com/blog/2011/04/18/sweet-potato-chiffon-cake-with-white-chocolate-cream-success/  who share about this tip. Such a amazing chemistry.

There is a little sour taste perhaps it might be the lemon juice which I added. Anyway the chiffon still taste soft and cotton and the small extra added cubes potatoes within the cakes is a bonus. I wish my chiffon cake will always be a success. =D

Recipes source: Chiffon Cake Is Done, 戚风蛋糕出炉了
*Using a 21cm chiffon tin and mini chiffon tin

Ingredient A (Egg Yolk batter):
- 3 egg yolks
- 75gm cooked purple sweet potatoes (mashed) + 25gm (cut into small cubes and coat with some flour to prevent the potatoes sank to the bottom of the mold)
- 75gm coconut milk (I use low fat fresh milk)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 30ml vegetable oil (I used canola oil)
- 1/4 tsp yam essence (I omitted)
- Few drops purple colouring (I omitted)
- Half a lemon juice
- 25gm castor sugar
- 90gm plain flour (Sift)

Ingredient B (Egg White foam):

- 3 egg white

- 50gm castor sugar

- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

1. Separate the egg yolk and egg white into different bowl (make sure the egg white bowl do not contain any water or oil on it).
2. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg yolk with the sugar until the yolk become pale in light yellow colour. Add in the essence, colouring (if using).
3. Add in the oil (add in bit by bit) and mix well till incorporated, follow by the milk (add in bit by bit) and mix well till incorporated.
4. Add in the mashed potatoes and mix until incorporated. Pour in the lemon juice and mix (the colour will turn into light pink).  
5. Add in the sift flour and salt & mix until no trace of flour can be seen. Set aside.
6. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites till stiff peaks form. With a spatula, fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter and mix. Continue mix the remaining meringue and make sure there are no trace of meringue can be seen in the batter.
7. Put the small cubes of potatoes into the batter and mix it lightly and gently.
8. Pour batters into chiffon tin, rap tins on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles.
9. Bake in the pre-heated oven at 170°C for 30-40 minutes until insert a toothpick into the centre comes out clean. Invert the tins immediately and leave to cool completely before unmold.

Milky Sponge White Buns - 海蒂的白面包

Finally I got myself a bread machine! I bought it online from Groupon and it cost about $65, which is the most cheapest I found BUT I not sure how long it can last. Groupon did not state the brand of the machine and I can't google the information. I just bought it since is pretty affordable.

After I got the machine on hand, I went google the brand and I can't find any review about this bread machine brand at all. So I guess this must be a unheard of brand which seldom people will buy. So far I had used it about 5 times, most of the time I used it to knead the dough.

After all I'm happy with the bread machine, I can just throw all the raw ingredients into the machine and let it do the job while I can leave away for a short while to do something else. Plus the noise level is pretty low when the machine was kneading the dough compare to hand mixer (loud speaker).

Here is the batch of milky, white sponge buns I made with the help of bread machine. The bread surface should be look like the title name "white" (白) colour and should not be brown colour. The instruction given was to bake for 15 min but I baked for 20 min as I afraid that the bread might uncooked in the inner / centre and that's why my batch of breads is slightly tanned.

Luckily the breads did not burned or turn hard and the texture is so springy and chewy. I divided the dough into 8 balls instead of following the book which is 6 balls. If you prefer a bigger buns than divide into 6 but I prefer a smaller one. ;)

Recipes source: 媽媽的味道：63種吃了會微笑的手作麵包＆多拿滋
*Note, I using the bread machine and choose the dough function to knead the dough.

Ingredients:
- 250gm bread flour
- 200gm milk
- 10gm sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp yeast
- 10gm butter

Method:

1. Reserve 2 tsp of milk (from the 200gm milk) into a small bowl / cup, add in the yeast and mix together.
2. Pour the remaining milk into the bread machine with the sugar and salt. Follow by the bread flour and step 1 (yeast with 2 tsp milk).
3. Choose the dough function and press the start bottom to let it knead for 20 min.  
4. After 20 min, put the piece of butter into the machine and let it continue to knead for another 10 min. After 10 min, the dough should be smooth and can stretch into a thin sheet without breaking into holes.   
5. Brush a layer of butter or oil in a bowl, place the dough into the bowl and cover with a cling wrap or damp cloth and leave to proof for 60 min or until double in bulk under warm place (28 to 30 degree).
6. After dough become double, dip some flour on one of the finger and press it down on the center of the dough. If the dough remain still without flat out which mean dough are ready.
7. Dust some flour on the counter top, remove the dough from the bowl and place on the counter top, give a few light knead to release out the gas in the dough.
8. Weight the dough and divide into 6 or 8 balls (up to your preference on the size of the buns you want). Press lightly on the individual dough to release out the air.
9. Roll and round each dough into a small balls shape. Cover with a cling wrap or damp cloth for 15 min.
10. After 15 min, dust some flour on the counter top and press lightly on the individual dough to release out the air again. Roll and round each dough into a small ball shape again.
11. Coat flour (I using plain flour) on the surface of the dough.
12. Use a rolling pin and press it down on the center of the dough to form a shape (as shown above).
13. Place all the dough into the baking tray, and cover the dough with cling wrap until double in bulk (about 50 min)
14. Pre-heat the oven to 190°C and reduce the temperature to 140°C when is ready to send the dough into the oven. Bake for 15 min. 
15. Cool the buns on a wire rack when it is done.  

Banana Sponge Cake

I got no intention to bake a banana cake but was happen to saw a branch of ripe banana on the kitchen table. The yellow skin start to appear with black dot which mean is quite ripe.

Ripe banana is best to use it to bake a banana cake. I found a recipe from happyhomebaking, which is quite a healthy one. The ingredients use oil instead of butter.

This is not the kind of rich and buttery banana cake but the texture is spongy, soft and light. I don't feel so guilty when I ate 2 slice at a go for breakfast.

I made a mistake, which I underbaked the cake and I didn't know after tasting time. The bottom and outer area are perfectly fine and cooked. The uncooked is on the top centre area.

I tend the cake in the middle of baking because the top area start to brown and I afraid it will burn if I let it bake without tend with a foil. After 40 minute of baking, I used the toothpick and check the cake by inserted toothpick at the side (outer area) and it come out clean but I did not check the centre area. The cake look perfectly fine with a glace on it. A lesson learned, I should do a thoroughly check at different area.

Recipe source: http://happyhomebaking.blogspot.sg/2011/04/my-latest-endeavour.html

Ingredients:
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 120g caster sugar (original recipe uses 150g)
- 250g to 300g bananas (3 large ripened bananas, cut into chunks)
- 150g cake flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 80ml vegetable oil (original recipe uses 100ml)
- 20ml milk (I used low fat fresh milk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Methods:

1. Grease (with butter) and flour sides of an 8" round pan, line the bottom with parchment paper.
2. Sieve together cake flour, baking powder and baking soda. Sieve the flour mixture twice and set it aside.
3. Place vegetable oil, milk and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl, set aside.
4. Place eggs, caster sugar and bananas in a large mixing bowl. With an electric whisk, whisk the mixture at Low speed for a few seconds (to break up the bananas). Change to medium-high speed, and whisk the mixture till it becomes thick, pale and triple in volume. This should take around 7 to 8 mins. The batter should leave a ribbon like trail when the paddle is lifted. Test by lifting up the whisk/paddle, and draw an '8' with the batter. The number should stay for a few seconds. Turn to Low speed again, and beat for another 2 mins. This is to stablise the air bubbles in the batter. (Note: do not over beat the batter, it is not a good thing if the '8' doesn't disappear.)
5. Sieve over the flour mixture in 3 separate additions. Each time Fold In the flour carefully with a Spatula, making sure there is no pockets of flour being trapped at the bottom of the bowl. Do not stir the batter with the spatula, it will cause the batter to deflate too much.
6. Pour a small portion (less than 1/3) of the batter into the mixing bowl in Step 3. Fold in with the spatula until the oil mixture is fully incorporated into the batter.
7. Pour the mixture in Step 6 back into the rest of the batter (Step 5). 
8. Fold in the batter with the spatula making sure the mixture is well combined. (By now the batter could be deflated by about 20% or so as compared to Step 4).
9. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, the pan should be about 3/4 full. 
10. Bake in preheated oven at 160 degC for 40-45mins or until the surface turns golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. (The edges of the cake should pull away slightly from the sides of the pan.) Remove from oven, unmold and leave to cool (inverted) on a cooling rack.

Double Espresso Madeleines

Another book, name "We Love Madeleines" which I wanted to buy but is quite pricey so I put it back into the shelf. I was wondering if the library has the book so I went and search in the website and I found it. I'm so happy and went straight to the library after work to borrow the book.

The book contain all about madeleines recipes which I had been looking for. I choose the double expresso as recently I bought a small bottle of coffee powder. Actually the coffee powder was meant to bake cookies. =p

The madeleines texture is spongy and the coffee smell is so fragrant. You can taste the coffee in every bite. Remember do not use the 3 in 1 coffee powder, it does not work. Must use the pure coffee bean powder.

I didn't manage to bake a high hump madeleines, rather disappointed. The first batch is totally flat with no hump at all and the second batch is slightly better with a little hump (as show above). I wish I can bake a batch of high and tall hump madeleines. I suppose it has to do with the oven temperature.

Recipe source from a book: http://www.amazon.com/We-Love-Madeleines-Miss-Madeleine/dp/1452102902

Ingredients:
- 30gm plain flour *more for dusting the pan
- 30g almond meal
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 2 tbsp ground coffee beans
- 2 pinches of sea salt
- 2 grinds of black pepper (I omitted)
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 100gm castor sugar
- 55gm unsalted butter, melted and cooled *plus more for greasing the pan

Methods:

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour, almond meal and baking powder. Add the ground coffee, sea salt, and pepper and whisk until blended.
2. In a medium bowl, with a electric hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed until well blended, about 8 min. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the mixture has doubled in volume, 4 to 5 min. 
3. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour mixture, in three additions until just incorporated.
4. Add the butter and mix gently until blended.
5. Preheat to 190°C, grease a nonstick madeleine pan with melted butter and dust with flour, tapping out any excess. Set aside. 
6. Spoon or pipe the batter into the prepared pan, filling each mold three-quarters full.
7. Bake until the madeleines are puffed up and slightly browned, about 10 to 12 min. 
8. Place a clean, smooth cotton kitchen towel on a work surface. When the madeleines are done, tap the pan gently and turn them out onto the towel. Let cool, scalloped-side up for a few min. 
9. Let the pan cool and wipe clean. Continue for the rest of the batter.