Steamed moist chocolate cake

This has been in my to-do list for some time. Since I bought a new heart shape mould which was on sale at Ikea and I wanted to test out this mould so I made this cake today.
I got this from  Vivian Pang's blog with beautiful pictures of the cake which attracted me.
Since my family love chocolate, I decided to give it a try. It is a very simple recipe except that you need some time on steaming. Recipe as follows with a bit of tweaking on the sugar ( reduction) and type of flour ( I used cake flour).

 

Recipe for Steamed Moist Chocolate Cake

 

Ingredients 

For the Cake

180g butter

60g caster + 60g brown sugar (original recipe calls for 200g caster sugar)

200g full cream evaporated milk

2 eggs, slightly beaten with fork

100g cake flour (original recipe uses plain flour)

50g cocoa powder (I used Hershey's)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp of rum (optional, I forgot to add)

 

For Chocolate Fudge Topping

200g condense milk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract or 1 tsp vanilla essence

2 tbsp corn oil

20g cocoa powder, sifted

a pinch of salt

 

Method (for the cake)

1. Combine sugar, evaporated milk, vanilla extract / essence and butter in a saucepan.

2. Stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted, turn off the heat and keep warm

3. Add the beaten eggs into the slightly warm evaporated milk mixture and stir to mix well

4. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda into a large mixing bowl, then pour the eggs mixture over the flour and stir till well mix (use balloon whisk) (Cake batter should be runny). Add in rum if desired and mix well.

5. Heat up the steamer

6. Lined and greased an 8 or 9 inch baking pan.

7. Pour the batter into the lined pan and place the pan into the steamer and cover the top of the pan loosely with a piece of aluminium foil

 

Method (for Choc Fudge)

1. Combine the sifted cocoa powder, condense milk and oil in a saucepan

2. Stir over low heat with balloon whisk till thicken

3. Add in salt and vanilla extract or essence

4. Cool the chocolate fudge a little before spreading on the cake.

5. Refrigerate before serve it

 

Notes:

1. I did not line the cake pan, but I greased the pan with butter (although I use a non-stick silicone mould)

2. Boil a kettle of water as stand-by while steaming the cake. This is to top up the water in the steamer if it dries up. (Optional, as contingency)

Wholemeal Cinnamon rolls (Tangzhong)

My family loves wholemeal and they love cinnamon too. So I decided to combo these. I have always use the following recipe for buns and loaf making as it produces very soft and fluffy bread. In addition, this texture will last for 2-3 days without having to re-steam. I referred to Christine's recipe as I have tried many of her recipes and they were all excellent.

 

Recipe for Tangzhong wholemeal cinnamon rolls

Ingredients

110 g milk

45 g whisked egg

100g Tangzhong

40g sugar

5g salt

200g bread flour

150g wholemeal flour

6g instant yeast

40g butter, softened to room temperature

Filling

40g softened butter

85g brown sugar

1-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

40g raisins, soaked, drained dry

To make Tangzhong:

Mix 25g of bread flour with 125ml of water in a pot. Stir to mix well with a balloon whisk.  Heat pot over stove on medium low heat. Continue stirring till mixture thickens. Once you notice some 'line' appear in the mixture for every stir you make with the whisk.  Its done. You get tangzhong.  Remove from heat.

Transfer to a clean bowl. Cover with a cling wrap sticking onto the surface of tangzhong to prevent from drying up.  Let cool.  The tangzhong can be used straight away once it cools down to room temperature. Just measure out the amount you need.  The leftover tangzhong can be stored in fridge up to a few days as long as it doesn't turn grey. If so, you need to discard and cook some more.  (Note: the chilled tangzhong should be returned to room temperature before adding into other ingredients)

 

Method

1. Add all ingredients ( except butter) into mixing bowl. I am using a stand mixer. You can manually knead but it takes patience.

2. Mix well at speed 1. When the ingredients come together, add in softened butter and switch to speed 2. Knead for 25 minutes.  You should be able to get dough that is elastic and will pass the windowpane test.

3. Let the dough complete 1st round of proofing by transferring into a mildly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic film and proof for about 45-60 minutes, until doubled in size.

4. Transfer the dough to a clean floured surface. Deflate and roll into roughly 14x12" rectangle.

5. Mix sugar an cinnamon well in a bowl. Spread soft butter over the top of dough. Leave 1/2" from both ends of the 14" side uncoated. Sprinkle evenly over the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Lastly, spread with raisins.

6. Starting from one of the 14" ends, tightly roll the dough into a swiss roll form. Cut into 9 slices and place them cut side down in a well buttered pan. I chose to line the baking pan as it is easier to do cleaning. 

7. Cover with plastic wrap and put them back into a warm spot to rise for another 45 minutes. 

8. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 170-175 deg C. 

9. Once risen, bake them for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Spiral mooncake again

Since I have some balance of lotus paste, I decided to  finish it with some baking of spiral mooncakes.
This recipe is repeatable with good and crispy mooncake crust. Sharing here is the recipe if you are interested.

 

Recipe:

Ingredients (makes 12 small pieces of mooncakes)
Note: dough is cut to 6 but later during forming, it will be further cut to half prior wrapping filling thus making 12 as total.

 Filling:   Small size (12 pieces)
300g  lotus paste
 6 salted egg yolks (steam and cut to half)
1tbsp rose flavoured wine.

water dough:
173g plain  flour (Sifted).
23g icing sugar.
60g shortening (can also use cooking oil).
 57g water.
A pinch of salt

oil dough:
131g plain flour.(sifted)
64g  shortening ( can also use cooking oil).
A sachet of matcha ( add accordingly to required green tone)

Method:
Filling:
Treat egg yolks with 1 tbsp of rose wine.  Rest for 5 minutes. Drain off wine and steam egg yolks for 2 minutes. Cut to half size. Set aside to cool.
Divide lotus paste into 12 pieces of 25g portions, shape into rounds and wrap half egg yolks inside, shape to ball shape and set aside.
Water Dough: sieve together flour and icing sugar into a mixing bowl. Add in the oil, water and mix with spatula to form a soft dough. Cover with cling wrap and set aside.
Oil Dough: Sieve plain flour into a mixing bowl. Add oil and color and mix with spatula to form a soft dough.
Divide oil dough into 6  portions about 30g each. Divide water dough to 6 portions about 50g each.
Form ball shapes for both.
Flatten water dough and wrap oil dough in it. Seal properly. Form ball shape.
Carefully roll dough to long shape. Turn over to roll another time to get about 30cm. Roll up like swiss roll. Turn 90 deg to vertical and roll to long shape 35cm length and 4-5cm width. Roll up like Swiss roll.
Carefully Cut to half.  Stand cut dough, cut surface face down. Carefully roll dough to round disc of 7-8cm width, not to spoil the spiral. Ensure core spiral is in the center.
Wrap filling and seal. Careful not to press too hard to spoil the spiral design.
Bake at 180degC for 15-20 mins until baked through or golden if no coloring is added.As the finished mooncake will be very soft, let cool on the baking tray for about 5 ~ 10mins before transferring to a wire rack. Let cool completely.
Store in air tight container. Best eaten within 2-3 days. Reheat in oven if skin is softened.

 

Egg tarts, my favourite

I have attempted many recipes to get a good crust and soft and shiny custard by combining different recipes of crust and custard.
Finally, I found the best where I have crispy layered crust and soft and tasty egg custard, no burnt and cracked surface.
Sharing here are pictures taken from different recipes and my comments.
1st attempt:
Buttery and flaky crust, but to make the pastry dough is quite messy with hot weather.I have to place the pastry in and out of the freezer with messy hands! Egg custard is very tasty but the surface browns easily. Overall, tasty tarts but cumbersome

2nd attempt:

Tried Christine's cookie crust recipe, easy approach to make the crust dough, but I find the egg custard not as creamy and tasty as the first. 

3rd attempt:

Tried herfrozenwings recipe for flaky egg tarts. The crust was much easier to make without the need to refrigerate that often. It is not sticky thus easier to mould. But I find the egg custard not as tasty too compared to the first and second.  So I tried the 4 th attempt using the same crust pastry with different egg custard filling recipe. Read further.

4th attempt:

With the balance of some pastry dough, I used it to make 2nd batch but with different egg custard filling recipe. Tried the heimama recipe. Yes! I found it, not only tasty, soft, the surface is shiny after baked and it does not brown or crack. I do not need to lower the baking temperature at all. So the filling is successful, but the crust was not as flaky as when it was freshly made. It becomes 'biscuity' and slightly hard. Thus the flaky crust needs to be freshly prepared and use. As I normally would make extra crust dough so that I could keep in the freezer and bake a few tarts for our threesome tea time whenever I feel like it. So I am looking for another trial to see if they are perfect. Meanwhile, this combination is the best so far for freshly prepared dough. Can be a keeper recipe, I would say. 

 

Recipe: for dough, I used herfrozenwings' recipe

Water Dough
230 high protein flour, sifted
10gm custard powder, sifted
100g margarine/butter (cold)
4 tbsp castor sugar (55g)
1 egg, lightly beaten
4-5 tbsp water

Oil Dough
150g plain flour, sifted
100gm shortening

Filling:  I used heimama recipe
 140g water
55g sugar (I used granulated sugar)
1½ large eggs, beaten
40g evaporated milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)


Method:
Filling: for the custard filling:
Boil water and sugar till sugar dissolved. Let cool completely. Add beaten egg, evaporated milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Sieve 3 times. Set aside.

Water dough:  mix flour and custard powder together and rub in butter/margarine until it resembles breadcrumbs. (I used dough cutter to cut the butter into the flour till it forms like breadcrumbs). Add in the sugar, mix well and put in the egg and 4 tbsps of water, mix all with hand until it forms into a dough. Knead the dough by hand, will take several minutes to knead until it becomes a smooth dough. Cover with plastic film and leave the dough aside or put in the fridge.

Oil dough: Mix the flour and the shortening until it comes together. ( it's a little tough to form into a dough, just keep gathering the flour and rub in shortening till it forms a rough dough ). Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

 Preparing the pastry
1. Flatten water dough. Place oil dough in the center of water dough and wrap oil dough in water dough.
 2. Roll the dough flat into a rectangle shape.
 3. Fold one end of the dough up to 2/3 of the dough.
 4. Fold the other end of the dough ( remaining 1/3 )on top of the folded dough.
 5. Turn the dough 90 degree .
 6. Flatten the dough once again and roll into a rectangle shape. Repeat these steps  2 times more.

a) Put the dough in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

b) After 30 minutes, take the pastry out from the fridge, if you find it a little hard, you can thaw it for 10 minutes before shaping the tarts. Roll the pastry out to a big dough with a thickness of 0.3cm. Use a round cutter ( slightly bigger than your tart ) to cut the dough out. Place the dough onto the tart case, pressing the bottom and gently pressing the sides of the tart. Repeat until you finish lining all the tarts. Preheat the oven at 200C

c) Pour the filling about 70% full and bake for 25-30 minutes. Pls check the appropriate temp for your oven, it's really hard to advise. I baked mine at 200c for about 25minutes.

 

奶黃月餅(Egg custard mooncake)

Hong Kong Peninsula Hotel's famous 奶黃月餅...though I have not tasted, I have seen many food bloggers mentioned it.
So I started searching for the closest recipe that I could find. Found this from a retired HK pastry chef from another renowned pastry shop who was kind enough to share his secret.
I was glad that the mooncakes turned out excellent not only on it's appearance but taste as well.
I will share his link here for the recipe. 

http://tvb4life.pixnet.net/blog/post/156539258-食譜--第一代嘉麟樓點心廚%E3%80%80奶黃月餅

So enjoy and happy mid autumn festival to all.
Pictures of my mooncakes using his recipe as follows.

Before bake:

After baked:

 

 

Flower or Fan...Lotus Paste Puff Pastry(蓮蓉酥)

Today, I did a small batch of lotus paste puff pastry, some called it fan while others called it flower design. Anyway, they are delicious!
I did these last year using red bean as filling. Since I did not buy any red bean paste, I substituted with lotus paste which is equally tasty. The puff pastry that I did last year used butter as I did not have shortening in hand.
This year, I followed the recipe ardently that uses shortening.
Comparatively, the puff seems puffier and crispier to the ones that used butter.
This recipe was extracted from my kitchen flavours. She has detailed the making of the flower shape. In her notes, she added additional flour as her dough was wet. I did not as my dough was manageable.
I enclosed photos of last year with red bean filling and this year with lotus paste filling.

Last year...

This year....

 

Recipe -  Fan Pastry

Adapted from kitchen flavour
http://mycookinggallery.blogspot.com/2012/02/fan-pastry.html

 Ingredients
Water Dough
120gm flour
1/4 teaspoon maltose (I use golden syrup)
20gm sugar
35gm shortening
65gm water


Oil Dough
100gm flour
60gm shortening


Filling
400gm red bean paste


Method :
Water Dough : Mix all the ingredients to form a smooth dough. Divide it into 16 parts of 15gm each.
Oil Dough : Mix all the ingredients to form a smooth paste. Divide it into 16 parts of 10gm each.
Filling : Divide the red bean paste into 16 parts of 25gm each.

Wrap the oil dough with water dough.
Roll out the dough into thin sheet. Then roll it up like Swiss Roll. Repeat this step one more time. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Flatten the above dough and wrap the filling in.
Roll out the dough flat using a rolling pin. Along the round edge cut the pastry into 8 equal portions about 2.5cm thick.
Twist the edges into petal shapes. Egg wash twice and stick some black sesame seeds at the centre.
Bake at 200C for 20-25 minutes.

Mooncake festival around the corner

Last year, ambitiously I baked a few types of mooncake despite being my first attempt into it.
Traditional and spiral and dolly ones. Of course, they are in the smallest batch that I could adjust since my family are not typical fans of mooncake. The recipes were from Christine's, bakingpapa and happy home baking respectively.
Herewith are some photos taken last year. For those who are interested in these mooncakes, you may find them separately from this site.

This year, I am trying out a new recipe shared by Sonia of Nasi lemak lover....Kluang mooncake. I did a mini version of it. Instead of having 2 salted egg yolks in a large mooncake, I apportioned  the recipe into half size. Instead of making 4 large ones, I made 8 mini ones with single salted egg yolk in each of the mini 'rugby' shaped mooncakes. 

The pastry was similar to the pineapple tarts. You need not use the mooncake moulds. Escape route of having to wash the moulds, haha....Lazy me....

Anyway, my family prefers this to the traditional ones. They are delicious and the crust was really melt-in-mouth. No regrets.

 

Recipe for Kluang Mooncake 

(Original recipe from Nasilemaklover)

 

Modified to makes 8 mini ones

175g butter, room temp
50g condensed milk or sweetened creamer
255g plain flour ( I used 55g cake flour +200g plain flour )
1 egg yolk


400g white lotus paste or your choice of paste
8 salted egg yolks (brush with rice wine, steam for 5 mins)

Egg wash- 1 egg yolk +1tsp milk or water

Method

1. Cream butter and condensed milk till light
2. Add in egg yolk, and beat until combine.
3. Mix in flour, mix till it forms a soft and non-sticky dough.
4. Wrap 1 salted egg yolk with lotus paste (50g each) and shape like a rugby ball.
5. Then wrap the lotus paste with pastry (60g each) and also shape like a rugby ball. Place on a lined baking tray. Note: my total dough weight is 485g
6. Use a fork to draw few lines on the surface of mooncake. Egg wash the mooncake.
7. Bake at a pre-heated oven at 170C( fan forced) for 25-30mins. My oven was set at 180 deg C, and baked for 28 minutes

8. Remove from oven and let it cool on rack.  Store in air-tight container.  Best eaten within 2-3 days.

 

Happy happy birthday

Today is my birthday.
In the past, hubby used to order cake for my birthday celebration. This year, as usual, he asked me what type of cake that I want for birthday. I was like...mmm....err....should we spent the money since I can bake? Nowadays, a chilled cheesecake or crepe cake cost about RM100+ , so I told hubby that I will bake my own. I would rather spend the money as part of a good three-some dinner. This year I decided to make a chilled Durian Cheesecake.
Modified from my previous successful no-bake Oreo cheesecake, I substituted the Oreo crumbs with durian flesh. Since good quality durian could be found in abundance with such hot weather, bought some home to prepare a day in advance prior birthday. Managed to get a good deal since it was evening time when we bought the durian, clearance sale, haha.

We changed our regular dinner celebration place this year as we had a bad experience during the last celebration. The crabs were rotten with ammonia smell. So we chose a new place to try out. 

When we arrived, found that this restaurant was quite old and the lightings were rather dim. Anyway, we went ahead to order their specialty fried salted egg crabs and fried rice. It was rather pricy unexpectedly with an average taste. Our verdict, so so lah. It was not comparable with our regular.  Think we will go back to the regular place to give it one last chance. 

Blew candle and celebrated my birthday at home after dinner. And finally, I am older by another year. BUT, wiser....hmm

Recipe 

Chilled Durian Cheesecake

(makes 7" cheesecake)-springform pan

Ingredients - Base:

14 oreos

70g butter (melted)

Ingredients - Filling:

250g durian flesh

5g gelatin crystals

15g water

250g cream cheese (softened)

80-100g  sugar ( depends on sweetness of durian) 

180 g whipping cream 

Method - Base:

Preparation: Line the  7" cake pan with film wrap.

Using a ziploc bag and a rolling pin, crush the oreos. 

Mix the crushed oreos and melted butter together until it reaches the wet sand consistency.

With the back of a spoon, press the mixture evenly over the base of the prepared cake tin and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Method - Filling:

Using the same ziploc bag and rolling pin, crush the oreos.

Sprinkle the gelatine into the water and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese and durian flesh till fluffy/ smooth ( about 3 minutes), then add portion ( I added 80g) of  sugar and beat till smooth. Taste to check sweetness. Add more sugar if required. Lastly pour whipping cream and beat till until smooth and creamy.

Put the gelatine mixture over some hot water and stir until dissolved. Pour into the cheesecake batter and blend well with electric mixer. 

Pour the cheesecake filling into the prepared tin and drop the cheesecake a few times so there are no air bubbles trapped inside.

Decorate the cheesecake with the remaining oreos. Chill for at least 4 hours or until set.

Something light....Granola bars

Pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds...each type I have some balance from previous baking. What should I do to clear off before they turned rancid. Granola bars, yes!
Found a good recipe from Jenny can cook and immediately started work. Very simple and quick recipe. Results.... You get yummy and crunchy bars. No regrets.

Recipe (makes 12 bars)

Liquid Ingredients

1/3 cup flavorless oil (canola)

1/3 cup honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

Dry ingredients

2 1/2 cups of regular oats

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup nut mixtures ( cut almond, cut walnut, raisins, pumpkin seeds etc)

Line a square pan and grease the parchment paper.

Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix  well. Mix the liquid in order in a measuring cup. Stir to blend. Pour the liquid mixture into the dry ingredients. Mix well and transfer to the baking pan. Use hand or something flat to compress it.

Bake in a preheat oven of 325deg F (160 deg C) for 30 minute. 

Cool on rack before removing from pan. Cut to bars or squares to serve.

Note: Pressing the bars down very firmly before baking is key. I put the pan on the seat of a chair so I can put all my body weight behind it when pressing down. An easy way is to use a spatula and press it all over the mixture, many times over. BARS NOT HOLDING TOGETHER? Try pressing them down again after baking. Let them cool for 10 minutes and press down firmly while warm, then let them cool COMPLETELY before cutting.

Flourless Choc Gateau

I started to search for a good cake or cookie recipe since I bought a packet of ground almond. I found this recipe from Happy home baker whom I often refer as her blog is very nicely done and recipes shared by her are good.
This cake is one of hubby and daughter's favorite.
Although the recipe called for the use of 60-70% of dark chocolate, I tried by using Hershey bars with about 40-45% for the cake as well as ganache and it turned out superb. I was kind of worried at first that it may be too sweet but then it turned out perfectly well.

Ingredients:

150g dark chocolate, broken up ( can use Hershey baking choc) 

75g golden caster sugar (I used light brown sugar)

150g unsalted butter, diced

1 tablespoon runny honey

4 large eggs, separated

200g ground almonds (almond powder)

75ml milk (I used low fat fresh milk)

chocolate ganache:

100g dark chocolate, chopped 

1/2 cup heavy cream (preferably thickening cream) or Nestlé single cream

Method:

Line the base of a 20cm cake pan (with removable base) with parchment paper, grease the sides with butter and set aside.

Separate egg yolks from whites when the eggs are still cold. Set aside to bring to room temperature.

Place chocolate, sugar, butter, honey in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir frequently till the ingredients melted. Let cool.

Transfer to a large bowl. With a manual whisk beat in egg yolks and ground almonds, then stir in the milk. (Just a few stir should get everything incorporated. The mixture will be rather thick at this stage.)

In a clean, dry, grease free mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff. With a spatula, Fold In the beaten egg whites in 3 separate additions, into the cake mixture. (Ensure all the whites are fully incorporate into the cake mixture after every addition.)

Pour batter into prepared cake pan (the final batter will be less thick). Give the pan several sharp taps on a work top to bring up any air bubbles that may be trapped in the batter.

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170 degC for 35-40mins, until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Kym note: I baked for 55 minutes with foil to cover surface at around 30 minutes. 

Remove from oven, let cool in the pan for about 1omins. Run a thin-bladed knife along the sides of the pan, unmold and cool right-side up.

Dust with cocoa powder before serving. Alternatively, if desired, spread with chocolate ganache. To make chocolate ganache: bring the heavy cream to a boil, remove from heat and add in chopped chocolate. Stir till chocolate is melted. Let cool for a few mins and spread over the cake.

No bake Oreo cheesecake

Finally, finally,  I managed to upload one of the loooong  outstanding recipes. I have tried so many recipes since my retirement and I did not pick up the courage to post.  Moreover, I was kind of fickled of which one first.....

    Discussed with my girl and she suggested for this. Ok,then we shall.

    A very Oreo-yy taste cheesecake and the longer you age it in the fridge, the better it taste. Hubby    likes it and he said this is one of the worthwhile recipe to be repeated. The original recipe was taken from dessertzhouse but it called for higher ingredients quantity. Since it was my first attempt and I was not brave enough to go for such a big loaf of cake. Thus I reduced the quantity as indicated below.

(makes 7" cheesecake)-springform pan

Ingredients - Base:

14 oreos

70g butter (melted)

Ingredients - Filling:

14 oreos ( note: do not crush too fine, it should be crumbly texture)

5g gelatin crystals

4 Tbsp water

250g cream cheese (softened)

35g sugar

200g whipping cream ( I used emborg, can use paul's thickened cream also)

Method - Base:

Preparation: Line the  7" cake pan with film wrap.

Using a ziploc bag and a rolling pin, crush the oreos. 

Mix the crushed oreos and melted butter together until it reaches the wet sand consistency.

With the back of a spoon, press the mixture evenly over the base of the prepared cake tin and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Method - Filling:

Using the same ziploc bag and rolling pin, crush the oreos.

Sprinkle the gelatine into the water and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese till fluffy/ smooth ( about 3 minutes), then add  sugar and beat till smooth, lastly pour whipping cream and beat till until smooth and creamy.

Put the gelatine mixture over some hot water and stir until dissolved. Pour into the cheesecake batter and blend well with electric mixer. 

Fold in the crushed oreos.

Pour the cheesecake filling into the prepared tin and drop the cheesecake a few times so there are no air bubbles trapped inside.

Decorate the cheesecake with the remaining oreos. Chill for at least 4 hours or until set.