Strawberry Yoghurt Chiffon Cake

The cottony chiffon texture couldn't hold the two birthday candles, swaying like 'dancing left & right'  ... hee ... hee... :)

It has been almost two years that I'd last baked a so-called decor chiffon cake here with extra making of chiffon sheet for cut-out designs.

Finally! Baked a simple decor chiffon cake with some cut-out flowers.  So glad that it turned out fluffy tall, pretty sweet looking and the texture is so cottony soft.  Baked this for a dinner event and blessed it was served as a birthday cake.

Recipe source and adapted from :
Loving Creations for You ( Susanne)
Below my slight adjustment made.
Strawberry Yoghurt Chiffon Cake
21cm chiffon pan
Ingredients:
Yolk batter
6 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
78g vegetable/corn oil
95g strawberry yoghurt drink
120g cake flour, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 - 2 drops of pink food colouring (optional)

Meringue
7 egg whites
75g caster sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Place a tray of water under the lowest rack for steam baking.

2. Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. (the size of my egg is 60g each with shell)

3. In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the cold egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy using the electric stand mixer. Gradually add in caster sugar in 3 separate additions and beat till stiff peak, formed into a firm meringue. Transfer to a big bowl and chill in the fridge.

4. In the same mixing bowl, cream together the egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and thickened using the electric mixer (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add in canola oil, strawberry yoghurt drink and vanilla extract and whisk till combined.

5. Sift in cake flour and whisk again until mixture is well combined. Add in 1 - 2 drops of food colouring and mix well.

6.  Using a *hand whisk or a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites to the egg yolks mixture in 3 batches until it looks evenly mixed (no streaks of meringue).
{*First time I tried out using hand whisk instead of spatula to fold in the meringue to yolk batter, references Cookpad and Zoe from
Bake For Happy Kids}

7. Pour the batter into the un-greased chiffon pan. Smooth the top evenly with spatula. Lightly tap the pan  2 - 3 times on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

8. Bake the chiffon cake for 15 min at 160°C and then at 150°C for 10 mins and 140°C for 30 mins.  Test with a skewer inserted into the centre if it comes out clean.

9. When the pan was removed from the oven, I used the suggested technique to drop the pan at a height of 20~30cm onto a table top. This action helps to keep the springy texture of the cake when it is left to cool.

10. Immediately invert the pan to cool completely before unmoulding the cake from pan. To unmould cake by hand, gently pull cake from the sides of the tube pan. Turn the cake pan over and press down on the bottom firmly to dislodge. Gently pull the cake from the base around the edge and around the whole cake. Continue to lift up the cake and moving inwards until you reach the tube.


Cut-out flowers strawberry sheet cake adapted from: Loving Creations for You, with modification made from the pandan sheet cake.

Strawberry sheet cake for flower
Ingredients :
1 egg yolk
10g castor sugar
20g vegetable/corn oil
20g strawberry yoghurt drink
¼ tsp vanilla extract
30g cake flour, sifted
1 - 2 drops of food colouring

Meringue
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
25g caster sugar

Method :
1. Lined a 25x25 inch baking sheet with parchment paper, need not grease and set aside.

2. Preheat oven at 160°C and position the rack in the center.

3. Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. (the size of my egg is 60g each with shell)

4. In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the cold egg whites and cream of tartar till foamy using the electric stand mixer. Gradually add in caster sugar in 2 separate additions and beat till stiff peak, formed into a firm meringue. Transfer to a big bowl and chill in the fridge.

5. In the same mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and caster sugar until pale and fluffy with manual whisk. Add in canola oil, strawberry yoghurt drink and vanilla extract and whisk till combined.

6. Sift in cake flour and whisk again until mixture is well combined.  Divide the batter into two portions. Add 1 drop of red food colouring in one portion and mix well.

7.  Divide the meringue into 2 portions. Gently but quickly fold in the meringue into the 2 batters with a manual whisk in 2 batches until it looks evenly mixed.

8. Pour the two batters on the prepared baking sheet, briefly made few marbling effect with the spatula. Bake for about 15 mins at 160°C  (do not over bake).

9. Flip over onto cooling rack, remove the parchment paper to cool completely.

Cut out some flowers with floral shape cutter.

10. To assemble, melt a few pieces of marshmallows with small amount of water, mix until cream like texture with spoon.  Apply small amount and "glue" the flowers onto chiffon cake and decorate as you like. I'd forgotten to sprinkle some sparkling sugar as rushed for the event.

When box it up, the height of the cake almost reach it's cover.

Happy that it was very well received.

A simple decor chiffon cake with some flowers in pastel colours to usher into the new year..  Goodbye 2016  .... Welcome 2017 !

Here's wishing you and family a Blessed and Happy New Year !

Coffee Charlotte Christmas Cake

My big kids didn't like the traditional Christmas fruit cake. And I didn't want to make a log or stump Christmas cake either. So I thought a charlotte cake will definitely fit the bill for a home baked Christmas cake to celebrate the festive season. They love coffee cake with cream cheese icing. So I scaled down the recipe a little from the mini mango charlotte cake.  For a contrasting snowy effect, I coated the dipped sponge fingers with sparkling sugar. I like simple dercoration for this charlotte Christmas cake ... just 2 reindeers (I brushed with a little cream cheese and sprinkled a little sparkling sugar) and a big sprig of rosemary.  I have actually dust some icing sugar on the rosemary but not very visible.  Overall, I'm glad it turned out pretty well.

Coffee Charlotte Christmas Cake 
For the Sponge Cake
6-inch cake pan (removable base)
Ingredients :
2 eggs (the size of my egg is 60g each with shell)
65 grams caster sugar
80 grams cake flour
10 grams vegetable oil
10 grams unsalted butter
15 grams fresh milk
1 tablespoon Espresso coffee liquid

Method:
1) Line and grease the base of a round 6-inch removable cake pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the sides with butter.

2) Preheat the oven to 170ºC. Position the rack in the middle. The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust the temperature and timing to suit your oven.

3) Melt butter and milk in a heatproof pan. Once melted, add the vegetable oil and coffee and mix well.

4) Sift the cake flour and set aside. Separate the eggs into yolks and whites.

5) In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the cold egg whites till foamy using the electric mixer. Gradually add in caster sugar in 3 separate additions and beat till stiff peak, formed into a firm meringue.

6) Add the egg yolks to the meringue and whisk on low until evenly combined (about 1 - 2 minutes).

7) Next, fold in the sifted flour in 3 separate additions, folding gently with a spatula until combined.

8) Mix in the melted butter mixture in 2 separate additions with a spatula.

9) Pour batter into the cake pan. Tap the pan lightly on a table top a few times to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

10) Bake for about 25 minutes or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

11) When the pan was removed from the oven, I used the suggested technique to drop the pan at a height of 20~30cm onto a table top. This action helps to keep the springy texture of the cake when it is left to cool.



12) Invert the cake pan onto the wire rack. Detach the removal base and peel off the parchment paper.  Remove the pan and leave the cake to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Icing:
55grams unsalted butter, room temperature
140 grams cream cheese, room temperature
80g grams powdered or icing sugar, sifted
2 - 3 tablespoon fresh milk (adjust the texture to your preference)

To make cream cheese icing:
1) Allow cream cheese and butter to stand at room temperature. In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add in fresh milk and whisk to combine.

2) Gradually add in the powdered sugar in 3 additions, beating well. Scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary.  Beat until it reach spreading consistency.
*note: I left with 140g cream cheese in the fridge.  So the icing is barely enough to coat the sponge fingers. Will need to adjust about 20% up for all ingredients to make the icing.

Sponge fingers coat with sprinkle sugar
A pack of store bought Savoiardi (sponge fingers).
15 pcs sponge fingers
2 tablespoon of sparkling sugar

Some canned halved peaches for the filling. Drained syrup and sliced thinly.
Or any fruits of your choice.

Cut about 2-inch off for each sponge finger.
Prepare a tray line with parchment paper.
Dip sponge finger with some cream cheese and sprinkle some sparkling sugar. Line the sponge finger (with sugar coating side face up) on the tray. Freeze for about 10 - 15 minutes.

To assemble the cake :
1) Slice horizontally half and frost the bottom slice with some cream cheese. Fill the center with sliced canned peaches.

2) Sandwich the 2 slices of cake and frost the whole cake with cream cheese.

3) With the sugar coated side, "glue" the sponge fingers gently around the cake. Refrigerate the cake until served.

Wishing you and family a blessed Christmas filled with love, joy & peace.

☆☆☆ MERRY CHRISTMAS ☆☆☆

Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

Girl: Nice ... soft and yummy. Hmm another one ! ... try one more!
Boy: Oh ! This is so nice. How many cookies did you bake?
They couldn't stop munching these warm yummy cookies while still cooling on the rack.
The addition of rolled oats gives slightly crisp on the outside yet soft in the center texture. Love the woody cinnamon fragrance too. I must say that these cookies are very addictive.  Easy  to bake as festive giveaway gifts for busy mom like me.

Recipe source: Livforcake
I reduced the sugar amount.
Cranberry Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
Yields 35
Ingredients
(A)
116g butter (softened)
60g light brown sugar
20g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(B)
95g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon sea salt

(C)
120g organic rolled oats
70g dried cranberries
60g chopped pecans

Method:
Allow butter to stand at room temperature.

Combine ingredients  (B) in a medium bowl and set a set.

In large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy. (approx. 3 minutes).
Add egg and vanilla extract beat on high for 1 minute.
Turn mixer to low speed and add flour mixture, mix until just combined.

Fold in all the ingredients  (C) with a spatula and mix until just combined. Chill dough in the fridge for at least an hour. (I freeze the dough for about 10 - 15 minutes)

Preheat oven to 176°C and position the rack in the middle. *Note : The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust accordingly.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using a tablespoon measurement, scoop a round heap of dough on the prepared baking sheet and gently press to flatten top slightly if you wish to. Space the dough well apart about 1.5 inches between each cookie.

Bake for 12 mins or until edges are lightly browned but center is still soft and unset.

Cool slightly on the baking sheet (about 5 minutes) before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool completely. Store them in airtight container.

On the request of my girl, baked again another batch with mixture of raisins and cranberries. Packed some for giveaways as the first batch of cookies were finished by the "cookie monsters" in just a day ! ... hee ... hee!

Happy that these healthy cookies were well received :)
Happy baking ! Enjoy !

Apricot & Pistachio Blondies

Beginning to feel the Christmassy mood now but lazy to do any "complicated holiday baking".  Hee... hee ! I love to bake brownies, blondies or cranberry nut bar for the festive season. Glad I could use this easy and fuss free blondie recipe which I like it so much.  With a slight twist, just add in the dried fruits & nuts of your choice and it's done within a short timing.  Baked this apricot and pistachio blondies for our coffee break.  I'm sure this easy to bake recipe comes in handy for any busy hosts running short of time but want to whip up some 'oh! so yummy' treats for the occasion ^-^!

A variation from the previous adapted recipe here

Apricot & Pistachio Blondies
Yield: Makes 9 big squares or 16 smaller squares.
One 8x8-inch baking pan

Ingredients :
112g unsalted butter, melted and cooled.
85g light brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
128g all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
60g shelled pistachios
80g dried apricots, chopped roughly

Method :
1) Position the rack in the middle and preheat oven to 180°C.  Line the baking pan with lightly grease parchment paper.

2) In a big mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter and brown sugar until there are no more lumps of brown sugar. Whisk in the beaten egg and vanilla extract.

3) In a separate dry bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and pinch of salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until smooth. Fold in half the quantity of pistachios and apricots.

4) Pour mixture into the prepared baking pan and smooth the surface. Scatter the remaining pistachios and apricots over the top and gently press with the back of a big spoon.

5) Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

*Note : Find it difficult to cut the bars neatly on big chunky nut/dried fruit. I will chop the pistachios and dried apricots into smaller pieces in my next attempt.

On a lazy afternoon ... relax and enjoy the chewy tangy and nutty blondie bars over a cup of hot coffee.  Enjoy !

Happy Baking !

Cranberry Walnut Biscotti

In the mood of dunking again …. These twice-baked treats filled with dried fruit and nuts biscotti are perfect for dipping into a cup of hot coffee, cocoa, wine, or cold milk. They served as perfect giveaway Christmas cookies too.

A combination of cranberry and walnuts to immerse in Christmassy feel.  Another variation tweaked from the recipe here

Cranberry Walnut Biscotti
Ingredients
 1 egg
 50g caster sugar
 150g plain flour
 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 30g dried cranberry
 30g walnuts lightly toasted and coarsely chopped

Method
Step 1
Preheat oven to 180°C. Position the rack in center of oven. *Note : The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust accordingly.
Line a large baking tray with baking paper. Set aside.

Step 2
Using an electric mixer, beat egg and caster sugar until thick and pale. Add in the vanilla extract continue beating till combined.  Sift over flour and baking powder. Add walnut and cranberry. Stir to combine with a spatula.

Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead lightly until smooth. Shape into a 20cm long log. Place on prepared tray and flatten slightly.

Step 3
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden. Cool on tray for 15 minutes.

Step 4
Reduce oven temperature to 140°C.
Gently transfer the log onto a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, slice log diagonally into 5mm-thick slices. I reused the baking paper. Place slices, in a single layer, on baking tray. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, turning halfway through cooking, or until dry and crisp. Stand on tray for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Can be stored in an airtight container for a week.



Wrapped them up and certainly they looked pretty as giveaway festive cookies. Enjoy !

Coffee Walnut Loaf

Lately my big girl has been addicted to drinking coffee.  Not sure if it was due to her "examination stress" that she has been relying on coffee to keep her awake for revision.  Glad that the examination was finally over. She asked for some cake with cream cheese icing.  So a coffee cake! 

According to wikipedia

Coffee cake is a sponge cake flavoured with coffee. They are generally round and consist of two layers separated by coffee flavoured butter icing, which also covers the top of the cake. Walnuts are a common addition to coffee cakes.

Baked a loaf instead of round cake pan. I would say that this easy to bake coffee walnut cake with coffee-infused cream cheese icing is a perfect match for our coffee break.

Recipe source : FOOD TO LOVE
My slightly modified version below :

Coffee Walnut Loaf with Coffee Cream Cheese Icing
Ingredients :
70g roasted walnuts, chopped roughly
125g butter, chopped
160g caster sugar
125ml milk
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules
200g self-raising flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 eggs, lightly beaten

Coffee Cream Cheese Icing:
30 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
100 grams cream cheese, room temperature
100 grams powdered or icing sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 tablespoon hot water

Method:
1) Preheat the oven to 160°C. Position the rack in the middle. *Note : The temperature of the oven may vary, do adjust accordingly.

2) Line with parchment paper, extending paper about 2cm over sides and lightly grease with butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Set aside.

3) In a small saucepan, place butter, caster sugar, milk and coffee and stir the mixture over low heat over stove with manual whisk until smooth. Sift flour and cinnamon into medium bowl, stir in butter mixture, egg and half of the chopped walnuts. Pour the mixture into prepared loaf pan.

4) Bake loaf for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from oven and quickly sprinkle with the remaining walnuts and continue to bake further about 30 minutes.

5) Test with tester or skewer inserted into the center and it comes out clean.  Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing top-side up, onto wire rack to cool.


To make the coffee cream cheese icing:
1) Dissolve the instant coffee granules with 1 tablespoon hot water. (Alternatively, just make a cup of Expresso and obtain 1 tablespoon of liquid)

2) Allow cream cheese and butter to stand at room temperature. In large mixing bowl beat cream cheese and butter with mixer on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add in the coffee mixture.

3) Gradually add in the powdered sugar in 3 additions, beating well. Scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary.  Beat until it reach spreading consistency.

To serve, spread over the cake top with icing as you like.

Spread a thick layer of coffee cream cheese icing ! 

Coffee overloaded?! Yeah but we liked it. Enjoy !

Trio-colour chiffon cake (II)

Somehow, I got "hooked" to add some "structural design/colours" in chiffon cakes.  Of course, the easiest is to make a few colour batters and pour into pan and to make some swirling effect.  Well, it would turn out like nice marbling effect.  Ever so inspired by Susanne of Loving Creations for You for her many creative & impressive designs on chiffon cakes (mostly very difficult for me to achieve those standards), first time I tried out the "not too difficult" trio-colour chiffon here.  Pretty challenging to level/even the colour layers cos action must be quick and precise so as not to deflate the batter.  Hee ... Hee... glad that it turned out not too bad. So I went on to try the curvy wave design ... opps! It ended a "tsunami" look ... haiz !

Ok, can't make nice curvy wave, back to trio-colour ... this time in 3 broad stripes (cos no confident to make many stripes).  Hmm... room for improvement to even the batter proportion. But I'm glad that the texture is so fluffy cottony soft and moist.

Recipe adapted from : Loving Creations for You

Trio colour chiffon cake
17cm chiffon pan
5 egg yolks
33g caster sugar
65g vegetable oil
70 ml water
10 ml vanilla extract
100g cake flour, sifted
A pinch of salt
Purple and green food colouring (1 - 2 drops)

Meringue
7 egg whites
75g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Place a tray of water under the lowest rack for steambaking.

2. Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. (the size of my egg is 60g each with shell)

3. In a clean mixing bowl, whisk the cold egg whites and lemon juice till foamy using the electric stand mixer. Gradually add in caster sugar in 3 separate additions and beat till stiff peak, formed into a firm meringue. Transfer to a big bowl and chill in the fridge.

4. In the same mixing bowl, cream together egg yolks and caster sugar until pale and thickened using the electric mixer (about 3 - 4 minutes). Add canola oil, water and vanilla extract.

5. Sift in cake flour and salt and whisk again until mixture is well combined. Divide the batter into 3 portions. Mix in respective colours in 2 portions.

6. Divide the meringue into 3 portions. Gently but quickly fold in the meringue into the 3 batters. You need to work very fast for the meringue not to deflate.

7. Scoop the purple  batter using a tablespoon into bottom of the base of the chiffon tin horizontally. Then repeat with green, original batters respectively horizontally across the tin. Repeat till batter is almost 80% filled in pan. Lightly tap the pan  2 - 3 times on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter.

8. Bake the chiffon cake for 15 min at 160°C and then 140°C for 30 min. Test with a skewer inserted into the centre if it comes out clean.

9. When the pan was removed from the oven, I used the suggested technique to drop the pan at a height of 20~30cm onto a table top. This action helps to keep the springy texture of the cake when it is left to cool.

10. Immediately invert the pan to cool before unmoulding the cake from pan. To unmould cake by hand, gently pull cake from the sides of the tube pan. Turn the cake pan over and press down on the bottom firmly to dislodge. Gently pull the cake from the base around the edge and around the whole cake. Continue to lift up the cake and moving inwards until you reach the tube.

Looks good

Enjoy !