Nutty Chocolate Chiffon Cake

I've been itching to bake cakes. Since I started baking more breads now, cakes seemed to have taken a stand aside in my baking list. For any cake cravings that I have, it's usually chiffon cakes that tempt me. They are light and airy. I know I won't get sick of eating them in anyway. For this cake bake, I decided to do Sonia's Nutty Chocolate Chiffon Cake. It not only looks pretty with the line, it also seemed good with the additional of hazelnut.

Recipe for Nutty Chocolate Chiffon Cake, adapted from Nasi Lemak Lover.
(Makes a 20cm tube pan)

Ingredients:
5 Egg yolks (50g egg without shells)
15g Caster sugar
35g Corn oil
55g Milk
80g Self-raising flour
40g Ground hazelnut
10g Corn flour

5 Egg whites
70g caster sugar

2tsp Cocoa powder

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar till light.
2. Add in corn oil, mix well. Then add in milk, stir well to combine. Add in corn flour, hazelnut and self-raising mixture, stir to well combine.
3. Beat egg whites till foamy, gradually add in sugar in there batches and continue beat until soft peak formed.
4. Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well and lighten the egg yolk batter.
5. Now change hand whisk to a silicone spatula, fold in 1/3 of meringue, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
6. Pour 1/3 cake batter into chiffon pan, sift a thin layer of cocoa powder on it. Repeat the rest of layers.
7. Bake at pre-heated oven at 170C for 45mins at middle rack or until cooked. (45mins was too long for my oven. 40mins should suffice for me.)
8. Once done, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

The chiffon cake is very fragrant from the hazelnut. It has bits of crunchy nuts as I didn't blizz it. I just used ground hazelnut instead of whole nuts to blizz. I baked it a little too long and was quite dry. Otherwise, the chiffon was still light and yummy.

Blackcurrant Sunflower Seeds Pound Cake

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

Itching to bake cakes and to use up my sour cream, I made a Blackcurrant Sunflower Seeds Pound Cake. I bake into many many smaller loaves so that I can give away.

Recipe for Blackcurrant Sunflower Seeds Pound Cakes, adapted from Honey Bee Sweets.
(Makes 6 mini aluminum loaves)

Ingredients:
250g Liv unsalted butter, room temperature
310g Caster sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/2tsp Vanilla paste
200g Sour cream
400g Plain flour
2 3/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
80g Sunflower seeds
80g Blackcurrants

Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Prepare 6 mini aluminium pans.
2. In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder and the hot water together to make a smooth paste.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Blend in the eggs and then vanilla. Then add in the sour cream, and scraping the bottom of the mixing bowl to make sure it is evenly combined.
4. Fold in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and blend well.
5. Lastly, mix in blackcurrant and sunflower seeds into the batter and mix well.
6. Place in the oven to bake for 32mins. Bake till golden brown and the tester comes out clean. 
7. Once baked, remove from oven and let cool completely.

Pumpkin and Pumpkin Seed Loaves

My recent favourite baking is breads. It is a staple in my family. Especially when I have attended several bread workshops, I have more confidence in baking better breads for my family.

Recipe for Pumpkin and Pumpkin Seed Loaves, modified from天然麵包香Natural Breads Made Easy.
(Makes 2 loaves, or 1 1/2 loaves with 6 buns)

Ingredients:
Pre-ferment dough
411g Bread flour
235g Water
4g Instant Yeast
6g Fine salt
12g Milk powder

1) Prepare pre-ferment dough: Mix yeast with water, then combine the rest of the ingredients.  Knead till smooth dough. Cover and keep in fridge for at least 17 hours before use. (I kept this for about 24 hours.)

Main dough
176g Bread flour
18g Milk powder
6g Fine salt
2g Instant yeast
59g Fine sugar
59g Water
41g Liv unsalted butter
135g Mashed cooked pumpkin
88g Raw shredded pumpkins

100g (approx) Pumpkin seeds for decorations

Method:
2) Mix all ingredients for main dough except shredded pumpkins till combined. Gradually add in the pre-fermented dough, piece by piece and knead to get a smooth dough. (about 5mins on low speed)

3) Add in the shredded pumpkins and butter and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough. (about 5 mins on medium speed) Check for window pane test. Cover and proof the dough for 30 minutes.

4) Divide the dough equally into two if doing two loaves. Shape the dough and place aside and let it rest for 15mins.

5) Roll the dough out flat, and roll it up tight like swiss rolls and seal it tightly.

6) Spray the top and sides with water. Then roll it on a tray of pumpkin seeds.

7) Place it into a bread loaf pan and let it proof for 45mins.

8) Bake in preheated oven of 180C for 30-35 minutes till golden brown.

9) Remove from the baking pan immediately after baking. Let it cool completely before consuming.

Laing - AFF Philippines July 2014

When I was in Legazpi, Philippines, my friend took us to a popular eatery called Small Talk Cafe. It was my first meal in Philippines. It was like a small family business. It served yummy fusion Filipino Italian food.

I tried a pizza with taro leaves. The leaves tasted like some creamy coconut. I really like the taste of it. When my friend knew that I liked it, she purposely asked the driver to detour and let me buy the leaves. It was frozen packed. When I came back, I requested my helper to cook it. As taro leaves are special to Bicol province, she has not tasted this before. I had to surf the web and instruct her to cook it.

This was how it was described.
"This Laing recipe or Bicol laing is a dish indigenous to the Bicol province. Rich and creamy, it's made from dried taro or gabi leaves and coconut milk."

Recipe for Laing (Taro Leaves Cooked in Coconut Milk), modifed from Filipino Food.

Ingredients:

250g Frozen Taro Leaves (including roasted pork, garlic, salt and chilli)

80g Coconut Milk

1 tsp Sauteed Shrimp Paste(Bagoong Alamang)

1 tbsp Cooking Oil for sauteing

Method:
1. Heat the wok, then add the cooking oil.

2. Add in the defrost taro leaves and gently stir to cook. 

3. Add coconut milk and let it simmer for 15 minutes, stirring from time to time.

4. Cook until the taro leaves have fully absorbed the coconut milk and almost rendering fat.

5. Serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.

Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk - AFF Philippines July 2014

Last year, I was coaxed by my dear Filipino friend to visit Philippines. She arranged my whole itinerary. It was truly one of the best holiday I ever had! We not only had a lot of sight-seeing and activities, we also experienced all kinds of cuisines, especially Filipino cusines! It was also my first time having fresh sea urchin and balut. And best of all, we were driven around by her chauffeur in Manila! She was truly such a good host I almost can't bear to leave Manila!

While I was there, I ate a lot of dishes cooked in coconut milk. They were known as ginataang gulay. It means vegetables stewed in coconut milk. Here are two of these I had in Philippines.

They were so good, I had to ask my helper to re-create them at home. She was pretty familliar with this. And since I bought Achuete seeds and bagoong, she added them to the vegetables to make it more Filipino taste. The achuete seeds made it more reddish. Here's how to prepare them.

Recipe for Mixed Vegetables in Coconut Milk aka ginataang gulay
(Serves 4)

Ingredients:
Half a large oval (Cameron) cabbage
1 Carrot, sliced
4 slices Ginger
200g Pumpkin
1 tbsp Achuete seeds
1 tbsp Bagoong
250g Coconut cream
Cooking oil

Method:

1. Heat wok, add the cooking oil.
2. Sauteed achuete seeds in the oil, when the oil is dark orange in colour, discard the seeds.
3. Add in bagoong and ginger and stir till fragrant.
4. Add in pumpkin and cooked till slightly soft.
5. Add in cabbage and carrot and sauteed till soft.
6. Turn down the heat, and add in coconut milk and let it slimmer for about 15mins.
7. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with rice.

I'm submitting this to Asian Food Fest Philippines hosted by The Sweet Spot.