Matcha Azuki Fresh Cream Cake

On the last Saturday of April, I hosted dinner for my family. I decided to bake a matcha cake for dessert since I will be cooking Japanese curry rice. The cake was really easy to bake and assemble. My family loved the cake very much as it was soft and light.
cake_matchaazuki04 cake_matchaazuki06
Recipe for Matcha Azuki Beans Fresh Cream Cake

Sponge cake adapted from Jeannie's blog.
(Makes a 9" cake, though original was stated as 8")

Ingredients:
6 Large egg yolks
70g Cooking oil
100g Water
90g Cake flour
12g Matcha powder
1/2 tsp salt

6 Egg whites
100g Caster sugar
1/4 tsp Corn flour

Method:

1. Line the bottom an 9″ round pan. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Sift flour and matcha powder together. Add in salt.
3. Beat egg yolks, oil together until combined before adding water. Stir well.
4. Stir in the flour. Set aside.
5. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add corn flour into sugar to mix. Continue beating while gradually adding the sugar and corn flour. Beat till soft peaks.
6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter with a hand whisk. Add another 1/3 and fold until almost combined. Add the last portion and switch to a spatula to scoop the batter from the bottom of the bowl and fold up. Keep at it until no streaks of yolk batter can be seen.
7. Pour into prepared pan and bake with a water bath at 160C for 70 minutes or until cooked.
8. Remove from oven, and invert it on a wire rack to cook completely.

Assembly:
350g Whipping cream, whipped
35g Caster sugar
200g Azuki beans in a can

1. Slice the cake into 4 layers.
2. Whip the cream with sugar till thick and stiff.
3. Spread the whipping on the first layer of the cake. Add Azuki beans and spread evenly.
cake_matchaazuki01
4. Repeat for two more layers.
5. For the final layer, spread with whipping cream and decorate as desired.
cake_matchaazuki02 cake_matchaazuki03
6. Chill before consuming. cake_matchaazuki05

Walnut Maple Buttercream Cake for Mother's Day

Recently I discovered a nice blog - Jeannie Tay's blog which she shared many recipes. Her pictures showed how lovely her bakes turned out, which prompted me to try some. Since it's Mother's Day weekend, I decided to bake a Walnut Maple buttercream cake for my mum.
cake_walnutmaple10 cake_walnutmaple12 Recipe for Walnut Maple Buttercream Cake

Walnut butter cake, adapted from Jeannie.
(Makes a 7" round cake)

Ingredients:
3 Egg yolks (70g with shell)
20g Castor sugar
113g Unsalted butter, melted n cooled
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
70g Plain flour
56g Walnuts, roasted and chopped
1/2 tsp Baking powder

3 Egg whites
70g Castor sugar
1/4 tsp Corn flour

Method:

1. Line the bottom of two 7" round cake pans. Preheat oven to 150C.
2. Whisk yolks and sugar till light and fluffy. Add melted butter, and vanilla extract. Set aside.
cake_walnutmaple01
3. Mix the corn flour into the sugar. Whisk egg whites until frothy, then gradually add sugar into the whites and beat till firm peaks.
4. Sift flour into yolk mixture and mix. Add in chopped walnuts. Batter is very thick and almost unfoldable at this stage. 
5. Add 1/3 meringue to loosen the gluten. Continue to fold in the remaining meringue 1/3 at a time. 
6. Pour equally into two baking pans. Shake gently from side to side to level the batter.
7. Baked at 150 degrees at lowest rack for 30mins or till golden brown. Test with a skewer for doneness before removing from the oven.
cake_walnutmaple02
8. Unmould immediately and place them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Maple Italian Meringue Buttercream
(Makes enough to frost a 3 layer 7" cake or a 2 layer 8" cake)

Ingredients:
60g Water
150g Sugar
3 Egg whites
250g Unsalted butter
2 tbsp Maple Syrup

Method:

1. Boil water and sugar till rolling ball stage, which is about 115C. This takes approximately 5mins on medium heat.
2. At 3mins, whisk egg whites on the mixer on low speed till frothy.
3. When the sugar solution is ready, turn the mixer speed on medium-low and start pouring in the sugar gradually, slowly and steadily.
cake_walnutmaple03
4. Then turn the mixer speed to medium and continue beating till the meringue cools down.
5. Change the whisk to k-beater and add in butter in three batches.
6. Continue beating till butter is incorporated into the meringue.
7. Add in maple syrup and mix well.
cake_walnutmaple04 cake_walnutmaple05
Assembly:
1. Place one cake layer on the cake board.
cake_walnutmaple06
2. Spread with maple buttercream generously and evenly.
cake_walnutmaple07
3. Place another layer on top.
4. Coat the sides with buttercream and even it out.
5. Spread the top with buttercream and even it out.
cake_walnutmaple08
6. Pipe a heart shape on the cake top and add toasted chopped walnuts.
7. Sprinkle with maple syrup and decorate as desired.
8. Chill in the fridge.
9. Remove from the fridge 15mins before serving.
cake_walnutmaple09
cake_walnutmaple11
Happy Mother's Day!


Cream Cheese Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cakes have always been a challenge for me. Sometimes I got it right, many times I just eat it! Still, I like to make chiffon cakes because even though the texture might not be right, it is still soft and light. For this recipe, I made three times, twice with cream cheese and once with shredded cheese. The results are all different! That is why I said chiffons are a challenge! It just won't be consistent...for me!
chiffon_creamcheese04
Recipe for Cream Cheese Chiffon Cake, adapted from "初學者也ok !自己作職人配方的戚風蛋糕” by 青井聰子
(Makes a 20cm tube pan)

Ingredients:
6 Large eggs yolks (at least 70g with shell)
90g Cooking oil
60g Whole milk
100g Cream cheese
100g Sour cream
110g Cake flour
6 Egg whites
110g Caster sugar

Method:

1. In a mixing bowl, beat egg yolks lightly before adding oil and mix well.
2. Add in milk and mix to incorporate.
3. Add in cream cheese and sour cream and mix well till no lumps, if possible.
4. Sift in flour to incorporate.
chiffon_creamcheese01
5. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites till frothy. Gradually add in sugar. Continue to whisk till egg whites reach firm peak stage.
6. Add egg whites to yolk mixture in 3 batches. Mix with whisk till almost even after each batch. Scrape down and fold with spatula till just evenly mixed.
chiffon_creamcheese02
6. Pour batter into the prepared chiffon pan. Bake in preheated oven of 160C for about 45mins, till cake is well browned.
chiffon_creamcheese03
7. Remove from the oven and invert before unmoulding.

Second bake yields the best taste and texture.
chiffon_creamcheese05
chiffon_creamcheese06 chiffon_creamcheese07

BBQ Pork Ribs

Some weeks back, my mother-in-law fried some sweet and sour pork ribs. The taste was good, but the meat was tough. We discussed about the cooking method to make it soft on which the meat can come off the bones easily, like how we like our bak ku teh. At that point, I didn't have much idea too. So I went to do a search how to make it like Chili's pork ribs. My father-in-law loves it! And so, I decided to explore it, in hope that I can make for them in future, if I am successful.

A search on the internet provides this recipe from All Recipes - Simple BBQ Ribs. Reading through the comments really provides good guide on producing a good bbq rib. I can't wait to try it out! It turns out to be really good! The quantity I cooked didn't even have enough for all of us. Next time, I must make thrice the amount so that everyone will be finger-licking them!
bbqpork08
Recipe for BBQ Pork Ribs, adapted from All Recipes.

Ingredients:
900g Pork ribs, whole
1 tbsp Garlic powder
1 tsp Ground black pepper
2 tbsp Salt
1 cup BBQ sauce

Method:


1. Place ribs in a large pot with enough water to cover. 
bbqpork01
2. Season with garlic powder, black pepper and salt. 
bbqpork02
3. Bring water to a boil, and cook ribs until tender.
bbqpork03
4. Preheat oven to 170C. Remove ribs from pot, and place them in a baking dish. 
5. Generously brush BBQ sauce on the ribs. Cover dish with aluminum foil, and bake in the preheated oven for 40mins.
bbqpork04
6. Take out the dish and brush the ribs with more sauce, cover with aluminum foil. Bake for another 20mins.
bbqpork05
7. Remove the foil, placed it on the higher rack and continue baking for another 8 mins. 
8. Rest for 5mins before cut and serve. The meat will fall off the bones easily! 
bbqpork06 bbqpork07
We had our bbq ribs with oligo alio and it was really good! bbqpork09