Strawberry Freshcream Cake

One of my colleagues is celebrating her birthday soon and I gave her a black forest cake last year. This year since there are plenty of strawberries in the supermarket and they are rather sweet and good so I have decided to make her a strawberry cake. I hope she will like it. Happy Birthday W (I know I am a bit early in giving you the cake). But nevermind lah, it's the thoughts that count!

Apple Pie

Jaren asked for a apple pie the other day. Since I was at Giants this morning so I bought some apples to make him one. I like this pie crust as it is crispy, flaky and tasty. When it comes to pie crust, you cannot over mix it and got to work fast so that the dough comes together and you can refrigerate it for a whole before rolling it out. This is my apple pie. I cut the pie when it is just out of the oven and the crust is too crumbly to handle.

Basic Pie Pastry

For a 9 inch (23 cm) double-crust pie:
2 ¼ cups (9 oz / 280g) all purpose (plain) flour
¾ tsp salt
¾ cup (6 oz / 180g) cold butter or shortening
6-7 tbsp cold water, more or less

Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter into cubes and toss it into the flour. With your fingertips, two knives or a pastry blender, blend the ingredients together, working quickly until you have a mixture of tiny, irregular flakes and bits about the size of coarse bread crumbs. Sprinkle on the water 1 tbsp at a time, stirring gently with a fork after each addition. Add just enough water for the dough to form a rough mass.

With floured hands pat the dough into two small balls, one larger than the other. It is not necessary to chill this dough but for convenience you may wrapped the dough and refrigerate up to 2 days. Roll dough out large enough to cover the pie tin. Fill it up with the apple filling and dot the 2 tbsp butter randomly on the filling. Roll out the small dough to cover the pie. Cut a few slashes on the top to let steam escape while baking. Brush top with the heavy cream.

Brush with some whipping cream and bake in a preheated oven at 220C for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 180C and bake until crust is golden brown.


Apple Filling:

6 apples, remove skin and cut into cubes
1/2 cup (3 oz/90g) brown sugar
½ tbsp cinnamon powder
3 tbsp all purpose (plain) flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp heavy cream (whipping cream)
2 tbsp lemon juice

Toss apples with lemon juice. In a bowl, mix sugar, salt, cinnamon powder and flour well. Add the sugar mixture into apple and mix well. Set aside for later use.

Double Chocolate Muffins with Yoghurt

I have an opened tub of plain yoghurt in the fridge which I want to use up as much as possible. So ended up making this double chocolate muffins with yoghurt which is really moist and spongy. Even though it is not the creaming method, but just mixing the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, the texture turned out really soft and fluffy. I have however, increased the amount of milk though but just by about another 2 to 3 tablespoon more. Click here for the recipe.

Japanese Cotton Spongecake

This spongecake is really really so soft like cotton. I sandwiched it with some buttercream and it taste delicious. Recipe for the cotton spongecake is here. Recipe for the buttercream is here.

Cinnamon Buns

This recipe is the sponge and dough method and the sponge portion took me more than 5 hours of proofing. But the bread turned out very very soft. Hubby wants to have it for breakfast with his coffee. Jonathan just had two pieces and he wants to bring some to school tomorrow.

Note: I did not add raisins and almond flakes as my children doesn't like them. Since I omitted that these two ingredients, I have increased the amount of brown sugar and also added about 100g of soften butter into the sugar and cinnanmon mixture and mix them into a paste to be spread over the dough.





CINNAMON ROLL

Ingredients:
Sponge
420g bread flour
4g instant dry yeast
250g water (250ml)

Dough
30g bread flour
150g plain flour
30g milk powder
12g instant dry yeast
120g castor sugar
9g salt
90g egg
90g unsalted butter

Filling
200g raisins
120g, plus extra for sprinkling almond flakes

60g brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon powder (more or less up to personal preference)

Preparation:

1. Prepare the sponge by mixing the 3 ingredients on low speed for 3 minutes. The sponge should be firm, dry and cool to the touch. Leave the sponge to rise for 4-5 hours in an airtight container.
2. When the sponge has risen, prepare the dough. Place the dry ingredients into the mixer. Add cold eggs and begin to mix on low speed. Immediately cut the sponge into a few pieces and add to the mixture over 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and mix for 2 minutes. Add butter and mix for another 7-10 minutes. Round up the dough and rest on a flour-dusted table for 15 minutes.
3. Roll out dough into a 1-cm thick sheet, measuring 30cm by 50cm (I did not measure). Brush melted butter over the dough and sprinkle with raisins and almond flakes. Premix the brown sugar and cinnamon powder and sprinkle evenly over the raisin and almond flakes.
4. Roll the dough down lengthwise like a swiss roll and apply water on the seam. Brush melted butter all over the dough. Cut into 12 pieces and place into a well greased baking tin. Prove dough for 1 hour in a warm place till the dough doubles in size. Brush the surface of the rolls with beaten egg and sprinkle with almond flakes. Bake in a preheated oven at 190C for 25-30 minutes until golden brown.

Doll Agar Agar

We are invited to a BBQ party later today and I have volunteered to bring some agar agar for them. This was made last night. Quite time consuming but worth it, don't you think so?

Strawberry Mousse Cake

It's my older boy's 13th birthday today. I made this strawberry mousse cake for him last night. We will be cutting this cake tonight when his dad is back from work. Sharing with you his birthday cake.



With the balance of the spongecake and strawberry mousse, I made them into mini strawberry mousse cake so that I can share it with my colleagues.






Ingredients for Sponge Cake: (9" round) (Recipe taken from Yochana's blog)

250 gm. Optima flour
250 gm. eggs (about 4 large eggs)
1 tsp. ovalette
50 ml. water
1/2 tsp. Vanille essence
60 gm. corn oil

Ingredients for side cake: (for 11" x 14" rectangular tray)3 egg yolks
40 gm. sugar
80 gm. plain flour
15 gm, cornflour
1/8 tsp. vanilla essence

3 egg whites
40 gm. sugar

1 Tablespoon cocoa powder

For Strawberry Mousse:

400 ml. UHT whipping cream
350 gm. Strawberry puree
120 gm. sugar
1 teasp. strawberry paste
25 gm. gelatine powder mixed with 100 gm. water

Method for sponge cake:

(1) Put all the ingredients into a mixer bowl except cornoil and whisk till thick and pale in colour.
(2) Fold in cornoil and then pour into the 9" round tray and bake at 175C for 50 to 60 mins. or till cooked. Unmould and leave to cool on a cooling rack. slice into 2 layers.
(3) For Side cake: Line the tray.
(4) Whisk egg yolks with sugar until thick. Whisk egg white with sugar and whisk till thick. Mix egg yolk and egg white mixture together. Divide mixtur into 2 portions. Add vanilla essence into one portion and cocoa powder into the other portion.
(5) Pour batter into piping bags and pipe out diagonally into strips onto the baking tray. Bake for 10 mins. Leave to cool.
(6) For strawberry Mousse: Mix strawberry puree, sugar and strawberry paste into a saucepan and warm it over a stove to melt the sugar. Then add in gelatine mixture. Leave to cool. Fold in whipped cream. Divide into 2 portions.
(7) Cut slanted sponge cakes according to the height of the cake ring and place it into the cake ring.
(8) Lay a layer of sponge cake into the cake ring as base.
(9) Pour in half of the strawberry mousse on top of the cake then top up with another layer of sponge cake. Pour the balance mousse on top of the sponge cake. Leave in the chiller to let it set for at least 4 hours.
(10) Grated some strawberry chocolate on top or decorated as desired.

Note 1: I used my own spongecake recipe instead of the one given here.
Note 2: For the finishing touch, this is what I did:
Topping
10g instant jelly powder
180ml water
1 tbsp castor sugar
few drops of red colouring

Bring instant jelly powder, water and sugar to a boil. Add in colouring and leave to cool. (If left completely cold, the instant jelly will set so use the mixture while it is lukewarm.

German Hard Rolls

Came across this recipe while goggling for a hard roll recipe to eat with my beef stew. (Yes, I cooked beef stew again today.) In fact there are so many recipe on hard rolls that I was at a lost having to decide which one to try. I have finally decided on this one because it was using the sponge and dough method which I think will be nice. So here it is, my hard rolls. My son just ate 2 rolls with jam and butter after toasting it up to make it more crispy.







GERMAN HARD ROLLS

Ingredients:
Day 1:
2 cups (250g) bread flour
1 1/3 cup (300 ml) water
½ tsp (2.5 g) instant yeast

Day 2:
5 ½ cup (725 g) flour (I used bread flour also)
1 1/3 cup water (300 ml) plus extra, if needed
1 tsp (5 g) instant yeast
1 ½ tsp (12 g) salt

Preparation:

1. Mix all ingredients in Day 1 in a bowl until smooth and lump-free. Cover with plastic wrap (not air tight) and let this mix sit on the counter overnight.
2. The next day, mix the sponge (what you mixed on Day 1) with 5 cups of flour, water and yeast. Knead for 8 minutes, preferably with a stand mixer. Add up to another half cup of flour until dough clears the bowl (doesn’t stick to side much – just a little).
3. Sprinkle salt over the dough and mix for another 4 minutes (you may decrease salt to 1 tsp if you wish). The consistency of the dough should be smooth but tacky, adjust with water, a teaspoon at a time, or flour, a tablespoon at a time.
4. Form dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowl turning once to coat. Place a damp towel or plastic wrap over the top and let the dough rest for 2 hours.
5. Turn dough out on lightly floured work surface and cut into between 50g to 80g pieces each. Let it rest for a few minutes then form into small balls or any other shapes you like. Coat in flour and place on parchment paper about 2 inches apart.
6. Cover with a damp cloth and let them rise for another 1 hour.
7. Preheat oven, preferably with an oven stone, to 450F (230C) for 1 hour (I just preheated the oven but definitely not 1 hour). Place an old pan on the bottom rack. Slash rolls with a serrated knife or blade. Place rolls in the oven on the next shelf up, or directly on top of a baking stone, if available or on a baking sheet. Pour 1 cup of water into the old baking pan and close the door quickly.
8. Spray sides of oven with water 2 or 3 times in the first 5 minutes of baking using a regular spray bottle. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, turning the baking sheet if necessary for even browning. Cool rolls on wire rack so that the bottom will not get soggy.
9. Rolls are supposed to be eaten warm and crispy. You may freeze and recrisp it in a hot oven if you are not eating them on the same day you baked them.

Castella Cake

I saw this Castella Cake (Japanese Honey Spongecake) in Ching's blog and I thought her Castella cake look so nice and tempting. I told myself I want to try out this recipe and here I did. Instead of using all purpose flour (plain flour) I used cake flour and the texture of the cake is very soft. It is spongy and soft but not the chiffon cake type of spongy. I used the wild flower honey I bought from my last trip to Perth and the honey taste is rather strong. I did cut down on the sugar part as I know the honey will make it rather sweet.



Thanks Ching for sharing the recipe.

Castella Cake (Japanese Honey Spongecake)

Makes one 8×8 x 2-inch pan (I used a rectange pan)
Ingredients:


5 large eggs

170 grams granulated sugar (I reduced to 140 g)

200 grams all-purpose flour (I changed to cake flour)

1 tsp. vanilla extract


100 ml whole milk, at room temperature

4 tablespoons honey

6 tablespoons canola oil

Method:


1. Grease the square pan with baking spray. Cut out a parchment paper the size of the pan for the bottom of the pan and place it on the pan, spray it with baking spray too. Preheat oven to 350 degree F and place a rack in the middle of the oven.

2. Mix eggs and sugar with a stand-in mixer for about 5 minutes or until batter forms a ribbon when the wire whip is lifted, the color should be light yellow.

3. Add the flour and vanilla extract. Next add the milk, beat it well. Then add the honey and mix it again well. Last, add the oil and make sure it is incorporated into the batter thoroughly.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Place it in the oven and bake for 10 minutes in 350 degree F (190C). After that, lower the temperature to 325 degree F (170C) and bake for 35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

5. Remove from the pan as soon as it is done. Place it on the cooling rack and let it cool completely. Wrap with plastic wrap overnight before cutting.

Orange Chiffon Cake

I just tried out this orange chiffon cake from Kevin Chai's recipe book for the first time with a few modification of my own. The cake is really very soft and spongy. I still find it a little sweet for my taste even though I have cut down on some of the sugar. Anyway, I am sharing the recipe here and what I have done to modify it.










ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE (by Kevin Chai)

Ingredients:

(Part A)
7 egg yolks
50g sugar
60ml orange juice (I used 80 ml)
½ tsp salt
1tsp orange flavour/compound
4 tbsp cooking oil (I used corn oil)
2 tbsp grated orange zest
110g self-raising flour (I replaced with cake flour and 1 tsp baking powder)
Few drops of orange colouring (I omitted this)
* I added 1 tbsp of Cointreau (orange liquer)

(Part B)
7 egg whites
130g sugar (I reduced the sugar to 100g)
½ tsp cream of tartar (I only used ¼ tsp)
Method:

(Part A)
1. Mix egg yolks, sugar, salt, oil, orange zest, orange juice and colouring in a mixing bowl. Fold in sifted flour until a batter is formed.

(Part B)
1. Whisk egg white and cream of tartar until foamy. Add in sugar and continue to beat at high speed until peaks form.
2. Gently fold beaten egg white mixture into egg yolk mixture until well mixed. Pour into a 22 cm chiffon cake mould and bake in a preheated oven at 170C for 30 -40 minutes or until cooked.
3. Remove from oven and invert cake pan to cool.

Note to those who wants to reduce the amount of sugar used in this recipe. You have to use your own discretion on how much you want to reduce based on whether the orange juice you use is very sweet or sour. But my reduction of 30g is a save bet unless you have a very sweet tooth.

Stewed Beef

I bought some beef chunk yesterday as I intend to cook some beef stew for the boys to eat for lunch. Tonight after work, I managed to cook the beef stew and baked strawberry muffins. I also bought a pack of ready to bake puff pastry to bake some stewed beef pies for the boys and hubby. Hopefully there will still be some left by tomorrow night for that purpose.

I actually do not have a recipe to follow but everything was cooking the way I like it and adding stuff as I go along. Sharing with you how I cook my beef stew. You may modify the recipe to suit your preference. Reason I did not use any plain flour or corn flour mixed with water for my stew is that the McCormick beef gravy itself will thicken the gravy as you cook.





Beef Stew

Ingredients:
600 g of beef chunk
1 small white raddish cut into medium chunks
4 or 5 small carrots cut into medium chunks
1 big white onion roughly chopped up
2 tbsp of chopped garlic
2 heapful tbsp of tomato paste
500ml of red wine
1 tbsp of dried oregano
1 tbsp of dried parsley
Salt and sugar to taste
2 big tbspful of beef gravy mix (McCormick) mixed with 500ml of water

Methods:
1. Season beef chunks with some salt and black pepper.
2. Heat up a frying pan with some oil. When pan is hot, add in beef in batches and brown all sides of the beef. Take it out of pan and set aside.
3. Using the same frying pan, add a little oil and fry onion and garlic for a few minutes. 4. Add in beef, carrot, raddish and tomato paste and fry for another 1 to 2 minutes.
5. Add in all the red wines and the gravy sauce. Stir well and now add in the dried herbs.
6. Taste the sauce and adjust salt and sugar to your liking. If using Tigerpot of Thermal pot, let the mixture cook over the stove for at least 15 minutes before transferring to the outer pot to let it continue to cook.
7. Cook in thermal pot for as many hours as you can afford the time. The longer you cook the softer the beef becomes. In between reheat the thermal pot to retain the heat to enable the heat to continue to stew the beef and carrot. For those who are just using normal pot to cook the stew, just simmer over low heat for a few hours or until the beef is soft.

Strawberry Muffins

I have some leftover strawberries from yesterday's swiss roll so I used them to make this very yummy strawberry muffins for breakfast tomorrow. Hubby just tried one and his comment was, the look of the muffin is so-so but the taste is good. I bought a cup of 140g strawberry yoghurt to enhance the taste of this muffin. Sharing with you my muffins. The recipe is actually a modification from the chocolate chip muffins which I will share with you here.







One recipe yields 8 small muffins and 12 11-inch muffin cups size muffins.


Strawberry Muffins

Ingredients
125 g butter at room temperature
80 g caster sugar
100 gm brown sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
300 g plain flour or cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
¾ to 1 cup fresh milk
1 cup of strawberry yoghurt (140g cup)
Fresh strawberries cut into small pieces (if you like big chunks also ok)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
2. Cream butter and sugar until creamy. Add in eggs one at a time. Add in vanilla essence. Beat until well mixed. Add in yoghurt and mix well. Add in flour and mix well. Add in milk and fresh strawberries and mix well.
3. Spoon mixture into muffin cups and bake for 25 to 27 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

Sugar Roll

I am posting the sugar roll recipe which was taken from Aunty Yochana's blog. In the first picture you can see that the sugar roll was coated with sugar. However, tonight I just baked another batch of sugar roll but without the sugar coating as hubby requested for no-sugar coated roll. Since we have just bought a box of very sweet strawberry, he has requested that I add some to the sugar roll. Thus you can see here my strawberry sugar roll without the sugar.










Sugar Roll

Ingrediens:

4 nos. egg white
80 gm. caster sugar
4 nos. egg yolk
1/4 tsp. vanilla essence
100 gm. cake flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
40 gm. corn oil

100 gm. Butter cream
invert Sugar - very fine sugar

Method:

(1) Whisk egg white for awhile, then add in caster sugar gradually.
(2) Drop in the egg yolk one by one into the beating egg white until finish. Add in vanilla essence and continue beating for another 3 mins.
(3) Stop the machine, fold in the cake flour and baking powder.
(4) Fold in cornoil and pour into a 11" x 14" tray or 10" x 14" tray and bake at 200C for about 10 mins.
(5) Take out from tray and leave on the wire rack to cool.
(6) Spread butter cream onto the cooled swiss roll and roll into a swiss roll.
(7) Sprinkle some sugar onto a greaseproof paper and roll the swiss roll to and fro until evenly covered with the help of the greaseproof paper.
(8) Slice and serve.

Coffee Butter Cream:

80 sugar + 25 gm. water
60 gm. egg white
220 gm. chilled Butter
40 gm. shortening (Crisco)
1 - 2 tsp. Coffee Paste ( 1-2 tsp is up to your preference)
1 - 2 tsp. Kahlua or Tia Maria

(1) Boil the sugar with water until mixture thickens and while boiling, beat the egg white till frothy and pour in the sugar syrup and beat till mixture cools down.
(2) Add in the chilled butter and shortening and beat till fluffy.
(3) Add in coffee paste and kahlua.
note: You might not use the whole recipe (butter cream) for this swiss roll. Keep the balance in the fridge and you can use it to decorate other cakes. If I make the recipe lesser, it's very hard to beat up the egg white. You can also double up the recipe and keep this butter cream for creaming all your cakes. According to tt, it's called "French Cream", if I'm not mistaken.

* Note: I omitted the the coffee paste and coffee liquer and just made plain buttercream.

Swiss Rolls

I made Ariana Swiss Roll and Sugar Swiss Roll tonight to bring to the office tomorrow. I did not update my blog for a very long time due to laziness but tonight I was in the mood to bake. Sharing with you my swiss rolls.