【推】圣诞巧克力戚风蛋糕 Best Chocolate Chiffon Ever? Christmas Chocolate Chiffon Cake

过去的圣诞佳节你是怎么度过的？玩得开心吗？

圣诞前夕我和D都很不好彩的患了stomach flu，还泻肚子。结果，假日只赖在家里，昏昏沉沉的，什么事都做不成，心情难免有点烦躁。到了晚餐时间感到比较舒服了我们就上中餐馆吃饭，可能是刚复原就大吃大喝，晚上肠胃又开始不舒服，半夜还起身拉肚子。圣诞节当天我和D都在病中度过。

到了晚上复原得七七八八，哄了Lucius入睡后10点多才开始我的Christmas bake，圣诞节没有蛋糕感觉怪怪的。只想要做点简单的，刚好看到SSB分享来自Okashi师傅的巧克力戚风，就是它了。Okashi的食谱受到很多人的推崇，当中包括我非常欣赏的的Anncoo和Sonia, 所以我一早就想尝试Okashi的食谱了，这次是一石二鸟。

晚上把蛋糕做好，隔天早上也就是Boxing Day当天，准备了一个简单的巧克力淋酱淋在蛋糕上，再加点圣诞装饰就大功告成了。圣诞蛋糕不只有log cake，这样简简单单的蛋糕，加上小小的心思马上变身圣诞蛋糕。 外面卖的圣诞蛋糕价钱都抬起来卖，如果还未曾自己烘培圣诞蛋糕的朋友，明年就把买蛋糕的钱省下来，在家烘培属于自己独有的圣诞蛋糕吧！

说回这Okashi的巧克力戚风，我只能说我很幸运的选择了尝试这个食谱因为这是我吃过最好吃的巧克力戚风。我觉得它的口感非常湿润细致（是因为的蛋白里加入了栗粉的原因吗？），和一般的戚风很不同，而且可可的比例恰到好处。我强力推荐这款巧克力戚风，喜欢戚风的朋友一定要做哦！不做会后悔：P

以下是蛋糕装饰前的照片。顺便记录一下，自从接触到空手脱模的视频后，觉得空手脱模很方便也很好玩，所以每次做戚风我都会练习空手脱模。So far，这是我最满意的作品，虽然蛋糕周围还是有些许损伤。

Christmas Chocolate Chiffon Cake
(Recipe adapted from Okashi: sweet treats made with love)

Ingredients: (makes one 20cm chiffon tin)
5 egg yolks
20g sugar (I used 10g)
60g vegetable oil
70g water
50g cake flour
30g cocoa powder

5 egg whites
90g sugar
10g corn flour

Method:
1) Whisk egg yolks and sugar until the sugar dissolves.
2) Gradually add in vegetable oil, followed by water.
3) Sift cake flour and cocoa powder twice and add into egg yolk mixture. Mix until just combined. Set aside.
4) In another bowl, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add in combined sugar and corn flour mixture gradually and continue whisking until stiff peak form.
5) Gently fold in the egg white into the egg yolk batter (in step 3) in 3 batches.
6) Pour the batter into an ungreased chiffon tin. Give the tin a few slight knocks on the tabletop to remove air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 170 deg C for 40 minutes (update on second attemp: lower to 160C for the last 10 mins).
7) Remove from oven and invert the tin immediately onto a cooling rack. Unmould the cake only when it is completely cool.

I have made a simple chocolate ganache to go with the chocolate chiffon and I would say that the combination is very good.

Chocolate Ganache
65g dairy whipping cream
65g dark couverture chocolate

1) Cook whipping cream over low heat till it starts to boil. Remove from heat.
2) Pour cream over to chocolate and gentle stir till all chocolate is melted.
3) Pour ganache over cooled cake and let it set. Decorate as desired. Chill the cake in the fridge before serving. Take out cake from the fridge 5-10 mins before serving.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #14: Creative Christmas Bakes (December 2011), hosted by Hankerie.

Merry Christmas 2011!

Wishing all my friends, blog pals and readers Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! 圣诞快乐！

Enjoy your holidays!

丑媳妇终需见家翁 ~ 佳节玛德琳 Festive Madeleine

戚风天后东东老娘到新国一游，在Hanushi的联系协调下，促成了这次我们的美丽约会，赴约的还有在我开始建立部落格就一路支持我的Anncoo和主动向我伸出友谊之手的爱丝特大妈（其实Esther一点也不像大妈，应该叫她辣妈才对）。所以说我能够不兴奋，不紧张吗？

上个星期一整个星期的重感冒让我整个人昏昏沉沉的，做什么事都提不起劲。但是我还是想为大家带点伴手礼，到了星期四晚上感冒稍微好转后我才准备开工。因为时间和手上有限的材料，最后我选择了做玛德琳。玛德琳小巧可爱，不需装饰又方便携带，所以我觉得很适合当送人的小点心。回想起来，我上一次做玛德琳是差不多一年前的事了，当时也是做来送朋友。

因为手头上没有杏仁粉，所以这回选择了不需杏仁粉的食谱。比较起来，加入杏仁粉的玛德琳味道比较好。把面糊一分为二加入红绿色，让玛德琳穿上了应景的衣服。虽然对成品不是很满意（觉得之前做的味道和外形比较好）但是因为没有时间再做过，丑媳妇终需见家翁，只好硬着头皮把拙作送给大家，收礼的个个都是高手怪不好意思的。

16.12.2011在东东，Hanushi，Anncoo，爱丝特和她的大王子的陪伴下，我度过了一个非常轻松开心的午后，时间匆匆而过，还有很多想聊的，希望有下一次的聚首。在这里还要再次感谢大家的礼物。（基于保持神秘感，美人们的合照就不放了）。

Festive Madeleine

Ingredients: (yield 20pcs)
2 eggs
75g castor sugar (I think can reduce a little bit)
1 tbsp honey
115g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
115g butter (melted)
Green & red colouring or pandan & strawberry paste

Method:
1) Using a hand whisk, beat eggs and sugar till sugar dissolved, add honey, mix well.
2) Sieve in flour mixture, mix till just incorporated.
3) Add melted butter and mix well to become a smooth batter. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least three hours.
4) Divide batter into two portions, add green/ pandan paste) to one portion of batter and red colouring/ strawberry paste to another portion of batter.
4) Grease and flour Madeleine mould, fill with batter till 80% full.
5) Bake in preheated oven at 170C for about 12-18 mins, upper rack.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #14 Creative Christmas Bake hosted by Hankerie.

Mee Jian Kueh aka Apam Balik (Baking Powder Version Using Happycall) 曼煎糕 (发粉版)

I shared my attempt of Mee Jian Kueh (MJK) using yeast not long time ago. Yesterday I made MJK again but this time I used baking powder instead. This baking powder version does not need proofing, so it’s kind of convenient, one can just make as and when feel like making. I think both versions taste very similar, to be frank, I can’t really tell the difference. I guess only if I can have both at the same time then I can tell the difference.

Mee Jian Kueh aka Apam Balik (Baking Powder Version Using Happycall)

Ingredients: (serve 4 or serve 8 if halve the thickness)
(A)
1 egg
2 tbsp sugar
½ tsp salt
(B)
¾ cup (180ml) milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
(C)
1 cup (130g) plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ scant tsp baking soda
(D)
1 tbsp cooking oil

Fillings: Butter / ground peanut + castor sugar / red bean paste etc

Method:
1) Whisk (A) until sugar is dissolved.
2) Add (B), mix well.
3) Sift in (C) in batches, mix well. Add (D), mix till just combined.
4) Pour the batter in HCP, close the lid with magnet. Cook over low heat for about 8-9 mins. If you want the skin to have even colour, move the pan left and right every now and then. When the skin is brown and the surface is set with tiny holes, it is done. Add fillings and fold into half. Slice and serve.

Note:
1) Suggest cooking in two batches as I find the MJK is too thick. If cook in two batches, the cooking time should be shorter, please adjust accordingly.
2) You may use a regular non-stick pan for this but need to adjust the cooking time depending on your pan.

I am submitting this to Bake Along # 14 - Pancakes & Crepes hosted by Frozen Wings (Lena), Kitchen Flavours (Joyce) and Bake for Happy Kids (Zoe).

5 Minutes Muah Chee (Using Happycall) 5分钟麻糍

Muah Chee is my mum’s favaourite local snack. I have been thinking to make it for the longest time. Through my research basically there are three methods of making Muah Chee.

 1) Microwave: I think this is the easiest and fastest method. I do not own a microwave at home, so this method out.

2) Steaming: I think this is the most common method adopted by many people but the steaming time is quite long, up to 45 mins I reckon. I think this is too time-consuming so I don’t prefer this method.

3) Cooking over the stove: Just need a non-stick pan and cook the batter over the stove, need to stir all the time and this should be faster as compared to the steaming method.  

Here is my first attempt of Muah Chee using the third method with the help of Happycall pan. With Happycall the batter is cooked in less than 5 minutes times.

I am very pleased with the result. To me, the texture is just nice, soft and slight chewy. I left a few pieces uncovered in room temperature and I was surprise that they remained soft (though not as soft) after a few hours. 

Recipe adapted from Happycall FB group. Thanks to the contributor.

5 Minutes Muah Chee (Using Happycall)

Ingredients: (serve 3-4 pax)
1 cup glutinous flour (糯米粉)
¾ cup water
1 tsp shallot oil (I replaced with sesame oil)
1 tsp sugar
Pinch of salt
Coating: finely grounded peanut, castor sugar and some sesame seeds

Method:
1) Prepare coating ingredients and mix well in a plate (not too shallow plate). Mix all dough ingredients together to get a smooth batter.
2) Pour into Happycall pan (need not grease or preheat the pan), close lid, lock with magnet. Cook over low heat for about 3 minutes.
3) Open lid and check after 3 minutes, the base should be set now while surface remain uncooked. Use a spatula to roll the dough together to form a lump. If the base is not set, cover the lid and cook for another half a minutes and check again.
4) Toss around for another 1-2 minutes to ensure the dough is fully cooked. (I gave a few cuts on the dough to fasten the cooking process and to check for doneness at the centre).
5) Remove and put the cooked dough onto the peanut mixture, cut to bite size and coat all over with peanut mixture.

Note:
1) Use 2 – 3 tsp oil for a more chewy texture. I do not prefer very chewy Muah Chee so to me the texture is just nice when using only 1 tsp of oil.
2) Use shallot oil for best result. To make shallot oil, just fry some sliced shallots with oil and discard the shallots. Fried shallots can be used for garnishing.

Mee Jian Kueh aka Apam Balik (Yeast Version Using Happycall) 曼煎糕（酵母版）

mee Jian Kuah is one of my family’s favourite local snacks. There are two types, thick & soft or thin & crispy. Usually the thin & crispy type is sold by the Malays and thick & soft type is sold by the Chinese.

It is a breeze to make this popular local snack using my new toy. I had made Mee Jian Kueh (MJK) before using normal non-stick pan. May be the pan I used was too big, the MJK took quite a while to be fully cooked, the centre remained uncooked when the side had already turned dark brown. My MJK ended up quite dry and the colour of skin was uneven.

The recipe I am going to share here belongs to the thick & soft type. It is taken from the recipes shared in the Happycall Facebook group. Thanks to the contributor.

This is a very simple recipe yet the result is fabulous. I won’t say it is exactly the same as the MJK sold outside but it is at least 80% there. I will continue to try out new recipes until I find the one that is closest to my liking.

Original recipe is in metric measurement, I covert it to cup measurement because I find that it is even easier and has lesser utensil to wash using cup measurement.

First you will need a big measuring cup (min. 3 cups capacity), then you just add the ingredients accordingly based on the marking on the measuring cup and mix well. The measuring cup itself is the container for the MJK batter. Once done, put the whole measuring cup in a clean plastic bag, tie the bag and let proof. Sounds very easy right?

My first MJK using Happycall with peanut filing

I just let the Happycall Pan sit on the stove for 8 mins. You can see the side is lighter colour.

Before cutting

My second MJK using Happycall with red bean paste filling

This time I moved the pan left and right after cooking for about 2-3 mins, you can see the skin colour is even now. I also adjusted the recipe amount to make MJK thicker.


Mee Jian Kueh aka Apam Balik (Yeast Version Using Happycall)

Ingredients: (serve 4)
(A)
2/3 cup (160ml) water
1 small egg (if using bigger egg, cut down the water)
2 tbsp (25g) sugar
(B)
1 cup (130g) plain flour
½ tsp baking soda (I used slightly under 1/2 tsp)
½ tsp instant yeast

Fillings: butter / ground peanut + castor sugar / red bean paste etc

Method:
1) Mix (A) together, add (B) mix well using a hand whisk till the batter becomes smooth.
2) Cover, let proof for 45-60 mins. The batter should be bubbling before cooking.
3) Pour the batter into Happycall Pan, smooth out to get an even thickness. Close the lid with magnet. Cook over low heat for about 8 mins (can start to check for doneness after 6 mins). If you want the skin to have even colour, move the pan left and right every now and then. When the skin is brown and there are tiny holes on surface, it is done. Add fillings and fold into half. Slice and serve.

Note:
1) I think a pinch of salt can be added to the batter to make it more flavourful.

2) When cooking, do not need to flip the pancake or the pan.
3) The MJK remains soft after cooling down but I am not sure if keep overnight because I never have any leftover.