Happy Birthday To D ~ Matcha Azuki Bean Layered Cake 抹茶红豆鲜奶油蛋糕

I made this cake for D’s birthday which falls on last Friday.

I learnt from my mistake last year that I should not rush for the cake and bake it only last minute. This year I planned in advance and took my time to complete the cake including making my own sweetened azuki bean (refer here for the recipe). I cooked the sweetened azuki bean on Monday night, baked the sponge cake base on Wednesday night, assembled on Thursday night and finally had the cake cut on Friday night.

The cake turned out to be quite close to what I had in my mind except the garnishing on top. Even though I had mixed the matcha powder with snow powder, the matcha powder on top still dampened, anyone can advise me how to prevent it?

To “rectify” the problem, what I did was to dust extra matcha powder and snow powder on top just before cake cutting. Bad move, there were patches all over. 
I used double amount of the sweetened azuki bean, this was wrong too! The cake became too sweet to our liking even though I had cut down the sugar amount in the matcha sponge cake.

Overall this cake was still passable minus the two shortcomings I mentioned above and my family thought it was pretty. 

I highly recommend the matcha sponge cake, it is ultra soft and moist. I am sure it is good for swiss roll also. The texture of the sponge base is somewhat like 黄金蛋糕 (golden cake) if you have ever tasted one.


Decorated with strawberry and truffle from Royce

Matcha Azuki Bean Layered Cake
(Recipe adapt from Wendy Kor’s Dessert’s Temptation)

Ingredients:

Sponge Cake
40g butter
80ml milk
70g superfine flour/ cake flour
¼ tsp baking powder
5g matcha powder (I used 1 ½ tsp)
4 egg yolks
5 egg whites
50g sugar (I used 45g)

Syrup (not in original recipe)
60g sugar
60g water

Fillings
120g whipping cream (whisk till soft peak)(I used non-dairy)
100g sweetened azuki bean (I used about 200g which proved to be too sweet)

Garnish
Matcha powder/ snow powder

Method:

1) Heat butter and milk up to 50C (when touched it is slightly warm). Remove from heat.

2) Add sifted flour, matcha powder and baking powder. Mix well (your action must be fast and keep stirring else the batter may become lumpy). Stir in egg yolk one by one, mix well before each addition.

3) In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and sugar till soft peak form. Fold 1/3 of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture, mix well. Pour the mixture to the remaining meringue, fold in well till just incorporated.

4) Pour the batter into 14”x14” baking tray (mine is 12”x16”) lined with parcement paper. Smooth the top. Bake at 180C for 15 mins or until done.

5) To make syrup, heat up the sugar and water till sugar dissolved and set aside to cool down.

6) To assemble, cut the cake into 4pcs equally. Brush each piece of cake with syrup on both sides (this is to keep the cake moist, you may skip this if the cake is served on the same day). Place one piece of cake on cake board, spread thin layer of whipping cream and add some sweetened azuki bean, place another piece of cake on top. Repeat the same. Frost the top layer with more whipping cream (I piped lines with a plain round nozzle) and dust with matcha / snow powder. Chill before serving. To serve, leave the cake in room temperature for about 2-3 mins before serving.

Tips:
To make the cake more presentable, trim the four sides after frosting.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #18 : Layers of Love (April 2012) hosted by Sam of Sweet Samsations.

Sweetened Azuki Bean (Using Thermal Cooker) 蜜红豆 (焖烧锅食谱)

第一次尝试自己煮蜜红豆原来一点也不难，以后再也不用买罐头的蜜红豆了。

自己煮蜜红豆很经济实惠，一包$2的红豆煮出来成品足足一公斤有余。分成小包装冷冻起来可以慢慢用。可以用来做蛋糕，面包，加多点水煮一煮就成了红豆汤，再加工把蜜红豆捣烂炒过就是红豆沙了。

我用焖烧锅来煮，两个小时就搞定了。自从买了焖烧锅后家里煮汤焖东西都用它来代劳，方便又省电省煤气，电子砂锅早就被打入冷宫。

Sweetened Azuki Bean (Using Thermal Cooker)

Ingredients:

500g azuki bean/ red bean
1 litre water
400g sugar

Method:

1) Wash red bean, discard bad bean (if any), add into inner pot of the thermal cooker (I am using 2.5L thermal cooker), cook with water till boiling, let it boil for 10 mins.

2) Move the inner pot to the thermal cooker. Bring it out 1 hour later to cook on stove, bring to a boil then keep in the thermal cooker again.

3) Check 1 hour later, the red bean should be soft by now. If not, keep in thermal cooker for a while longer.

4) Transfer cooked red bean to a large mixing bowl (the bottom one may become too soft or broken, keep those and add water to cook red bean soup). Add sugar while the red bean is still hot, stir gently to prevent breaking the red bean. You can also prepare another mixing bowl, pour the red bean/sugar from one bowl to another bowl, repeat till the sugar is fully dissolved.

5) If not use immediately, divide and pack in several small bags, freeze.

Note:

1) Cooking time depends on individual thermal cooker, the above is just a guide. Thermal cooker works the best when the inner pot is about 70-80% filled, so if you are using a large thermal cooker, likely you need to extend the cooking time.

2) I am using 1:2:0.8 ratio, i.e amount of water is double of the red bean weight and the sugar is 80% of the red bean weight. You can cook any amount based on this ratio. I don’t advise to reduce the sugar largely because this will reduce the shelf life of the cooked red bean.

Random Tuesday - Cucur Ikan Bilis (Premixed)

星期六D在马来档口买了炸蔬菜饼（cucur sayur），蔬菜饼炸得很美，圆滚滚的，就是看起来非常油腻。D说很不错吃，就是太油了，我不敢尝试，感觉一咬下去里头的油会爆发到我满口。

我当下夸下海口跟D说明天早上就炸给他吃，肯定不会油。

后来有点后悔担心没能特别早起身做早餐（还没试过一早起身就炸东西吃）所以逛超市时就顺手拿买了一包预拌粉。用预拌粉真的很方面倒入水马上就能炸，前后不到10分钟就搞定了。

第一次使用这个预拌粉，这预拌粉的口感很不错，刚炸好时外脆内软，可惜一点也不辣，里头也没有料（即使包装上写明已经包含了江鱼仔，辣椒和蔬菜等材料）。所以，建议要尝试这预拌粉的朋友自己加一些辣椒，蔬菜，江鱼仔到面糊。我也觉得有点小咸，提醒自己如下次再买这预拌粉要下一小撮糖。

其实这是我们家口中的“江鱼Kuih”，是我们的早餐，下午茶，也是我们的宵夜。就是肚子饿没东西吃时妈妈会弄的小点心，家里每个人都爱吃。

下次make from scratch时把食谱编好再和大家分享。

Multigrain Cereal Banana Sponge Cake 多谷麦片香蕉海绵蛋糕

做蛋糕时妈妈刚好来厨房想泡麦片喝，于是让我有了蛋糕加入麦片的idea。考虑要不要把麦片加入面糊里，后来觉得还是不要乱来保险点只把麦片洒在面糊上。

蛋糕在烤时已经香得不得了，麦片真的为这香蕉蛋糕加分不少。本来还以为麦片一定会边吃边掉，怎知只是倒扣时掉落了一小部分，大多数的麦片都牢牢的粘在蛋糕表皮。

蛋糕刚出炉时表皮的麦片是脆脆的，配搭软软的蛋糕吃起来很有层次感。冷却后吃也不错，除了香蕉原本的香味还能尝到麦片香。

如果没有图中这款麦片，建议可以用Nestum。下次要试试看把麦片拌入面糊里。

食谱这里找，我只是把融化牛油换成液体植物油，用9寸方模烤（170C, 30-40分钟，蛋糕是上个月做的不大记得烘烤时间)，把蛋糕切成方块，觉得这样的呈现方式也挺好看的。

我觉得这次的成品比起上次有更加轻盈柔软，吃过的人说比Four Leavex卖的的香蕉蛋糕还好吃。是因为换成液体油的原故？还是这回我用了比较少的香蕉泥（上次我用了食谱的1.8倍）？抑或是蛋糊的打发和拌面的手法进步了？

Recipe adapted from HERE. I just replaced melted butter with vegetable oil, baked in 9” square pan instead (170C for about 30-40 mins, I can’t remember the baking time as this was baked last month).

100% Natural Pandan Kaya (by bread machine) 全天然班兰咖椰（面包机）

家里有新鲜的班兰叶妈妈建议拿来做咖椰。对，也好久没做了，之前有一段时间常做，有面包机代劳，其实做咖椰真的是不费吹灰之力。

这回我没有用之前做过的食谱，我用了跟姑姑学的“一碗定律”，其实比较数学化的说法就是1:1:1的比例，三种材料指的是椰浆，鸡蛋，糖。

用比例的话，当然要先设定其中一种材料的份量。我打算用两盒Kara盒装椰浆（家里常常会收一两盒以备不时之需），两盒是400ml, 那么鸡蛋和糖的份量也就是400ml的量。

刚好买了特大蛋，量杯里敲了六颗蛋就差不多400ml了。糖方面我只加到八九分满，称了是330g，我觉得甜度刚刚好。

和之前分享的这个食谱比起来我比较喜欢这次的成品，不只是因为用来100%天然班兰叶汁，这个食谱蛋的比例比较高，我觉得比较香浓，发现家人也很爱哦，咖椰销量很好。

100% Natural Pandan Kaya (by bread machine)

Ingredients: (make 3 cups)
400ml coconut milk (I used Kara brand, box type)
400ml whole eggs (see note 1)
330g sugar
About 10 pandan leaves (it’s ok to use more or less, I didn’t count actually)
1 tbsp home-made pandan essence (optional)

Method:
1) Cut pandan leaves into small pieces. Blend pandan leaves with 200ml of coconut milk and squeeze through a fine strainer (I didn’t blend with water because I didn’t want to dilute the coconut milk). Mix with the balance 200ml of coconut milk and pandan essence (if using).
2) Beat eggs and sugar lightly till sugar dissolved. Add into bread machine pan together with the pandan coconut milk. Select "Jam" function.
3) Once done, let jam cool in bread pan for a while before transferring to a blender to blend till smooth (a few pulses with do, depends on how fine you want it to be, I prefer little coarse texture).
4) Store in sterilized glass jars and keep in fridge after completely cool down.

Note:
1) Crack eggs in a measuring jug to measure. I used 6 extra large eggs of each net weight between 62g-69g.
2) The last jar of kaya is already  almost 3 weeks old and it is still looking good. Make sure use clean and dry utensil to pick up the kaya each time.
3) Refer to my first bread machine kaya post HERE for more kitchen notes.

咔嚓咔嚓～百香果戚风蛋糕 Passionfruit Chiffon Cake

姑姑的朋友送给姑姑四粒百香果，姑姑给了我两粒。发生事情后姑姑的性格还是没有改变，有什么好东西一定第一时候和心爱的家人分享，甚至在自己自身难保的情况下还愿意掏出所剩无几的积蓄帮忙“有需要”的家人。姑姑即使是现在一点也没拖累家人，甚至还是继续守护着我们。对于金钱她看得非常开，完全没入息还要负担复诊买药费用的她没把金钱看得很紧，只会自己省着用，家人只要有事，她马上就把辛辛苦苦存的钱奉献给人，一转身人家不也风流快活去。

第一次用百香果做蛋糕是在部落格还没设立前，就喜欢它清新的味道。所以,这回我也马上想到拿来做蛋糕。

这个百香果戚风非常柔软湿软，即使我没有跟着食谱用低筋面粉。喜欢咬到蛋糕里百香果的种子时喀嚓喀嚓的口感，和poppy seed有异曲同工之处。美中不足的是百香果的味道并不明显。

发现蛋糕组织有些大气孔，对照一下原著的照片也有同样的问题，或许是加入百香果的关系。

Though the passionfruit taste is not prominent, I think this recipe is a keeper as it produces a very soft and moist cake.

Passionfruit Chiffon Cake
(Recipe reference: Alex Goh's “Fruity Cakes” with personal adaption)

Ingredients:
(A)
4 egg yolk
50g castor sugar (I used 20g)
(B)
50g vegetable oil
55g passionfruit pulp (slightly more than one fruit)
20g water
¼ tsp salt
(C)
100g low protein flour (I used normal plain flour)
½ tsp baking powder
(D)
4 egg white
100g castor sugar (I used 90g)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1) Whisk egg yolk and sugar in (A) till sugar dissolved. Add (B) and mix well.
2) Sift in (C) and mix till a smooth and uniform batter is formed. Set aside.
3) Whisk egg white till frothy, Add 1/3 of sugar and cream of tartar in (D). Continue to beat and add remaining sugar in 2 sessions and beat till stiff peak (original recipe is to beat whites till soft peak then add sugar/cream of tartar at one go).
4) Fold in 1/3 of the meringue to egg yolk mixture, fold till just incorporated. Repeat the same for the remaining meringue.
5) Pour batter into 20cm tube pan, bang it on tabletop twice to release air bubbles. Bake in preheated oven at 170C for about 40-45 mins. Invert the cake immediately once taken out from the oven. Cool completely before removing from mould.

Note:
1) Use egg of net weight 60g each (without shell).
2) Cream of tartar can be replaced by ½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar.
3) I think 20g water in (B) can be replaced by passionfruit juice to boost the passionfruit flavour. 

久违了～ 班兰戚风蛋糕 Tall Pandan Chiffon Cake

难得弄了班兰汁当然要做班兰戚风。戚风蛋糕的口味可以花样百出，自从接触到外头的花花草草，几乎忘了旧爱还是最美。想当年班兰戚风蛋糕（简称班兰蛋糕）和戚风蛋糕几乎划上了等号。

很久没做一整粒的戚风蛋糕了，所以选了个可信赖的食谱，Alex Goh老师的食谱不会错。这个食谱的面粉量高，蛋糕自然比较挺，看到蛋糕发到高高的心里好欢喜。虽然粉量高，但放心蛋糕还是有戚风应有的软。

蛋糕吃进口里，天然的班兰香---那久违了的味道。。。

这个蛋糕还是用空手脱模，自从尝试了空手脱模我就爱上了这个方法，好玩又方便。

Tall Pandan Chiffon Cake
(Basic chiffon cake recipe adapted from Alex Goh’s “Creative Making of Cakes” with personal adaption)

Ingredients:
(A)
4 egg yolk
45g castor sugar
(B)
70ml coconut milk
45ml pandan juice (including 2 tbsp home-made pandan essence)
70ml (62g) vegetable oil
1/8 tsp salt
(C)
150g plain flour/cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
(D)
4 egg white
90g castor sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1) Whisk egg yolk and sugar in (A) till sugar dissolved. Add (B) and mix well.
2) Sift in (C) and mix till a smooth and uniform batter is formed. Set aside.
3) Whisk egg white till frothy, Add 1/3 of sugar and cream of tartar in (D). Continue to beat and add remaining sugar in 2 sessions and beat till stiff peak (original recipe is to beat whites till soft peak then add sugar/cream of tartar at one go).
4) Fold in 1/3 of the meringue to egg yolk mixture, fold till just incorporated. Repeat the same for the remaining meringue.
5) Pour batter into 20cm tube pan, bang it on tabletop twice to release air bubbles.
6) Bake in preheated oven at 175C for about 40 mins (when in doubt, bake for a few more mins. For chiffon cake, it's better to over baked than under baked). Invert the cake immediately once taken out from the oven. Cool completely before removing from mould.

Note:
1) Use egg of net weight 60g each (without shell).
2) Cream of tartar can be replaced by 1/2 tsp of lemon juice or vinegar.

This is how I cool my chiffon cake. Cake must be far from the tabletop to prevent water condensation on cake surface.

班兰汁和班兰精华 Home-made Pandan Essence

小时候看姑姑做班兰蛋糕时榨取班兰汁的方法是把班兰叶剪短后盅烂，然后再用手用力挤出班兰汁, 一点水也没加。挤出来的班兰汁是深绿色的，滴滴是精华。

当然现在应该很少人用这种原始的方法了。我对班兰叶有点敏感，每次处理后手就会痒痒红红的，所以很少自己弄班兰汁，偶尔想念班兰口味就用市售的pandan paste代替，根本不到位。

这天妈妈带来好多新鲜的班兰叶，大概有三四把。我觉得如果就让它们干了坏了很可惜。于是就勤劳点弄了一罐班兰汁，收在冰箱里慢慢用。不是很确定新鲜班兰汁可以收多久，到现在大概一个多星期了还没变坏。

做法很简单，把班兰叶剪短然后加入搅拌机，加最小量的水（让搅拌机可以操作的份量就行了，这点视个别搅拌机的功能而定）把班兰叶打烂。如果要搅大量的班兰叶建议不要一次过加完，搅烂一部分后再一点一点加，水份也一样。最后把班兰汁过滤，最好是倒入布袋内用手像挤椰浆一样挤干。

把挤出的班兰汁静置冰箱内一天底部沉淀深绿色的部分就是班兰精华了。上面浅绿色的部分也很香，可以配搭班兰精华来使用。

Home-made Pandan Essence

Cut Pandan leaves (screwpine) into small pieces with scissors.

Put them into blender and add as little water as possible, just to allow the machine to puree the pandan leaves. If you are blending a lot of pandan leaves, add them bit-by-bit, same to the water amount.

Once done, sieve the mixture over a fine strainer and squeeze the pandan pulp to extract the juice as much as you can.

Store the juice in a clean container, let it sit in the fridge for at least one day.

You will notice the pandan juice will be separated into two parts. The green concentrated bottom is the pandan essence. This is the part which gives your bake the lovely green hue and intense pandan frangrance. As it is very precious, so use it with pandan juice (the clear light green part) to make up of the amount needed (usually 1-2 tbsp of pandan essence is good enough for an 8” pandan cake). Of course if you have plenty to spare, use it liberally as you like.

Savour 2012 (Bread making tips and Demo Video from the Global Baker Dean Brettschneider Included)

Sharing some photos taken during SAVOUR, a gourmet event in Singapore.

The SAVOUR concept is a first of its kind in Singapore, with a philosophy to unite the finest food and drink with a plethora of expert master classes, live demonstrations, fun workshops and culinary shopping, in an event that is accessible to all. It was held from 30th March to 1st April 2012 at the F1 Paddock and Pit Building, just beside Singapore Flyer. I was there on 30th March evening.

I have bookmarked three workshops that I would like to attend prior to the event but unfortunately I only managed to attend two which already made me feel very excited. I will share the detail and what I have learnt (including video clips) at the end of this post.

A glance from top

The prominent Singapore Flyer

Hong Kong’s popular street food - egg waffle “gai dan zai”

Do you notice the black colour thingy? It’s black truffle!


This is the final product, serve with a scoop of condensed milk ice-cream (S$9), creation of Bo Innovation, Hong Kong.

Molecular xiao long bao

Molecular xiao long bao by Chef Alvin Leung of Bo Innovation, Hong Kong (S$6).

Borrowing a technique created by el Bulli's Ferran Adria, the liquid soup filling is served without its traditional dough wrapper. Rather, the liquid is encapsulated in a thin gel skin which bursts immediately upon entering your mouth, creating much the same effect as eating a traditional xiao long bao.

It’s about the same size of a typical tangyuan or slightly smaller, the whole thing is ultra smooth and jelly like. The red colour hairline is actually pickled ginger. Eating this is an unique experience to me. In fact this is the first time I tasted molecular food.

Some macarons and sweet treats seen in the Gourmet Market



From a stall selling organic veggies and food in the Gourmet Market 



ThreeSixty Market Place. Can't get enough of food sampling.

ThreeSixty Market Place. I didn't try the Iberico ham because I had tasted it before and I didn't like it.

ThreeSixty Market Place

ThreeSixty Market Place. Do you expect this in a supermarket?

ThreeSixty Market Place must be the largest exibitor in the Gourmet Market. It occupied the entire flour. The set up was almost like the real one at ION, except that there were many booths for food sampling, even with a live band to keep all the visitors entertained.

VIP pavilion

VIP ticket holders got to enjoy free flow of wine, champagne and snack in the pavilion.

My cup of champagne

Now come to the highlights of the two bread making workshops that I attended.

Chef Jason Tan from Vina Artisan Bakery

I attended ARTISAN BREAD MAKING workshop taught by chef Jason Tan. He is young and friendly. In the workshop I got the chance to learn the basics of bread making from him including some hands-on. We were given the recipe of French Baguette.

Here is a video clip of chef Jason Tan demonstrating how to shape a French Baguette.

I ended my day by attending another workshop - SECRET RECIPES OF THE GLOBAL BAKER taught by chef Dean Brettschneider. Chef Dean is founder and co owner of the global bakery chain Baker & Cook in Singapore. Coincidentally, Baker & Cook was featured in the local newspaper (My Paper) that day.

The Global Baker Dean Brettschneider

Chef Dean is very charming and humorous in person (I think he looks better in person too :P).

Here is a short video clip of chef Dean demonstrating how to knead bread dough by hand.

In the video Chef Dean is kneading 1kg of flour. His hands motion helps to incorporate air into the dough and air is one of the key factors for the yeast to grow. This was the only step he followed throughout the kneading process. Look simple, isn't it?

Bread made by Chef Dean

The bread was not fully cooked art the end of the session. So I didn’t get the chance to taste it.

Dressed up pecan pie

Notice the beautiful caramel deco on top? Chef Dean showed us how it was done. He simply took spoonful of caramel and dripped it on the back of a ladle. The beautiful deco was then done in no time.

Often we do not know how to drop cream nicely on serving plate expect using a piping bag. The secret is to warm the spoon (just dip in warm water) before scooping the cream. See how the scoop of cream turns out in the picture.

Below are some tips of bread making I learnt from both workshops that I would like to share with you: -

1) The secret of easy and effective kneading by hand is to rest for 30-45 seconds several times during the kneading process. This allows both the baker and the elastic flour protein to relax a little before further kneading.

2) At the moulding stage, use both hands to roll the bread dough on tabletop in circular motion. The friction helps to “seal” the bottom of the dough and you will get a smooth round dough.

3) The correct way of punching after first proofing. After seeing the demonstration from chef Dean I realized I had done it wrongly all the while. When recipe writes punch down, we don’t really punch the dough. Instead, we should use both hands to press down the dough gently and fold in the four sides.

4) Singapore weather is perfect for proofing. Thus, don’t be tempted to create a warm environment to fasten the proofing process. It’s okay to let it proof for longer time. Importantly is to observe the dough. I like to put my dough in the oven beside a cup of warm water during second proofing; I should not do that next time.

5) Artisan bread needs to have steam during baking in order to get crispy and thin crust. Both chefs suggested to spray water right after the bread dough is sent into the oven. Chef Dean just poured some water from his mineral water bottle during the live demo. Chef Jason also suggested putting some ices in the oven. When the ices start to melt, they create steam.

The entrance ticket

The ticket was sponsored by Bosch. Thanks Bosch for the Savour experience. It was a long story. To cut it short, I was being stopped at the entrance because I brought an expired ticket unknowingly. It was not my fault but I also got to blame myself for being too careless by not checking the tickets individually. Luckily, Min of Bosch came and “rescued” me from the awkward situation and even passed me the VIP ticket.

Bosch is one of the main sponsors of Savour. Too bad I didn’t manage to attend any of the Bosch cooking class that day as the class schedule clashed with the bread making workshop.

Savour official website:
http://www.savour.sg/

The Answer Is........

So what is this?

The answer of the guessing game I posted last week is.....molecular xiao long bao 分子小笼包。

My upcoming post will have more write up about this. So do check it up!

Cook.Bake.Love 三周年纪念日快乐！Happy Third Blog Anniversary！

三年前的今天Cook.Bake.Love在Blogger悄悄成立了。从开始的门可罗雀到今天虽没有门庭若市，但时不时都有朋友来访，喝杯茶吃个包，嘘寒问暖，让作为主人的Angel倍感温馨。

今天是Cook.Bake.Love的三周年纪念日。踏入四月份有两个我不会忘记的日子，一个是我妹的生日，一个是D的生日，而我差点就忘了这个重要的日子。最近比较忙，更新和回复留言的速度也放慢了，给我留言的朋友们真不好意思。

在此，Angel要谢谢大家这些日子来的关照，也要特别感谢Cook.Bake.Love的299 位followers，有谁要成为第300位？呵呵 :P

 

更新于5:05pm -  谢谢知足常乐的spdong成为Cook.Bake.Love的第300位follower。spdong，你的动作可真快！

Happy Third Blog Anniversary, Cook. Bake. Love!

Random Tuesday - Make a Guess 猜谜

Guess what this is. Answer will be announced in my next post. (No prize if guess correctly :P)

猜猜看这是什么。答案会在下一篇里揭晓（答对无奖！）。