Xmas Log Cake 2015

Merry Christmas and blessed new year 2016

Durian Log Cake

Carrot Log Cake to celebrate my dear sister birthday

Danish Cinnamon Roll

After a few attempt on making croissant. I was tempted to try out others flavoured Danish pastry and the first pastry came to my mind is cinnamon roll which are always looks mouth watering display in any artisan bakery shop. Cinnamon roll is one of the top selection pastry on my diet. Yes, they are fattening so we try not to have it too much but when we eat, we must  eat the best and number 1 pastry to worth the calorie that we gain. What an excuse? but that's my rules of diet when come to enjoying food.

Using the same recipe of croissant, I came out with my first Danish Cinnamon roll. This time it's even better as after few times of practising  on the pastry making, I have much confidence as well as things seems to goes smoother during the process. 

This cinnamon roll unlike the cinnamon buns or rolls that I was making previously. Those were made from bread flour and didn't contain so much fat which more on bread texture. Whereas Danish pastry cinnamon roll is very buttery,  soft, flaky and a little chewy. 

This cinnamon roll is something that can be shared with everyone. It's as good as those stall bought or even better. It smell wonderful when they are almost done from the oven. I couldn't resist and ate two in one go when they had still a little warm on the cooling rack. 

Danish pastry are always best to eat while they are freshly made especially this cinnamon roll. The first batch I made yield 16 pieces. Then, the second time I made, I bake 8 pieces and keep the other 8 pieces unbaked. I kept them in the freezer until I need them again. Simply defrost them at room temperature and let them proof and rise again. There, I got freshly baked cinnamon roll again. 

Till here, I will make this repeatedly  to feed my guinea pigs on every weekly cell group gathering and before that, one will goes to my mouth first hahaha...

Refer dough recipe as croissant

For the cinnamon mixture. Mix 60g brown sugar with 2 tabkespoon ground cincinnamon.

Egg wash: Mix 2 egg yolk and 1 egg whites

80g raisin, sultanas

some almond or pecan or walnuts (optional)

Roll out a ready made pastry into 24  x 10 inches. Brush some water on the surface then sprinkle the cinnamon mixture all over the pastry evenly. Place raisin or sultanas or any nuts. Roll up the pastry and seal tighthly. 

Cut them into 16 equal portions and place on a baking pan attached with baking paper. Brush the egg glaze and let them proof for 2 hours at room temeprature. 

Brush egg glaze again and bake at 200C preheated oven for 20 minites. Best serve freshly made.

Croissant

My very first attempt on Danish pastry, Croissant. So fulfilling and joyful after all.

Here is my very first attempt on Croissant. It wasn't easy as the process very time consuming as well as the weather really give me a big challenge. I was like running a marathon with the hot weather to roll out and fold in the pastry to avoid the butter melted in very short time. 

It's ready to be baked in the oven and I was so exciting for the result.

After all, I must say it is truly worth the effort and so fulfilling at the end result. 

I love to eat croissant, and crazily miss the Delifrance Croissant Sandwich. Of course I could get it easily from the cafe but making it on my own is full of enjoyment through the process. I know that there are so much room to be improved and from this experience I should be able to do better for my next Danish Pastry. Practice make perfect!

The layers of soft crumbs is so buttery yet the flaky crust is so delicious and that really make me smile and I knew that I've got there.

I've got a very good tutorial from a video clip of YouTube. I studied and watched over and over again for many times before I get started. This lady Stephanie Javorski of Joyofbaking.com has given very clear description on the video that had help me get this successful result just at my first attempt. I don't think I can give such a good and very detail yet precise description of the process, so do visit her video clip for full description and remember all the tips that she is giving to make sure everything go smooth during the process. 

The following recipe and some note is only for my future reference to remind myself some tips like measurement and things that I might forget on my next attempt. 

Lastly, I am so happy that I finally able to make my own croissant. It taste so good and so satisfied after all. 

The result told me that it worth the effort for the long process

Recipe (makes 11 croissant):

For the dough:

475g plain flour

65g caster sugar

10g salt

6g instant yeast

25g unsalted butter

240g water

30g cream

225g unsalted butter

For the glaze:

2 large egg yolk + 1 large whole egg

• Mix the dough ingredients together except butter in a bread maker or electric mixer attached with dough hook. Add in butter when the mixture come together. Knead the dough until smooth. 
• Proof the dough for one hour at room temperature covered with cling wrap.
• Prepare the butter sheet shown below and refrigerate until hard and ready to use.

Cut the 225g butter into 12 equal portion. Place on a baking sheet drawn measurement line with 10 inches x 7 inches (25cm x 18cm) 

• After an hour proofing, bring the dough to a floured surface. Roll out into 14 x 10 inch (35 x 25 cm) rectangle. Sprinkle some flour on the top and cover with cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight.

• To laminate the dough, remove the dough and butter from the refrigerator. Bring the dough to a floured surface. Tear off the baking paper from the butter and place at the center of the dough. Fold two side of the dough into center and seal all the edges tightly. 

• Roll out the dough into 22 x 8 inch (55 x 20 cm) rectangle vertically with even thickness. Flour the work surface and dough when working out the dough. Make the first fold of the dough by folding lengthwise into thirds. 

• If the butter started to melt, place into the refrigerator for an hour. Or, do the second fold by rolling out into to 22 x 8 inches (55 x 20 cm) rectangle vertically with even thickness. Make the second fold of the dough by folding lengthwise into thirds. Refrigerate for one hour. 

• Take the chill dough out from the refrigerator. Again, roll out into to 22 x 8 inches (55 x 20 cm) rectangle vertically with even thickness. Make the third fold of the dough by folding lengthwise into thirds. Chill the dough for one hour.

• Remove the chill dough from the refrigerator and roll the dough into a 16 x 9 inch (40 x 23 cm) rectangle vertically with even thickness. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes. The dough can be left in the fridge or freezer and ready to be used. 

• Make a croissant template with cardboard paper shown below.

Prepare a croissant template on a cardboard with 

9.5 cm across the base and about 9 inches (23 cm) high.

• Take out the chill dough from the refrigerator and roll out into 24 x 9 inch (61 x 23 cm) rectangle.
• With the triangle template attach on the dough as a guideline. Cut out a triangle dough with knife. 
• Lengthen the dough by rolling out with a rolling pin. Cut a small slit in the center of the wide end of your dough. Starting at the wide end, roll the dough into a crescent shape. Place on a baking sheet seal side down and repeat with the remaining triangles.
• Glaze the dough with egg wash and cover with a cling wrap. Proof the dough for 2 hours and preheated the oven to 200C. 
• After 2 hours, glaze the dough with egg wash again and bake the dough for 20 minutes or until golden brown. (if using two tray, rotate the tray within 10 minutes)

My little note:

1. Proof the dough for 1 hour.
2. Butter sheet size 10 inches x 7 inches (25cm x 18cm) 
3. Roll out the dough into 14 x 10 inch (35 x 25 cm) 
4. Chill dough 6 hours or overnight.
5. After laminate dough and butter, roll out the dough 22 x 8 inch (55 x 20 cm) , chill for 1 hour
6. Second fold, 22 x 8 inches (55 x 20 cm)chill for 1 hour
7. Third fold, 22 x 8 inches (55 x 20 cm) chill for 1 hour
8. Roll out into 16 x 9 inch (40 x 23 cm) 
9. Refrigerated for 30 - 60 minutes or overnight (ready to use)
10. For croissant size,  roll out to make 11 pieces. 24 x 9 inch (61 x 23 cm) 

Snowskin Mooncake

Not sure what motivate me to make mooncake this year. After flaky spiral mooncake then Shanghai mooncake follow by traditional baked mooncake then now snowskin mooncake. 

I don't really eat them after made but I am blessed to have a group of guinea pig on every Thursday cell fellowship. No matter good or bad the food that I have experimented, they got to swallow them all. 

I have tried two different snowskin mooncake recipes and this is the second one I like and should say it is successful as it has a soft skin even after stay in the fridge for few days. Just return the mooncake to room temperature for 5 minutes and we got to a nice soft mooncake to enjoy. 

This good recipe must be from a trustable and humble blogger Happy Home Baking. Please go to her blog for better recipe description. 

Recipe source from HHB

Makes 6 mini snowskin mooncake 

Ingredients:

37g cooked glutinous rice flour

25g icing sugar

12g shortening,

45ml cold water

180g white lotus or black sesame lotus or tiramisu lotus (portion and roll into balls with 30g each)

* for matcha flavour - Replace cold water with hot water + 1/2 teaspoon matcha powder then chill for about 30 minutes or until very cold.

* for coffee flavour - Replace cold water with hot water + 1/2 teaspoon granulated coffee then chill for about 30 minutes or until very cold

* for vanilla flavour - mix cold water with 1/4 teaspoon with vanilla bean paste then add into the flour mixture. 

* for red tea flavour - soak 1 red tea teabag with 70ml hot water then measure out 45 ml red tea and chill in the fridge until cold.

Shift the cooked glutinous rice flour with icing sugar until well combine. Rub in the shortening with finger tips until the mixture turn crumbly. Add in the cold water and lightly knead to form a smooth dough. Divide into 6 portions with 20g each. 

Place a piece of cling wrap on the working surface, place a dough on the cling wrap and fold in the cling wrap then use a rolling pin to roll out the dough to a flat disc about 7 cm diameter. Tear off the cling wrap and place the dough on hand and wrap in the lotus filling. Roll into a ball shape then coated with some cooked glutinous rice flour. Place the dough into the mould and press to form pattern. Unmould and place in an airtight container then chill in the fridge. Before serve, place at room temperature for for 5 minutes and enjoy.

Shanghai Mooncake

After reading a few different mooncake recipes, I notice Shanghai Mooncake is the easiest one for me. My first tasted Shanghai Mooncake was few years back from my good friend Jane.

I still remember how tasty her Shanghai Mooncake. I miss her a lot really. Those day she freeze many good stuffs that she bake for me then she will bring all in one time when she took leave to visit me. What a blessing!!

This mooncake is very tasty as the pastry is totally different from the traditional mooncake. The buttery pastry is so fragrant to go with the less sweet lotus paste. I served the cell group and everyone thumbs up. Definately make this again not only for mid autumn festival but all year round.

Recipe adapted from my favorite blogger eileen

150g plain flour

50g icing sugar

25g milk powder
12g custard powder
3/4tsp baking powder
50g shortening
25g vegetable oil
1 medium egg
216Lotus paste
216 Sesame Lotus paste

1. Mix all the dry ingredient together until well combined.
2. Rub in the shortening with fingers tip. Then gradually add in the vegetable oil. And finally mix in the egg.
3. Divide the dough into 12 portions at 29g each. Flatten each dough and wrap in the fillings.
4. Egg wash the pastry and bake in a 180C preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.

Purple Sweet Potato Cheese Bread

Using root vegetables is really a good idea to make our bread softer and fluffier which we don't have to add any chemical agent for homemade bread.

I have been using my comfort root vegetables recipe for years such as potato, sweet potato, pumpkin and purole sweet potato and this time I like to give a try on my favorite food blogger recipe, eileen. I replace the potato to purple sweet potato. 

The bread is very soft and  fluffy. As it will be served as our dinner roll and sandwich bun, I sprinkle  some cheddar on top for extra texture. Will keep this recipe as another choices of root vegetable bread making in our menu. 

Recipe:

300g bread flour

130g purple sweet potato (steamed  and mashed) 

50g caster sugar

1/4 tsp salt

17g  whole egg

8g yeast

80g fresh milk

50g unsalted butter

Add all the ingredients in a bread pan except yeast and fit it into the bread maker. Turn on the bread maker. Choose program 11 and press the START button. Knead for 15 minutes. Restart the bread maker and start from program 11 again and add yeast this time and continue for the kneading process until machines stop.

Turn off the bread maker then take out the bread pan and cover with cling film. Let it proof for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces about 70g. Cover with cling wrap and rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each dough into a smooth and round ball shape. Place them on a baking tray attached with baking paper. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Egg wash the dough and sprinkle with some cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 20 minutes on the lower rack.

Take out the buns from the oven and transfer the bread on a wire rack and tear off the baking paper to cool.  

Traditional Mooncake

I am not sure what has motivate me on making mooncake this year. As for me, I don't enjoy mooncake very much or may be just had a piece during the actual day of mid autumn festival. When I passed by a baking supply shop recently, I saw many people was grabbing their mooncake ingredients and mould ready to make their very best products for family, I curious! I even heard some lady said making moon cake is actually very easy because nowadays many ready lotus paste, we just need to make the mooncake skin. That I curious too! I hop over my most respect and favorite blogger Happy Home Baking website and took a look and read through her recipe. Then my hand start itchy and try to make some. Here came out my very first attempt of traditional mooncake.

I start with a small mould as I afraid I couldn't handle the dough well. I am quite enjoying in the process of making. Rolling and shaping is fun actually. The texture is nice as I manage to wrap it with thinner skin. With super low sugar lotus paste, my husband and cell group members enjoy very much.

Very glad I could make it and people enjoy it although I didn't. I must say the quality not as good as those restaurant or branded mooncake. Theirs are really fine products whereas my mooncake is definately very homemade. However, it is good to experience the process.

For better recipe description, please visit HHB

Recipe:

Hong Kong flour 水仙粉 100g

Golden syrup 70g
vegetable oil 20g
Alkaline water 2 - 3g
Lotus paste 420g
Melon seeds 40g

Combine the golden syrup, vegetable oil and alkaline water in a bowl. Mix in the Hong Kong flour 水仙粉 with a spatula fold them until become a smooth dough. Cling warp the dough and chill for overnight.

Mix the lotus paste with Melon seeds then divide into 13 portions, about 35g each.

Divide dough into 13 portions, about 12g to 13g  each. Prepare a cling wrap line on a working surface. Place a dough on the left side and fold the cling wrap from right to left cover the dough.  Use a rolling pin to flatten it to a round disc shape about 8 cm diameter. Open the cling wrap from left to right, take out the cling wrap together with the flatten dough and place on the balm of your hand. Tear off the cling wrap and shape into a ball.

Place the ready ball dough into a mooncake mould to press and release on a baking tray with lined baking tray.

Spray some.water on the ready bake mooncake and bake in 180c preheated oven for 10 minutes at middle rack. Take out the tray from the oven and let them rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Egg wash the mooncake and place them back to the oven continue to bake for 15 minutes.

Let it cool on a wire rack when done. After completely cool down then store in an airtight container to leave for 3 days before serve.

Ogura Layer Cake

There are some extra ogura cake left on my previous bakes of profusion cake 缤纷香卷. There are quite messy and broken pieces. However, it is a waste if just throw them away. So I decided  gather them together to make a very small cake in about 5 inches wide and height. To give a nice tasty texture, I go for my favorite lemon curd dressing and sandwich them together with fresh cream.

This little cake tasted very light and refreshing. Imagine the cool and light texture of ogura cake with the lemony curd and accompany with some fresh cream which I don't feel to stop any bite after another, just like eating cloud.

The uneven structure of the layered cake looks quite nice too although they were previously messy and in broken pieces. Now they looks lovely and tasty. 

How I put them together:

Whip 200ml fresh cream with 1 tablespoon confectional sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Keep in the fridge and ready to use.
For the Lemon Curd,  please refer to Lemon gateau recipe. Half the portion for this little cake will do.

On a serving plate, connect and join the broken pieces of strips cakes into spiral circle pattern (pink color first). Apply some fresh cream and a layer of lemon curd. 

Second layer, join the brown color cakes and apply some cream and lemon curd then the third layer join together the grreen cakes. Cover the whole cake with fresh cream then keep in the freezer until the cream harden. Pour leftover lemon cud on the cake and spread evenly. Garnishing with some berries and chill in the fridge  and ready to serve. Best serve cold. 

Profusion Roll 缤纷香卷

Thinking of whether or not to post this recipe as it did not turn out nicely. But finally I did it so as a record and reference for my future attempt.

This is my favorite childhood cake that baked by my dear mum. We always feel so impress whenever mum make this cake. Not only it looks pretty and also yummy as it's served cold.

We miss this cake over the years but mum said she already retired from the kitchen and she lost the recipe too. Oh dear, how can I figure out the recipe as my siblings keep begging me to make this as mum did. With my eye close and head bow over days and nights, trying to recall and imaging how mum did it when I was just 5 years old. Could you imagine how difficult to recall everything after 30 years? Oppss.. I've accidentally mention my age. Hehe....
With my limited baking knowledge and experience, I started to plan from the sponge cake with color using ogura cake recipe.

As for the cream, I knock my head and keep turning my tongue to recall which cream should it be sandwiched in the cake. I am glad that I able to recall the texture and start with experiment with swiss meringue butter cream.

My very first attempt on this cake is quite disappointed for me as I didn't assemble it as nice as mum did. The roll should be in very square shape and each colors inside the roll should be neatly arranged. When my mum saw the cake she knew what went wrong and that tips really help me for my next attempt. The cream between the gaps of each color cakes is too much. It should be half of the cream that I spread so that the color cakes looks more appealing not the cream.

Layer and stacking every strips of the colored cakes really not an easy job. The ogura cake is very light and soft to handle and spreading the cream on them has to be gentle too.

The cake doesn't look neat and nice that my hearts drop into deep sea. However, a little award from the texture and taste that won back a little smile on my face. Closing my eye to have every bite of the cake really feel like I'm eating mama' s wonderful cake. Now, I got to practice until it is well presented and serve my siblings and relatives with mama wonderful creation during Xmas.

Colored ogura cake 36 x 27 cm baking tray

(A)
Vegetable oil 45g
Full cream Milk 60ml
Salt 1/4tsp
Egg yolk 100 g
Whole egg 1
Cake flour 65 g
(B)
Egg white 200g
Caster sugar 65g
Tartar powder 1/2 tsp

1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon green tea matcha powder
2 tablespoon raspberry puree

1. Line the base of a pan with baking paper. Divide three rectangular portion into about 12 X 27cm shape with baking paper. 
2. Mix together ingredients (A). Weight the batter and sperate them into 3 bowls with equal portions. 
3. Mix in the cocoa powder to a portion, green tea another portion and raspberry puree for another portion. Combine well and set aside.
4. Beat the egg whites until frothy then add the tartar powder. Gradually add in the caster sugar in 3 batches and keep beating until stiff peak foam. The meringue is slightly curd to one side when the whisk is lifted up and presenting smooth shinny texture.
5. Weight and divide the meringue into 3 portions and fold them into mixture (A) until well combined. 
6. Pour into the prepared pan each color a roll. Put a tray at the lowest rack in the oven then pour enough of hot water. Place the batter on the second lower rack then steam bake at 160C preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
7. After baked, remove the cake from the oven and unmould and tear of the baking paper and then cool on a wire rack.
8. Once they completely cool down, cut the colored ogura cake into 3 portions and each strips is equally 2 cm thickness. Total is 3 green strips, 3 brown strips and 3 pink strips.ain vanilla sponge roll 38cm x 27cm baking tray

Unsalted butter 40g
Egg yolk 100g
Caster sugar 20g
Egg white 160g
Caster Sugar 75g
Plain flour 55g

• Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
• Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
• Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
• Pour some egg mixture into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine.  Pour back into the egg mixture and mix gently until everything well combine.
• Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 190C for 12 minutes. Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

Swiss meringue butter cream

200 g sugar

120 g egg white

340 g unsalted butter, soft but not too soft

Mix egg white and sugar in a double boiler with hand whisk. Stir until the sugar dissolved.

Remove form the double boiler and beat with electric mixer until stiff peak foam.

Change to a K hook blade start beating at medium high speed and gradually add in butter a cube at a time until a smooth and spreadable cream.

To assemble the cake:

Place the vanilla sponge cake on a piece of cling wrap which is bigger than itself. The sponge cake brown side face up.

Spread about 6 cm wide of SMB on the vanilla sponge  at the left side then place a strips of brown ogura cake at the left side on the cream. Thinly spread some cream around the brown cake then place a strip of green cake beside the brown cake. Spread thinly with cream then place a pink cake on the side. Spread some cream around it. 

Follow the same way above make the second layer start from green, pink and brown then the third layer pink, brown and green. 

Spread evenly the side left, right and top of the layered cake then gently fold the vanilla sponge cake over from right to left. Press lightly and use little cream to seal the gap. Cling wrap the roll and keep refrigerate for overnight. 

Trim the side and slice the cake with a sharp knife straight away down. Do not saw the cake. It is best serve cold.

Milky Matcha Marble Bread

Ever since I got my bread maker, I have not make any square loaf of bread. Here comes a good excuse that the bread maker really do a good job for my daily bread really. I do miss square loaf, especially when I'm looking for square bread for my square sandwiches. Another reason that I bake this as I'm quite bored with a plain bread looking which fully produced from my bread maker. So, I try to squeeze in some time during  the weekend to make a bread manually with some marble effect. However, the marble effect doesn't looks outstanding but the texture is absolutely good. Very satisfy with the compact soft texture yet with nice structure. Although the green effect doesn't look appealing to the eye, the green matcha gives very nice smell on the bread indeed. It s good to produce bread manually by hands when I able to.

Recipe:

150g fresh milk
35g egg
25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
38g butter (unsalted)
1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder
1 tablespoon water

Place all the ingredients into the bread maker pan except yeast. Knead the ingredients at function 11 for 15 minutes. (Or knead all the dough with a dough hook mixeer)

Switch off and on again choose function 11 for the second kneading and add yeast this time. Kneading until 15 minutes finished.

Take out the dough divide 2 portions . One portion is 3/5 from the dough and another is   2/5. The large portion keep in the fridge with cling warp. The small portion add a teaspoon of green tea powder. Use hand knead a little then put it back to the pan to knead at program 11. Gradually add a tablespoon of water with two drops at a time until the color well mixed.
Bring the plain dough out from the fridge .proof together with the color dough for 60 minutes. punch out the air and rest 15 minutes. Wrap the small one in to big one to form ball shape. Then use a rolling pin to roll longish shape.. Roll them back like swiss roll then cut with knife into 3 equal portion. Place in a bread pan proof 60 minutes then bake at 190'C 25 minutes.

Baileys Cheesecake

Another cake I had prepared for a party recently is baileys cheesecake. The most easier cheesecake to prepare with lots of positive feedback especially for a cheesecake lover. This recipe already in my blog for few years but I like to jot it down again to keep a record for my future reference as the size of the pan and the baking method has a little different. Using the same amount of ingredients but baked in a larger 9 inches square pan. Of course, the amount of the the base ingredients is different as the pan is larger so the digestive biscuits need to be added more. I didn't bake in water bath for the cheesecake but steam bake meaning that a tray of water was placed at the lowest rack then the cheesecake place on the second lower rack. Baking times has reduced a little as the cheesecake is thinner than the previous one and finally the result is equally good as my previous one. Portion the cake into small slices look pretty nice for a party.

Ingredients for 9 inches square pan:

For the crust:

250g digestive biscuits
125g unsalted butter, melted

For the cheesecake:
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
2 large eggs, at room temperature

200ml sour cream
80ml baileys 
Method:

To make the crust:

1. Lined the springform pan with baking paper.
2. Mix the digestive biscuits crumbs with the melted butter together in a bowl. Layer the crumbs into the pan evenly. Place it into the fridge while you preparing the cheesecake batter.
3. Preheat the oven to 160°C and put a kettle of water on to boil.

To make the cheesecake:

1. Beat the cream cheese with sugar, vanilla and salt until creamier and sugar dissolve. 
2. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until just combine.
3. Mix in the sour cream and baileys. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into pan that lined with the digestive biscuits.  
4. Put a shallow pan at the lowest rack in the oven and pour enough boiling water into pan. Place the cheesecake batter in the second lower rack.
5. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven's heat leave the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes then with door ajar another 30 minutes.
6. Then, let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack. When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly with cling wrap and chill the cake for overnight
7. At serving time, use a hot knife to potions the cakes. Enjoy!

Fruit Pound Cake

I realise that not many Asian appreciate fruit cake, I mean those butter cake filled with plenty of dried fruits that soaked with liqour for certain of time. However, my parent and siblings like this kind of cake and ask for more liqour to be added in their fruit cake. I only do it for them once a year as the cake need times to sit in the freezer and to be fed with liqour until mature enough to serve.

Japanese style of light fruit pound cake

This fruit pound cake wasn't mature enough as I did it in a rush for a party. The dried fruit was only soaked for a week and I didn't have chance to feed them more liqour at all. So this fruit cake had just a mild taste of rum. 

Not a traditional fruit cake bake with dark brown sugar but a light colour to present a colourful fruit cake

The method of making this fruit cake also different from my previous traditional baked fruit cake. It is a Japanese style of making pound cake which added with dried fruits. If you get into deeper study of pound cake making, the cake wasn't made from the method of separate egg whites and yolks but Japanese recipe did. They use to beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks then fold in the white meringue and flour alternatelly because they are much appreciate the light texture of pound cake just quite similar to the recipe I baked previously like Lemon Pound Cake and Marble Pound Cake.

This fruity pound cake is well accepted and  majority enjoyed in the party. Very glad they appreciate the texture.  My hubby wasn't a fruit cake person but he likes it this way.

a better way of baking fruit cake to serve in an Asian party

Recipe for pound cake pan 18 x 8 x 6.5cm

100g plain flour

30g ground almond

1/3 teaspoon baking powder

120g salted butter

35g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

2 lemon zest

2 tbsp homemade lemon juice

2 egg whites

40g caster sugar

120g mixed dried fruits (dried cranberries , dried apricot,  sultanas) soak with liqour either brandy, rums or cointreau for a week  or up to a year. Before use, drain and dry the dried fruits on a sieve and clean towel. Add a big handful of plain flour to coat the dried fruits and sieve away the access flour.

Grease and line the pound cake pan with baking paper. Shift the flour, baking powder and ground almond.

In a clean bow, beat the butter then gradually add in the caster sugar until the sugar dissolved into the butter and the mixture become fluffy and pale in color. 

Mix in the egg yolk one at a time and beat until just combine. Then  mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice until just combined.

In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until the bubbles appear then add 1/3 of the sugar. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites become stiff peak foam. Gently fold in half the egg whites into the butter mixture, don't have to mix too much. Then mix in half of the flour ingredients and combine everything. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites then add the remaining flour ingredients then the dried fruits until just combined. 

Fill the cake pan with the batter. 

Bake in a 180C preheated oven for 15 minutes.  When the batter set and it start to expand, open the oven door and use a knife to cut a line at the center of the batter, lower down the temperature to 170C   continue to bake for 40 minutes or until and skewer insert into the cake and come out clean. Be careful not to over bake the cake as you dont want a hard dry cake. 

Let it cool down on a wire rack and keep in an airtight container either at room temperature  or in the fridge. 

For a mature taste of liqour, poke holes on the cake with a skewer, brush some liqour from the top then cling wrap the cake then another layer of aluminium foil. Place in the freezer. Take it out twice a month to feed some liqour on the cake until mature enough for your taste bud.

Chocolate Milk Bread

Trying out another recipe with my bread maker to fully produce a loaf of milky chocolate bread.   Very satisfy with the result and that's mean other than sweet potato or pumpkin bread, I have another option to let the bread maker to produce different bread. And yet, this is straight dough method which I don't need to steam the potato or pumpkin to bake a bread in case I don't have them at home. Still the same using the function 3 with my panasonic bread maker at medium crust setting to get it done in 4 hours 20 minutes.

The bread is bouncy soft which gives a nice texture. This bread has become one of our daily bread menu.

Replace chocolate milk to full cream or fresh milk to produce a white plain loaf. It is equally nice and soft.

Ingredients for Panasonic bread maker program 3 with medium crust setting. Process takes 4:20 minutes to complete. 

150g Dutchlady chocolate fresh milk (or fresh milk for white loaf)

35g egg

25g caster sugar

5g salt

250g bread flour

4g Instant yeast

38g butter (unsalted)