Basic Sponge Cake

The basic sponge is something I've always wanted to master. It is easy to make, versatile, and can be the go-to recipe for last-minute birthday cakes.

How to enjoy it?
- Simply on its own, for afternoon tea
- Fill it with jam and whipped cream to make the classic Victoria sponge
- Ice and decorate with basic buttercream if you want to give the cake a more presentable look

Ingredients
5 egg whites
70g caster sugar
(1 tsp vanilla essence, optional)

5 egg yolks
70g caster sugar

120g cake flour or 100g all purpose flour plus 20g corn flour, sifted twice to aerate
80g melted butter, cooled

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C. Like round baking tin with baking paper.

2. With an electric whisk, beat egg whites until light and foamy. Add caster sugar a little bit at a time. Whisk until stiff.

3. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and caster sugar until mixture increases in volume and is pale in colour. Very gently fold beaten egg yolks into the egg white mixture.

4. Fold in cake flour a little at a time until mixture is homogenous. Take care not to overmix otherwise mixture will deflate.

5. Pour in melted butter and mix well.
** Melted butter tends to collect at the bottom of the mixing bowl so make sure all the butter is incorporated into the batter.

6. Pour into baking tin and bake for 30-40 minutes or until wooden skewer comes out clean.
Invert tin and allow cake to cool before serving.


Sponge and chiffon cakes have a lot in common. They taste a little "eggy" and depend on the aeration of ingredients, instead of leavening agents, to help them rise. Once you master the folding techniques, they are really easy to make. So don't give up whenever you encounter failures. In the end it'll all be worth it :)

ps: Will post a picture when I bake it again in the future. Cannot stand iPhone quality photos.

xoxo

Strawberry Jelly Hearts Cheesecake

First of all I'd like to apologise for the lack of updates. Unfortunately for me, my laptop broke down as soon as I arrived back in Adelaide and I lived without one for just over a month until my sister came to my rescue. She's studying here now, and had brought her HP Mini over. I haven't sent my laptop for a repair yet because I'm still deciding whether or not to get a new one, and kind of procrastinated with that as well ever since I got the Mini. Pictures and recipes are mostly in my dead lappie. BOO to that :'(

but I shall march on..


I love making cheesecakes, especially no-bake ones, and have always thought that these Strawberry Jelly Hearts were the cutest! A simple twist on an otherwise plain and boring cheesecake. I chanced upon the recipe for it while baking-blog hopping, and decided to give it a go the very next day. Cutting the strawberries into perfect little hearts was a bit taxing as I didn't have a heart-shaped cookie cutter then. And the jelly seeped through the aluminuim foil and Glad wrap lining just a little. But otherwise it was fun to make and turned out great :)

Recipe from *here*. Pictures are from my phone so please excuse the poor quality.

Base
110g digestive biscuits(about 8 pieces), chopped into fine crumbs
40g melted butter

Filling
250g cream cheese, soften at room temperature
50g icing sugar
1 tablespoon gelatin powder
40ml boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Topping
1 box Jelly crystal (strawberry flavour)
1 cup boiling water
1 cup cold water
Some strawberries, cut into heart shapes


1. Mix biscuit crumbs & melted butter together and press firmly with the help of a spoon onto the base of a 18cm cake tin. Chill for 30 minutes.


2. Place gelatin powder and boiling water in a bowl. Heat a pot filled with some water until just simmering and place the bowl inside the pot. Dissolve gelatin and boiling water in the bowl. Keep warm.

3. With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese , icing sugar and vanilla essence until smooth & creamy. Blend in gelatin solution and mix well.

4. Pour the cheese mixture into the cake tin. Layer the strawberries on the cheese mixture. Chill for at least 3 to 4 hours.


5. Dissolve the jelly crystal in the cup of boiling water, followed by the cold water. Pour the jelly on the cheese mixture. Let it set before removing from the cake tin.



The only thing I did differently was use a rectangular storage container, as I didn't want to use a round cake tin and didn't have a rectangular or square one. I also lined the container with a layer of aluminuim foil and a layer of Glad wrap. Not sure why with the Glad wrap but I'd recommend lining the tin with two layers of foil, very neatly to get nice edges. I would add an extra 10-20g of icing sugar to make it sweeter then it'll be perfect! Bad news for my teeth :\

Enjoy~

Macarons with strawberry white chocolate ganache filling

Just made these today. The shells are made according to the basic macaron recipe *here*

Strawberry white chocolate ganache
300g white cooking chocolate, chopped to a "grated" consistency
100ml heavy cream
3 strawberries, roughly chopped

1. Heat heavy cream until boiling.
2. Pour boiled cream onto chocolate and let sit for two minutes to allow chocolate to melt.
3. Mix in a slow circular motion, try not to incorporate air into mixture.
4. Once homogenous, add chopped strawberries and stir gently. Cover with cling film and let it set in the refrigerator.

2011

Happy New Year everyone!

I'm back home in Malaysia right now, and it's been hectic hence I haven't done much baking. There will be a couple of posts coming up though, as soon as I get back to Adelaide (Unfortunately my recipes were left out when I packed for home).

May 2011 be a great year for all, and let's hope this site gets more frequent updates :)

Cheers!

Fei

Sticky Date Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce

Hi all!

After drooling over countless pictures and recipes on the internet, I finally decided on a recipe to follow and made them last week. Amidst all the craziness associated with last minute studying for tests, I dared put my notes down and took some time off revision to bake these yummies.

Ingredients and instructions taken from the Masterchef Australia official website.

Pudding
180g dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1¼ cups (310ml) water
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¾ cup (165g) firmly packed brown sugar
60g butter, softened chopped
2 eggs
1 cup (150g) self-raising flour

Butterscotch sauce
50g butter
1 cup (220g) brown sugar
1 cup (250ml) cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 180˚C (160˚C fan-forced). Lightly grease eight (½ cup capacity) metal dariole moulds.

2. Place dates and water in a saucepan and bring to the boil over a high heat. Remove from the heat. Add bicarbonate of soda, stir until dates start to break down, set aside to cool, stirring occasionally.

3. Beat butter and sugar in a bowl using a hand beater, gradually add eggs one at a time, beat until light and fluffy.

4. Add date mixture, stir to combine. Carefully fold through sifted flour, divide mixture evenly between the eight moulds, until 2/3 full.

5. Place moulds in a baking tray, carefully pour water in tray until it comes up 1/3 of the side of the moulds. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until golden and skewer comes out clean.

6. For the butterscotch sauce, combine butter, sugar, cream and vanilla in small saucepan over low heat until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Bring sauce to the boil, reduce heat and cook for 5-6 minutes or until sauce thickens slightly.

7. To serve, invert the hot pudding onto a serving plate and top with butterscotch sauce.

N.B. The original recipe included an almond praline, which I did not make. Also, I divided the pudding mixture into a 12-hole muffin tray and did not bake them in a water bath. I think it wouldn't make much of a difference.

The verdict?
Pudding was so soft and moist. It's on the sweet side, especially if you drench it in too much butterscotch sauce. Texture could be improved a little, maybe by adding a few more dates? It's another quick and easy to make recipe.. and with a few tweaks here and there, it will definitely be a winner! :)

Lemon and Orange Cupcakes

Another simple recipe I've tried and tested. Topped with a good buttercream frosting and you'll be in heaven! It's also a change from the basic vanilla cupcake.


Ingredients
135 g butter
1 tsp orange rind
1 tsp lemon rind
140 g caster sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup (150 g) self-raising flour
1/3 cup (50 g) plain flour
1/3 cup (40 g) almond meal
1/4 cup orange juice (include a small part of lemon juice)
2 tablespoons milk

1. Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add rind and eggs and mix well.
2. Fold in sifted flour and almond meal. Add juice, stir, then add milk.
3. Divide batter among cupcake cases. Fill up to about 2/3 full.
4. Bake at a 180C (or 160C fan-forced) oven for about 20 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.

I tend to use my extra/rougher bits of almond meal for this recipe. You get them after sifting out the finer bits for making macarons! :)

Molten Chocolate Cake

For my family when they came over to Adelaide

Okay one thing you should know about me is that I always have dessert after dinner :) Everytime I want to whip up something quick, this is the recipe I go back to, time and time again. It's not the PERFECT molten chocolate cake/chocolate lava cake, but for something you can make in 10 minutes (excluding baking time), you really can't expect any better.

Ingredients
100 g dark chocolate
100 g unsalted butter
2 large eggs
50 g caster sugar
30 g self-raising flour

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Melt chocolate and butter in a bowl in a microwave. Be careful not to burn the chocolate!
3. In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until pale and frothy.
4. Pour melted chocolate and butter into the egg. Mix until just combined, then stir in flour.
5. Grease ramekins with melted butter and coat with cocoa powder. Fill up to about 3/4 full.
6. Bake for 10-11 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1 minute. Loosen edges of ramekin with a knife and gently invert. Or if you can't be bothered, just eat it straight off the ramekin!

Enjoy!