Fallen Chocolate Souffle with Berries

This cake is for my nephew, Sean's 13th birthday. He wanted a cake that is not airy and with strawberries. When I asked him what he meant, he couldn't actually describe it to me. So I asked him is it like brownie that is dense and fudgy, he said yes. Thus began my search for a cake with this texture. I do not want it to be a brownie but a cake that can be adorned with lots of berries. Took out my Bittersweet book by Alice Medrich. This  

Chocolate Genoise

Genoise is a French sponge cake, very light and airy with no chemical ingredients such as baking powder in it. It's totally healthy. Genoise cake uses eggs as the leavening agent. Because of this and the absence of baking powder, you need skills in folding the flour into the egg mixture. If you overfold, the egg mixture will deflate and you will end up with a tough and deflated cake. This is a very basic cake which can be eaten on its own with some whipped cream and fruits and also as a base for all types of layer cakes. To use it for layer cakes, we need to infuse the cake with some sugar syrup with the optional liqueur to make it soft and moist.

Mocha Muffin

I love the fragrance of coffee and I'm a coffee drinker. After having perfected the chocolate muffins (according to my preference, haha ...), I want to create a mocha flavoured muffin. Imagine the flavour of chocolate and coffee blended into one and having it with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Heavenly, isn't it? I used a little cocoa powder dissolved into some boiling water to create a hint of chocolate flavour. For the coffee flavour, I used instant coffee granules dissolved in boiling water and a small cup of freshly brewed espresso. No butter can be found in this muffin. Only corn oil. Healthy and delicious, isn't it? 

All Downy Yellow Butter Cake

All I want to bake today is a simple yellow butter cake. Back to basics time. I took this recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum Cake Bible book. It uses all egg yolks instead of whole eggs to give it the more "yellow" colour and moister and denser texture. I reduced the sugar by 15% and it still is a little too sweet for me. For those who have a sweet tooth, it is just right. For me, I will reduce by another further 5% the next time I bake it. This cake is easy to bake. It rose very nicely and it is very moist and soft, full of the butter and vanilla fragrance. If you find the cake a little too rich for you, you can try substituting egg yolks for whole eggs. I will try this the next time. 

Strawberry Marshmallow Jelly Cake

Does it look like cheese cake to you? But it's not cheese cake. It is marshmallow cake. I first had a taste of this cake from my hubby's friend. It's finger-licking good. It doesn't have the heaviness of a cheesecake and you can eat a few at one go. I love the contrasting flavour of the fragrant and butter biscuit base, the creaminess of the marshmallow filling and the tartness of the strawberry jello. Thus begins my search for a recipe to make this cake. After trawling the web, I came upon the recipe from Baking Mum (http://bakingmum.blogspot.com/2006/11/strawberry-marshmallow-cake.html)

I tweaked the marshmallow filling and jello topping in the recipe to my preference. It's a hit. Young and old love this cake.

Mango Mousse Cake

Have been thinking about what type of cake can I bake to celebrate my dad's birthday. I realised I have been baking lots of cakes with chocolate as the main ingredient. It's time for a change and explore new ingredients and techniques. Finally settled on a mango mousse cake since it is mango season and I see lots of Thai honey mango around. Bought some of them and they were real sweet. Used up 2 mangoes to make the mango puree and another 2 more to cut into cubes to be added to the mousse layer and as a decoration for the top of the cake.

Cendol Mousse Cake

Have been thinking about creating a cendol mousse cake after trying out a cendol ice shaving dessert at one of the chinese dessert shop at Ion basement foodcourt. But I was too lazy to get started until now. First, I have to think about the coconut milk to the whipping cream ratio. After searching around the web for some ideas, I came upon the Cendol Mousse recipe from Yochana's Cake Delight (Cendol Mousse @ Yochana's Cake Delight). But I did not follow the whole recipe, only the coconut milk to whipping cream proportion.

Next, I want to make my own cendol and found the recipe at My Kitchen Snippets (http://www.mykitchensnippets.com/2007/10/cendol.html). It's very simple to make and it tastes good compared to those you buy from the supermarket. Here it is:

Vanilla Chiffon Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
90g cake flour
30g corn flour
¾ tsp baking powder

4 egg yolks
¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp vanilla essence
30g sugar
70g corn oil
80g fresh milk

4 egg white
80g sugar
½ tsp cream of tartar

Preparation:
Line a 7” x 7” x 3" or two 7" x 7" x 1.5" square tin with greaseproof paper.
Preheat oven at 180°C.

Method:
1. Sift the cake flour, corn flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, salt, sugar and vanilla essence until slightly creamy.
3. Add in the corn oil and fresh milk and whisk until mixture is blended.
4. Fold in the sifted flour into the egg yolk mixture until well blended.
5. Using a stand mixer, add the egg white into a clean mixing bowl.
6. Start on low speed and add in the cream of tarter when the egg white mixture turns foamy.
7. Increase speed gradually to maximum. When soft peak forms, start add the sugar in a steady stream.
8. Beat until egg white mixture is shiny and stiff peak forms. Do not over beat. Gradually reduce the speed until low to relax the egg white mixture.
9. Spoon a third of the egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and fold gently to lighten and incorporate the two mixtures together.
10. Add in the balance egg white mixture into the above mixture and fold gently using the scoop, turn and fold method. Stop when it is well blended. Do not overfold or the egg white will deflate.
11. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and put into the oven.
12. Bake at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
13. Remove from oven to cool on wire rack for 5 minutes before removing the cake from the tin to continue cooling, top side up.