Pandan Cendol Cake

This is the second time I'm making a cendol themed cake. The only difference is that I baked a pandan chiffon cake as the base instead of the vanilla chiffon cake. Also, I increased the concentration of the gula melaka syrup by reducing the water by half as compared to my first recipe, making the coconut frosting even more fragrant. Throw in the homemade cendol, red beans, "attap chee" (palm fuit), coconut milk, gula Melaka and fragrance from the homemade pandan juice, it"s like having a bowl of cendol, except that it's not ice cold ...........

Pandan Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake

I have baked many of my popular pandan chiffon cake but this is my first attempt at baking pandan chiffon cake using gula melaka. It is indeed very delicious and full of pandan, coconut fragrance. You just cannot simply stop at one slice..... No pandan paste used at all. Just pure pandan juice. You can see the color is slightly dull green-brown due to the brown gula melaka.

Fruity Rainbow Cake

When rainbow cake was the IT cake few years ago, I wasn't attracted to it. Maybe I found it tedious (it really is) and having to use artificial food colors. Furthermore, the colors will not add any flavor to the vanilla sponge cake. I'm not one who's fond of using artificial food colors. I prefer the au natural.

Pandan Chiffon Cake II

Pandan chiffon cake is one of my forte. I would like to say that family and friends have given me the thumbs up for this cake. This time round, I experimented with taking out the pandan paste. I used pure pandan juice instead. Make it more concentrated by blending more pandan leaves to water, like about 10 leaves to 5 tbsp water. You can refer to my previous pandan chiffon cake post here for the recipe. Omit the pandan paste and change the pandan juice to 4-5 tbsp depending on the concentration. You would see from the pictures posted here that the color is lighter due to the absence of pandan paste. But they still look lovely and natural. Don't you agree? The taste is equally good, if not better, without the artificial pandan paste. Give it a try and share your comments with me.

The recipe is based on a 23cm tube pan. To use a 21cm tube pan, reduce the ingredients by 2/3.

Prune Yoghurt Cheese Cake

It's a cheese cake but not exactly like those heavy american cheese cake we know. I would say this is a healthier and lighter version. There's more yoghurt than cream cheese. Good news to those who love cheese cakes but are wary of the amount of calories that go into it. It has a tangier taste due to the introduction of yoghurt and lemon juice. I would have preferred it to be a little sweeter. Perhaps I should increase the cream cheese portion to make it 50% cream cheese and yoghurt next time.

Pandan Gula Melaka Cake

This cake is specially baked for my mother's 77th birthday on 2 March. I wanted a cake that is simple and easy to bake due to time constraints. My father has been sick and I was busy shuttling between my parents' house and mine. It was tiring. I'm sad to say that my father has gone home to be with the Lord on 20 March 2014 after a short battle with lung cancer. He was so brave all these while, no complaining about his illness. But I'm so comforted that he accepted Christ and was baptized by my cousin-in-law pastor while in the hospital. His mind was crystal clear and he accepted Christ willingly. I thank God for His grace, love and mercy; that my father need not suffer the pains of end-stage cancer. He is now safe in the arms of Jesus in heaven, where there's no pain and suffering; no sorrows and tears.

Chocolate in Orange Swiss Meringue Buttercream

I do not normally use buttercream to frost a cake. I find it a little too rich and sinful - no good for the heart other than giving you the extra kilos. But there is no refrigerator to store the cake at my cell meeting venue. Out goes fresh cream frosting. I wanted a fruit-flavoured theme cake. This cake is to celebrate the birthday of April babies in my cell group - Janet and Ching Sum.

Yuzu Chiffon Cake

 

 

Yuzu (柚子) or Japanese citron is a large orange-like fruit. It is related to its smaller cousin - the mandarin orange or tangerine (mikan). It is tart in taste, not sweet and is not peeled and eaten as it is. I was persuaded by the sales promoter at Isetan supermarket o buy a bottle of yuzucha (ingredients are yuzu, honey and sugar). You just need to add water to a teaspoon of it to make a drink to soothe your throat. I tried it out and I liked the taste. It's refreshing. You can even spread it directly onto your bread, just like jam. And I thought to myself - I can bake cakes or make desserts with it too.

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.