"PPPC" - Perfect Plain Pound Cake

Never would I have expected that these pound cakes were so delicious.

We were all in a big treat. I had KIV this recipe from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle and finally took it out to try.. Yes!!! Absolutely one pound cake you would love as much as we did.

 It was similar to the usual butter cake we had baked but these pound cakes had an extremely soft and moist texture... What a pleasant surprise from this bake.... Hubby had eaten 2 of them and he said it was very nice...So did the gals...

Plus, I had also bakes these pound cakes in my new pan, 12 mini square pan...

I loved my new pan too!!! The batter was just nice for these 12 minis. It made the pound cake a fuss-free plus no crumble mess... And also, a just-nice portion for each person...

Don't they looked so pretty in little squarish bites???

Well, I think I will reduce my sugar amount as I thought they were a little too sweet for me.

Otherwise, it was definitely the "PPPC"!

Recipe as adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Ingredients:

225g unsalted butter

250g caster sugar

1 tsp finely grated lemon zest

1 tsp finely grated orange zest

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla essence

200g cake flour (I use top flour)

1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
80ml heavy cream (I use yoghurt)

Method:

1. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Whisk to combine well, and set aside.
2. In another mixing bowl, cream the butter on medium speed until very creamy, about 2 minutes. Gradually add in the sugar and beat at medium-high speed for about 4 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl occassionally. Beat in the citrus zest and vanilla extract. Add in the flour mixture at low speed in three additions, alternating it with the heavy cream in two additions and mixing just until the flour is incorporated. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
3. Bake the cake in a preheated oven of 325F for 60-70 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean. Place the cake pan on a wire rack and let it cool for 20 minutes.
4. Unmould the cake and cool completely, right side up, before slicing.

Tres Leches Cake - Bake Along #43

Wait for me again....!!! Almost late but good enough just before the deadline... I had bought a new oven on Saturday and I was very thrilled as I had wanted to try baking this cake with it. But one of the oven "leg" had came come and I need to get the whole oven changed...:((

I have never known of this cake until I saw the bake theme for Bake-Along #43 by Joyce, Lena and Zoe.

Tres Leches Cake - A classic Latin American sweet is a light white cake soused with rum-flavoured milk and cream concoction and topped with dramastic swirls of meringue frosting served in squares.

 I had seen the rest of the bakes by the other members and seeing the light, soft, moist and milky texture made me want to attempt this bake.

 It was quite a great choice for a dessert as it was really sweet, even though I had cut down the sugar level. It had a similar cake texture like those baked cheesecake. Hmmm but I wouldn't fancy them too much due to the overly sweetness of its whole cake and milkness:-p 

Frosted with white chocolate topping made them heavenly sweet.

I was actually rushing for time to go for our Sunday Movie Treat  of Ironman 3. Hubby was rushing me and I was in a panicky stage... My cake wasn't cooled well for 10 mins. I quickly put in the cake into a bigger container and poured the soak onto the cake. I gotten a little worried as I saw Joyce, Lena and Zoe's cake had soaked up the milk mixture whereas mine was "floating"... 

Not enough time... my whole plattoon was waiting for me... I quickly poured in the milk mixture and refrigerate the cake, grabbing my recipe along as I dashed out of my house. I realised I hadn't poked the holes at the side of the cake:-p So I am not totally sure if the milk mixture had been totally absorbed by the cake... What a sotong I am...

Nevertheless, this cake still tasted very well though I personally will preferred them plain as what it was. What about you.

Recipe as adapted from The Cake Book by Tish Boyle

Ingredients:

200g cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

113g unsalted butter

143g firmly packed light brown sugar(i use 100g)

180ml milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 large egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

50g sugar

Method:

1. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Whisk to combine and set aside.

2. Beat the butter and brown sugar at a mediym-high speed until light, about 2 minutes. In a small bowl, combine milk and vanilla essence. At a low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter in 3 additions, alternating it with the milk mixture in 2 additions.

3. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat at mediym high speed until soft peaks begin to form. Gradually beat in the sugar and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter. Scrape the batter into the greased pan and smooth it into an even layer.

4. Bake the cake for 30~45mins until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cake in pan on a wire rack for 10mins.

Meanwhile, make the Tres Leches Soak:

180ml light cream

One 12-ounce evaporated milk

One 14-ounce condensed milk

45ml dark rum

1 tsp vanilla essence

In a large mixing bowl, combine all ingredients. After the cake has cooled down for 10 mins, using a toothpick, pokes holes all over the cake at 1-inch intervals, going all the way down to the bottom. Slowly pour all the soak over the top of the cake, covering it completely. It will seem like a lot of liquid; the cake should be "floating". Refrigerate the cake for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

As for the frosting, you may wish to use as desired:)

Do join along with our hosts; Joyce, Lena and Zoe and other members whom had joined us as well :))

(Sorry Hosts, I cant link up to you as I posting this using my phone:-p  Pardon me...:)

Orange Frosted Sponge Cake - THB #15

For some of you whom are new to this THB - The Home Bakers, it is a group that Joyce had set up. By owning the same recipe book of Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas, you can simply join us in the wonderful bakes with the rest of the other bloggers. The rule of this bake is that only the host of the chosen bake can post up the recipe.

Should you like to have more details, please feel free to contact Joyce from The Home Bakers ^-^

This is another excellent recipe from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas. I had chosen this recipe as I personally preferred sponge/chiffon type cake, enjoying its ever soft & fluffy texture.
As I was preparing all the ingredients, I suddenly got worried as I thought I might had missed out the "oil" ingredient as usually, sponge cake will required oil. I read the ingredients once more, to make sure I hadn't missed out the "oil"... And I really didn't. I was rather surprised and wondered how the sponge cake will turned out.

As you can see from my picture below, I had used an 8-inch chiffon tin for my bake. My sponge cake did rise VERY well. I was really amazed with it... I thought this in fact was one of my few cakes baked in a chiffon tin that had gotten a nicely browned skin on the outer and sides of the cake... I was happy...:))

But after taking a bite of the sponge cake, I thought that my sponge cake tasted abit like the鸡蛋 糕. My colleagues and hubby who had tasted my sponge cake, had agreed that it did really have the 鸡蛋糕 texture and had a very mild orange taste, which I failed to detect it myself..  Strangely....

I have referred to THB post for the tips and read that everyone's gotten a excellent soft, fluffy texture of this cake... Something went wrong somewhere... I had then, realised that probably it was the plain flour and too little orange juice, and my accidentally overdosed the cake with additional 1/2 tsp of baking power... So just before posting up this recipe, I had to bake another one!!! This time round I had used top flour and increased my orange juice, and added 1 orange zest.
And YES!!!!
The sponge cake did turned out excellent, soft as everyone had mentioned. 

Instead of coating my whole sponge cake with the orange frosting, I had prepared 1/3 of the frosting and coated ONLY 1 slice of the sponge cake for photgraphy purposes.
By sprinkling some orange zest on the frosting made it even more tastier... I really enjoyed this great combination...Yum Yum...♡♡♡

Let us all share a slice of our Orange Frosted Sponge Cake by starting to bake yours now^^

Recipe as adapted from Coffee Cakes by Lou Seibert Pappas

Ingredients:
(Makes one 10-inch cake: serves 16)
(With slight modifications to my own measurements)

1 1/4 cup cake flour (150g)

1 1/2 cup sugar (I used 150g, 100g & 50g)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

6 eggs, yolks & whites separated

1 tsp cream of tar tar

1/4 tsp cup orange juice (70ml)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 325F (165C).

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup of sugar, salt & baking powder and stir to blend. In another large bowl, combine the egg whites and cream of tar tar and beat with an electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar until stiff, glossy peaks form.

3. Add in the egg yolks, orange juice and vanilla  to the flour mixture and beat on medium speed for about 1 minute, scarping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Stir about 1/4 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture, and then fold in the remaining whites until well blended. Pour the batter into an unbuttered 10-inch tube pan and smooth the top.

4. bake for about 50 minutes, or until the cake is golden, springs back when lightly touched, and a cake tester inserted int he centre comes out clean. Invert on a wire rack and let cool completely. Unmould and transfer to a serving plate.

Orange Frosting

3 tbsps unsalted butter at room temperature

2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 tbsp thawed orange juice concentrate mixed with 2 tbsps of water

(As I do not want to coat the whole cake with the frosting for fear that my girls will not eat them...and I was absolutely right about it...!!! I had used 1 tbsp of butter+100g icing sugar+1 tbsp of fresh orange juice instead. I had also coated the orange frosting with the orange zest which actually enhanced the light tasted sponge cake.)

Method:

In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix until blended. Spread over the top and sides of the cake and let it set for about 1 hour. Cut into wedges to serve.

Do join us along in the wonderful bake with our co-founder, Joyce from The Home Bakers and also Kitchen Flavours, and do make sure to check out othe bloggers who had participated in this Home Bakers theme as well.
Have fun everyone...!!!!

Cold-Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake

I hope I didn't missed this Bake-Along again.. Ever since I lost my handphone, I seemed to have lost track of my own blog:-p.. kekekeke... Anyway, I happened browsed through everyone's blog and realised it's the Bake-Along #38-Cold-Oven Cream Cheese Pound Cake. Looking at some of the bakes done by the girls, this pound cake seemed to be a "Must-Try" Bake...

And indeed it was... It had given a very great fragrance while baking. I hadn't had any cake flour, so I had replaced it with self-raising flour and omitted the baking powder. The pound cake rose nicely, even though it was not baked in a pre-heated oven.

Cutting down on the sugar amount, adding a little more lemon zest, this pound cake was awesome. It has a very smooth, soft velvet crumbly texture as Lauren Chattman had mentioned in her book.

The only boo-boo I made was I had overlooked on the temperature. I thought it was on a 375F so I baked it in a 190C, instead of a 325F & 160C...
Nevertheless, the pound cake came out well with its excellent texture as it should be..

Ooooh, and surprising, my girls liked this pound cake too... It was very unlikely that they will like due to the lemon zest & ginger, but Nic & Mimi told me that the cake was yummy:)
So what else can we asked for now....??? Start your bake now:-D

Ingredients as stated by the Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman

(Using only 1/3 of the stated ingredients, yeilds a 15×5×5cm loaf)

3 cups cake flour (125g self raising flour)

1 1/2 tsp baking powder (omitted)

1 tsp salt (1/3 tsp)

1 cup(2 sticks) butter (75g)

8 ounces cream cheese, softened (75g)

2 1/2 cup sugar (75g)

6 eggs, room temp. (2 eggs)

1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (1/2 tbsp)

1 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger (1/2 tbsp)

1 tbsp grated lemon zest (1/2 tbsp)

 

Method:
1.Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position. Grease a 12 cup Bundt pan and dust with flour. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl.
2.Combine the butter, cream cheese and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 mins, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
3.With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla, ginger and lemon zest.
4.Turn the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Then mix of 30 secs on medium speed.
5.Place the cake in a cold oven. Turn the oven to 325°F and bake, without opening the oven door, until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, about 65 to 80 mins.
6.Cool the cake in the pan for 15 mins, then invert it onto a rack. Cool completely before slicing and serving.
7.Store uneaten cake in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days.

You may wish to join us in the Bake-Along with our 3 fantastic Hosts: Joyce, Lena & Zoe and also let's take a look at the other bakers' pieces:-D

The oooh-sooo-melts-in-the-mouth German Cookies

I had gotten this German Cookies recipe from Baking Wonderland. But I am not too sure whom's recipe was this as I had KIV this recipe for quite some time back.

Lena, BW, is actually a baking group created in FB. In there, people will usually share their recipes with others. So sometimes I gotten some of my yummy recipes from there.. hehehehe:-p

I am not too sure about you, but recently when I tried to post my comments in other people's blog, it does not published as it should be.. Anyone facing the same problem as me, or was it just my computer??? :(

Well, I must say these German Cookies were very delicious indeed, and the best part was, it was sooooo soft, and it reeeeaaaalllllllyyyyy MELTS in your mouth... Sounds amazing isn't it??? But it's true...

Here are the cookies before baking.

Roll them in small little balls and flatten them slightly. Press them down with a fork.

But do be gentle with them as they were extremely soft.

My hubby and myself liked them very much as well. Even my friends said it was good!!!

So why don't you try baking one now???

Recipe as adapted from Baking Wonderland

(Sorry, but I wasn't too sure whose recipe it belongs to...:-p)

Ingredients:

250g butter

80g sugar

250g potato starch

160g fine flour (I used cake flour)

Method:

1. Cream the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

2. Add in the sifted potato starch and fine flour. Mix until well combined.

3. Roll them into little balls and flatten them slightly. Press down with a fork.

4. Bake in a preheated oven of 160C for 15-20mins.

(Different oven varies, I had used 180C for about 25mins)

My Not-So-Red-Velvet Cupcakes

Two and half weeks more to Christmas Day, and I was thinking what gifts I should prepare... I thought I should try baking a Red Velvet Cupcakes with Frosted Cream Cheese as a gift, instead of stressing myself of what gifts I should get.

Browsing through a few recipes for these Red Velvet Cupcakes, I decided to use this recipe that I had came acroos from Baking Wonderland. This recipe did not use cocoa powder, and only red coloring. Modifying the recipe a little here and there gave me these cupcakes today...

But these cupcakes ain't that velvet as they should be... It was probably due to too much cocoa powder I had added in... However, the cupcakes texture were excellent, soft & moist:-)
As for the cream frosting, I thought they were a little too sweet for me, but they overall complimented well with the cupcakes as I had reduced the sugar amount.

Here if you may see, the Red Velvet Cupcakes looked more like Chocolate Cupcakes instead:-p

Never fear!!!! I will make another attempt soooooon..., hehehehe....:))

Meantime, do enjoy these little cuppies 1st.....!!!

Here is the actual recipe as adapted from Wai Soh Man from Baking Wonderland

(with slight modifications)

Ingredients:

165g flour (150g flour + 1.5 tbsps cocoa powder)

150g sugar (125g)

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

1 egg

150g corn oil (canola oil)

118g milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

1/2 tsp white vinegar

1/2 tsp lemon zest

dash of red coloring

Cheese topping

100g cream cheese

15g soft butter

50g icing sugar

Method:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking soda & salt. Sieve & set aside.

2. Combine remaining ingredients and mix well. Fold in the flour mixture from step 1. Mix well till smooth & velvety.

3. Scoop batter into paper cups, 75% filled, and bake for about 25-30 mins in a preheated oven of 170C.

To prepare cheese topping, combine ingredients and mix well till smmoth. Place mixture into a piping bag and pipe as desired.

Have fun with these cuppies while I will attempt another cuppies soon:)

Durian Chiffon Cake

After trying the durian cupcakes, I had leftover durian puree.. So I decided to try baking a Durian Chiffon Cake. My friend Eileen had given me 2 durian recipes to be attempted, and this is the 2nd one... Let's see how we fair in this Durian Chiffon.

 I had added fresh durian puree, not too sure how much 1/2 cup of durian puree will be, I had used about 125g of them. The batter came out abit stiff, very difficult to combined, but after adding in the durian puree, it became more manageable.
There wasn't any durian smell after I added in the puree, so I was crossing my fingers to see how this chiffon will turn out to be....

Mmmmm, not too bad... While baking half way through, the fragrant of the durian came by... and the whole house was smelling of durian. Nic on the other hand was telling me that it was so smelly... whereas for me, I was waiting for the outcome of this chiffon...:))

The texture of the chiffon came out not too bad, soft & fluffly, but it was a little little dense. But overall of it, it was very tasty!

So if you like durian, you might like to give this a try too?

Recipe as adapted from My Kitchen,

Ingredients (8"):
A
4 egg yolks
20gm caster sugar
40gm vegetable cooking oil
30ml milk (I used 40ml)¼ tsp salt
½ tsp durian essence (optional) (I omitted)
B
100gm cake flour (or 85gm all purpose flour + 15gm cornflour)
½ tsp baking powder

C
4 egg whites
100gm caster sugar
⅛ tsp cream of tartar

D½ cup durian flesh, pureed ( I used about 125g)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together ingredients A until combined.
3. Sift together ingredients B, then add into (2) and mix well. Set aside for later use.
4. In another large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks. Add in sugar and cream of tartar and continue to beat until stiff.
5. Take ¼ of the meringue and mix with (3) until well mixed. Gradually add in remaining meringue, and lastly stir in durian puree. Stir until just combined.
6. Transfer batter into chiffon pan and bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes.
7. Invert the cake immediately after taking out from oven, and cool on rack completely before turning out from mould.

Soft & Fluffy Banana Cake- Yummy!!!

My friend Eileen had passed me a great recipe for banana cake again... As long as it is any banana recipes, I guess it will be anybody's favourite as well.

Eileen had found this great recipe from Wen's Delight, and she told me that I must try this recipe as it was really soft & yummy... Having the basic fruit, banana, at home, I went off to bake this cake. And it was indeed delicious. It wasn't that oily, it was really soft... Hahaha, so I had baked this cake a couple of times as it was quite a hit. The gals liked it too. The 2nd time, I had tried baking with chocolate chip rice, and they were also delicious.. I even had a few pieces myself too...

A nicely baked top and a soft, fluffy texture banana cake...

YUMMY!!!!

Recipe as adapted from Wen's Delight:

Ingredients:

2.5-3 Eggs (I used 3 eggs)

130g Sugar (I used 125g)

200g Banana (Ripe & cut into small pcs)

150g Top Flour (I use cake flour)

1/2 tsp Baking powder

1/4 tsp Baking soda

100g Corn oil (I use canola oil)

1/8 tsp Banana essense (optional)(I omitted)

Method:

*Preheat oven to 160 degree C.

*Grease & line a 8" round tin with paper.
1. Sieve flour, baking powder & soda together. Sieve twice & set aside.
2. Whisk eggs, sugar & banana at max. speed till stiff/ribbon stage.

3. Fold in flour & mix well. (Can use spatular or hand to mix)

4. Add in oil & mix well till batter is shiny & flowing.
5. Bake for 40 - 45mins.

Passionfruit Ogura Cake白香果相思蛋糕

I tried baking this Passionfruit Ogura Cake白香果相思蛋糕 a couple of weeks back. Now I am posting up all the post-bakes recipes that I had baked before I had misplaced the recipes..

I had seen alot of people baking these Ogura Cake, and the texture of the cake looked extremely yummy, soft & spongey... But I am not sure if I had gotten my texture right...??

This cake had to be baked in a "steam-bake" method. Else, method wise will be quite similar to chiffon cake. Instead of using the pandan recipe that I had gotten from a lady, Teoh from Baking Wonderland, I had used passionfruit.

Her ogura cake was so tempting and they simply look so soft, moist & spongey...

Whereas for mine, I think it was a bit "wet", though it had a soft texture. Seems like unbaked to me...:-p
Perhaps, I will try again soon to get the right texture...hahahahaha...

Here is the recipe for those of you who are keen:

Ingredients:

(A)

45g Canola Oil

60ml milk

1/4 tsp salt

6 egg yolk

1 whole egg

65g plain flour

20g pandan juice (I used 20g passionfruit pulp)

(B)

6 egg white

75g sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tar tar

Method:

1. Beat the oil, milk, salt, egg yolk & whole egg until frothy.

2. Fold in the sieved flour until well blended. Mix in the pandan juice, mix well & set aside.

3. Whisk the egg white+cream of tar tar+sugar until stiff peak.

4. Mix the egg white meringue into the egg yolk batter, mix untill well combined. Pour into a 9" baking mould.

5. Steam-bake in a prehated oven of 170C for about 45mins

Banana, Macadamia Nut, And Coconut CupCakes

I was browsing my blog this morning and I had saw the THB was on.. I had missed a couple of the THB bakes and I didn't want to miss this again...I had gotten ready the conversion for this bake and I had quickly prepared all the ingredients.

 For those of you whom are unaware of this THB (The Home Bakers), it is a baking club set up by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours. For Bakers whom owned a "Coffee Cakes" by Lou Seibert Pappas, and we will all be baking the same cake in each theme, sharing our experience & tips. 

If you will liked to join us along in this THB bakes, please CLICK HERE for more information.

This time round, Kit has chosen this bake, and it was really delicious...

Fresh from oven today, I had made them into cupcakes instead of cake as cupcakes are easily managed(eaten), and for my small little oven, it would be definitely better as my cupcakes will be easily "cooked" rather than cake form...:-p

 Followed all stated in the recipe, I had blended all the wet ingredients using my blender. Mixing everything in with the flour, and oh, I have used dessicated coconut instead of the flakes. Just before pouring the batter into the cupcake cases, I realised I had forgotten to add in my oil with the wet ingredients...!!! Oh my... Thank goodness, the cucpakes were still edible... hehehehe, silly me...:))

As you can see, I was still able to get a very moist nice texture of the cupcakes. The best part of the cupcakes, were of course the macadamia nuts topped with the cinnamon sugar... So crunchy & yummy:))

Would you like to have one too?

Please visit Kit from I-Lost-In-Austen for the full recipe.

To view the others members bake on this cake, do drop by The Home Bakers (THB).

Steam Banana & Walnut Cupcakes

It has been several months since I took part in the Aspiring Baker... And I decided to submit an entry before I leave for my trip to Taipei tomorrow.

I had Steamed Bread Recipe Book, and it had been left in my shelf for quite some time. Browsing through all the recipes, I saw this Steam Banana & Walnut Cupcakes... Why not try them, since I have bananas & walnuts, the usual ingredients that I always have at home. :-p 

I never had really fancied much of these steam cakes, except for the 鸡蛋糕or发糕.

The last time when I had tried a recipe from the same book, I didn't quite like them very much. So today, I actually did not pinned too much hope on these steam cupcakes as well.

But you know what....???
 I was wrong... This time round, these steamed cupcakes were delicious!!!

An unexpectable soft and nice texture. Combined with the banana chunks and walnuts, it made the cupcakes very appetising...., with the sweetness of the bananas, and the crunchiness of the toasted walnuts... What more could I have asked for...?

If you see the soft texture of the cupcakes & the banana chunks... Yummy I would say this time!!

And I had one myself:-p But I'm sure if my girls will like them... hahahaha:-D

Here, have a steamed cupcake with a cup of Earl Grey Tea.

Ingredients:

1 egg

40g sugar

60ml milk

100g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp canola oil

80g banana, cut into chunks

20g toasted chopped walnuts

Method:

1. Whip the egg & sugar. Add in the milk and mix well.

2. Combined the flour & baking powder into the egg mixture. Mix untill well combined.

3. Add in the oil and mix well.

4. Fold in the chopped walnuts & banana chunks.

5. Pour batters into cupcake case and steamed over medium heat for about 12-15mins.

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #25 – Steaming Hot Cakes (November 2012) hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well in Flanders.

Swan Cream Puffs / Cream Puffs

I know I am always late... late for my postings...

Seeing my fellow baking friends whom had already baked cream puffs in September for the Bake-Along theme, Lena  and Mui, both of them had also attempted on the swan puffs. When I saw their puffs, I was envy, admiring how beautifully their swan puffs had been baked.

Recently, I had also saw some FB bakers, baking these swan puffs too... So pulled up my socks and started my challenge once again!!!!

These swan puffs recipes were adapted from Kevin Chai's. His recipe had stated 3-4eggs..., so I had used only 3eggs. I guess it would have been better to use 4eggs instead, as my batter was rather thick and it did not had the smooth, sateen feel...  Ended up the cream puff texture was abit tough, but overall was quite alright... :-D

So let me try 4 eggs in future...:-D

As I couldn't buy the instant custard cream, I had use the vanilla cream that I had used for the Hokkaido Cupcakes.

So how did I fare for these swan puffs?

Recipe as adapted from Kevin Chai's Dainty Desserts

Puff Ingredients:

200ml water

25ml fresh milk

80g butter

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp sugar

170g high protein flour(cake flour)

3-4 eggs

Method:

1. Combine water, milk, butter, salt and sugar. Bring to boil.

2. Add in flour, use a wooden spoon, vigorously stir over medium heat until mixture leaves side of pan. Remove from heat.

3. Beat the dough in a mixer until cool completely. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition until smooth and satiny.

4. Spoon dough into piping bag and pipe out a big rosette and swan's head & neck. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C(200C) for 25mins. Leave to cool.

Custard Ingredients:

100g instand custard powder

120ml fresh milk

200g fresh whipped cream

1/2tsp vanilla essence

Method:

Stir instant custard powder with milk, then combine with the whipped cream and vanilla essence until well-combined.

To assemble, cut the puff into half, trim the top layer to form wing shape and fill the bottom layer with custard.

Garnish with fruits, wings and head.

Dust with icing sugar.

Have fun:-D