Photos of the month (Food and Life) August 2018

Durian Sponge Cake with Durian Filling

Here's a follow-up to the previous post on Durian. My Durian puree has been keep frozen in my fridge. Today is the day I try this major project! A Durian sponge cake with Durian filling (I have 1 kg to play with!)

Ingredients:
6 yolks (I bought big, lower cholesterol eggs from Seng Choon Farm)
10g caster sugar
60g durian puree (from Ah Seng Durian)
70g coconut milk (Ecomil)
50g corn oil
110g cake flour (Prima Flour)

6 egg white
50g caster sugar

Mango sponge cake with marmalade cream cheese frosting

Still want to ensure I am making my sponge cakes with the right consistency.
Today with the help of the little man, I baked a mango sponge cake. Turned out quite well, not the prettiest, but good enough to see, good to eat.

Ingredients:
70g Yuzu Juice (Peel Fresh Brand）
50g Corn Oil
30g small mango cubes (crushed slightly)
6 egg yolks
10g caster sugar
110g Cake Flour


Mix mango pieces in Yuzu Juice and corn oil,


Whisk the yolks and sugar, then add in the Yuzu juice/ Corn oil/ mango mixture.


Add the cake flour.


Beat the egg white and sugar in a clean dry bowl.


Mixture turns frothy


Continue beating on high speed


Meringue turned white and opaque, soft peak formed


Fold 1/3 meringue into yolk mixture (use a spatula)


Add in the next 1/3 meringue


Now pour the yolk mixture back to the last 1/3 of meringue and fold till well blend, take care that the folding is done correctly otherwise the cake will not have the spongy texture later.


Pour into cake pans (I used two 6")


Baked for about 20 min at 180 Deg C.


Remove the cakes from the oven when done,  I waited about 10 minutes before un-moulding the cakes.

For the frosting, I used a hand whisk to beat Philadelphia cream cheese (250g) and Bulla Thick Cream (250g), added sugar according to taste. I also added about 2 tablespoons of orange marmalade to enhance the flavour. After the frosting was done, I sprinkled some almond flakes to decorate the frosted cake. It wasn't easy job for me as I do not have cake decoration techniques (oops)... The cake looked slightly more appealing after I left it overnight in the fridge and added the blueberries and strawberries (these colourful gems do wonders!)






The cake turned out moist and pleasant, with a slight tangy flavour from the juice and the fruits and jam. I will fine tune the frosting a bit in future, maybe use fresh cream and fresh fruits...

Pandan Coconut Sponge Cake

Tried another flavour for my sponge cake today, I was so happy it turned out well! The next day brought to office, did not expect it to be so well-liked by the colleagues. Felt very accomplished indeed...

For this sponge cake, I used:

70g Coconut Milk (Ayam brand, reduced fat)

30g Corn Oil

1 Teaspoon Pandan Paste

6 Egg Yolks

10g Caster Sugar

110g Cake Flour

6 Egg Whites

60g Caster Sugar

Mix the Pandan paste, corn oil and coconut milk in a bowl 

Add the Pandan mixture to the yolks and sugar, whisk.


Add in the cake flour and mix.


Beat the egg white and sugar in a clean dry bowl, using electric mixer, on high speed, until soft peak


Fold 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk mixture


Fold in the next 1/3 meringue


Lastly, pour the mixture back to the last 1/3 of meringue and fold until just mixed


Pour into a cake pan (I used a rectangular one here), bake 25 to 35 min at 190C (my old Tefal oven does not have a fan function)


Cake is done!


Loved the sigh of the fluffy texture and the Pandan fragrance..

Definitely going to bake some more sponge cake in future...

Passion Fruit Yuzu Sponge Cake

Saw this post Yuzu Chiffon Cake on My Mind Patch. It prompted me to try it out, as the bright yellow colour of the cake gives me a happy feeling.

I did a trial using the exact recipe, felt that i could reduce further the amount of sugar. Also I decided to double the recipe to feed the hungry kids...

Passion Fruit Yuzu Sponge Cake

Adapted from My Mind Patch

Ingredients A :

6 egg yolks

10g caster sugar

30g passion fruit pulp and seeds (you can use citron peel or any citrus fruit peel)

40g Corn oil (or Rice Bran oil) 

80g Yuzu Juice (I used Peel Fresh Yuzu Juice)

110g cake flour

Ingredients B:

6 egg whites

60g caster sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 deg C. 

For Ingredients A - 

(1) Mix passion fruit pulp and seeds with the Yuzu Juice and cooking oil in a bowl, set it aside.

(2) Use a whisk to beat the sugar and egg yolk, then add in (1)

(3) Add in the cake flour and mix evenly.

For Ingredients B -

(1) Beat egg whites and sugar till soft peak.

(2) Fold 1/3 into the egg yolk mixture. Use gentle folding method.

(3) Fold another 1/3, and the pour this mixture back to the egg white (meringue), and fold till combined.

(4) Pour the batter into a bottom-lined, non-greased cake pan, and bake at 190 deg C for 25 to 30 min.

(5) When done, leave the cake to cool on a wire rack.

The cake bloomed after 10 minutes of baking

At 15 minutes of baking

Done!

I like that the cake is not too sweet and it's definitely not oily. I suppose it would go well with some jam or icing as topping...

These are the photos taken from the previous cake I baked last week, it looked 'burnt' on the side because I experimented baking using the rice cooker instead of the oven:)

Cheesy Chive Scones

In the mood of making another batch of scones, so I decide to finish up the bowl of chopped chive, I added a lot of Parmesan Cheese to this batch, since my son is always mentioning about cheese scones.....

The recipe is the same as here... except that I replaced the raisins with Parmesan Cheese.

Rub the butter into the flour, then add the dry ingredients

Add the milk and egg

Mix lightly to combine

My dough was a bit wet and lumpy, as a result, the scones were more like cheese biscuits

Bake in a preheated oven for 25 min at 190 deg C.

The aroma from the cheese is simply tantalising!