Pandan Chiffon Cake (Cooked Dough Method)

This recipe has been in draft form for over a year now! I've made it a few times already, yet been procrastinating about blogging, as usual. Getting more and more lazy to write these days. *sigh*

Anyways, I seriously want to record it down formally because I really love this recipe. Over the past decade I've baked many Pandan Chiffon Cake and other flavours of Chiffon Cake, so far the cooked dough method is my favourite as the cake always turn out to be more moist and tender, and I don't have to use any baking powder or cream of tartar using cooked dough method.

However, it's not easy to get it right all the time, so there are some flavours of chiffon cake that I still stick to the usual method. Actually cooked dough method is not that far off from the usual method, just one more step involved in "cooking the batter" before folding in the meringue. Somehow this yields a more moist cake. Personally I prefer moist and tender chiffon, don't like the drier texture ones.

Chiffon cake is still one of my favourite cakes to bake, but of course the challenge is, how to get it consistent and it is something I'm still learning. Hope that in time to come, I can bake more flavours and achieve good results all the time!

Pandan Chiffon Cake

(makes one cake using 21cm chiffon pan)

Ingredients

• 50g unsalted butter (or neutral tasting cooking oil)
• 90g cake flour
• 60g coconut milk
• 60g homemade pandan extract (blend 15-20 pandan leaves with a bit of water, strain and let mixture rest overnight, use the dark green extract that settles at the bottom)
• 5 egg yolks (M/L size egg, between 60-65g)
• 5 egg whites (M/L size egg, between 60-65g)
• 80g caster sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160 degree celsius, top and bottom heat.
2. Melt butter in a small pot over very low heat. Once butter is melted, add in cake flour and stir quickly to form a dough.
3. Add coconut milk and stir the mixture till dough is well-mixed into a thick batter.
4. Add pandan extract and mix well into batter.
5. Add egg yolks one at a time, mix well into batter. Batter will be thick with texture like soft custard.
6. Add egg whites into mixing bowl with pinch of salt, beat using electric mixer at medium high speed, add sugar gradually and beat till stiff peak meringue.
7. Add one scoop of meringue into batter, stir quickly to mix well. 
8. Add 1/3 of remaining meringue into batter, fold quickly but gently to mix the meringue with batter.
9. Add the next 1/3 of meringue into batter, fold quickly but gently to mix the meringue with batter.
10. Finally pour the batter into the bowl with remaining meringue, fold quickly but gently.
11. Pour the batter into chiffon pan, give the pan 2-3 gentle knocks on the counter top, then send into oven to bake at 160 degree celsius for 45-50 mins. *if the top of the cake browns too fast, cover with a piece of aluminium foil after 30 mins.
12. After the cake is baked (if necessary, test using a skewer or cake tester, the stick should be clean), invert the pan over and let it cool down completely before unmoulding.
13. After the cake has cooled completely, unmould from pan. Cut into slices to serve. The cake is actually best served the next day for flavours to fully develop. If eating the next day, store in airtight container and cut the next day.

This cake is one of my family's favourite cake, and also well-liked by many of my friends who tried it. Although I would like to bake it more often, I'm always lazy to make pandan extract :p And pandan extract doesn't keep for long, so each time I only make small quantity, making it a tedious task whenever I feel like baking.

Oh well, good things never come easy and takes effort and time, right? Anyways, I'm so glad that I finally completed this blog post! Yes!

Yuzu Cupcakes with Yuzu Buttercream Frosting

Happy New Year! Oooh, it's 2019 already and I've neglected my blog for such a long time :p


I still wish to blog but just that these days it seemed too much effort to do so :p Posting on IG and FB is much faster than having to edit photos on my laptop or PC, and having to think of the topic to write. Haha, I'm simply lazy.

Anyways, today's topic is on YUZU! Yes, my ultimate obsession. I asked around, people who know Yuzu all love Yuzu to bits lol. And like me, besides Yuzu foodstuff such as yuzu tea, yuzu crackers, yuzu cookies, yuzu cakes, they are also into other Yuzu-related merchandise like yuzu lip balm, yuzu shower gel, Yuzu cleanser etc etc =D

I digress :p

Ok, so my family went to Toyko in December and when I saw these gorgeous babies, I simply have to lug them back. Needless to say these couldn't be found in Thailand and even back in SG, they are rare and super expensive. When I saw them at Tsukiji market, I just went crazy and bought a box of L size ones (9 pcs), half a dozen small ones and half a dozen organic ones.

Have been thinking about what to do with these babies, I mean I have to use them up asap while they still look so fresh and plump. In the past years, I've already created a number of recipes using Yuzu, namely Yuzu Marmalade, Yuzu Chiffon Cake, Yuzu Marmalade Yogurt Cake, Yuzu Curd, Yuzu Curd Meringue Cupcake, Yuzu Curd Tart.  

So far have already made a few bottles of Yuzu Marmalade and since I've not made cupcakes for a long time and yet to try making Yuzu buttercream, I adapted one of my old recipes to create these delectable mini Yuzu cupcakes with Yuzu buttercream frosting. 

I'm so pleased with the results :)

The cupcake itself is moist and tender and good to eat on its own, but even better paired with Yuzu buttercream. The Yuzu buttercream frosting is surprisingly light with the wonderful aroma of yuzu; normally I'm not a fan of buttercream but this buttercream I found myself stealing mouthfuls of it! Sinful I know, but it tastes so yummy!

My recipe yields 20 pieces of mini cupcakes, I ate quite a few myself and gifted the remaining away. And my friends enjoyed the cupcake too, they liked it that they are not too sweet and oh yes the yuzu smelled so heavenly.

So here's sharing the recipes for making the cupcakes as well as the buttercream.

Ingredients for the cupcake include cake flour, baking powder, salt, unsalted butter, caster sugar (rub with yuzu zest), eggs, fresh milk, fresh yuzu juice and yuzu marmalade.

If you don't have fresh yuzu, you can simply use the Korean Citron tea and omit the yuzu zest and yuzu juice. This recipe can also be used for orange or lemon.

For buttercream, I use the Italian meringue method, ingredients are caster sugar, water, egg whites, unsalted butter and yuzu marmalade. Likewise yuzu marmalade can be replaced with Korean Citron tea or orange marmalade. And it's not necessary to use the Italian meringue method, Swiss meringe method works fine too. I have shared several buttercream frosting using Swiss meringue method before, please search for them.

Yuzu Cupcakes

(Makes 20 pcs with 4cm base cases)

* this recipe can be adapted to lemon or orange flavour

Yuzu cupcake

• 150g cake flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 115g unsalted butter
• 120g caster sugar
• Zest of 1 large & 1 small fresh yuzu or 2 medium ones (omit if don't have) 
• 2 eggs (medium size about 60g)
• 60g fresh milk
• 65g Yuzu marmalade (or Korean Citron Tea)
• 25g fresh Yuzu juice (from 1 large & 1 small fresh yuzu or 2 medium ones, replace with yuzu marmalade if don't have)

1. Preheat oven to 180 degree celsius, conventional mode.
2. Line the cupcake cases on a baking tray. Set aside.
3. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt together. Set aside.
4. Zest the fresh yuzu and rub the yuzu zest into the caster sugar until well-mixed. Set aside.
5. Squeeze fresh yuzu juice (reserve the seeds, pulp and peel for making more marmalade). 
6. Mix fresh milk, yuzu marmalade and fresh yuzu juice. Set aside.
7. Add butter and yuzu caster sugar (from 4) into mixing bowl, beat on medium high speed using k-beater until smooth and creamy, about 4 mins. Stop to scrap sides of bowl, beat for another minute.
8. Reduce to medium low speed, add eggs gradually and beat till just mixed.
9. Add the flour mixture (from 3) in 3 additions, alternating with the yuzu milk mixture (from 6) in 2 additions. Beat till just blended, finish off by removing mixing bowl from mixer, scrap sides of bowl and fold gently.
10. Using an ice-cream scoop or spoon, fill batter into the cupcake cases, about 2/3 full.
11. Bake at 180 degree celsius, conventional mode, for 15-18 mins (toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean).
12. Remove from oven and let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting.

Yuzu Buttercream
(makes enough buttercream to frost 2 batches of cupcakes)

• 80g caster sugar
• 20g water
• 75g egg whites (about 2 eggs)
• 200g unsalted butter
• 5-6 tbsp Yuzu marmalade (or Korean Citron tea)

1. Add sugar and water into a heavy bottom pot, bring to boil to 118 degree celsius (measure using a candy thermometer).
2. When the sugar mixture reaches 100 degree celsius, start whipping the egg whites on medium high speed. *if the egg whites already reaches soft peak and sugar mixture has not reached 118 degree celsius, shift the speed to low and let it continue whipping)
3. Once the sugar mixture reaches 118 degree celsius, bring the pot to the mixer, add the sugar syrup very slowly into the egg white. Switch mixer to high speed and whip the mixture till it cools down completely.
4. Place the entire mixing bowl into the fridge for a few hours (till temperature reaches less than 10 degree celsius).
5. Place the mixing bowl back to the electric mixer, add the cold cubed butter piece by piece and beat at medium high speed, till mixture turns into buttercream and no more liquid.
6. Add Yuzu marmalade into the buttercream and whisk till well-incorporated.
7. Buttercream frosting is ready to be used. Fit piping bag with star nozzle (I use Wilton 1M), fill buttercream into bag and pipe onto the cupcakes.

As I have more than enough Yuzu buttercream to frost the cupcakes (only made 1 batch of cupcakes), I decided to make a petite 4.5" size cake to use up the buttercream.

Used half quantity of the cupcake recipe above, and the batter is just nice for a 4.5" round cake pan. Bake at 180 degree celsius for about 40-45 mins. Once the cake cools down, slice the cake sideways to make 2 layers. I fill the layers with Yuzu marmalade, frost the whole cake with the leftover Yuzu buttercream and did some simple rose piping using Wilton 1M tip.

The cake wasn't very nicely frosted as I was rushing for time, but still it turned out really yummy! A 4.5" size cake can serve around 4-5 slices of cake. If using full quantity of the cupcake recipe, I reckon it'll be good for a 6" cake.

I still have some yuzu left, what shall I make next? Chiffon cake is definitely a must as it's my favourite. Not sure if I have time to create new recipes as going to be busy with CNY cookies baking soon!

Follow me on my Instagram : dreamersloft17 as I post regularly there now :) Ciao!

Greek Yogurt Marble Butter Cake

I haven't been attempting much new bakes recently, choosing to stick to the same old trusted recipes again and again. I blame it on the weather which is crazily hot and most days I'm simply brain dead from the heat! Also don't have the mood to do any food styling or photography :(

I digress.

But when I saw an IG post by HoneyBeeSweets.sg on a Greek Yogurt Bundt Cake that she baked few days ago, I simply couldn't resist trying it out. Actually it was because I have a tub of Greek Yogurt that's near expiry :p

I have mentioned before that I'm not a fan of butter cakes nor pound cakes as they are more dense and dry in texture. Surprisingly this cake was not as dense or heavy as the usual butter cake and it was quite moist, probably due to the addition of greek yogurt in the batter. The chocolate paste added a contrasting taste to the butter cake which I like.

Was supposed to wait till the next day for the buttery flavour to develop but I couldn't resist taking slice after slice when the cake barely cooled down. Enjoyed more slices with a hot cup of tea for breakfast again. #fatdieme. Baked two loaves and gifted the remaining, as I've already satisfied by my cravings :)

This recipe is certainly a keeper! 

Greek Yogurt Marble Butter Cake
(makes 2 loaves using 7x24cm rectangle cake pan, or 18cmx18cm square cake pan, or 20cm round cake pan)

• 15g cocoa powder
• 30g hot water
• 3 tbsp fresh milk + 1 tsp lemon juice
• 225g Greek yogurt
• 400g cake flour
• 1.5 tsp baking powder
• 0.5 tsp baking soda
• 0.5 tsp fine sea salt
• 200g unsalted butter
• 200g caster sugar
• 3 eggs (65g egg with shell)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Line the cake pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 170 degree celsius, top & bottom heat.
2. Mix cocoa powder with hot water, stir till a smooth chocolate paste. Set aside.
3. Add lemon juice to fresh milk, mix and let the mixture curdle, about 5 mins. Then add the mixture into the greek yogurt. Mix well and set aside.
4. Sift cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and fine salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
5. Cream butter and caster sugar using paddle attachment of electric mixer on medium high speed, till light and fluffy for about 5 mins.
6. Turn speed of mixer to low, add the eggs, one at a time, switch to medium speed and beat till well-incorporated.
7. Add vanilla extract and mix well.
8. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions, alternating with the yogurt mixture.
9. Scoop about 1/3 cup of batter and mix well with the chocolate paste to form a chocolate batter.
10. Fill the cake pan with main batter till 1/3 height, add dollops of chocolate batter and swirl the chocolate batter into main batter using a toothpick or cake tester. Add more batter till the next 1/3 height, add dollops of chocolate batter and swirl the chocolate batter into main batter. Finally fill the cake pan with the remaining main batter, add the remaining chocolate batter and swirl into the main batter.
11. Bake the marble cake batter for about 50 mins at 170 degree celsius. 
12. Once baked, remove from oven and let the cake cool down completely before unmoulding. 
13. Store the cake in an airtight container, the cake tastes better the next day.

Thai Tea series - Part IV Thai Milk Tea Donuts with Thai Milk Tea Glaze

Thai Tea series - Part I Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake
Thai Tea series - Part II Thai Tea Cookies
Thai Tea series - Part III Bake Thai Milk Tea Cheese Tart

I still have a few Thai tea bakes in my list like egg tarts, butter cake, roll cake and cupcake but didn't feel like baking any of them just yet. Rather, had an urge to bake some donuts.

So yep, here's my quick and easy, very hastily put-together Baked Thai Milk Tea Donuts with Thai Milk Tea Glaze. This baked donut is essentially a "cake" version which is much easier to make than dough ones which require proofing and save the mess of deep-frying as well.

Thai Milk Tea Donuts with Thai Milk Tea Glaze
(makes 18 mini donuts)

Ingredients
(A) Thai milk tea

• 300g fresh milk
• 6 teabags thai tea

1. Heat fresh milk in small pot till hot, add the teabags and let them infuse for an hour or more.
2. Drain and squeeze as much liquid out of the bags as possible. Set the thai milk tea aside.

*There is more than enough milk tea left, extra can be made into Iced Milk Tea aka Cha Yen.

(B) Donuts

•  100g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 80g light brown sugar
• 60g thai milk tea (from A)
• 60g buttermilk
• 30g unsalted butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 175C, conventional mode. Grease donut pan and set aside. *I'm using 8-hole silicone donut mould which doesn't require greasing. Place the silicone mould onto a baking tray.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder and soda together into a mixing bowl. Set aside.
3. Whisk sugar, tea, buttermilk together till blended. Add melted butter and whisk till blended.
4. Add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk till blended.
5. Pour the batter into donut pan till the batter is same level as the donut centre.
6. Bake at 175C for 13-15 mins. 
7. Let the donut cool completely before glazing.

(C) Glaze

• 3 tbsp thai milk tea (from A)
• 15 tbsp icing sugar

1. Mix tea with sugar till a thick glaze is formed.
2. Dip donut into the glaze, flip it over and place on wire rack for glaze to set.
3. Once glaze is set, donut is ready to be served.

The baked donut itself is not very sweet with just a tinge of Thai Milk Tea taste, it's the glaze that does the job. Initially I only dunk the donut into the glaze once, but after letting it sit for a while, the glaze sort of "sunk" and disappeared into the donut.

To achieve this thick and luscious glossy look, I had to dip the donut into the glaze two to three times. So yes, the glaze is the calorie-bomb here! I guess the sugar-adversed would probably cringe at the amount of sugar that goes into making the glaze! I only ate the ones with single layer of glaze :p

Anyways, the donut is a hit with my kiddo. He ate two before dinner (I refused to let him have more) and another after dinner! Luckily they are mini ones and not the regular size. I think I'm gonna explore more flavours next time. Till then :)

Thai Tea series - Part I Thai Milk Tea Chiffon (Cooked Dough Method)

Did anyone visit Artbox Singapore at Marina Bayfront last weekend or intend to go this weekend? I've not been to the one in Bangkok; thus it was a must-go for me and I did last Friday. Didn't expect such a huge crowd and by the time I finished browsing all the merchandise stalls, the queues for the food stalls were horrendous that we didn't even know how to start? In the end, only managed to buy a "Dragon's Breath" puff cracker snack which is actually over-rated, more for the novelty. And so, while I was happy with my shopping loot, was quite disappointed that I didn't get to eat some of the more famous Thai street snacks and desserts like egglet with Thai Milk Tea ice-cream or even any Thai Milk Tea.

I digress.

So recently I was madly in love with Thai Milk Tea; bought 2 canisters of the red and gold tea from my previous trip to Samui and have been making the drink every other day. Didn't make it as sweet as the authentic ones but the fragrance alone is enough for me. 

Anyways, was inspired to explore a series of bakes and desserts using Thai Tea :)

The very first one is Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake using cooked dough method. Baked a Pandan Chiffon Cake using the cooked dough method some time back (I have to post that recipe soon!) and really love the super moist and soft texture of the cake.

But it's rather tricky to get the correct proportion. This was my second attempt; for the first attempt, my cooked dough was too dry and I had too little liquid (milk tea) so ended up with a hard cake. Somehow, the milk tea got absorbed into the cooked dough very quickly and luckily this time I prepared a larger portion of milk tea to add into the cooked dough. Very glad that the cake turned out alright because the cooked dough batter was quite thick and sticky before I folded in the egg white meringue.

Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake
(makes 1 cake using 21cm regular chiffon pan)
(*reference from Bake For Happy Kids, Cook.Bake.Love, Wen's Delight)

Ingredients

• 250ml (1 cup) fresh milk
• 3 Thai tea bags
• 65g unsalted butter
• 60g cake flour
• Pinch of salt
• 4 egg yolks (I use XL size eggs, around 65-70g)
• 4 egg whites
• 80g caster sugar

**Update April 2019: 5 eggs medium/large size, around 60-65g yields better result

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 160 degree celsius, fan mode.
2. Place fresh milk and tea bags into a saucepan, bring to simmer and let the tea bags seep in the milk for about 10 mins.
3. Strain the tea-infused milk, squeeze as much liquid from the tea bags as possible and discard the tea bags. Managed to extract about 180-190g of milk tea, set aside.
4. Heat up the butter in the saucepan till melted, add flour and pinch of salt and stir till all blended and paste is formed. Do not overcook.
5. Remove from heat, add the milk tea bit by bit and stir till blended. *used around 120g of milk tea.
6. Add egg yolks one by one and stir till blended. Add more milk tea if batter is too dry. *used all the remaining amount of milk tea.
7. Beat the egg whites using an electric mixer on high speed, add sugar gradually, till stiff peak.
8. Pour 1/3 of the meringue into the batter bowl and fold till just blended. Repeat with next 1/3. Finally, pour the batter back to the meringue bowl with the remaining 1/3 of the meringue and fold.
9. Pour the batter into the chiffon pan, knock the pan on the counter a few times. Bake at 160 degree celsius fan mode for 45-50 mins.
10. Once done, remove chiffon pan from oven, turn it over and let it cool completely before unmolding.

The chiffon turned out just a tad shorter than I like, maybe coz I used a 21cm regular pan? I think it would be perfect if I were to use a 18cm tall pan or 20cm regular pan (for this particular recipe where I used 4 pieces of XL size eggs). Or perhaps I could use 5 regular size eggs. I believe the recipe proportion vs size of chiffon pan does matter. Or probably I didn't fold the meringue properly and some meringue deflated hence resulting in shorter cake?

Anyways, the wonderful aroma of Thai Milk Tea whiffed through the kitchen during the baking process and I was really anticipating it! The cake turned out super moist and soft and I totally love it. It's good to eat on its own but I made some chantilly cream and Thai Milk Tea drizzle sauce to make it more fancy.

The ever-critical HB said that it's a tad too moist (he didn't complain when I baked the Pandan chiffon previously). Oh well. Probably I will try 5 regular size eggs next time round to see how it goes.

Next up, what should I explore? Cookies? Cupcakes? Egg Tarts? I'm excited, but let's hope that I don't get overdose of Thai tea too soon!

Petite Hanjuku Cheesecake II

After test-baking four batches of petite Hanjuku Cheesecake two weeks ago and not entirely happy with the results, I finally took time to test-bake another two batches. And declare that I'm done with this cake. I mean, I'm done with testing it, this is the best I could do for now :p


Of the two batches I baked, these twelve (from one batch) were the successful ones and the other twelve failed to make it in terms of looks.

Basically I used the same recipe since I was happy with the taste and texture of the cake.

But in terms of method and bakeware used, I tried four different mechanisms or forms of control.

Test-bake batch 5 (using 12-hole cheesecake pan with individual removable base)

During one of my previous test-bakes (batch 1), I forgot to cover the pan (underside) with aluminum foil and some water sipped into the pan during baking. Coincidentally, that batch turned out to be the best.

So this time, I decided to divide the pan into two sections, six of the holes were uncovered whereas the other six were covered individually with aluminum foil. The reason why I did that was because during batch 2, I covered the entire pan with foil but the cheesecakes sunk in the middle portion (like hourglass) and I thought perhaps heat could not be conducted properly.

• 5i - 6 holes remained status quo, water sipped in during baking. Cheesecake turned out ok despite slightly wet.
• 5ii - 6 holes covered with aluminum foil (underside). Cheesecake turned out perfect.
• All 12 holes were lined with baking paper (it's a must, point explained and demonstrated previously).

Some people asked me whether normal muffin pan works and hence I decided to give it a try.

Test-bake batch 6 (using 12-hole mini cupcake pan)

I didn't have muffin/cupcake cases of the exact fit to the pan, so used whatever I have on-hand.

• 6i - lined 4 holes with paper cupcake case (a bit too big, the base couldn't touch the bottom of the pan). Cheesecake didn't rise very well, top didn't brown much with some creases. Sides not very smooth, as some of the cake stuck to the paper when tearing.
• 6ii - lined 4 holes with slightly smaller cupcake case (base could touch bottom of pan, but the case has folds around i.e. creased sides). Cheesecake didn't rise very well, top didn't brown much with some creases. Very difficult to remove cake from case as sides had folds.
• 6iii - lined 4 holes with baking parchment cut to exact size. Cheesecake didn't rise very well, top didn't brown much with some creases. Easy to remove from parchment paper, sides were smooth but slightly slated as the muffin pan is slightly slated.

I'm not sure why the cheesecake didn't rise as much and top couldn't brown (despite everything the same), perhaps the pan was too shallow/too little water for steam-baking, or heat couldn't conduct well.

In terms of taste, these cakes were good, a tiny bit drier than batch 5 but tasted great nonetheless. However, they failed aesthetically.

Comparing the results of batch 5 (cheesecake pan) and 6 (muffin pan), the cheesecake pan fares better.

At the end of this whole exercise, my conclusion is, it's not exactly efficient to bake this at home (and certainly not economically viable), because it takes too much energy and effort just to make 12 pieces if I want them to look good aesthetically (like those sold commercially). Each batch of 12 took at least 1.5-2 hrs including preparation (cutting individual pieces of parchment paper and aluminum foil to cover and line the cheesecake pan), baking (one hour bake time) and cool down.

But then again, it's very satisfying to be able to churn out these petite size cakes that melt-in-the-mouth, using ingredients that I'm assured of, and most importantly, my kiddo loves it very much (and friends who tried it claimed that it tasted better than the ones sold at Lavender Bakery, wow!).

Actually if one is not very particular about how the cake looks, it's actually ok to use normal muffin pan and cupcake cases, just that I'm sometimes a tad OCD and perfectionist.

I guess I will bake it from time to time and stash it in the freezer as treats or something (if they can last that long, most of them got snatched up by the kiddo very quickly).


Anyways, the HB just saw a video of the jiggly wobbly cheesecake from Uncle Rikuro in Osaka and said he wants to try it! Ok, it's back to the kitchen for me -_-" Probably it would be easier to bake the cheesecake in whole than individual pieces? Will share my experience if I manage to bake it successfully. Wish me luck!

Petite Hanjuku Cheesecake
(makes 12 petite-size cakes, about 4-4.5cm diameter each)

Ingredients

• 140g cream cheese(I use Kiri brand)
• 20g unsalted butter
• 28g Greek yogurt
• 22g whipping cream/fresh milk
• 21g egg yolk
• 11g corn starch
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 56g egg white
• 35g caster sugar Steps

1. Combine cream cheese, unsalted butter, yogurt and whipping cream in a pot/heat-proof bowl over a bigger pot with barely simmering water. Stir till just melted and combined. Do not overcook.
2. Add egg yolk and quickly stir to just combine. Do not overcook.
3. Remove from heat and add sifted corn starch. Stir till combine. Add lemon juice. Stir till combine.
4. Sift the batter to remove any clumps. Set aside.
5. In an electric mixer, beat egg whites using whisk attachment on high speed till foamy and gradually add in sugar. Beat till just before soft-peak stage. The meringue lops when whisk is lifted but still flows back. If overwhipped, risk of cake cracking during baking.
6. Fold the egg white meringue gently into the batter in 3 additions, till just combined. Do not overfold.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan set inside another deep baking tray. If using pans with removable bottoms, cover each hole of the pan with aluminum foil (individually). Line each hole of the pan with baking paper as well. If using normal muffin pan, line the holes with baking paper.
8. Place the entire set of baking pan/tray into preheated oven. Add hot water into the tray till 2/3 height of the baking tray. Bake at 140 degree celsuis top/bottom heat for 50-55 mins. After that, leave the tray inside the oven to cool down till warm to touch before removing from oven. Remove the cakes from the baking pan. The cakes can be eaten warm, at room temperature or best chilled.

Ombre Strawberry Shortcake - Sunday Times feature

WOOHOO! I've been featured on The Sunday Times Life Section =D Really excited and blessed to be given this opportunity :)

I have been baking genoise sponge layer cakes for 3 years now and created colour variations such as rainbow and ombre as well as different flavours like vanilla, lychee, mango and rose, in varied number of layers and sizes. More pics can be found in Meg's Pastry Studio.

So far I've not shared the recipe as my method is slightly tedious and somewhat difficult to explain in words and steps (I only shared my roll cake recipe which uses the same sponge recently). Ok, I'm just being lazy and always procrastinating. There are just too many recipes to work on and share.

Anyways, this opportunity to finally write the recipe comes about when Kenneth Goh, Food Writer from The Straits Times emailed me and asked if I would like to feature any of my bakes in the weekly column of The Sunday Times Life Section. Actually there's a back story behind this. He emailed me back in Jan to feature my Bake Cheese Tart recipe, but I totally missed that email! I only replied some 2 weeks later but by then he has already approached another baker. Oh well. However, he was really nice and asked if I would like to share another bake. After some discussion, we settled on this Ombre Strawberry Shortcake since Korean strawberry's in season and the cake looks all pretty and pink :)

I shared before that my passion for rainbow and ombre cakes first started when my kiddo was 3 years old and he requested for a rainbow cake for his birthday. Back then I didn't bake layer cakes so I searched online and used a white-cake base recipe (basically 1 single batter, divide into portions, add colouring and bake). Although the cake looked pleasant aesthetically, I didn't like the taste and texture which was too sweet and dense.

Personally I love Japanese-style Strawberry Shortcake (I'm a big Japan fan) so I began exploring ways of improving my cake through many trial and error. Chanced upon a roll cake that used Japanese genoise sponge and decided to adapt it for my rainbow and ombre cakes.

This ombre (meaning gradual shares of colour) strawberry shortcake is thus a marriage of rainbow cake concept with Japanese-style Strawberry Shortcake.

The genoise sponge uses just 5 basic ingredients, flour, sugar, butter, eggs and milk without the use of any chemicals or additives. It's amazing how through the technique itself, these simple ingredients can create a cake with moist and tender texture.

For the filling and frosting, I use chantilly cream, which is whipping cream with mascarpone cheese and icing sugar (which can be adjusted for sweetness level). The cream is once again very light and slightly creamy and when paired with genoise sponge, makes the cake really delectable.

The cake received positive feedback from friends and family members who commented that it's tender, moist and not too sweet. Even young kids, elderly and folks who don't eat cream cakes enjoyed it :)

 

Baking this cake is not difficult, just tedious. Because each layer is prepared and baked individually i.e. prep ingredients for 1 layer, send into oven and bake, then the next layer and the next, depending on the number of colour layers desired. Basically, it's tedious because of the colour. If just a single colour, I can prepare 1 batter, divide into portions and bake or bake in a single big sheet and use cutter to stamp the desired size.

So now, the question many would ask, why must the different colour layers be baked individually? Why not divide 1 batter into portions and colour the portions? Because this is a genoise sponge which is very delicate, if I do that, I risk the batter deflating by the time I divide the portions and mix the colour and the cake would turn out dense and not as soft as it should be. 

Troublesome? Yes. Stupid? Maybe. But since this works for me so far, why not? Until I have time to trial and error again to improve the method further.

Recipe is right below, sorry no step-by-step photos because I need to work fast for this cake (otherwise affect the texture); I work alone so no extra hands or time to take work-in-progress photos.

Ombre Strawberry Shortcake

(6” round, 3 layers of pastel yellow, orange and pink, serves 6-8 slices)

Ingredients

A. Genoise Sponge Cake (for each layer i.e. 3 layers, prepare 3 times)

• 10g unsalted butter, melted
• 28g cake/top flour (I use Japanese Nissen Violet flour), sifted twice
• 30g caster sugar (I use Japanese Jyohakuto sugar)
• 1 ½ tsp fresh milk
• 56g eggs without shell (1 large egg 64-65g with shell)
• Few drops of vanilla extract (I use Nielsen Massey)
• Gel paste, orange and pink (I use Wilton gel paste)

B. Chantilly Cream filling, frosting and decoration (enough to fill and frost the cake, with a little extra)

• 50g water + 1 tbsp sugar to make syrup
• 500g dairy whipping cream
• 150g mascarpone cheese
• 20g icing sugar *adjusted to taste
• ¼ tsp vanilla extract
• 10-12 strawberries, sliced thinly (for filling)
• 12-15 strawberries, some whole and some halved (for decor)
• Mirror gel, for glazing
• Mint leaves and blueberries, for décor

Steps

A. Genoise Sponge Cake

1. Preheat oven at 180 degree celsius, top and bottom heat (conventional). Line a 6" baking pan with baking parchment. Set aside.
2. Add sugar and eggs into a large mixing bowl, whisk lightly and place bowl in simmering water (bain marie). Whisk until sugar has melted and the mixture is hot to touch.
3. Remove bowl from hot water, transfer to eletric mixer and beat the mixture at high speed for 10 seconds. Stop mixer, pick up a drop of gel paste using a toothpick and add to the mixture. Continue to beat the mixture at high speed. Stop to add more gel paste if necessary (use a new toothpick each time to avoid contaminating the gel paste). *skip this step for the original pastel yellow colour
4. Beat the mixture until slightly thicker than ribbon stage (batter flows slowly and rest on top).
5. Turn the speed to lowest and add milk to the batter, mix for 30 seconds.
6. Add vanilla extract to the batter, mix for 30 seconds.
7. Add the flour in 2 additions, each time mixing for 15 seconds.
8. Take out a scoop of batter, add it to the bowl of melted butter, fold until blended. Pour this butter mixture into the batter bowl. FOLD the batter gently until just incorporated.
9. Pour batter into the centre of lined baking pan. Knock the tray a few times on kitchen counter to remove any trapped air bubble.
10. Bake for 11-12 mins at 180 degree celsius.
11. Remove pan from oven and let it cool for 5 mins.
12. Remove cake from pan, place it on wire rack. Place another wire rack on top of the cake, then turn the cake over to remove parchment paper. Turn the cake over again, cover with the paper and let it cool down completely before frosting.
13. Remove steps 2 to 15 for each layer of cake.

**This is specifically created for individual colour layers of cake. For just 1 single colour, refer to my roll cake recipe and use cake ring/cutter to stamp the layers, or use 3 times quantity and divide into 3 baking pans.

B. Chantilly Cream filling, frosting and decoration

1. Chill mixing bowl and whisk in fridge for at least 30 mins.
2. Add whipping cream and mascarpone cheese into chilled mixing bowl, whisk on high speed, add icing sugar gradually, then vanilla extract, beat till stiff peak.
3. Place one layer of cake onto a 9” cake board. Brush top of the cake with syrup.
4. Spread 1 scoop of Chantilly cream onto the cake, spreading it evenly.
5. Lay sliced strawberries onto the cream. Spread another scoop of Chantilly cream and spreading it evenly to cover the strawberry slices.
6. Repeat steps 4 to 7 for the next layer of cake.
7. Place the last layer of cake on top, brush with syrup.
8. Spread the Chantilly cream onto the sponge cake covering the top and sides of the cake.
9. Fill a piping bag fitted with cake icer tip with Chantilly cream. Frost the sides and top of the cake evenly.
10. Use a bench scrapper and angled spatula to smoothen the sides and top of the cake.
11. Arrange whole and halved strawberries on top of the cake. Glaze the strawberries with glazing gel and decorate with mint leaves.
12. Store cake in cake box and chill overnight to set the cake.
13. Cake is best served slightly chilled.

And here's The Sunday Times article (click to enlarge). The recipe in the newspaper differs slightly as the Editor included more details (with my input) and full quantity (x 3 layers) for the genoise sponge (whereas the recipe above is for per layer). The online edition of this article can be found here.