Light Fruit cake

Source of the recipes are from http://lilysbest.blogspot.com/2010/12/easy-christmas-fruitcake.html?m=1


Ingredients:

1/4 cup Brandy or Rum
2 cups mixed dried fruit ( raisins, golden raisin and cranberry)

1 cup of chopped nut ( almond, cashew and walnut)
300g all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2tsp ground mixed spice 
1/4 tsp salt
300g unsalted butter - room temperature
2 cups  confectioners' sugar/powdered sugar
4 to 5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Zest from 2 big orange
Half cup of homemade Caramel sauce 




Method: 

Grease and lined a 9 inches square tin.

Put rum and dried fruit  in a saucepan and cook until the brandy is soaked up by the fruits.  Add the nut and let it cool.
Sieve flour, baking powder, spices and salt together.

Cream room temperature butter until light, reduce speed to low and add in 1+1/2 cups of confectioners; sugar, a little at a time, turn back to speed 2 and continue to cream until light and fluffy. 

Add in the egg yolks, one at a time , cream well before adding the next one.

Using a microplane, zest the orange and lemon (you might have to use 2 oranges or 2 lemons if you are using an ordinary grater cos the microplane grates more zest) and add into the butter mixture. Add in the vanilla extract and cream well to combine.

Add in the caramel sauce and cream well

Reduce the speed to low and add in the sieved flour in 3 portions.  Mix well.

Remove from stand mixer and add in all the fruits and nuts.  Stir to combine the fruits and nuts to the mixture.

Whisk egg whites until foamy before adding in the 1/2 cup of confectioners' sugar and beat until soft peak.  When whisk is lifted from bowl, whites form droopy, moist-looking, but definite peaks.

Stir in 1/3 of the beatened egg whites and mix in thoroughly, then fold in the rest of the egg whites.

Divide batter evenly amougst the prepared loaf pans and put to bake in 325 f preheated oven for 50 minutes or until a toothpick test comes out clean.

Remove from oven and leave to rest on a cake rack for 5 to 10 minutes before removing the greaseproof paper. Leave the cakes to cool completely before wrapping in cling wrap.

Sourdough Bread

Van Houten Chocolate Pound Cake

Van Houten Chocolate Pound Cake(Uncle Charlie chocolate cake)

Ingredients:

A). 200 gm. Flour mixture sieved.

50 gm Van Houten cocoa powder with 150 gm plain flour or All Purpose flour or Self-rising flour. (Please omit the baking powder if you are using Self-rising flour, it contain leavening agent)

B). 200 gm. Butter.

C). 180gm. Sugar.(180g to 200g)

D). A pinch of salt

E). 1 tbsp. Pure Vanilla extract

F). 200 gm. Eggs ( about 4 to 5 nos of eggs) 

G). 2tsp. Baking powder ( omit this if you are using self-rising flour)

Method:

(1)Use an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract until light and creamy. 

(2) Add in the egg one at a time and beat until creamy. 

(3) Fold in sieved flour mixture. Stir until just combined.

(4) Pour into a 20 cm Dia. round baking  tin that has been lined with baking paper.

(5) Bake in a preheated oven at 170 degrees C for about 30 mins. or until cooked.

Japanese Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake (cooked dough method)

Golden chiffon Cake 黄金The batter is using 烫面 "Cooked Dough" method (that means cook the egg yolk batter first)

*makes a 9" (internal diameter) x 3" height round cake tin with removable bottom (not a non-stick)

50g butter (salted)+ 50 sunflower oil

90g Plain flour+ 10g cornflour
6 egg yolks (A size)
100g fresh milk

6 egg whites (A size)

100g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method

1. Prepare a cake pan, don’t need to line paper.
2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two mixing bowls. Set aside to return to room temperature.
3. Place butter, oil and milk in a saucepan, once you see small bubbles, remove from heat.
4. Immediately add in flour, quickly stir to become batter (at this stage, the batter is thick. Also suggest to transfer this batter to another clean mixing bowl).
5. Add in egg yolk one at a time, stir well on each addition. The batter is slightly runny if compare to normal chiffon batter.
6. Mix sugar and cream of tartar together. Beat egg whites till foamy, gradually add in sugar mixture (in three batches) and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
7. Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
8. Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
9. Pour into cake tin, bake at pre-heated oven at 165C (no fan) for 30mins at low rack, then increase to 170C (no fan) for another 15 mins.
10. Once baked, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

Chiffon Reference : modified from Sonia aka Nasi Lemak Lover Golden Sponge cake

For Cake Filling:
2 cups Heavy Cream
1 tsp Gelatin (unflavoured)
1 tbsp Cold Water
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
4 tbsp confectioner's sugar

1/2 cup Strawberries, evenly sliced and mix with 2 tbsp of sugar and rum for the filling
1 cup Strawberries, for the topping
Glaze for strawberries, as desired

To make Stabilized Whipped Cream*:

1. Place the electric mixer bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for at least half an hour before use. Keep heavy cream cold in the refrigerator, taking out only when ready to whip.

2. Pour the cold water into a glass bowl and sprinkle the gelatin evenly over the surface of the water. Let stand for 5 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, fill a saucepan with water up to 2 cm height. Bring to a gentle simmer over low heat. Sit the bowl of gelatin over the rim of the saucepan, ensuring that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the surface of the water. Stir continuously until all the gelatin dissolves. Once dissolved, set aside and let mixture cool down to room temperature.




4. Pour heavy cream into the mixer bowl and whisk on medium speed until the cream just starts to thicken, and you start to see the whisk lines faintly trailing in the cream as you whisk. Pour in the vanilla extract, then add the sugar. Continue to whisk until soft peaks form. Then pour in the gelatin all at once, and continue to whisk until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to over-whip as cream peaks go from soft to stiff very quickly - over-whipped cream will start to turn buttery. If not ready to use immediately, cover with cling wrap and place in refrigerator to let it chill.To Assemble the Cake:

 1. On a cake turntable or flat dish, cut the chiffon cake in two pieces and place the bottom cake layer with the smooth side facing down.

2. Place a large dollop of whipped cream and spread a thin but even layer over the surface. Cover the surface with strawberry slices (avoid stacking or overlapping slices), again in an even layer over the cream. Spread another even layer of cream, just enough to cover the strawberry slices.

3. Cover with the top cake layer, making sure that both layers align nicely all around the circumference of the cake. Frost the top and sides of the cake, smoothing the cream all around.

4. At this point let the cake chill for 30 minutes before you continue the decoration.

5. Using piping tips of your choice, pipe just inside the edge all around on the top, and at the base of the cake. Pipe rosettes to fill the centre of the cake. Decorate with strawberry halves and quarters (sit the strawberries on the rosettes), and brush over with glaze for a moist, glossy appearance. Chill to set the frosting and filling before serving.

How to store if making in advance:

Cake Base: Keep each layer separately in re-sealable bags or air-tight containers, and chill until ready to use.
Whipped Cream: Cover bowl with cling wrap and keep chilled until ready to use. If the cream has deflated a little by the time it is needed, simply re-whip by hand using a hand whisk until light and fluffy again.

For Filling and Frosting reference: modified from Little Bites Big Tastes Strawberry Chiffon Shortcake

中秋莲蓉月饼Homemade Lotus Paste Mooncake

中秋节快乐！

Homemade Cold Press Virgin Coconut Oil ( Fermentation Method)

This was my first attempt of making this coconut oil. I bought 3 mature freshly grated coconuts from the nearby wet market, and 3 cups of warm water were added to the coconut pulp to extract the coconut milk from it. As fermentation works better in a warm and enclosed place, so my pot of coconut milk was put in the turn off mode microwave oven to ferment. After several hour, the curd, oil and water start to separate:- the protein stay at the surface, the oil float at the 2nd layer, then follow by the water and a layer of fine pulp settles at the bottom. After filtering I was able to scoop out about 3/4 cup of cold press virgin coconut with no heat apply to it at all. The oil that was extracted this way might has some water moisture content in it, so i will keep it in the fridge to prevent it from rancid.