Victoria sponge sandwich

 An easy no fail recipe for me. I made them for a family gathering and everyone loves it. Now my mum "ordered" 8 of them for her to distribute to the relatives and some friends during CNY.

The texture and taste is some where in between butter cake and sponge cake. It is not exactly as rich as butter cake neither it is light as sponge. It has the buttery aroma but not too heavy for your taste bud. Love it with the strawberry jam. It will definitely be better if only I can make my only strawberry jam, perhaps next time.

Victoria Sponge Sandwich
Adapted from Women's Weekly Australia

250g butter, softened
1sp vanilla extract
200g sugar
4 eggs
1/2cup milk
300g self-raising flour
Strawberry jam
Icing sugar

1. Preheat oven to 170 degree. Grease two 8" round tin and line with baking paper.
2. Beat butter, vanilla and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, one at a time, follow by the milk.
4. Sift in the flour in 2 batches and fold in till just combined.
5. Divide equally into the 2 prepared tin and bake for about 30 mins.
6. Turn the tin top-side up on the wire rack to cool. After cooled, sandwich the sponge with strawberry jam and just with icing sugar.

Brownie muffins

One of my favorite recipe, revisited!






- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Brioche

Recipe was taken from Delicious Days long long time ago. It was orange brioche. The picture posted on the blog just simply looked captivating. I didn't try it out until now, as I didn't venture into bread baking then.

I didn't have any orange at home, hence I replace with apricot, chocolate chips. I made 3 version in total. 1 with apricot, it taste WERID. The chocolate was nice. The plain taste just as good. And most importantly Atalie always loves to eat my bread. hehe.

Here is the adapted recipe.Make 6 standard muffin size.

125 ml lukewarm milk

10g instant yeast

250g flour

35g white sugar

a pinch of salt

1/2 egg

35g melted butter

1. Sieve the flour into a bowl and make a little depression in the middle. Pour the lukewarm milk into the well, add the instant yeast and one teaspoon of sugar. Carefully stir the milk mixture once or twice. 

2.Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let the pre-dough rise for about 15 minutes, the surface will start to look bubbly.

3. Add the remaining ingredients (sugar, egg, pinch of salt, cooled down melted butter) and use a mixer to knead till it is elastic enough. Add more flour if necessary. 

4. Cover and let proof for about 1 hour or till dough double.

5. Knead dough one more time to release the air. 

6. Cut in equal pieces and form little snow ball sized dumplings. Each ball is bout 72g.

7. Place little paper cups in the holes of a muffin tray. Let rest for 10 mins.

8. Bake at 200°C for about 15 minutes or until the tops turns golden brown. Cover with foil if the tops get too dark too fast.

Durian Mousse Cake

This was the birthday cake made for my mother. Recipe is adapted from Aunty Yochana. I love how easy it was to make the sponge cake. It was literally effortless and turn out beautifully.

The texture of the mousse was great. It was just nice, not too creamy. But mum said could have been more generous with the durian. I told her the durian used was the "mao shan" durian, which is very expensive, cost more than the D24.

After topping up with another layer of whipping cream, I laid the sides with sponge fingers. Easy and pretty to make!

My mum was really glad for the cake. =)

Here is the adapted recipe.

Vanilla Sponge Cake

100g cake flour
30g. cornflour
25g water
1 tsp baking powder
5 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g sugar
10g. ovalette (cake stabilizer)
50g corn oil

1. Preheat oven at 175 degree. Line two 8" round tin. (Don't need to grease)

2. Whisk all the ingredients together (except for the corn oil) till thick and fluffy.

3. Add in corn oil and mix till well blended. (I just use the mixed and give it a few good mixed instead of trying fold it carefully.)

4. Pour mixture into two 8" round tin. Bake for about 15 to 20 mins.Remove, turn it top side down and leave it to cool. The sponge will just come off on its own.

Durian Mousse

250 gm. Durian flesh
125 gm. fresh milk
30 gm. sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
10 gm. Gelatine Powder
20 gm. water
200 gm. whipping cream

1.Boil milk with sugar till sugar dissolves.

2. Whisk eggs and salt lightly and pour in the hot milk mixture. Add in durian flesh and mix till smooth. Off the heat and let it cool completely.
3. Mix gelatine powder with water and let it sit for 5 mins. Microwave for 20 secs. then add into the durian mixture.
4. Whisk whip cream till fluffy. Fold into the durian mixture. Divide mixture into 2 portions.
5. Spread 1 portion of durian mousse onto 1 slice of sponge cake. Then spread the durian mousse again and then top up with the second slice of sponge cake and spread the balance durian mousse on top. Chill in the fridge till set.
6. Decorate cake as desired.

Noted: My mousse turned out to be quite watery. Hence I used a 8" round cake ring to assemble the cake. The sponge shrink slightly after it cooled off. Hence, it is just nice for everything.

- I laid 1 layer of sponge in the cake ring. Pour in the mousse, follow by the 2nd layer, then the remaining mousse. Then I chill till it firm up.

What could possibly went wrong? My durian mixture wasn't cooled completely.

A safe method... Ensure the durian mixture is cooled completely. Chill it in the fridge for 5-10 mins (not longer than that, as it might harden due to the gelatine) before folding into the whipping cream. When folding in, put the mixing bowl over ice water to ensure the temperature is maintain, so that it won't "melt".

Blueberry Mini Cupcakes

I had some leftover blueberries and decided to try out one of the recipe that I had for the longest time (it happens all the time). I tried to add in some sweetcorn in replace of the blueberries but it did not turn out nice. Blueberries somehow give the cupcakes an enhanced taste and make it very flavorful.

Here's the source and below is adapted recipe.
Makes 16 mini muffins.

1-1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 cup sugar
1 /2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cups blueberries, (1 pint)
 

1. Preheat oven to 175 degree.
2. Sift all dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside. In a small bowl toss blueberries with about 1 tablespoon of flour mixture and set aside.
3. Whisk all wet ingredients together and mix well.
4. Add wet ingredients to flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until just barely combined. add blueberries and mix lightly. Do not over mix.
5. With an ice cream scoop fill muffin pan almost all the way to the top. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

65°C Bread Loaf

This was made using the Water Roux ingredient. The bread was soft and good when eaten on the first day, thereafter you need to toast it before eating. =)

This recipe was taken from Florence. My color somewhat turn our to be different from hers.

65°C Bread Loaf

250g bread flour
1 tbsp milk powder
80g TangZhong
105ml warm water
4g salt
25g sugar
5g dry yeast
25g butter

Method:
1. Put all the ingredients in together. (Please ensure the salt and butter stays away from the yeast)
2. By hand or mixer, knead till it is smooth and elastic. Cover and proof for 45 mins or till it double in size.
3. Knead slightly to release the air. Divide dough into 2 pieces, shape into a long rectangular shape and roll it up swiss-roll style.
4. Place dough pieces into loaf pan and let it prove till about 85% full.

5. Cover the loaf pan with its lid and bake at 175 - 180°C for about 25 - 30 minutes.

Hokkaido Milky Loaf

 

Recipe from Imperial Kitchen.

Ingredients:

270 g Bread flour
30 g Cake flour
5 g Dry active yeast
15 g Milk powder
40 g Sugar
4 g Salt
1 pc Egg
125 g Fresh milk
75 g Whipping cream (heavy cream)

Method:

1. Put all ingredient in the mixing bowl. (make sure the salt and yeast are not put together). Use a dough hook and knead till dough form.
2. Continue to knead dough till elastic and smooth.

3. Cover with cloth/cling wrap and proof for 450mins or till double. 

4. After that, knead slightly to release the air. 

5. Roll dough from top down into a longish shape (like swiss roll). Put into a well greased baking tin (7" x 4" x4") and proof for another 45 mins or until double.

6. Brush with milk and bake in preheated oven 170 degree for 40 mins.

Note: I covered the tin to get a square loaf. I think the bread will be even softer if I didn't cover it, so it can raise higher and more air.

Happy 2010

A happy new year too all! I am really believing this year will be really good. I'm going to complete my studies in July this year, follow by a BKK trip with family. It will be the first time that Atalie is travelling and get to see the relatives over there.

This is my baking goals for 2010
1. More recipe creations and try out more different types of bakes
2. To find time to take in more orders for those who have been asking for the longest time.( Do drop me a comment/email for enquiries. =))
3. To be able to do baking for every single of my loved ones' birthday
4. Continous improvement in my baking skills especially in terms of decor