Castella Cake

Castella Cake ~ have you bake this cake before?  I have been trying and trying and trying and really, I have even lost count how many times I have tried.  All those failure has really disappoint me.  Was it just because I do not have that special wooden mould?  No, some even have successfully baked it without that wooden mould.  Probably I am really no good at baking this cake and moreover my oven is the "hot tempered" type!  

But this castella cake is too delicious for me to give up just like that, this is why I have not given up hope.

HONEY CASTELLA CAKE

Ingredients
4 egg whites (medium size),  at room temperature

4 egg yolks (medium size),  at room temperature

130g sugar 

100g bread flour, sifted  

40g honey 
20g milk    (You can use 2 tbsp water or mirin & mix dilute with honey)

Method

Using two square cake pan measuring 8" and 7"; and cut out some cardboards to be slotted and fitted in between the two pans on all the four sides.  Wrapped the cut out cardboards with aluminium foils.  Cut out and place a parchment paper to the bottom of your 7" square pan.

Preheat oven to (165°C).

Place egg whites in mixing bowl and beat at high speed  until slightly foamy. Add sugar in 2 to 3 batches until firm peaks form

Add egg yolks one at a time at medium low speed until well combined. 

Add in the honey. Whisk till combined.  
Add sifted bread flour and beat until just combined.

Drizzle the milk around and lightly using a spatula to mix in till combined.

Pour the batter into the 7" cake pan. Give the pan lightly tap on the counter to release air out. Using a spatula, smoothen the top of batter to remove any remaining bubbles. Put the 7" pan into the 8" pan and slot in all four corners with the wrapped aluminium cardboard.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 min or until top is evenly browned. Remove pan from oven and carefully take out the 7" square pan  and drop it from a one foot height onto the counter 2-3 times to prevent shrinkage.  Invert the cake pan onto metal cooling tray for 5-10 minutes. 

When cake is cool enough to handle, remove from pan. Peel off the bottom parchment paper. Wrap the cake with a fresh parchment paper and another layer with plastic wrap and leave overnight at room temperature or in the fridge for flavor to develop.

To serve, cut off edges on three sides except the browned top with a very sharp knife. Cut into thick slices using a sawing motion.

                 My slice cake look a little short and flat but nevertheless I am pleased this time

                                                        it doesn't shrink and wrinkle up.

                               

This castella cake method of using two baking pans slotted with cardboard wrapped with aluminium foil was brilliant and it was sourced from Kitchen Tigress blog.  Thank you.

Garibaldi Biscuit

Have you heard of a biscuits called " squashed fly biscuits"?  Yes?  No?  What about "Garibaldi biscuits"?  No?  And what about "Raisins biscuits or sultanas biscuits" then?  Yes, right?  Raisins/Sultanas biscuits are quite common for us here and we used to eat this and commonly sold at the supermarkets.

Well, squashed fly biscuits or Garibaldi biscuits or Raisins biscuits they all are the same. This biscuit also exist under different names in other countries.

You can find more information on Garibaldi biscuits here (Wikipedia).

Garibaldi Biscuits
Recipe sourced from Emma of Poires au Chocolat

Original Recipe from Delia Online

(Makes 16)

Ingredients
110g plain flour

¼ tsp baking powder
big pinch of fine sea salt
25g unsalted butter, cold
25g caster sugar + bit extra to sprinkle
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
100g raisins
zest of ¼ lemon 

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Line a big baking tray with baking parchment. Mix the flour, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Chop the butter into cubes then add to the bowl and rub in. Stir in the caster sugar. In a bowl or mug whisk the egg yolk and milk together, then add to the bowl and gently mix in just until the dough comes together. Use your hand to bring it into a ball.

Dust the worktop with plenty of flour then place the mix in the middle and dust again. Roll out to a rectangle of roughly 7 x 11" or 20 x 30 cm, using more flour when needed. Tip the fruit onto one half and zest the 1/4 lemon on top. Spread the fruit out into an even layer so it covers half the dough. Fold the other half over the fruit. Check it hasn't stuck to the surface, dusting again if needed. Roll out to 7 x 11" or 20 x 30 cm again.

Trim the sides with a sharp knife so you have a clean rectangle then cut into two lengthways. Cut each strip into 8, so you have 16 small strips. Transfer to the baking sheet. Brush the tops with some of the egg white (you'll only use a small amount) then sprinkle with a little extra caster sugar. Bake for 14-16 minutes until deep golden brown. 

Cool on a wire rack.

                             These biscuits not only so good and they are so easy to make.  

 

I'm linking this post for Cook Like A Star hosted

 by Joyce of Kitchen Flavours, Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Mich of Piece of Cake. 

不 流 的 流 沙 包 ("Liu Sar Bao")

I made "Liu Sar Bao" today but unfortunately my Liu Sar Bao doesn't live up to its name as it doesn't "liu" (流) at all!  But..... it taste real good.  Love the egg custard filling inside.

"Liu Sar Bao" (Salted Egg Custard Steamed Buns)

Ingredients for the Skin

500 gm Pau flour or Hong Kong flour

2 ½ tsp dried yeast

100 ml lukewarm water

125 gm caster sugar

5 tsp Crisco shortening  (I used vegetable cooking oil)

2 1/8  tsp baking powder

¼ tsp salt

110 - 115 ml water

Preparation for the Skin
 

(A)

Mix the dried yeast with lukewarm water, stir well.

Add in 130 gm sifted pau flour, mix well with the yeast mixture.  Roughly form into a ball of dough and set aside for 15 mins.

(B)

Mix the balance 370 gm sifted pau flour with the baking powder, sugar and salt, stir well.

Pour this mixture into (A) above.  Add in the shortening and water sparingly, knead till dough doesn't stick to the hands.

Cover dough with a damp cloth and let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hr. to 1.1/2 hrs or till double in size.

Knock down dough to expel some air, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead for a while.

Weigh out 50 gm of dough and roughly shape into a ball.  Makes 18 pieces.

Flatten and roll out the dough into a circle.  Cup it in the palm of your hand, spoon in the custard filling onto the centre of the dough and pleat up the sides and seal; lightly roll with your both hands to shape it round. Place the pleated side down onto a piece of greaseproof paper, on the rack for steaming.  Cover with a piece of damp cloth and let rise for another 15 mins.

Steam the pau under rapidly boiling water on high heat for about 10 to 12 mins.

Remove from steamer and serve, hot.

* This Pau Dough is adapted from Cheah of No Frills Recipes

This pau dough recipe is indeed good and the texture is soft after steamed.  Will use this for all my future steamed buns.

Salted Egg Custard Filling

Adapted from Food Manna

Ingredients

80g salted egg yolk (6 yolks)

110g caster sugar

55g custard powder

55g full cream milk powder

60g coconut milk

20g corn starch (1 tablespoon)

110g butter, room temperature

Method

Start by steaming the egg yolk for 8-10 minutes or until cooked. let cool and mash. Next, In a mixing bowl, cream the butter slightly and mix in the ingredients. Refrigerate the mixture until firm. Portion into balls and freeze till solid. 

* Both the bao dough and the filling, I half the recipe.

Other food bloggers have made  "Liu Sar Bao" too; check them out.

Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 

Jeannie of Baking Diary

Easy Quick Stir Fry Beef & Broccoli

With the hot weather and dry spell here in Malaysia, I guess some of you wasn't in a mood to bake or cook lately, right?  It has not been raining for more than 3 months here already;  all the trees and grasses has turn reddish brown; from far it looks like Autumn season here in Malaysia!!

With the dry spell and water rationing going on, it is good to cook and eat light and easy dishes like soups and stir fry dishes.

EASY STIR FRY BEEF & BROCCOLI

Ingredients
300g rump steak or tenderloin steak, thinly sliced
180g broccoli florets

50g ginger, thinly sliced

1 bird’s eye chilli, thinly sliced

1 tbsp peanut oil

Dash of pepper

Marinade

1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tbsp cornflour
1/2 tbsp oil

Sauce

2 tbsp soy sauce

½ tbsp oyster sauce

½ tsp sugar

2 tsp Shaoxing wine

1 tsp corn flour

3 tbsp water

Method
Marinate the beef slices with soy sauce, cornflour and oil for 15-30 minutes.
In a saucepan, blanched the broccoli florets 10-15 seconds, drain and set aside.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a wok under high heat until smoking hot. Add in sliced ginger and give it a quick stir for a minute.
Add in beef and the blanched broccoli florets and stir fry for a further 1 minute.  Pour in the sauce and give it a thorough mix and further cooked till until the beef turned brown and the sauce slightly thickened.
Stir in the sliced bird's eye chilli and season with white pepper and add a splash of sesame oil. 

Mix well and serve immediately with steamed rice.

                        If you don't eat beef, you can always substitute with pork tenderloin.

Fried Shrimp Balls

I have one big bag of tiger prawns left over which supposed to cook for the CNY dinner but due to I have been unwell, I have not done any cooking since.

Well, instead of cooking my usual sweet and sour prawns or sambal prawns, I have chosen to use Nami's Fried Shrimp Balls again because I just love the crisp of the fried panko.

Fried Shrimp Balls

Recipe sourced from Nami of JustOneCookbook

Ingredients

1 medium onion

1 tbsp oil

650g black tiger prawns, peeled and deveined

1 tbsp corn starch

1.5-2 inch ginger

3 stalks spring onion

2 small eggs, separate into egg whites and yolks

1/2 tsp salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1.5 – 2 tbsp corn starch

1 tbsp Sesame oil

1 Cup Panko or breadcrumbs

Oil for deep frying

To Serve with:

Ketchup

Salt & white ground pepper

Instructions:

* Do hop over to Nami's Fried Shrimp Balls on the method to prepare and deep fry this Shrimp Balls as well as to view her tutorial photos.  

 Itadakimasu!

Do you like Fried Shrimp Balls?

I am linking this post to Little Thumbs Up

The theme for March 2014 is Prawn

Hosted by Moon from Food Playground

This event is organised by Zoe of Bake For Happy Kids 
and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY

 

 

 

Perfect "Steamed Baked" Fruit Cake

I'm back ...after missing in action for so long.  I have been unwell right after the Chinese New Year.  I know my recuperating period has been quite long.  The medicine that I took has made me lost all appetite and I have been eating very little lately too.  And all these have also make me feel lazy to bake or cook to update to my blog.  I am sure you will agree with me sometimes you just don't have the mood to do anything else.

Today, I am posting my favourite fruit cake again.  Other than kumquat, mixed dried fruit is one of my favourite cake.  If you have come to know my blog here, I have done few steamed fruit cake before; my 1st time done is Steamed Fruit cake  (steamed for 2 hrs 45 minutes), my 2nd recipe also is Steamed Fruit Cake (steamed for 4 hours).  And just last Christmas, I have also made a Christmas Pudding which called to steam for 4 hours 30 minutes. 

With the long hours of steaming the cake, the cake will stay moist in texture and believe me, the cake is absolutely sooooooo delicious.  I know some of you will freak out when I said the steaming took at least 3-4 hours.     

But now, there's a solution, instead of steaming you can use the method of "steam bake" the cake to cut down the cooking time..  Isn't it great?  Well, this idea, I really have to thank my dear friend Hui of Butterfly-Waltz whom has advised me and after she has successfully done hers by steamed baked this Perfect Steamed Baked Fruit Cake.

“Steamed Baked” Mixed Fruit Cake 

Ingredients

(A)

200g butter (at room temperature)
150g caster sugar
3 eggs

150g plain flour, sifted
1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

(B)
350g mixed dried fruit

1/3 cup rum or brandy (you can add in more if you like OR you can use orange juice too!)

150g plain flour, sifted

(C)

150g caster sugar

30g water


Method

Macerate the mixed dried fruit in the 1/3 cup rum for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Add in the 150g sifted plain flour into the mixture of dried fruit together.  Combined well and set aside.

Beat butter and sugar till light and fluffy.  Add in eggs, one at a time until well combined.  Add in vanilla essence.
Put in sifted flour, bicarbonate soda and cream of tartar.  
Add in the fruit mixture.  Mix all well together and set aside.

Meanwhile, place the 150g caster sugar into a saucepan and pour in the 30g water at the side of the  saucepan.  Cook till the sugar turn caramel.
Mix a well centre in the dough batter and pour in the caramel in the well and quickly mix all well combine.

(Please be extra CAREFUL when you pour in the hot caramel in to the batter!!) 

Prepare water bath and place in preheated oven of 170Celcius. 

Tip: use a medium/big square baking tray, filled with water and place in lower oven shelf. Heat water in the oven  (There's NO NEED to place cake tin "into" the water bath)

Grease and lined with greased proof paper to two small loaf pan pour the cake mixture in. 

Place cake tin on the second lowest shelf (or whichever shelf one usually use for baking) and bake at 170C for about 90minutes or until the skewer insert in comes out clean.

** I’m using two small loaf pans instead of 8” square pan as this will cut short the steam baking time. 

** You can wrap the cake pans with aluminium foil to slow steam bake to avoid burning on top.  

Feel free to do which step you feel appropriate.  

Crispy Cod Fish Strips

I am sure you have come across this Crispy Cod Fish Strips recently when Anncoo Journal has posted this yummy snack and many has made this super easy snack.

And since everyone rated how crispy and yummy this snack is, I bought one pack of this Cod Fish Strips and try it out myself.   Ann has posted few recipes wrapping with seaweed & sesame seeds as well but I was just lazy to wrap with the seaweed.  I just made this easy version instead.

You really don't need till CNY to make this;  I like to munch some crispy snack while watching my favourite movie and this snack disappeared in just less than 10 minutes....

EASY CRISPY COD FISH STRIPS 
Recipe sourced from Anncoo Journal

Ingredients: 

1 packet Cod fish strips, tie (4 strips) a knot in the centre 

Bake at preheated oven at 140C for 10-12 minutes or a little golden brown. Store them  immediately in an airtight container once cooled.

Kumquat Scones

Yes, you heard me....it's kumquat again!  My last batch for this year!  Even my sister whatapps me and said "Kumquat fever again ah?"

I love scones but I do not know why I don't usually make scones to indulge it.  Some scones after baked, they are quite dry and you need to spread some jam or butter to go with it.  But if you have searched for a good scones that uses fresh fruits like blueberries or jam to mix in in the batter, it will be soft and moist.  I love those recipes that uses heavy cream in it too but if you do not have cream, you can always use fresh milk.

I have made Blueberries Scones  many years ago and I absolutely love that especially if you ate it while it is still warm.

Alright then, anyway, hope you wouldn't mind of my Kumquat Scones post here as I thought wanted to give it a miss but I want put this recipe into my blog here.

KUMQUAT SCONES

Ingredients

280g all-purpose flour

40g brown sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

113g unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/2 cup kumquat jam

3 tablespoons milk

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract  

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda and salt. Add cold butter, using your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse crumbs.

In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk together kumquat jam, milk, egg and vanilla. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and stir using a rubber spatula until a soft dough forms.

Working on a lightly floured surface, knead the dough 3-4 times until it comes together. Using a rolling pill, roll the dough into a 10- by 7-inch rectangle, about 1-inch thick.

Using a large knife or a pizza cutter, cut the rectangle in half lengthwise, then cut into 2 even pieces crosswise, making four rectangles. Then cut each each rectangle into two triangles, making 8 triangles.

Place scones onto prepared baking sheet. Place into oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

* This recipe sourced from DamnDelicious.net where Chung-Ah baked is her "Almost" Starbucks Pumpkin Scones which the pumpkin puree I changed to kumquat jam instead.

                                Just don't overbaked the scones or else it will be too dry.

Kuih Bangkit (Tapioca Cookies)

I made this Kuih Bangkit just last week ~ thinking it was easy and bravely doubled up the recipe in two batches in a row eventhough it was my first attempt making it.  It was indeed a wrong move and making it hastily without reading the recipe carefully.  I didn't cream the egg yolk and icing sugar till creamy resulting the dough was little more yellowish in colour.  And there was other factor that I did wrong too.  Sigh... BUT....nevertheless, those cookies were delicious and full of aroma taste.

As I am not pleased with the first attempt, I am adamant to try it out again.  And indeed, I done it!!  More than happy now.....

Kuih Bangkit (Tapioca Cookies)

Recipe sourced from Sonia of NasiLemakLover 

(I made 1 ½ recipe from her original recipe) 

Ingredients
190g tapioca flour
190g sago flour
6-8 screwpine (pandan) leaves, cut into small pieces

2 medium size egg yolk
130g icing sugar
125ml - 140ml concentrated coconut milk (or adjust accordingly) -

   use freshly squeeze coconut milk
A pinch of salt
Red food colouring (for decoration)
 

Directions

Combine the tapioca flour and sago flour together.  Dry fry the flours with the screwpine leaves in a big wok till very light (at least about 30 - 40 mins).

(My weight of flour after frying and sieve about 330g)

Cool flour for at least 2-3 days before used.
 

Whisk egg yolk and icing sugar until creamy and slightly pale, and half coconut milk, whisk till combine.

In a mixing bowl, sift in tapioca+sago flour, add in egg mixture.
 

Slowly add in(little by little)the balance coconut milk into mixture, mixing by hand till mixture clings together to form a stiff dough, smooth and pliable (neither too wet nor dry).  

Make sure to give it a good knead for at least 5-10 minutes.

Dust a Bangkit mould with extra flour, press dough gently into mould. Trim excess dough. Tap gently on hard surface to remove dough. Repeat.

Bake in preheated oven at 160c for 25mins.

  

Note:  

*  If your dough is too wet, you will have a hard time removing it from the mould eventhough you dust your mould with flour.  So adjust accordingly when adding the balance of the coconut milk.

*  My first tray of cookies, I baked in 150C, and all the cookies have cracked top and browish but very crispy and aroma taste.  Whereas my second tray of cookies, I lower the oven temp to 100C only to slow baked it to prevent from cracking top though it wont have crispy crunch; but I just love how the shell shape look in the end result.

Ha....I took these cookies to the seaside to take photo..... Do you believe me? nah... just pulling your leg....

                                       
                                       

I'm submitting this post to the Bake Along event hosted by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce of Kitchen Flavours and Lena of Frozen Wings 

and the theme is 'Chinese New Year Cookies'.