Saturday, November 28, 2009

Pandan chiffon cake

Weekend is here again. I am gonna bake one of my childhood favourites: Pandan Chiffon Cake (PCC). My mum requested me to bake it too. I have some friends from Hong Kong who love the PCC from Singapore. I will always bring some over whenever I visit Hong Kong. To me, baking PCC is a big challenge for me. I kept procrastinating in baking this whenever I look at the recipe. 9 egg whites!! 8 yolks!! Whisking the egg whites with caster sugar till stiff peaks is an art in my opinion. When do I know I've reached the peak? Search me. I've seen pictures which illustrated how soft/stiff peaks look like. Still, there is always this unexplained 'fear' in carrying out this mission. Yes,  a Mission. Mission Possible or Mission Impossible? *Shivers*

I have been studying recipes after recipes for PCC. Finally, I decided to adapt the recipe from Little Corner of Mine . And the result: I succeeded in baking my first Pandan Chiffon Cake. It didn't sink after the cake was left to cool on the wire rack. Hip hip, Hooray!!! Hip Hip Hooray!! I have this urge to open a bottle of champage to celebrate. I know I know, I was overreacting. I was feeling so nervous waiting for my PCC to finish the baking process. I read horror stories of the failure of PCC, so you can't blame me for getting so uptight. :) The texture was soft and fluffy but tasted a tad too dry. I should have followed the recipe all the way and not tweaked it since I'm not an experienced PCC baker. I will attempt to make this again.

I posted some pictures on the step by step procedures on whisking the egg whites till stiff peaks.

Whisk the egg whites till foamy which resemble like the foam present in beer.


Add the caster sugar slowly into the egg whites and whisk till shiny and stiff peaks.




Fold in the egg white mixture gently into the egg yolk mixture using a big spatula.







Recipe:
(A)
1 3/4 cup plain flour (I use 1 3/4 cup cake flour, sifted twice)
1 tbsp baking powder ( I use 0.5 tbsp)
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp salt

(B)
1/2 cup canola oil (I use sunflower oil)
3/4 coconut milk (I use coconut cream)
1 tsp pandan paste
6 egg yolks

(C)
6 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup caster sugar

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 175 deg celsius.

Place (A) in a bowl and stir well to blend. Add (B) in and whisk till smooth using electric mixer.

Beat (C) till moist peaks formed. Add cream of tartar. Gradually add caster sugar, beating until stiff and shiny peaks are formed. Fold in 1/3 of egg whites into the egg yolk mixture, fold to mix and then add in the rest of the egg whites. Fold in gently but thoroughly. Pour batter into ungreased tube pan.

Bake for 60 mins or till a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Invert pan and cool completely in pan. When cooled, loose the edges and shake the pan to remove the cake.




Enjoy!

Thursday, November 26, 2009

Thank You, Pushy Panda! Thank You, SL!

I have a brand new look for my blog. NOt a big change, I merely change the plain-looking blog title with a banner. Yay!!! I can never be happier. There is a LOT of EFFORT in creating this beautiful banner. Every single detail is designed as closely to the theme of my blog title, ' Confessions of a Baking Addict'. Yes, I am an addict, an addict in baking. I always look forward to the weekend, so that I can study which recipe to explore. I will do my utmost best to carefully distribute the desserts loaded with calories to my family and friends after each baking session.

Back to my new blog look, the creative minds behind this banner are my super duper nice babe's boyfriend, A aka Pushy Panda and the babe is SL (she created this cutesy baking addict with A enhancing the image). This is A's link : http://pushypanda.blogspot.com/ . I saw one of A's works, he is very good with animation. Do check out his website if you need some help in designing website domain and many others. I was extremely, yes, u heard me right, EXTREMELY pleased when SL presented to me the almost completed first draft of the banner. I was in awe/overwhelmed/elated/excited/ecstatic when I saw the final product. Ok, I'm thrilled. I feel more complete with a banner too which is meant solely for my food blog. Unique and special.

Thank You, Pushy Panda! Thank You, SL!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Gone are the days of late nights. I feel 'ten' years younger now. Life is fantastic, especially so when I am given more opportunities to bake. Life is even better when you bake while enjoying a glass of wine. In fact, I have never done that before. Does one cook or bake better when you drink? Oh well, I am yearning to give it a try. I promise I won't get drunk on the kitchen table. I promise. As I am feeling alittle under the weather, I shan't drink and bake this time round. =)

Missed baking last weekend and I am starting to experience 'withdrawal symptoms' already. I wanted a simple recipe with just making use of a few ingredients. Choice bake for the weekend: Cream Cheese pound cake. I love pound cakes especially the ones from 'Sara Lee', the most trusted brand. I had them since I was a young girl. I love the chocolate pound and the butter pound ones. They taste so rich and dense. Once you start, you can't seem to stop. If I were to make a choice between brownies and chocolate pound cake, I would choose the latter.




The heating circulation in my oven is not even. I must remember to rotate the pan should I try baking this again, if not, I get a 'yin yang' cream cheese pound cake.

Recipe adapted from: All recipes ( I tweaked the recipe slightly)
Ingredients:
250g cream cheese, room temperature
1 1/2 cup butter ( I use 250g of  Golden Churn butter and 1/2 cup buttermilk)
3 cup white sugar ( I use 2 cups)
6 eggs, room temperature
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 160degree celsius. Grease and flour the 10inch tube pan.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add buttermilk and mix until just incorporated. Add sugar gradually and beat till fluffy.
3. Add two eggs at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour all at once and mix in. Add vanilla extract.
4.  Pour into the 10inch tube and bake at 160deg celsius for 1hr 20mins. I lowered the temperature to 150 deg celsius for the remaining 35mins. Check for doneness at 1 hr. Insert a toothpick in the centre and it should come out clean.








This pound cake is heavy and dense. Although it has a yin yang look, they are thoroughly baked. The sweetness is just right for my taste buds. I hope I don't get any nightmare by savouring this piece of cake at 2ish in the morning on a Sunday.

Enjoy!

Saturday, November 7, 2009

New York Cheesecake


Made New York Cheesecake at the request of my friend, K as his wife loves them. Constant baking made me rather broke. I find that baking can be an expensive hobby if you bake very often. I swear by certain brands for some key ingredients of my bakes. I learned my baking mistakes through trial and error or EOI (exchange of information, nothing to do with OECD if one may wonder) among friends who love baking like me. Anyways, K decided to sponsor the cream cheese for the cheesecake. Thank you, K.




Going through the cookbooks I have in my possession, I found the NY Cheesecake recipe from Marcus Wareing.




Recipe adapted from: Marcus Wareing

Ingredients:
3 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 graham crackers  crumbs ( I used oreo biscuits, crushed)
500g cream cheese at room temperature ( I used Philadephia cream cheese)
1 cup granulated/ fine sugar
1/3 cup heavy cream ( I used thickened cream )
3 tbsp cornstarch/ cornflour
1 tbsp of lemon juice (optional)
4 large eggs, beaten

Method:
Pre-heat the oven  to 120deg celsius.

Mix the melted butter with crushed oreo biscuits. Press firmly over the bottom of the springform pan (23 x 8cm). I used 2 disposable aluminium pie tray (base diameter 14cm).
.
Put the cream cheese in the mixing bowl. Add the sugar, cream, cornstarch and the eggs and beat together until smooth. Pour the mixture over the oreo base.

Bake the cheesecake for 1hr 30mins in the oven until just set but still wobble in the centre. Let cool to room temperature before removing the sides of the pan.

Notes:
- I baked the cheesecake using water-bath method. I simply placed the cheesecake baking tray on another baking tray and I filled the latter with some water, say approximately 1/2 inch in height. This is to maintain the moisture in the cheesecake after baking. I will take a picture of how water bath looks like in my next bake of cheesecake.

- Pls do not use the pie tray above. It will be hard to cut up the slice cheesecake (it will be a messy cut) as compared to no baked cheesecake (since it has already became jelly-like texture). Springform pan is the best choice for baked cheesecake in my opinion. I cut up the sides of tray using scissors before slicing up the cheesecake.






Enjoy!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Mini cheesecake with minis

Come November onwards, a new commitment will not allow me to bake any recipe during the weekdays. I will have to make sure I have 8 hours of sleep every day and to jog around my neighbourhood in the evening 4-5 times a week. And hopefully, I will be in a tip-top condition when I visit the beautiful beaches (part of my travel agenda in 2010). I do not wish to do a diservice to the swim sets I bought in Hong Kong a couple of months ago. The thought of soaking under the hot sun on a beautiful beach gives me the adrenaline rush. How I wish I can jet off to Phuket right now! Glad no one caught me smiling to myself in the comfort of my bedroom. =) My mum may think I was being silly smiling and typing away...


Promised to make some mini cheesecake for my friends on Saturday during a dim sum lunch outing. These minis are quick and easy, not to mention that they're yummy too. Size does matter. Bite size desserts are preferrred these days. Besides, they look really adorable because of the petitte outlook. I added lemon juice to the mini cheesecake to minimise the strong smell of vanilla extract.


The 25th to 29th cheesecake are baking in the oven.





Recipe:
Makes 28 -29 mini cheesecakes (if you're using the mini muffin baking tray)

Ingredients:

Cheesecake filling:-
250g Philadelphia cream cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup caster/granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoon lemon juice -optional
Lemon zest ( I added a pinch) - optional

Base filling:-
150g crushed digestive biscuits
3 tablespoons melted butter plus 2 tablespoon boiling water

Method:
 Pre-heat the oven to 190deg celsius. Mix the crushed biscuits with the melted butter. Put the biscuits mixture on the paper liners and press them down firmly. Leave them in the fridge to chill while you start on your cheesecake filling.

Mix the cream cheese with the egg until just well incorporated. Add the sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, lemon zest and beat at medium high speed for 2 minutes. The batter should look creamy and smooth.

Pour the cheesecake filling into the paper liners and bake for 15 minutes or until when the surface does not look glossy. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. Chill the minis in the fridge for 2 hours before serving.

Enjoy!