Kitchen Corner

August 31, 2015

Shanghai Mooncake


After reading a few different mooncake recipes, I notice Shanghai Mooncake is the easiest one for me. My first tasted Shanghai Mooncake was few years back from my good friend Jane.


I still remember how tasty her Shanghai Mooncake. I miss her a lot really. Those day she freeze many good stuffs that she bake for me then she will bring all in one time when she took leave to visit me. What a blessing!!


This mooncake is very tasty as the pastry is totally different from the traditional mooncake. The buttery pastry is so fragrant to go with the less sweet lotus paste. I served the cell group and everyone thumbs up. Definately make this again not only for mid autumn festival but all year round.


Recipe adapted from my favorite blogger eileen

150g plain flour
50g icing sugar
25g milk powder
12g custard powder
3/4tsp baking powder
50g shortening
25g vegetable oil
1 medium egg
216Lotus paste
216 Sesame Lotus paste

1. Mix all the dry ingredient together until well combined.
2. Rub in the shortening with fingers tip. Then gradually add in the vegetable oil. And finally mix in the egg.
3. Divide the dough into 12 portions at 29g each. Flatten each dough and wrap in the fillings.
4. Egg wash the pastry and bake in a 180C preheated oven for 20 minutes until golden brown.


Purple Sweet Potato Cheese Bread


Using root vegetables is really a good idea to make our bread softer and fluffier which we don't have to add any chemical agent for homemade bread.


I have been using my comfort root vegetables recipe for years such as potato, sweet potato, pumpkin and purole sweet potato and this time I like to give a try on my favorite food blogger recipe, eileen. I replace the potato to purple sweet potato. 

The bread is very soft and  fluffy. As it will be served as our dinner roll and sandwich bun, I sprinkle  some cheddar on top for extra texture. Will keep this recipe as another choices of root vegetable bread making in our menu. 


Recipe:

300g bread flour
130g purple sweet potato (steamed  and mashed) 
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
17g  whole egg
8g yeast
80g fresh milk
50g unsalted butter

Add all the ingredients in a bread pan except yeast and fit it into the bread maker. Turn on the bread maker. Choose program 11 and press the START button. Knead for 15 minutes. Restart the bread maker and start from program 11 again and add yeast this time and continue for the kneading process until machines stop.

Turn off the bread maker then take out the bread pan and cover with cling film. Let it proof for 1 hour.

Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces about 70g. Cover with cling wrap and rest for 10 minutes.

Roll each dough into a smooth and round ball shape. Place them on a baking tray attached with baking paper. Cover with cling wrap and proof for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Egg wash the dough and sprinkle with some cheddar cheese on top. Bake for 20 minutes on the lower rack.

Take out the buns from the oven and transfer the bread on a wire rack and tear off the baking paper to cool.  

August 29, 2015

Traditional Mooncake


I am not sure what has motivate me on making mooncake this year. As for me, I don't enjoy mooncake very much or may be just had a piece during the actual day of mid autumn festival. When I passed by a baking supply shop recently, I saw many people was grabbing their mooncake ingredients and mould ready to make their very best products for family, I curious! I even heard some lady said making moon cake is actually very easy because nowadays many ready lotus paste, we just need to make the mooncake skin. That I curious too! I hop over my most respect and favorite blogger Happy Home Baking website and took a look and read through her recipe. Then my hand start itchy and try to make some. Here came out my very first attempt of traditional mooncake.


I start with a small mould as I afraid I couldn't handle the dough well. I am quite enjoying in the process of making. Rolling and shaping is fun actually. The texture is nice as I manage to wrap it with thinner skin. With super low sugar lotus paste, my husband and cell group members enjoy very much.


Very glad I could make it and people enjoy it although I didn't. I must say the quality not as good as those restaurant or branded mooncake. Theirs are really fine products whereas my mooncake is definately very homemade. However, it is good to experience the process.


For better recipe description, please visit HHB

Recipe:
Hong Kong flour 水仙粉 100g
Golden syrup 70g
vegetable oil 20g
Alkaline water 2 - 3g
Lotus paste 420g
Melon seeds 40g

Combine the golden syrup, vegetable oil and alkaline water in a bowl. Mix in the Hong Kong flour 水仙粉 with a spatula fold them until become a smooth dough. Cling warp the dough and chill for overnight.

Mix the lotus paste with Melon seeds then divide into 13 portions, about 35g each.

Divide dough into 13 portions, about 12g to 13g  each. Prepare a cling wrap line on a working surface. Place a dough on the left side and fold the cling wrap from right to left cover the dough.  Use a rolling pin to flatten it to a round disc shape about 8 cm diameter. Open the cling wrap from left to right, take out the cling wrap together with the flatten dough and place on the balm of your hand. Tear off the cling wrap and shape into a ball.

Place the ready ball dough into a mooncake mould to press and release on a baking tray with lined baking tray.

Spray some.water on the ready bake mooncake and bake in 180c preheated oven for 10 minutes at middle rack. Take out the tray from the oven and let them rest for 15 minutes at room temperature.

Egg wash the mooncake and place them back to the oven continue to bake for 15 minutes.

Let it cool on a wire rack when done. After completely cool down then store in an airtight container to leave for 3 days before serve.





August 24, 2015

Ogura Layer Cake




There are some extra ogura cake left on my previous bakes of profusion cake 缤纷香卷. There are quite messy and broken pieces. However, it is a waste if just throw them away. So I decided  gather them together to make a very small cake in about 5 inches wide and height. To give a nice tasty texture, I go for my favorite lemon curd dressing and sandwich them together with fresh cream.



This little cake tasted very light and refreshing. Imagine the cool and light texture of ogura cake with the lemony curd and accompany with some fresh cream which I don't feel to stop any bite after another, just like eating cloud.



The uneven structure of the layered cake looks quite nice too although they were previously messy and in broken pieces. Now they looks lovely and tasty. 

How I put them together:

Whip 200ml fresh cream with 1 tablespoon confectional sugar and a teaspoon of vanilla extract. Keep in the fridge and ready to use.
For the Lemon Curd,  please refer to Lemon gateau recipe. Half the portion for this little cake will do.
On a serving plate, connect and join the broken pieces of strips cakes into spiral circle pattern (pink color first). Apply some fresh cream and a layer of lemon curd. 
Second layer, join the brown color cakes and apply some cream and lemon curd then the third layer join together the grreen cakes. Cover the whole cake with fresh cream then keep in the freezer until the cream harden. Pour leftover lemon cud on the cake and spread evenly. Garnishing with some berries and chill in the fridge  and ready to serve. Best serve cold. 

August 23, 2015

Profusion Roll 缤纷香卷

Thinking of whether or not to post this recipe as it did not turn out nicely. But finally I did it so as a record and reference for my future attempt.


This is my favorite childhood cake that baked by my dear mum. We always feel so impress whenever mum make this cake. Not only it looks pretty and also yummy as it's served cold.

We miss this cake over the years but mum said she already retired from the kitchen and she lost the recipe too. Oh dear, how can I figure out the recipe as my siblings keep begging me to make this as mum did. With my eye close and head bow over days and nights, trying to recall and imaging how mum did it when I was just 5 years old. Could you imagine how difficult to recall everything after 30 years? Oppss.. I've accidentally mention my age. Hehe....
With my limited baking knowledge and experience, I started to plan from the sponge cake with color using ogura cake recipe.


As for the cream, I knock my head and keep turning my tongue to recall which cream should it be sandwiched in the cake. I am glad that I able to recall the texture and start with experiment with swiss meringue butter cream.


My very first attempt on this cake is quite disappointed for me as I didn't assemble it as nice as mum did. The roll should be in very square shape and each colors inside the roll should be neatly arranged. When my mum saw the cake she knew what went wrong and that tips really help me for my next attempt. The cream between the gaps of each color cakes is too much. It should be half of the cream that I spread so that the color cakes looks more appealing not the cream.


Layer and stacking every strips of the colored cakes really not an easy job. The ogura cake is very light and soft to handle and spreading the cream on them has to be gentle too.

The cake doesn't look neat and nice that my hearts drop into deep sea. However, a little award from the texture and taste that won back a little smile on my face. Closing my eye to have every bite of the cake really feel like I'm eating mama' s wonderful cake. Now, I got to practice until it is well presented and serve my siblings and relatives with mama wonderful creation during Xmas.

Colored ogura cake 36 x 27 cm baking tray

(A)
Vegetable oil 45g
Full cream Milk 60ml
Salt 1/4tsp
Egg yolk 100 g
Whole egg 1
Cake flour 65 g
(B)
Egg white 200g
Caster sugar 65g
Tartar powder 1/2 tsp

1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 teaspoon green tea matcha powder
2 tablespoon raspberry puree


  1. Line the base of a pan with baking paper. Divide three rectangular portion into about 12 X 27cm shape with baking paper. 
  2. Mix together ingredients (A). Weight the batter and sperate them into 3 bowls with equal portions. 
  3. Mix in the cocoa powder to a portion, green tea another portion and raspberry puree for another portion. Combine well and set aside.
  4. Beat the egg whites until frothy then add the tartar powder. Gradually add in the caster sugar in 3 batches and keep beating until stiff peak foam. The meringue is slightly curd to one side when the whisk is lifted up and presenting smooth shinny texture.
  5. Weight and divide the meringue into 3 portions and fold them into mixture (A) until well combined. 
  6. Pour into the prepared pan each color a roll. Put a tray at the lowest rack in the oven then pour enough of hot water. Place the batter on the second lower rack then steam bake at 160C preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
  7. After baked, remove the cake from the oven and unmould and tear of the baking paper and then cool on a wire rack.
  8. Once they completely cool down, cut the colored ogura cake into 3 portions and each strips is equally 2 cm thickness. Total is 3 green strips, 3 brown strips and 3 pink strips.ain vanilla sponge roll 38cm x 27cm baking tray

Unsalted butter 40g
Egg yolk 100g
Caster sugar 20g
Egg white 160g
Caster Sugar 75g
Plain flour 55g

  • Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
  • Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
  • Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
  • Pour some egg mixture into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine.  Pour back into the egg mixture and mix gently until everything well combine.
  • Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 190C for 12 minutes. Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.
Swiss meringue butter cream

200 g sugar
120 g egg white
340 g unsalted butter, soft but not too soft

Mix egg white and sugar in a double boiler with hand whisk. Stir until the sugar dissolved.

Remove form the double boiler and beat with electric mixer until stiff peak foam.

Change to a K hook blade start beating at medium high speed and gradually add in butter a cube at a time until a smooth and spreadable cream.

To assemble the cake:

Place the vanilla sponge cake on a piece of cling wrap which is bigger than itself. The sponge cake brown side face up.

Spread about 6 cm wide of SMB on the vanilla sponge  at the left side then place a strips of brown ogura cake at the left side on the cream. Thinly spread some cream around the brown cake then place a strip of green cake beside the brown cake. Spread thinly with cream then place a pink cake on the side. Spread some cream around it. 

Follow the same way above make the second layer start from green, pink and brown then the third layer pink, brown and green. 

Spread evenly the side left, right and top of the layered cake then gently fold the vanilla sponge cake over from right to left. Press lightly and use little cream to seal the gap. Cling wrap the roll and keep refrigerate for overnight. 

Trim the side and slice the cake with a sharp knife straight away down. Do not saw the cake. It is best serve cold.





August 20, 2015

Milky Matcha Marble Bread


Ever since I got my bread maker, I have not make any square loaf of bread. Here comes a good excuse that the bread maker really do a good job for my daily bread really. I do miss square loaf, especially when I'm looking for square bread for my square sandwiches. Another reason that I bake this as I'm quite bored with a plain bread looking which fully produced from my bread maker. So, I try to squeeze in some time during  the weekend to make a bread manually with some marble effect. However, the marble effect doesn't looks outstanding but the texture is absolutely good. Very satisfy with the compact soft texture yet with nice structure. Although the green effect doesn't look appealing to the eye, the green matcha gives very nice smell on the bread indeed. It s good to produce bread manually by hands when I able to.


Recipe:

150g fresh milk
35g egg
25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
38g butter (unsalted)
1 teaspoon matcha green tea powder
1 tablespoon water


Place all the ingredients into the bread maker pan except yeast. Knead the ingredients at function 11 for 15 minutes. (Or knead all the dough with a dough hook mixeer)

Switch off and on again choose function 11 for the second kneading and add yeast this time. Kneading until 15 minutes finished.

Take out the dough divide 2 portions . One portion is 3/5 from the dough and another is   2/5. The large portion keep in the fridge with cling warp. The small portion add a teaspoon of green tea powder. Use hand knead a little then put it back to the pan to knead at program 11. Gradually add a tablespoon of water with two drops at a time until the color well mixed.
Bring the plain dough out from the fridge .proof together with the color dough for 60 minutes. punch out the air and rest 15 minutes. Wrap the small one in to big one to form ball shape. Then use a rolling pin to roll longish shape.. Roll them back like swiss roll then cut with knife into 3 equal portion. Place in a bread pan proof 60 minutes then bake at 190'C 25 minutes.


August 17, 2015

Baileys Cheesecake



Another cake I had prepared for a party recently is baileys cheesecake. The most easier cheesecake to prepare with lots of positive feedback especially for a cheesecake lover. This recipe already in my blog for few years but I like to jot it down again to keep a record for my future reference as the size of the pan and the baking method has a little different. Using the same amount of ingredients but baked in a larger 9 inches square pan. Of course, the amount of the the base ingredients is different as the pan is larger so the digestive biscuits need to be added more. I didn't bake in water bath for the cheesecake but steam bake meaning that a tray of water was placed at the lowest rack then the cheesecake place on the second lower rack. Baking times has reduced a little as the cheesecake is thinner than the previous one and finally the result is equally good as my previous one. Portion the cake into small slices look pretty nice for a party.


Ingredients for 9 inches square pan:
For the crust:
250g digestive biscuits
125g unsalted butter, melted
For the cheesecake:
500g cream cheese, at room temperature
100g sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
 
2 large eggs, at room temperature
200ml sour cream
80ml baileys 
Method:
To make the crust:
  1. Lined the springform pan with baking paper.
  2. Mix the digestive biscuits crumbs with the melted butter together in a bowl. Layer the crumbs into the pan evenly. Place it into the fridge while you preparing the cheesecake batter.
  3. Preheat the oven to 160°C and put a kettle of water on to boil.
To make the cheesecake:
  1. Beat the cream cheese with sugar, vanilla and salt until creamier and sugar dissolve. 
  2. Add in the eggs one at a time and mix until just combine.
  3. Mix in the sour cream and baileys. Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into pan that lined with the digestive biscuits.  
  4. Put a shallow pan at the lowest rack in the oven and pour enough boiling water into pan. Place the cheesecake batter in the second lower rack.
  5. Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour. Turn off the oven's heat leave the cheesecake in the oven for 30 minutes then with door ajar another 30 minutes.
  6. Then, let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack. When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly with cling wrap and chill the cake for overnight
  7. At serving time, use a hot knife to potions the cakes. Enjoy!

Fruit Pound Cake

I realise that not many Asian appreciate fruit cake, I mean those butter cake filled with plenty of dried fruits that soaked with liqour for certain of time. However, my parent and siblings like this kind of cake and ask for more liqour to be added in their fruit cake. I only do it for them once a year as the cake need times to sit in the freezer and to be fed with liqour until mature enough to serve.

Japanese style of light fruit pound cake

This fruit pound cake wasn't mature enough as I did it in a rush for a party. The dried fruit was only soaked for a week and I didn't have chance to feed them more liqour at all. So this fruit cake had just a mild taste of rum. 

Not a traditional fruit cake bake with dark brown sugar but a light colour to present a colourful fruit cake

The method of making this fruit cake also different from my previous traditional baked fruit cake. It is a Japanese style of making pound cake which added with dried fruits. If you get into deeper study of pound cake making, the cake wasn't made from the method of separate egg whites and yolks but Japanese recipe did. They use to beat the butter, sugar, egg yolks then fold in the white meringue and flour alternatelly because they are much appreciate the light texture of pound cake just quite similar to the recipe I baked previously like Lemon Pound Cake and Marble Pound Cake.
This fruity pound cake is well accepted and  majority enjoyed in the party. Very glad they appreciate the texture.  My hubby wasn't a fruit cake person but he likes it this way.

a better way of baking fruit cake to serve in an Asian party

Recipe for pound cake pan 18 x 8 x 6.5cm

100g plain flour
30g ground almond
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
120g salted butter
35g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
2 lemon zest
2 tbsp homemade lemon juice
2 egg whites
40g caster sugar
120g mixed dried fruits (dried cranberries , dried apricot,  sultanas) soak with liqour either brandy, rums or cointreau for a week  or up to a year. Before use, drain and dry the dried fruits on a sieve and clean towel. Add a big handful of plain flour to coat the dried fruits and sieve away the access flour.

Grease and line the pound cake pan with baking paper. Shift the flour, baking powder and ground almond.

In a clean bow, beat the butter then gradually add in the caster sugar until the sugar dissolved into the butter and the mixture become fluffy and pale in color. 

Mix in the egg yolk one at a time and beat until just combine. Then  mix in the lemon zest and lemon juice until just combined.

In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until the bubbles appear then add 1/3 of the sugar. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites become stiff peak foam. Gently fold in half the egg whites into the butter mixture, don't have to mix too much. Then mix in half of the flour ingredients and combine everything. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites then add the remaining flour ingredients then the dried fruits until just combined. 

Fill the cake pan with the batter. 
Bake in a 180C preheated oven for 15 minutes.  When the batter set and it start to expand, open the oven door and use a knife to cut a line at the center of the batter, lower down the temperature to 170C   continue to bake for 40 minutes or until and skewer insert into the cake and come out clean. Be careful not to over bake the cake as you dont want a hard dry cake. 

Let it cool down on a wire rack and keep in an airtight container either at room temperature  or in the fridge. 
For a mature taste of liqour, poke holes on the cake with a skewer, brush some liqour from the top then cling wrap the cake then another layer of aluminium foil. Place in the freezer. Take it out twice a month to feed some liqour on the cake until mature enough for your taste bud.

August 16, 2015

Chocolate Milk Bread


Trying out another recipe with my bread maker to fully produce a loaf of milky chocolate bread.   Very satisfy with the result and that's mean other than sweet potato or pumpkin bread, I have another option to let the bread maker to produce different bread. And yet, this is straight dough method which I don't need to steam the potato or pumpkin to bake a bread in case I don't have them at home. Still the same using the function 3 with my panasonic bread maker at medium crust setting to get it done in 4 hours 20 minutes.


The bread is bouncy soft which gives a nice texture. This bread has become one of our daily bread menu.

Replace chocolate milk to full cream or fresh milk to produce a white plain loaf. It is equally nice and soft.

Ingredients for Panasonic bread maker program 3 with medium crust setting. Process takes 4:20 minutes to complete. 

150g Dutchlady chocolate fresh milk (or fresh milk for white loaf)
35g egg
25g caster sugar
5g salt
250g bread flour
4g Instant yeast
38g butter (unsalted)




August 14, 2015

Sambal Ikan Bilis Pumpkin Bun


These juicy and spicy buns are just so appetising. I used leftover Nasi lemak sambal to make them into buns for breakfast and some for cell group gathering.


Greedy me for adding too much sambal causing myself had difficulties to roll them and some even overflowed. 




The buns was made from pumpkin puree that gives nice color and soft texture too. During the baking, the whole house smell like a bakery shop and that's definately the pandan leaves which has enhanced the flavour.


Recipe makes 14 buns:
300g bread flour
90g plain flour
53g caster sugar
1/4 + 1/8 tsp salt
1 + 1/2 tsp yeast
53g whole egg
53g fresh milk
53g water
98g pumpkin puree
30g unsalted butter

Recipe for the sambal ikan bilis:
100g chili paste
12 shallots
8 gloves of garlic
2 thumb size of ginger
4 tablespoons of balacan
4 large red onion
2 big handful of asam soak with 1 1/2 cup water
Salt and sugar
1 1/2 cups of fried ikan bilis

Blend chili paste, shallot, garlic, ginger and balacan until combine. Fry it on a pan with some oil until fragrant and color turn a little darker. Add sliced red onion and keep frying then add the the asam juice. Season with salt and sugar. Stir in the ikan bilis powder. I fried them until the liquid reduced and color turn darker. Let them cool down on a plate before use.

For the dough, add all the ingredients in a bread pan except yeast and fit it into the bread maker. Turn on the bread maker. Choose program 11 and press the START button. Knead for 15 minutes. Restart the bread maker and start from program 11 again and add yeast this time until the machine stop with beep sound.

Turn off the bread maker then take out the bread pan and cover with cling film. Let it proof for 80 minutes.

Divide the dough into 14 equal pieces about 52g a portion. Roll to form 'ball' shapes, cover with cling wrap and rest for 15 minutes. 

Flatten each dough and roll out into a round disc. Add the sambal at center of the dough. Shape them into ball shape and seal tightly.

Place the filled dough on a baking pan attached with baking paper. Press the dough to flatten them slightly. Cover them with cling film an proof for 40 minutes. After 30 minutes of proofing, preheat  the oven and start to wrap the dough with pandan leaves then use tooth pick to tighten.

Bake at 180C preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to buns on a wire rack to cool.


August 13, 2015

Ogura Cake

This is the latest orgura cake I have made, swirled banana Ogura Cake

I did a few version of ogura cake in the pass but hasn't got achance to post it here for a record as my future reference. 

It is too soft until hardly stand still. That is also the reason I bake it in 7 inches cake pan and cause it grow taller.

Ogura cake is something like chiffon cake but the texture is much moisture, probably is the reason of steam bake. I don't appreciate ogura cake but chiffon, I don't know why?! However, using it as a cake base for celebration cake or added with fresh cream and berries to become a layer cake could change my appetite.

Strawberry cocoa ogura layered cakes

Recipe adapted from Min ' s Blog with little changes
Makes 7 or 8 inches square pan

Vegetable oil 45g 
(A)
Full cream Milk 60ml
Salt 1/4tsp
Egg yolk 100 g  
Whole egg 1 
Cake flour 65 g
(B)
Egg white 200g
Caster sugar 65g
Tartar powder 1/2tsp

For different colour and flavour (Add into the egg yolk batter) :

For green tea flavour - 1 teaspoon of green tea matcha powder mix with 15ml of hot water

For cocoa flavour - 1 teaspoon of varlhona cocoa powder mix with 15ml of hot water

For Banana flavour - Replace full cream milk to 70g mashed bananas


  1. Line the base of a pan with baking paper. Grease the side of the pan with butter and coated with flour. 
  2. Mix together ingredients (A). Set aside.
  3. Beat the egg whites until frothy then add the tartar powder. 
  4. Gradually add in the caster sugar in 3 batches and keep beating until stiff peak foam. The meringue is slightly curd to one side when the whisk is lifted up and presenting smooth shinny texture.
  5. Fold the meringue into mixture (A) in three batches until well combined.
  6. Pour into the prepared pan and steam bake at lowest rack at 160C preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes. (I place a baking paper at the top of the cake when it rise up, set and turn brown to prevent the cake crack. I do it in 4 second with fast speed to control the oven temperature meaning not to let the temperature drops too fast.)
  7. After baked, remove the cake from the oven and unmould. Shake it a little to loosen and place a baking paper on top then place a plate on top and turn upside down. Remove the cake pan and place another plate on it and turn it back to cool on a wire rack.
  8. My family like to eat cold ogura cake so I place it in the fridge after it completely cool down at room temperature. Sometimes I like to add fresh cream in the between of the cakes with fruits. 
Cocoa marble ogura cake

Charcoal  Zebra ogura cake

Coffee marble ogura cake












August 12, 2015

Teddy Bear Cream Cheese Bun (BM)


There are so many nicely shaped and cute buns from Facebook, Instagram , Pinterest etc which are always looks attractive and make my hand itchy to make some for myself too. For this teddy bear buns, I got the idea from a blogger Nasi Lemak Lover. Using my comfort recipe 65C water roux dough with leftover cream cheese from the fridge to produce what I've got here. 


The buns texture is very cottony soft and even the next day, there got no chance to stay until the 3rd day anyway. I added 15g Valrhona cocoa powder for the dough and thought it was added too much and resulting the teddy bear was slightly dark in color. So next attempt  should reduce to 10g instead. Drawing the teddy bear face is quite challenging and I need more practice on that. The eye, nose and mouth is draw with melted chocolate chips and the white color parts made from icing sugar and egg whites as I don't have white chocolate on hand.


These little teddy bear is so cute after I have got the finishing drawing for their faces. Each of them looks different expression although they are all smiling.  


Recipe makes 9 buns at 8 inches baking tray

For the dough:
210g bread flour
56g plain flour
10g Valrhona cocoa powder
42g caster sugar
20g milk powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6g yeast
22g unsalted butter
84g water roux
95g water
30g lightly beaten egg

For the fillings:

200g cream cheese
50g icing sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Recipe for the water dough "water roux": Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. Consistency should be like a thick baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl and cover with a cling wrap to avoid skin forming.

For the fillings, blend all the ingredients together in a blender or food processor until well combined. Transfer to a piping bag and keep refrigerated until ready to use.

Add all the ingredients in a bread pan except yeast and fit it into the bread maker. Turn on the bread maker. Adjust the timer to 0:00. Choose program 11 and press the START button. Knead for 15 minutes. Restart the bread maker and start from program 11 again and add yeast this time until the machine stop with beep sound.

Turn off the bread maker then take out the bread pan and cover with cling film. Let it proof for 40 minutes.

Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces about 55g a portion and 18 equal small pieces about 4g a portion. Roll to form 'ball' shapes, cover with cling wrap and rest for 10 minutes. 

Flatten each large dough and roll out into a round disc. Pipe out 25g cream cheese fillings at the center of the dough. Shape them into ball shape and seal tightly.

Place the filled dough on a baking pan attached with baking paper. Roll out the small pieces dough for the bear ears and place on each left and right dough and press slightly to stick. Let them proof for 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 190C. Bake for 25 minutes. Transfer to buns on a wire rack to cool.
Mix 25g icing sugar with 1 teaspoon egg white and a drop of lemon juice until well combine and become a thick paste. Transfer to a piping bag and draw a circle on each teddy bear face. Melt some chocolate chips and transfer to a piping bag to draw the eye, nose and mouth.


August 5, 2015

Marble Pound Cake


My son and I was craving for cakes yesterday. We are not looking for soft spongy cake but a rich buttery cake instead. After his afternoon nap, we tuck into the kitchen and quickly fast hand fast leg come out with this butter marble pound cake. With the little helping hands, I manage to do some weighing for the  following ingredients while he was holding the hand mixer to beat the butter and also do my washing at the same time. 

We are very happy with the result. My son can eat a big piece after his dinner and so do I, oh no I actually had 2 big pieces in one go. The cake is moist and soft, I mean not the spongy fluffy soft but you get what I mean about pound cake which is soft like easy to swallow unlike the stall bought one which will stuck between our throat. 


I guess the homemade yogurt make it moist too. The yogurt I made had stay 5 days in the fridge which become thicker and creamier. Beside, the sweetness is just right for us as the sour yogurt had balance up the sweetness. So if you like to try the Recipe,  please don't try to reduce any further as you still need some sweetness in there because it is still a CAKE. Another thing is I purposely use salted butter. We like our butter cake with a little salty that makes it flavourful. Not to forget, the little coffee in the cocoa batter is a bonus that gives extra flavour. Will make this again  when  we crave for buttery cake again and could be a gift too!


Recipe for pound cake pan 18 x 8 x 6.5cm

120g plain flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
120g salted butter
50g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tbsp homemade plain yogurt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 egg whites
50g caster sugar

Cocoa mix (2 teaspoon cocoa + 1 teaspoon instant granulated black coffee + 1 tablespoon warm water)

Grease and line the pound cake pan with baking paper. Shift the flour, baking powder and ground almond.

In a clean bow, beat the butter then gradually add in the caster sugar until the sugar dissolved into the butter and the mixture become fluffy and pale in color. 

Mix in the egg yolk one at a time and beat until just combine. Then  mix in the vanilla extract and yogurt until just combined.

In another clean bowl, beat the egg whites with a pinch of sugar until the bubbles appear then add 1/3 of the sugar. Gradually beat in the rest of the sugar until the egg whites become stiff peak foam. Gently fold in half the egg whites into the butter mixture, don't have to mix too much. Then mix in half of the flour ingredients and combine everything. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites then add the remaining flour ingredients until well combine. 

Take 1/3 of the batter to another bowl, mix with the cocoa paste until well combined.

Pour some of the plain batter into the pound cake pan and a few dollops of cocoa batter. Continue with the plain batter then the cocoa  batter until all batter fill the cake pan. Use a chopstick to run in the batter to give a quick swirl. 

Bake in a 180C preheated oven for 15 minutes.  When the batter set and it start to expand, open the oven door and use a knife to cut a line at the center of the batter, continue to bake for 40 minutes or until and skewer insert into the cake and come out clean. Be careful not to over bake the cake as you dont want a hard dry cake. 
Let it cool down on a wire rack and enjoy!