The Cake of Many Milestones.

This cake marks two very important milestones- it’s not only the first cake i was paid to make, it also helped me discover the wonders of cream of tartar.

You see, it all started when a friend of my mum’s, aunty K (hi!), asked if i could bake her a chiffon cake- an orange chiffon cake, in particular. Given my very limited success with chiffon cakes, i decided to do a test run of the cake (well, okay, more of my chiffon cake making techniques- the recipe had my complete and utter faith, coming from the Cake Bible no less ).

And it’s such a good thing i did. For while the cake rose and browned nicely in the oven and even cooled inverted without collapsing, slipping off the pan or any of the horrid things that can go wrong with chiffon cakes, the horror revealed itself when i gingerly removed the cake from the pan. While most of the cake was pillowy soft and fluffy, there was a hard 2″ layer- not unlike the texture of cheese rind- right on the bottom of the cake.

At first i thought it was underbaked but the plead for help i put out at Rose Levy Beranbaum’s website in figuring out when went wrong revealed that it was likely that i hadn’t beaten my egg whites enough. Then it hit me- indeed i had stopped whipping the egg whites once it was between soft and stiff peaks for fear of overwhipping the egg whites. I figured that since i was gonna fold the whites into the batter, i would be better off slightly underbeating than overbeating it.

To get over my fear of overbeating the whites, someone on the forum- whom i’m now forever indebted to- suggested i get hold of some cream of tartar- i’ve always been too cheap lazy to get it, figuring it’s one more bottle to have around the house when i can just use a bit of vinegar in place of it. Apparently with the addition of the cream of tartar, it’s almost impossible to overbeat the whites.

And it worked! My egg whites were so stiff i could tip the bowl over and it didn’t come sliding out. I was sooo pleased- you should have seen me go on excitedly about it to GT, J and Z and beaming so much you would have thought Nigel Slater just popped in for lunch at my place.

The cake baked up beautifully. To dress it up a little, i candied some orange peel and scattered them on top. The orange-infused sugar syrup came in handy as well in making sure the cake didn’t lose any moistness after spending the night in the fridge.

I was really pleased with how well received it was- i got a message later that day, raving about how moist the cake was- but even more so with my discovery of the wonders of cream of tartar.

Now i can’t wait to start experimenting with recipes involving whipping egg whites and make more macarons!

Some Banana Love.

When my dad asked if there was “anything to eat” (read: if i had baked a cake that was by some chance lying in the fridge waiting to be eaten) last weekend and i answered in the negative, i knew i had to rectify that situation.

It was just as well that i had bananas in varying degree of ripeness lying in both the fridge and freezer, so my dad came home from his tennis game that evening to find a banana cake baking in the oven. After inquiring who the cake was for and realizing it was just for him, he asked if he could bring it to a friend’s place where they were gonna catch a soccer match, giving me effectively an hour to finish baking the cake, cool, slice and box it up.

It’s times like this i’m so thankful i have a freezer- and actually have enough space in it to fit an 9″ cake. And of course, i had to take a slice for taste testing before sending my dad off with the rest of the cake.

In copying the recipe down when i borrowed the book from the city library in Melbourne ages ago, i forgot to take note of how the author measures her flour. So i decided to wing it and just spoon the flour into the measuring cup before sweeping off the excess as opposed to using the classic dip and sweep method since the latter method yield more flour and might result in a denser cake.

I love that the recipe used such basic ingredients- unlike so many other recipes i’ve seen that call for sour cream- that most people are bound to have lying around and can throw the recipe together in no time. I replaced a bit of the castor sugar with light brown sugar to get that slightly caramelized taste i so adore in banana cakes and threw it in a pinch of salt for flavour.

The cake was really moist and very bananay- a true banana cake in every sense of the word and not a banana bread baked in a round cake pan. And although i was completely aware that the cake slices were gonna be served to a bunch of men who really just want to eat cake and can’t care less about presentation, i just had to top the cake with dainty slices of bananas gently satueed in a knob of butter and sprinkle of brown sugar till sweetly caramelized.

Banana Cake [adapted from Margaret Fulton Cookbook]

Ingredients
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar
1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 egg, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla
5 small or 2 medium bananas, peeled and mashed
1 1/2 cup self rising flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 20cm springform pan, line the base with aluminium foil and set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and vanilla together till light and fluffy. Add the egg in, mixing well on low speed before adding the mashed bananas in.
3. Gently fold the sifted flour in. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk and stir the milk mixture gently into the batter until just combined.
4. Bake the cake in the centre of the oven for 30- 35 minutes or till a skewer inserted into the middle comes out with crumbs clinging and the top of the cake lightly springs back when pressed with a fingertip.

How to Nuture Patience 101

It has been a while since i last made anything from Baking From My Home To Yours. So when i came across these jam sandwiched cookies, i was more than happy to make them and break into the sets of 2-inch and 1/2-inch cookie cutters i couldn’t resist buying in Melbourne.

I won’t lie- these cookies were not the easiest thing to make. You know how sometimes recipes have a little section that list the special equipment needed? This should have read ‘Cookie cutter of your choice and an impossible amount of patience required’.

Making and rolling out the dough was easy enough but cutting the cookies out- i could barely cut four cookies before i had to put the dough back into the freezer to firm up a little, no thanks to the humidity on this side of the world. Given how tiny the cookie cutters were and the amount of cookies i got out of the dough, it translated to shuffling between the kitchen island and freezer every five minutes for a good hour or so.

I’ve always loved the combination of hazelnut and strawberry jam but the ratio of the hazelnut cookie to the jam made it all the more decadent. The jam looked like precious little rubies nestled between the pale, buttery cookies which made them just as pretty to look as they were good to eat.

I got easily more than 50 sandwiched cookies, a whole lot more than the 25 Dorie says the recipe will make. But if you love them as much as i do, i suspect you’ll agree with me that sometimes you just can never have enough of a good thing.

Linzer Sables [adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours]

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups hazelnut meal
1 1/2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp mixed spice
1 large egg
2 tsp water
1/4 tsp salt
120g butter, softened
1/2 cup castor sugar

Filling
1/2 cup strawberry jam
1 tsp water

1. Whisk the ground hazelnuts, flour, salt, cinnamon and mixed spice together in a large bowl. Lightly whisk water and egg together in a small bowl and set aside.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together till smooth on medium speed. Add the egg mixture and beat for another minute. Decrease the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mix till dough just comes together.
3. Split the dough into two batches. Place them individually between two pieces of baking paper and roll them out till about 1/4″ thick. Place both batches of dough in the freezer for about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven at 175C. Line two baking trays with aluminium foil and set aside. Using a 2″ cookie cutter and a 1/2″ cookie cutter, if desired, cut out the cookies and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 11 minutes till cookies are dry to the touch. Transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.
5. To make filling Combine the jam and water in a small saucepan. Bring jam mixture to boil, turn heat off and let jam cool slightly. Spoon about 1/2 tsp of the jam on half the cookies, sandwiching them with the other half. Makes about 50 sandwiched cookies

Lemon Cupcakes Round II: Mini Lemon Pound Cakes with Lemon Silk Meringue Buttercream

I did it! I did it! *twirls around in the kitchen in a happy dance*

It has been been months since i first thought of recreating that incredible lemon cupcake i had in New York. And i’m proud to say one not so great attempt later, i think i’ve finally done it.

When i made that chocolate cake a couple weeks ago, i was blown away from the frosting. Smooth, silky and light as air, i knew it would be perfect for my lemon cupcakes.

For the cake, i couldn’t resist going back to my very trusty Cake Bible (yes, again) and found a recipe for a pound cake that Rose boasts has “a silky-smooth dissolving texture”. I flavoured half the batter with lemon oil and a bit of lemon juice and the other half with homemade vanilla extract, frosted the lemon cupcakes with a subtly lemony meringue buttercream and the vanilla cupcakes with Valrhona chocolate meringue buttercream.

They were just incredible! My mum took a vanilla cupcake and came back two minutes later to rave about how good they were and ask if i had any intention of selling them. I didn’t get to try the vanilla cupcakes but the ones i did try, the lemon ones, totally did it for me.

Moist with a fluffy lemony crumb and topped with luscious, silky frosting that left a whisper of subtly sweet and lemony undertones, this lemon cupcake was everything i could ever want in a lemon cupcake and more. I would even go as far to say that if i could only eat one dessert for the rest of my life, this would be a strong contender in the top ten list.

Now that i’ve got these down pat and will probably be making them till i can’t eat another bite, it’s time to start working on that almond butterscotch ice cream!

Mini Lemon Pound Cake with Lemon Silk Meringue Buttercream [adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible]

Ingredients
1 ½ cups sifted cake flour
3 large eggs, at room temperature
3 tbsp milk, at room temperature
2 drops of lemon oil
2 tbsp lemon juice*
½ cup castor sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
185g unsalted butter, softened

Lemon Silk Meringue Buttercream**

1/3 cup + 2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp water
2 large egg whites
¼ tsp vinegar
454g unsalted butter, softened
Two drops of lemon oil
2 tsp lemon juice*

Crème Anglaise
½ cup sugar
5 large egg yolks
½ cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 175C. Line 10 cupcake holes with cupcake liners, fill the rest with water and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, milk, lemon oil and juice together.
3. Using an electric mixer, whisk the dry ingredients together. Add the butter and half the egg mixture and mix on low speed till the dry ingredients are moistened. Increase the speed to medium and beat for another minute to aeate the batter.
4. Add the remaining egg mixture in two batches, beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
5. Divide the batter evenly among the lined cupcake holes and bake in the centre of the oven for about 20-25 minutes, rotating the position of the tray halfway through, until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out with crumbs clinging and the top of the cake springs back slightly when pressed with a finger.
6. To make crème anglaise Place a sieve over a large bowl and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar together.
7. Over the stove, bring the milk to boil and gradually whisk it into yolks mixture. Pour yolk mixture back into saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly. Mixture will start to thicken, do not allow it to boil. When mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, remove it from heat and pour it through the sieve. Whisk mixture together and let it cool to room temperature.
8. To make Italian meringue In a small saucepan, combine the sugar and water together over high heat till the sugar dissolves. Reduce heat to low, stop stirring and start beating egg whites.
9. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites till frothy. Add vinegar and beat till soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the 2 tbsp of sugar left till stiff peaks form.
10. Increase the heat and allow the sugar mixture to boil to a temperature of 248F. Remove from heat immediately and with the electric mixer going on medium, gradually pour the sugar syrup into the egg whites. Keep whipping meringue till it’s completely cool. Stir the cooled creme anglaise in. Using a whisk, beat the butter till it’s creamy and gradually add it to meringue and mix till smooth.
11. Divide buttercream into two batches. Mix one batch with the lemon oil and lemon juice and use that to frost the cupcakes. Freeze the other batch for future use. Makes 10 cupcakes

* I don’t quite remember the exact amount of lemon juice I added so taste the batter and frosting as you go and add more lemon juice if needed

** The recipe makes more than enough to frost the batch of cupcakes and since it’s so damned good, I flavour half of it, use it and keep the rest in the freezer. Bring the frozen buttercream to room temperature, spike it with any flavouring you like and give it a good stir to smoothen it out