Fig & Brown Sugar Cake

I bought a pack of organic dried fig from Cold Storage long time ago, due to my sickness, concert and so on, the dried fig has been hibernating in the fridge for sometime. I think I've to use it before it goes expired. This fig and brown sugar cake recipe from the book of "Luscious Healthy Desserts 搞纤低卡烘培" taste quite special for me.

This cake is light and the sweetness from the dried fig is quite special. I reduced some sugar from the cake recipe as I find the fig is very sweet. The cake suppose to be spread with whipped cream but I don't have whipping cream on hand so I decided to make some buttercream to go with it. I think the cake would be much softer and lighter if I rolled it with whipped cream. The method of this recipe is quite similar to chiffon cake unlike some swiss roll recipe which is beat the whole eggs until fluffy then add add the flour. Anyway, it's not very difficult to make and I would like try to replace the fig to prunes, cherry or other dried fruits on my next attempt.

I tried a mango yogurt ice cream recipe from Small Small Baker and it's fantastic! It's very smooth and refreshing, and just so great to have a few scoops in this hot weather.

After my the first attempt on the potato buns for hotdog, I tried to make it again filled with some azuki redbean. Again, it's still not nicely shaped but the bun really soft like the one I bought from the stall.

Recipe for Fig & Brown Sugar Cake @ 60cm x 39cm baking pan.

(I used 2/5 from the below recipe to fit my smaller baking pan @ 27.5cm x 34.5cm)

(A) 150g dried fig / 20g sugar / 60g water / 20g honey / 80g rum
(B) 180g egg yolks / 100g water / 11og dark brown sugar / 150g olive oil / 30g rum / 210g plain flour
(C) 370g egg whites / 140g sugar (I used half of the sugar only) / 15g corn flour
(D) some whipping cream or butter cream (1/2 cup icing sugar / 1/2 cup butter / 1/2 tsp vanilla extract / 1/2 to 1 tbsp milk)

Methods:

1. Cook ingredients (A) at low heat until the fig soften and flavored. Chopped it into big chunk.
2. Mix water, oil and brown sugar, bring the bowl on the hob at low heat keep stirring until the brown sugar melted.
3. Mix in the egg yolks and rum then the plain flour. Add in the softened fig.
4. In another bowl, whisk ingredients (C) until soft peak then fold half of the egg whites into the fig mixture until combine. Add the remaining egg whites into the mixture until everything well incorporated.
5. Pour into a baking pan and bake for 15 minutes at 190'C preheated oven.
6. Let the cake cool down before spreading the butter cream or whipping cream and roll up into a swiss roll.

Bread Corner, Cakes Corner, Craving Corner | HT | 7:30 PM No comments Read More

Braided Hotdog Bun

These are the real soft buns which the recipe from "孟老师的100道面包". I guess it would be the mashed potato make it so soft. But, I've probloem in shaping the dough nicely. The dough was a bit wet whereas I need to slightly oiled my hand to handle the dough. I think I'll shape it in a simple way next time rather than braiding the dough.
Anyway, the soft buns are really good to eat with some cheddar cheese topping and dried parsley for garnishment. I think this potato dough would be good for making others savory buns too!

Recipe (makes 5 buns):

(A)

110g bread flour

40g plain flour

15g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

70g cold water

2g yeast (1/2 teaspoon)

30g mashed potato

1 egg yolk

(B)

15g butter

(C)

5 pieces hotdog

some shredded cheddar

some dried pasley

1. 
   Mix ingredients (A) at low speed using a dough hook mixer follow by the mashed potato. Turn to medium speed continue kneading until it become a smooth dough. Add in the (B) unsalted butter and knead with low speed until the butter combine with the dough. Turn to medium speed continue the kneading process until it become a smooth and elastic dough. (the dough will slightly wet, I oiled my hand then...) place the dough into a lightly grease bowl and cover with cling wrap to proof for 80 minutes.
   
   


2. 
   Divide the dough into 5 portions and round them into small balls. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
   
   


3. 
   Wrap the hotdog into each doughs and proof for 25 minutes.
   
   


4. 
   Egg wash the dough and sprinkle some shredder cheddar cheese and dried parsley. Bake at 190'c for 18 minutes until golden brown. Enjoy!
   
   

Bread Corner | HT | 10:58 PM No comments Read More

Polo Bun 菠萝包 (2)

I made this polo bun quite often but there is a difficulty in handling the pastry as the butter melt very fast and cause it sticking on my hand while I'm trying to gather the dough with the pastry. Recently, I found another solution which would be much easier to handle. The original recipe asked to beat the butter until pale and fluffy then gradually add in sugar powder, salt and milk powder and beaten egg till everything combine. With this method you would get a wet pastry paste which you may need to store in the fridge for some time to harden before use (but it'll melt very fast in this hot weather, so it's not easy to handle).

For the new method, cut the cold butter into 1cm pieces (store them in the fridge if there start melting). With the same method as shortcrust pastry, process the flour, sugar powder, cold butter in a food processor till the butter mix thoroughly with the flour like the fine breadcrumbs. Add 1 tablespoon of beaten egg then pulse several times until its become a chunky breadcrumbs but not a dough (don't over process). Turn the pastry out onto a clean, floured work surface and, with floured hands, bring together to make a dough, but don't knead. Shape into a flattened ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Divide the pastry into pieces and it's ready to use. I found that the texture is much better and most wonderful thing is, it's easily to put together the dough with the pastry.

Bread Corner | HT | 10:13 PM No comments Read More

Biscotti

Biscotti is my daily snack, I have it in my kitchen at all time for my craving teeth. I know many of you know how to made it but it's just a sharing as I didn't bake and blog much recently. This is a recipe from James Martin. I've been using his recipe for many years as my snack or gift for friends. I find homemade biscotti is always richer because we could add any nuts as we like and the quantity of nuts added will not stingy at all. The nuts I like the most is Almond, Hazelnut and Pistachio. Other than nuts, I find that adding some lemon zest into the mixture taste really good. I used food processor to make the mixture, it's really a simple snack to make and nice to crave!

Recipe of James Martin (Desserts):

250g plain flour
125g caster sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3 medium eggs, lightly beaten
1 lemon zest
75g shelled pistachio nuts
50g whole blanched almonds
50g shelled hazelnut

1. Toast the shelled nuts in the preheated oven at 100'C for about 15 minutes.
2. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest and baking powder in a large bowl (I mix the ingredients in a food processor). Add half the beaten eggs and mix well, then add half of what's left and mix again. Now add the last quarter a little bit at a time until the dough takes shape but isn't too wet (you may not need to use all of the eggs). Add the toasted nuts and mix well.
3. Divide the dough into six, roll into sausage shapes and place on the lined baking tray (wetting your hands before rolling these cut helps to prevent the dough sticking). Lightly flatten the doughs.
4. Bake for 20 - 30 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave for 10 minutes to cool and firm up.
5. Using a serrated knife, cut the biscotti on an angle into slice. Lay the slices on the baking trays. Return to the oven and cook for 8 minutes, then turn the slices over and cook for a further 10-15 minutes or until a pale golden colour. Cool on wire racks, then store in airtight jars.

Craving Corner | HT | 4:37 AM No comments Read More

Passion Fruit Chiffon

I bought five passion fruits week ago then left it at the room temperature to ripe. The passion fruits filling could fill up 250ml of glass. It's great!

I used them to make some chiffon cake. This is my first attempt on making chiffon cake by using the passion fruits, and it's really refreshing.

I made two of 17cm chiffon. One for myself and another for my friend who taking care of me very much during my sickness.

I made simple decoration with some passion fruits for topping. If you don't mind to eat the seeds, it's really refreshing dessert and smell so good!

Recipe:

Egg white mixture:
110g egg whites
55g sugar
5g corn flour

Egg yolk mixture:
40g egg yolks
36g vegetable oil
50g passion fruit
55g plain flour
Decoration:
200ml whipping cream
20g sugar powder
some passion fruit juice without seeds
some left over passion fruit

Method:

1. Scoop out 50g of passion fruits and set aside.
   
2. For the chiffon cake, mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour. When everything well combined then add in sifted flour. Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be quite thick and smooth.


3. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture. The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.


4. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)


5. Pour the well mix mixture into a 17cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160'C preheated oven for 40 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it. .
   
6. Whip the cream with sugar powder until thicken, then mix in some passion fruit juice without the seeds.


7. Cream the chiffon cake then deco with some leftover passion fruits on top of the cake.
   Keep the cake in the fridge it could last for 4 days. Best serve in 3 days.

Chiffon Corner | HT | 11:03 PM No comments Read More

Coconut Bun

I'd like to make this for quite some time but there are just too many recipes to try out and I'm glad this is the time to try. I like to eat coconut bun, it's one of my childhood favorite snack and my mum loves it too! So must give it a try so that I don't need to buy from the bakery shop next time.

I use the milky loaf recipe to make the buns whereas the coconut filling is something new for me and I'm glad I've got the taste and flavour with the guidance of my mother-in-law. I'm using her bread machine to do the kneading this time, the dough need to have extra kneading until it's smooth and elastic. I don't have raw sugar so I used caster sugar. I believe using raw sugar the flavour would be much better. Overall, I'm very happy with the result. The bread soft and the filling very tasty. Yummy!

Recipe for 12 buns:

143g fresh milk

35g egg

25g caster sugar

5g salt

250g bread flour

4g Instant yeast

38g unsalted butter

Filling:

1 tbsp cooking oil

100g raw sugar or caster sugar (I used 50g caster sugar only)

100g coconut sugar

100g coconut water

2 tbsp plain flour

4 tbsp water

300g shredded coconut

How I made it:

1. For the dough. Place all the ingredients in the bread machine except butter. Knead until everything combine about 10 minutes. Add in the butter continue the kneading process until it become smooth and elastic. I used 30 minutes for the kneading process. Shape it into a smooth round dough, cover with cling film and let it rest for 60 minutes.


2. While waiting for the dough. Heat the oil in a wok at low heat, add in raw sugar or caster sugar, coconut sugar until it nearly melted then add the coconut water to prevent sticking. Cook until everything melt then add shredded coconut. Make sure the shredded coconut coated with the melted sugar. Keep stirring to prevent it burn. Mix the water with flour then add into the coconut mixture. Keep stirring until everything well combine and you could smell the fragrant of coconut mixture. It'll start become dry and you'll know it has done. Let it cool down on a plate before use.


3. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces of doughs and roll to form 'ball' shapes. Then, cover with cling film let it rest for 15 minutes.


4. Flatten each dough and wrap in the coconut filling and shape it into smooth round shape then place on a baking tray for 60 minute proofing.


5. Brush some milk on each doughs and sprinkle some shredded coconut. Bake approximately 18 minutes at 180'C preheated oven until nice and light golden brown.

Bread Corner | HT | 5:36 AM No comments Read More

Dairy-Free Brownie

I love naughty desserts and simply feel good to eat something sweet after every dinner which I've no idea why. However, I really concern about the contents especially after I know about baking these years. I read through and experiment many healthy dessert recipes but I don't think my friends or guests would like it although it's healthy. I must admit naughty desserts always win over the healthy desserts. What about you? Well, I would normally serve my family and myself the healthy desserts whereas those naughty desserts would be give away or served during my guests visit then I can have a small bite unless my guests request for a healthy version.
Well, if you're looking for a healthy version and don't mind it's not the real yummy dessert, these dairy free brownie just right for you. It contains no eggs, no butter, using maple syrup and raw sugarcane instead of conventionally refined white sugar, using more whole wheat pasty flour and dried fruits to get a guilt-free of dessert.
You would find the difference of this brownie compare to those classic brownie as the ingredient used are totally different. The special ingredients here is the prune puree replaces most of the fat and add a healthy dose of fiber. However, you would still able to get the fudgy, dense a little gooey and deeply chocolate low fat brownies. Furthermore, the chocolate peanut frosting really boost up the texture which contains with no butter too! Try it and tell me what you think about it, OK!

For the Chocolate Peanut Frosting:

5 tbsp maple syrup

3 tbsp brown rice syrup

1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

Dash salt

1/3 cup peanut paste (roast some peanut, take off the skin and blend until a smooth paste)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

For the Super Fudge Low Fat Brownies:

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 cup plain flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup light natural cane sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp sea salt

3 tbsp canola oil

1 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup prune puree (Soak with some hot water for 30 minutes and blend to a puree)

2 tbsp water

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped (optional)

How I made it:

1. For the frosting, combine the maple syrup and rice syrup in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over low heat, stirring a few times. Add the vinegar and simmer 1 minutes.
2. Whisk the cocoa powder slowly into the simmering syrup. Simmer for 2 minutes, whisking frequently until the cocoa is dissolved.
3. Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the salt, peanut paste and vanilla extract, stirring until smooth. If you find the mixture is too thick to mix. Blend the mixture in a blender or food processor, adding some water (tablespoon at a time) and blend until you get thick and smooth consistency. If the frosting is too thin, refrigerate it until thickened.
4. For the brownie, place the baking paper into a square baking pan. Preheat the oven to 180'C.
5. Shift the whole wheat flour, plain flour, cornflour, cocoa powder, cane sugar, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
6. Whisk oil, maple syrup, prune puree, water and vanilla in a separate bowl until no lumps of prune puree remain and the mixture is well blended. The batter will be thick.
7. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir until smooth. Stir the chips and walnut, if using, into the batter.
8. Spread the batter into the prepare pan evenly. Bake for 17 minute, don't over cook it! A tester inserted into the center will be coated with very moist cake. The brownies will firm as they cool.
9. Place the pan on a rack and cool to room temperature. Frost the brownies while they are warm with chocolate peanut frosting. Enjoy a big portion of this guilt-free brownie!

Reference: More great good dairy-free desserts from Fran Costigan

Dairy-Free Corner | HT | 4:31 AM No comments Read More