Gula Melaka Ogura Cake

This is a birthday cake for my sister. My family prefer light, airy sponge/chiffon cakes compared to butter/cream/fondant cakes, so I tried to make an Ogura cake. 

Original Recipe from BakingMom80, but I did some modifications as the original recipe was for a 6 inch square cake. A day earlier, I followed the recipe to a T, but used a 5x8inch rectangular tin instead of a 6inch square. Perhaps it was the larger eggs I used, but the batter overflowed the cake tin. On hindsight, I should have poured the excess batter to make cupcakes. 

Thus, for the actual birthday cake (I needed a 8 inch square cake to be enough for my family of ~20 pax), I used the following amounts: (text in red my own adjustments) 

(A)

5+1 egg yolk (I used large 60g eggs)

1 whole egg 

1/4 tsp salt 

60g canola oil 

70g+14g gula melaka - chopped into smaller pieces

20g+4g milk

75g+15g plain flour

(B)

5+1 egg whites

40g castor sugar 

1/4tsp cream of tartar

Steps

1. Grease and lined 8 inch baking tin. Prepare larger tin with boiling water (and a cloth to prevent baking tin from moving) for waterbath. Preheat oven to 150 degree Celsius.
2. Warm milk and add to the chopped gula melaka. Mix until dissolved. Strain to remove larger  particles.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk all ingredients in (A) except for plain flour, until light and fluffy. Set aside. 
4. In a separate, grease-free mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Add in cream of tartar, continue beating and add in sugar in 3 separate batches.  Beat until you attain firm peaks.
5. Fold the meringue into the yolk mixture in 3 batches. 
6. Pour batter into the cake tin slowly, letting large air pockets burst while pouring (this prevents the formation of large air pockets in the baked product). Smooth the surface of the batter with a spatula. 
7. Drop the prepared cake tin from a height of about 10cm from tabletop, to release any more air bubbles. 
8. Place the cake tin in the waterbath (I place a cloth between the waterbath tray and the cake tin to prevent any movement, which may happen if the waterbath level is too high)
9. Bake in the middle rack of oven at 150 degree Celsius for 70mins. 
10. Check doneness using a cake tester/satay stick. Once done, invert onto cooling rack for 5minutes, then unmould and remove baking paper before cooling upright. 

Cooling my 8 inch Gula Melaka Ogura cake

Purple Sweet Potato Muffins

I was just finishing up the Ogura cake for my sister, and wanted to make use of the oven (since it took so long to heat up and cool down anyway!). Googled and found a recipe for sweet potato muffins, which were easy enough to whip up (I had less than an hour before I had to pick Y from school then)

Sweet Potato muffins (makes 12) 

1 Cup Self-raising flour

1 Cup sugar (I used 3/4C)

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1/2 egg

1 Cup mashed sweet potato flesh

1/2 Cup oil

Steps

1. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with liners, if using. Preheat oven to 375F/190C.
2. Sift the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cinnamon)
3. Beat the egg til pale, then add the sweet potato flesh and oil. Mix well. 
4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, until just moistened.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 15-18 minutes.

Note: for some reason, the baked purple sweet potato turns green, so my sisters and nephews were a bit hesitant to eat when they saw green spots dotting the muffin (looking exactly like mouldy food) I read later that it was due to a reaction with baking soda/powder. 

Purple Sweet Potato muffins waiting to be consumed

Unboxing Kenwood compact oven toaster MO280

We were at Robinsons Raffles City checking out the sale promotions when I saw this on sale. I had been tempted to replace the current Philips toaster (which only toasts sliced bread and warms pastries atop the toaster), with a small toaster oven. I wanted to be able to make simple puff pastry items and pizzas for breakfast/lunch without having to use my built-in oven or airfryer (which blows all the shredded cheese everywhere when in use)

I liked this model as it has a crumb door at the base to clean crumbs/messes. Function-wise, it has temperature control and timer. I can also choose function (whether to have only top heating, or both top and bottom heating)

Hubby had some vouchers to use on hand, so we decided to buy this for $49.90.

I am looking forward to more grilled breakfast items!

Top (from left): Slide-in wire tray; instructions manuals; tray/dish handle (hidden below manual) ; cooking dish.

Baking bread in an airfryer!

Today, I baked some bread buns using my Philips Airfryer. Instead of 9 buns, I had to reduce the recipe to make sure it fit into my baking tray for the Airfryer. For simplicity, I only made two rectangular loaves side-by-side. Instead of the Airfryer baking tin (which measures about 14.5cm internally, 7cm height), I used disposable aluminium tray instead, which are slightly larger, but still fit into the Airfryer.


Recipe from My Mind Patch: Sweet Milk Buns.

Ingredients
150g whole milk (I used low fat)
20g condensed milk
3/4 tsp instant dry yeast

225g bread flour
25g top/cake flour
40g fine sugar
25g beaten egg
1/4 tsp salt

30g unsalted butter

Steps

1. Mix the whole milk and condensed milk together. Bring to room temperature (temperature exceeding 38°C will affect yeast). When it is within 28-38°C, sprinkle the yeast without stirring. Cover with a lid and let yeast activate, for about 15 minutes. 
2. While waiting for the yeast, prepare your baking tin by lining with baking paper. 
3. Combine the flours and sugar in a mixing bowl.
4. When the yeast is ready, add the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients. Add the beaten egg. Mix the dough until it no longer sticks to the side of the mixing bowl. 
5. Cover the dough with a lid (I used cling film) and let it rest for 15 minutes. (This allows the flours to absorb the liquid, making kneading easier later)
6. Kneading
7. Empty the dough on your worktop. Knead for about 10 minutes (using gloved hands might help) until smooth and elastic. 
8. Incorporate the butter into the dough, then continue kneading for another 10-15 minutes until windowpane/membrane stage.  (I think my kneading techniques were wrong or the room temperature was too warm, but I took an hour in total)
9. Tuck the sides of the dough into the bottom, shaping into a ball. Place in a oiled container and let it proof for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. 
10. Transfer dough to worktop. Press down to release the trapped air. Divide dough into 9 portions and shape into balls (or whatever desired shape you want). Do make sure that the dough portions are placed seam-side down.
11. Place the 9 portions in your prepared tin, spacing them apart. Spray some water and proof in closed oven for another 40 mins. 
12. Remove the proofed dough from the oven. Preheat oven to 180°C. 
13. Use a sieve to sprinkle some flour over the top of the dough. 
14. When the dough is in the oven, lower the temperature to 160°C and bake for 10 minutes; further reduce the temperature to 150°C and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or till the top slightly brown.
15. Remove the baking tin from the oven and lift the baked buns from the baking tin onto cooling rack immediately.

Youtube playlist by Bugs - Moonlight Drawn by Clouds OST

Parking this playlist instead of clogging my youtube channel