Pandan Chiffon Cake

Cell Group dessert: 24-Sep-2010

Thanks HEAPS Wai Wai for this BEAUTIFUL & super easy recipe!!! YUMMMMMM... You are famous here in DownUnder... :-D And thanks Steph for the yummy picture of the almost finished cake! LOL! Glad you enjoyed it for tea too when I came a visiting during your confinement... *hehe* Oh & apologies for the weight being in ounces instead of grams... I think though, most weighing scales should have both types of weigh styles on them (at least mine do). The recipe was given to me in ounces...  :-)

Ingredients:

In 2 separate bowls:

Bowl A:
6 x egg yolks
2oz (liquid oz) vegetable oil (I used sunflower/rice oil)
2.5oz raw caster sugar
5oz self-raising flour
2oz (liquid oz) low fat coconut milk (Ayam brand)
1/2 tsp pandan paste 

Note: Pandan paste, I used "Bake King Best Quality" Pandan Paste bought from Gim Hin Lee (address is in Spore) - my mum bought then didn't use... so emmm... yah... I've got it now! *hehehe* lots more pandan cakes coming up!! yummy!

Bowl B (cake beater bowl):

- Important note: make sure this bowl has absolutely NO GREASE on it... wash it in super hot soapy water if necessary!!

6 x egg whites
2.5oz raw caster sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

Note: To grease or NOT to grease... that remains the question for chiffon cakes... I bake without greasing - but then have slight difficulty removing cake from tin. However, a friend has mentioned that when she did grease the tin, the cake just dropped out of the tin when she inverted it to cool and when she didn't cool it upside down but removed it instantly from the cake tin, the cake flopped & lost its airyness. 

I've just tried partially oiling the tin (ie. I oiled the funnel in the centre & a little bit of the base of the funnel to make it easier to get out... )... Some think that the tin should not be greased at all just so that the cake can work its way up the surface & also something for the cake to stick too when placed upside down to cool...

1. Using a bit of olive oil spray, grease Chiffon cake tin - just the funnel & base of funnel (alternatively: use normal cake tin but line with baking paper - paper must rise higher than cake tin, as this cake will rise high).
2. Mix all ingredients in Bowl A (egg yolk mixture) using a spoon or fork. Make sure it has been mixed well! Then set aside.


3. Using a cake beater, whisk ingredients in Bowl B (egg white mixture) until white, stiff & glossy. Do a test: put bowl of beaten egg white upside down, if correct consistency, nothing moves, egg white remains in bowl. If as you're putting bowl upside down, egg white moves, it has not been beaten enough.


4. Take 1 spoonful of egg white & mix into the egg yolk mixture to thin the egg yolk mixture slightly.


5. SLOWLY fold egg yolk mixture INTO egg white mixture.
6. Pour mixture into Chiffon Cake Tin & smooth top of cake.
7. Bake at 150Celsius for 1 hr or till skewer comes out clean.

8. Cool cake in tin upside down until completely cool before removing from tin. 

Alternatives:
Instead of 2 liquid oz = 1/2 tsp pandan paste & coconut milk, try:
(a) 2oz = Lemon Rind, a few squeezes of lemon juice & make up the rest of the weight with milk (separately otherwise milk may curdle) - then pour separately into egg yolk mixture.
(b) 2 liquid oz Orange juice (1 Large orange was sufficient for me) plus rind of 1 orange - my MIL's favourite - Orange Chiffon Cake - she was over the moon when I did this for her birthday... :-) Will post in a different posting eventually I'm sure! :-D
(c) Add 25g black sesame seed powder to a liquid measuring cup, then pour & mix in low fat soy milk up to the 2 liquid oz level.
(d) Add 40g (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) unsweetened cocoa to a liquid measureing cup, then pour & mix approx 80ml (1/3 cup) hot water up to the 2 liquid oz level.


Yum yum... enjoy!! :-D

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Attempts at cake decorating (more to come later on...)

E's 6th b'day cake decorated with mini M&M's with basketball candles... :-D shared at Sunday School... I think that was his last year at the younger class... *sigh* my little boy is growing up...














J's 4th Birthday cupcakes... shared at sunday school... :-) 

My first attempt at cake decorating...  a big cake that is...

Dessert - 06-Dec-2009

I decorated my mum's yummy chocolate cake & am now totally hooked as you'll see in the next few posts...

In this decorating though, I used pre-made Betty Crocker icing & another brand, I can't remember the name but will update when I see it again... plus butterfly sprinkles & pre-made sugared flowers.

The chocolate words, I bought from Muddings, Glen Waverley... :-) The little umbrella, I threw in just to add some colour & depth... *hehe*

THE GRAND FINALE... 

All these cake decorating led to the grand finale...  my nephew's cricket cake... Yummy!! He totally LOVES cricket & can actually hold a decent intelligible conversation about cricket with an adult... (mind you intelligible to someone who knows the game... he tried explaining it to me.... & had to explain just about every terminology he used! *hahahaha*)

Preston's 9th Birthday Cake
Afternoon Tea: 12th Dec 2009

Chocolate cake made by my mum Sally... & decorated by me... 

Cheerful butter icing (from allrecipes.com.au)

Ingredients:
165 grams butter, softened

4 cups icing sugar
40 ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4 drops of food colouring


Method:
1. Place butter in microwave for a few seconds if it is not very soft.
2. In a medium bowl cream the butter, icing sugar and milk until it is light and fluffy. This may take up to 5 minutes.
3. Add the vanilla and food colouring, and beat until well combined.
4. Fill piping bag or icing gun with icing, and decorate your creations.
5. Any leftover icing will keep in a tightly closed container for a few days, simply melt it in the microwave before use, or let it reach room temperature on the kitchen bench.
6. I put sprinkles on top of the icing to make it more bright & colourful!
7. Words - use melted dark chocolate.

The bats-man (I initially put him facing the bowler straight on instead of side-ways as he looked like he wanted to pee... my nephew & I had a jolly good laugh at that! *hehe*) 

bowler 

 ball catchers

Attempts at cake decorating (more to come later on...)

Avocado/Spinach, Brie & Smoked Chicken Muffins

Baked for my son & nephew's school break-up party...

Avocado, Brie & Chicken

Recipe was obtained I think from 1 of the MOPS sessions at Crossway Baptist Church many many moons ago. I've since stopped attending that group simply because I didn't have the time as I'd joined a different group in that same church... :-D It was delicious & I think a few of us mums 
requested for the recipe... & here it is...


Date: 28-Sep-2011: Baked again for lunch! Wish I had some yummy vegetable soup to go with it! :-) Children loved the wholemeal & spinach version so yay!

Wholemeal Spinach, Brie & Chicken

Ingredients:
125g Brie Cheese
3 cups self-raising flour (or wholemeal self-raising flour)
1 tsp dried mustard powder
1 cup smoked chicken breast, diced (or crispy bacon)
1 avocado, stoned, peeled & diced (or 1 cup sliced baby spinach leaves)
1 cup grated cheddar cheese (or tasty cheese)
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups milk (or buttermilk)
100g butter, melted & cooled

Muffin Dough before baking

Method:
1. Dice 1/2 brie & slice the rest.
2. Sift flour & mustard into large mixing bowl.
3. Stir in diced brie, smoked chicked, avocado & grated cheese & make well in centre.
4. In a separate bowl, mix eggs, milk & butter.
5. Pour into well (dry ingredients) & mix all ingredients together.
6. Divide mixture evenly into a greased 12-hole muffin tin & top with a slice of brie (extra brie slice optional).
7. Bake at 220C for 18 - 20 mins until well risen & golden. BTW, make sure shelf in oven is somewhere 3/4 way up from the heating elements at the bottom... :-)
8. Cool in tin for 5 mins before serving.



Optional: add some chopped fresh herbs (chives, parsley, dill) - about 1/4 cup in total to batter & mix well.


Note: Lining muffin tins with cupcake liners for easier handling did not help, the muffins stuck fast to the paper & made it difficult to remove when eating... (although it was easier to remove from the muffin tins... LOL!)

Avocado/Spinach, Brie & Smoked Chicken Muffins

Best Chocolate Chip & Light Chocolate Chip Cookies

Afternoon Tea & snacks: 03-Nov-09


Totally yum cookies... & whilst I'm at it... why not make 2 batches & split them into batches... 1 with cocoa powder, so it becomes like a double chocolate chip cookie whilst the other is without the extra cocoa...  :-)  My sis loves this recipe too... & has probably baked this more than I have whilst I'm off trying other recipes... *haha* :-)

I've also posted the recipe here: http://allrecipes.com.au/recipe/10645/best-chocolate---light-chocolate-chip-cookies-.aspx.


Recipe was adapted from Cadbury Dark Chocolate Chip packaging (I made 2 batches of cookies - about 85 - 90 cookies).


Ingredients:
250g butter
1 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup castor sugar
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
3 cups wholemeal self-raising flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 cup Cadbury Dark Chocolate Chips
1 cup "Energy Mix" 
(Note: Energy Mix contains sunflower seeds, pepitas, sultanas, almond slivers.)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Cream butter and sugars until light & fluffy.
3. Mix in the vanilla essence and eggs.
4. Stir in the flour.

5. Split dough into 2 lots.
Lot A: Add in cocoa & "Energy Mix". Mix well.
Lot B: Add in dark chocolate chips. Mix well.

6. Roll teaspoonful of mixture onto a greased baking tray & bake for about 10 - 15 mins or until baked.
7. Leave on tray to cool for about 2 - 3 mins before removing & putting onto cooling racks to cool completely.

Best Chocolate Chip & Light Chocolate Chip Cookies

Waffles

Breakfast: 30-Oct-09


This was the yummiest waffles... Even made it for a church fund raiser the day before... then on the day itself, just popped it into a toaster to reheat & it was simply divine dusted with icing sugar & served up with some vanilla choc-chip ice-cream... Mmmmmm... 

Recipe was adapted from this website: All Recipes - Mum's Best Waffles).

Ingredients:
280g plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups low-fat milk
2 eggs
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Method:
1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar & salt. 
2. Add milk, eggs and oil, mixing well.

(Note: I beat egg whites separately using beater until stiff & only mixed the yolks in step 2. Then folded egg white into wet flour mix. This creates lighter fluffier waffles but just slightly more troublesome since you have to bring out the beater...)

3. Pour desired amount of batter onto hot waffle iron or waffle maker. 
4. Cook until golden brown.

2 batches make about 25 - 30 waffles! (Yes, I have stacks of waffles now...)

Waffles

Egg-less Mango Pudding

Dessert: 05-Oct-2009

My nephew has been waiting for me to make this yet again, sadly though mango season has yet to take off here in Australia… (come on warmer weather… get on with it! LOL!) 

Oh, and I'm slowly bringing over recipes from my photo page on FB over to this blog, so some of the dates might be "old" when I 1st made them & posted the pics... but I probably would have made them again a few times since then... (with most things that is...)

Anyway, so I’ve been searching on the internet to find the “right” recipe for our family… I hadn’t realized that a lot of mango pudding recipes involved using raw eggs & I wasn’t comfy with that. My recipe has been adapted from this one, found here: fredizzle - mango pudding recipe. I can tell you its been a real hit with the kids…  (Notice that I’ve omitted the egg part in fredizzle's recipe… :-D) 


Ingredients:
Two large ripe Mangoes chopped finely
2 Packets of Jelly Powder (I used normal Aeroplane Jelly - mango flavour)
200mL low fat Evaporated Milk 
310ml of Hot Water


Method:
1. Mix chopped mango with evaporated milk in the bowl that you want mango pudding to set in.
2. In separate bowl, add hot water with jelly powder. Stir until jelly fully dissolved.
3. Pour dissolved jelly into mango mixture. Stir until well mixed.
4. Let mixture cool then put into fridge until mango pudding sets (approx 2-4 hrs).

Enjoy the yummylicious chilled pudding especially in the height of summer!  :-D Heck... enjoy it anytime really... its such a more-ish dessert!  :-D

Egg-less Mango Pudding

Homemade Beef Pies

Dinner: 21-Sep-2010

Pic at top: I used the lomo camera app on my iPhone to capture that pic... so the colours are a bit more intense... but nice.  Love it!

Pic at bottom: Normal colours still using iPhone... :-) 


Sorry as a friend pointed out, I totally forgot to take a pic of the yummy slow-cooked beef & gravy… apologies!

The beef pies were definitely yummy!! :-) Hubby reckons heaps better than those party pies & store bought pies... :-) Definitely heaps more nutrition too I might add... LOL! We both had 3 each for dinner... & I'm normally not a beef pie person... can't stand the store bought ones!


Recipe from Coles advertising magazine, 23-Sep-2010 to 29-Sep-2010, Curtis' meat pies


Ingredients:
2 tbsp Olive oil
2.5 tbsp plain flour
500g Butcher beef casserole chuck steak (cut into 1cm cubes)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp ground coriander (omitted as I didn't have this)
1 carrot, peeled, cut into small dice
1 celery stalk, cut into small dice
1 small onion, cut into small dice
1 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1.5 cups beef stock
3 sheets frozen low fat Pampas puff pastry


Method:
1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a med heavy based saucepan over high heat. 
2. Coat meat in flour & brown well in pan.
3. Reduce heat to med, add onions & garlic & cook for 4 mins. 
4. Add carrot & celery & cook a further 4 mins. 
5. Add coriander, soy & worchestershire sauce and cook until almost dry. 
6. Add stock & cook for 1 hour or until meat is tender & sauce is thick. Allow to cool. Thaw pastry.
7. To assemble pie: 
- Preheat oven to 200C. Place pastry sheets on floured surface & roll out to 3mm (if you buy Pampas, they have already been rolled out so no need to do this part).
- Cut 2 of the sheets into 8 squares in total, for the bases. 
- Cut the 3rd sheet into 8 equal smaller squares for the lids. Set tops aside in fridge.
8. Place each base into a lightly greased regular muffin pan, prick a couple of times with a fork and fill with a small piece of foil. Bake for 8-10 mins until just golden.
9. Remove from oven & allow to cool, removing foil as well. Fill each base with filling & top with a lid. 
10. Press down on sides to seal. Bake for approx 10 mins, or until pastry is golden brown.
11. Remove from oven & cool a few mins.


Serve with tomato sauce...


Enjoy them whilst their hot & fresh out of the oven... mmmmm... ;-D 

Homemade Beef Pies