Catalàn Salt Pinch Cake

Lena from Frozen wing, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and I have all agreed to bake this interesting cake for our bake-along.

Through this bake, I've learned a few interesting facts about this cake...

One is there is no salt added in this cake.

Two is this Spanish originated cake has a great fluffy texture and very delicious when it is eaten traditionally by pinching out its fluffy bits.

Three...As described in the book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum, this cake can be baked in a few different forms: as (1) a loaf, (2) tall cupcakes encased in wings of parchment or (3) like how Rose baked hers in a round shaped cake tin. For my bake, I'm baking this cake as tall cupcakes using leftover party paper cups and this method has worked very well for me.These cupcakes are very soft and fluffy with a hint of almond nutty taste.

For our next bake-along, we are planning to bake Coca-Cola Chocolate Cake from the book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman and will published our CCCC post on 15 Aug 2011. If you have this recipe or this book, you are welcome to join in the fun in our bake-along.

 

 

Here's the recipe from the book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum.
(with my modification in blue)

Ingredients

112 g slice almonds, preferably unblanched (I use almond meal)
181 g superfine sugar (I use 160g superfine sugar plus 20g icing sugar)
6 large eggs
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tsp loosely packed lemon zest, finely grated
56 g cake flour, or bleached all purpose flour, sifted (I use the Italian OO flour)

Equipment: One 9 x 2 ½ to 3-inch spring form or cake pan. (I use 10 party paper cups to make the cake into tall cupcakes)

Coat the pan with shortening, bottom and sides and line with parchment paper. For sides cut a 33 x 3 inch band of parchment, overlapping an extra piece if necessary to make long enough. Wrap and press it against the inside wall of the pan. Use some extra shortening to coat the overlapping ends to hold them in place against the first strip of parchment.

To grease and line my party paper cups: First, I use rice bran oil spray to grease the cups. Then, I cut out strips of baking paper that can fit into each cup and overlay each baking paper into the cups using extra oil spray to coat the overlapping ends.

Preheat the oven to 160°C (or 150°C fan forced).

Spread the almonds (almond meal) evenly on a baking sheet and bake for 7 minutes, or until pale golden. Stir once or twice to ensure even toasting and avoid over-browning. Cool completely. In a food processor, pulse the almonds and 2 1/2 tbsp of the sugar until as fine as possible. Stop before the nuts start to become pasty. (I omit this step because I was using almond meal and mix in 20g icing sugar when the toasted almond meal is completely cooled.)

Using a stand mixer fitted with the whisk beater beat the egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy. Raise the speed to medium-high and beat until soft peak form when the beater is raised. Gradually beat in the remaining sugar, stopping the mixer once to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue beating until the meringue is very thick and glossy, but will not be smooth. Detach the whisk from the mixer and use it to stir the almond mixture into the meringue until evenly incorporated.

Re-attach the whisk beater and, with the mixer on medium speed, add the beaten egg to the meringue 2 tbsp at a time, beating for 2 mins between each addition. It should take a total of 20 to 25 mins, but be sure to beat for a minimum of 20 mins. Beat in the lemon zest. Remove the bowl and beater from the stand. While the mixture is beating, weigh or measure out the flour.

Sift the flour onto the batter and, using the whisk beater, fold in the flour until fully incorporated. Reach to the bottom of the bowl and be sure that no white specks of flour remain. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the cake for 25 to 35 mins (I bake the cupcakes for 20 min), or until a wire cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean and the cake spring back when pressed very lightly in the center. The cake will rise just a little and then sink slightly in the center.

Set the pan on a wire rack and immediately loosen and remove the sides, leaving the parchment attached to the cake. Allow the cake to cool until it is warm or at room temperature, about 1 hour.

Delicious eaten in the traditional way by pinching out pieces of fluffy cake. The cake keeps wrapped airtight for 1 week at room temperature, for 10 days refrigerated, and for 6 months frozen.

Happy Baking

My Guilt-free Berry Slice

I like using Alfa one rice bran oil or spread as butter substitution for some selective recipes and I'm very happy with the outcome so far without compromising the taste. 

Alfa one rice bran oil contains no cholesterol and trans-fatty acids and has reduced saturated fats. In an old issue of Australian GoodFood magazine, there is a section of cakes and cookies that are specially created using this spread and oil and they are always in my to-bake list and this is one of them.

The fruit topping is so pretty and delicious with a hint of honey.

The cake is delightfully light but moist in texture.

Here is the recipe from Australian GoodFood magazine, Jul 2010 issue 

(with my modifications in blue)

1 1/3 cup (225g) self raising flour (I sifted the flour)
1 cup (125g) almond meal
1 cup (220g) caster sugar (I reduce to 80g which means about 26g for 1/3 of the mixture)
175g rice bran oil spread at room temperature
2/3 cup (165ml) buttermilk (I use milk)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
finely grated rind of 1 lemon (I didn't use this)
200g frozen cherries (I use frozen berries mix)
2 tbsp honey
2/3 cup (50g) flaked almond (I didn't use this)
icing sugar to dust (I didn't do this)


1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 3cm deep x 23cm x 30cm baking pan.
2. Place flour, almond meal and caster sugar in a food processor and pulse to combine. Add rice bran oil spread, buttermilk, egg, vanilla and lemon rind and pulse until just combined.
3. Pour mixture into prepared tin and smooth surface. Scatter over fruits, drizzle with honey and top with flaked almonds. Bake for 40 min or until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool in pan for 10 min. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

I use 1/3 of recipe and use 10cm x 20cm loaf pan. Combine all dry ingredients. Using an electric mixer, beat spread, milk, egg and vanilla until combined. Then, fold in the dry ingredients and proceed to step 3. 

Happy Baking.

Maple Muffins

With lots of training and these muffins, I ran my first half marathon in 1hr 55min! These muffins are"powerful" and I craved for them immediately after I had my last one. 

These maple syrup-enriched muffins are real intense in their favour. They are very delicious with slightly sticky and crunchy tops, and yet moist and fluffy insides.

This is another brilliant recipe from the book, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours. I'm so glad that I bought this book and made these muffins.
 

 

 

Here's the recipe from the book, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours.
(with my minor modification in blue)

Softened unsalted butter, for the pan
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup, preferably grade B*
12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup whole milk
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted*

1. Position a rack in the center of he oven and preheat to 400°F (I used 190°C fan forced).  Brush the insides of 12 muffin cups with softened butter, then brush the top of the pan (I line the muffin with baking cups instead).

2. Whisk the unbleached flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Whisk the maple syrup, melted butter, and milk together in another bowl, then whisk in the egg and yolk. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir just until smooth.  Stir in the walnuts. Let the batter stand so the dry ingredients can absorb the liquid, about 5 minutes.

3. Using a 2 1/2 inch-diameter ice-cream scoop, portion the batter, rounded side up, into the prepared muffin cups.

4. Bake for 10 minutes.  Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F (I used 170°C fan forced) and bake until the tops of the muffins are golden brown and a wire cake tester inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15 minutes more.

5. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes.  Remove the muffins from the pan and cool completely.

* Grade B refers to its color & flavor which are darker & stronger than Grade A. It does not mean that it is inferior. 
* Toast walnuts at 350°F (I used 150°C fan forced) on a half-sheet pan, stirring occasionally for 8-12 minutes.

Note: Using a standard-size muffin tray, I've made 14 muffins with this recipe.

Happy Baking

A "Cake Keeper" Super-Delicious Wholewheat Carrot Cake

I must confess...When I first read the name of this cake, my eye brow raised. After baking and eating this cake, I'm fully convinced that this cake lives up to its name.

This recipe comes from the book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen wing and I are happy owners of this book. We all look forward to bake the cakes in this book and have decided to bake this carrot cake for this bake-along.

For months, I have this great impression of a beautiful carrot cake made by Sue from Munchkin Munchies and I've decided to decorate my carrot like what she did. For this cake, I've made fondant carrots and crushed half of a digestive biscuits to use it as "dirt". My son is very impressed with this carrot cake especially the mini "carrots".

For our next bake-along, Lena from Frozen Wing, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and I are baking "Catalàn Salt Pinch Cake", recipe from the book, Rose's Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum. We will published our post for this cake on 28 July 2011. If you have this recipe or this book, you are welcome to join in the fun in our bake-along.

 

 

Here's the recipe from the book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. 

(with my modification in blue)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dark rasins (I use sultana instead)
2 cup peeled and grated carrots (about 4 carrots)

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (or 160°C, fan forced). Coat an 8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray and dust with flour, knocking out any extra. (I line my baking pan with baking paper only.)

2. Whisk together the butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk in the eggs and then the milk. Stir in both flours, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt until combined. Stir in the walnuts, raisins (sultanas) and carrots.

3. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake the cake until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 35 to 40 min. Let the cake cool in the pan for about 15 min, invert it onto a wire rack, and then turn it right side up on a rack to cool completely. Cut into 9 squares and serve.

4. Store uneaten squares in a cake keeper or wrap in plastic and store at room temperature for up to 3 days

I use half the recipe to make 8 small squares using a 10 cm x 20 cm loaf pan and bake the cake at 160°C, fan forced for 35 min.

Here's the decoration tips from Munchkin Munchies (with my modification in blue)

marzipan (I use rolled fondant instead)
orange gel food coloring (I use a mixture of yellow and red gel paste)
5 chocolate wafer cookies, very finely ground (I use digestive biscuits instead)
fresh carrot greens (reserved from carrots for cake) (I use green colour sprinkles instead)

With a toothpick, add a dash of food coloring to the marzipan (fondant) and knead with fingers to combine, continue until desired shade is achieved.

Shape a teaspoon (or 1/2 tsp if you want a smaller carrot) of marzipan (fondant) into 12 balls, and place on a clean work surface.  Using your hands, roll each piece back and forth (I had better success rolling it between the palms of my hands) to form a 2-inch log (1-inch for my carrots). Using your fingers, shape one end of each log into a tapered point to form a carrot shape.  Use the tip of a skewer or toothpick to make a small hole at the top of each carrot.

Using a paring knife, make small grooves across (working down) the surface or each carrot. Carrots can be kept at room temperature, in an airtight container, for up to one week.

When ready to serve, roll carrots in cookie crumbs, lightly brushing of excess, and insert carrot greens (green sprinkles) into the holes.

To assemble, brush cake surface with warmed golden syrup. Sprinkle cookies crumbs lightly on the cake and place carrots on top of crumbs.

Happy Baking and enjoy the cake.

Hazelnut shortbread

I like everything with Nutella. Even a simple Nutella bread sandwich is delicious to me.

These shortbread are fully packed of hazelnuts and my favourite, Nutella. They are so simple to make and so delicious to eat.

 

 

Here's the recipe from Taste.com.au (with my slight modification in blue)

Makes about 40 
(I made 30 shortbread or 15 sandwiched shortbread with this amount of recipe.)

Ingredients
125g butter, at room temperature
60g pure icing sugar, sifted
60g hazelnut meal
115g (3/4 cup) plain flour
100g (1/3 cup) Nutella Hazelnut Spread

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C. Line 2 baking trays with non-stick baking paper.

Use an electric beater to beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until pale and creamy. Add the hazelnut meal and flour and fold to combine. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm-diameter fluted nozzle. Pipe small spirals of dough, about 2.5cm wide, onto the lined trays, allowing room for spreading.

Note: I choose not to over-beat my butter and sugar and find it hard to pipe these shortbread. I roll teaspoonfuls of dough and flatten them slightly with a fork.

Bake in oven for 12 minutes or until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Spread the bases of half the shortbread with the Nutella. Top with the remaining shortbread, base-side down.

Happy Baking

Pain de mie (Sarabeth's Bakery)

This is such a fanciful name for a simple loaf of bread. In French, "pain" means bread or loaf of bread and "mie" means crumb. Pain de mie is the most ideal type of bread for making sandwiches or toasting.

I always wanted to bake this bread when I first read the book, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours. 

This recipe is brilliant! I'm happy to see my basic loaf being so perfectly "square", soft and delicious for my sandwiches.

 

Here's the recipe from the book, Sarabeth's Bakery: From My Hands to Yours.

1 3/4 tsp active dry yeast
2 tbsp plus 2 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/3 cup whole milk
3 1/2 bread flour, as needed
1 tsp fine sea salt
3 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

Sprinkle yeast over 1/3 cup warm milk in a small bowl. Let it stand for 5 min, then stir well to dissolve.

Pour into the mixer bowl, Add 1 cup cold milk and sugar and whisk to combine.

Attach the bowl to mixer and fit with paddle attachment. On low speed, beat in half of the flour, the salt. Add softened butter, 1 tbsp at a time and mix until it is absorbed into the dough. Continue adding enough flour to make a soft dough that cleans the bowl. Replace paddle attachment with dough hook. knead on medium-low speed until smooth and elastic about 6 min.

Butter a medium bowl. Shape dough into a ball. Place in the bowl and turn to coat with butter. Cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let stand in a warm place until dough doubles in volume about 1 1/4 hrs.

Lightly butter a 14 x 4 x 4 inch covered Pullman loaf pan. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Gently pressing to deflate the dough, shape it into a 15 x 8 inch rectangle. To shape into a loaf, fold in right and left sides of the dough about 1/2 inch and pinch the seams closed. Folding over 1/3 of the dough at a time, roll up into a pump loaf, pressing the seam closed with heel of your hand at every turn. Using fingertips, pinch the final seam closed. Transfer the loaf to the pan with seam face down. pressing down gently to fit into the pan. Cover the pan, leaving the lid open about 1 inch. Let stand in a warm place until dough has risen to 1/2 beneath the edge of the pan about 1 hr.

Preheat oven at 180°C.

Close the lid completely and bake until top crust is golden brown about 35 min. Do not under-bake or the loaf will collapse. Let it stand for 5 min.

Remove the loaf from pan. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Note: I use 45% of this recipe to make a bread dough that can fit into my square-shaped Pullman tin which is 13 cm x 11 cm x 11 cm. I use 160°C fan forced to bake the bread for 25-30 min.

Happy Baking

Chocolate Almond Torte

Our family loves chocolate cake...and, this chocolate cake is definitely not to be missed!

Lena from Frozen Wing, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and I baked this cake for our bake-along and the recipe is from Joy of Baking.

My family and I are very happy eating this moist and delicious chocolate cake. As it is gluten-free, I've given a couple slices of these to my Celiac friend.

As described in the recipe, the cake will rise during baking but falls during cooling, leaving a crisp and cracked crust. So, don't be upset if you sees cracks on the cake. It is perfectly normal!

For our next bake-along, Lena from Frozen Wing, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and I will be baking "Super Delicious Wholewheat Carrot Cake", recipe from the book, Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman. We will published our post for this cake on 18-19 July 2011. If you have this recipe or this book, you are welcome to join in the fun in our bake-along. Happy Baking.

 

The cake is moist and surprising quite light in texture.

Here's the recipe from Joy of Baking (with my minor modification in blue)

1 cup (100 g) finely ground almonds
4 large eggs
200 g semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I use the 70% cocoa chocolate)
150 g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
150 g granulated white sugar, divided
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 180°C (I use 160°C fan forced) and place oven rack in the middle of the oven. Place the

sliced or blanched almonds (I use almond meal) on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 5-7 minutes or until lightly browned and fragrant. Remove from oven and let cool. Once completely cooled, place the nuts in a blender or small food processor and process until finely ground (I skip this step).
Note: The almonds need to be at room temperature before grinding to prevent them from clumping. If you find the almonds still clump when you ground them, add about 1 tablespoon (13 grams) of the sugar from the recipe. The sugar will help prevent clumping as it absorbs any oil exuded from the almonds.

Increase the oven temperature to 190°C (I use 170°C fan forced) and line an 8 inch (20 cm) springform pan with parchment paper.

Separate the cold eggs, placing the egg yolks in one bowl and the egg whites in another. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand until they reach room temperature (about 30 minutes).

Melt the chopped chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water. Once melted, remove from heat.

Meanwhile place the egg yolks and 100 g granulated white sugar in the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat the yolks and sugar until pale and thick (about 2 to 3 minutes). Beat in the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla extract. Fold in the ground almonds.

In a clean bowl, place the egg whites and whisk until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue whisking until soft peaks form. Gradually sprinkle in the remaining 50g sugar and whisk until stiff peak forms. Fold about 1/4 of the whites into the chocolate batter to lighten it. Quickly fold in the rest of the whites and mix only until incorporated.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake has a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack. The cake will rise during baking but falls during cooling, leaving a crisp and cracked crust. Once cool, run a spatula around the inside of the pan before releasing the sides. If not serving immediately, cover and place in the refrigerator. Serve cold or at room temperature. 

Dust with powdered (icing or confectioners) sugar. (I skip this step)

Note: I've made a 14cm cake using half of the cake recipe and reduce the baking time to 30 min. The "toothpick" test can be quite tricky; within a short moment of 4-5 min, the cake can be uncooked having lots of crumbs on the toothpick and can be ready having less crumbs on the tested toothpick in the next 4-5 min.
 
Happy Baking

Chocolate Brownies Ice Cream

I got this idea on how most people love their brownies to be served in a typical American restaurant...warm chocolate brownies with vanilla ice cream and rich chocolate sauce and so I have decided to combine all together as one ice cream mix!

This eggless ice cream is so easy to make that anyone can make this easily without an ice cream maker. And the next best thing is to watch my son squeals in joy whenever my husband scopes a cup of this ice cream for him...LOL 

 

Ingredients

395g can sweetened condensed milk
500ml thickened cream
2x mini loaves of dark chocolate brownies, about 300g, chopped roughly

Chocolate swirl
40g dark chocolate, chopped
100ml thickened cream

1. Mix condensed milk and cream until combined.

2. For the chocolate swirl, place chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high (100%) for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring with a metal spoon every 30 seconds, until smooth. Set aside for 5 minutes or until cool. Stir in thickened cream and mix until combined.

3. Pre-chill the ice cream mixture, chocolate mixture and chopped brownies as individual in fridge for more than 4 hours or overnight before the assembly of ice cream.

4.Using an electric mixer, beat the ice cream mixture together for 5 minutes or until soft peaks form. Alternatively, using an ice cream maker, pour the ice cream mixture into the ice cream maker and allow the maker to stir until the ice cream texture forms.

5. When the ice cream mixture is thicken by electric mixer or ice cream maker, stir in 3/4 of the chopped brownies biscuits. Spoon mixture into an container. Pour the chocolate mixture on top the ice cream mixture and swirl the chocolate to create swirl pattern on top of ice cream and sprinkle the remaining brownies on the ice cream mixture. Freeze, covered, overnight or until firm. Serve.

Enjoy this treat.