Pandan Chiffon Cake

Adapted from: http://jothetartqueen.wordpress.com/2012/11/10/pandan-chiffon-cake/

I followed this recipe to the very inch. It worked very well as it measures the egg whites in weight to get the precise bake. Her site is very comprehensive and even provides tips on how to get the folding of the eggwhites right. It also provides troubleshooting tips as well.

The chiffon cake i bake turned out very well. Apart from small sections where it was a bit moist, it was nice and fluffy and light. I might turn the cake after 25 minutes next time to get an even bake. The only thing that is different from this recipe is the baking time. I took less than an hour, around 55 minutes for the whole baking time and i omitted the pandan leaves as i can't get hold of them here.

Recipe: Classic pandan chiffon cake
Makes a 23 cm (9.5″) chiffon cake
A chiffon is as beautiful as a summer’s day when it is light as air and fluffy like clouds. Though the texture of this cake is feather-light, its flavours are unmistakably pronounced, in a good way. Pandan and coconut milk complement each other and its beautiful marriage can be tasted in this chiffon cake.
Ingredients:
Group A:
100g egg yolks (or approximately 5 yolks), room temperature
35g sugar
40ml corn oil (or any other neutral flavoured oil like canola or soybean)- i used canola
about 12 fresh pandan leaves, washed thoroughly - i did not have fresh leaves so i omitted this part out
160ml coconut milk - i used the can
20ml water
1/2 tsp pandan paste
120g cake flour+
3/4 tsp double acting baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
Group B
270g egg whites (or approximately 6 whites), room temperature
55g caster sugar
pinch of cream of tartar (optional)- i used abit of salt instead
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Have your chiffon cake tin mould ready. Do not grease it!
2. Whisk yolks with sugar until pale and light. Add in the corn oil and whisk until incorporated.
3. Prepare pandan coconut milk: Using a blender, place coconut milk, water and cut up pandan leaves and blitz. Pour mixture over a sieve and squeeze out the pandan coconut milk. Alternatively, you can use your hands (do wear disaposable gloves as pandan juice can cause your skin to itch) to squeeze out the pandan flavoured coconut milk. Discard the remaining pulp.
4. Mix the pandan coconut milk into your egg yolk mixture. Add in pandan paste and whisk in sifted dry ingredients. Whisk well until there are no lumps.
5. Prepare a meringue: Use group B ingredients to whisk a meringue to glossy, firm, just short of stiff peaks. Start by whisking egg whites until soft peaks before adding the caster sugar and whisk till glossy and firm, just short of stiff peaks. Do not overwhisk.
6. Add in 1/4 of the meringue to the egg yolk mixture. Whisk lightly to combine.
7. Add in 1/2 of the remaining meringue to the yolk mixture. Fold gently to incorporate before folding in the rest of the meringue. Make sure that the whites are folded into the mixture thoroughly.
8. Gently pour the pandan cake batter into the chiffon tin. Using a spatula, level and smooth out the top of the cake batter and gently tap the chiffon cake tin against the kitchen counter twice to remove any large air bubbles.
9. Bake at 180 degrees celcius for about 1 hr. The top of the cake should be lightly browned and springs back to touch when it is done. At about 25 minutes into the baking, check on your chiffon cake. If the top starts to brown or crack, cover the top with a aluminium foil before continuing with the baking. You can turn down the temperature slightly as well to about 170-175 degrees celcius.
10. Remove the ready cake from the oven, place a funnel into the center hole of the tin and invert the cake to cool on a cooling rack. Only attempt to unmould the pandan cake from its tin when it is cooled fully.

 

 This is the Group A ingredients

 I am always nervous about getting egg whites right. I have watched and read alot before even attempting it. For this very reason, i used a hand mixer to control the right consistency. So even my fabulous Thermomix had to step aside for this cake.

 Whisk and whisk. took me a good 9-10 minutes standing and whisking

 This is how it looks like after folding in Part A and Part B. I did it very gently and big folds.
I knew the mixture was correct as it looks very nice and fluffy. the volume was definitely there and it was not deflated

 The pan i got is abit too big but it works as well. This is a 24cm pan.

 I did cover with an aluminum foil after 25 minutes. And i did invert it when it came right out from the oven.

 it did deflated after that. but it still had a nice height and light as a feather. Very delicate cake

 I did not wait till it totally cool. Was too impatient but definitely need to wait longer next time. I was too anxious to see the insides.

 and voila!, A perfect chiffon cake.

I love the texture and the taste. I might add more sugar next time and fresh pandan leaves please. :)

The family and our friends loved it so i will definitely have a go with more chiffon cakes next time.

Pizza Puff

Found this very interesting recipe for the kid's lunch box

Ingredients (you can use any vegetables you fancy):

- 2 small zucchinni

- 1 medium red onion

-2 cloves of garlic

- 1 cup of button mushroom sliced

- 1 cup of grated cheese

- 300gms of shredded ham

- 1 tomato sliced and diced

- 12 frozen puff pastry

- tomato paste

Method:

1. blitz zucchini and button mushroom in the Thermomix. 2 seconds on Speed 4. I didn't blitz it to a minced as i wanted some texture in the pizza

2. diced onions and garlic

3. Mix all ingredients in a big bowl except for tomato paste and pastry

4. Thaw the pastry

5. cut the pastry into 4 squares, scoop some tomato paste and then the filling (about 3 spoons), shaped it into a mountain

6. Use another pastry square and cover it on the top and squeeze the sides to ensure it is tightly sealed. I used the knife to trim the edges so i can a nice circle

7. Cut a small X on top of the pastry so it will release the air when baking

8. Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown

Banana Chocolate Mousse Cake

 

This cake requires so many different method of preparing. First thing is baking the chocolate chiffon cake. Then slicing it into 3 layers. Then the mousse and banana filing and I was suppose to make a ganache but the cake didn't look very nice so I had to improvise last minute.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake
Ingredients:
**A**
6 egg yolks
200gms cake flour
120gm sugar
50gm cocao powder mix with 180ml water ( I used the plainstowe brand for all chocolate baking, I find it very nice and full of flavor)
90ml vegetable oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2tsp baking powder
**B**
6 egg whites
60gm sugar
***
9inch round baking pan

Method:
1. Preheat over to 180C
2. Line the bottom of the baking dish with baking paper. I butter it first so the baking paper can stick. I line this on the bottom and the sides to ensure the cake is able to come out easily
3. Mix all item in **A** in the thermomix on Speed 5 for 20-30 seconds until it is nicely mixed and then set it aside
4. I bought a hand mixer and mix **B** together until it forms stiff peaks. This takes a good 7-9 minutes. Again it depends on the equipment you are using. I stopped when the peaks are able to hold on its on
5. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture from Step3. Slowly fold to ensure the air does not get out. I gently fold this till the mixture is nicely combined
6. Pour into the baking pan and bake for 40-45 minutes. Mine was done in 40 minutes
7. Remove the cake from the baking pan and let it cool on the rack before starting the slicing process
8. Once cooled, divide into 3 equal parts and start slicing. I used a long serrated knife to get this nicely divided
9. The cake is now done, set it aside and continue with the next part

Chocolate Mousse and Banana
Ingredients:
250gms of good milk chocolate bars
130gms of milk
500ml thicken cream
50gms sugar
8 bananas

Method:
1. I melt the chocolate and milk in the microwave in 30second interval. Set it aside to work on the cream
2. I got nervous with this part. I was not sure how to expect the right consistency of the whipped cream. I watched the youtube on Benelux chocolate mousse for thermomix for countless times but yet I got it wrong. you are suppose to place the butterfly in the Thermomix, pour in cream and sugar. On Speed 3, with MC off, whipped it for 20-50 seconds. I think I stopped too soon as my mousse was still runny. Definitely need to lengthen this next time.
3. Gently fold the cream into the chocolate mix and then set aside
4. Slice up the bananas in equal sizes so the cake will not be bumpy. I did not do this so my cake did not had the nice round top

Assembling:
1. Place the first layer of the cake on a plate
2. scoop the mousse and then place the sliced bananas on it. Then add more mousse
3. Work this for all the layers. I had very runny mouse so it was very messy, I used the remaining mousse to cover the whole cake
4. Place the cake in the fridge to let it continue to set

Decorating.
I was suppose to used ganache to pour over the cake and have a nice glossy cake but because my surface was not perfect I ended up making large chocolate shards and shaving to cover the imperfections

1. melt 250gms of dark chocolate over a pot of boiling water, never boil chocolate directly on the stove.
2. Pour the melted chocolate over huge pieces of baking paper and let it set in the fridge till it hardens. This step was too messy for me to take any pictures.
3. Once set, cut the chocolate up into pieces and start sticking it to the sides of the cake
4. I made some thin chocolate shavings to sprinkle all over the cake, so it covers all the loop sides.

This is my chocolate chiffon cake resting and getting ready to cut

 Assembling the cake. notice how runny my mousse is

 See how imperfect this cake is. The sides look like an alien head

 After masking the imperfection with chocolate shavings it look much better

 Top up with some strawberries for colour and also balance of flavor

ta daaa. done. the patterns on the chocolate were not intentional, I did not flatten the chocolate shards nicely so it had some uneven pattern, but I think it looks pretty nice this way.

This is how the slices look after cutting up, it was perfect and next time I will make sure the mousse is right.

This is a cake for a 6 year old boy :)