A new birthday cake I made for my mother’s friend’s daughter – which was on November 9th.
I made a Japanese cotton cheesecake the day before that special day, and I intended to decorate the cake on that day. Unfortunately, I was not feeling so well, but I had promised to make her a birthday cake and bring over to her home, I thought maybe I had better use fresh flowers to decorate the cake, which meant less decorating work I need to do and the cake might still look lovely.
Just as I thought, these white and red roses made my cake look so lively. This time I was quite pleased with the combination of colors I’d chosen. All the other works I did were to whip the cream, cover the cake with whipped cream as frosting, pipe cake borders, write some words and lastly, insert the roses onto the cake. It was simple and I could finish the cake on time, still spared few minutes to take pictures of this cake before I brought it to her house.
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It’s my first time making and eating pavlova. I got the recipe from Joy of Baking. Generally speaking, I liked the new experience of making a new kind of cake with egg whites, seeing how a crisp crust is formed outside to keep the soft mashmallow layer inside. I am always inspired by trying new things.
However, though I reduced sugar amount by one third, the cake was still very sweet to my liking. But I was afraid to reduce more sugar as I scared that the cake would not keep shape and right texture. It was the first trial, so I didn’t prefer to make many changes. Joy of baking is a relaiable source of recipes to me, so I often make changes to sugar and cream amount only.
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This was my first experience with tabasco pepper sauce. I found the name in one of my cookbooks, then after searching for information about this sauce, I was curious about how the taste is like. I hesitated to make this corn cakes just because I wondered whether it is available at supermarkets. One day I found it at one giant supermarket and I was glad to make these corn hush puppies.
It was very interesting to eat those small stuffs. They were a little bit spicy but the spicy taste was special due to tabasco sauce. Sweet corn kernels, after being quickly fried, were sitll very juicy and sweet. We almost ate these corn cakes for dinner without having anything else and still felt satisfied with the meal.
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These pancakes should be best for a healthy breakfast. But I made them right before midnight when my fiance felt hungry (as usual at this time) and asked for something hot to eat. Funny as he is, when he feels hungry, he only has appetite for some savory stuffs, but what I often have in my fridge are cakes and sweet desserts. Immediately thinking of some fresh blueberries I’d just got from the supermarket at a very attractive price the other day, I offered him why not trying some blueberry pancakes as I read about one recipe in my dessert book which makes low fat and more healthy pancakes, then he could enjoy his supper without worrying about whether sweet stuffs would make him fatter a little more (now he is well aware of keeping in shape 
).
It’s quick to make these pancakes for breakfast or even supper. Personally I am not very impressed by the taste of a fresh blueberry, but when making into cakes or similar desserts, blueberries seem to change into another different kind which is very tasty and impressive to eat.
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Like other chiffon cakes I’ve made so far, I liked this cake for its lightness and gentle sweetness. Yogurt is one reason that I was interested in baking this cake as I love the flavor of yogurt in my cake. Another reason is cranberries. I admired the bright red color of fresh cranberries, though I only could look at them in the pictures taken by others. Sometimes when browsing other love-to-cook and love-to-eat people, seeing how they used fresh cranberries in cooking and decorating their cakes, how much I wish I could actually touch somes of those little reds. Anyway, when the time comes, when I have an opportunity to travel more, farmer markets will always be listed in my priorities list of places to visit.
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Suddenly came across this purple sweet potato at supermaket, I decided to buy some immediately. I read about his kind of sweet potato before and I have been so curious about its color and wonder how its taste is like.
I also wanted to try using those I bought with some recipes I had read before, starting with this chiffon cake. I like chiffon cake for its light texture, and eating them is like eating a piece of "cloud". And with making chiffon, I can do at once when I feel like making it without worrying about scaling the butter and let it soften to room temperature, as like making other cakes.
I had nothing to complain about this cake. It is like and spongy as usual. It is full of sweet potato taste and smell. And the color of the cake really makes me adorable. Looking at this piece of cake made my mind peaceful. The dark purple color of the sweet potato, after being blended with egg whites and flour, turned into this gentle magenta, or pink, I don’t know what to call it, but I like this color.
This cake is another interesting experience with making chiffon cake to me. A good experience with purple sweet potato too.
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Chiffon cake is my choice when I don’t have much butter in my fridge. Almost every two weeks I go to the baking specialty store to restock my baking ingredients. From the store, I get ingredients at lower prices especially when buying stuffs in bulk.
Chiffon cake often requires oil instead of butter, and oil is always ready in my pantry. So whenever thinking of making a chiffon cake, I am quite confident about all the ingredients required without worrying about buying one or more other stuffs. This chiffon cake, like other kinds of chiffon, is very soft and light plus the chocholate flavor.
Ingredients (one 8” tube pan)
- 80g cake flour
- 16g cocoa powder
- 50g white sugar
- 2g salt
- 4g baking powder
- 40g canola oil or sunflower oil
- 48g egg yolks
- 72g water
- 2g vanilla extract
- 80g egg whites
- 30g white sugar
- 1/16 tsp cream of tartar
Methods:
- Preheat the oven to 180oC.
- Sift the dry ingredients together in the bowl of a mixer. With the mixer at medium speed, gradually pour in the oil, then add the yolks, water and vanilla in a thin stream. Stop to scrape down the side of the bowl sometimes. Beat until the mixture is just combined. Do not over mix.
- In another bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks formed. Add cream of tartar and sugar in a stream, beat until stiff peaks formed. Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and invert the pan to cool completely.
I was feeling so sinful when making these Lamingtons. This was the first time I ever knew about these cake cubes with the name Lamington and ever knew the real process of making them. I got the inspiration from Joy of Baking to try out these Lamingtons long ago, however, I was still reluctant to make them because I realized a great amount of sugar used in making the chocolate frosting that covers the cakes. And I was wondering what would happen if I reduced the sugar lke I often do.
When I gathered all the courage to began this cake, things turned out as I had expected. I baked a white cake first, with reduced sugar. No problem with the cake. The following day, I made the chocolate frosting. The recipe called for 454g icing sugar for 30g cocoa powder . I started with 200g icing sugar first, and the frosting turned out too too runny and too thin. I added 100g more, and that was still not enough. I continued with another 100g and then it seemed to be of a fine consistency to apply to the cake.
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