Rainbow Marble Pudding

As I've mentioned yesterday, I also made Rainbow Pudding for Haslita's cousin's engagement. My plan was to make Kak Wan's Rainbow Marble Pudding but halfway through pouring the mixture into the pan, it was clear that the marble effect of  my pudding was quite messy. Right away, I decided to just pour the remaining mixture into a heart-shaped jelly mould. In the end, the pudding that was presented to Haslita was a four-layered pudding.

The marble pudding for my family's consumption! Yummy!!!

Rainbow Marble Pudding
Recipe by Kak Wan of Resipi Citarasawan.

Ingredients:
25g agar-agar powder
1350ml water
450g sugar
pandan leaves

5 eggs
1 can (400g) evaporated milk
2 tbsp custard powder

2 tsp vanilla essence
1/2 tbsp butter
blue & pink colouring

Method:

1. Combine agar-agar powder, water sugar & pandan leaves in a saucepan & bring it to a boil. Remove from fire & remove pandan leaves.
2. Combine evaporated milk & custard powder in a mixing bowl & mix thoroughly.
3. Add in eggs & beat, using a whisk or blender, until well blended. Strain & set aside.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the pan of agar-agar mixture & cook for a few minutes.
5. Remove from fire. Add in vanilla essence & butter & mix thoroughly. Divide mixture into 3 parts. Colour 1 part blue & another pink. Leave the third part plain.
6. Wet a 9 or 10 inch pan. Slowly, pour a ladle or plain mixture. Then pour, as low as possible, a ladle of blue mixture onto the center of the plain mixture. Then pour the pink mixture onto the blue mixture. Continue doing this until finish.
7. Allow jelly to cool & harden slightly before putting it in the fridge. Serve cold.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #20: Asian dessert buffet! (June 2012) hosted by Moon of Food Playground.

Durian Lapis Cake

It took me longer than usual to bake durian lapis cake yesterday. My 19-year-old Baby Belling oven went kaput.... sign...  Since I've never used any other oven when baking my lapis before, it took  me a while to  get the hang of the correct temperature as I experimented with my other two ovens, the Cornell Chef Master & my big Electrolux oven. In the end, I stuck to my small (& cheap) but very useful Chef Master. Even then, its temperature was not as high as my Belling's because it took about 4-5 minutes, even at its highest temperature of 250 deg C, to bake each layer compared to 2 minutes when using the Belling oven. No wonder Belling oven is many bakers' top choice for baking lapis cake. Anyway, I'm glad the cake turned out fine.....

This lapis cake was ordered by my friend, Haslita, who ordered it for her cousin's engagement. Since it was for the exchange of gifts between the girl & the guy, I dressed the cake up with some flowers & heart shape cake cut-outs. I'm glad Haslita & her mum like the decor....  I also gave some of the cake for Haslita & her family to taste. She called to say the cake was really delicious. I cannot agree more... it's like eating kuih lempok, the traditional durian cake, in a form of a lapis cake. This recipe is another keeper from Bro Rozzan.

Haslita also ordered a pudding to accompany the durian lapis. That will be my next post. In the meantime, have a good  weekend!

Lapis Durian
Adapted from recipe by Bro Rozzan.

Ingredients:
16 oz butter (I used unsalted butter & added 1 tsp salt.)
4 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
14 oz durian flesh

20 egg yolk
6 egg white
1 tbsp cake emulsifier
10 oz sugar
5 1/2 oz self-raising flour

Method:

1. Preheat oven at about 200 deg C, top grill only. (The temperature for your oven may not be 200 deg C.  A good indicator is each layer will cook & turn golden brown in about 2-3 minutes.)
2. Line & grease bottom of pan only (8x8 or 10x7 inch). Set aside.
3. Combine butter, condensed milk & durian in a mixing bowl. Cream on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Set aside.
4. Combine egg yolk, egg white, emulsifier, sugar & flour in a large mixing bowl & beat on high speed for about 8 minutes.
5. Combine butter & egg mixture  & mix until well combined.
6. Pour 2 ladles of mixture into baking pan. Spread evenly & bake for 2-3 minutes until cake is cooked & cake surface turns golden brown.
7. Remove from oven, press cake surface using a lapis presser or bottom of a glass.
8. Pour 2 more ladles of batter & bake. Continue the process until finish.

Belgian-Style Yeast Waffles

My kids love waffles, so now & then they would request for them. Occasionally, I would just buy the frozen ones from the supermarket. The kids love them but I find it so much cheaper to just make them at home. I would double the recipe & store the uneaten ones in the freezer. Then everytime the kids want to have waffles, they'll just need to heat them up in the toaster.

I've tried a few different recipes but this time I used a recipe that has yeast in it. It's a good recipe. The waffles turned out crispy on the outside & moist inside. Eat them when they are still warm because once cooled, they'll turn soft. When that happens, just reheat them in the toaster. Enjoy these homemade waffles!

Belgian-Style Yeast Waffles
Source: King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

340g / 1 1/2 cup lukewarm milk

85g / 6 tbsp butter, melted

39 to 57g / 2-3 tbsp maple syrup (optional)

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

241g / 2 cups plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast


Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients, except flour, in a large bowl. Mix thoroughly. Add in flour & continue mixing until well blended. It's ok if the mixture isn't perfectly smooth.
2. Cover with plastic wrap & let rest at room temperature for 1 hour; the mixture will begin to bubble. You can cook the waffles at this point, or refrigerate the batter overnight to cook waffles the next day.
3. Preheat your waffle iron. Spray with non-stick vegetable oil spray, and pour 2/3 to 3/4 cup batter (or the amount recommended by the manufacturer) onto the center of the iron. Close the lid and bake for the recommended amount of time, until the waffle is golden brown. It takes us 5 to 6 minutes, using our 7" Belgian-style (deep-pocket) waffle iron.
4. Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200°F oven. Serve with berries and whipped cream, if desired.

Yield: about 4 Belgian-style (deep-pocket) 7" round waffles.

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Filling

When I saw these cupcakes on Rima's blog, I wished I could taste one right away. Her pictures & description of the taste of the Hokkaido Cupcakes just made me drool......

This is my first time baking the cakes & I'm very happy with the outcome. They are light, moist & so delicious that you can't stop at one, two or three...... Besides, they are pretty easy to bake. The only thing is I totally forgot to sprinkle the cupcakes with powdered sugar. Sign..... Anyway, thanks Mindi & Rima for sharing this recipe. And to all bakers, do try baking these!

Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes with Whipped Cream Filling
Recipe by Mindi.
Inspired by Rima.

Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour before sifting
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (or 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or white vinegar)

Whipped Cream Filling:
2 cups whipping cream
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions:

1. Make sure everything is at room temperature, especially eggs and milk. Preheat the oven at 450F.
2. Shift the cake flour together with baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl.
3. In a medium bowl, blend well milk, oil, vanilla extract and the 5 egg yolks.
4. Add the egg yolk mixture to the dry ingredients, and beat it for about two minutes.
5. Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar on high speed until foamy, then slowly add in sugar and continue to beat until stiff peak form. (Most recipes tell you to add most of the sugar to egg yolks, and only add a small amount to the egg whites, but some bloggers say that professional bakers do just the opposite. Huh! Trade secrete! I tried it today, and it worked really well!)
6. Fold the meringue into the yolk mixture in 3 parts.
7. Spoon into 24 cupcake cups evenly, give them a couple of big taps on the table to break the large air bubbles in the batter for finer texture of the cakes, and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes. Tooth pick test for doneness. Remove from the oven, and cool on racks straight up.
8. Measure the heavy cream, sugar and vanilla into the mixing bowl, mix on high speed until medium peak form.
9. Fit the piping bag with a narrow tip, and fill it with whipped cream. Pipe the cream into center of the cupcakes after they are completely cooled or refrigerated. Dust with powdered sugar.

Sweet Potato Doughnuts

My Indonesian maid returned to her hometown for good on Wednesday after working with us for two years. She's happy to go home after settling her debts..... She also managed to bring home some cash. Hope it'll come handy for her wedding & family expenses. Just hope no other individuals have other plans with the cash... Wish her good luck!

Anyway, she used to work in a doughnut shop back in Indonesia, mixing & shaping hundreds of doughnuts manually everyday! So you can imagine how delighted she was to share with me her  doughnut-shaping skill. These sweet potato doughnuts were her last contribution. I mixed the dough & she shaped & fried the doughnnuts.

The recipe is actually based on the Potato Doughnut I made before. I love the  super soft potato doughnuts  &  wondered what it would be like if I had used sweet potato instead. So I decided to experiment on Sunday. The doughnuts were delicious! And not only were they super soft, they were also so flavourful. I coated more than half of them with cinnamon sugar & top the rest with strawberry ganache, although mine was quite runny. 

If you would like to try this recipe, please take note of some adjustments that I made. The cooked Japanese sweet potato turned out to be less moist than cooked potatoes. So I had to add more liquid in order to produce a soft dough. The liquid required may vary with different types of sweet potatoes, so please adjust the liquid accordingly. Besides that, instead of using water & milk powder, I used fresh milk. 

Sweet Potato Doughnuts
Adapted from the Potato Doughnut recipe.

Ingredients:
500g high protein flour
11g (1 sachet) instant yeast
100g sugar
200g sweet potato - cooked & mashed (I used Japanese sweet potato.)
150-200ml fresh milk
4 egg yolk
75g butter
1/2 tsp salt



Method:

1. Combine flour, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl. Add mashed sweet potato, 150ml milk and egg yolk and mix using dough hook for about 2 minutes.
2. Add in butter and continue mixing for about 2 minutes. If necessary, add in remaining milk, bit by bit, Finally, add in salt and mix for another 3 minutes until dough is smooth & elastic. (The dough should be soft but not sticky.) 
3. Remove dough from bowl and shape it into a ball and place it in a clean bowl. Leave it to prove for about 45 minutes.
4. Divide the dough into small portions of about 30g each and mould them into smooth balls. Leave them to rest for 10 minutes. Then shape them into ring doughnuts.
5. Leave to prove for 35 minutes.
6. Deep fry in medium hot oil till goden brown.
7. Coat doughnuts with fine sugar or top with ganache.