Gula Melaka ( Palm Sugar) Chiffon Cake

I have a soft spot for gula Melaka, so I just love any cakes, kuih or even ice-cream that have this amazing ingredient in them. I've bookmarked this chiffon cake recipe for so long.... finally I managed to bake it a few weeks ago. Love it, love it, love it.

Gula Melaka (Palm Sugar) Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
150g palm sugar or gula Melaka
100 ml coconut milk

6 egg yolks
4 tbsp vegetable cooking oil (corn oil/canola/sunflower)
¼ tsp salt
140g plain flour
¼ tsp baking powder

6 egg whites
¼ tsp cream of tartar
40g caster sugar

Method:
1. In a small saucepan, melt the palm sugar together with coconut milk over low heat till the sugar dissolves. Remove and strain into a bowl.  Leave to cool.
2. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks, then add in the vegetable cooking oil and salt and whisk until well combined. Add the palm sugar coconut milk mixture into the yolks/oil mixture. Mix till well blended.
4. With hand whisk, add in the flour and mix till well combined. Set aside.
5. Meanwhile, in another clean and dry bowl, beat egg whites on medium speed till frothy. Then add in cream of tartar and continue to beat until the bubbles become fine soft peak. Gradually add in caster sugar and continue to beat until stiff peak.
6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into egg yolk batter to lighten the latter. Then fold in the remainder in 2 portions, scooping from the bottom of the bowl and folding up until well blended. I find it easier to start with a hand whisk and then switch to a spatula to finish off the blending.
7. Pour into a chiffon cake pan and bake in pre-heated oven on the lowest rack, at 150 deg C for 45-50mins. Remove from oven and immediately invert the cake and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, use a metal spatula or knife and very carefully and gently remove the cake from the pan.
Recipe from Jeannie Tay.

Some notes:
1. This recipe is good for a 20-cm (8-inch) chiffon tube pan. But I used a 16-cm flower tube pan and another small pan to fill up all the batter. Do not grease the pan.
2. This cake is best eaten the next day when the flavour becomes more intense. If you want to consume on the same day, you may want to increase the gula Melaka a little.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Filling and Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

If you have been following this space, you would be aware that blogging here has slackened a lot.... that's ever since I agreed to take up more responsibilities at work. As a result, I've also seldom taken out my dslr for my photo shoots. But two weeks ago, I just had the urge to use the camera to capture some shots of my Gula Melaka Chiffon Cake which I shared on FB and IG. I just love the pictures.... No way would I be able to capture those beautiful shots with my iphone....

I realise that using the big equipment is not the difficult part. For me, it's styling the set-up for the shots that often takes up a big part of the whole process. Without fail, I would be perspiring at the end of the photo shoot. Come to think of it, if I just shoot close-up pictures, very minimal set-up is really needed for some nice shots. So, I should pick up my mojo and the  dslr camera and start taking nice food pictures, especially when taken at home...

The final week of term 3 was a short one because of Teacher's Day and Hari Raya holidays. Things in school were also slowing down after the term tests.. So I had the urge to bake something... and what better excuse to bake than to celebrate Teacher's Day!

I've been yearning to try some recipes by Lindsay of Life, Love and Sugar for some time..... Her cakes always look so moist and mouth watering. I decided to bake her very moist-looking chocolate cupcakes, fill them up with Nutella and frost them with Swiss Meringue Buttercream, my favourite kind of frosting. I totally love the cupcakes.... they are so moist, so chocolatey and so good!! If you are a fan of chocolate cakes, you must try baking these... they are totally worth the calories!

Chocolate Cupcakes with Nutella Filling and Salted Caramel Swiss Meringue Buttercream

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder (I used Valrhona.)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 tbsp espresso powder (I used 3 tbsp Nescafe instant coffee.)
1 cup boiling water

FILLING
Nutella spread

Method:
1. Put all dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk together.
2. Add eggs, buttermilk and vegetable oil to the dry ingredients and mix well.
3. Add vanilla and espresso to boiling water and add to mixture. Mix well.
4. Pour into cupcakes pans lined and bake at 300°F (150°C) for about 20-25 minutes.
5. When done, remove cupcakes from oven and cupcake tin and allow to cool.

Recipe by Life, Love and Sugar.

SALTED CARAMEL SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

Ingredients:

5 large (150 grams) egg whites
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar (I reduced this by 2 tbsp.)
3 sticks (340 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
3 tbsp salted caramel sauce

more salted caramel sauce for the drizzle

Method:
1. Add egg whites and sugar to a clean and dry mixing bowl. Make a double boiler by placing the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the bowl doesn’t touch the water. Whisk the egg white mixture constantly but gently until temperature reaches about 140°F (60°C) or until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot.
2. Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and attach it to the mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and begin to whip until the meringue is thick, glossy, and the bottom of the bowl no longer feels warm, about 7 to 10 minutes.
3. Switch over to paddle attachment and, with mixer on low speed, add the butter cubes, one at a time, until incorporated. Continue beating until it has reached a silky smooth texture. If the buttercream curdles, just keep mixing and it will come back to smooth. If the buttercream is too thin and runny, refrigerate for about 15 minutes before continuing mixing with paddle attachment until it comes together. Add the vanilla, salt and salted caramel sauce and continue beating on low speed until well combined.

Recipe adapted from Handle the Heat.

Assembly:
1. Core the center of the cupcake.
2. Spoon a teaspoon or 2 of Nutella into the cavity.
3. Pipe the Swiss Meringue Buttercream onto the cake.
4. Drizzle salted caramel sauce.