Serimuka (Putri Salat) Durian

I made Putri Salat (or Serimuka to the Malaysians) for dessert at my mum's place last weekend. I decided to add the beautiful yellow but pricey durian (I think it was Mao Shan Wang.) which I bought at the market a couple of days before....  This sure is a perfect dessert for all who love kuih & durian like me... Excellent recipe too, except I think the top layer is too thick.... will reduce it by a third the next time I make this.

Serimuka (Putri Salat) Durian
GLUTINOUS RICE LAYER

Ingredients:

500g glutinous rice - soak in water plus 1 tsp lime solution (air kapur) for 1 hour (I didn't add the lime water.)

1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

340 ml thin (diluted) coconut milk

pandan leaf (torn & tied into a knot)

Method:

1. Rinse rice until clean & strain. Combine rice, salt, sugar, pandan leaf & coconut milk. Steam for about 45 minutes until cooked. (In the meantime, start preparing the durian kaya layer.)
2. Then fluff rice using a folk & transfer into a greased pan. Press the rice using banana leaf, plastic or lapis cake presser. 
3. Steam again for about 5 minutes, just before pouring the durian kaya.

DURIAN KAYA LAYER
Ingredients:

300g durian flesh

250g fine granulated sugar

6 whole eggs (about 60g each)

70g plain flour 

20g sago or corn flour 

750ml thick coconut milk (The original recipe recommends using 200 ml coconut milk plus 550 ml water.) - I followed Rima by combining 350 ml coconut milk from a box with 400ml water.

a pinch of salt

a few drops of yellow colouring

Method:

1. Blend durian flesh & about 100ml of the (750ml) coconut milk until it turns into durian puree. Set aside.
2. Beat eggs & sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add in flours, salt & colouring. Then pour in the rest of coconut milk gradually. Stir until well combined. Then strain the mixture.
3. Add in the durian puree into the egg mixture & mix thoroughly. Cook the mixture on a stove using medium low fire, stirring continuously until it thickens slightly but not boiling.
4. Using a folk, scratch the surface of the pressed glutinous layer lightly & pour the cooked kaya mixture onto it. Steam for about 30 minutes on medium low fire.
5. Remove pan from steamer & leave the kuih in the pan to cool completely (about 3 hours) before cutting & serving.

Notes & modifications:

1. I used a jug blender to mix my kaya mixture. After blending the durian with some coconut milk, I added the rest of the ingredients & continued to blend until well mixed. Then I strained the mixture.  
2. Instead of cooking the kaya directly on the stove, I double-boiled it like I usually do when melting chocolate block. This method lessens the chance of the kaya sticking to the pot easily.
3. I used a 9x9-inch square pan. This is equivalent to a 10-inch round pan. I lined the pan with a silicone paper. You can line with a piece of plastic or just grease it.
4. Like any kuih, slice using a plastic knife to produce smooth cut surface.

Original recipe by Rossya.
Adapted by Bisousatoi.

Bubur Pulut Hitam Cupcakes (Black Glutinous Rice Cupcakes)

If you had been following the cupcake craze in Singapore and Malaysia, you would have noticed a trend nowadays..... cupcake flavours that are based on our local delights like ondeh-ondeh, kuih koci, cendul, teh tarik, etc. The pioneer baker of these cupcakes is, I believe, Cikkiah, a talented baker from Malaysia. Over the years, she has inspired many bakers, including many in Singapore, to come up with so many fusion cupcake flavours, including nasi lemak cupcake! Yes! There's also nasi lemak cupcake! I'm not kidding.

I'm a great fan of local kuih, so I'm all for cupcakes with kuih flavours..... I've tasted a few flavours and I love them all... In fact, I've also gone to a couple of baking classes in which I managed to pick up some ideas and tips to bake and assemble the cupcakes. But since the classes are still ongoing as they are quite popular, I'm not sharing any of the recipes so soon, just to be fair to the teachers. Nevertheless, I'll be sharing with you my creation of a cupcake recipe based on my favourite dessert, Bubur Pulut Hitam or Black Glutinous Rice Porridge..

Like many fusion cupcakes, this cupcake basically consists of the sponge cake, filling, frosting and toppings. I adapted Carol Pastor's vanilla cupcake recipe for my coconut milk cupcake, cooked thick bubur pulut hitam for the filling, combined mascarpone cheese & non-dairy whipped cream for the frosting & topped it off with more bubur pulut hitam & coconut milk drizzle. The result is one superb fusion cupcake! It's like eating bubur pulut hitam but here the porridge is thicker than usual and it is enveloped in a fluffy & moist sponge cake & topped with rich but fluffy frosting. I love the assembly....

This is an experiment for me, and I think there's still room for improvement especially for the flavour. I will definitely reduce the sugar for the sponge cake as it is slightly sweet, but I wouldn't reduce it too much as doing so may affect the texture of the sponge. I also find the overall flavour of the cupcake slightly too rich... this is no surprise as there's coconut milk in the cake, filling and topping and the mascarpone frosting is also quite rich (and delicious!). As a result, the flavour of the glutinous rice filling is not as intense as I would prefer it to be. So the next I bake this cupcake, I need to adjust the glutinous rice filling recipe too. Perhaps I should not add any coconut milk to the filling...
All in all, I would consider this a successful experiment. So if you are a fan of black glutinous rice porridge and also love having cupcakes, do give this recipe a try..

Bubur Pulut Hitam Cupcakes 
(Black Glutinous Rice Cupcakes)

CUPCAKE
Ingredients:
2 whole eggs
115g (1/2 cup) caster sugar (I will reduce to 90-95g next time.)
135g (1 cup) self-raising flour (sifted together with the baking powder)
1/2 tsp baking powder
50ml (1/4 cup) thick coconut milk (from a box)
50g (4 tbsp) butter - melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 deg C. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners. (I use paper cupcake cases & place them onto a baking tray.)
2. Beat eggs & sugar until thick & fluffy.
3. Fold in flour & coconut milk. Mix until well blended. Finally, add in melted butter & vanilla extract. Mix thoroughly.
4. Spoon mixture into paper cases until they are 3/4 full.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes until risen & golden brown. Test lightly by pressing the centre of the cakes with your fingers. The sponge should lightly spring back.
6. Remove from the oven & leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes, then turn the cakes out onto a wire rack to cool completely. (I removed the cakes from the baking pan onto a wire rack.)

Recipe adapted from CUPCAKES by Carol Pastor.

BLACK GLUTINOUS RICE FILLING

Ingredients:
100g black glutinous rice
1 and 1/2 cup water
1 pandan leaf (torn)
50g palm sugar (gula Melaka)
1 and 1/2 tbsp thick coconut milk
1/8 tsp salt

Method:

1. Rinse the black glutinous rice with water thoroughly until the water turns clear. The water will still remain slightly black or purple but clear. Fill the rice in a container, then pour water up to about 2 cm above the  rice. Soak for about 1 hour.
2. After soaking, drain the water & place the rice, 1&1/2 cups of water & pandan leaf into a saucepan. Cook on medium fire, stirring continuously, until the rice becomes soft & sticky. Add some water if the rice becomes too thick & dry.
3. Add in the palm sugar & salt. Continue cooking until the sugar has dissolved. Finally, add in the coconut milk. Continue cooking until the dessert thickens. Set aside to cool. Remove the pandan leaf before using.

MASCARPONE CHEESE FROSTING
Ingredients:
125g mascarpone cheese (room temperature)
125ml (1/2 cup) non-dairy whip cream

Method:

1. Using a spoon or a spatula, stir the mascarpone cheese until smooth.
2. In another bowl, whisk the cream until stiff peaks form. Gently fold whipped cream into mascarpone cheese until completely incorporated. Fill into a piping bag.

ASSEMBLY

      Using a cupcake corer or a knife, core the center of the cupcake. Fill the hole with black glutinous rice filling. Then pipe the mascarpone cheese frosting. Finally spoon some filling on the frosting & drizzle some coconut milk (I diluted some thick coconut milk with just a little bit of water for the drizzle.).

Notes & modifications:

1. The cupcake recipe makes 10 regular size cupcakes. I filled the batter into 17 medium paper cake liners. I'm glad I used the medium liners. After coring the cake, I was able to fill up quite a generous portion of filling, as you can see in the last picture.
2. I use non-dairy whip cream instead of the dairy alternative as the former produces a more stable frosting.
3. Any leftover glutinous rice filling can be diluted with some water & heated up to make bubur pulut hitam or black glutinous rice porridge.

Lapis Cempedak... again.

One of the most popular lapis cakes for this year's hari raya is apparently Lapis Cempedak. I didn't realize it until I heard my relatives and colleagues talking about their cempedak lapis cakes and, for a couple of them, their disappointment as they were not able to order for themselves. A friend also requested me to bake for her but I declined as time was just not on my side.... The last time I baked lapis cempedak, I remember it took more than two hours just to bake a cake. Hence my reluctance to bake it during the fasting month.....

Anyway, I was inspired to bake Lapis Cempedak again although it was already the second week of Hari Raya. Fortunately, I managed to get hold of a plump and ripe cempedak two Saturdays ago... cooked the puree the next day and baked the cake on Monday, which happened to be a school holiday to commemorate Youth Day... In fact, I started in the morning and spent over seven hours to mix and bake four lapis cempedak cakes in total! I figured I might as well take advantage of the holiday since I wasn't working and there weren't any errands to run for at least the early part of the day. Oh yes, only one cake is for me, the other three are for a nephew's wedding this weekend..

Okayyy... now let's get down to the recipe.. This time, I used a recipe shared by Ayu which she got from a baking class.. Actually, it's almost similar  to the recipe I used before except that this uses less cempedak puree and all of it is added to the batter, so there is no puree layers for this cake. Nevertheless, it's still an awesome recipe.... the cake is rich and delicious with ample cempedak flavour. The texture is smooth and moist and the layers turn out almost perfect as there are only a few bubbles that need to be popped. Compared to the other recipe, this does not take as long to bake because there's no puree layers to be baked. 

So, which recipe would I use in future....? That depends on how hardworking (or lazy) I am. Haha! The cempedak flavour for this cake is not as intense as the other but, I must add, it is still very good. However, if you want a more intense cempedak flavour, almost like biting the cempedak flesh with the cake, go for the other recipe, but be prepared to stay longer in front of the hot oven. I think that's fair enough..

Lapis Cempedak

Ingredients:
450g butter - I used unsalted & added 3/4 tsp salt.
4 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
1 tsp cempedak essence (optional) - I didn't use.
1 tsp vanilla essence
200g cooked cempedak puree (recipe below)

20 egg yolks
5 egg whites
270gm fine caster sugar
1 tbsp sponge gel (ovalette)
110g Top flour
20g vanilla ice-cream powder (You can also use milk powder.)
butter to brush the top of every layer (I didn't use this.)

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 170-180 deg C. Grease & line the bottom of a 10” x 7” (or 8” x 8”) baking pan.
2. Combine butter, condensed milk, vanilla & cempedak essence in a bowl & cream until light & fluffy. Add in the cempedak puree & mix till well-combined. Set aside.
3. Place eggs, caster sugar & ovalette in a mixing bowl & beat on high speed until thick & fluffy.
4. Add the butter mixture into the egg mixture & mix well.
5. Then fold in the flour.
6. Pour 2 ladles of batter (I weighed 80g) into the baking pan & spread it out evenly. Bake until the cake is cooked & the top turns golden brown. (Use top & bottom heat for this first layer.)
7. Remove pan from the oven, press the top of cake with a lapis presser & brush the top of the cake with butter. Then pour another 2 ladles & bake. Continue the process until finish. (Use top heat (grill) only for the second layer onwards, 
8. After baking the last layer, bake the whole cake using top & bottom heat at 130-140 deg C for about 10 minutes. (I baked at 180 deg C.)
9. Then remove cake from pan and allow to cool on a cooling wire rack before serving.

CEMPEDAK PUREE
(I didn't use this recipe. See note no.1 below.)

400g cempedak flesh (without seeds)
1 cup fine caster sugar
1 cup water
Combine the above 3 ingredients & blend into a smooth puree. Then cook, stirring continuously, until the puree is thick.

Recipe by Chef Tania.

Source: Ayu @ Curlybabesatisfaction.

Notes and modifications:

1. For the puree, I used the recipe by Bro Rozzan (but I reduced the sugar), i.e, I combined & blended 600g cempedak flesh, 180g sugar & 220ml water & cooked over medium low heat until the puree is thick. This made about 700g cooked puree. Any remaining puree can be frozen for future use.
2. You can also use this cake recipe to bake lapis durian. Just replace the cempedak with durian. (I think if you are using durian, you may not need to add so much water as durian flesh is already soft.)