Green tea muffins recipe

I'm not sure if I'm addicted to baking or the smell of baking. Well, I'm excited to see cake rise in the oven. I'm even more delighted to fill my home with the smell of baking just like a bakery shop. Haha. I believe I'm not alone!

On a busy day, I'd simply bake something quick such as muffins so that my little one's tea break and my breakfast on the following days are catered for.

Following the vanilla cupcakes, I found this lovely Chocolate chips green tea muffins recipe from Eugenie Kitchen. It's a very simple recipe. After some modifications to enhance the green tea flavor as well as making the texture lighter by replacing a portion of flour with cake flour, it's simply the best muffins I've baked. 

Recipe:

(12 muffins)

100g all purpose flour

150g cake flour

1 1/2 tablespoons green tea powder

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 egg

100g caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

95ml vegetable oil

190ml milk

45g dark chocolate chips

30g white chocolate chips

1. Sift all the dry ingredients (all purpose flour, cake flour, green tea powder and baking powder) into a mixing bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

2. In a separate mixing bowl, beat egg, sugar and salt until pale in color. 

3. Add in vanilla extract and vegetable oil. Whisk until combine. 

4. Add in milk and mix well. 

5. Now, back to the dry ingredients mixing bowl. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, pour in the wet mixture and gently fold until almost combined.

6. Add in dark and white chocolate chips and fold until just combined. Do not over fold/mix. 

7. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

8. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 1/2 full each. 

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 170c for about 15mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

10. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

Vanilla cupcakes recipe

I'm a cupcake lover. I used to buy cupcakes from the local bakery and still do once in a while until I started baking my own cupcakes. If you ask me where to find the best cupcakes in Melbourne, I'd certainly recommend Joy Cupcakes without hesitation. At Joy Cupcakes, every cupcake is beautifully made and comes with various interesting flavors. Often, there'll be a special cupcake flavor available for a limited time to celebrate an occasion/event. The cupcakes produced by Joy Cupcakes are light and moist. And most importantly, with the perfect sweetness. Unlike the sweet icing on a typical cupcake, the meringue buttercream frosting from Joy Cupcakes is something one can't resist. Hence, it's worth to check it out if you're near any of their outlets.

Because of this, I was intrigued to find out the secret to a great tasting cupcake. Well, at least for the base white/vanilla cupcake that could go with any frosting. So, I've been trying new vanilla cupcake recipes every now and then. 

Recently, I found this basic cupcake recipe from Eugenie Kitchen and I quite like the light and fluffy texture. Although it doesn't taste exactly like those from Joy Cupcakes, I'll settle for this recipe for now :) Note that I've reduced the sugar and salt from the original recipe to adapt to my taste buds. If you like a bit of chocolate flavor, fold in some dark chocolate chips before scooping the batter onto the patty pans or cupcake cases. They taste good too.

Recipe: 

(make 16 cupcakes)

128g all-purpose flour

150g cake flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

200g unsalted butter

130g Caster sugar

3 Eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

120ml milk

1. Sift all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Whisk and mix well. 

2. Beat butter and sugar in another mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

3. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Beat on a higher speed after the last addition until everything is well combined.

4. Fold 1/3 flour mixture onto the batter until combined. Add in 1/2 milk and fold until even. Repeat the same by folding in another 1/3 flour mixture and 1/2 milk, follow by vanilla extract and lastly the 1/3 flour mixture. 

5. Line patty pans or cupcake cases on a cupcake pan. 

6. Scoop the batter onto the patty pans evenly, about 2/3 full each. 

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160-170c for about 15-20mins or until golden brown and that the inserted skewer comes out clean. 

8. Cool cupcakes on a wire rack. 

Chocolate coconut butter cake recipe

To be honest, I've never been a fan of coconut flavor cake. However, when I saw the photos of the coconut and chocolate butter cake recipe by NasiLemakLover, I told myself that I must at least give it a go. I'm glad I did. It's such a beautiful butter cake! 

The coconut layer compliments the chocolate butter cake, making it a perfect combination. Never did I know that coconut goes so well with chocolate. As usual, I made some minor adjustments to the original recipe mainly to reduce the sweetness and make the coconut layer more subtle to suit my taste buds. 

Recipe: 

(8-inch square pan, but I used a 9-inch square pan)

230g unsalted butter (room temperature)

120g caster sugar

4 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

210g self raising cake flour (or mix 210g cake flour with 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder)
80ml milk

Coconut layer:

30g desiccated coconut

Chocolate layer: 

Mix 1 tablespoon cocoa powder with 1 1/2 tablespoons milk to form a cocoa paste.

20g dark chocolate chips

1. Beat butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and fluffy.

2. Add in eggs, one at a time. Beat thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla extract with the last egg. Beat for another 1 minute after the last addition until everything is well combined.

3. Sift 1/4 self raising cake flour onto the batter and fold with a spatula until even. Repeat this step for another 1/4 self raising cake flour. 

4. Add half the milk and fold well. Sift in 1/4 self raising cake flour and fold until combine. Repeat the same for the remaining milk and the self raising cake flour. 

5. Divide the batter equally onto two mixing bowls. 

6. Fold desiccated coconut onto one part of the batter for the coconut layer. 

7. Fold the cocoa paste and dark chocolate chips onto the other part of the batter for the chocolate layer. 

8. Line cake tin with parchment paper. 

9. Pour chocolate batter onto the cake tin and spread evenly, follow by the coconut batter on top. 

10. Bang the cake tin on the table top a few times to release the big air bubbles.

11. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 45 mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

12. Remove the cake from the cake tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate cake with mascarpone cream recipe

I've been baking a lot of sponge cakes lately. Therefore, I was looking for a soft and moist chocolate cake recipe for a change. After a long search, I finally found the soft and moist chocolate cake from Wendyinkk's blog with some alterations mainly to reduce the sweetness and making it lighter by using only cake flour. This chocolate cake is really soft even after it was kept in the fridge. I think it is a great cake base for any frosted birthday cake.

Often, I would use some fresh fruits like strawberries to balance out the sweetness of a chocolate cake. In this instance, I've made a simple chocolate cake with strawberry filling and frosted it with mascarpone cream. It's a simple, yet yummy cake.

Recipe:

(20cm round cake tin)

33g Cocoa powder

59g Boiling water

75g Cake flour

1 teaspoon Baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Sodium bicarbonate

90g Sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 Large egg yolks

54g Corn oil

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

2 Large egg whites

1. Mix boiling water with cocoa powder in a mixing bowl to form a paste. Leave it aside to cool.

2. In a separate bowl, sift in cake flour, baking powder and Sodium bicarbonate. Add in sugar and salt. Mix well and leave it aside.

3. Back to the mixing bowl with cocoa paste, add in egg yolks and oil. Beat on medium speed for about 1 minute.

4. Add in vanilla extract and beat until combine.

5. Add in the dry ingredients, half at a time. Mix well on each addition. After that, beat on high speed for about 1 minute.

6. Add in egg whites and beat on high speed for another 2 minutes until all the ingredients are well incorporated.

7. Line parchment paper on the bottom of cake tin. Pour batter onto the cake pan and spread the batter evenly. Lightly bang the cake pan on the table top a few times to release the air bubbles.

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 25-30mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

10. Remove the cake from the cake tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Mascarpone cream:

250g mascarpone

2 tablespoons castor sugar*

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

300ml whipping cream

* Adjust the amount of sugar based on your liking.

1. Cream mascarpone, sugar and vanilla extract in a chilled mixing bowl over a bowl of ice water until combine.

2. Add in whipping cream and beat until stiff.

To assemble the cake:

Cut strawberries

1. Slice the cake into 2 layers.

2. Lay first cake layer on a plate. Spread a thin layer of mascarpone cream on top of it evenly.

3. Sprinkle the cut strawberries evenly on the mascarpone cream layer.

4. Spread another thin layer of mascarpone cream on top of the strawberries.

5. Cover it with the other cake layer.

4. Frost the whole cake with the remaining mascarpone cream.

5. Sprinkles left over strawberries on top of the cake.

6. Store in the fridge for 1-2 hours.

7. Cut and serve while it's cold.

Baked Chinese egg cake (ji dan gao) 烤鸡蛋糕 recipe

Chinese egg cake, also known as Ji Dan Gao in Mandarin is a kind of sponge cake with only 4 ingredients (probably this is the only recipe that I could remember). As the flavour comes from the eggs, using good quality free range eggs is quite important.

The following recipe which I got from Bake for Happy kids with minor modification is for baking instead of steaming. I'm not sure if it will yield the same result if it was steamed. Maybe someone can try and let me know :P

Recipe: 

(original recipe asked for a 5-6 inch round cake tin, but I used a 8 inch round cake tin which resulted in a shorter cake)

3 egg yolks

1 egg

50g corn oil

65g self raising cake flour (mix 65g cake flour with 1/2 tsp baking powder if you don't have self raising flour)

3 egg whites

50g icing sugar

1. Beat egg yolks and egg in a mixing bowl with a hand whisk.

2. Add in corn oil and stir to combine.

3. Sift in self raising cake flour and mix well. Leave the egg yolk mixture aside.

4. Beat the egg whites in another mixing bowl.

5. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg whites start to thicken. Beat until firm peak stage.

6. Loosen the egg yolk mixture by slowly stirring the mixture from the bottom of the mixing bowl using a whisk.

7. Add the egg white mixture onto the egg yolk mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined.

8. Line cake pan with parchment paper. Pour batter onto the cake pan and spread the batter evenly. Lightly bang the cake pan on the table top a few times to release the air bubbles.

9. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 160c for about 30mins or until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

10. Remove the cake from the tin and let it cool on a wire rack.

Banana muffin recipe

I've never baked a banana flavoured cake before this. In fact, I haven't made muffins ever since I fell in love with the light and fluffy sponge cakes. However, things changed when I found out that my little one actually loves banana muffin from her carer! So, I decided to bake some banana muffins for her afternoon tea. I had baked a few batches of banana muffins now by constantly adjusting the ingredients to achieve a lighter version of banana muffins. 

Below is the recipe that I'm happy with. Please note that I've reduced the sugar significantly as it is meant for kids. Hence, please adjust the sugar amount to your liking. 

Recipe:

(make 10 muffins)

150g cake flour (cake flour makes the cake lighter)

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Pinch of salt

2 large eggs

50g castor sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

60g canola oil 

80g buttermilk 

200g banana puree

30g rolled oats (Optional. A small amount of oats were added merely for making the muffins more nutritional)

1. Sift cake flour, baking powder and baking soda onto a mixing bowl. Mix in a pinch of salt and leave the flour mix aside. 

2. Beat eggs in another mixing bowl using medium speed for about 30 seconds. 

3. Add in sugar and beat for another 30 seconds on medium speed. 

4. Add in vanilla extract and canola oil and beat further for another 1 minute on the same speed. 

5. Add in half buttermilk and half flour mix. Mix evenly using a whisk. 

6. Mix in the remaining butter milk and flour mix until combine.  

7. Gently mix in banana puree and oats until everything is evenly combined. 

8. Pour the batter into the cupcake cases, about 1/2 full each. I find it easy to use an ice-cream scoop to evenly allocate the batter onto each cupcake case. 

9. Bake in the preheated oven at 175c for about 12-15mins on the lower rack.

10. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool on the wired rack.

Chocolate sponge cupcakes recipe

Whenever I've friends over to visit, cupcakes would be the first thing that comes to mind for a light refreshment. And so it's time for cupcakes again! I chose to bake some chocolate flavour cupcakes this time thinking that who doesn't like chocolate? The cupcakes turned out really well. Seriously, I would never get bored of these spongy cupcakes. They're so light and fluffy regardless with or without frosting.

If you're looking for a simple chocolate sponge cupcakes recipe, you've come to the right place. However, please note that I've significantly reduced the amount of sugar as I was catering for some junior guests. :)

Recipe:

(make 16 small cupcakes)

Chocolate sponge cupcakes:

50g vegetable oil
20g Dutch cocoa powder
60g egg yolks
25g castor sugar
80g milk
Pinch of salt
85g cake flour

180g egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
55g castor sugar

1. Heat the vegetable oil until hot but not until smoking point.

2. Pour hot oil onto the cocoa powder in a mixing bowl and leave it aside to cool.

3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and thick.

4. Add milk, salt and stir to combine.

5. Add cocoa mix and stir thoroughly.

6. Sift half the cake flour into the mixture and mix evenly.

7. Sift the remaining cake flour into the mixture and mix evenly. Leave the mixture aside.

8. Beat the egg white in a mixing bowl.

9. Add cream of tartar as soon as the beaten egg white starts to foam.

10. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg white starts to thicken. Beat until stiff peak stage.

11. Add the egg white mixture onto the egg yolks mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined. Bang the batter on the table for a few times to release the big air bubbles.

12. Pour the batter into the cupcake cases, about 3/4 full each.

13. Bake in the preheated oven at 165c for about 25mins on the lower rack.

14. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let them cool on the wired rack.

Mascarpone cream for frosting:

250g mascarpone
2 tablespoons castor sugar*
A few drops of vanilla extract
150ml whipping cream

* Adjust the amount of sugar based on your liking.

1. Cream mascarpone, sugar and vanilla extract in a chilled mixing bowl over a bowl of ice water until combine.

2. Add in whipping cream and beat until stiff.

To assemble the cupcakes:

Chocolate sprinkles

1. Pipe the mascarpone cream on the cupcakes.

2. Sprinkle some chocolate sprinkles on the cream and serve.

Green tea Swiss roll recipe

I got to admit that I'm a really stubborn person. In my previous post about the chocolate Swiss roll, I was convinced that a single sponge cake recipe can't be used for making other types/shapes of sponge cake such as a Swiss roll. However, I later baked a green tea Swiss roll using my green tea Hokkaido cupcakes recipe as an experiment. And of course, it proved that the theory is correct! Well, the Swiss roll wasn't unedible. However, it's definitely not the right texture for a Swiss roll. Unlike the light and moist green tea Hokkaido cupcakes, the Swiss roll was dense and dry. The only plus point was that it was very easy to roll as it never cracks! LOL.

Therefore, I decided to bake a good green tea Swiss roll after that. This time, I followed the recipe from Kitchen Tigress as the previous chocolate Swiss roll turned out really well. As expected, the result was excellent. The green tea Swiss roll was really moist and soft. Two thumbs up! :)

Recipe: 

The sponge cake

(Original recipe asked for 13”x10”, I used a 37x25cm cake pan which resulted in a thinner cake)

60 g egg yolks

20 g castor sugar

30 g corn oil

1 tablespoon green tea powder mixed with 4 teaspoons of hot water (about 20g) just enough to dissolve the green tea powder into thick green tea mixture. Let it cool before using.

30 g cake flour

140 g egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

40 g castor sugar

1. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and thick.

2. Add corn oil and whisk to combine.

3. Add green tea mixture and stir thoroughly.

4. Sift in cake flour and mix well. Leave the batter aside.

5. Beat the egg white in a mixing bowl.

6. Add cream of tartar as soon as the beaten egg white starts to foam.

7. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg white starts to thicken. Beat until firm peak stage.

8. Loosen the egg yolk mixture by slowly stirring the mixture from the bottom of the mixing bowl using a whisk.

9. Add the egg white mixture onto the egg yolks mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined.

10. Grease the cake pan and line cake pan with parchment paper. The length of the parchment paper should be the same length of the cake pan but the width should be slightly longer so that the batter would directly contact with only 2 sides of the cake pan. Example: use a 12”x12” parchment paper on a 12”x10” cake pan.

11. Pour batter onto the cake pan and spread the batter evenly. Lightly bang the cake pan on the table top twice to release the air bubbles.

12. Bake on the middle shelf in a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 10 minutes.

13. Remove the cake from the oven; lightly bang the cake pan on the table top a few times.

14. Unmould the cake and let it cool on a wire rack with the parchment paper peeled from the sides of the cake but still intact with the bottom of the cake.

Green tea whipped cream:

150ml whipping cream

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon green tea powder

A few drops of vanilla extract

Note: adjust the amount of sugar and green tea powder according to taste.

1. Pour whipping cream onto a chilled mixing bowl over a bowl of ice water. Add in sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until the cream is at soft peak stage.

2. Add in green tea powder and beat until stiff. You can always adjust the sugar and green tea powder from time to time.

To assemble the cake:

1. Gently remove the parchment paper that was attached to the cake after baking. Place the cake on a clean sheet of parchment paper.

2. Spread the green tea whipped cream evenly on the cake.

3. Gently roll the cake with the parchment paper.

4. Chill the cake in the fridge with the parchment paper until the filling is set.

5. Cut and serve.

Moist and soft chocolate Swiss roll recipe

It's been a while since I last baked a cake. I was thinking of sponge cake but felt like trying something new. What came to my mind was…a Swiss roll! After all, they are a kind of sponge cake.

I always thought that a sponge cake recipe can be used to make any shape of sponge cake. Hence, I was tempting to modify the Hokkaido sponge cupcake recipe for making a Swiss roll. However, after doing some research especially after reading Kitchen Tigress's scientific explanation on making a Swiss roll, I was convinced that it is not the case. In the end, I decided to follow the most convincing chocolate Swiss roll recipe from Kitchen Tigress with some modifications. I merely replaced water with milk and reduced the amount of sugar as well as slightly modified the steps.

I've actually baked the Swiss roll twice now. I used an Ikea baking tray with the size of 37 x 25cm which is roughly about 14.5 x 10 inches. On my first attempt, I scaled the ingredients to the right ratio according to the recipe. The sponge cake was moist. The crust wasn't sticky and it didn't crack when it was being rolled. However, I found the cake a bit too thin as it's only about 1cm thick. So for my second trial, I doubled the original recipe and still used the same baking pan. It resulted in a slightly thicker cake of about 1.5cm thick. The sponge cake maintained the same moisture as the 1st attempt and I like this thickness. The only problem was the difficulty when rolling. In fact, it cracked while rolling (I probably pressed too hard?!). Even with the minor cracks, I still prefer a thicker Swiss roll. ;)

As for the filling, I decided on a light vanilla whipped cream with some fresh strawberries to balance out the sweetness of the chocolate cake. Not only the cake was delicious, the texture was almost perfect too! Looks like I'll stop buying Swiss rolls from the bakery now! 

Recipe: 

The sponge cake:

(I used a 37x25cm cake pan, original recipe asked for 18”x12”)

30g vegetable oil

20g Dutch cocoa powder

20g castor sugar
60g egg yolks

20g milk

pinch of salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

30g cake flour

140g egg whites

55g castor sugar   

1. Heat the vegetable oil until hot but not until smoking point.

2. Pour hot oil onto the cocoa powder in a mixing bowl and leave it aside to cool.

3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale and thick.

4. Add milk, salt, vanilla extract and stir to combine.

5. Add cocoa mix and stir thoroughly.

6. Sift half the cake flour into the mixture and mix evenly. 

7. Sift the remaining cake flour into the mixture and mix evenly. Leave the mixture aside. 

8. Beat the egg white in another mixing bowl.

9. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg white starts to thicken. Beat until firm peak stage.

10. Loosen the egg yolk mixture by slowly stirring the mixture from the bottom of the mixing bowl using a whisk. 

11. Add the egg white mixture onto the egg yolks mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined. 

12. Grease the cake pan and line cake pan with parchment paper. The length of the parchment paper should be the same length of the cake pan but the width should be slightly longer so that the batter would directly contact with only 2 sides of the cake pan. Example: use a 12”x12” parchment paper on a 12”x10” cake pan.

13. Pour batter onto the cake pan and spread the batter evenly. Lightly bang the cake pan on the table top twice to release the air bubbles. 

14. Bake on the middle shelf in a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 10 minutes. 

15. Remove the cake from the oven; lightly bang the cake pan on the table top a few times.

16. Unmould the cake and let it cool on a wire rack with the parchment paper peeled from the sides of the cake but still intact with the bottom of the cake. 

Whipped cream:

150ml whipping cream

3/4 tablespoon castor sugar

A few drops of vanilla extract

Note: adjust the amount of sugar according to taste. I deliberately reduced the sugar because I think the cake is sweet enough for me. 

1. Pour whipping cream onto a chilled mixing bowl over a bowl of ice water. Add in sugar and vanilla extract. Beat until the cream is stiff.

To assemble the cake:

Cut strawberries

1. Flip the cake around and place the top of the cake on a clean sheet of parchment paper. Carefully remove the old parchment paper that was attached to the cake after baking. 

2. Spread the whipped cream evenly on the cake. 

3. Sprinkle the cut strawberries evenly on the whipped cream layer. 

4. Gently roll the cake with the parchment paper. 

5. Chill the cake in the fridge with the parchment paper until the filling is set. 

6. Cut and serve. 

Japanese green tea cheesecake recipe

I have a bad habit of stocking up food whenever there's a discount. Often, I end up throwing them away simply because I have no time to finish or use them before the expiry date. I recently realised I have 2 blocks of cream cheese which are expiring in 1-2 months time. Rather than baking a few cheesecakes together towards the end of its shelf life, I thought I should at least use a block now. This is when I decided to bake a Japanese green tea cheesecake.

This is my second attempt in baking green tea cheesecake by modifying the Japanese cheesecake recipe which I baked previously. My previous attempt wasn't that good as the batter was a tad too watery after I increased the amount of milk and the cake sunk. Hence, I tweaked the recipe further by increasing the milk portion and reducing one egg to reach a balance this time. Besides that, instead of turning green tea powder into green tea paste which has extra water content, I used the green tea powder directly. The result was satisfying! 

Recipe:

(Make one 8 inch cake)

150 ml milk

50g unsalted butter 

250g cream cheese 

60g cake flour

20g corn flour

5 egg yolks  

20g green tea powder 

5 egg whites 

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

110g castor sugar (increase the amount if you prefer a sweeter cake.)

1. Heat up the milk until warm. Pour warm milk onto cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Melt the mixture and mix well over a pot of hot water. Some recipes suggest to sieve the mixture at this point to get rid of the small slumps. Interestingly, my mixture was silky smooth so I didn't sieve the mixture. It's up to you to decide. 

2. Cool the mixture. Add in the sifted cake flour, corn flour and green tea, followed by egg yolks and mix well. Leave the cream cheese mixture aside.

3. Beat the egg white in a mixing bowl.

4. Add cream of tartar as soon as the beaten egg white starts to foam.

5. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg white starts to thicken. Beat until soft peak stage.

6. Add the egg white mixture onto the cream cheese mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined. Bang the batter on the table for a few times to release the big air bubbles.

7. Pour the batter into a 8 inch round cake tin. I used a non-stick cake tin. Otherwise, you could lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper. 

8. Bake the cheesecake in a water bath in a pre-heated oven at 160c for 1 hours 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

9. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on the wire rack.

10. Gently separate the cheesecake from the cake tin. Cut (without sawing) and serve.

Note: If you want to chill the cheesecake, make sure you remove the cheesecake from the fridge 30mins before serving. Otherwise the cheesecake will be a bit firmer and not cotton soft.

Chocolate cake recipe

Happy 2015! I hope it's not too late to wish everyone a happy new year :) 

I baked my first cake in 2015. I'm glad it turned out well. It's nothing new, it was the chocolate sponge cake with mascarpone cream filling and chocolate cream frosting which I baked before. The only difference is the presentation of the cake. I think it looked nicer this time. Besides that, I added a layer of chocolate cream as the filling on top of the mascarpone cream layer so that it has more chocolate flavour.

Well, it was so yum that 2 adults finished the whole cake in 2 days! Check out the recipe here.

Japanese cheesecake recipe

I love Japanese cheesecakes. It is soft and light unlike the usual cheesecake. But who doesn't? Japanese cheesecake was always in my list of cakes to make. In fact, I have had all the ingredients ready months ago. However, I just couldn't find time to execute as it requires more than 1 hour of baking time excluding the preparation time. I wouldn't have the cheesecake on the table if I didn't realise that my cream cheese block was going to expire in 2 weeks time.

Well, Diana's cotton soft Japanese cheesecake is the recipe I followed given its popularity. I made a slight modification to reduce the sweetness and acidity. It was a success albeit some cracks on the cake top - my oven must have been too hot! Make sure you keep an eye on the cake and reduce the temperature if it starts to crack. Otherwise, you'll end up a crack-top cake like mine. Despite the look, the texture of the cake was soft and smooth. Most importantly, it tasted great!

Personally, I would prefer to eat the cake fresh after its cooled in the room. However, if you need to store the cake or the left over in the fridge, make sure you remove the cheesecake from the fridge 30mins prior to serving in order to get the right texture as chilling the cake makes it firmer/harder.

Recipe:

(Make one 8 inch cake)

100 ml milk

50g unsalted butter 

250g cream cheese 

60g cake flour

20g corn flour

6 egg yolks  

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/4 salt

6 egg whites 

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

110g castor sugar

1. Heat up the milk until warm. Pour warm milk onto cream cheese and butter in a mixing bowl. Melt the mixture and mix well over a pot of hot water. Some recipes suggest to sieve the mixture at this point to get rid of the small slumps. Interestingly, my mixture was silky smooth so I didn't sieve the mixture. It's up to you to decide. 

2. Cool the mixture. Add in the cake flour, corn flour, egg yolks, lemon juice, salt and mix well. Leave the cream cheese mixture aside.

3. Beat the egg white in a mixing bowl.

4. Add cream of tartar as soon as the beaten egg white starts to foam.

5. Gradually add in the sugar when the egg white starts to thicken. Beat until soft peak stage.

6. Add the egg white mixture onto the cream cheese mixture in 3 batches. Mix until they are almost combined on each addition. Lastly, scrape down and fold until everything is evenly combined. Bang the batter on the table for a few times to release the big air bubbles.

7. Pour the batter into a 8 inch round cake tin. I used a non-stick cake tin. Otherwise, you could lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper. 

8. Bake the cheesecake in a water bath in a pre-heated oven at 160c for 1 hours 10 minutes or until golden brown. 

9. Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool on the wire rack.

10. Gently separate the cheesecake from the cake tin. Cut (without sawing) and serve.

Note: if you want to chill the cheesecake, make sure you remove the cheesecake from the fridge 30mins before serving. Otherwise the cheesecake will be a bit firmer and not cotton soft.