Black Forest Cake

Today is hubby's birthday.

Initially, I was thinking of whipping up a delicious breakfast after I send  my 2 little 小顽皮 to school. However he mentioned that he have had got an appointment with his colleague.. I head home planning to start the Black Forest Cake Baking. Who knows.. he said his call leg fly his kite.. so he said," Let's head to market for breakfast."

After breakfast, I head out to supermarket to pick up the groceries for tonight's dinner. There after, I began my cake baking. Originally, I am suppose to make this Black Forest cake for my Daddy's birthday which was last Sunday. Unfortunately, I was down with migraine. So I am making it today.

Of cos there are some simple dishes which i whip up for the family which i will post later when I  am available.

Just tasted it... wow.. it taste good.. with the moist in the cake and lots of the cherries.. yummy.. My hubby & kids love it :) 

Recipe is adapted from Joy of Baking

Ingredients : 

Cherries

24 ounce (700 ml) jar of Morello Cherriesin syrup

4 tablespoons Kirsch or Cherry Brandy - Omitted

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

Chocolate Genoise:

3 tablespoons (42 grams) hot melted unsalted butter

1/2 cup (60 grams) cake flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened regular or Dutch-processed cocoa powder

4 large eggs

2/3 cup (135 grams) granulated white sugar - used only 65g

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whipped Cream Frosting

2 1/2 cups (600 ml) heavy whipping cream (double cream) (35% butterfat)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 tablespoons (35 grams) granulated white sugar 

Method: 

Cherries:

Drain the cherries, reserving the liquid. Place the cherries in a bowl and toss with 2 tablespoons Kirsch. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside. Place 1 cup (240 ml) of the reserved cherry syrup in a small saucepan, along with the sugar, and heat until sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, add 2 tablespoons Kirsch, and let cool.

Chocolate Genoise: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). 

2. Butter, or spray with a non stick spray, a 9 inch (23 cm) round cake pan and line the bottom of pan with parchment or wax paper.

3. In a bowl, sift the flour, salt and cocoa powder.

4. In a heatproof bowl whisk the eggs with the sugar. Place over a saucepan of simmering water, and whisking constantly, heat until lukewarm (about 5 minutes). Remove from heat and transfer to the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat on high speed until the mixture is thick (about 5 minutes) (the batter will fall back into the bowl in a ribbon-like pattern). 

5. Beat in the vanilla extract. Then sift about one-third of the flour mixture over the egg mixture and gently fold in using a rubber spatula or whisk. Sift and fold in another third, and then fold in the rest. Take 1 cup of the batter and fold it into the melted butter (to lighten it). Then gently fold it into the egg batter. Pour into your pan, smoothing the top.

6. Bake for about 20 -25 minutesor until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (cake starts to shrink from sides of pan). Cool on a metal rack before removing from pan. The cake can be stored for two days or frozen for a month.

Whipped Cream Frosting:

In your mixing bowl place the whipping cream, vanilla extract, and sugar and stir to combine. Cover and chill the bowl and wire whisk in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, then beat the mixture just until stiff peaks form.

Assemble Cake:

Using a sharp knife, cut the genoise, horizontally, into two layers. 

Turn over the top layer of the cake (top of cake becomes bottom) and place on your serving plate. 

Brush the cake layer with 1/4 cup (60 ml) cherry syrup.

Take 1 cup of whipped cream and spread on the moistened genoise.Place the cherries evenly over the cream. 

Brush the cut-side of second genoise layer with 1/4 cup (60 ml) syrup. 

Place cut-side down on top of the cherries, gently pressing to compact. Reserve one cup (240 ml) of whipped cream and spread the remaining cream over top and sides of cake. 

Place reserved cream in a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip and pipe rosettes on top of cake. Cover and refrigerate the cake for several hours (or overnight) before serving. 

Decorate with fresh cherries and shaved chocolate.

  

Simple Meal for My Daddy's Birthday

It was my Daddy Birthday and this year we have opted to have home cooked food this year.

It is then my job to crack my brain what to cook for the family as both sister-in-laws cant cook. So I have decided the following dishes on my Menu :

Longevity Noodle
Braised Duck (Dad's favourite)
Sweet Sour Pork
Fried Chicken
Broccoli with Egg Toufu
Butter Cereal Prawn
Grilled Pork Ribs

The preparation of the menu starts the day before the actual day as I love the food to be well seasoned and flavours to be absorbed into the food. 

Braised Duck is something which i started as it need a couple of hours to prepare. 

Spare Ribs

8 pcs of Spare Ribs

6 tbspn Hua Tiao Jiu
1/2 bottle of Master Food Red Wine & Garlic Marinate
2 tbspn of Honey

Method:

1. Season all the above ingredients for at least 4 hours.

2. Preheat the oven at 250C. 

3. Place them in a grill pan and grill for 15 mins on each side. Max is 30 mins as the meat will be tough if cooked for too long.

The verdict for this dish...  Yum Yum & fingers licking..



Sweet & Sour Pork

Ingredients:

A: 
800 g pork (I dont know which part cos I just tell uncle what I need it for)
5 tbsp Hua Tiao Jiu
5 tbsp Sesame Oil
4 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce

B:
1 egg
Cornflour (aga aga)

C:
1 Big Onion
1 Japanese Cucumber
1 can of longan
4 tbsp Ketchup
1/2 lemon (extract the juice)

Method:

1. Season all the ingredients for at least 4 hrs.

2. Add in the egg, mix well then follow by the cornflour (based on estimate).

3. Fry the meat till the golden brown then set aside to drain off the oil. 

4. Stir fry the onion,then add in the cucumber and longan and quick fry. Add the Ketchup, lemon juice then bring to boil. Add the the pork and ensure its evenly coated with the sauce.

5. Ready to serve. 


Fried Chicken

Ingredients:


A:
1 Whole Chicken (Debone)
6 tbsp Hua Tiao Jiu
6 tbsp Sesame Oil

2 packets of Kogi Chicken Powder Mix

Method :

1. Season all the ingredients in A for at least 4 hrs.

2. Heat the oil in a wok. 

3. Dip the chicken in the powder and fry till golden brown.



Butter Cereal Prawn

Ingredients :

700g large prawns (i de-shell for the ease of eating :P)
1 egg
Some Cornflour

3 sticks of curry leaves
300g Nestum Cereal
2 tbsp of milk powder
1/2 tbsp icing sugar
100g butter

Method:

1.  Add the egg into the prawn. Add in the the cornflour and allow it to absorb slightly.

2. Shallow fry the prawn till crispy. Set aside too drain off the oil.

3. Heat the wok, add in the butter and stir it gently. Add in the washed curry leaves fry till crispy. Add in Cereal (Already mix well with the milk powder and icing sugar). and fry till well mix. Pour in the prawns and stir well then serve.

Overall, everyone enjoyed all the dishes prepared and of course I am happy though its tiring afterall I prepared almost all the stuffs with some help from my younger brother :)

Cake Decoration classes.....

Yesterday I was browsing through the website looking for some courses on cake decoration. And I came across Creative Culinaire by Ms Judy Koh which looks interesting to me.

http://www.creativeculinaire.com/courses/cake-baking1.html

I called to make a reservation for the upcoming course which stretches over 4 weekends commencing in Aug to Sep. To my dismay, it was fully booked.. Now I am on wait list.. Looking forward for the new schedule.

Old Time Favourite ~ Pandan Chiffon Cake

With all the news which upset me... 

Baking is one of the best thing which I do which will help to cheer me up...

Its the all time favourite Pandan Cake...

I have modified the recipe slightly to the texture which I like... 

I like those moist type like Bengawan...

The Modification is only adjustment of the Coconut milk to 150ml & Corn oil 20ml.

Ingredients :

A: 5 egg yolk
   20g caster sugar
   85g cake flour
   100ml coconut milk
   30 ml corn oil
   1.5 tsp pandan paste


B: 5 egg whites
    70g caster sugar


** used latest 255g coconut milk + 40ml corn oil

1 tsp lemon juice into egg white

Can reduce to sugar to 50g

Method:

1. Beat the egg yolk and sugar till thick and fluffy. Pour in the corn oil and coconut milk and beat till well mixed. Sift the cake flour into the mixture and fold till well combined.

2. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg white till foamy. Pour in about 1/2 of the Sugar and continue to beat. Add in the rest of the sugar and beat till firm peak. Then reduce the mixer speed to lowest and beat for 1min. This will help to reduce the air particles in the mixture.

 3. Pour in 1/3 of the egg white into the egg yolk mixture and fold in gently into the egg yolk mixture. After its well combined, pour in the rest of the egg whites n fold till well combined. 4. Pour the mixture into the baking tin and bake in the preheated oven of 180C for abt 40mins.

My cake baking session for my last day...

It has been very busy week for me...
The new gal is coming on board tomorrow and there were so many things to I would like to go through with her so that hopefully she got a good overview picture.

Lots of mix feelings but to date I have no regrets on my decision to leave and spend time with my kids.

Nevertheless... just as a appreciation of the my dearest colleagues n specially to my kakis...

Never had I make so many variant of the cakes in 3 hrs and of which 2 are new....
They have been my "白老鼠" for my cakes testing and has been very supportive and gave me feedback. Good ones and definitely how the desired texture.

The cakes which i have made were Brownies Cheesecake, Blueberry cheesecakes & Mango non-bake cheesecake.

Brownies Cheesecake

Blueberry Cheesecake

Mango Cheesecake

Brownies Cheesecake (From Kelvin Chai 我和芝士蛋糕的秘密）

Ingredients

Brownies Layer:
150g Chocolate (Broken into small pieces) - Used 200g
60g butter
60g brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tspn vanilla essence
50g plain flour
50g walnut - Used almond slices instead as I do not have walnuts
50g raisin

Cheese Layer:

400g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
2 eggs
300g yoghurt
1 tbspn cornflour

Topping :
1tsp cocoa powder
2 tspn water

Method:

1. Grease a 8-inch baking tin. Line with aluminium foil. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. To make brownies, melt chocolate and butter over low heat. Remove from heat, stir in brown sugar till sugar almost melt. Stir in eggs and vanilla essence, mix well.

3. Fold in sifted flour, chopped walnuts and raisin. Pour mixture into prepared tin. Bake for 20 mins.

4. To make the cheese layer, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

5. Beat in yoghurt and cornflour until blended. Reserve 1 tbspn cheese mixture for topping, the rest of the mixture to pour over the brownies.

6. To make the topping, mix well cocoa powder with water. Add in 1 tbsp of reserved cheese mixture, stir until blended. Drizzle over the surface of the cheese mixture and draw marble pattern with skewer.

7. Continue to bake in oven at 180C for 30mins for until lightly brown. Remove from heat and leave to cool. Chill in fridge.



Mango Cheesecake (Also from the book)

Ingredients:

Base :

300g crushed marie biscuits - Used digestive biscuits instead
60g chopped walnut - omitted
2tbsp brown sugar - omitted
180g melted butter

Filling:

250g cream cheese
100g caster sugar
1 tbspn gelatine powder
3tbspn water
120g sour cream
2 tbspn lemon juice
200g mango puree  - used unsweetened one
1/2 tspn mango essence - omitted cos I do like to add artifical flovouring

Method:
1. To make the base, stir all the ingredients until combined. Press mixture evenly into base and side of the cake tin. (Me being lazy ... only does the bottom base)

2. To make filling, stir gelatin powder with water over simmering water until dissolved.

3. Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Fold in sour cream, lemon juice & mango puree. Then stir in gelatin.

4. Pour filling into prepared crust. Chilled until set, several hours or overnight.

5. Decorate as desired.