2014 Resolutions Project: Flourless Sugarless Chocolate Cheese Souffle Cake

Happy New Year :)))) and Monkey will continue on her journey with her lil baking project. Hence it has been renamed 2014 Resolutions Project. This one is really simple easy and lazy...perfect for someone like ME

hehehehehe *big grin*

All u need are:
120g of chocolates
120g of cream cheese
3 eggs *yolks separated*
1 tsp of lemon juice

yeah only 4 ingredients. It's a lazy cake isn't it? No sugar and not even a pinch of flour. As usual preheat your oven at 170*C

Then bain-marie your chocolates and cream cheese. Meaning u heat them indirectly on top of a pot of boiling water without touching the water itself. Since this recipe does not require sugar, it would be advisable to use chocolates that are around 52%.

Once all the ingredients have melted to a consistency, remove from heat and add the 3 egg yolks and combine them.

Next whip the 3 egg whites with 1tsp of lemon juice until medium peak.....
Slowly add the whipped egg whites in 3 batches onto the chocolate mixture...u'll need to be gentle as you fold. This is to maintain the "air" that's inside the egg whites.

Line a 6 inches tin with parchment paper and grease it. Try to purchase a butter spray or something, it's so easy to use :))

Then pour the mixture in. I wrapped the bottom of my spring can with foil bcoz this needs to be baked with 2cm of water bath. Do add in boiling water for this water bath.

Bake at 170*C for 15 minutes
Then reduce temperature to 160*C for another 15 minutes
and finally switch off your oven and keep the door closed for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely. It is perfectly normal for the cake to shrink as it cools. Then chill in the fridge for 2 hours before consumption.

The staggered baking time means I had to be watching it, so that gave me enuff time to do all the washing and packing up. Once the cake was out....it's time to HIT THE SWIMMING POOL!!!

woohooo~~~~

yah I pretty much did a lot on 1st January 2014 :))))
baking and working out
*plus working out my stomach by eating a lot!!!*

After dinner.....there's dessert!!! Yeah we have this habit of taking something bittersweet after dinner every single day. Be it a cup of espresso with chocolates, pastries or cakes.

Serve with watever u like :) A dollop of ice creams or for lazy person like me....strawberries :P Nice soft light texture with the bittersweetness from the dark chocolates.

It's a very tiny cake so if u need to bake more, do attempt 2x portions of this recipe.
Happy Baking folks!!!!

Happy Merdeka!!!

Remember this cake that Monkey made last year?
:P
yeah the stripes were incorrect...hahahaha...but the cake can't fit no more.

Good opportunity to bake this cake again but I have too many things to bake in the pipeline....to begin with --> Chocolate Devil's Food
but if you would like to make the Malaysia Flag Cake *click here*

Happy Merdeka!!!

2013 Resolutions: Pandan Chiffon Cake *encore*

yea this is an Encore posting :P
hahahahha since so many of you have been asking, I will share it here again :)))) Yes recipe by yours truly after much editing and experimenting with proportions of ingredients.

the first 2 times when my cake just fell from the cake tin, Monkey wanted to cry. Imagine pouty sad face with teary eyes...

JS then took my recipe and calculated the proportion of dry vs wet ingredients
yes u READ that right...he went and did some calculation plus analysis and concluded that the % of wet vs dry ingredients isn't right so the cake can't hold up to its protein. Bla Bla bla bla...yada yada yada yada....bla bla bla bla bla
"eh JS ah....this one is cake u know.....with eggs and flour...not like your engineering mathematics formula of mixing water and cement to produce concrete ok??"
"But it's the same!!!"

wat do u mean it's the same??? that I am baking "concrete" for u to eat????
sigh......men.....


I love the sights of dark colored eggs....so beautiful
so sunny and makes me smiled like a lil gal :)))))))


hahahah oh yes from sunshine color to green green grass
Monkey used only natural flavouring and natural colors
all from the juices of screwpine leaves.


Getting the cake outta its tin is a ritual
for there would be prayers that the cake baked evenly and turned out beautifully
I am alwiz proud for its height.


Nvm that it's crinkly on the top, you gonna turn it over after all and get the even symmetrical "top" which was originally the bottom.....hehehehehe

Next u'll need to cut it slowly with a SERRATED knife...so u won't kill the cake.
my first few adventure of baking this cake, with certain parts and bits of the cake dense. Not fluffy...

Now it's alwiz fluffy and soft like a sponge :)))))))))))
happy happy happy

See all the air bubbles and air pockets in there?
I think it can be better. I alwiz strive for better results each and every time I bake. Since this cake consist of coconut milk aka santan

okie so u must be waiting for the recipe again? :))))))
Here you go....lots of luck to you....and if Monkey can bake it...you can too!!!
 
Simple fresh ingredients and idiot proof instructions:
7 egg yolks
3/4 cup of coconut milk/santan *use only fresh ones*
1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2/3 cup of fresh pandan juice *blend about 20 leaves with some water and squeeze the juice out*

- Mix all of the above

1/2 cup of castor sugar
1 TBSP of baking powder
1.5 cups of flour

- sieve the above and add into your gooey green mixture
- sieve the entire mixture again so u'll have really fine green alien mixture

Meanwhile,
9 egg whites *room temperature alwiz*
a pinch of salt

- whisk the above with kitchen aid at normal speed until it starts to foam
1/2 cup of castor sugar
- slowly add in the sugar as it mix.
- whisk till soft peaks

Important instruction:
- the mixing process.......between the green mixture and your egg white. Mix them in batches of 3 or 4....slowly and evenly....try to use a huge glass bowl that's not too deep. That way u can see wat's at the bottom. Slowly, evenly and gently. So gentle that you dun kill all the air bubbles created in the whisking process.

It must be fully incorporated. If you didn't mix this well, you will have dense cake like kuih!!!! Well we are making a chiffon cake not nyonya kuih ok?

Next slowly pour them into a specialised chiffon cake tin and ease it into the oven gently. Rule no. 1 of baking alwiz pre-heat your oven before you start anything. In my case I pre-heated it at 180*C but once the cake is in, I've reduced it to 160*C. Bake for 50 minutes.


Alwiz happy to see it rise :)))))))))



Once out, invert the tin. To make them stand properly, I actually inverted it into 4 tiny ramekins over a baking rack. Leave it to cool.

Can't remember how long I left it there but it must be entirely cooled when u touch it before using a knife to separate it off its side, and Ta-DA!!!!!!

Good luck and lemme know your results :))))

2013 Resolutions: Pandan Chiffon Cake

I've been challenging myself to bake the best pandan chiffon cake for the past month....and yesterday it was my 4th cake...okie lar...over the course of 3 months and this was the 4th cake it wasn't that extreme. I just took pity on my guinea pig at home who has got to consume my baking, whether the outcome succeeded or failed. HOHOHOHOHOHO *got free food to eat u dun complaint ok*

And at each time *for 4 times* I've used different recipe, different oven temperature, different duration of baking, different proportion of ingredients until I dunno wat's wat right now....So here u go, I am sharing a recipe that I think would be fail-proof. Having said that, last nite out of the moon...I concocted another different proportion of ingredients and baking time...sigh....Monkey never gives up doesn't she?

U start by heating the oven at 180*C....when u put the cake in, u gotta reduce it to 160*C

The most difficult part of this cake was to extract the pandan juice outta its leave. This tedious job I've left it to Mr. JS to fix. So u kinda extract about 60g of juice. To do this, just blend about 10 leaves with some water, then using the strength of a man like JS...get them to extract the juice out with their bare hands....Wuahahahhaha....then strain it. Voila!!! u have your natural pandan juice :)))

Next separate the yolk outta its white to obtain 7 yolks and 9 egg whites. So I sacrificed 2 yolks....didn't keep it coz neither JS nor Monkey will use them if kept in the fridge for days. Tried and tested so don't waste my fridge space.


Next add into the 7 egg yolks are:
1/2 cup of Vegetable Oil
3/4 cup of fresh coconut milk *u may get these at the supermarket, do not use canned/packet type of coconut milk*

then sieve in 1 1/2 cup of flour, 1 TBSP of baking powder, 1/2 cup of sugar, and the pandan juice
mix everything till well combined. It will turned into some lil green alien-liked gooey mixture...hohohoho.


Mean time, whisk the 9 egg whites with a pinch of salt. Add in 1/2 cup of sugar gradually....so whisk them till form peaks....

Then u may add them slowly in 3 batches into ur alien green mixture....just be gentle with it bcoz u don't want all the air escape and deflate the cake.


Bake at 160*C for 45-55 minutes depending on ur oven
do not open to check....just leave it there bcoz you won't want risking it by letting hot air escape ur oven....Patience is the key here...

Once the cake is outta the oven...tilt it upside down and let it cool complete.
Don't worry, it will not collapse. If your cake collapse the moment u tilt it upside down, then the cake is not ready to be taken outta its oven....otherwise the proportion of wet and dry ingredients is incorrect for the protein to hold together.


I am still not happy with the texture of my cake -_-


I want them even more SOFTER
oh well this is already SOFT enuff but i think it can be even much more softer


Trust me, this cake is so easy to eat...everything gone very very quickly
U see...I have yet to snap pic and a few bites were already taken
NOM NOM NOM


Store ur chiffon cake covered...
I devised this storage at home...with a lil glass plate at the bottom with some water.....so that JS's pets namely Mr. lizard and Missy Ants will not be able to reach this yummy cake :P

Since I am not happy with its texture...I will attempt again this week with a different version of recipe...all I can do now is admire its height. It has got good height huh? Think so?? Yeah I know...my Pandan chiffon cake stood tall as though it's wearing a stilettos, just like me :P

Will keep u posted on my Pandan Chiffon Cake version 5 soon
hehehehehehe :))))))))))

2013 Resolutions: JS's mom sponge cake

I'm so Sponged now.....still trying to perfect it.
even JS didn't want me to give up....he passed on Her Royal Highness sponge cake recipe to Monkey...so with even greater pressure and determination, Monkey tried again >.<

This recipe is slightly different from my previous attempt. First of all preheat your oven to 175*C. Then separate 8 yolks from its whites. Hey look at the pic above, all the 8 eggs formed an infinity eight in the middle :P

Whisk the 8 whites until fluffy, then add the yolks one at a time and whisk for a few minutes.


Next slowly add in 225g of castor sugar and continue to whisk until creamy like the above. Think this process should take less than 5 minutes.

Detach your bowl off the KitchenAid and fold in gradually into the whisked egg + sugar mixture with 170g sifted flour. Finally add in 113g of melted butter. Remember your melted butter must be at room temperature and not hot but cool enough. This step is crucial to ensure no lumps in your batter.

Do everything gently bcoz this is a sponge cake :)))))))


Bake for about 30 minutes
I used 2 smaller cake tins bcoz Monkey wanted to create a mini cake...well it's not those cute mini Mini Cake but at least it's smaller than the usual 8 inches cake.


Once it has cool, you may decorate and assemble it
Monkey got this frosting spatula for quite a while and was so excited to use it for the very first time!!!! Oh well it's just a spatula but I do get excited over things like this :P


Stack ur fruits on top this way....u can use any kind of berries u like. Here I've got some really yummy Korean strawberries which were so so sweet.

Judging from the size of the berries and the cake, I am sure have an idea how mini this cake was. Told ya good things come in small packages...and mini is cute!!!


Finally frost the top.
It looked so thick and high -_-"


White is boring so Monkey just dusted some cocoa powder over the top
Looked so much better eh?

Finally with some leftover strawberries at the very very top!!!!

Time to EAT!!!!
the taste test

hmmm the texture isn't fine at all
there's air bubble inside....so I need to fold in more evenly next time. *if there's a next time*

JS confirmed that it failed...........
T_T
not good
not fine
texture is wrong
fluffiness is not there
definitely nothing like his mother's

T_T

"But I followed exactly like her recipe!!!!"
JS: "Well sometimes u need to think and not follow exactly like it."

I don't understand this at all??? Think and not follow?
so to follow or not to?? hmmm

okie nvm, I will not give up. So Monkey told JS she's gonna bake another one immediately.

he went O.O

Hehehehe just joking....thank you for eating all my experiments and creations which were beyond your palate.

To console myself, I did what I'm good at......Messing around
nyek nyek nyek

With the leftover of batter which couldn't fit into the cake tin, I took out my spanking new never used before heart shaped pie tin!!!! and baked somemore....

JS was pleading No more No More Cakes!!!
oh don't worry, u don't have to eat these....I might as well bake them and play around with the leftover batter and Buttercream icing!!!!

I am really really good at playing Masak Masak since young
instead of using sand and leaves like other kids do....I stole ingredients off my grandma/mom's pantry. Wuahahahahaha...and yeah I get to do frosting again :))))))))))

with leftover strawberries, cocoa powder and more buttercream frosting

I now conclude....that I really enjoy baking.
though sometimes I dunno wat came outta my oven. Hehehehehehe.

Dear readers,
I will Not.not.NOT give up...am gonna bake sponge again until I perfect it. Yeah it's just a damn sponge cake and I can't even get it right. I'm doomed. Baking is really fun, go try it. :))))

Read about my first sponge cake *here*

2013 Resolutions: Basic Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake.....:))))))))))
who doesn't like sponge cakes?? It should be simple and easy to bake right?
JS alwiz boast about his mother's aka HRH aka Her Royal Highness's sponge cake -_- so Monkey took up the challenge and did some reading about it. There's so many different types of sponge cake...an US and a UK one could be different...well let's not even go anywhere near to Italian and French sponge cake...

GAH!!! why so complicated?
Too much of analysis leads to brain paralysis...
soon Monkey's paralyzed brain just did the simplest thing......went to my book racks and retrieved past copies of my favourite gourmet magazine....and found a basic sponge cake recipe :))))))))

Rule number 1 *do I still need to mention it everytime?* is to preheat your oven to 180*C
then brush your pans with melted butter and dust them with flour. Line the base with baking paper.


Melt 80gm of butter and the most important rule here for sponge cake is not to use hot nor warm butter. You need to melt them in advance and leave it to cool. Else your sponge cake will be lumpy. So if possible this should be the first step.

Measure 240gm of Plain Flour and 3x sift it
It says that the flour has to be so fine....u need to sift it not one not two but freaking 3 times...
but I am happy to have all these gadgets and utensils for lazy ppl like me....dunk into the sifter, press the lever.....*sift sift sift*.....then transfer the sifted flour back to the lazy sifter and *sift sift sift*
again and again until I was yawning.......

Crack 8 eggs directly into your whisking bowl...
see I am freaking lazy so utilizing the most minimum tools and utensils is part of my goals here.

Add 220gm of caster sugar into the whisking bowl and scrap out the beans outta the Vanilla. I have mastered the art of scraping hahahaha...been using a lot of vanilla lately and JS's inventory of Madagascar Vanilla is getting lesser by the weeks in his pantry. He has yet to do a stock count :D
*oopsss*

Use your KitchenAid to whisk the mixture of eggs, sugar and vanilla beans for a few minutes until it turns pale, thick and tripled in volume like the above.
Easy eh??? :))))))))

Slowly sift in your plain flour into this mixture in batches. You want to introduce a lot of air into your cake mixture so that it will be light and fluffy so do everything with patience and calmness....no shortcut no hurry and no laziness to be executed here. Even if you can't add in air nor aerate your cake mixture, at least don't destroy the aeration created by your KitchenAid at the beginning.

Just slowly.....more yawns~~~~~~


Then bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until light golden....
the centre should springs back when u press it lightly....
I was thinking how am I gonna stick my fingers into the oven to test if my cakes are ready or not...

No no no......I'm not gonna take the risk....so it's based on "feel"

Once these babies popped outta the oven, Monkey removed them outta the spring can, transferred them to the wire rack immediately, peeled off the baking sheets at the bottom, and inverted it back to the original position - top and bottom.

Eating a basic sponge cake would be so boring....
so I deviated >.< heeeeeeeeeeeee heeeeeeeeee

Melt about 150gm dark chocolates.....then dunk in 250ml pouring cream and the melted chocolate...whisk them together. If you like u an add in about 20ml of liquer....Monkey added in Cognac...wuahahahahaha. U just need to whisk them till it soft peaks. Finally add in 70gm of raspberry and keep this mixture in the fridge until it's firm.

Then assemble your cake once it has cool down
It looked so ugly -_-"
JS stared at it in horror O.O"

NVM I can do better next time in cake decorating and assembly.
Can anyone share with me recipe of cakes that need not decorating, easy to make, less washing to do, and looked pretty instantly??? I know.....drive out to WonderMilk and buy a cake!!!!! it probably cost less :P

Your sponge cake should be really really light and fluffy
the raspberry gives it the occasional texture and bite as u sink ur teeth into your piece of cake

 

JS had a slice and concurred his mother's sponge cake is still the best in the world
Monkey -_-"
when he finally retrieved HRH's recipe from her Recipe Bank which was locked in her vault......Monkey found out her's is a Genoise Sponge Cake.
Hey Mr. JS!!!! it's a different sponge cake ok!!!!
Genoise Sponge Cake involves hell lot of work....with bain marie...sabayon etc etc etc

This one was a Victoria Sponge, named of the Queen Victoria.
Very "Atas" one OK???

but nvm....I will take up your challenge again to attempt your mother's Genoise Sponge Cake.
Watch this space u ppl!!! grrrRRRrrrrrr

For a full and professional recipe of this Basic Sponge Cake, *click here*