Malaysia HoneyComb Cake or Ant's Nest Cake

We were invited by a newly wed couple to their place for dinner last Monday. It was such a pleasant to see these young couple come together in marriage after overcoming all the hurdle in their relationship journey.
The husband is a Malaysia who are so blessed to marry a beautiful Korean lady. She often curious about my cooking and would ask me is this Malaysia cuisine or is Chinese . When they invited us over for dinner I promise to bring a dessert , I started to wonder what can I bring that will have Malaysia identity in it. As I have make a Pandan Chiffon cake for her before I wanted to try out something totally different.

I almost forget about this cake and as a matter of fact I do not know what this cake was call. It take me awhile to google it and find out the recipe I would love to try on. Not many recipes seem to be the right one I am looking for , however after spending some time of searching I found one that I think should be the right one and get started to bake this cake. Yup I bake the cake, I knew originally this cake was more likely a steam cake. So I modify my baking method and steam bake this cake. The result was fabulous. The cake remind the "chewy" texture yet more moist and soft .

So if you remember this cake and would like to give it a try here is the recipe link ->HoneyComb - Kueh Sarang Semut. Just be caution when adding water to the hot caramel sugar. The recipe is by far the most safer one I would say. The result is great and not only the Korean love it , it also rekindle my hubby memory of this cake as well .

The cake earn its name - Ant's Nest cake by having hole on the texture and do not worry it is not as sweet as it is even the sugar contain is relatively high. The cake is best go with a cup of coffee or tea in the afternoon. I simply love the texture and the chewiness of it . Is a bliss to manage to get the right recipe and enjoy the result at a lazy afternoon :)

So just in case I lost the link one day I would love to share the recipe as below which is from the link ->

For the recipe: (make a 9" cake)

250g sugar
250 ml of water

100g butter
250g plain flour
160 - 180g condensed milk
6 large eggs (beaten)
1-1/2 tsp bicarb. or baking soda

Method:

1. Tin size: 9" or 23- 24 cm round tin. If you use a spring form or loose bottom tin, line the whole tin with paper, please refer to the slide show. Don't just line the bottom the mixture will leak. If you use a cake tin without a loose bottom you can line just the bottom with paper.
2. In a small saucepan, add in sugar and heat at medium heat till the sugar begin to melt. Stir once or twice with one single chopstick (don't use wooden spoon, too much area for the sugar to cool and crystallise), once the melted sugar has turned golden yellow, turn the heat to very low and continue heating till the sugar turns golden brown like dark tea, ( see slide show in the link). Heat off and let it cool for 30 seconds. Then add one tbsp of water at a time, stand back the hot sugar will spit. Continue adding water one tbsp at a time till it stops sizzle, then pour in the rest of water. Turn heat on for about 1 minute, stir and scrape the side to release any unmelted sugar. Heat off and add the butter stir till melted.
3. In a large mixing bowl add in the plain flour, pour in about 1/2 the liquid and mix with a electric beater till smooth, continue adding the liquid till all combine in. Let the mixture stand for about 10 - 15 minutes.
4. Add in the egg, condensed milk and sieve in the bicarb, mix till all combined.
5. Pour the mixture into the tin. Leave it to stand in the cold oven for about 30 - 40 minutes.
6. Turn the oven to 150 deg C and bake the cake from cold for 1 hour or till it is cooked by sticking a  stick in the centre and it comes out clean.

Hazelnut Chocolate Layered Cake

Is always good to bake for the birthday people and see a smile on their face. I baked this cake at end of February for all the February babes in our group.This is my first attempt on baking a square layered cake and decorating it. Err I would say nope not as professional as those who has bake for few years.For a 1st timer I would give myself a pat on my shoulder. The birthday gal love it so nobody should complain about it :)

The cake has 3 layered and I also make a Hazelnut chocolate ganache cream to combine the cake and a chocolate cream to pour on top. The taste is yum and the texture is soft which is why most of my friends love it. I used dark chocolate for this whole cake it just make the cake taste just nice and not too sweet.

As this is a recipe I got it from a magazine I can not link it to any website , I would just share the recipe as below :

Hazelnut Chocolate layer Cake 
Ingredients A:

5 eggs yolks
40g caster sugar( it can be reduced)
60ml milk
100g cake flour
20g ground almond ( I do not have ground almond I used ground hazelnut)
80g melted butter

Ingredients B :
5 egg white
70g sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Method :
1. Combine ingredient A and mix well
2. Put ingredient B into a mixing bowl and whisk until still. Slowly add in mixture in step 1 and mix well. Pour the mixture into a lined 8" square mould.
3. Bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 23-25 min till cooked. Remove from oven . Unmould the cake and leave to cool. Cut the cake into 3 layers

Hazelnut chocolate ganache :

100g cream cheese
50g ground hazelnuts
200g whipped cream (whipped pouring cream or any cream)
200g cooking chocolate melted ( melt on top of hot water)
1 tbsp rum ( optional)

Decoration :
80ml pouring cream
50g cooking chocolate , cut into small chunks

Method:
1. Combine cream cheese and ground hazelnuts mix until well . Slowly mix in whipped cream and lastly add in melted chocolate and rum . This is the cream to combine the layer of the cake.
2. Heat the pouring cream in a double boiler. Add in cooking chocolate and stir until melted. This can be prepared only when the cake has set and pour onto as chocolate cream.

To assemble :
1. Place a slice of cake onto the cake board. Apply hazelnut chocolate ganache onto the cake
2. Repeat the same way till the last layer is covered with the chocolate ganache .
3. Put in the fridge to allow it to set firm .

4. Lastly pour the chocolate mix over the cake for decoration. Chill in the fridge at least an hour before decorate and serving.

  

This is how the layer looks like :)

 

Maybe you would like to try out as well. It does require some time but it quite an easy step to follow and get the "impressive" result :)