Japanese Strawberry Shortcake

July is a month full of celebration :) I get to know my beloved husband during my holidays in Australia back in 2006. Honestly when you met some new friends you probably won't purposely remember when was the date or time you know each other. We can remember this special date is because I was on holidays and now this has become another special day to celebrate .

We met one another through a friend during my trip in Australia. Yes, our story is kind of romantic which not only happen in movie. Occassionaly I do believe movie does reflect real life story. As a believer of Christ we do not think this is by co-incident rather GOD has HIS way in our life.

To celebrate our 6th year annivesary of knowing one another , I got this heart shape mould to want to bake something special for ourself. Often I will bake for other people special moments and not so for myself . I have decided from now onwards I am going to do it for my family too .

Is winter time and strawberry is in season. It has been my thought to want to know how is a Japanses Strawberry Shortcake taste like. Looking through recipe from the net, and search from the my favourite blogger  -> Table for 2 or more so here is the recipe adapt from her site :

Cake:

120 gm. cake flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

50 gm. sugar

50 gm. melted butter

50 gm. cornoil

4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp. vanilla essence

4 egg whites

65 gm. castor sugar

Decoration:

300 gm. whipped cream

10 strawberries (diced)

10 strawberries - thinly sliced

1 Tbsp. instant strawberry jelly + 2 Tbsp. boiling water - for glazing fruit ( I did not have strawberry jelly and substitute with 1Tbsp of sugar disolve in 1 Tbsp of hot water)

Method:

(1) For cake: Sieve cake flour, baking powder and 50 gm. of sugar into a bowl and mix thoroughly.

(2) Mix egg yolk, butter and cornoil together and then pour into flour mixture and stir till smooth.

(3) Whisk egg white till slightly frothy, then pour in 65 gm. sugar gradually and whisk till medium peak.

(4) Fold egg white with egg yolk mixture and then pour into a 8" Square tray and bake in preheated oven at 175C for about 45 mins. or till cooked.

(5) Leave cake to cool on wire rack and then slice cake into 3 slices.

(6) Whip up the whipping cream and then spread whipped cream onto each layer and sprinkle diced strawberries on top. Repeat till the last layer of sponge cake. Spread the cake on top with whipped cream. Arrange sliced strawberries on top overlapping one another.

(7) Mix instant strawberry jelly with boiling water then brush it over the sliced strawberries.

(8) Chill before slicing and serve.

 

Note : The mould I am using is 2 small heart shape mould, I actually used another square mould to bake the reminder of the cake mixture  for other baking 

 

 

 

The cake is soft and I love the combination of cream and strawberry. My hubby love it so much he ate it slowly just to enjoy it . The original plan was to get a bigger heart shape mould , well isnt it always happen in such a way when you look for it you cant find it but when you do not need it , it will always right infront of you. I am happy with the small cake so we can finished it at one serve and not overeating.

Tiramisu

When I first started baking, one of the cake catches my eyes I would like to try is Tiramisu cake. Afterall is quite a fancy cake in cafe. Going through the recipes to get the right one, I realised this cake can be made without baking and some actually put in a glass to consume as a sweet dessert not totally a cake.

So I knew Tiramisu cake is can be present in different way, however the main ingredients for this cake is not only cheese but coffee and raw egg. Well I am not a coffee person at all. As coffee just make me way too happy and my heart will pump a lot usual than I would enjoy it ( too excited is not a good thing at time ).I pretty much told myself nah this is not a cake for me. Since I cant eat it  I wont think I will make it.

However , this is the cake I have make. So never said never and one really cant tell her own future right :)


Yup was my friend Elva birthday on end of June. She is a coffee lover, coffee bring live and smile to her. If she has not has her first coffee in the day , you probably will not want to talk to her. As she will be completely in her world and cant hear you. It was a suprise birthday party for her. We celebrate the rice dumpling festival together and at the end of the meal , light was off and cake was presented with loud birthday song sang. The look on her face worth all the effort in preparing this cake and bring smile to me each time I think of it

So here is the recipe link I adapt the recipe from ->Table for 2 or more. I used a normal square mould for the sponge cake and did not used piping to shape the cake in her way. As this is my first time I would say I would go for the simple way I know and slice the cake in half to assemble the layer of it.

I would have the recipe type here for future easy access :

Sponge
5 egg yolks
50gm sugar
5 egg whites
Pinch of cream of tartar
80 gm sugar
165gm all purpose flour

1. Prepare 2 pans (10X10 inch). Line with paper.
2. Preheat oven to 200(fan)/220C
3. Beat egg yolks with 50gm sugar until thick and pale. Set aside.
4. Wash beaters and beat egg whites until frothy. Add in cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks. Add in sugar gradually and beat until medium stiff peaks.
5. Pour beaten egg yolk into whites and sift half the flour over both type of eggs. Fold.
6. Sift remaining flour over batter and fold.
7. Put batter into piping bag with a 1cm round tip. Pipe lines of batter onto both pans.
8. Bake for 6-8 minutes.
9. Leave cake to cool totally before use.


Coffee Solution
1.5 Tbsp Nescafe gold
150ml boiling water
2 tbsp kahlua or more (optional, other other suitable liquors)

Combine both and set aside to cool down. It’ll taste pretty bitter. Mix with liquor.

Cheese Filling
6gm gelatin
30ml water
250gm cream cheese, room temp
3 pasteurized egg yolks, room temp
50gm sugar
300gm whipping cream(dairy), whipped to soft peaks
3 pasteurized egg whites, room temp
¾ tsp cream of tartar
80gm sugar
Cocoa powder for sprinkling

1. Place water into a heatproof bowl and sprinkle gelatin over. Let it sit for a while so that the gelatin granules will bloom. Heat bowl over hot pan of water or in the microwave to melt the gelatin. Refer to this post. Set aside to cool. Freeze a mixing bowl at this point for the cream
2. Beat egg whites in a clean bowl on high (hand mixer) for 1 minute. Put in cream of tartar and beat for another 4-5 minutes. It should have taken on form. Put in 80gm sugar gradually and beat for another 3 minutes. It should form peaks when beaters are lifted. Put in fridge while you do the next step. Take note that pasteurized egg whites needs more acid and more time to beat it up, and it yields lesser than regular egg whites.
3. Rinse the beaters and remove bowl from freezer. With that bowl, beat whipping cream until soft peaks. Transfer cream to a bowl and set aside in fridge.
4. With the same bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth, it’ll take only a minute. Put in 50gm sugar and beat for 1 minute. Put in egg yolks gradually and beat until smooth.
5. Fold the whipped cream into cheese mixture.
6. With your melted cooled gelatin in your left hand (if you’re right handed) and your hand mixer on your right, run the mixer on speed 1 or 2 (if 1 is too slow for ur machine). Drizzle in the gelatin as the mixer is on. Make sure the mixer mixes the gelatin evenly.
7. Pour cheese mixture into egg whites and fold. Use immediately to fill cake.

 Note : I did not used Kahlua instead I used Bailey and the result is fantasic .
           I did not used pasteurized egg as I cant find any here in Australia. With normal egg is still good .I guess just cant keep this cake for long and  must consume on the day it was make .

Interesting way for her to cut the cake as she does not want her name to be "cut off" . As the result I cant take a clear picture on the slice of cake. Not too sure will I bake this cake again. Maybe if someone requested it I will give it another tried. I have a small slice of myself , is not my custome not to eat my own cake . The taste is creamy and rich , full of coffee favour yet not over powering. Verdict is everyone love it :)

Pandan PanCake

What for breakkie on a lovely weekend ?? Breakkie is a short form for breakfast. In this lovely country -Australia, a "cute" habit is to add " ie " at the end in some word to make it sound more neat :)

One of my friend who is a blog baker ->eelmsthebaker, has her pancake pic on FB one day, it attract my attention and would really love to give it a try. Of course as a follower of her blog , I will have an update each time that is any new blog uploaded, that give me the advantage to get the recipe when it happen :)

Pancake is a classic breakfast meal in western country, of course food should not have any boundary limit. And I believe food bring people together. If you ate something you love, you want to share it, if is something awful or disaster , I would say the more you would love to tell about it ,so others can avoid.

I make this lovely pancake on last 2 weekend. Of course being me, as a pandan lover. I modify the pancake by adding some pandan essence in the mixture and have this lovely Pandan PanCake as our lovely breakfast to start off our weekend. The texture is fluffy soft , crisppy and not too sweet. Is a healthy yet satisfiying meal to start off a weekend .

To have the original recipe do follow the link ->Clinton Street baking company pancake

I will have the recipe (with pandan flavour) as below as well :

Make 12 -3 inch size pancake

Ingredients :

128g All Purpose Flour ( 1cup)
1 tsp Baking  Powder
35g caster sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs ( seperate yolk and white)
180ml whole milk
43g unsalted butter (melted)
5g unmelted for the pan
1/2 tsp pandan essence

Method :




1. Mixed all purpose flour, baking powder together.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar, salt , egg yolk , whole milk mix well.
3. Sift in the all purpose flour , pour in the melted butter and pandand essence.
4. Beat the egg white till soft peak, fold in the egg white to the all combine mixture.
5. Oil the pan with butter, scoop a laddle of pancake batter into the pan and cook till well.
6. Enjoy it with some cream or honey . I like mine plain with a cuppa :)

Voila!!