Orange Chocolate Cake

My best chocolate cake by far.

If you know me for awhile ( which can be quite a long while) , I am not a chocolate fan at all. How can a lady does not like chocolate at all. I do like chocolate but not a fan. Even if I got myself some chocolate it always be those "rare" type - dark chocolate or the Japan Brand ( my most favourite) Royce. Is always more cocoa than sweet. I remember whenever I was given chocolate , it was quite hard to tell the person thanks but err. Well I just take it and share it with others.

So to decide to bake a chocolate cake is totally out of the blue. This is not the chocolate cake I have make the first . I have tried out the Recipe by chance when I have extra buttermilk in the fridge, just do not want to waste it so I decided to use it for good . I have some organic dark chocolate , why not just give myself a chocolate treat. There will be some day you really need some good dark chocolate to boost your happiness.

After the few attempt I really love the taste of this cake. So I modify and make some chocolate ganache and bring this yum cake to my office Christmas Party. It always great to have chocolate cake in festive season , what more is for Christmas.

The modify recipe is as below :

Ingredient :
114g cake flour (plain flour is fine too)
46g of cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
170g unsalted butter, softened
180g granulated sugar
2 large eggs ( I used 3 eggs, the egg I bought was pathetiquely small)
90ml Milk + 90ml fresh orange juice.( Original recipe is 180ml buttermilk )
2 tbsp Bailey (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
113g finely chopped bittersweet chocolate ( I used organic dark chocolate it taste creamy)
1tbsp of Orange Zest

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 170 degree.Grease a 8" round pan and dust with flour .
2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Mix to combine and set aside.
3. Beat the butter with an electric mixer, with medium speed for 2 minutes, until very creamy. Gradually beat in the sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 3 min, until the mixture is well blended and light. At medium speed, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
4. In a small bowl, stir together the orange milk , Bailey ,orange zest and vanilla extract. 
5. At low speed, add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in three additions, alternating it with the milk cream mixture in two additions, and mixing just until blended. Remove the bowl from the mixer stand and stir in the finely chopped chocolate.  Scraped the batter into the prepared cake moulds and smooth the tops.
6. Bake the cakes for 40 to 45 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center of a cake comes out clean. Cool the cakes in the pan set on a wire rack for 10 minutes. 
7. When the cake has cool down cut it into 2 slices.


Chocolate Ganache Filling  (Adapt from Donna Hay )
I have it modify to suit the texture I want it


Ingredients:

225g Dark Chocolate
1 cup of pouring cream
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup caster sugar
1 tbsp of Gelatin
3 tbsp of Water 

Method : 

1. Pour water into a bowl and sprinkle gelatin on it and let it bloom. Put the gelatin bowl on a bowl of hot water to have it melt .
2. Place the chocolate and cream in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth.
3. Place the egg yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and beat until thick and creamy.
4. Fold the chocolate mixture through the egg mixture beat for a minute and add in gelatin. Beat until well combine ( about another min) . Let the mixture cold down to room temperature.

Assemble :

1. Put one slice of the chocolate cake at the bottom of ring mould.
2. Pour in half the chocolate ganache .
3. Place another slice of the chocolate cake on top of the chocolate ganache.
4. Pour in the reminding chocolate ganache. Smooth the top make sure the side of the cake is well coated. 
5. Refridgerate the cake over night and serve while is chill. 

 

The cake was soft and moist , it was simply delicious.My boss love it and my colleagues enjoy it. 

I change my own thought of a chocolate cake. I will of course bake this again . In fact the 1st time when I bake this was without the chocolate ganache, it was so nice with a cuppa .

 

I manage to keep some for my love and we have a lovely sharing on a Saturday morning. Is such a bliss. He said this is the best chocolate cake he ever has. With a hint of orange taste in the cake it just bring a citrus taste to this moist chocolate cake. Give it a try on this festive season .

Blessed Christmas and new year :))
   

Purple Sweet Potatoes Chiffon Cake

I love potatoes. Never know that I can combine the potatoes in chiffon cake.

Is not easy to find purple sweet potatoes back home.Surprisingly is quite easy to get purple sweet potatoes in Australia. The purple sweet potatoes always is cook as a dessert in soup for Asia family, we will boil it in syrup water with some ginger it. It is good during cold night and is good for digestion as well.

Looking through some of the purple sweet potatoes chiffon cake , I find this appealing and would like to give it a try ->Evan's Kitchen. So here is the recipes I used for this cake:

Ingredients (used 22 cm cake  mould) :

130g purple sweet potato
4 tbsps milk
4 egg yolks
25g brown sugar ( I used caster sugar 40g)
65ml canola oil
4 tbsps water ( I used milk )
110g cake flour, sifted
5 cold egg whites
65g caster sugar
80-100g raw purple sweet potato cubes, lightly coated with cake flour to prevent from sinking to the bottom of the cake


Method :
1. Peel and chop purple sweet potatoes, then steam until cooked. lightly mash with fork, add milk and puree with hand blender until emulsified.
2.Put egg yolks, brown sugar, oil & water in a metal bowl whisk until well blended. add in sweet potato puree and mix well. fold in flour until well combined.
3. Pour egg whites and caster sugar in a bowl beat with hand mixer until stiff peaks, then fold the whites into the yolk mixture in 3 additions. fold in the purple sweet potato cubes.
4. Pour mixture into ungreased chiffon/angel cake tube pan and knock the pan against the counter top to remove some air bubbles.
5. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 40 mins or until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. remove tin from oven and immediately invert it until the cake has cooled completely.

Again I love the light texture of this cake. I suppose I knock the pan against the counter top too hard the sweet potatoes seem to be quite at the bottom of my cake. I share some with my gal friends. They love it , they are quite surprise - Oh Purple Sweet Potatoes Chiffon Cake? Well if the taste is yum I guess nobody mind a little bit of surprise .

Avocado Chocolate Cream Cheese Cake

October was an extremely busy month for me. It just happen some of my great girl friends were born in this month.So is a month to celebrate , to laugh, to eat and to share our life in different phrase.

This precious friend of mine love avocado. I want to make a cake with avocado and is a birthday cake not the chiffon cake (Avocado Chiffon Cake) . Looking through some recipe, and  I do not have lot of time to prepare a cake we need on the next day. I thought of modify one of the recipe that pretty close to what I can do :)

As I remember there was this creamy avocado chocolate shake I had with a friend in one of the Indonesia restaurant. Apparently chocolate goes well with avocado , so why not do a layer cake with this idea. So here is where this Avocado Chocolate Creamcheese Cake come by .

Ingredients :

Base :
100g Digestive biscuit
70g melted butter

Chocolate Cream layer :
100g Dark Chocolate
50g Pouring Cream
20g Caster Sugar
1Tbsp of gelatin
3 Tbsp of water

Avocado CreamCheese ( Adapt from -> Avocado Chilled Creamcheese Cake)
250gm cream cheese
60gm sugar
200gm avocado flesh ( sift it so it will be smooth and easy to combine)
1 Tbsp lemon juice
11/2 Tbsp gelatin
50ml Water
200gm whipping cream

Method :

1. Break the digestive biscuit into small crumbs and mixed with melted butter and press into a 8' round loose base cake tin. Chill in the fridge until firm.
2.For chocolate cream layer - Sprinkle the gelatin onto the 3 Tbsp of water. Let it bloom. Once it bloom put the bowl into a hot water and let the gelatin dissolve. Leave to cool to room temperature
3.Put chocolate and cream in a mixing bowl on a pot of simmer water, melt the chocolate and combine with the cream ..
4.Take the mixing bowl out from the simmer water , pour in the gelatin and mixed well.
5. Pour the chocolate cream layer into the biscuit base and put in the fridge till it set and chilled well . At least 2hours
6. For avocado cream cheese -Sprinke gelatin onto water let it bloom. Once it bloom put the bowl into a hot water and let the gelatin dissolve. Leave to cool to room temperature.
7. Cream cream cheese and sugar until smooth.
8. Combine lemon juice with avocado flesh and stir until smooth. Put this into (7)and mix until well combined.
9. Add gelatin into avocado cream cheese mixture till well combined.
10.Whip whipping cream until soft peaks and fold it into (9) until well combined.
11. Pour cheese filling onto chocolate cream layer and level the surface. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.

The cake is yum and the chocolate did goes well with avocado cream. What happen was I forget to fold in the whipping cream but the cake is still creamy enough. I guess if I have the cream fold in, my cake will be taller and more creamery?  Not too sure might try to make this non bake cream cheese cake again when next avocado season come by .

Orange Chocolate CheckerBoard Cake

It was a busy month started from September. We are busying celebrate birthday and more so busy welcoming spring. However spring does not seem to be stable. It was wet and cold. At time night temperature drop quite dramatically.

Well is always good to make it a point to celebrate one birth. I have been wanting to do this Checkerboard cake when I spotted the recipe ->Table for 2 or more

I did not follow the recipe exactly , as I am not a coffee person, more so this cake is for a mom to be. I guess coffee is not good for baby, hence I change the coffee layer to orange layer which is the orange sponge  I used in my Blueberry creamcheese orange sponge cake .

My checkerboard is not pretty as Table for 2 or more. When we unmould the cake , is a bit too thin and is not easy to cut into the shape we prefer. I used whip cream instead of buttercream for the outer layer of the cake. I did use buttercream in the layer of the checkerboard. Am not sure how the buttercream should taste like. Am not really a butter fan so it seem a bit too strong for me the taste.

I hope the cake has bring a good memory to my friend. I might redo this again. Overall is a good experience to know how to make the checkerboard effect in a cake.

Coconut Panna Cotta Mango & Orange Egg

I have come across this dessert for awhile. Panna Cotta is something I learn when I move to Australia. It was a "jelly" kind of dessert but mostly is in creamy taste. As in the basic is bring the cream to boil and add in gelatin to let it set into soft creamy "jelly" type dessert. The creaminess of the dessert often bring a dinner meal come to an end with a satisfaction feeling yet not over full.

I have take this opportunity to make this dessert to enter the -> Aspiring Bakers #24 (October 2012) : Jellies & Puddings hosted by Charmaine of MiMi Bakery House 
  
m still a very amateur in food blogging world but is excited to be able to share recipe with those who love to bake, cook and share. 

In my early year of learning to cook and bake , I come to know a lot of great food bloggers from the same country as me and reside in other foreign land. The love of my own home country food has always follow me wherever I goes. From not knowing what to do and learning from people through their food sharing, is such a wonderful experience for me.I hope I be able to share my little part and encourage other to want to bake , cook and share as well.

For this recipe I follow the actual link from this wonderful food blogger ->Seasaltwithfood

I did not do as the recipe as I do not have so many egg shells. As a result my recipe is half the original recipe .
10 empty eggs shell. 

Process of cleaning and sterilized egg shell.

Carefully ,crack the top part of the egg, remove the top part of the egg shell carefully and do not break the eggs shell. Pour the egg out ( I used it to make some cake) , using warm water to clean the eggs shell properly.Dry the surface of the egg shell and gentle place onto the cooling rack and place them into the preheated oven for 15min.
Let the sterilized egg shells cool completely before you fill them with the coconut panacotta mixture.

Recipe as show :

Coconut Panna Cotta
250 ml Coconut Milk
50 ml  Whipping Cream
60 g White Chocolate
1.5 Tbsp Gelatin
4 Tbsp of  Water

Method

1) Pour 4Tbsp of water in a bowl, sprinkle 1.5 Tbsp gelatin on top of it and let it bloom.
2) In a saucepan, combine the coconut milk and cream. Bring it to a boil and simmer for one minute.
3) Remove the pan from the heat and add the white chocolate and gelatin.
4) Stir the chocolate and gelatin until completely dissolved.
5) Strain the mixture through a fine sieve and pour it into the prepared egg shells. 
6) Once the coconut panna cotta has set, use a small spoon to scoop out a small bit from the center to make a small indent.This is for the mango and orange fruit jelly later which resembles egg yolk.

Mango And Orange Fruit Jelly
100g Mango Chunks ( I used fresh fruit)
100 ml Orange Juice ( I used fresh squeeze orange juice)
2 Tbsp Sugar or to taste
2 Tsp of Gelatin
1 Tbsp of Water

Method

1) Prepare the mango and fruit jelly when the coconut panna cotta is completely set and when we have scooped out the holes in the center of the panna cotta
2) Pour 1 Tbsp of water in a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin on the water and let it bloom
3) Puree the mango, orange juice and sugar in a blender, add more sugar if necessary
4) Pour the mango and orange puree into a saucepan, heat over low heat until it starts to bubble.
5) Remove the pan from the heat and mix in the gelatin. Stir until the gelatin has completely dissolved.
6) Sieve the mango and orange puree through a fine sieve and leave it to cool completely but not set. I put in the fridge for about 5min. Is not for setting but must be pourable as we want to form a yolk look in the coconut panna cotta.
7) Slowly spoon the mango and orange jelly into the center of  the coconut panna cotta.
8) Return to the fridge until the jelly is set. And enjoy it !

I simply love the look of this dessert especially when serve in the egg shells. It look just like half boil egg yet it is a sweet and with my favourite ingredient Coconut cream :)

Hope you enjoy this and I am sure if you bring this dessert to a party it sure will challenge the mind of the one who eat it. Is it an egg or is it a sweet? =)

PassionFruit Chiffon Cake

I should be more diligent in updating my blog, so I wont miss out any of my favourite recipe and will have another chance to bake it again !!

There are so many cakes to bake , so little time to do it. I really salute those blogger who have to work , take care of the kids and continually baking , cooking, writting ! I always think when GOD created woman we are the upgrade version of HIS 1st mankind creation ( Man) , hence we are super duper multitask , higher endurance, better persistance, great in organising , energetic , able to react faster and yak dak lak dak more and more.. Nope not saying man are not good, every creation from GOD has HIS great purposes, being a woman I am just proud of who I am and great to see so many great woman around me showing me great example I can follow.

I do not have children yet so I really salute those working mom , able to handle so many things at a time. I am still learning to balance my life between work, family and church. The commitment I have in the church took out most of my pastime. Thank GOD those who been given more will be empower more as we do HIS work.

Ok back to my night of being cozy yet wanted something different, chiffon is always my BEST choice. I happen to have few small passionfruit from my mom in law. I often would love to enjoy fruit fresh as it  is  full of Vic C and great to consume. However am thinking is it any recipe I can used for passionfruit beside a cheesecake( which I did and will share recipe later).

So here is my love -Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake . The fragrant in passionfruit is simply delightful and while baking it just make one anticipate and hope to have it once it out from the oven. The sweetness of the fruit is so tempting.

Here is the recipe I follow/adpat ->Sugar and Everything Nice
I used a 20cm chiffon tube pan


Ingredients:

4 yolks
40g sugar
45g canola oil
65g passion fruit pulp (including the seeds - about 2 to 3 fruits)
20g Milk

100g cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

4 whites
40g sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

1) In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder.
2) Whisk together egg yolks and 50g sugar until pale in colour.
3) Gradually add in oil, passion fruit pulp,and milk whisking them all until combined.
4) Add all the sifted flour and baking powder. Whisk until the mixture becomes a thick and consistant batter.
5) Place the egg whites into a clean metal bow. Using a mixer, beat the whites until frothy. Add in the cream of tartar until whisk for a minute before gradually adding in the 40g of sugar. Continue to beat until stiff peaks are formed.
6) Gently fold in egg white mixture into egg yolk batter in 3 seperate additions until well combined.
7) Pour batter into a 20cm chiffon tube pan. Bake in preheated oven at 175C for 40-45mins.
8) Invert pan immediately to cool completely before unmold.

 
I love this cake the fragrance of Passionfruit is strong , the cake is soft and has some sourish taste . Overall is a very refreshing cake with a cuppa on hand , it just so relax to enjoy this in a lazy weekend afternoon.

 
If you have some passionfruit on hand why not give this a try :)

Yam (TARO) paste SwissRoll

One the night that I just want some simple and fast cake SwissRoll has been my choice of cake now :) Simply love the easy way of preparing the cake and it can be enjoyed after 1 hour of baking that just suit into the night I want a light cake but do not want to hassle too much on baking.

Beside Pandan, Palm Sugar,Coconut Cream , my another love ingredient is Yam or Taro. Some relate it as purple sweet potato (I do not quite agree with this as that is a sweet potato that is purple ). My choice of SwissRoll in a bakery shop is always Pandan SwissRoll or Yam SwissRoll. Well I can not get this 2 flavours of SwissRoll here. The only solution is to make for myself . Here is my attempt and I would say the recipe is easy to follow for the cake as for the yam paste I adapt from another recipe and change it to my liking and simply like the fragrance of the yam and creaminess that I input in it.

Orange Chiffon Cake :
(adapt from ->Baking Library)

Ingredients :
80g egg yolks, room temperature ( about 4 eggs)
25g castor sugar
2tbs + 1 tsp corn oil
2tbs + 1 tsp  milk
75g cake flour
160g egg whites
60g castor sugar
35g Orange Zest


Method :
1. Preheat Oven to 180 C and line tin with baking paper.
2. In a mixing bowl ,whisk the egg yolks, sugar , oil, orange zest and milk until combine. Sift in cake flour to the egg yolk mixture and mix until smooth and well combined
3. In a metal bowl, beat eggs whites with low speed as egg whites turn frothy, slowly increase the speed to medium and beat egg whits till soft peaks. Add in sugar in 3 portion. Continue to beat egg whites till stiff and moist with shiny form. Be careful not to over beat the egg white as it might be too dry or may water out.
4. Fold one third of beaten egg white with a spatula into egg yolk mixture to lighten and mix well. Incorporate another one third of the white and fold in well. Add in the rest of the egg white and fold gently in the egg yolk to obtain a smooth uniformly coloured foamy batter. Ensure all the batter is well mixed , by scraping the sides and bottom of bowl with spatula.
5. Pour the batter into a 10x12 inch tin lined swiss roll tin.Level the batter and bake for 10-15 min. Start checking for doneness at 10min. Cake is done when inserted toothpick come out clean. Allow sheet cake to cool.


Yam (Taro) paste :
(Adapt ->My Alternative Career)

Ingredients:

500g Taro

70g sugar

40g unsalted butter (melted)

150g pouring cream(whipped)

50g coconut milk (add a pinch of salt in it)

Method:

1. Freeze a metal bowl in freezer

2. Peel the taro and cut into small cubes

3. Steam the taro on high for about 30min, or till is soft and easy to mash.

4. When taro is done, mash it till fine add in melted butter , sugar and coconut milk . Mixed well  and set aside.

5. Take out the metal bowl from freezer,whipped the cream in it till stiff creamy .

6. Mix the whipped cream in the taro mixture till well combine.

Assemble the cake:

1. Carefully transfer the cake onto a greaseproof paper with the skin facing up.
2. Spread  taro paste on the cake and smooth it well
3. Gently roll the cake by using the paper to lift the cake and guide roll.
4. Rest the roll in the fridge to stabilize it shape.
5. Remove, slice and serve.

I simply love the soft orange cake  that combine with this creamy taro paste. I have 3/4 of the cake by myself over 3 days. My hubby love this cake but knowing how much I love it he just has to sacrifice his portion . 

If you are a yam lover tried this out , never expect yam and cream work so well .

I also did a yam cake chiffon cake for this swissroll on another day. However is not easy to incorporate the yam paste in the cake and the effect is not as smooth as this orange chiffon cake. I personally love the combination of the orange chiffon cake and yam paste. If you like to try out the yam cake recipe is in the yam paste link I adapt .