Yuan Yang Chiffon Cake

Although for this AB #30 theme, I did mention coffee is not allowed(this is to distinct the characteristic of tea and also to highlight the theme). But for this Chiffon Cake, I still use Tea as the key ingredient, just added coffee, means it become another concoction: yuan yang (鸳鸯）. Guess this is passable?

Beside just Tea or Coffee, Yuan Yang has become a popular drink in HK and lately in Singapore. So I thought, why not marry these 2 ingredients to make chiffon cake today?

I like to drink Kopi Si and Teh Si, that is why i used Evaporated milk. For this Yuan Yang Si concoction, I used Dilmah Supreme Ceylon Tea bag and 1 Tsp of Jed's Coffee Co. freeze dried instant coffee(Strong). I got this instant coffee(thanks to Carlyn from Sixth Sense) from Cold Storage during the New Zealand Fair(16-22 Apr 13). Obviously this product is from NZ and You can still get this product from now till 12 May 13 at 47 Cold Storage Stores in Singapore. (see below)

So far, this is the most successful chiffon cake that i made!! This cake has the airy and light texture that i always want to achieve. I am very happy with the result. It sure give me more confident to make more Chiffon cake.

In terms of the taste, I like how the cake give out strong coffee aroma when it was out of the oven and I like how the tea encompassed the cake. The recipe I followed is from SSB and I did some modification:

Ingredients:
2 egg yolks
10g caster sugar
1 Dilmah Supreme Ceylon Tea Bag
1 tbsp instant coffee powder (I used Jed's Coffee Co. Coffee)
5 tsp milk (I used Evaporated Milk)
50ml hot water
20ml cooking oil (I used Canola oil)
50g self-raising flour

2 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Method:
1. Stir instant coffee powder in hot water, with milk and tea bag until all well mixed.
2. Whisk egg yolks and sugar till slightly pale.
3. Add yuan yang mixture and oil into the egg yolk batter. Fold in the flour.
4. Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until mixture is foamy. Gradually add in sugar and beat until stiff peak form.
5. Gently fold beaten egg white into egg yolk batter until blended in 3 batches.
6. Pour batter into ungreased chiffon mould. Bake in pre-heated oven at 180 deg C for the 1st 10 minutes, then reduce to 170 deg C for the next 30 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and invert cake immediately until it is completely cool (I let it rest in oven for 5 minutes with door slightly open before invert, in case the cake shrink).
8. Cool completely before remove cake from mould and serve.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #30: It's Tea Time!(Apr 2013) hosted By Food playground.

Earl Grey Tea Cookies

I love The smell of Earl Grey Tea. Not only I like to drink Earl Grey Tea but also like cakes and cookies with Earl Grey. Frankly speaking, I made these Earl Grey Cookies sometimes ago(guess during CNY) and didn't have the time and chance to put up. Since this cookies match this AB#30 theme, I decided to quickly post it.

P.S: closing date of AB #30, to be exact is 4 more days left. As I do not want to miss all your wonderful Tea related posts in the month of April, For bloggers who have not sent me your submission or those that have not sent me pictures, please do so ASAP. Thank you so much for your generous support and awaiting your email soon. :)

This is an easy to make and no fail recipe. The smell of the cookies was heavenly! The cookies look hard but actually not hard to bite, almost melt in my mouth. My nephews loved it. I got my recipe from The kitchn:

Ingredients:
(makes 2 dozen)
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
Earl Grey tea dust from 1 tea bag
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter
Orange zest from 1 orange

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Pulse together all the dry ingredients- flour, sugar, tea dust, salt in a food processor until well combined.

2. Add vanilla, water, orange zest and butter. Pulse together until a dough is formed.

3. Form the dough into a log onto a piece of wax or parchment paper. Wrap the paper around and roll the log smooth. Freeze or chill for at least 30 minutes.

4. When chilled, slice the log into 1/3 inch thick pieces. Place on baking sheets and bake until the edges are just brown, about 20 -25 minutes. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.


I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #30: It's Tea Time!(Apr 2013) hosted By Food playground.

Japanese Green Tea Cheesecake

I love all kinds of Cheesecake, be it NY cheesecake or Japanese cheesecake. Today I'm meeting a old friend that I know for 20 years! Time flies... To give her a surprise, I decided to make her Japanese Green Tea Cheesecake.

Still have One more week before the closing date of AB #30: it's Tea time! , means this is also an opportunity and push factor for me to think of what to bake with tea.

I used this recipe from Vivian pang kitchen and this technique from the little teochew as reference :

(A)
125g cream cheese (I left with 110g cream cheese)
90ml milk
15g butter

(B)
30g flour (I used top flour)
24g corn flour
1 tsp green tea powder
3 egg yolks

(C)
3 egg whites
1 tsp lime juice (I used cream of tartar)
75g Caster sugar (I cut down to 65g)

Method:
1. Place cream cheese, milk and butter in a bowl. Cook with double boiler method until thick and smooth. Set aside.

2. After the cheese mixture turned warm, mix in both flours and green tea powder mixture(sifted). Stir with a whisk until smooth.

3. Add egg yolks into the cheese mixture and stir until well combined.

4. In another clean bowl, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until frothy. Add in sugar gradually, beat until stiff peak.

5. Fold 1/4 of egg whites into cheese mixture, and then another 1/4 of egg whites. Lastly the rest of egg whites. Make sure all the egg whites is well combined with the cheese mixture.

6. fill each cup 3/4 full and Steam bake at 150°C for 50 mins or until skewer comes out completely dry.

7. I leave the cake in the oven for 30 min with oven door slightly open. So that the cakes will not collapse too quickly due to the sudden change of temperature.

8. allow it to cool completely before you eat.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #30: It's Tea Time!(Apr 2013) hosted By Food playground.

Lemon Tea 相思蛋糕

This month AB theme is Tea, and I do see alot of other food bloggers made very nice Xiang Si Cakes. So I thought, why not bake a Lemon Tea Xiang Si Cake? This is my first attempt to bake Xiang Si Cake, I like how the cake melt in my mouth and how the aroma of Lemon Tea linger in my mouth.

I picked up some useful tips from The Little Teochew and I used this recipe As reference with some moderation:

I used 5.5 inch round silicon pan and make 4 cupcakes.

Ingredients:
1 Dilmah Lemon Tea bag in 20ml hot water
35ml canola oil
20ml milk
¼ tsp salt
3 egg yolk
1/2 lemon zest
1 tsp lemon juice
40 g cake flour

3 egg white
60g caster sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Mix tea with milk and oil. Set aside.
2. Beat egg yolk, salt and abit of sugar. Mix in Mixture 1, lemon zest and lemon juice. Stir till frothy.
3. Preheat oven to 150°C and put tart case with water at 4 corners of another tray on lower rack. This is to prepare for steam bake later.
4. Sift in cake flour in mixture 2 and mix well, set aside.
5. Using electric mixer, beat egg white with cream of tartar and castor sugar till stiff peak.
6. (Cover the pan loosely with foil with holes) - I did not follow this step as I think my oven is not as powerful and it will not burn the top layer.
7. Steam bake at 150°C for 50 mins or until skewer comes out completely dry.
8. I leave the cake in the oven for 30 min with oven door slightly open. So that the cakes will not collapse too quickly due to the sudden change of temperature.
9. Invert pan onto a cake rack and allow it to cool completely.

P.S: as I know my oven is not that powerful so before I take the cake out I adjust to upper fire for few minutes, To have a nice brown top layer. maybe the heat was too strong, The center top layer become abit burn...

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #30: It's Tea Time!(Apr 2013) hosted By Food playground.

Easy Deep Chocolate Pound Cake

前几天我突然很想吃巧克力蛋糕，所以在网上找做法简单又低胆固醇的食谱，给我找到了这个食谱。虽然原来食谱做的是杯子蛋糕，也没有用蛋，理因不符合pound cake的做法，但为求方便，我做了pound cake状的巧克力蛋糕。这食谱没有蛋，我也把油减至35ml，糖也减至60g，吃起来较不觉得太罪恶。

INGREDIENTS:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup brewed coffee (or 1 cup of warm water mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons of espresso powder or instant coffee granules)
1 Tbsp white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 Tbsp (1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp) olive oil

METHOD:

1 Preheat oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle position. Prepare a muffin tin with cupcake liners.

2 In a large bowl, vigorously whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, baking soda, and salt until there are no visible clumps (cocoa tends to clump up).

3 In a separate bowl, mix together the coffee (or water plus coffee granules), vinegar, vanilla extract, and olive oil.

4 Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir only until they just come together. The mixture should be thin and rather lumpy.

5 Ladle the batter into the cupcake liners, filling them about two-thirds of the way full. Place in oven and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until a bamboo skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

6 Remove from oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on a rack. Once cool, you can eat plain, sprinkle with powdered sugar, or drizzle or coat with frosting.

吃了，拍下照片做记录了，才偶然发现其他博客正参与以下的Bake Along #42: Deep Chocolate Pound Cake的项目。我既然刚做了巧克力蛋糕，又刚好配合这次的主题，所以也来凑热闹，把这个post投到这里。

Green Tea Soya Pudding

不久前，姐姐和外甥女到我家打卫生麻将。当天我除了准备好一桌菜，也做了甜品。这道绿茶豆花就是我为他们特别准备的。由于非常迫不及待要秀出我的作品，我忙着端给他们吃，却忘了拍照，所以你看到的绿茶豆花缺了口，没那么漂亮。味道嘛，由于绿茶带有苦味，所以豆花没有很甜，感觉很健康。做法如我上次做的bandung豆花异曲同工，如下：

Ingredients:
500ml Soy Bean Milk
2 tsp Gelatine powder
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp green tea powder

Method:
1. Add vanilla essence and green tea powder into soy milk and stir well.
2. Heat up soy bean milk in a sauce pan over low heat(do not let it boil).
3. Put gelatine powder in a small bowl, ladle about 50ml of warm soy milk in it and stir till powder dissolve and well mixed.
4. Pour mixture back to sauce pan and stir well. Let it simmer for 30 second (do not let it boil).
5. Off the heat. Wait till mixture cool off slightly before sift it into a container to cool completely.
6. Chill mixture for 3 to 4 hour in fridge before serve.

I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #30: It's Tea Time!(Apr 2013) hosted By Food playground.

AB #30: It's Tea Time!

This is my second time hosting Aspiring Bakers! Thanks SSB for giving me this opportunity to host this month theme - It's Tea Time!(Apr 2013)

Tea Time, obviously is a time for tea! Means it is for "tea" only, coffee is not allowed.

It also means tea must be the key ingredient in any item you make for this theme. You may wander what kind of Tea and what tea product to make for this month, here is a summary:

1) Everything related to tea(as ingredient) is accepted, excluding cooked savoury dishes.
2) only product made of any kind of tea eg. black tea, green tea and red tea is accepted.
3) Tea(as ingredient) related cooked dessert include pudding and jelly etc are accepted.
4) baked items including cakes, cupcakes, cookies, muffins etc are accepted.
4) hot and cold desserts are accepted.
5) tea inspired drink and ice cream are accepted.

If you are like me, like to eat, cook and learn Tea inspired cakes, cookies and dessert, do participate and share with us your recipes. Do drop me an email or comment if you have any question.

Looking forward to this tea time in April 2013!

Who can join?
Everyone! (if you do not have a blog, just send me a photo and recipe of your bake/dish).

How to join?

Step 1 :
Make any tea inspired/related item in the month of April 2013. You may submit more than 1 entry.

Step 2 :
Post it on your blog between 01 Apr 2013 and 30 Apr 2013.
Your post must include the recipe or link to the original recipe. If you are using a recipe from a book, please include the title of the book too.
Any entries that are posted outside the date range will not be accepted.
Any entries that do not include a recipe or link to the original recipe will not be accepted too.

Step 3 :
Please mention that you are submitting your post to Aspiring Bakers #30: it's Tea time! (April 2013) hosted by Food Playground and provide a link back to this post.
Entries will not be accepted if the above is not included.

Step 4 :
Email to Foodplayground@gmail.com in the following format:

Your name or nickname:
Your blog name: (omit this if you do not have a blog)
Name of your bake/dish:
URL of your post:
URL of your photo (one photo for each entry):
(alternatively, you can attach your photo in your email, preferably less than 500kb).

Please use "Aspiring Bakers #30" as your email subject. You may submit more than 1 entry.

The roundup will be posted on 01 May 2013.

***
If you are interested to find out what's on the previous Aspiring Bakers #29: Heirloom and Local (march 2013), see the roundup HERE

Fried Bean Sprout with Egg

This is a dish my mom always cook and also one of my favourite home cooked food. I'm not sure whether this is my mom dialect - Hakka dish but I'm sure this is a dish I eat since young. It's so simple and delicious, I can eat everyday.

Ingredients:
1 pkt of bean sprout (wash and soak with a bit of salt)
2 eggs
1 tsp fish sauce/soy sauce
A pinch of pepper
Salt to taste
Sesame oil (optional)

Method:
1. Heat pan with oil. Fry slightly beaten egg till just cooked.
2. Add bean sprout and fry evenly.
3. Add fish sauce and some water. Continue to fry till bean sprout soften.
4. Sprinkle pepper and salt, and drizzle sesame oil before serve.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #29：Heirloom and Local Dialect Recipes 家传菜/ 籍贯菜 (March 2013 ) hosted by FHL of Faith Hope Love.