6 Layers Dark Chocolate Cake

27.04.2017  This is a special request from my little cutie pie a chocolate cake with white cream* he means whipped cream lol* and so i come out this idea of making him a big 6 layers chocolate cake with whipped cream filling inside out.

Im using my regular chocolate cake double the recipe.  This chocolate cake so far is the best not too sweet for me.  Before i decided to use this recipe again, i have been searching for some chocolate cake recipes however still end up using the same one that never fail me. :) The best part of this cake is Not Overly Sweet! Love it!

6 LAYERS CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE
( 2 x 6" round cake pan )

8 egg yolks large
50g caster sugar
100ml vegetable oil
140ml water
2tsp vanilla extract
170g cake flour
50g dark cocoa powder
3tsp baking powder
dash of baking soda

8 egg whites large
110g caster sugar
1/4 tsp x 2 Cream of Tartar

WHIPPED CREAM 
1 1/2 cup non dairy topping, whipping cream ( whip til stiff set aside )

CHOCOLATE GANACHE 
50g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped

50g whipping cream
* melt and let it set in room temperature before use

METHOD:-
- Line base of a 6" round pan with parchment paper. Do not line or grease the sides.
- Sieve cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and dash of baking soda. Set aside.
- Beat egg whites till foamy add in cream of tartar, until stiff peak set in the fridge for later use.

- Pre-heated oven at 170c

- Beat egg yolks until double and thicken.  Add oil, water and vanilla gradually just combined. Add in  flour with hand whisk till well combined. Do not over mix. Set aside.

- Mix meringue into batter.
- Pour batter slowly into the prepared round pan to get rid of air bubbles or just in case you are to fast pouring in the batter, you may tap the pan lightly after pouring batter to the pan.
- Bake in pre-heated oven at 170c for 45 mins, center oven.
- After cooked, insert a toothpick to the cake, when come out clean, its done.
- Invert the pan immediately and let cool completely before unmould.
- To release the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife or a off-set spatula around the inside of the pan.
- Slice horizontally into 6 layers. Frost cake whipped cream, top with chocolate ganache.
- Decorate as desired. Keep chilled in fridge.

Stir-fried Papaya Flower with Dry Shrimps

This is yummy stuff!! I love eating papaya flowers, i remember eating this when i was a kid, it was bitter to the top and i hate it so much.  Mom love mix this with cangkuk / sayur manis.  This time i use bok choy basically i do not have sayur manis, both taste more or less the same. love it.  I do not remember how mom cook, but my way, i turn it into a delicious delicacy! it isn't as bitter as it was before anymore! yum

Look at the colors, so beautiful and delicious!

Ingredients:-

2 Pkts Papaya Flowers

Chopped finely with Food Processor-

3 garlic, finely chop or pound

3 shallots, finely chop or pound

10 chili keriting

4tbsp dried shrimps ( soak in water until soft ) 

Seasoning:-

2tbsp Chicken Granules

Sugar and Salt to taste

4tbsp water

Method:-

* Pick and clean and set aside. 

* Heat wok, add in 500ml water and add 1tbsp salt.

* When water start boiling, add in papaya flower let it cook for 5-7 minutes.  This is to reduce the bitterness of the flowers.  Dish up, discard water, set cooked flower aside.

* Heat wok, sauteed chopped ingredients until aromatic, season with salt. 

* Add in cook papay flower mixed well and add the rest of the seasoning, stir, mix well till combine.

* Add water stir fry for a little while and dish up! serve hot with rice.

Simple and Easy, Happy Cooking!

Zongzi Chong's Family Recipe

Growing up never i remember my parent ever make zongzi ourself.  15 years ago, my sister learned zongzi making from one of our cousin and since then she is the only expert in the house.  Unfortunately we were no longer living together in the same country, so i can only imagine how tasty and delicious those zong were those days.  I remember bought some last year but still prefer to eat my family ones.  She did teach me how to make zongzi many years ago, but i wasnt really concentrate and remember the steps of wrapping, wrapping is the most crucial part that discouraging me to start making my own.

well well....this year, i tell myself i should get started or will end up buying the same zongzi again from outside...haha... conclusion i decided to make them, and so i call my sister in malaysia get the recipes and for wrapping wise, i do alot of google searching and video watching here and there.  In Sabah, there is one zongzi i love the most is with black eye peas, i can just eat black eye peas with nothing else.  So basically i make this zongzi fills with lots of black eye peas lol* i do not know is this categorize as chinese Hakka zongzi or chinese sabahan hakka way, because there are variety of zongzi in chinese tradition. As long as i can remember, black eye peas filling is the only beans with meat zongzi that i've ever eaten during those days.

Surprisingly at least my wraps and zongzi look pleasantly ok... and according to my sister was already consider not bad for the 1st time....yeah!! its a success! Mission accomplished

ZONGZI CHONG'S RECIPE 

Prep Time: 24 hours

Cook Time: 4 hours
Yield: 26 zongzi ( big size )

INGREDIENTS:-

60 dried bamboo leaves (2 to 3 leaves per zongzi, store bought dried bamboo leaves )
1 1/2kg glutinous rice

3pcs chicken breast boneless 

15pcs salted duck egg yolks ( i half the salted eggs )

30pcs dried shitake mushroom

30pcs chestnuts

3 cups black eye peas

SOAK OVERNIGHT:-

bamboo leaves  

glutinous rice

shitake mushroo

chestnuts

black eye peas

* cut chicken into cubes and marinate with oyster sauce leave overnight

INGREDIENTS A
SEASONING FOR GLUTINOUS RICE 

3 shallots & few garlic ( finely chopped )

few tbsp cooking oil ( to sauteed chopped garlic and shallots )

1tbsp five spice powder 

4tbsp dark soya sauce 

heavy seasoning of salt

INGREDIENTS B
SEASONING FOR  BLACK EYE PEAS, MUSHROOM, CHICKEN, CHESTNUT ) 

few tbsp cooking oil ( to sauteed chopped garlic and shallots )
2 shallots and few garlic finely chopped
5 tbsp dark soya sauce
2 tbsp chicken granulous 
heavy seasoning of salt
4 tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp light soya sauce
sugar to taste

METHOD:-

Night before sleep 

* Soak the bamboo leaves overnight. The next day, wash and rinse each leaf front and back, keeping them in a large bowl or tub of water until wrapping time so they don’t dry out.  Soak glutinous rice, black eye peas, mushroom, chesnuts each in separate bowl overnight. The next day, drain completely. Marinate chicken with oyster sauce and leave overnight. 

Next day

* Cook ingredients A set aside, and with a clean wok.
* Cook ingredients B set aside to cool. Dish out chesnuts and mushroom, put in a separates bowl. Black eye peas and chicken mix together in one bowl. 
* Cut the egg yolks in half. Can use 1 whole yolk if you have enough for each zongzi, Set aside in separate bowls.
* All set to wrap.
* ( i will skip the wrapping instruction as you can find many teaching steps or your own wrapping style )
* Fill zongzi in a pot avoiding large gaps, put as close as possible.  Use a soup bowl to fill water and add salt to every bowl of water on refilling into zongzi.  Fill water to cover all zongai. 
* Place pot on stove over medium high heat. Once the water boils, turn heat to medium and let it cook for at least 4 hours. 
* Cooking with a electrical Pressure Cooker will only take 45-50 minutes fully cook through.  
* Please check and keep en eye on the cooking process, adding water with salt into pot when water reduce, and make sure all zongzi is equally submerged in the water. 
* After 4 hours cooking, dish up and discard water. 
* serve warm.  Extra zongzi can freeze up to 6 months. 

Enjoy!

Glutinous rice, chestnut, black eye peas and bamboo leaves soak over night.

 After soak for more than 12 hours, chesnut mushroom, 

beans all looking clean and have expand double in size..

 Cook chestnut, mushroom, beans and chicken season well. After dish up, separates mushroom and chestnut in a separate bowl for easy wrapping.  

The reason we cooked and season all the filling including mushroom and chestnut 

so it is all equally tasty.

 Glutinous rice seasoned 

Ta-Da!! my 1st zongzi  done :P

Famous Taiwan Castella Sponge Cake

26.05.2017 Talk of the town recently this cake is selling like HOT CAKE!! hahaha....It is a HOT CAKE! Yes its the Taiwan Castella Sponge Cake im talking about.  Its starting branching in some part of Malaysia and Singapore because of the high demand and all that sensational story about this cake, everyone is talking about it and some trying to bake them to get a first hand experience themselves, one of them is me.... lol*

I have not try the real / original cake, but here i bake one, so its just basically a spongy sponge cake, i do not want to condemn much about the test as i have not try the real one yet.

When reading about this cake, people always complain about the long queue for a piece of sponge cake!  Now what is it so special?  Im curious to know too and thats why i got this recipe today from Steph's Wonder and immediately i try out to see what is all about. 

While im baking this cake, i can't wait to see it rise! When its done in one hour, immediately took it out from oven, flip over when it is still piping hot! i do it like how it should be, remove, flip and cut.  The truth reveal....testing time, Taste...... just like an ordinary sponge cake!!! Good.... but just a plain sponge cake.... lol**  Anyway, its nice to eat when its warm, I like the texture spongy and basically that's it. I hope my recipe is the right sponge cake that i am looking for. 

My point of view, maybe many people curious and attracted the way they present the cake when its out from the oven, its steaming hot, a big cake, beautiful fluffy looking cake, they flip, they measure and cut, its kind of a new naked cake show we do not see from any bakery in century, its basically a good presentation and they did break the record of how good the idea is selling their product.  Its kind of impressive for many especially those cake lovers, i think that is all about a sponge cake!   

I will try to bake another famous sponge cake with cheese, probably that makes some difference.

CASTELLA SPONGE CAKE
6 egg yolks
75g oil
60g milk
90g cake flour

6 egg whites ( used cold egg whites from the fridge )
75g caster sugar
1g salt ( dash of salt )

METHOD:-
* 8" square pan, lightly grease with oil side and bottom, line grease paper side and bottom, insert cardboard at 4 side of square pan.
* Heat oil in microwave for 2 minutes. or heat with a sauce pan, once it is hot, remove pan from stove.
* Mix in sifted flour into hot oil mix well with a balloon whisk.
* Add in milk slowly, mix evenly and continue with egg yolks add into mixture, mix until all combine into smooth batter.
* Beat white and salt and gradually add in sugar until soft to stiff peak.
* Add meringue 1/3 meringue into batter with whisk, mix well, fold in 2nd 1/3 portion mix gently and is ok if u see some meringue not totally mix through and fold in the batter into the remaining 1/3 portion of meringue, fold with a spatula gently until all combine.
* Preheat oven 150c steambath ( i preheat my oven at 170c with steambath )
* Steam bake 150c for 1 hour ( i steam bake at 170c for 1 hour center oven ) 
* If you find the finishing result bottom cake is dense, you can remove water, continue bake another 10 minutes "lower oven heat only" with a lower temperature to dry off the cake bottom.
* When it is done, remove cake from oven, flip over remove grease paper, and invert cake on clean grease paper or plate. cut cake while its hot and eat warm.

Happy Baking!!

Rose Zebra Stripes Ogura Cake

I love rose smell, syrup, aroma, fragrance, anything smell rose is my favourite.  I have been wanted to make something with Rose.  Happily, I found Rose Paste, haven't seen Rose Essence or Rose Water around, anyway i am happy enough to find Rose Paste, i can start making one Rose Cake now.

Here i used Jeannietay BluePea Ogura recipe to create a Rose flavour Ogura Cake to the next level..... lol *feeling crazy.   This recipe is very straight forward and easy, i just added a tsp of Rose Paste into batter. If you want to create a darker color or stronger rose flavour, you may add 1tbsp of paste instead of 1tsp or just add 1tsp of Rose Essence.

You may notice that this cake has a weird looking stripes, i did it on purpose to create another looking stripes instead of the regular zebra stripes.

Beautiful Rose Zebra stripes Ogura Cake, so soft, delicious, delicate, 

every bite taste and smell so rosy and a beautiful pink color.

ROSE ZEBRA STRIPES OGURA CAKE
50g Oil
60g milk
Pinch of salt ( i omit this )
5 egg yolks (100g ) + 1 whole egg ( size B )
65g plain flour
10g pandan coconut powder
1tsp Rose Paste
5 egg whites (200g)
80g caster sugar
1/2tsp cream of tartar ( i used 1/4tsp )

METHOD:-
* 8" round pan, line bottom grease side, set aside.
* Beat white & sugar until stiff peak and set aside for later use.
* Beat egg yolks + 1 whole egg until light to double volume, add in oil, water mix slowly until all combine and sift in flour with a hand whisk slowly until all combine.
* Mix in meringue into 3 batches, 1st fold in 1/3 portion with hand whisk until all combine, 2nd fold in 1/3 portion mix gently and is ok if u see some meringue not totally mix through but continue add in the last remaining portion, fold with a spatula gently until all combine.
* Divide batter into 2 bowls.  Mix in Rose Paste into one portion ( Ensure plain batter is slightly more than Rose batter. )  With a spoon, scoop batter into baking pan in 5 separates dollops like flower petals and one in the middle a dollop, about 2-3tbsp each dollop, continue alternatively until top.  When the circle getting smaller, reduce tablespoons of batter into 1 tbsp.  
* Pre-heated oven at 170c with waterbath
* Bake at 170c, for 1hour center oven.  Removed waterbath, move tray into lower rack continue bake for another 30 minutes.
* Remove cake from oven, wait for few minutes until cake pull away from pan to unmould cake.  Cake cooked perfectly with no cracks :)

Happy Baking!!

 Which ever batter is more, use as the 1st layer to do the stripes 

and continue alternatively. As i did another way round, there for i end up with

alot of pink covering the plain batter :(

Lumpia Semarang Ala Amirah

I personally love spring rolls or popiah, love when i bite that crunchy skin.  At home, mom always make for special occasion.

As i stay in indonesia, i come to know this spring roll called Lumpia Semarang, it is a special spring roll from the province of Semarang.  Lumpia Semarang basically filled with bamboo shoots, shredded chicken, prawns and scrambled eggs :) It can either be eaten fried or fresh.

Lumpia semarang made with a special made lumpia skin, i can easily get here, as it is available at all wet market everyday.  The skin is totally different from frozen popiah skin.  Lumpia skin is so much better than any frozen ones, when these rolls are fried, the skin turn so crispy and it is hardly break or leak like those frozen skin, since i found this fantastic fresh lumpia skin, i never have gone back for frozen popiah skin ever!! i just love every bite when its already fried, it is heavenly crispy!

Here comes my version lumpia semarang, filled with bamboo shoots, chicken meat and carrots. As i do not have prawns and scrambled eggs included, so i name my own version. Its already so delicious, can not imagine if with the 2 complete ingredients, im sure more tasty.  I have been making for the 3rd time, i am loving my own version with just 3 ingredients and seasoning anyway, and this is the latest lumpia semarang i made.  You may say that this is not so lumpia semarang...lol*  anyway....

Lets get on with the recipe.

LUMPIA SEMARANG ALA AMIRAH

2 chicken breast
1kg bamboo shoots ( wash boiled and julienned )
2 carrots ( julienned )
4tbsp oyster sauce
2tbsp kicap manis
1tsp white pepper to taste
chicken granules to taste
salt and sugar to taste

Marinate Chicken
2tbsp oyster sauce
1tbsp light soya
dash of sesame oil
dash white pepper
dash of salt
some sugar
2tsp corn sauce
2 garlic cloves for cooking

METHOD:-
* In a soup pan, heat water and cooked bambooshoots for 10minutes, discard water and wash bamboo shoots with running tap water and julienned set aside for later use.
* Clean chicken and cut into smaller pieces marinate set aside.
* Peel carrots and julienned set aside.
* Heat wok, sauteed chopped garlic, in chicken meat mix well.  add bambooshoots and carrots stir and mix well, in with seasoning until all combine, add 2 cups of water, mix well until all cook evenly and dish up.  Set aside until it is cool enough to wrap on lumpia skin.
* after it is cool, lay a lumpia wrap on a clean serving plate.  Scoop a spoonful of filling on skin, wrap accordingly and seal the end with egg wash. Continue wrap until finish.
* If you have left over filling, can keep in airtight container freeze up to 2 weeks.
* Heat wok and deepfried lumpia until golden brown, dish up served warm with chilie sauce/ thai sweet chilie sauce.

Happy Cooking!!