My first handmade buns

After the bread class on 31 Jan 2016, we made our own dough and brought it home. I created 4 plain bun using the dough and the kitchen filled with the smell of butter and yeast which made you feel so good on a cold night.

My mom prepared some eggs and I inserted them in the middle of the bun and ate them as breakfast the next morning. They were so yummy!

(Handmade: 1 Feb 2016)

低發寶寶造型麵包班

低發寶寶造型麵包班，一個麵團一次過做三款港式麵包：千島醬芝士帶子包，大公司菠蘿油，豬柳漢堡。班上同學都很nice, 交換整包心得。今日大豐收！ Spent 3 hours in baking class and made 3 kinds of Hong Kong style breads.

(Class: 31 Jan 2016)

Buttermilk Pancake

I love pancake. And to use up the buttermilk, I decided to make buttermilk pancake as my Sunday breakfast. It tastes so good and so easy to make! Highly recommend the recipe by Sweetheart Kitchen: http://sweetheartkitchen.com/recipes/blueberry-pancakes/

(Homemade: 31 Jan 2016)

法國藍帶QUATRE-QUARTS AU CITRON

按 Louis s Bakery 的食譜所製作的法國藍帶QUATRE-QUARTS AU CITRON (檸檬磅蛋糕). 第一次用Microplane zester (刨絲器), 刨出來的檸檬絲很幼細，又不會刨到白色苦的那層，焗的時候很香。味道跟Madeleine小貝殼蛋糕相似。

食譜：https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1053869711331734&substory_index=0&id=787388524646522

(Homemade: 29 Jan 2016)

Golden Butter Cupcakes

Among cake mix, Golden Butter Cake by White Wings is one of my favorite. To use up the buttermilk which is about to be expired, I used it for making cupcakes this time, and this took shorter time than baking a whole cake.

Buttermilk tastes really much better than normal milk. The cakes often come up with special aroma.

柚子棉花蛋糕

After the failures of making cotton cake, I finally discovered another recipe which suits my small oven and the cake turned out beautifully!

麵粉糊
1. 低筋粉 50g
2. 無鹽牛油 35g
3. 蛋黃3隻 + 全蛋1隻
4. 牛奶 50g
5. 韓國蜂蜜柚子茶/柚子蜜 50g
6. 雲尼拿油 1茶匙 (隨意)

蛋白霜
1. 蛋白3隻
2. 砂糖 45g
3. 檸檬汁數滴

做法：
1. 焗爐預熱160度。烤盤加室溫水入爐開機預熱。(我的爐是細爐，23 升)
2. 將牛油放鍋中加熱成牛油溶液後關火，倒入已過篩的低粉拌勻備用。
3. 蛋黃及1隻蛋在打蛋盤在打勻，加入牛奶，柚子蜜和雲尼拿拌勻。(柚子皮較重身會沉底，可用少些柚子皮多些柚子蜜)
4. 把鍋中麵糊倒入蛋糊中拌勻備用。
5. 蛋白用低速打起，加入檸檬汁。砂糖分三次加入打成蛋白霜，不要打太硬，起勾便見好收手。
6. 將1/3 份蛋白霜混入麵糊中輕手拌入，再將所有蛋白霜加入拌勻。
7. 將混合物倒入蛋糕模中 (活動模要先用錫紙包好外邊以防滲水。另外我在模底加上一張圓形牛油紙方便起模). 輕震走氣泡後入爐。
8. 160度焗30分鐘後，轉140度焗30分鐘。用竹籤測試熟後關掉焗爐焗5分鐘後取出。
9. 取出後待一會等糕邊收縮少少後便甩模放架上放涼。

(Homemade: 24 Jan 2016)

Cotton Cake 原味棉花蛋糕

With reference to the recipe from Chef Chu''s Kitchen, I pulled up myself and gathered my ingredients to make the cotton cake. The recipe is very simple with only a few ingredients, but skillful technique is needed.

Let's look at the ingredients first.
 
Ingredients:
(6 inch mould)

1. Unsalted butter 48g
2. Cake flour 65g
3. Whole egg 1 pc
4. Egg white 4 pcs
5. Egg Yolk 4 pcs
6. Milk 65g
7. Cane sugar 63g

Method:

1. Preheat oven at 180 Celsius. 
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan until boil. Turn off the heat and put in the flour and mix.
3. Pour 1 whole egg, 4 egg yolks and milk into the flour mixture gradually and mix.
4. Beat the 4 egg white with sugar into meringue.
5. Mix the meringue with the flour mixture until fully mixed.
6. Pour the mixture into a lined cake mould. Bake the cake at 180 Celsius for 15 minutes. Then bake for 65 minutes at 150 Celsius.

And this is my first cotton cake - crack at the top and uneven inside:

And this is my second trial - no crack this time but raise high at one side (sigh!) but great that it dropped down finally (baked this especially for our friend Johnny and Ming last night and I am so glad that they said it tasted good!):

I've consulted Chef Chu and he said that the temperature of the oven is uneven as it is a small size one. What I can do is to move the cake quickly to another side. I will try again and see when I can get the desirable result!

Earl Grey Sponge Cake

It is always one of my desires to make something with Earl Grey tea. Earl Grey chiffon cake is very popular but I have not find a good quality chiffon mould yet. Those from Japan are quite expensive. 

So, with my success to make a chocolate sponge cake earlier, I tried to make my own Earl Grey sponge cake by taking reference of other recipe in making the Earl Grey milk tea.

Well, I failed. The middle of the cake collapsed when I took it out from the oven the 2nd time after testing it to see if it is done. I guess it is because: 1) I forgot to take out the eggs earlier to leave at room temperature and it took quite a long time for me to create the egg mixture; 2) I didn't put baking papers at the base of the mould and so the oil leaked out during baking. 

Though with all these errors, the cake turned out to be delicious and smell very good! I will try again soon for a better one!

Ingredients
(8-inch cake mould)

1. Eggs in room temperature 5 pcs
2. Cane sugar 142g
3. Cake flour 100g
4. Vegetable oil 53g
5. Earl Grey teabag 6g (3 pcs)
6. Milk 120ml

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 180 Celsius.
2. Warm the milk in a pot in small heat. Turn off the heat and pour tea leaves into the warm milk and simmer for 2 minutes. Pour the milk tea in a mug and leave to cool. Save the tea leaves for use.
3. Beat the whole eggs with sugar into smooth egg mixture.
4. Mix in the sieved cake flour into the mixture gradually until fully mixed.
5. Add the oil and 3 tbsp of egg mixture with the milk tea, mix well and pour into the rest of egg mixture. At this stage, you must make sure the oil mix with the batter evenly. 
6. Add around 2 tbsp of tea leaves into the batter and mix well.
7. Pour the mixture into a lined cake mould and bake for around 30 minutes. 

New year's first challenge: Magic Cake

I've decided to take up the baking challenge by making the most talked about Magic Cake. 

Magic Cake (Gâteau magique à la vanille in French) is a cake with just one batter and you can get three layers with different textures: sponge cake, custard cream and soft fudge. 

I've read from the web that many people found it very difficult make it successfully. I am lucky enough to be successful in this first trials. I think the tips lie on amount of the batter and the size of the cake mould, and it is very important not to mix the batter too even. 

Cake done and took out from oven

Magic cake put into fridge overnight

Cut-opened view of the cake and the 3 layers are visible

Sprinkle with icing sugar

Ingredients
(8-inch cake mould)

1. Unsalted butter 98g
2. Vanilla extract 1 tsp
3. Eggs 3 pcs
4. Cane sugar 118g
5. Cake flour 90g
6. Water 11ml
7. Milk 395ml
8. Salt just a pinch

Method

1. Preheat the oven at 150 Celsius.
2. Melt the butter by steaming in wok/in a pot with direct heat/microwave and leave for cool.
3. Warm the milk (lukewarm will be fine).
4. Separate the eggs into egg yolk and egg white. Add water and sugar to the yolks and beat them till the mixture turn into light yellow cream.
5. Then mix each of the followings into the cream one by one: melted butter, vanilla extract, cake flour, salt and milk.
6. Whisk the egg white into foam with soft peak using electric mixer. Separate the foam into 3 portions and mix with the batter gently. No need to mix it too even. It will be fine to have some lumps.
7. Pour the batter into the mould and bake for around 50 minutes.
8. When the cake is done, cool it in the rack and put it into the fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. Sprinkle with icing sugar when serve.

Bon appétite!