Gula Melaka Huat Kueh (椰糖发糕) ~ Palm Sugar Prosperity Steam Cake

Huat kueh (发糕) is really part of my childhood memories. I remembered my mom buying for us whenever there's Pasar Malam (night market) near my house. The piping hot huat kuehs were soft, moist and somewhat chewy. They are also a staple item on the prayers table during festivals. 'Huat' means prosperity and thus, we Chinese really love the connotation of this steam cake.

As we grew older, while these huat kuehs remain a staple on the prayers table, we don't really eat them anymore. Nowadays, my mom buy them from neighbourhood cake shops and they are pretty hard, nothing like the ones we ate last time. So they normally ended up in the dustbin after prayers.

And the story goes that my mom left a huat kueh on top of the fridge after prayers and totally forgot about it. By the time she suddenly remembered it, it was 4 weeks later. Much to her amaze and somewhat disgust, the huat kueh still looked the same as it was 4 weeks ago with no signs of mold or ants eating. Food that doesn't decay or ants touching them after so long normally raise an alarm bell. It made her wondered how much preservative or weird stuff they put into the huat kuehs to keep them this way.

After sharing with me this story, I thought perhaps it's time for us to make our own huat kuehs and at least we know what we put inside these cakes. And late last night, I chanced upon this recipe that used gula melaka (palm sugar) & coconut milk which I already have inside my fridge. The steps looked simple enough, so I started my first attempt at making these huat kuehs in the middle of the night.

This recipe called for self-rising flour which I did not have at home, so I made my own using all-purpose flour. According to a few websites, self-rising flour is essentially flour with baking powder and salt already added to it.

Another small hiccup happened half way through my preparation, I realised after mixing half way that what I had was coconut cream and not coconut milk so my batter was very thick. Based on the photos on the blog where this recipe originated, it looked much watery. I added more water to my batter to thin it.

According to my mom, if the huat kuehs opened/cracked up nicely after steaming, then it is considered successful. And perhaps lady luck is on my side, even with the small hiccup, my first attempt resulted in a rather nicely cracked up cake (or at least for one of it).

Recipe adapted from Guai Shu Shu 

*I have halved the recipe and yield two 7cm by 5cm(H) cupcake cases.

These cakes are steamed in the steamer.

Ingredients:

125g self-rising flour #

70g gula melaka (palm sugar)

1/2 tsp baking powder

100ml coconut cream

80g water

1tbsp oil 

Red coloring (optional)

 # I made my own self-rising flour by whisking together 116g of all-purpose flour, 1+ 1/3 tsp of baking powder and 1/8 tsp of salt

How to do:

1. Melt the gula melaka in coconut cream and water, stirred till well-mixed. I used water bath as I am afraid I might burn the gula melaka and I don't have a microwave oven.

2. Sifted the self-rising flour and baking powder into the gula melaka mixture. Add the oil and stirred till well-mixed.

3. Place the cupcake cases into the steamer and pour the batter into the cases till about 95% full. I placed the cupcake cases in the steamer first as they are rather flimsy so it will be difficult for me to move them after pouring the batter in. 

4. Use a lighting greased knife or scissors to cut a cross sign on top of the batter. I believe this is to help with the cracking.

5. Steam in the steamer using high heat for about 30 minutes or till the skewer comes out clean when insert into the middle of the cake. 

For prayer purposes, we always have a red dot in the middle of the cake. This is optional as it does not affect the taste of the cake.

And here we are, my first huat kueh 'smiling' nicely at me:

:: Gula Melaka Huat Kueh ~ 椰糖发糕 ::

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I am linking this post to My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies Jan/Feb 2015

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders 

and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

Heavenly White Cake ~ Japanese Style Strawberry Shortcake

For some strange reasons, I always find Japanese Strawberry Shortcake very romantic. Perhaps it's the contrast of pure white cake frosting with the bright red strawberries that is just so pretty to look at. And the sweet taste of soft, fluffy cake with a tinge of sourness from the strawberries is just how one could relate to when comes to falling in love.

It is definitely one of my favourite cakes and for the longest time, I wanted to master the baking it. I have tried a few times one recipe that is widely shared by quite a few bloggers, but the sponge cake often sinked or fell flat. I suspect it was my folding in flour skill that failed me or perhaps I did not fully understand what the ribbon stage meant.

Anyway, I am doing quite a bit of baking of pineapple tarts which uses egg yolk only and left with a lot of egg whites. So I was searching around for recipes that utilize egg whites only and chanced upon this recipe which the author named it 'Heavenly White Cake'. Just by the name, I like it already.

I tested out the recipe and the cake rised beautifully. It is also very moist and yummy. I loved it and decided to use it as the base cake for my strawberry shortcake.

:: Strawberry White Cake ::

White Cake Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.com

*The original recipe is for baking in 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan. I have adjusted the recipe for my 6 inch by 3 inch (height) round pan.

This cake is baked in my Morris tabletop oven.

White Cake Ingredients:

138g sifted cake flour (sift the flour 1st before weighing)

2 tsp baking powder

3/8 tsp salt

85g soften butter
100g sugar

150ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

50g sugar
2 medium sized egg white

How to do:

1. Line bottom and sides of the 6 inch round pan with parchment paper, set aside for later use.

2. Sift the sifted cake flour. baking power and salt together for three times and set aside for later use.

3. Place the soften butter (cut into smaller cubes) in a mixing bowl and cream it until smooth. You can either use a hand whisk or a mixer at the lowest speed.

4. Gradually add 100g sugar and continue to cream together till light and fluffy.   

5. Add the sifted ingredients from step 1 in about 4 installments, alternating with the milk and mix till well combined.

6. Add in vanilla extract and mix till well combined.

7. Cover mixing bowl with the flour mixture with cling wrap and set aside for later use.

8. Preheat the oven at 170 degree (if you have not already done so) 

9. In another mixing bowl, use the mixer to beat the egg whites until foamy.

10. Add 50g sugar and continue to beat till the meringue mixture becomes white and attain soft peak.

11. Add the meringue in step 8 to the flour mixture in step 6 and gently fold in the meringue till they are just combined.

12. Transfer the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface of the batter.

13. Drop the cake pan on a hard surface twice to release any trap bubbles of air.

14. Bake in the middle rack of the oven at 170 degree for 60 - 70 minutes. Insert a skewer into the cake and if comes out clean, the cake is done.

15. Invert onto a cooling rack and cool completely. Be careful as the cake is very soft and fragile when it is hot.

16. After cooling, cover with cling wrap and put inside the fridge for about 2-3 hours or more. Chilling the cake makes less fragile and easier to layer and frost.

*******

Filling & Frosting Ingredients:

A packet of strawberries 

1/2 tbsp honey

120ml non-diary whipping cream (I use Whip Topping from Redman)

How to do:

1. Pick out similar size and beautiful shaped strawberries. Quantity depends on how you want to decorate the top of the cake.

2. For the rest of the strawberries, cut into quarters (i.e. 4 small chunks each)

3. Add 1/2 tbsp cool down boil water to the honey and mix well. Soak the strawberries into the honey water for about 5 minutes. I have included this step as my strawberries are on the sour side. 

4. Pour the non-diary whipping cream into the mixing bowl and start beating with a mixer at high speed till it attain stiff peak.

*******

To assemble:

1. Slice the the cake into half horizontally.

2. Remove the top layer and set aside for later use.

3. Spread some whipped cream onto the surface of the bottom layer and place the cut strawberries on it. Cover strawberries layer with more whipped cream.

4. Replace the top layer and frost the sides and top of the cake with more whipped cream.

5. Use the whole strawberries set aside earlier for decorating the top of the cake.

:: Generous strawberry fillings ::

:: Moist & fluffy strawberry white cake ::

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I am linking this post to My Treasured Recipes #5 - Chinese New Year Goodies Jan/Feb 2015

Hosted by Miss B of Everybody Eats Well In Flanders 

and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House

Merry Christmas!! Fruit Cake in the House!

I have to admit...
I was never a big fan of fruit cake...

Most probably because my first encounter with fruit cake was not very pleasant. I vaguely remembered eating some fruit cake that my mom bought from neighborhood bakery. The fruit bits tasted so artificial and almost plastic-y. I have never touched a fruit cake since then..

Now that I started baking and chanced upon a  recipe that look easy enough, I thought it will be a good chance to change my perception of fruit cakes since I can control what to put into the fruit cake.

Recipe adapted from   Everybody Eats Well in Flanders

This cake is baked using my Toshiba Rice Cooker.

Ingredients:

Group A:
180g light brown sugar
240ml water
55g butter
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves  (I used 1/2 tsp ground spice because I can't find ground cloves)
1/2 tsp ground ginger
300g raisins  (I used mixed of Silver Bird Sultanas & Sunmaid Raisins)

Group B:
2 eggs, lighted beaten  (my eggs are approx. 50g each w/o shell)
195g multi-purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1tsp vanilla extract
50g dried cranberries
50g dried apricots  (cut to approx size of cranberries/raisins)
50g candied orange peels* (cut to approx size of cranberries/raisins)

*Click here on instructions on how to make candied orange peels.



How to do:

1. Pour all the ingredients under Group A except for raisins into a saucepan.
2. Use medium heat to stir till butter melted and everything well mixed.
3. Add in the raisins and bring to a boil.
4. Turn down the heat and let it simmer for about 5min.
5. After that, off the heat and set aside until it is lukewarm.

*******

6. Pour the Group A mixture into a mixing bowl.
7. Add in the ingredients in Group B and mixed well with a wooden spoon or spatula.
8. Grease the rice cooker inner pot with vegetable oil or butter and pour the mixture in.
9. This cake cooks in my Toshiba rice cooker for about 1.5 hours.
10. Once it's done, turn it out from the rice cooker and let it cool.

For storage, I wrapped in cling wrap, followed by aluminum foil and stored in the fridge.

:: Fruit Cake using Rice Cooker ::

I thought the fruit cake turned out beautifully. I had to wait for 1 day before cutting open it as the taste was supposed to be more settled after 1 day.

:: Beautiful Fruit Cake Slices ::

The fruit cake looked so beautiful, esp with the bits of orange colored peels and apricots. And the best part is, it tasted very moist and yummy! I am absolutely in love with fruit cakes now! I love it so much that I baked a few other batches to give to my friends.

:: Fruit Cakes using Oven ::

The above batch are done in petite loaf baking cups using oven. The recipe works well too! 

These petite loaf baking cups are 8cm by 4cm, 4.5cm height. I only have them filled to 1/3 and baked in the preheated oven at 180 degree for 15 min.

How It All Started...

It all started with me giving birth to my little sunshine and becoming a SAHM.

Apart from looking after my little one and of coz online shopping, I need to find more interesting to do while at home.. And so.. I started to toy with the idea of baking..

And so.. for the longest time, my mom has been telling me that our rice cooker can bake cakes. We have the same rice cooker. I have never thought of trying it before because in my reality, cakes are supposed to be bake in oven.

But since I am looking for something interesting to do and also to prove my mom's point, I started to search for recipes to bake cakes with rice cooker. And that is when I stumbled Miss B's blog: Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. 

I am very intrigued by her recipes especially those that can be done without a mixer. Sounds like just dump and bake,  very low risk for failure.. And so I tried her recipe for Rice Cooker Moist Chocolate Cake. I followed everything on her recipe and it really helps that I have the similar rice cooker as Miss B (mine is a Toshiba RC-10NMF) .

The cake was a great success and an instant hit with my family!

:: My 1st Rice Cooker Cake - Moist Chocolate Cake ::

After that a couple of days later, I tried another of her no brainer recipe: Rice Cooker Banana Cake. Again it was a success and my family loved it! 

:: Rice Cooker Banana Cake :: 

And so.. I started to look for more rice cooker baking recipes. A few weeks later, my mom bought a breadmaker and I started to experiment baking with the breadmaker (Song-Cho) & as well as my underutilized table top oven (Morries).

As I am still a newbie baker, one things I find very tiresome is that due to different appliances, the results of the baking could vary. So I have decided to start this blog 1) to document the recipes that I have tested & 2) to share with fellow newbies who could be using the same appliances as me and hope they find the info useful. 

That's all for my 1st post on my intention of this blog.

So happy baking, everyone!