Nutty Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

This is actually the second time that I have made this sponge. The first time I made it, I lined the side and the bottom of the cake pan. It shrank tremendously after cooling, and I really mean tremendously. The cake became really dense and not spongy at all. Perhaps, it is due to the eggs separation method used in the recipe. It is more of a method of making chiffon cake where you are not supposed to grease or line the pan. I believe the recipe would make a very good chiffon cake.

Anyway, as I love the taste of the cake, so I gave the recipe another try. This time, I only lined the bottom of the pan and inverted the pan while cooling down. The results are better, but because the cake bottom was lined, the bottom shrank quite a bit and pulled the baking paper away from the bottom of the pan. If I try the recipe again, I will use a pan with removable base and will not grease and line the pan or bake it as chiffon cake.

So far, I think beating whole eggs together is still the best method, as blogged in Chocolate Sponge Cake. Or maybe I should still use this recipe but making it differently.


Forgot to take picture of the whole cake, here's what left
of the cake when I remembered.

Sponge cake

Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks
• 20g sugar
• 80g milk
• 46g corn oil
• 100g cake flour
• 20g corn flour
• 4 tbsps ground hazelnut
• 6 egg whites
• 60g sugar

Method:

1. Line the bottom of an 8in round cake pan.
2. Sift cake flour and corn flour together. Set aside.
3. Beat egg yolks and 10g sugar until sugar is dissoved.
4. Add in oil and milk and stir well. 
5. Add in flour mixture followed by ground hazelnut and mix well. Set aside. 
6. Whisk egg whites with 30g sugar till soft peak forms.
7. Take 1/3 of the egg whites and mix into the egg yoks batter, make sure it is well mixed.
8. Take another 1/3 of egg whites and Fold into egg yolk batter slowly.
9. Repeat till the egg whites are finished and pour the batter into the side of pan (to get a flat top) and make sure that batter is level.
10. Bake at 180'C preheated oven for 35 minutes or till cook. 
11. Invert the pan immediately and let cool.

Chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

• 100g dark chocolate, with 70% cocoa mass
• 58g whipping cream (chilled)
• 174g whipping cream (chilled)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Some nuts (coarsely chopped) eg. pecans, walnuts, almonds, etc.

Method:

1. Melt the chocolate with the 58g whipping cream. Mix well and let it cool.
2. Whip 174g whipping cream until you see traces of beater's mark on the cream.
3. Mix in the chocolate mixture and vanilla and continue to beat a few more seconds till stiff peak.

Assembly:

1. Cut the cake into 3 layers.
2. Take 1 layer of the cake. Spread 1/4 of the cream on top of the cake.
3. Take another cake layer and place it on top of the first layer.  
4. Spread another 1/4 of the cream on top of the cake. Repeat until finish. I didn't cover the side. So, you need to trim the side to make it look nice.
5. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the cake.
6. Refrigerate to chill the ganache.
   

   I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #18: Layers of Love (April 2012) hosted by Sam of Sweet Samsations.

Chocolate Sponge Cake

I didn't have a high expectation of my success rate with this cake before I started. Surprisingly, I got it at the first try on the recipe. The texture is very very spongy, the taste is not overpowering, so it should be a good candidate for layer cakes. It is still a bit crumbly and moderately moist. I think that's because I substitute the glucose with honey. The recipe is adapted from Chocolate Sponge Cake - FoodHouse8.

Need to to try to get a flat top in the next bake...

 Ingredients:

• 203g whole eggs (make sure the eggs are not too cold or too close to room temperature. I have tried beating eggs right after they are out of the fridge and left to room temperature. Both didn't give me a good results of stabilized egg volumes.)
• 32g egg yolk
• 135g sugar
• 21g honey (Original recipe calls for glucose but I am not going to buy a tin of glucose just to use 21g, so I substitute with honey)
• 1g salt
• 32g corn oil
• 21g cocoa powder 
• 106g cake flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 21ml milk

Method:

1. Line the bottom (only) of an 8" round cake pan with grease proof paper.
2. Heat up corn oil until just warm. Add in cocoa powder and mix well, set aside.
3. Beat whole eggs, egg yolks, sugar and salt on high speed till foamy. (when you see big bubbles formed)
4. Add in glucose and continue beat on medium speed till the eggs batter in ribbon stage. (When you lift the beater, the beaten eggs will drop back to the bowl and stay for about 1 second before disappearing.)
5. Sift cake flour and baking soda, using the beater on low speed, mix about 3-4 rounds in 1 direction. Make sure no streak of flour can be seen.
6. With a spatula, take 1/3 of the batter and mix it into the cocoa mixture.
7. Pour in this mixture to the remaining batter, fold to combine well.
8. Add in milk and mix well.
9. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 35 minutes at 180C.
10. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmoulding.

Rising in the oven...

Still rising high, please do not collapse when you cool down...

After cooling down, luckily didn't shrink much...pheww



Nice texture...

Soft and spongy :)





Soft Banana Cake

2nd attempt...looks and tastes so much better

I have 3 medium sized eggs left from my previous bakes, have been thinking for a long time what to do with the eggs before they expired, until I saw Wen's favorite banana cake recipe. I have everything except banana, so I thought, okay just need to buy some bananas and I can have some banana cakes for breakfast. I don't quite have a very good success rate with sponge cake. They will shrink like there's no tomorrow when cooling down, after they are cooled, the cakes become really dense and not "spongy".

So, okay, I tried the recipe and have been thinking whether I should blog about it or try again as I found the cake a bit too wet, wet like oil oozing out from the cake, ok, ok maybe I am exaggerating, but I found it very oily. They are still soft but crumbly at the same time. And I know I did not mix the oil properly as the oil can be seen to have sank to the bottom. The sides of the cake becomes a bit chewy. They shrank a bit too when cooling.

Sighhh, I think need to get an oven thermometer soon, maybe my oven is too hot. I normally use the fan mode for cakes, thinking the temperature will be better distributed, so the inside of the cakes will be cooked properly.

The recipe comes from the link above and I followed them to the T. Maybe I'll try this again by reducing the oil.

 

The ingredients

 

Just got into the oven.

A tad bit worried, doesn't seem to rise much.

The texture is soft but a bit wet

Update 12 Nov 2015:
So I revisited this recipe with caution. I didn't expect much as I kinda have prepared for another failure. But somehow I told myself to give it another chance. And voila...surprise!!! The cake turned out surprisingly well...

The key here is to beat the egg-sugar-banana mixture until really fluffy and triple the volume...

Folding in flour and oil...

This is how the final batter looks like...

Just got into the oven...

Rising a bit more this time...:)

Uh...didn't shrink much...when I saw this, I knew this is a success...

After removing it from the baking tin...

Looks a bit wet in the middle...I think need to reduce the oil or mix the oil more thoroughly...

Bubur Lambuk

This porridge has never failed to amaze me, the infusion of flavours within itself is just oh sooo heavenly. During the Muslim fasting month, this porridge will be distributed free around Masjid Jamek in Kuala Lumpur. The major ingredients are mixed spices and coconut milk. Nothing complicated, it is a simple meal on its own but it's amazing how such a simple meal can have one of the best flavours, maybe that's why they said less is more.

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication -- Leonardo da Vinci



Ingredients: (serve 2)

• 100g white rice
• 100ml coconut milk (I just use those packed in tetra packaging)
• 250g shitake mushroom cube, chopped into bite-size pieces (the original recipe calls for beef, if you don't eat beef, I suppose you can substitute with chicken, but not sure how the taste will differ though. I am a vegetarian, so I used shitake mushrom cube because the texture and look are close to beef when cooked.)
• 1 stalk lemongrass
• 1 tbsp ghee (I replaced with oil)
• 1 tbsp oil
• salt to taste
• water (adjust according to how thick you want the porridge to be)
• fried shallot (optional - but, I bet the taste will be even nicer with it)

Spice mix:

• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 pieces cloves
• 1/2 piece star anise
• 1 piece cardamom

Pounded ingredients:

• 1/2 inch ginger
• 3 shallot
• 3 garlic

Blended ingredients:

• 1/2 tsp cumin seed
• 1/2 tsp coriander seed
• 1/2 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorn

Method:

1. Heat oil and ghee. Add pounded ingredients and stir fry till fragrant.
2. Add spice mix, blended ingredients and shitake mushroom cubes. Cook till the cubes are tender.
3. Pour in water. Add lemongrass and rice. Bring rice and water to a boil, reduce heat and simmer till rice turns into the texture of a porridge.
4. Add coconut milk and season to taste with salt.
5. Serve with a sprinkle of fried shallots on top.