Durian chiffon roll

  It's been ages since I updated my blog because I have been lazy and also busy with uni,moving back and settling down. All is done, now I am free to update. I got my results yesterday and I am proud to announce that I will finally graduate!!!woo hooo. I will definitely miss Sydney though but then again, home is home. I am still trying to adjust myself back here in Malaysia because things have changed since I left 4.5 years ago. Suddenly I feel like a Sydneysider,lol. I miss the winter and actually prefer the cold compared to the heat in Malaysia. It's an absolute nightmare. Safety in Malaysia is getting from bad to worse etc. I have baked quite a lot over the few months/weeks that I have been missing but never had the time to take proper pictures. Lately, I have had this huge obsession over chiffon cakes and sponge cakes so I have been spending time 'collecting' recipes over the internet from Chinese and Indonesian websites. The Chinese, Japanese & Indonesians have their own versions of chiffon and sponge cakes. So far, the Indonesian recipes have worked well for me. Will have to practice on the Chinese and Japanese ones as well. I prefer chiffon cakes over sponge cakes because I feel sponge cakes are little drier compared to chiffon cakes, I may be wrong but from what I have made and eaten, Chiffon cakes are moist,fluffy, light like eating cotton cakes. 

My perfect chiffon roll, 2nd attempt in making it in 24hours.

Yesterday's distorted durian chiffon roll. It  somehow had cracks when I rolled it . So when I sliced it , the slices turned out like the ones in the picture below. I had to chill it for another 2-3 hours to be able to slice perfect slices.

I adapted the cake slightly from here and made my own durian filling

Chiffon roll:
(A)
5 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
75ml oil
100ml milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
125g cake flour

(B)
5 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon salt
80g caster sugar
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Durian filling: (make this ahead of time and place in the fridge to chill)
1 teaspoon gelatin powder
5 teaspoon water
125g durian flesh
150ml whipping cream
50g icing sugar

1. Durian filling - Mix gelatin and water. Warm mixture in the microwave for 1-2 minutes to dissolve the gelatin. It should be just warm not hot.Allow to cool completely (defrost setting) 
2. Blend the durian flesh until smooth.
3. Whip the cream, sugar, and gelatin mixture until stiff peaks. Fold in durian puree. Chill
4. Chiffon roll -Grease and line a 30x30 cm pan. Preheat oven at 180C.
5. (A) Whisk yolks,vanilla extract and sugar until very thick,pale and fluffy ( Ribbon stage) about 10minutes. Add milk,oil and flour and continue mixing until well combined.
6. (B) In another bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy then add salt and cream of tartar. Add sugar gradually until stiff peaks.
7. Take 1/4 of the meringue and mix in (A). Then pour the batter into (B) and fold until well combined.
8. Pour batter into a prepared tin and level the batter evenly in the tin.
9. Bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from oven,run a sharp knife through the sides of the tin and turn the cake on a cooling rack. Allow it to cool slightly before using a new baking paper to roll the unfilled chiffon sheet, leave it for a few mins (less than 5 mins) before unrolling it back. Let it cool completely before spreading the durian filling evenly on top, because not to over spread the filling on the chiffon sheet, carefully roll it back again and chill for 2-3 hours. Slice the sides off and then slice generous slices for yourself to enjoy! =)

Coffee cake with vanilla buttercream

Next week this time, it would time for me to leave for Sydney again for my final semester.Finally! I love my cakes very much.I realised I don't really fancy desserts and pastries as much as a simple home baked cakes with anything but cheap gross margarine that most bakeries use in Malaysia.It's quite sad. This cake was adapted from Alex Goh's Creative Making of Cakes. I find his recipes work really well.

Coffee Sponge cake

(A)

160g sugar

15g cake emulsifier

(B)

5 eggs

125g cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

(C)

40ml water

(D)

75g melted butter

1. Line baking tin with butter and place a round baking parchment at the bottom of the baking pan.
2. Pour (A) into the mixing bowl and mix well.
3. Add (B) and whip till thick.
4. Stir in (C) with the batter.
5. Whip the batter till light and fluffy
6. Mix (D) will well incorporated. Pour into 2-8" round baking moulds. Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 30 minutes.Once baked,remove cakes immediately from the moulds.

Vanilla buttercream

250g unsalted butter

90g icing sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Using a whisk attachment on stand mixer, whisk butter until light and pale.
2. Gradually add the icing sugar & vanilla.
3. Continue to whisk for another 2 minutes until cream is light and fluffy.

To assemble cake:

1. With a serrated knife, cut each cake layer in half, horizontally.
2. Place one of the cake layers, top of the cake facing down, onto a serving platter.
3. Spread the cake layer with a layer of frosting. Place another layer of cake on top of the frosting and continue to frost and stack the cake layers.

Custard Chiffon Cake

UPDATE [9-SEPT-2012]

I made this cake again after a few months and I still think this is my all time favourite cake to eat as a snack. This time, I used 175g SR flour and 1/3 cup custard powder instead of 1/4cup which is 35 grams and it still tasted great. It probably needed to be in the oven for another 10 minutes on a lower temperature of 160 C because it was slightly on a moister side of a chiffon cake.

This has been the cake recipe I have tested in the longest time,I could make this all the time and eat it. I purposely made a whole cake to take with me for my travels to Sri Lanka and it finished within three days.

Excuse me for having writer's block at the moment.I came home exhausted from an odd timing flight to find my favourite one (my dog) with maggots and wounds all over her back. Pretty much with no rest I am here sharing you the recipe. Well I just had to share the recipe because it was simply the best cake I have tested so far.

Adapted from MMCC

200g self raising flour

2 teaspoon cream of tartar
35g custard powder

6 large eggs, separated

345g caster sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

80ml vegetable oil

170ml warm water

• Preheat oven to 180C. You will need an ungreased angel cake tin (not a non stick one as well).Do NOT grease it.
• Sift the flour,1 teaspoon of cream of tartar and custard powder three times to ensure they are fully combined.
• In an electric mixer,whisk egg yolks with 230g of sugar until pale and creamy, then add the vanilla extract.Pour the oil and warm water into a jug. While the yolks are still whisking on low speed, add the flour mixture and the oil & water at the same time, whisking until just incorporated.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add the remaining sugar & remaining cream of tartar and continue to whisk until the egg whites are stiff but not dry. Very carefully fold the batter into the egg whites with a metal spoon until just incorporated.
• Pour mixture into the cake tin. Bake for 1hour 15minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into cake.
• After removing the cake from the oven, immediately invert it to cool by balancing the middle funnel onto a bottle neck. It is important for the cake to be inverted and suspended upside down until it is cool to stop it from collapsing.
• When cool, run a knife around the outside of the cake and the funnel. Left the base out of the tin, then use the knife to ease the cake off the base.

Sponge cake with vanilla buttercream frosting

Adapted from Creative Making of Cake-Alex Goh

Traditional Sponge cake

(A)

5 eggs

250g caster sugar

(B)

120g cake flour

(C)

80g corn oil

• Put (A) in a mixing bowl and whip till light and fluffy,double in size





• Fold in (B) and mix till well blended.
• Stir in (C) and mix until well incorporated. Pour batter into a well lined with butter & flour/greaseproof paper baking tin.
• Bake in a preheated oven of 180 C for 30 minutes.
• Remove from tin immediately after removing from oven.

Vanilla buttercream

150g unsalted butter,softened slightly

100g icing sugar

A teaspoon vanilla extract

• Cream butter,sugar & vanilla extract from 5 minutes until pale and frosting just have the grainy feeling.
• Frost completely cooled cake.