Coffee Chiffon Cake

Very soft and fluffy ...

Marrying coffee and my favourite chiffon cake. The result is wonderful and my picky eldest loves it.

Most of the chiffon cake recipes out there state that the egg white should be beaten till stiff peak and must use the rubber spatula to fold the egg white to the egg yolk mixture. The truth is I never managed to fold the stiff peak egg white evenly with the rubber spatula. Also most recipes mentioned that you should bang the cake pan against the work top a few time to get rid of the big bubble inside the batter and then pour the batter slowly into the cake pan to get rid of the small butter. Well, I never managed to get rid of all the bubbles with this method, too. 

Fed up of that, I finally decided I will beat the egg white only till soft peak, use the hand whisk to stir in the meringue and use the hand whisk to burst the bubbles after I have poured the batter into the cake pan. This method get me helped mixed the meringue and yolk mixture evenly and get rid of the bubbles much easily. Of course, you have to be careful not to deflate the meringue while using the whisk to do the work. The trick is to stir in one direction and do it in as less stir as possible.

Ingredient

4 egg yolks (I used 60gm eggs)

25g castor sugar

20g corn oil

65g coffee (I used my Nescafe Latte capsule to make the coffee)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

80g cake flour

4 egg white (I used 60gm eggs)

60g castor sugar

Method

Egg yolk mixture:

1) Using hand mixer, whisk egg yolks and 25g castor sugar till thick and pale.

2) Add corn oil, vanilla extract and coffee, continue to whisk till well combined.

3) Sift cake flour into the mixture. Change to a wire whisk and whisk till just evenly mixed. Set aside.

Egg white (meringue):

1) Wash mixer whisk and bowl thoroughly. Ensure no residue of oil and water.

2) Whisk egg white till it foams up (small air bubble).

3) Gradually add 60g castor sugar while continuing to whisk. Keep whisking till form soft peak.

4) Add egg white to yolk mixture in 3 batches. Use wire whisk to stir gently (not whisk) in one direction till mixture is just evenly mixed, without streaks of egg whites. Ensure bottom of mixture is also well mixed by using the spatula and "dig" the batter up.

5) Pour mixture into cake pan slowly. Then use the wire whisk and stir in one direction for 2-3 round to get rid of the bubbles in the batter.

6) Gently wiggle the cake pan or use a spatula to level the top. Levelled top will produce less crack during the rising when baking in the oven.

7) Bake at 150 degree Celsius till cake is golden brown and slightly springy, about 30min according to my oven behaviour and my oven does not need preheating. Larger cake may take longer time.

8) When done, remove from oven and immediately cool on wire rack with the cake pan turned upside down.

Adapted from my http://dishforkids.blogspot.sg/2014/11/improved-pandan-chiffon-cake.html

Still did not properly get rid of the bubbles ... -_-"

Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Macadamia Nuts

Once you pop, you can't stop!

 Ingredients

400gm raw macadamia nuts
1 egg white (small or medium size egg)
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder (or to taste)

Method

1) Whisk egg white and vanilla extract together with hand whisk till frothy and foamy.

2) Add in nuts and mix well. Ensure all nuts are coated with egg white. Discard excess egg white.

3) Mix all sugar and cinnamon powder together. Then add in the coated nuts to the dry ingredient and mix well.

4) Line a baking sheet with aluminium foil or any baking paper that is non-stick. Add in nuts onto baking sheet with the aluminium foil, in one layer.

5) Bake in preheated oven at 150 degree Celsius for about 20-25 minutes. Check every 10 minutes to ensure they are not burnt. Stir and flip the nuts once you see the top layer is browned, mine is at about after 10 minutes of baking. Continue to bake for another 10-15 minutes.

6) Remove from oven. Let it cool before storing it.

I have small round oven, so I have to bake in two batches.

Recipe adapted from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sW4DrHjkyAQ

Nutella Bread

It stays soft the next day ... 

This is not the standard sliced bread size but slightly smaller. It s better to proof as one whole dough in a standard loaf pan, instead of cutting it to half and make 2 breads.

Ingredients

210ml cold fresh milk
300gm bread flour
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant dried yeast
25gm unsalted butter (softened)
3 tbsp nutella

Method

1) Use the mixing bowl, add in milk, bread flour, castor sugar, salt and instant dried yeast, in that order. Careful not to let the yeast come into contact with the salt before mixing.

2) Use the dough hook of the kitchen machine or stand mixer, start kneading with low speed. I used Philip kitchen machine alternating between speed 1 and 2.

3) Knead until dough come together, about 5 minutes. Stop the mixer. Rub the butter into dough. Rubbing the butter into dough allow the butter to be incorporated easier and faster. It's ok if you don't want to dirty hand and just throw in the butter.

4) Continue to knead at low speed until butter is thoroughly incorporated. Add in nutella spread.

5) Knead the dough until it can be stretched to a thin membrane before it breaks. It took my kitchen machine about 12-15 minutes, alternating between speed 1 and 2.

6) When the dough is ready, remove from mixing bowl. Shape the dough into rectangular dough and put into a loaf pan. Since I don't have a loaf pan, I cut the dough into half and shape into 2 rectangular dough and put into a 7"x7" square cake pan. Do not over-work the dough at this point.

7) Let it rise until at least double the size. Time depend on how warm the environment. I turned on my microwave at high for 20 seconds, then turn it off. Put the cake pan with the shaped dough into the turned off microwave and closed the door. It took about 1.5 -  2 hours for it to rise till it reaches the brim of the pan.

8) Bake at preheated oven 170 degree C for 20-25 minutes. Note that this is just the reference setting from the original recipe. Different oven will have different behaviour. My convection oven did not need preheating, and I baked it at 150 degree C for 25 minutes. If you do not know what to put, it is safer to bake at lower temperature for longer time. When the top is browned, it is done.

9) Remove from oven and cool on wire rack before slicing with a sharp knife.

This is the original recipe shared by a friend which uses bread machine