Coffee Pudding Cake - Caffeine Cakes #2

Many years ago, Jusco's bakery had this pudding cake that I really adore. I will never fail to get at least one box each time. But it's not cheap, I think it's RM4.99 for a few bites, say about 4X4 only. I always feel unsatisfied with just one box.

Soft sponge, with a custard/pudding like jelly filling and a slightly bitterish coffee top. I'm in heaven.

Torta Dulce de Las Tres Leches - DDL Week # 1

Recipe tried out in March 2011.

Long fancy name huh, LOL. Simplified, translated it's a 3 milk cake with Dulce De Leche. Refer here if you want to make your own DDL.

I modified the recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I love the idea of a sponge soaked in milk, muahahahaha! So so sinful. Usually this cake is soaked with evaporated, fresh and condensed milk. But Rose's version ditched the evaporated milk and used cream. I love cream!!!! And I on ther other hand ditched the condensed milk and used DDL. Muahahahahah! I think by now non dairy lovers would have scrammed from my blog.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

For mothers out there, pregnancy is a wonderful experience. The changes that one goes thru thoughout the pregnancy is sometimes weird and unanticipated.

I've heard of people eating toothpaste, eating shoe polish or some find clay to be tasty. Disgusting, right? But I've only heard about such incidences where those people actually consume a limited diet, and they might be malnourished in some way and the body makes then comsume something that in nature contains the nutrient that the mother so needed. I've never heard of funny stories from people who lived in town, or consumes a veriety of food and never impoverished.

In one of the schools I worked in before, the school cleaner once chatted with me, about how she survived all her pregnancies craving for toothpaste, consuming only cream crackers with chilli paste and drinking only tap water for 9 months!! The rest are all, yucks to her. And she was the one who told me stories about people who eat funny stuff, and those people are relatives of hers.  Hard to believe? But I guess it could be true. Just that we are too privileged to be in contact with people who are never deprived of proper food.

When I was pregs with Lydia, from week 5 onwards, I was binging. Eating meals, not snacks every 3 hours. I gained 4 kg in just 2 weeks. Mike looked at me in horror, to see the way that I'm eating.I told him, I can't help it, my tummy is growling furiously.  But when week 7 came by, my appetite dropped drastically. I could eat nothing except fruits. Food made from rice were the worse. From congee to vermicelli, they all smell yucks! I could look at a burger, just look. I don't feel like picking it up. And if I pick it up, I won't feel like biting. And if I finally bit into it, I don't feel like chewing. After chewing, I don't want to swallow it. The whole eating process is just a torture to me. But if I see fruits, I can eat and eat. I dropped 7 kg throughout this difficult period. Which was 3 kg less compared to pre pregnancy. If I wasn't binging during early pregnancy, I'd lose even more.

Actually that time, my hormones were all crazy and I was having bad constipation. Constipation during pregnancy is due to the increment of progesterone. It's the way that my body reacted and helped me to overcome the problem that I was facing by rejected all foods except fruits. Taking in whatever that is needed to help the mother. When the constipation stopped at week 14, my appetite came back, in a snap! Even now, I totally believe in listening to my body. Eat when it tells u to, and don't eat when it doesn't tell u to. So, if I crave, there's no excuse for not eating. That's one pretty good excuse. Hahahaha!

This time, the pregnancy affected not my appetite, but my kitchen mojo. It hit me so bad that I don't want to wash my cup. I didn't want to touch the sink, didn't want to cook anything at all. I didn't bake anything out of fun, but only out of neccesity. I was craving for something with coconut milk, so I made and oil-less pandan chiffon. It was Mike's birthday and  I made him Chocolate Enigma Cake. With the extra cream from the cake, I baked another cake (I'll post that within this week) And I did a sponsored post with a health product that I've promised way before my pregnancy. I didn't cook a proper meal for almost 4 months!! We were eating out daily. Now that I'm at week 22, I'm pretty much the old me now. Not all there, but almost. Still not cooking 3 dishes 1 soup, but one plate meals mostly, like noodles, pasta, fried rice, and congee mostly. Won't call them one pot meals as cooking rice uses one pot and frying uses another wok. LOL.

Funny right? Hard to believe? I was still posting daily, right? hahaha! What you are seeing were usually posts so stale that they were made months ago. Haha! I still have lots of back logs to last me til I move in March.

So now, if you think that this bun in me is a sausage roll, which explained the different pregnancy experience, nah!!! Even Lydia and Lyanne weren't the same. Being pregs with Lyanne was a breeze. I loved food, especially white plain rice during the first 3 months, whereas I hated rice when I had Lydia. Both were burgers, and yet, different. Even now, both girls are very different. One is lingustic, the other technical and artistic. Haha.

Enough pregs talk, let's food talk.
This is the first thing I made, right after I got back my mojo at week 16. And I attempted this recipe twice.

First attempt flopped bad time. Simply because I read in one of the comments that aunty Yochana said the baking powder has to be double action baking powder, whereas the recipe itself called for only baking powder. My first attempt used DABP and weirdly the muffin was super dense and tasted sourish. I’ve encountered this when I simply substituted regular baking powder with DABP and my baking results were always less than acceptable.

So, with some pumpkin left, immediately I did my 2nd attempt with just regular baking powder. The results were wonderful, all smiling happily and they were all soft and fluffy. I’m now wondering how the taste will be with coconut milk… maybe next time.

Steamed Pumpkin Muffins

Adapted from Aunty Yochana

Yields12 steamed muffins (I used egg tart pans)

125gm steamed pumpkin flesh

1 egg

120gm sugar

100gm evaporated milk or coconut milk

30gm corn oil

180gm cake flour

20gm rice flour

1.5tsp baking powder

1. Prepare your steamer and bring the water to a boil

2. Put steamed pumpkin flesh, egg, sugar, milk and oil in blender and whizz for 30 seconds.

3. Sift cake flour, rice flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl.

4. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour the blended ingredients into the well. Mix until well combined.

5. Spoon into lined steaming cups and steam on high heat for 15 minutes. It will bloom by itself, no need to make a cross with oil.

Verdict:

I love this. My kids love this. My hubby the pumpkin hater said nothing. But please don't ask me if this taste like Fatt Gou, I have no idea. I've never eaten a proper fatt gou in my life, except once, a very very dry yucky one. The muffin stays soft the next day, not as soft as fresh from the steamer, but acceptable even when cold.

See Lydia's thumb????

LOL

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken

A very sinful chicken. 3 salted duck egg yolks and butter and deep fried chicken!!!! Prepare less sinful dishes to go with this to balance up your meal.

You may think, what is this woman cooking such unhealthy stuff to her family??? Well, I don’t cook this everyday!!!! So what??? I don’t believe in cutting off everything totally. I believe in moderation.
I may eat KFC today and salad tomorrow. It’s when you eat rich and oily foods everyday that’s going to put a burden on your body. But depriving the body totally of such GOOOOOD stuff is so evil.

But then again, I’m not referring to those who have health problems. So don’t bombard me with comments scolding me. What you put on your plate and in your mouth is your own choice. It’s me being evil to deprive myself.

You may also think 3 salted egg yolks???? Gosh!!!! The salted egg taste is just nice. I’ve seen on cooking shows that restaurants use 6 egg yolks for one plate of crab. SIX!!!!!!!!
So, 3 yolks is just nice here.

Salted Egg Yolk Chicken
Recipe Source: Wendyywy

(A)
350gm boneless whole chicken leg, cut into 1 inch thick large slices
1/3 tsp salt
Pepper
1 egg white
1 cup tapioca starch
Oil for deep frying

Dry chicken properly. Mix chicken with salt and pepper. Then put in egg white. Marinate for half an hour, at least. Coat whole pieces of chicken with tapioca starch. Dust off extra starch.
Deep fry chicken pieces until golden and crispy.

2 Tbsp butter
2 sprigs curry leaves, remove from stem, leaves only
1 or 2 bird’s eye chilli, sliced
3 salted egg yolks, steamed and mashed
2 Tbsp evaporated milk
1 tsp oil
1/3 tsp salt
½ tsp sugar

In wok, on medium heat , put in oil and butter. When butter has melted, put in sliced chilli and curry leaves. When they are fragrant, put in mashed egg yolks, with spatula, try to flatten the yolks into the oil and cook until it look bubbly and fragrant (won’t take long). Turn heat to low and put in milk, salt and sugar. Turn heat to high and and cook until very bubbly. Put in chicken and toss until well coated.


So, what did I do with the balance of salted egg whites?? Check out my next post tomorrow :)

Cocopandan Cake

Adapted from TiffinBiru

I saw this cake long ago, but not from TiffinBiru. I forgot where I saw it before, but I remember the name being cocopandan cake, and it uses desicated coconut for the cake.

I had some fresh grated coconut, not exactly fresh, but frozen from the fresh coconut. I couldn’t finish the coconut, and I forgot what I used it for before this and it was kept frozen until the day before I made this. I planned for this cake cos I need to wait for the pandan juice to separate.So, when I see the juice is almost ready, I brought the frozen coconut from the freezer down to the fridge to thaw overnight. The next day, the juice is ready and the coconut thawed, I’m ready to make this.

I reduced the liquid used cos I used moist grated coconut and I increased the volume of the coconut used, cos this is not dry. You see when anything dry is reconstituted with liquid, it expands, so, I used more in volume for fresh coconut. If you want to use dessicated coconut, please use half cup of it and increase both pandan juice and evaporated milk to 125ml EACH.

If you cannot find fresh pandan juice, and would want to use pandan paste/flavouring, please do not use evaporated milk but substitute the combined amount (125+125) of evaporated milk and pandan juice with fresh milk (250ml).

Any butter cake I do, that uses the egg white separation method, always gives me a"holey" cake, but, it's softer than cakes made with creaming method.


Cocopandan Cake

(A)
200gm self raising flour, sifted
100gm fresh grated coconut (about 1 cup)
75ml concentrated pandan juice
75ml full cream evaporated milk (Ideal brand)
125gm butter
100gm sugar
2 egg yolks

(B)
2 egg whites
½ tsp cream of tartar
50gm sugar

1. Preheat oven at 160/180C. Prepare 2 loaf pans (3X6) or one 7 inch square pan or 1 8 inch round pan. Line the base.
2. Combine pandan juice and evaporated milk, set aside.
3. Beat (B) until stiff enough to defy gravity when overturned, but still has droopy peaks. Set aside.
4. With the same beaters, beat butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Put in egg yolks one after the other, beating well and scrape the bowl after each addition.
5. Put in ½ of (2) and beat until well combined, it’ll only take a while. Put in half of the sifted flour and mix.
6. Put in balance of (2) and mix. Put in balance of flour and mix.
7. Put in grated coconut and mix.
8. Put 1/3 of beaten egg whites into batter and FOLD.
9. Put in another 1/3 and FOLD.
10. FOLD in final batch of egg whites.
11. Pour batter evenly onto prepared pans and bake for 40 minutes (loaf pans) or 50-60mins for single pans, or until skewer inserted comes out clean.

My 2 loaf pans gave me a 3 inch cake (the middle dome), so if you like higher cakes, just make one huge loaf.

I’m a coconut and pandan lover, and guess what? I super “not hate” this cake :)
I love this cake more than my Pandan Butter Cake which was adapted from Aunty Yochana.

But I think I'll definately put in more grated coconut the next time I make this, so that it'll be like what Tiffinbiru describes it as, a "coconut candy-like" cake. It's hard to get a bite on the coconut bits, or maybe I should've stuck to the dessicated coconut thingy.

Anyway, this cake's a true keeper. I'll make this the next time I'm craving for something pandan and coconutty.

Cassava Cake, not kuih

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Yes, cassava cake, not cassava kuih. This is cake, soft and fluffy like a cake. Not fluffy like sponge cake, but like a butter cake, at least not as dense like kuih.

Sigh… my cake smelt of durian. The reason? My FIL kept some durians, not air tight, in the freezer where I kept 10 blocks of butter. What can I say…???? Nothing, just kept quiet. I only realized the butter smelt of durian when I took a piece and used. The whole batter smelt of durian….when baked, it still smell and tasted durian, bit not too much, but it’s distracting.

Inspired by Mat Gebu. I adapted from his adaptation from AlongRoz (myresipi.com) who adapted from Mesra.net. BTW, is this AlongRoz the same Roz from HomeKreation?

His recipe uses yellow food colouring, but mine didn’t, cos I used yellow cassava. Feel free to use some colouring, if you wish to.

As for the cassava, I measured it after I peeled, grated and squeezed it. Before I squeezed it, it felt wet, but after I squeezed it, it was as moist as freshly grated coconut. Not too dry though. And I packed it tight into a measuring cup, to see how much it’ll be. Cos I found that some tapioca planted elsewhere may have a higher amount of moisture. Therefore it is hard to gauge how much to use in weight before squeezing. So, I measured it after I squeezed, and use volume rather than weight to measure for the sake of those having moist cassavas.

Cassava Cake
Adapted from Mat Gebu who adapted from AlongRoz (myresipi.com)

190gm butter
160gm sugar
3 large eggs
½ Tbsp vanilla extract
½ cup evaporated milk (I used so much more, cos I read wrongly, but not a bad decision :p)
140gm self raising flour (or substitute with 140gm cake flour + 1/2 Tbsp baking powder)
1 cup packed tightly, finely grated squeezed dry cassava (about 300gm, how much it weighs depends on how dry it is)

1. Preheat oven at 160/180C.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Put in eggs, one by one, beating well after each addition.
4. Put in vanilla and beat for a while.
5. Put in half the flour and mix, then half the milk. Repeat the flour and milk sequence.
6. Fold in grated cassava.
7. Pour batter into a lined 9 inch square pan (You can use 8 inch, just that you’ll get a higher cake, I like mine shorter)
8. Level the surface and bake for 40 mins or until surface is golden and toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Verdict:
Something’s missing, just like when we bake with pandan, coconut is a must. Maybe same goes for this. I think I’ll either replace the evaporated milk with coconut milk or put in freshly grated coconut. And I’ll definitely reduce the butter in this. A bit too oily in my opinion. 115gm may have been enough. The sweetness is just nice, no need to adjust.

Sweet Corn Sherbet

When I was a kid, I don't think I've eaten much of those creamy creamy milky ice creams. I grew up eating sherbets, an ice cream that does not contain "cream", but milk. It's not creamy, but it's not grainy.

When I was 5, Kindergarden ends at 4.30pm. Then I'll be home by 4.40pm. Then dinner at 5 to 5.30pm. I'd be sitting at the front door, on MY small rattan chair, getting fed by Grandaunt. I'll see this ice cream lady pushing her ice cream cart everyday, passing by my house during my dinner time. And without fail, grandaunt will get me 10 sen worth of "ice cream", put into my empty drinking cup for later consumption after I finish my meal.

Brings back a lot of memories when I made this. It made me feel like a 5 year old again.
What about you?

My husband loved this, he said, it's better than those creamy creamy ice creams. Maybe it brings back childhood memories for him too. And to my surprise, my ice cream loving Lydia, didn't take a 2nd lick at this. She didn't like it. She prefers creamy ice cream, that most kids nowadays are so accustomed to.

It feels cold, yes, cold from the inside after I ate these 2 scoops after I took pictures of it. So, it's really perfect for a hot hot day.

Sweet Corn Sherbet Recipe

250ml evaporated milk
500ml water
250gm creamed corn
100gm sugar

1. Cook everything together until it comes to a boil.
2. Leave to cool. (you can just mix everything together, but I'd rather bring it a boil first)
3. Put in a freezer proof bowl and put in freezer.
4. Let it freeze until it is the outer ring is frozen, take it out and whizz with a hand held mixer to break up the ice.
5. Repeat process another hour later. (itmakes the ice crystals more friendly to the blender later)
6. When everything seems half frozen, whizz it with an immersion blender or break it up into a regular blender and whizz til fine.
7. Pack into freezable containers and keep frozen.

Corn Custard Cream Puffs

An order from neighbour Maria

The custard don't look smooth becos of the creamed corn in it. Mouthfeel is fine.

Corn Custard Cream Puff

Choux balls

Refer here

Corn Custard filling
200ml evaporated milk
200ml water
200gm creamed corn
70gm sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 Tbsp custard powder

1. Beat sugar and eggs together. Mix in custard powder and flour. Combine to be a smooth paste.
2. Bring evaporated milk and water to a boil in a saucepan. Pour hot milk mixture over eggs mixture, slowly, stirring at the same time.
3. Return the mixture to the saucepan and on low heat, cook until it thickens.
4. Pour in creamed corn and mix. Let it come to a boil, on low heat, stirring all the time.
5. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl, cover with cling film and chill.


These choux balls are waiting to be filled

Filled and packed

Excuse me that I use some of them for posing

and here's how it looks inside

Mung Bean Soup

Mung beans, or some call it green beans here, the direct ranslation from Kacang hijau or 禄豆.
Being Malaysians… we love our desserts laced with the fragrance of pandan… which differs it from our pre-migration ancestors.

My brother is one of those who can’t take mung beans. It evokes his asthma. Chinese says the mung bean is cooling to the body, and one of my friend, Candy Soo, told me, to boil this for 7 hours if u want to get rid of the cooling effect. 7 hours! Kill me, but do that if u want, in a slow cooker.

This mung bean soup uses palm sugar as one of its sweeteners….
Palm sugar + coconut milk = heavenly
And u may substitute the coconut milk here with evaporated milk/creamer, if u have probs with that nutty white extract.

I’m trying to stop all the guesstimation when cooking now….especially when it comes to desserts.

I’ve found that to make 1L of this soup, I need 100gm. Today I used 200gm, so I made 2L of it. Mung beans cook much faster than red beans, so it need not be soaked.

You may substitute the pandan fragrance by using 1 or 2 drops of vanilla.

200gm mung beans

2L water

Few blades of pandan, washed , torn into shreds, and tied into a knot.

100gm palm sugar

120gm sugar

½ cup thick coconut extract (abt ½ coconut)

My Pandan leaves are all wrinkled,
dried out in the fridge, but it's still usable.

1. Bing water to a boil, rinse mung beans and put them together with pandan knot into the boiling water.

2. Cover pot and simmer on low heat for 2 hours.

3. Bring it to high heat for 15 minutes, pot uncovered. Be there to watch. You might need to add some water if the water is greatly reduced.

4. Put in palm sugar and cook until it is completed melted. Taste and adjust with sugar according to preference.

5. Turn off heat and leave pot uncovered for 5 minutes. Put in coconut milk and stir.

6. Serve chilled or warm.

Bringing it to high heat for the last 15 minutes will bring out the starch in the bean, thus making the soup thicker w/o having too much beans in it.

You may put in tapioca/sago pearls in it if u want it even thicker. 2 Tablespoons is sufficient. But I find that when chilled, this soup will be way too thick with tapioca pearls. Don’t forget that mung beans contains starch of their own, unlike red beans/adzuki.

Longan Tofu

Days are hot now!!! Why not cool down a bit with some longan tofu.. Why isn't this called Longan Soybean Jelly?? Well, it's because the texture is as soft as tofu. Soft, slippery, destructs at the slightest pressure in the mouth.

I learnt to make this after eating some at my friend, Alyssa's home. Her mom made this from scratch,.... as in extracting the soy milk from the beans to the end product. I did it that way too.... 15 years ago. And wringing the milk from the finely blended soy beans is so tedious that it tore the skin of my palms, my brother's palms and my mother's palms.. Why so, cos we had to hold on so tight to the slippery muslin bag, and when u wring it with such strength, it just tore our skins.. just like what happens in a tug of war.

I changed the recipe a bit from what I was taught. I prefer the milk less pronounced and the texture to be softer, almost like tofufah. Now, I just use bought soy milk.. no more soaking, blending and wringing. Some tofu sellers sell thick soy milk, or u can buy the hot milk from soy milk hawkers. The iced one is watered down.

1 level Tbsp Agar-agar powder (8gm)

1L water
250gm sugar
2 blades pandan leaf, tied into a knot
1L thick unsweetened soy milk
150ml evaporated milk
150ml canned longan syrup (from the longan can)
Canned longans


****Makes abut 10 cups of tofu


1. Prepare containers / jelly cups. Place 2 longans or more into each container.
2. Cook sugar, 750ml water and pandan leaf until water boils.
3. Mix agar-agar powder with 250ml water and pour into (2). Bring to a boil again, simmer for another 2-3 minutes. Turn off heat.

4. Put in soy milk, evaporated milk and longan syrup. Mix well.

5. Pour soy mixture into prepared containers.
6. Let them cool down and set. Chill in fridge before serving.

*** the longans in the pics are put on top for deco. There're longans in the tofu/jelly.