Return of the baker...

Wow! You know what, I have been neglecting my blog for months now, haven't I? My bad and yes, I know I promised Green Tea (Matcha) Sponge Cake before I left and I did bake it, in fact I baked 2 with different method. The short way then the long way. Both were YUM but personally, I prefer the texture of the 1st one, the quicker one than the second one which requires half an hour of hand-whisking. Anyway, besides Match Sponge Cake, I have baked lots of other stuff within these months away too.

I went back to Malaysia for 3 weeks and made some really nice classics with my mom. Beautiful. We made Spiral Curry Puffs, Steamed Taro Cake, Parmesan Chiffon Cake, Old Fashioned Orange Butter Cake... They all turned out wonderful. Out of all of them, I fancy the butter cake the most! The whole house was filled with the buttery aroma, literally. And everyone was happy, I shared some with the neighbours and even a 2 year-old praised me for it. It's always good to make people happy with your food, it's the kinda inner joy which words can't really express.

Since I last updated my blog mentioning that my life was upside down and I wasn't very happy about this new place as well as how everything is around here. Well, nothing has changed much but there's no need to whine further. I'm about to sort them out soon, REAL soon. For now, why not we share some recipes here, shall we?

In fact I adopted my 1st Green Tea Sponge Cake (Kasutera) recipe from this site. This is the 1st I baked and thought the colour and outlook weren't quite what I expected, the taste was great though. I would encourage anyone to try this first and if you're not so particular about the look of it, then it's good. It's a keeper. Since I have linked this post to the website I'm not gonna repeat the recipe as it was my first Kasutera and I didn't change a thing, except maybe a bit more green tea/ Matcha powder ;)

As you can see, it turned out alright but it wasn't tall as it should. Since I did not have the exact pan size, I went ahead with a bigger one as I wanted to bake this soooOOOooo much I couldn't wait. FYI, I bake this at midnight and wasn't satisfied with the look so I baked another one right away. Here's the second one baked. The look, is more like it and I so badly wanted to achieve that "poreless" texture I was pretty happy with this one (hey, hand whisked for 30mins over warm water, it has to be good). But, to be honest, taste wise, the first one is better and with better texture too. I love the light green tea fragrance with a hint of sweetness from honey. This cake is so "zen", I really thought so. As for the second Matcha Kasutera, I included the recipe below and please do try bake both as they are not exactly the same. Do find out which is your Kasutera, for me, I think the second one will be what I'm gonna serve to my guests, the first one will be what I bake for my family and myself. Fair enough? ;) I hope you like them.

Matcha Kasutera (Japanese Green Tea Sponge Cake)

Ingredients:

• 8 large eggs
• 270g raw sugar
• 200g AP flour
• 100ml milk
• 4T honey

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170C and line a rectangular cake pan with cooking paper at the bottom and sides.
2. Fill a large pot with water, bring to boil then remove from heat.
3. Disolve honey in milk (you may wanna heat up the milk a little in the microwave to make it easier to work with).
4. Double sieve your flour and set aside for later.
5. Break all the eggs into the mixing bowl and whisk with a ballon whisk. Add the sugar. Start whisking this while holding the bowl over the pan of hot water. As soon as the mixture feels lukewarm to the touch, take it off the water and continue whisking. If it cools down again, put it back on the hot water pan to warm it up. (This stage might seem forever if you're whisking it with hand like I did but it is worth the hard work. Of course, you can always try with electric mixer at lowest setting).
6. When you are done the batter will be thick enough to form soft peaks when you draw up your whisk.
7. Now stir in the milk and honey mixture. Mix the flour in with your hand whisk a tablespoon at a time until there are no pockets of flour.
8. Pour the batter into the pan up to the top. Put in the oven and bake for about 50 minutes or until a skewer stuck in the middle comes out clean. (At this point, you can mix some water with honey for the glaze but I will not recommend that as I did it with mine but it was too moist it destroyed the top of the cake and the cake is delicious without glaze, and you might risk sticking the top layer of the cake while you remove the wrap later - explain later)
9. Here comes to the crucial part, once cake is baked and cooled down to a little over room temperature, remove from pan and papers. Wrap the cake tightly with plastic wrap or plastic bag can do too. Then store the cake in the fridge for several hours or overnight. DO NOT WAIT TILL THE CAKE IS COMPLETELY COOL to wrap, this will give you a DRY cake. So remember to wrap your hard work while it is still warm, you wouldn't wanna screw up at this stage after all those hard whisking.
10. Slice cake with sharp, clean knife before serving (you can see that my knife wasn't that sharp ;p but it didn't spoil the taste. And look at how "poreless" it is, yes, thanks to the looOOOooong whisking process). Here you go, brew some tea, sit back and enjoy ;)
    

Steamed White Sugar Sponge Cake (Pak Tong Gou) - The Easy Way Out

As promised, this is the recipe which I adopted online for the classic Pak Tong Gou. This one is very easy to deal with and almost impossible to fail. Trust me. I know it may sound too good to be true but then again, tried and tested with photo as proof. So now, go ahead and give it a go. All you need it 2 hours to impress your family or friends. I always thought this would be a very nice thing to make especially if you have moved overseas and with kids born overseas. It can be difficult to show them the culture of where you come from, especially if you're an Asian like me, someone who is still very homesick at the moment. This make delicious breakfast and snack. By the way, I'm going Japanese today. Will try make some Japanese Green Tea Sponge Cake later. Don't worry, if all goes well which I really hope so, I'll be posting some photos and of course, the recipe ;) Good day!

Ingredients:

• 280g Rice Flour


• 200g White Sugar (adjust to taste)


• Pinch of salt


• 600ml water


• 3 Pandan leaves (optional)


• 1 teaspoon yeast diluted with 3 tablespoons warm water (water cannot be too hot as it will kill the yeast, a bit over room temperature is good)


• 1/2 tablespoon of vegetable oil
  

Method:

1. Add 300ml of water to rice flour and mix well.


2. Boil the remaining 300ml of water with sugar, salt and Pandan leaves. Pour syrup into rice flour mixture stir well and set aside to cool.


3. Dissolve yeast with warm water and mix into the cooled rice mixture. Stir until well incorporated, cover and leave to ferment for 2 hours in warm place until small bubbles appear on top.


4. Set steamer on high, place an 8” pan (square or round) in steamer and let it steam for 5 minutes on high before adding the fermented rice mixture into the pan.


5. Add ½ tablespoon of oil to fermented rice mixture, stir well and pour into heated pan. Let it steam for 20 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when tested.


6. Let it cool completely before cutting and serve. (Oh yea, while it's cooling, you may wanna brew some coffee to go with it. Perfect match, especially a cup of long black)

Good day? Bad day? Spongy day :)

Ever since we moved to New Zealand, I have been constantly dreaming about the food back home in Malaysia and one of them has to be my childhood favourite, in fact it's still my favourite - Pak Tong Gou. Well, I remember grandma used to take me to the market on weekend to shop and I would often get some lose change from her for my favourite "Kueh" (local snacks and cakes). Back then it was so convenient, we had all the access to local delicacies and they were very affordable too! Even with just RM2, I could have a lot! Well, it wasn't that long ago but now it is just impossible for me to buy from the market, one of the reasons is also because I am overseas. Well, talking with great pride, I always think the Asians eat well. We really know our food and we do not make do! My mum always says, we don't dump everything in a pot and chuck it into the oven and let it cooked for hours! You destroy the taste and nutrients that way. Maybe it's true, maybe it's just our mentallity. Either way, I enjoy food, the old fashioned and the fusion. So long it's good food, it's a must to try.

I have been wanting to make my own White Sugar Sponge Cake for a while but just never got to do it (I heard many have failed and it's a long, long process). Until today, I had a pretty good morning in fact. I was called for an interview, and second interview in the same day! That certainly seemed very promising to me. It wasn't a big company but it was what I wouldn't mind doing for now, a trainer. The post asked for a trainer to train and manage the telemarketers in a call centre and they were very impressed with my qualification and experience. I was happy, I woke up early in the morning, went for the first interview, it went very well and I was told to go for second interview in the afternoon later. After that, I met up with hubby at a fine restaurant for breakfast. He ordered me Iced coffee and a gourmet oatmeal. It was beautiful!

Well, I then went to the interview and I thought I nailed it! I was very confident though a bit disappinted at the company when they couldn't answer some of my questions. Then again, I thought it is not a bad thing to start small from a new company as they did not have a very established structure and reputation hence more room to grow and learn. However, I got very, very disappointed when I received a call couple of hours later, I was not selected. They didn't choose me, for whatever reason, I'm not sure. It wasn't as if I loved the job and really wanted it badly, it was just my pride. I don't take rejection very well. I came home feeling totally wronged. And it's time to do some psychology treatment. So I decided I should make myself some comfort food, something that will "bring me home". I then found this perfect recipe online for Pak Tong Gou. It only takes 2 hours to make. I was a bit skeptical about it at first but I thought, today would be the perfect day to risk this. So I made it! And yes! It wasn't such a bad day, see the end results ;) It's funny but this totally made my day and the whole rejection, interview thing just don't seem to matter anymore :) Look at the honeycomb effect, this is the sweetest thing ever. Hubby loved it too and I couldn't wait but took photos to send to my parents, daddy said I'm one lucky girl ;) Indeed I am.

It made my day and I'm sure it will make your day too for those who are hunting for an easy way out with this all time favourite cake. I'll be posting the recipe soon so you guys can try it out. For now, drool over these beautiful honeycombed, white spongy little gem ;)

Hi y'all!

I have been thinking these days, what am I gonna do with my life. Oh yea, FYI I am currently unemployed and I just can't seemt o find a suitable job in this city. Anyway, I used to work for a holding company as their Corporate Communications Manager and that was certainly something I'm very proud at. But then again, it didn't come without a price. I was extremely busy and I hardly had anytime for myself or my family. Not to mention about my passion, baking. I often wished I could just stay home and bake, create little surprises for everyone. Sometimes (well, not that many times) I actually called in sick just so that I could try a new recipe. So I thought, I should just quit my job and be a baker. And yes, I quit my job, and no, I didn't get a job offer as a baker (apparently, they wanna see the cert, which doesn't make sense to me (this is so a result oriented job), why don't they ask for the "results" from the oven?). Well, never mind. So back to the story, I have been thinking, what do I wanna do for the rest of my life (I am a "check-list" person, setting goals, making plans, taking actions, evaluating outcomes - which is not applicable to many situations in life, so don't try). I love coffee, I definitely love breakfasts, brunches, pancakes, muffins, scones, frittatas, quiches.. The list will never end. I think morning is the best time of the day, new day, new hopes, new everything! you start from the begining again and you have all day to make a difference! That's just wonderful. So I came out with this brilliant idea (or more like a dream plan), I wanna run my own cafe! That's gonna be the ultimate plan for us! To be able to get up in the morning, start our day with a good cup of coffee and head staright to the kitchen to work! I would love that, in fact I am so ambitious I wanna bake everything myself. So that means my cafe cannot be too big, maybe just enough to cater for 30-40? I want to make sure everyone gets what they deserve for, a good morning, more than just a common greeting, but a good cup of flat white, a tall, fluffy scone served fresh from the oven with butter and cream (or anything you have on your breakfast wish list, we can always work something out - just like your mummy will do at home). Well, think I got a bit carried away with this. And hey, that's called PASSION. So yea, I think that's what I really wanna do. Something that makes me happy, makes him happy, and makes everyone else happy. I know, it sounds a little cheesy and I bet you won't believe me. But really, I am not wearing that pencil skirt and white blouse no more. I wanna be seen in my apron all morning! (Sorry, we close after lunch ;p) And I wanna smell like butter and cream all the time. It's not so bad, you save tons on those chemical that makes u smell like everyone else :) Yeap! That's what I should be woring towards. You know, in fact it is gonna take a long, long time. Like said, I am 100% homemade. I don't go to school to learn baking and I have 0 experience in cafe or any sort of hospitality stuff. Thank goodnes I am good at PR, I think it has that little helf in hospitality ;) So for now, this will be my little sanctuary, a place I "serve" my food to the world and share my life and story (like your mama do in the kitchen, she talks about her life and childhood!)