Baked Plum & Rum Cake

I had never being a fan of "Plum" before until Tracy gave me the Plum Chutney and I started to fall in love with it. I find that these little plum taste even better when baked or even made into Plum Jam. In this recipe I would like to share with you on how to make use of plum which is in season to make it into a mini plum cake that will melt in your mouth and taste sort of like Baked Japanese Cheesecake.

You can use any kind of plum that is in season either red or black. For this recipe, I happen to have these sweet red plum in the fridge so I decided to try out this recipe. The texture of the cake is very soft, fine and cotton like and guess what, most of my friends who tried it comments that it taste like baked cheesecake despite that there is isn't any cream cheese content.

Ingredients: (makes about 15 mini cakes)
80g Butter, room temperature
60g Sugar
1 Medium Size egg, lightly beaten
100g Plain Yogurt(thick creamy type)
100g Cake Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Apricot Glazing Gel, (Optional)

Methods:
1. Sift the flour and baking powder in a mixing bowl and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and sugar till creamy and white (about 5 mins), then slowly add in the egg mixture in 2 addition after beating into the butter mixture.
3. Next add in 1 tablespoon of the RUM mixture, 1/3 of the plain yogurt and 1/3 of the flour mixture and beat well.
4. Repeat the procedure until all the mixture is used up.
5. Next spoon or pipe almost 3/4 full of the batter into the cup case and top it with one or two slices of the RUM plum.
6. Repeat for the rest of the cup till all the batter use up.
7. Baked in the preheat 170 degree oven for about 15 - 18 minutes depending on the size of the cake.
8. When the cakes are slightly warm, brush the top with some Apricot glazing to give it a shiny look.

Plum Topping:
3 Red Plum, cut into wedges
50ml RUM
2 Tablespoons Brown Sugar

Methods:
1. Cut the plum into wedges of 6 each and mixed well with the RUM and brown sugar and set aside in the fridge to absorb the favour for at least 30 minutes.
2. Removed the plum wedges from the RUM mixture and drain well to remove any excess liquid then reserved the RUM mixture.

Note:
a) You can get either Pauls - Natural Yogurt or Farmers Union Greek Style Yogurt.
b) If you do not have any Apricot Glazing Gel, you can replace it with 4 tablespoons Apricot jam that is warm up with 1/2 tablespoon for hot water in microwave up medium heat.

PassionMisu

I guess you have either heard or tried making or eating Tiramisu before. It is actually one of the most popular Italian desserts which is made of savoiardi (lady fingers) dipped in coffee and mascarpone cream. But for our this week menu, I am trying something new which I called it PassionMisu. The key ingredient use it Passionfruit as this weekend my blogging is base on cookign with FRESH FRUIT. This PassionMisu is to serve with the main course known as Salmon with Passionfruit Sauce.

For this PassionMisu dessert, I used mini sponge cake (kueh Bolu) instead of the traditional savoiardi (lady fingers). I dipped it in Mango juice and spread it with layers of Passionfruit yogurt cream. This is indeed one of the Quick and Easy way to make an easy and impressive dessert for guest.

If you are not keen with passionfruit, you can always replaced it with the traditional Tiramisu ingredients like coffee and mascarpone cream. Or you can use this method by changing the type of fruits to either strawberries, mango or even durian and you can get a wonderful and easy dessert in no time.

Ingredients: (serves 2)
80ml Fresh Mango/Passionfruit Juice
10 - 15 Mini Sponge Cake(kueh bolu)
1/2 or more Tablespoon of Cocoa Powder, dusting

Methods:
1. Cut the passionfruits into halves and remove the pulps and set aside.
2. Cut the sponge cake into halves (side-way) then gently dip the cut side in the juice and arranged it in base of the serving cups or container.
3. Spread a layer of the passionfruit yogurt cream on top and top with another layer of sponge cake dipped with juice.
4. Repeat the top with another layer of the yogurt cream.
5. Wrap the top with clear wrap and put in the freezer for about 10 minutes to get the top almost firm to touch.
6. Dust with generous amount of cocoa powder and decorate with some fruits or extra passionfruit pulp if desire.

Ingredients for Passionfruit Yogurt Cream:
2 Fresh Passionfruits, collect about 3 1/2 tablespoons of pulps
150g Mango/Plain Yogurt
1/2 Teaspoon of Sugar
30ml Mango Juice/Plain Water
1 1/2 Teaspoons of Gelatin Powder

Methods:
1. Dissolve the gelatin powder in the mango juice over simmering water or microwave on medium heat for 30 seconds(stop in between 10 second and stir till dissolve).
2. Next, mix the yogurt and passionfruit pulp together till well combine then stir in sugar and melted gelatin solution.
3. Set aside the mixture for spreading on the sponge cake.

Notes:
a) I arranged mine in a 2 oval baking dish which is 12cm by 8cm in measurement.

Baked Rosemary Chicken With Jam Apple

Saw this interesting modify French Cuisine from one of the Taiwan cookbook that I loan from the library. So I decided to use it for the Wedding Anniversary Dinner.... Although it might not be up to standard like those French Restaurant but it do taste good as a home-cooked dish and most important this is a one dish meal which is easy to prepare.


The original recipe only had baked apple and chicken but for ours, I added in baked baby potato, button mushroom and avocado salad. The taste of the chicken is very unique, tender and juice. While the baked apple with jam is a bit sweet towards dessert type where the melted assorted jam soaked into the apple... So yummy.....

Ingredients: (serves 2)
2 - 4 Apples(1 used 2 small green & 2 Gala red apples)
2 Chicken Maryland(drumstick with another portion of meat)
4 - 6 Tablespoons Assorted Jam(I use strawberry & blueberry jam)
30g Butter, soften or melted
8-10 Baby Potatoes, wash and peel of skin
6-8 Button Mushrooms, wash and peel of skin
1 Avocado, peel and cut into cubes
2 Tablespoons Yogurt
4-6 Cherry Tomatoes

Methods:
1. Wash, peel and lightly coated the baby potatoes with 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil and 1/2 Teaspoon dried Mixed Herbs and toss well. Set aside.
2. Wash, peel and core the apples then stuffed about 2 Tablespoons of jam into each apple and place on a baking dish.
3. Next brush the melted butter all around the apple and bake in a preheat 180 degree oven for 10 minutes together with the seasoned baby potatoes in another baking dish(for the baby use a larger baking dish and place the potatoes in one corner while leave some extra space for baking the chicken).
3. While baking the apples and potatoes, preheat a non-stick pan with some butter and olive oil, saute both side of the button mushrooms until fragrant.(around 30 sec on each side, you can brush extra melted butter on the mushroom when frying)
4. Remove the mushroom, add another 1/2 Tablespoons of olive oil, saute the chicken skin side down for 1 minutes, turn and saute the other side.(you can add in the garlic and rosemary from the seasoning to saute as well, as it will bring out more fragrant on the seasoning)
5. Next remove the chicken from the pan, arrange it on the same baking dish as the potatoes together with the button mushroom.
6. Brush drizzle the remaining marinade seasoning on the chicken then brush with some extra butter on the chicken, potatoes, mushroom and apples then continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes, until chicken is crispy on skin and potatoes are tender.

Seasoning:
3 Cloves Garlic, cut into slices
1 Tablespoon Light Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon White Pepper
1 Teaspoon Five Spice Powder
1 Spig Of Rosemary

Methods:
1. Wash and trim the chicken, pat dry and marinate it with the above seasoning for about 2 hours or overnight in the fridge for better taste.(retain the seasoning sauce for baking the chicken later)

To Assemble:
1. Mix the avocado cubes with the yogurt(you can use plain or flavour yogurt) then set a portion on the place.
2. Removed the baked items from the oven, arrange them on the plate accordingly then top with some cherry tomatoes and serve.

Notes: You can use whole potato instead of baby potato or you can serve it with vegetables salad instead of baked apples.