Beetroot Chiffon Cake - 甜菜根威风蛋糕

Beetroot Chiffon Cake

Finally it's Friday! It had being a busy week where I need to be out of the house most of the time running errands but on the bright side I managed to overcome my fear on driving which is an achievement to me. Ops sorry! Let's be back on track with the Beetroot Chiffon Cake.

I am always excited when it comes to chiffon cake because our family love its spongy and fluffy texture. In this post we are using Beetroot which is a natural superfood to bake a healthy chiffon cake for the family.

[CNY Bakes] Mixed Fruit Pastry Cake, Chocolate Beetroot Cupcakes and Honey Joys

During this Chinese New Year I did baked quite a few items such as Cheesy Pineapple Rolls, Matcha Butter Cookies, Kueh Bangkit and etc as new year gifts which you can read more about it here (with recipes). Whereas for our family gathering (with recipes on savory dishes) I also prepared some tea cakes which our guests can enjoy them with coffee/tea after the savory dishes.

And in this post I would be sharing 4 recipes on the items that I had prepared for the dessert corner during our family lunch gathering.

Goodness of Beetroot

For those who dislike the “raw” taste of beetroot you can mix it together with carrot and apple to create this miracle drink which has gained popularity all over the world due to its health benefit. To make this effortless juice, blend the three mentioned ingredients above together and consume it immediately. In addition you can also add in a splash of lime juice to enhance the taste.

[4 Recipes] Quick and Easy Meal With Bosch MSM6 ErgoMixx Hand Blender

With the new gadget Bosch ErgoMixx Hand Blender added into my kitchen pantry, I decided to work on a lunch menu to test out its features and functions to blend, process and whisk. In this post, I will be sharing four recipes using those functions which I am quite happy with the end results.

Actually before using the hand blender I did a Google search on it's review; and I am pretty distracted with some of the negative reviews on it's universal cutter and blender. But all those worries were put in vain after I tested out the blender with the recipes shown below. Now I am glad that I can easily handle small amount of ingredients using this reliable blender.

{Christmas Bake} ABC Power Cake

I am sure for those who love fruit juice you would probably have tried the ABC (apple, beetroot and carrot) Detox Juice during one of your orders. But other than the juice, have you ever tried any cake which is made from ABC Juice and it's residues. If NO, here is a new recipe that I would like to share with you and it might come in handy for this Christmas season.

As Christmas is approaching, I wanted to bake something which has some festive feel like Mixed Fruit Cake, Ginger Bread, Cookies or etc. And the idea of this ABC Power Cake inspired me from my Okara Black Butter Cake which I have shared sometime back.

ABC POWER CAKE
(using Juice and Fruit Residues from Apple, Beetroot and Carrot)

This cake has a brownish red colour tone which similar to those Christmas mixed fruit cakes or sticky date pudding which we all loved. Furthermore this cake is light and fruity in flavour as compared to those traditional Christmas bakes which are loaded with spices and dried mixed fruits or chocolate. 

(Make: 2 tins (17cm x 8cm x 6cm) | Preparation: 10 minutes |  Baking: 45 minutes)

Ingredients:

• 180g Self-Raising Flour
• 20g Valrhona Dutch Process Cocoa Powder
• 4 Eggs (55g each)
• 200g Unsalted Butter
• 180g Castor Sugar
• 150g ABC Fruit Residues
• 50ml ABC Juice

Method:-
1. Preheat Oven to 170°C degree Celsius.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy (beating with an electric mixer for about 4 - 5 minutes on medium speed).

3. Add in 1 egg at a time, beating well in between each additions. Beat in ABC Fruit Residues till combined (a few seconds).

4. Using a rubber spatula, fold in half the sifted flour mixture (careful not to over-stir or beat the mixture) and follow by ABC Juice and remaining flour.

5. Divide the batter into the prepared casing, bake the cake in preheated oven for 40 - 45 minutes or until a skewer insert in the middle and come out clean.

6. When cooked, remove cake from the oven, allow it to cool completely on a wire rack before cutting.

This cake is very moist and perfumed with fruity flavour and aroma from the fruit juice and residues used and with each bite you could also taste a mild beetroot flavour in it. For a change from the usual traditional Christmas bake, perhaps this power cake would be something that you would love to share with your family or friends during this festive season. And for party or potluck idea, you could even bake this in small cupcake size, dust with icing sugar and decorate with Christmas cake toppers too.

{Photo Friday} Red Velvet Cupcakes Using Beetroot Powder & Puree

A Red Velvet Cake is a popular cake with it's unique colour varies from dark red, bright red or red-brown depending on the ingredients used. It is usually baked and topped with a creamy vanilla icing or the popular cream cheese icing. This reddish-brown color cake was originally from a reaction of the cocoa powder with an acidic ingredient such as buttermilk but however, "red food coloring"(as much as 2 tablespoon or more) is often added to achieve that unique "red colour effect".

But for this recipe that I am sharing with you today, my friend Celes did not used any "red colouring", instead she replaced the colouring with healthy ingredients such as "Organic Beetroot Powder" and "Fresh Beetroot Puree" to achieve it's natural red colour texture.

RED VELVET CUPCAKES
using Beetroot Powder And Beetroot Puree

From the photo above, you will notice that the texture of the cupcake is moist with a bit tender crumb due to the adding of buttermilk and when you have your first bite you would also experience a mild beetroot aftertaste in between the cocoa flavour cake.

Recipe adapted from Celes of Celestial Delish, HERE.

(Make: 12 medium cupcakes | Preparation: 15 minutes |    Baking: 20 - 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
260g All-purpose Plain Flour
4 Tablespoons Beetroot Powder
1 Teaspoon Salt
3 Tablespoons Natural Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
250g Caster Sugar
1.5 Cups(300ml) Vegetable Oil
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs, room temperature
1 Teaspoon White Distilled Vinegar
1 Cup(200ml) Buttermilk, room temperature
1/2 Cup Beetroot Puree, blend from 1 medium beetroot

Method:-

~ You can refer the steps on making the above red velvet cupcakes plus cream cheese frosting over at Celes's post HERE.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
250g Cream Cheese, room temperature
113g Unsalted Butter, room temperature
215g icing sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

Method:-

~ Steps on making the cream cheese frosting can be found HERE.

Overall I have learnt something new while making this Red Velvet Cupcakes as I have never tried whisking oil and sugar together with eggs in a cake batter before folding in the dry flour ingredients. And Celes told me this method is a good way to achieve soft and yummy cupcakes too but most important steps is not to over mixed the batter or else the cupcakes texture will be dense.

Magic Of BOSCH MCM4100 Food Processor - Part I

I love to experiment with new Kitchen Gadget and this set of "lemon" pastry plus juice is whipped up using my new toy - BOSCH MCM4100 Food Processor(more detail of this product HERE). This food processor comes with multiple functions such as; juice blender, meat grinder, dough maker, making meringue, sorbet, mayonnaise and etc.

In this post I would be sharing 2 recipes using this food processor such as ABC Detox Juice and Lemon Berry Tarts. And as for part 2 post, I would be sharing a recipe on Baked Lemon Cheesecake.

Beetroot & Sweet Corn Soup

I have very limited encounter with "Beetroot" as I only ate it as one of the ingredients found in some sandwiches. Although I have heard/saw a lot of interesting recipes using "Beetroot" as one of their ingredients, I have never thought of using it till today. And to my surprised this can really blend well into our Asian soup too.....

Beetroot can consider to be a very versatile ingredient that can be in many area of cooking. For eg:- in salad, sandwiches, bakes, cakes, dessert and even soup. Sometime it can also be use as a dye to replace artificial colouring. So today's soup of the day, we will try this together with corn and carrot which will add in extra sweetness to the soup.

Ingredients:- (serves 4)
500g Pork Ribs
2 Medium Size Beetroots
1 Sweet Corn, cut into section
1 Medium Carrot, cut into 1" slices
6-8 Red Dates
1/2 Tablespoon Wolfberries, optional
1.5 Liter of Boiling Water

Method:
1. Rinse, clean and place the pork ribs in boiling water for about 3 minutes, remove and rinse well. Set aside for later use.
2. Rinse the beetroot, peel of the outer skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut it into big cubes or wedges.
3. Remove the husk and leaves of the corn, rinse and cut it into 3 sections.
4. Bring 1.5 Litre of water to boil in a medium soup pot, add in all the above ingredients except wolfberries.
5. When the mixture comes to boil again, lower the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or alternatively you can transfer the soup to a slow cooker and cook it on AUTO for about 2.5 hours or so. (add in wolfberries 15 minutes before cooking time)

This soup is so sweet and full of flavour that it don't even require any extra seasoning. The sweetness comes naturally from all the ingredients used and the colour of the soup look so gorgeous. From the glance of it, it looks just like any red wine/red currant juice. Em... but just a little sharing, although the soup might give a little "Rooty" flavour but this is indeed a very nutritious soup for kids. We ate all the ingredients except the "beetroot" because it has a very odd taste which my boy feedback that it taste like "roots/wood" :p