Pandan Chiffon Cake

This is rather my "first post" on making a proper Pandan Chiffon Cake using tube pan (similar to an angel food cake pan) method rather than the previous two (recipes) I made using Happy Call Pan (HCP). Although the recipe is quiet similar but for this round I replaced the usual pandan paste /pandan juice with pandan flavour coconut milk (obtain by blending some fresh pandan leave and coconut milk together) which I have some leftover while making Pandan Kaya (recipe).

Zespri Kiwifruit Chiffon Cake plus Zespri Goodie Bags Giveaway

Finally today is the last day of the "Zespri® 14 days Daily Scoop of Amazing Challenge (#14daysofZespri)" and I am sure some of you would be delighted that I won't be flooding your timeline with more "kiwifruit" related posts or photos :p

During these 14 days I have tried many different ways in utilizing this amazing fruits such as making compote, smoothie, milkshake, meat tenderizer and I even bake a chiffon cake using the fresh kiwifruit itself rather than kiwi jam which mentioned in most Kiwifruit Chiffon Cake recipes.

Chocolate Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes - 巧克力北海道蛋糕

Last Tuesday I have made some Hokkaido Chiffon Cupcakes for my family as well as mum's church friends. And since I still have leftover whipping cream, I decided to make another batch which is Chocolate flavour upon my boy's request.

The recipe for both flavour is rather similar as I just replace some of the cake flour with dutch process cocoa powder which give it a deeper brown and nicer flavour.

Durian Butter Cake

Every year during the period between June and September, this "spiky" green thorns fruit known as "Durian (榴莲)" can be found everywhere in the HDB market area or some local supermarkets fruit section (fruits remove from shells and tightly sealed). So is either you love or hate this fruit due to it's strong odour where some said it is fragrant while others might find it distinguishing.

Antoinette at Palais Renaissance

I am sure the brand name "Antoinette" sound familiar to those who love cakes, pastries or French food. Following the success of Antoinette’s first three outlets (Penhas Road, Mandarin Galley and Scarlet Hotel), Owner-Chef Pang Kok Keong unveils Le Jardin d’Antoinette which is also one of their largest outlet at Palais Renaissance.

Last Saturday I was invited to a lunch tasting at their new outlet, located at Palais Renaissance together with Celes (Celestial Delish), Derrick (SG Food on Foot) and ShiTing (Lobsterpaints).

After some self introductions between Chef Pang and us, we started to look around at their cake and pastry counters while taking some photos. Below are some of the pastries and cakes which are available at Antoinette.

Array of Cakes available

Array of Assorted Macarons on display

Pastry Section: with Danish Puffs, Brownies, Muffins and etc

The Main Dining Area designed after Versaille’s expansive outdoor garden which is a unique round shaped dining space decorated with vintage furniture featuring floral accents such as flower print upholstered seats. The outskirt of the dining area is also surrounded with hanging vines as well as floral arrangements. Furthermore there is also a special elevated gazebo sits at the centre of the dining area too.

{Soup} We started with their new Classic French Onion Soup (S$16.50) which is prepared using caramelised onions in a rich chicken and veal broth accompanied by cheese toasts made from Antoinette’s signature 24-hour baguette. To perfect it, the soup is topped with a cheesy crust which resemble "cover" and it is made using parmesan and gruyère cheese.

On the 1st try, the soup taste a bit sour but when you dig in more, it actually release a hit of sweetness from the caramelised onions and it goes well with that crispy cheese crust.

{Entrées} Next we had the Tartine de Nicoise (S$26.00) which is an open face levain sandwich hide beneath some butter lettuce, French beans, tomatoes, olives, anchovy, a three-minute egg and some seared tuna.

According to Chef Pang, these Levain Bread (sourdough) are made from their own kitchen in Antonietta and the process for making this bread is quite tedious and it takes up to 16 days to cultivate the yeast from scratch plus another 2 more days to proof the bread before baking. So when having this dish, we must really appreciate each and every bits of its ingredients especially the Levain Bread which has a unique flavour and texture.

{Main Course} During the tasting, we tried 3 main courses and first to serve was Confit de Poitrine de Porc (S$36.00) is a traditional French confit of pork belly that is first cured in a mixture of sea salt, brown sugar and aromatics before it is cooked and covered in duck fat at 90 degrees Celsius for 12 hours.

The dish was plated with 5 pieces (about 2 cm each) of thick, tender and fragrant pork belly together with decent amount of garlic mash (which you might thought is mashed potato), seasonal vegetables and mustard sauce. Although I am a "pork belly" lover but I find this dish a bit on the salty side unless you are having it with some water or wine to balance the taste.

{Main Course} Next we had Bouchées aux fruits de mer (S$30.00) which is a luxurious seafood medley that consists of scallops, prawns, squid and mussels sautéed with white wine and cream. It is then served in a puff pastry case which resemble "vol au vents" but it is made with a unique reverse folding method which results in a flakier and crispier crust.

I love their fresh and seafood and taste of the sauce is is not overpowering to the whole dish but on the down side, me and ShiTing find that our scallop is kind of overcooked which makes it chewy and difficult to bite.

{Main Course} For the last main course Chef Pang brought in Prawn crumble pasta (S$26.00) which is an aglio olio-style pasta dish featuring spaghettini tossed with parsley pesto instead of basil and sprinkled with their homemade anchovy crumble.

During the introduction, Chef Pang mentioned to us that those crumble was made using Antoinette’s pain de mie loaf as well as a kalamata olives and Spanish anchovies tapenade. No wonder when all mixed together it has such a unique taste which you might mistook the breadcrumb with grated cheese.

{Dessert} For the dessert, Chef Pang shared with us 4 of his new 2012 collection which you could read more on the post below. Above we shows  Chloe (S$9.00 per slice) which is a combination of refreshing and fragrant yuzu cremeux with white chocolate vanilla mousse on a light sponge cake and almond sable.

This is one of the lighter taste cake which we concluded out of the 4 that we had tired so if you prefer something light and refreshing perhaps this would be great hit for you.

{Dessert} Forbidden Fruit (S$9.00 per slice) has a delicate layered creation that features granny smith apples in various incarnations including green apple mousse, vanilla caramel apple and green apple jelly, complemented with maple cremeux on a financier cake.

On 1st bite you will feel hint of sourish taste perhaps from the apple jelly but when you slowly savory it with a cup of tea, you will fell in love with it because of it sweet, fragrant and sour combination. I guess this is similar to feeling of "falling in love" taste.

{Dessert} Kyoto (S$9.00 per slice) is a Japanese matcha crowd-pleaser with green tea mascarpone mousse, chestnut cremeux, almond crumble and a green tea finger sponge. It has a very fragrant matcha aroma and after taste which we all loved. A "must try" for matcha lover.

{Dessert} I personally love this Tarte Exotique (S$8.50 per slice) which I think I can conquered two at one time. It has an almond base with a luscious gula melaka cremeux, finger sponge and light coconut mousse crowned with a delicate fruit coulis sphere. Because I love almond base tarts and as well as the unique aroma from the Gula Melaka, I highly recommend this dessert which I am sure you will love it as much as we do.  

Just to share there is a private dining room which is perfect for groups of 8 - 10 pax to hold function such as Formal Dining, Gathering, Birthday or etc.

Antoinette at Palais Renaissance

390 Orchard Road, Palais Renaissance,
B1-08/09/10C,
Reservations No.: +65 6735 6392

Operating Hours:
11.00am to 10.00pm daily (last order 9.30pm)


Lastly I would like to thank Hsian Ming (from Sixth Sense Communications and PR Consultancy Pte Ltd) and Chef Pang (Antoinette at Palais Renaissance) for this tasting invitation. For more photos of this tasting, you can click on Cuisine Paradise Facebook page HERE.

PrimaDéli's Celebrates Their 20th Anniversary With Monthly Promotions

Photo credited to "Word Of Mouth Communications Pte Ltd"

From now till 20th October 2012, PrimaDéli has lined up a series of monthly mouth‐watering promotions, such as “Scratch And Win” lucky draws, $20 Cakes, 1‐for‐1 deals and 20¢ Waffles to show appreciation and reward for their loyal customers.

So if you have missed out their July's 20 cents Waffle deal and S$20 Cakes, here is another upcoming promotion tomorrow Friday, 20 July 2012 on their 1-For-1 Egg Tarts @ S$1.30. And for your information on the 20th of every month (till October 2012), PrimaDéli’s 1‐For‐1 deal will enable you to enjoy their signature classics to the fuller.

Photo credited to "Word Of Mouth Communications Pte Ltd"

PrimaDeli Waffle Day: If you are a Waffle lover, don't forget on every 2nd Friday of each month (13 July, 10 August, 14 September, and 12 October), PrimaDeli's waffle will be selling at 20 cents each (usual price: S$1.30)! And it is limited to 100 plain waffles per outlet. (one plain waffle purchase per customer and the promotion starts at 2.00pm).

Photo credited to "Word Of Mouth Communications Pte Ltd"

On top of the cake and pastry promotions, their Hunt for the Golden Bun will be held from 15 Jun till 30 September 2012, to encourage customers to try out their new and improved recipe. And for every two golden buns purchased during this period, customers will receive one Scratch And Win card, which gives them one chance to win and redeem delectable PrimaDéli products instantly!

Moreover, customers who received the special “Golden Bun” ticket will receive a S$20.00 PrimaDéli voucher AND be eligible for the Golden Bun Grand Draw on 20 October 2012 at Causeway Point to win the following prizes:

~ 1st Prize: Osim uDivine (worth $5,488) + $100 PrimaDéli voucher

~ 2nd Prize: An iPad (worth $658) + $50 PrimaDéli voucher

~ 3rd Prize: Digital camera (worth $350) + $50 PrimaDéli voucher

~ 4th ‐ 20th Prizes: $100 PrimaDéli voucher

Soft Apple Pound Cake

I have being craving for Cakes which made with "apple" ever since my last "Apple Crumble Cheesecake" from Starbucks a few weeks back. So when I came across Ann's "Apple Soft Pound Cake" post from her website last month, I told myself I must bake it after my Cruise Trip.

And after the holidays break, I finally managed to settle down with some free time to bake this cake while my kid is at school. Honestly I love this cake because of it's ingredients used, as you notice this is definitely a rich butter cake with hint of lemon scent that makes it prefect for afternoon tea.

Orange Vanilla Loaf Cake

Made this Orange Vanilla Loaf Cake for tea in order to try out the "Madagascar Vanilla Beans" that I received from one of my friends, Gertrude from My Kitchen Snippets. She is so kind and generous to offer her help to get some vanilla beans for me over at her end after knowing that I am keen in use it to bakes as well as making my own Vanilla Extract.

ORANGE VANILLA LOAF CAKE

This is my first time using vanilla beans in a baking recipe and I must admit it taste really wonderful with it's unique aroma that perfumed the pantry area during preparing and baking process. And when is out of the oven and ready to be served, you just can't help it but keep on picking one slice after another slice. 

Recipe adapted and modify from Food and Travel, Feb 2007 issue, Orange Loaf Cake.

(Make 2: 5.5 x 9.5 x 4.5cm | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 25 minutes)

Ingredients:
160g Cake Flour
180g Castor Sugar
Grated Rind from 2 Orange
60g Unsalted Butter, softened
3 Eggs(55g)
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1 Vanilla Pod, halved
1/2 Cup Thickened Cream, optional

Method:-

1. In a mixing bowl, rub orange zest and sugar together using a spatula till moist and fragrant before adding butter and whisk using an electric mixer till well combined.

2. Add one egg at a time, beating well in between each addition. Next scrap the vanilla beans from the pod and stir it into the egg mixture.

3. Sift flour mixture(flour, baking powder and salt) together and fold into egg batter in batches alternately with thickened cream (or fresh orange juice) till there is no trace of flour. (do not over mix the batter)

4. Pour cake batter into prepared loaf pans and bake in preheated 175° Celsius oven for about 25 - 30 minutes until the top of cake is cracked and golden or a skewer inserted in the center and comes out clean.

5. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool on wire rack.

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HANDY TIPS:-

~ Thickened Cream can be replaced by 2 Tablespoons of freshly squeeze orange juice

~ You bake this recipe in muffin cups(medium size) or 1 loaf tin (20cm x 11cm x 7cm) instead of 2 mini loaf pan.

~ You can replace 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract instead of using the whole vanilla pod for this recipe.

Sometime a simple old school cake taste even better on it's own without having any fancy ingredients, frosting or toppings. I just simply adore butter cake on it's own, perhaps I should change this recipe further more into an Orange Vanilla Butter/Pound Cake to accompany my favourite Earl Grey Tea.

Chiffon Cakes Using Happy Call Double-sided Pressure Pan

It has being long since I last baked a chiffon cake for my family. Although previously I have baked a few Chiffon Cakes(recipes HERE) but I still have in mind that chiffon cake is rather complicated and not easy to achieve it's unique light and fluffy texture. And moreover, sometime I find chiffon cake batter is quite difficult to handle due to the whisking of egg white(to stiff peak), mixing of yolk batter with whites and even after baking the cake itself might collapse or have wet texture due to oven temperature of baking time.

Here with my amazing Happy Call Pan(韩国双面锅), I decided to challenge to another level by using it to make Chiffon Cake. Although most of the Happy Call Pan (HCP) members used Prima Flour - Pandan Chiffon Cake Mix (available in most supermarkets) to make chiffon cake but I find the amount eggs required are too much for my liking and also since I have most of the ingredients in my pantry I decided to make it from scratch instead of using pre-mix flour.

CHOCOLATE CHIFFON CAKE

So far I have made two chiffon cakes using HCP and as you can see from the photo, even though the cake might now raise as tall as in height compared to the usual chiffon cake but we simply loves it's light and fluffy texture which how amazing it could be done by HCP. For your information this lovely chiffon is ready within 30 minutes of baking time too.

Chinese version of this recipe available HERE.

(Serves: 30 x 25cm(Basic Red Pan) | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
3 Egg Yolks
75g Cake Flour
15g Valrhona Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
25g Caster Sugar
65ml Coconut Milk
2 Tablespoons Water
1.5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
4 Egg Whites
60g Caster Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
50g Mini Chocolate Chips, optional

Method:-

1. Beat egg yolks and 25g caster sugar using an electric beater till pale and creamy (about 3 minutes on medium speed).

2. Stir in oil, coconut milk and sifted flours(cake flour, cocoa powder and baking powder) till combined before mixing in the water and chocolate chips. Set aside.

3. Next using a clean beater, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar in another bowl till foamy before adding in the sugar in 2 - 3 batches and continue to whisk till stiff peak(when the bowl turns over the whites remains without falling off).

4. Divide the whites into 3 portions and slowly mix in one batch at a time to the yolk mixture till combine. (carefully not to mix too much and knock out the air in the batter)

5. Pour batter into the lightly grease Happy Call Pan, bake on low heat for 12 minutes, slowly shift the pan towards right side so that left side (1/2 of the HCP) of the pan is on the heat, bake for another 6 minutes. Next shift the pan back towards the left side so that right side(1/2 of the HCP) of the pan is on the heat. (the purpose of doing this is to even out the baking as well as give the cake a nice brown colour on the surface when flip over)

6. Lastly, flip the HCP over and bake for another 6 minutes(3 minutes left, 3 minutes right) to have a nice brown top.

7. Leave the cake to cool in the pan before running a small rubber spatula around the sides and underneath the cake to remove it from the pan. (since chiffon cake tends to stick to the pan, just be extra careful and gentle when removing it from the base)

Note:-
For baking using Jumbo Pan, you can use x 1.5 of the above recipe.

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FOR OVEN METHOD:-

1. Follow steps 1 - 4, pour cake batter into a 14cm (7") chiffon pan.

2. Bake in preheated 160° Celsius oven for about 40 minutes or when a skewer inserted in the center and comes out clean.

3. Remove pan from oven and invert the pan immediately to let it rest on top of a cup. Make sure it cool completely before unmould.

4. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife(i use a small rubber spatula) around the inside of the pan and the center core then follow by the base of the pan before removing the whole cake.

PANDAN CHIFFON CAKE

This is the 1st Chiffon Cake I experiment using HCP and I am happy with the result as compared to the usual chiffon cake that I used to bake. For this recipe it required 3 Egg Yolks and 4 Whites from eggs that weight 60g each.  And from the photo above you can also see that although this Pandan Chiffon Cake is bake using HCP but it still has it's unique brown crust like those usual one that we bought off self or bake from the oven.

(Serves: 30 x 25cm | Preparation: 10 minutes | Cooking: 30 minutes)

Ingredients:
3 Egg Yolks
90g Cake Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
25g Caster Sugar
65ml Coconut Milk
1.5 Teaspoons Pandan Paste
2 Tablespoons Water
1.5 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil
4 Egg Whites
60g Caster Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar

Method:-

1. Follow the same steps as above shown in the Chocolate Chiffon Cake.

2. Mix pandan paste with 2 tablespoons of water and add it into steps 2 shown above.

OR

3. You can blend about 20 pieces of Pandan leaves(Screwpine) and extract fresh juice from it. Recipe HERE.

This recipe is pretty simple and straight forward to follow so you can even bake it with your kids during weekend like what I did with my boy. I am sure this would be a good family activities to add extra bonding and fun time before tea-snack.

Feel free to explore this recipe with your own preference by adding or different ingredients such as dried fruits, sweet potato, corns and etc to make different flavour of your family favourite chiffon cakes. Till then have a great weekend, everyone!

Blueberry Lemon Butter Cake

Nothing beats a slice of fragrant Butter Cake which is infused with lemon aroma together with bits of bursting blueberries in your mouth. To be honest, among all the different types of tea-cake, I simply adore butter cake especially those that are lightly infused with lemon fragrant.

If you still remember, a few months back I have shared two recipes on these "Lemon Yoghurt Butter Cake" and  "Chocolate Yoghurt Butter Cake" which is a hit for our family and friends. We love both version of the cake despite of either plain or chocolate.