Something Fit for Spring

Sometimes I wish, just once, I could stumble upon a recipe for something wonderful(ly impressive) and make it right then and there, without the disappointment of finding out that I'm missing a couple of ingredients and bookmarking said recipe for another day. I also wish I have the appropriate crowd to whom I could feed my creations. Sadly, most of the time I have neither a pantry full of atypical ingredients nor a band of people waiting for baked goods!

All the wishing aside, here is a cake I baked not so recently. This is another butter pound cake similar to the marble cake I made previously, but not as rich and heavy due to the tang from the lemon. I think this combination of lemon and green tea, typically only found in drinks, works very well together in a cake. Coincidentally, the colours of the cake are very fitting for a spring! Maybe for a tea party? I also used some whole wheat flour on a whim, and I think it worked pretty well. I used just enough to give the cake a wholesome taste instead of using it to be healthy. And for those looking for an excuse to have cake for breakfast, here it is: this cake has whole wheat (healthy), lemon (healthy), and green tea (again, healthy!). ;)

Lemon Matcha Pound Cake
adapted from Joy the Baker
yields 1 10-inch bundt cake

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt
scant 2 1/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup plain yogurt
scant 1 cup butter, melted
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp matcha powder

1. Place the oven rack in the centre. Preheat the oven to 350ºF.

2. Grease the pan and then cover completely with flour. Remove the excess.

3. Sift the flours, salt, and baking powder.

4. Whisk the eggs and sugar well. Add the vanilla extract and continue mixing. Then add the yogurt, and mix everything well.

5. Add the dry ingredients from step 3 to the egg mixture.

6. Fold in melted butter in 3 additions.

7. Divide the batter into two portions. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice to one portion, and add matcha powder to the other portion.

8. Pour some lemon batter in the pan, then pour some matcha batter. Keep alternating until everything is used up. Gently mix the two batters with a knife to create a marbled pattern. Don't go overboard with the swirling!

9. Bake the cake for 60-65 minutes.

10. When done, cool the cake for about 20 minutes, then invert the cake and allow to cool on a metal rack.

Simple is Best

For some reason towards the end of the school year, I always go into a baking frenzy. It may be because I suddenly have more free time on my hands, but I think a lot of it is because I'm bored of the school stuff and need a distraction. This year is not unlike previous years, and these past few weeks I've been baking more than I did in the past few months.

Normally at this time of the year I'd be pretty stressed out from end-of-term projects and the looming final exams, so I tend to go for recipes that are quick and easy to whip up. Bonus points if they yield a huge batch so I have more for snacking! With this  in mind, recently I tried these recipes that turned out to be very simple to make and yet so satisfying, making them perfect for easy snacks.

The first one is Japanese steamed egg buns, or mushi pan. I find that these are more cake-like instead of being a true bread. They are sweetened with condensed milk, and the result is a moist, lightly sweet treat that is great for snacking. Steam-baking is something I had never tried prior to making this recipe, but it's just as easy as popping something in the oven as long as you use a large steamer and not an itty-bitty one like I did (I had to steam the buns two at a time!).

The second recipe I tried is for a simple yogurt cake. This is a very versatile recipe as you can jazz it up with whatever flavouring(s) you desire, or you can leave it plain if you prefer to keep things simple. I had some ripe strawberries, so after I poured half of the batter into the pan, I arranged strawberry slices on top, and poured the remaining batter to hide the strawberries. The hidden fruits provided some colour to an otherwise plain cake. The cake itself is great: moist, light, and not too sweet. It's a good anytime-of-the-day cake that I will be making again (with different variations) in the future.

Happy Anniversary!

 It just occurred to me today that this blog is now 1 year old! Documenting all of my baking endeavours has been an interesting experience, and one that I still need to improve upon - especially my photography & food styling skills. However, it has been a lot of fun, and I plan on continuing indefinitely. :)

It's always nice to have cake for celebrations, so I present to you a chocolate bundt cake I recently made for a dinner party. This cake was super easy to make, i.e. no mixer required, which is something I always appreciate. The result is a very light, moist and chocolatey cake, thanks to the addition of yogurt and lots of chocolate, plus coffee to help bring out the chocolate flavour. Tastewise, it is not very sweet, so the ganache is a welcome addition to help sweeten the cake. However, at the party we served the cake alongside vanilla ice cream sundaes, so for that purpose the ganache could have been omitted. 

Chocolate Bundt Cake
yields 1 10-inch cake
adapted from Food and Wine (via Cookie Madness)

Cake:
56 grams (2 oz) bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 tbsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup strong-brewed coffee
1 cup buttermilk (at room temperature - I used plain yogurt)

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Grease a 10-inch bundt pan and coat evenly with some cocoa powder.

2. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Let cool. Add the oil and sugar, whisk in until smooth, then whisk in the egg and vanilla extract.

3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.

4. Add half of the dry ingredients from step 3 to the chocolate mixture (step 2) along with 1/2 cup coffee and 1/2 cup buttermilk. Whisk until smooth.

5. Add the remaining dry ingredients, coffee, and buttermilk to the mixture. Mix again until the batter is smooth.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the lower third of the oven for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean.

7. Cool on a metal rack for 10 minutes before inverting the cake.

Glaze:
85 grams (3 oz) bittersweet chocolate
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tbsp corn syrup (I used Lyle's Golden Syrup)
1/2 tbsp unsalted butter

1. Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a saucepan.

2. In a bowl, combine the chocolate, syrup, and butter. Pour the hot cream over the mixture and let everything melt together for about 5 minutes. Whisk the mixture until it's smooth.

3. Allow the ganache to cool for about 5 minutes until it is thick, smooth and at a pourable consistency.

4. Pour glaze over cake and let it set for at least 30 minutes.

The Good Stuff

This past Christmas, I received a box of Cacao Barry Dark Chocolate Couverture Origine “Tanzanie” (what a mouthful!) from my boss. I don’t have easy access to fancy chocolates, and having a college student’s budget prevents me from splurging too often, so this was a much-appreciated gift. Since I have a limited supply, I wanted to use the chocolate wisely and not be wasteful!

When I tasted this 75% dark chocolate, I noticed how fruity it is, and it has a sour aftertaste of which I’m not a fan. For Valentine’s Day, I used it to make this mousse, but due to the nature of this particular recipe, the sour taste was highlighted even more, so needless to say I didn’t have very much of it. I figured since I don’t like the taste of the chocolate on its own, I should complement it with other flavours that could tone down the fruity notes. I was in the mood to make chocolate chip cookies, so I decided to go with that, even though CCC’s are simple and don’t require “the good stuff” to make them delicious!

Japanese Style Cheesecake, Take 2

Before I forget, I just wanted to post my second attempt at making the Japanese cheesecake I tried earlier. I didn't make it at home so the only pans I had access to were loaf pans. I also substituted a few ingredients that I couldn't find (white vinegar for lemon juice and tapioca starch for corn starch). The cake probably would've been more fragrant with lemon juice, but otherwise the substitutions didn't ruin the cake. I used a proper water bath this time, but funnily enough my first attempt didn't have cracks, and these ones did, likely due to the oven being too hot. Strangely enough, since they were baked in loaf pans the cracks didn't look out of place (just Google image "loaf cakes" and you'll see what I mean).