Cotton soft Japanese Cheesecake

I love cheesecakes very much, especially Japanese Cheesecake. This cotton soft cheesecake is so light, as light as a cotton, and so yummy. When I see Japanese Cheesecake, I just cannot resist, I can finish half the cake in no time. One spoon after another, can't stop myself...nom, nom, nom! Enjoy eating! Japanese Cheesecake You'll need: 8" round cake pan parchment paper - lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with parchment paper (a) Egg white 4 egg white 100g sugar 1tsp lemon juice (or 1/2 tsp cream of tartar) (b) Cheese 200g cream cheese 170g milk 60g unsalted butter 30g sugar (c) Egg yolk 4 egg yolk 50g cake and pastry flour 20g cornstarch 50g milk Steps: 1.  Preheat the oven at 325F. 2.  (Part b - cheese mixture) Cut cream cheese into small cubes. Melt cream cheese and milk over a double boiler. Stir in sugar and butter. Remove from heat when all ingredients are melted. Set aside.        3.  (Part c - egg yolk mixture) Stir in milk to cornstarch. Fold in the sifted flour. Whisk in the egg yolks. Mix well. 4.  Add the egg yolk mixture (step 2) into the cheese mixture (step 1). Set aside.         5.  Meanwhile, in the stand mixer (or hand mixer) fitted with whisk attachment. Beat the egg white until foamy, add in sugar and cream of tartar. Whisk in high speed until soft peaks form.   6.  Add the egg white mixture to the cheese-yolk mixture and mix well. Pour into a 8-inch round cake pan. 7.  Bake the cheesecake in an inch water bath at 325F for 1 hours 15 mins or until set and golden brown.

Happy Bird-day Cake

My darling is turning 5 this month! Many moons ago, he already requested an angry bird cake for his birthday. After much googling, I found some really nice angry bird pictures. I downloaded the pictures onto my iPad.

Making this cake was nothing but time consuming! Can you believe, I took Friday off from work, just to work on the cake. After running some errands in the morning, I start working on mixing the colors. Getting the right color is actually harder than making the bird itself. After getting all the color I need for the birds, I call it a day.

I spend my Saturday baking and making birds. We are hosting a BIRD-day party for him on Sunday. This weekend I baked a total of 4 cakes and a kuih talam. Good thing we do catering, if not we'll have just cake party. If you know me well, you know I can't cook  :(( I like to bake, but I don't like to cook.

The cake was actually completed 30 minutes before our guest arrived. Not only I was pleased, all of our guest were impressed! After all the hard work, I deserve the compliments :))) **pat myself on the shoulder**



HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DARLING!



Things that you'll need:

Fondant

Gumpaste

Foodwritter (edible marker)

Color, lots of color

Pictures

iPad, optional.





Meet the casting crew

Happy BIRD-day!!!

Green Tea Snow Skin Mooncake

Mid Autumn Festival also known as Mooncake Festival is one of the biggest celebration the Chinese around the world celebrates on the 15th day of the eighth month in Chinese Lunar calendar. Tonight our neighbour invited us over to celebrate in their front yard. They decorated their yard with lanterns and served light snacks, of cos the main snack is mooncake.

Mooncake is a Chinese confession that is traditionally eaten on this day. Last year I made the traditional baked mooncake packed with salted egg yolk. This year I make this Green Tea Snow Skin (ping-pi) Mooncake. Unlike traditional mooncake, ping-pi mooncake is bake-free. And the most important, it's easy to make. To make things even easier, you can use the canned red bean paste or lotus paste. I actually made the red bean paste myself but I couldn't find the photos :`(  


Green Tea Snow Skin Mooncake

Skin:
240g icing sugar
40g shortening
200ml warm water
120g cooked rice flour (or fried glutinous rice flour)*

Filling:
Red bean paste/Lotus paste

Steps:

Mix icing sugar with shortening. Add in water and mix well. Then add the cooked rice flour and mix well. Set aside for 5-8 mins.

Divide snow skin into 50g each. (the skin weight may be vary depends on the size of the mould that you're using). Wrap in some fillings.

Press mooncake into the mould. Tap lightly to unmould. Refrigerate.



This is the first time he plays lantern. He was so worry that the candle inside will burn the lattern.



  

* If you couldn't find the Cooked (Glutinous) Rice Flour in the store. You can DIY. There are two ways of processing your own Cooked (Glutinous) Rice Flour:

i.   Oven: wrap (glutinous) rice flour with aluminium foil. Place it into preheated oven, bake in 300F for 20 mins.

ii.  Stove: fry the rice flour in a pan until it turns yellowish

Here's some pictures from last year...

Traditional mooncake - I made everything from scratch including the salted egg :))

Plain Snow Skin mooncake

uncooked traditional mooncake

Cinamon Rolls

My photography skills still at the bottom level. But I'm very please with this photo.

I always wonder what it takes to be a good photographer. Last year I took the beginner Photography course, wanting to learn the basic skill for using and taking pictures with my Canon DSLR. I am no pro, still a beginner. Good photographer 'acquired' the good eye. I don't have the eye and creativity in my photos. As far as that is concerned, I need to work on my food photography and styling technique to make my photos more interesting.

Hot buns with a sticky sweet glaze and a cup of Hazelnut coffee...hmm-mmm. I like cinnamon buns, but the ones from the store or bakery are way too sweet for my taste. This recipe has just the right amount of sugar and easy to make.

Hope you all like it too! Enjoy!

Cinnamon Rolls

Sweet Yeast Dough:
4C all purpose flour
8g instant yeast
1/3C granular sugar
75g butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1C sour cream
1tsp salt
1tsp vanilla essence

Filling:
3/4C packed brown sugar
1/2C butter, softened
2tbsp ground cinnamon (i like to add more)

Cinnamon Glaze:
1C icing sugar
1/4tsp cinnamon
1/2tsp vanilla
1-2tbsp milk

Steps:

1.   Melt butter and let cool.

2.   In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and sour cream. Let stand until room temperature, about 20 mins. Whisk in butter, salt and vanilla.

3.   Mix the dry ingredient together (yeast, sugar and flour) in the mixing bowl.

4.   Using electric stand mixer fitted with hook attachment, slowly stir in egg mixture to make soft, slightly sticky dough. Beat the dough in high speed  until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 mins.

5.   Place dough in large buttered bowl; turn dough to grease all sides. Cover and let rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1.5 hours.

6.   Press dough to flatten. Cover and let rest for 10 mins to get rid of its elasticity.

7.   Butter a 13x9 inch metal cake pan, set aside.

8.   In bowl, mash together brown sugar and cinnamon, set aside.

9.   On floured counter, roll out dough to 12x24 inch rectangle. Spread butter evenly over dough, leave 1/2 inch border on one short end unbuttered. Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly over buttered dough. Press filling gently with metal spatula.

10.  Roll up, starting at short end opposite unbuttered end. Pinch dough to seal seam. Cut into 12 equal slices; arrange cut-side up in prepared pan.

11.  Cover with plastic wrap. Let buns rise in warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1.5 hours.

12.  Bake in centre of 375F oven for 30 mins.

Cinnamon glaze: in bowl, whisk together icing sugar and cinnamon. Wisk in vanilla and enough milk until glaze is think enough to drizzle. Drizzle over warm buns for a glazed look. For visible drizzle look, let buns cool before drizzling.

To make sticky-top cinnamon buns: while dough is resting, before filling and rolling, heat 3/4C butter with 3/4C packed brown sugar in saucepan over medium heat, whisking until no longer granular. Pour into buttered baking pan. Arrange cut buns evenly over sugar mixture. Bake as directed. Remove from oven and turn out onto rack positioned over rimmed baking sheet or tray. Leave, bottom side up. Scrape any syrupy goo from the bottom of the pan over the buns. Omit cinnamon glaze.