Orange chiffon cake - second attempt at chiffon cake~~

We just bought a new MIX MASTER :D :D its a Kenwood patissier mixer!! I LOVE IT! :D so since it was my sister's birthday coming up I decided to try it out =D
I've always wanted to make a Chiffon cake so tried out a Green Tea chiffon cake... HOWEVER.. it failed =____=" it sunk because I didn't invert it as soon as it came out the oven!! also I think it was too strong in the green tea flavour.. so I will not be sharing that recipe unfortunately... till I fine tune it =p

so what do you do when you fail??? You TRY AGAIN :D

so the next day I decided on a different recipe and so here it is..

ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE!

Ingredients

7 egg whites
2 1/4 cups (225 grams) sifted cake flour (i just used Self-raising flour)
1 1/2 cups (300 grams) castor sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (120 ml) vegetable oil
3/4 cup (180 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice (~2-3 oranges)
2 tablespoons orange zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1. Separate the eggs and place whites in one bowl and yolks in another. Preheat oven to 170oC.

2. Beat egg whites till foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat till soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 3 tablespoons of sugar until stiff peaks form (to test - the egg whites shouldn't fall when you tip the bowl upside down XD)

3. In a separate bowl add flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix.

4. Make a well in the centre and add yolks, oil, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla extract. Beat until smooth.

5. Using a spatula, gently fold the egg whites into the batter just until blended (don't mix too hard or else you will lose air and the cake will not rise as much!! - however you need to mix it through or else there will be swirls of egg white through the cake)

6. Pour mix in chiffon cake tin (i just saw that you do not need to grease the tin.. OOPS! i did that ><) and bake ~55-60 minutes.
IMPORTANT!!!!: when cake is cooked, immediately remove from oven and invert the pan and place on a bottle or flat surface so it is suspended over the counter. (i actually just inverted it onto the cake rack and it worked out ok ;p).
Let the cake cool completely before removing from pan - be patient ^___^

You may ice the cake if you like or even add some filling.. but I thought it was good just the way it was =D

Our new baby!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAT

btw we got a new PRO CAMERA!! so hopefully my food pics will be of better quality =p

http://www.joyofbaking.com/OrangeChiffonCake.html

The revealing of the gourmet range of macarons!!!

HEY ALL!!
BAKING TRAY has an EXCITING ANOUCEMENT TO MAKE!!!!

The revealing of the 2 new GOURMET FLAVOURS of macaons on the menu!!! =D

Introducing.........

MATCHA (Green Tea) DELIGHT!!!

Delicious green tea shells with green tea infused white chocolate ganache =) =)

and......

STRAWBERRY SURPRISE!!!!

Strawberry flavoured shells with white chocolate ganache and a lil surprise ^^

Both are ready for order =)

*Special introductory price* 5 for $5, 10 for $10

HURRY! won't last long~~

*price after offer: 5 for $7.50; 10 for $15

Just ONE bowl - chocolate cake

Everybody loves an easy, delicious recipe that doesn't use too many dishes right? (coz who loves washing up after baking >__<) so here is a really tasty CHOCOLATE CAKE!!! everything in one bowl!!! and about 10 minutes to actually make!! =D

Made this for collegues farewell :)

Ingredients:

200g self-raising flour
150g caster sugar
34g cocoa powder
2 eggs
175ml milk
125g butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 160oC
2. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and blend on low speed to combine using an electriv mixer
3. When combined, mix on medium speed for a few minutes (for airation ^^)

MMmm i could just eat it like THAT!

4. Line a cake tin and pour mixture in. Bake for ~30 minutes
5. Make chocolate ganache and ice cooled cake :)

Chocolate ganache:
150ml cream
375g cooking chocolate

Melt cream and chocolate in a heat proof bowl placed on top of a bowl with simmering water - as the French say "bain marie"

also had leftover batter for cupcakes ^^

Pre-iced... don't worry too much about the cracks .. that's what the icing is for right? :P

Chocolate cupcakes :)

TA DA! finished product!! glistening :) :)

Recipe modified from http://i-bake-for-you.blogspot.com/2010/05/monkey-business.html

Egg TARTS :D

Hey guys!! I haven't blogged in ages!! but I have been baking a lot ^^ So hopefully will get round to posting all the recipes!! As I've been baking i've realised there are a lot of baking equipment that I want/need! haha I should write a list! One of them are egg tart cases! you know the silver ones? Coz then it would be a lot easier to bake these egg tarts!! anyways the recipe is GOOOD =D =D I've baked it twice!! but still wanna perfect it~~
Ingredients:

CRUST
225g plain flour
125g butter
55g icing sugar
1 egg, whisked
dash of vanilla extrat

CUSTARD
3 eggs
110g caster sugar
225g hot water
85ml evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Cream butter and sguar until smooth, fluffy and light in colour
2. Add whisked egg, half at a time and beat. Add vanilla extract.
3. Sift in flour in two batches and knead into dough *I've found that the dough is a very soft one and I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that or not =S but it still has worked out*
4. Roll out dough to 1/2 cm thickness and cut out circles with cutter *because the dough is so soft you can just grab some and place it into the egg tart tins/muffin tray*. Press dough to line the tins.
5. Add sguar into hot water for custard, till dissolved.
6. Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water and mix.
7. Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell making sure not to let it overflow (coz burnt egg tart custard in the oven STINKS!!)
8. Preheat oven to 200oC. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10-15 minutes until edges lightly brown.
9. Lower heat to 180oC. Once custard puffs up, pull open oven door ~2-3 inches. Bake for anohter 10-15 minutes until custard is cooked through.

If only ours looked like http://en.christinesrecipes.com/2009/03/cantonese-egg-tarts-recipe.html =_= hahah more practice!!