Tiger in Hiding

Since father's recovery, I had been busy baking and perfecting French Breads.  So much time and effort had been directed towards this new challenge that I have neglected my cakes.  Of course, the pleas from the boys to spare them from more 'hard breads' also made me veered from my course temporarily.

A recipe from Chef Aki, this has been on my mind and the first on my to-do list.  She was sitting next to me in one of Shermay's class and asked if I had tried baking her chiffon cakes.  There were feedbacks that those who attempted were not successful.  She was perplexed but I was so motivated.

I am happy to have completed in my task and shall be moving to the next in line.

Tora, which means Tiger in Japanese, is depicted by the design of the cake batter.

New and improved

One of Val's new recipes on chiffon cakes, this is simply delicious! I like its rich and stronger chocolaty flavour. Since conducting her classes at Shermay's, Val has her recipes improved and ingredients upgraded. Naturally, this chiffon is made with Valrhona cocoa powder, which is dutch processed.

Should I go green?

The bottle of pandan juice was sitting in the fridge untouched. It was meant for making all the pandan goodies taught by Chef Christopher, but I overlooked and use it for this recipe by Val. Within a week, I had baked six of these. I'm amazed at my sudden craze!

I was indecisive when it comes to colouring. To make it more appealing, I should include the green food colouring but I often back out at the eleventh hour. I think I ought to, just once, in the name of photography.

Coffee break

A very down to earth chiffon cake. It can be simple, with just basic ingredients or sophisticated, incorporating liqueur and specialty sugar. The chiffon is appetizing either way it is done.

From one of Valerie's new recipe, this chiffon is very tender and fluffy.

Japanese taste

This is a recipe which I had found in the book '我爱和风洋果子' by Junko Fukuda. I was very curious about this chiffon which uses sake lees and I wondered how it would taste.

At first bite, I couldn't discern any unique taste that I had expected with such expensive ingredient. Was it because I have insensitive taste buds? Taking several bites after, I seemed to recall a slight hint of similar taste derived from '白糖糕'. Could it be that? The sake smell wasn't in existence at all after baking even though the book mentioned that it would exude a strong smell. It was sweet smelling nonetheless. I couldn't categorize the taste, it appeared normal to me. Apart from the chiffon made with Calpis drink, this would be the second Japanese style chiffon cake which I really don't know how to appreciate.

A little push

I lost my baking fervor for a while. Totally exhausted and lacking in keenness. Having both children in the morning school is unexpectedly tiring.

Just as I need a cup of coffee to start the day, I'd chosen to bake this Espresso Chiffon cake to initiate the momentum of baking again.

A take on healthy recipe

Tofu is indeed an amazing product. Apart from Chinese cooking, it can be now be incorporated into desserts. In fact, many Japanese recipe books include this and if have not remembered wrongly, Tampopo sells this chiffon too. I was indecisive in working on this recipe before Chef Aki taught it. Why? Beats me.

Contrary to what I had expected, the chiffon has a mild taste of soybean milk. It is very soft because of the pastry flour used. Unlike the conventional chiffon cakes which are normally stronger in taste, this chiffon is extremely light. Chef Aki paired this up with kinako cream, but I've decided to make it plain. I know mum will prefer it this way too.

Will it be as good?

Some recipes on Yuzu Chiffon cakes utilize the fruit itself, zest and juice. Few uses the Korean version of Yuja-cha or citron tea. It is made with yuzu, honey and sugar and packaged like a bottle of marmalade. I favour the use of the fruit because it's natural of course, besides, I believe the cake will only emit the fragrance of the Yuzu. Since this is not the season for the fruit to be imported in, I made a test run with the Yuja-cha. This bottle of Yuja-cha doesn't taste as sweet as the previous one I had and it was really packed with the fruit peels too. It is definitely ideal to use as the ingredient substitute.

It was indeed fragrant, sweetness is just right too.

How would the real fruit fare? I must find out when the fruit is in.

A fruit with religious-linked name

Goggled the name 'Passion Fruit' and realized that the meaning has nothing to do emotion at all. Surprisingly, the name of the fruit was religiously linked. The fruit gotten its name from the flowers, which is known as Passion Flower. Turns out from Wikipedia that:

The passion fruit has had a religious association as reflected by the name "passion" given to it by Catholic missionarieswho thought that certain parts of the fruit bore some religious connections.^{[citation needed]} These missionaries (who were joined by the Spanish Conquistadors in South America), saw a way of illustrating the Crucifixion: ^{[citation needed]}

• The three stigmas were to reflect the three nails in Jesus's hands and feet.
• The threads of the passion flower were believed to be a symbol of the Crown of Thorns.
• The vine's tendrils were likened to the whips.
• The five anthers represented the five wounds.
• The ten petals and sepals regarded to resemble the Apostles (excluding Judas and Peter).

I'd bought the fruit from Fairprice before. They didn't taste as good as these bought from Ayer Hitam. It was a great opportunity to try out the Passion Fruit Chiffon recipe by Alex Goh.

Aromatic with a crunch from biting into the seeds. Titillating!

This is it!

This Pandan Chiffon is really THE ONE. It is very soft, ultra fragrant and super spongy. Sweetness is just right and not dry at all. Ultimately, this is a unforgettable cake and definitely a great recipe. I'm very glad to have come across it from a blog named 'Jane's Corner'.

The mistake I had made was to have kept the cake in the container when it was lukewarm the night before. Thus, when I took it out this morning to have the pictures taken, there was some moisture in the container and the bottom of the cake took in some dampness and that caused a streak.

Nonetheless, the cake won many praises.

A Jam named Cassis

They were displayed on the same shelf and without looking carefully, I grabbed a bottle and left. I presumed that bottle was blueberry jam. When I needed it to mix into my chiffon batter, I realised that it labelled 'Cassis Jam'. What on earth was that? I tasted it, it tasted great and in went the jam into my chiffon cake. In any case, I still have a great tasting two-toned chiffon.

I make a check in the internet after and seemed that it is blackcurrant jam. What a name!

On the tea table

The total time taken for the tea leaves to become powder took me almost an hour. Not to mention that some sprinkled out during the process. Well, I could have bought the teabags though.

Achieving success in my last attempt with Chef Christopher's recipe, I continued with this recent one from Chiffon 201. It is very soft and fluffy, infused with the scent of earl grey tea. Instead of baking in small muffin cups as what he had suggested, the recipe fitted nicely in my 17 cm chiffon pan.

Mystery of the Chiffon cake

It was one of the few mysteries which left me some sleepless nights. I had not encountered chiffon recipes that was so engaging in the mind as those by Chef Christopher Tan. Since the Chiffon class 101 last year, I couldn't understand why I couldn't achieve 100% in making his chiffon cakes. Occasionally, when I chanced upon learning that other fellow classmates whom had attended could get it right, I was exasperated! How can I overcome that 20% failure was what prompted me to attend his Chiffon 201 lesson last Saturday. Though the cakes weren't baked in chiffon pans, I'm glad that I came home with a hypothesis and today, a conclusion is drawn. I have succeeded and the mystery solved.

This Chiffon cake is really tall and big. I don't normally use my 25 cm Chiffon pan, but Chef Christopher's recipes call for that size. Even without a very nice brown skin, I pride myself in achieving what I had set out to do and completing the task.

Now it's time to take out his recipes and make my money worthwhile.

Curiosity

Came across this Chiffon while visiting Anncoo's blog. I love chiffon and according to what she had described, this chiffon just rake up my curiosity. I wondered how mango tastes like after baking. Would it be as aromatic as banana puree? I have tasted Mango mousse cake, mango pudding and mango ice cream but as chiffon cake???

Well, I was quite put off doing this initially as the recipe included one tablespoon of Baking powder. In any case, I carried on in order to obtain the answers to my questions. I should say that the end product is very very soft. However, I think it could be the quantity of baking powder used. The baked mango cubes lost their sweetness and the overall taste is rather bland. Maybe sugar was reduced from the original recipe??? My conclusion? I prefer banana anytime and cold mangoes :)

Soy nice together

I remembered having tasted mochi coated with kinako powder but really can't imagine making a kinako chiffon. This is a recipe from Keiko's book too. In fact, I used to think that chiffon is heavenly eaten on its own. Just the soft and fluffy texture is enough to lure me into the making of chiffon cakes. However, since making chiffons from Keiko's recipe, I always find her creams nicely complement her chiffon cakes. This chiffon is no exception too, without making this, I will never reckon a taste so unique.

Green Tea Chiffon Cake - Version K

First on my list is the Green Tea Chiffon from Keiko's book - Okashi. There are many types of green tea powder selling in the bakery stores, I chose the canned one which is from Meidi-ya. This is a second bake as the first was consumed by mum yesterday. I had added 3g to the original weight of green tea powder as mum commented that she preferred a stronger taste.

After baking, the distinct colour of green tea powder however, is not prominent. Instead, it looked more like the colour from roasted tea. The taste and smell is very fragrant and when I did the green tea cream, the colour changed to a nicer pastel green.

A Comparison

This is made from a recipe by Chef Keiko, whom used to teach at Shermay's. She used sesame paste for this chiffon which I had long wanted to use up mine. After making this, apart from the difference in the colour hue, which showed hers having darker shade of black, I found it not as fragrant as the one I made with sesame powder. Should I increase the quantity of the sesame paste?

Before leaving for Taipei, I bought a pack of raspberry as I had wanted to make the chiffon in the recipe book by Alex Goh. I was so caught up with my farm in facebook that I didn't do it. Since the raspberries are still edible, I quickly made it. However, I couldn't get the yolk mixture to be liquid enough to blend in the whites. So instead of adding the raspberry puree into each mixture, I blend it into the yolk to dilute them. As such I can't make a raspberry marble chiffon.

Mum's favorite seeds

Mum loves to eat sesame seeds. When I saw a recipe on Black sesame chiffon on Nasilemak Lover's blog, I know I have to make it. Besides the reason that it is mum's favourite, I have the same can of organic ground black sesame powder in my pantry. I had bought it for the same reason, to make into a chiffon cake using another recipe.

When the chiffon was baking in the oven, the scent of black sesame lingered in the air. It is indeed very fragrant.

Happy Teachers' Day - a belated wish

I'm glad to have found Teacher George for Nicholas. When Nicholas stumbled from his Maths, it was Teacher George whom instilled confidence and drive into him. I'm really grateful to him for the effort and encouragement given to Nicholas. The other great teacher is his wife, Teacher Katherine. Though I seldom talk to her about Nicholas, I'm also thankful for the general knowledge that she imparted to him.

This is a belated gift for both of them as I'd thought that they would have lessons on Tuesday, which is the actual day. However, I only knew at the eleventh hour that the lessons were off. So I baked this to be given to them on Saturday.