Strawberry Yoghurt and Matcha "Watermelon" Steamed Cakes

If you don't have an electric mixer and an oven at home, you can still make pretty cakes like we do! Introducing my soft, fragrant and easy-to-make "watermelon" steamed cakes!

Aren't they cute?

Watermelon skins!

Sliced watermelon

Smaller slices :)

I adapted my recipe from Angel Wan, who adapted from the ever famous Junko. I reduced and replaced a bit of the pancake mix to include cornflour to make the cake softer, and added honey (reduced sugar) to increase the moisture content. You may replace all of the milk with yoghurt to increase the flavor and moisture content even more (but cake will be denser).

Ingredients (makes 4-8 cakes depending on size of bowls):
Strawberry layer
92g pancake mix
3g (about 1tsp) cornflour
20g caster sugar
1 medium egg
1 tbs honey
30g strawberry yoghurt (I used Meiji)
30g milk
15g melted butter/ vegetable oil
3-4 drops liquid red food coloring (omit if you want it all-natural or replace with raspberry/beetroot juice)
1.5 tsp black sesame seeds (You may add more or less. You may replace black sesame seeds with chocolate rice if that is your preference too.)

Matcha layer
90g pancake mix
3g cornflour
1-2 tsp (3-5g) matcha powder (depending on how strong you want the green tea flavor to be)
1 medium egg
20g sugar
1 tbs honey
30g strawberry yoghurt
30g milk
20g melted butter/ vegetable oil

Watermelon stripes
1 tsp matcha powder
Some cooled boiled water

Steps:
1. Lightly grease any small metal/glass/ceramic bowls you have at home that can be steamed.
2. Prepare strawberry layer*. Sift cornflour and pancake mix together and set aside.
3. Using a hand whisk, beat egg and sugar until it turns pale yellow and all sugar has dissolved.
4. Whisk in milk, honey and yoghurt until well combined. Add food coloring at this point if you wish. Keep in mind final color will be slightly lighter as flour has not been added.
5. Gradually whisk in sifted pancake mix with cornflour. Towards the end when batter becomes thicker, gently fold in the flour with your whisk instead of whisking vigorously.
6. Fold in melted butter/ vegetable oil. Do not overmix or cake will become tough.
7. Fold in black sesame seeds.

8. Fill bowls till about 1/3-1/2 full and steam at low heat for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. Make sure that water is boiling before steaming the cakes if you are using a wok. I steamed mine for 15 minutes.

9. Unmould by hand and cover with cling wrap to prevent cakes from drying out.

10. Proceed to prepare matcha batter in the same way. Sift matcha powder together with pancake mix and cornflour.
11. Fill the bowls till about 1/3 full with matcha batter and then place the strawberry cakes on top of the green tea batter. Gently press the strawberry cake into the green tea batter until it is almost fully submerged with a thin ring of green surrounding the red cake.

12. Steam for 10-15 minutes or until cooked. I steamed mine for 15 minutes. Unmould and let the cakes cool before painting the stripes.

13. Dissolve 1 tsp of matcha powder in some water. Add a quarter tsp at a time until a desired consistency is reached,  like watercolor paint. Use a small food brush to paint on the stripes. You may use toothpick/chopstick/ finger tip to paint if you don't have a brush. Let it air dry for 5 minutes before storing in air tight containter.
14. Resteam for 5-10 minutes in low heat just before consuming. Eat it while it is still hot! Skip this step and the cake will not be as soft and moist as it should be.

This is a picture of the cake that has been refrigerated for a day and resteamed.

Soft and bendy!

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House

 

With love,
Phay Shing


*I was experimenting with double steaming cakes (something like double-baked for hidden or patterned chiffon cakes) which you don't have to follow. Alternatively, you may make the watermelons this way (safer and less experimental than what I did :p. I needed to have my curiosity satisfied):
1. Prepare both matcha and strawberry batter at the same time.
2. Fill your bowls till about 1/3 full with matcha batter followed by spooning strawberry batter in the middle. Fill the bowls until about 1/2-2/3 full.
3. Gently knock the bowls to release any trapped air bubbles. Steam for 10-15 minutes depending on size of bowls or until skewer comes out clean.
4. Unmould by hand and paint the watermelon stripes.