Sleepy Snorlax and Pikachu Marshmallows

 My friend requested for Snorlax marshmallows along with the Pikachus so I made these!

Don't you feel like sleeping seeing them 🤭?

You may see the upright version of Pikachu marshmallows in my older post.

I made the Snorlax marshmallows vanilla flavoured with a hint of lavender, and tried to colour it naturally partially with dried blue pea flowers infusing the water used for making the sugar syrup.

I made some smaller Snorlaxes...

...as well as some large ones...

...so that the sleepy Pikachus can fit on top of the giant Snorlax!

You may watch the videos of making the smaller Snorlax over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DI_HKH_StLx/?igsh=d3loMmxtdnhjYnVq

And the bigger Snorlax with sleepy Pikachu over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJTtfc7pfR-/?igsh=MWQ4NXBuaXB1MXVubQ==

I share the basic recipe, how to tweak it for different flavours and consistencies for adapting to 2D or 3D figurines in my Deco Marshmallows book.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Sugar-Free Floral Blue China Chiffon Cake II

 I was inspired by floral patterned blue china porcelain for my mum's birthday cake this year as she loves flowers and watercolor painting. Here's what I made, and it's sugar-free!

I made the mini cake version a month ago and shared the detailed recipe there. You may refer to this post for the details.

What I made differently in this bigger version, was to include more but thinner layers. So this cake consists of 5 layers of sugar-free lavender rose chiffon sponge and 4 layers of vanilla rose diplomat cream, along with fresh strawberries and a strawberry-raspberry reduction brushed on sponge layers. I used the same honey lavender jelly coloured naturally with blue pea flowers for decoration at the sides of the cake, as well as wafer paper butterflies at the top and base.

You may see the reel here for the process of piping the batter, painting and assembly of the cake layers:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7eLwqbSLU-/?igsh=eW05ZnluYW56ZnY5

Just to share a few pictures:

Decorated top layer of sponge

A peek at the insides

Cross-section of a slice of cake 

My family couldn't tell that the cake was made with sugar replacements! They all found it delicious and fragrant, as did my taste testers for the mini cake trial bake!

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Sugar-Free Floral Blue China Chiffon Cake

 I wanted to make a floral blue china porcelain themed bake for my mum's birthday this year but I wasn't sure I could pull it off so here's my trial bake that I am really pleased with!

A closer look at the individual cakes...

And a look at the cut cross-section!

Let me explain the components in these 8cm petite cakes.

Sponge: 
Sugar-free egg yolk-free lavender rose chiffon sponge. The pattern is almost sugar-free so it was quite a challenge to work with because I prefer a meringue-based pattern recipe. The method which uses 1:1:1:1 ratio for egg whites: flour : sugar : butter for the pattern is more popular because it is more straightforward but the texture isn't as close to the base sponge as a modified chiffon recipe. So this is entirely my personal preference.

Cream: 
Sugar-free vanilla rose diplomat cream

Jelly: 

Blue pea lavender honey agar jelly made 100% naturally coloured. This component is mainly for aesthetics as well as to provide some bite in addition to the strawberries. You may leave it out if you want less work

Other components:

Raspberry reduction, fresh strawberries and dainty wafer paper butterflies! The butterflies are for aesthetics so you may leave it out but I strongly recommend including the strawberries and raspberry reduction.

It's my first time trying out making the butterflies. Such a fun crafting activity!

Here's the video of the process!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5uNr4VSQ-l/?igsh=dXZ1djdwdW9xeTl2

I will be sharing the recipes for all components except the pattern. Although I have tried making chiffon cake sugar-free with other sugar replacements in the past, I believe this maltitol-erythritol combination is one that comes close to chiffon cakes made using white sugar in terms of taste and texture. My hubby said he couldn't tell that it's sugar-free! Do note that maltitol isn't zero in glycemic index but it's still significantly lower than regular sugar. Erythritol is commonly found and has zero GI but it doesn't dissolve easily in water and tends to make bakes gritty as a result. It also leaves a cooling aftertaste. Using it in combination with maltitol seems to make these downsides of erythritol hardly noticeable! As with all sugar-free bakes, I always caution consumption in moderation and watch for any side effects as alcohol sugars are known to cause gastrointestinal discomfort in some people. 

I used honey as the sweetener instead of sugar replacement for the jelly because I still want it to taste great 🤭. I chose Acacia honey for its lower GI value.

Cake flour also contributes to the overall GI. I wouldn't substitute that with keto-friendly options though because low protein flour is essential for the texture of the sponge. All in all, this bake contains minimal white sugar but it's so flavourful and refreshing that you wouldn't think it's almost sugar-free! I tried my best to keep the flavours true to the floral theme of the design by keeping rose and lavender flavours the star of this cake, while balancing the floral notes with other components.

Sugar-free lavender rose chiffon sponge
This quantity is good for two 7x7" pans for sheet cakes or one 6" chiffon tin

15g neutral flavour oil
40g floral milk tea*
35g cake flour, sifted
pinches of salt

2 egg whites (about 75g)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
15g erythritol 
15g maltitol 

* Heat 120 milk with 6g Moroccan rosebuds & 1 tsp dried lavender flowers. Steep for 30min. Strain. 

Steps:

1. Whisk together oil, milk, salt & flour. Set aside

2. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Add maltitol and erythritol. Whip meringue to firm peaks or just reach stiff peaks. Build it up Sloooowly to improve stability. This also prevents large air bubbles from forming and the texture of the sponge will be finer

3. Quickly but gently fold meringue into 1. in three additions. 

4. Pour into lined trays or chiffon tin. I line the tray with teflon sheet for smoother wrinkle-free sponges. For sheet cake, bake at 170C for 14min. For tall chiffon, bake at 140-150C for 45-50min. Adjust baking temperature & time according to Your oven as each one is different.

5. Immediately flip sheet cake onto fresh parchment paper to cool completely. Cool cakes baked in chiffon tin by inverting the tin and unmolding by hand when cooled.

Store the cake in airtight condition if not assembling yet. I painted in the details using cake paint from Sweet Sticks. I cut out 8cm circles of sponge using the cake rings I use for assembly .

Sugar-free vanilla rose diplomat cream
Diplomat cream usually contains some butter but I omitted it to try to keep the colour & taste light. Butter is usually added after the pastry cream is cooked but before chilling in fridge.

1 egg yolk
5-10g erythritol
5-10g maltitol 
Pinches of salt
8g cornstarch 
110g rose milk tea*
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
100g whipping cream of choice**
2-3g gelatin (depending on serving ambient temperature and preferred firmness of cream)
white colouring (optional)

* Heat 140g milk with 6g Moroccan rosebuds. Steep for 30min. Strain. 

** I used a mix of dairy & non-dairy whipping cream in 1:1 ratio & stabilized with gelatin. Sweeten with sugar of choice, adjust according to taste & whether pre-sweetened non-dairy cream is used 

Steps:

1. Heat rose milk in saucepan until hot but not boiling

2. Whisk together in a heavy jug egg yolk, cornstarch, sugar of choice & salt

3. Pour 1. into 2. slowly while whisking egg yolk mix

4. Pour 3. back into saucepan. Whisk & cook on med-low heat until it just starts to bubble. Continue whisking over heat for another minute. 

5. Remove from heat. Add vanilla, mix well. Press cling wrap on surface. Refrigerate at least 2h or overnight

6. When you are about to assemble, bloom gelatin in 15g cold cream for 5min. Melt gelatin bloom. Whip whipping cream of choice to soft peaks. Transfer 15g whipped cream into melted bloom. Mix well. Add gelatin mix into whipped cream while whisking the cream until incorporated

7. Briefly whip chilled pastry cream. Fold in whipped cream. Add white gel colouring if you wish to match the white sponge. Transfer into piping bag for assembly.

Note that the consistency of the cream should be on the soft side, not too stiff in order to fill the air gaps between the jellies for a neater, more aesthetic look from the outside.

Blue pea lavender honey jelly
I made it light & refreshing to balance the cream & sponge so adjust according to taste. The sponge and cream are full-bodied in flavour so I wanted something lighter for the jelly.

20g acacia honey
3g agar powder (bloom in 40g cool water)
120g blue pea lavender tea^
20g milk
80g water
1-2 drops alkaline water for adjusting pH/color shade as necessary

^ Heat 180g water with 4g dried blue pea flower & 1/2tsp dried lavender flowers. Steep. Strain

Steps:

1. Whisk agar in 40g cool water in saucepan. Set aside 5min

2. Add blue pea lavender tea & honey. Whisk & bring to boil. Continue whisking over heat for 1 min

3. Remove from heat. Add milk & 80g cool water. Whisk until combined. Add alkaline water to adjust shade of blue if desired

4. Pour into tray. Cool to room temperature & refrigerate 30min or overnight.

Use a small floral cookie cutter to cut out the flowers. If the jelly is thicker than 8mm, it may not stick to the acetate sheet during assembly well so slice the cutouts thinner if necessary. Keep the cutouts refrigerated until assembly. 

Tea and honey are slightly acidic so the shade of the jelly may tend towards purple. I added a little alkaline water to change the pH to make it less acidic to change the shade of blue towards... well...more blue 😆. Blue pea flowers contain anthocyanins which change colour due to the pH of the solution it is in so be aware of this when using blue pea to colour your stuff naturally.

Raspberry reduction
50g raspberry puree, sieved
5g sugar replacement of choice
2g lemon juice

Steps:
1. Combine everything together. Heat & stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved & mixture thickened to preferred consistency. Cooled to room temperature before using

Assembly

1. Line 8cm cake rings with acetate sheet. Alternatively, you may just tape the acetate sheet into a ring shape.

2. Place a layer of sponge for the base. I wasn't sure I would succeed with the sugar-free patterns that's why the base sponge has a little blue tinge as seen from the cross section.

3. Pipe a ring of cream over the sponge

4. Fill the middle with raspberry reduction. Pipe some cream to cover it 

5. Carefully slide the jelly flowers down the sides of the acetate sheet to make sure there is no air gap.

6. Place fresh strawberries in the middle. Fill the gaps and cover the jellies and strawberries with more cream 

7. Spread a little raspberry reduction over the cream, be careful to avoid the edges of the cake or it will show on the outside

8. Place the patterned sponge on top. Press gently but firmly down to squeeze out any air gaps in the cream.

9. Refrigerate for at least 2 h or overnight. Unmold and enjoy!

My taste testers from a family with adults and young kids loved the taste of the cakes so I am sure you will love it too! 

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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100% Naturally Coloured Sumikko Gurashi Mango Coconut Macarons

I was super excited when I stepped into Scoop, an Australian wholefoods store, opened near where I live. They have an amazing range of organic dried foods, premade sauces, various non-sugared plant based milk etc. It was the first time I saw green rice too! When I chanced upon some natural food powders that I don't find in Redman (largest baking supplies chain in Singapore), I bought them! Because of these purchases, I had an unplanned bake and made these Sumikko Gurashi mango coconut macarons! They are 100% naturally coloured! 

Tokage, Tokage (real) and Penguin? (Yes those are their names, including the punctuation marks) 

These are the powders I bought, along with organic coconut cream powder (not in the picture ). I supplemented the bake with a little turmeric powder from home to get yellow and create warmer shades of geeen. 

Pandan, spirulina and blue pea flower powders

I was prepared for the bake to turn out "meh" or fail because I haven't had very good experiences with natural sources of food colouring if I want to achieve vibrant colours, especially blue pea flower based ones as it is sensitive to heat and the pH of the mixture it is in. Nonetheless I had to test this out to see if I can use it for my bakes. 

I used the swiss meringue method to create these macarons, adding in the powdered colouring to the almond paste, before the meringue is folded in for each colour. I know this will likely result in visible specks of the powders but since this is only a trial and I didnt need perfect results, I decided to take the short cut. To eliminate or reduce the specks, you should add the powder to some egg whites, leave it to soak for about 10 min, strain it with a very fine sieve and then add the coloured egg whites with sifted dry ingredients to form the almond paste (make sure the correct weight of egg whites are used) . I find this unnecessary for red yeast powder, turmeric powder, cocoa powder and charcoal powder. But for spirulina, pandan and blue pea flower (possibly beetroot as well), it is necessary to take this extra step if you don't want the specks to be seen too obviously. 

You may refer to this post for the detailed steps and recipe for the swiss meringue method. This was what I used for this bake:

Ingredients:

Almond paste

65g almond flour (preferably superfine) 

65g icing sugar (with cornflour already added by manufacturer) 

24g egg whites

3g (1.25 tsp) organic coconut cream powder (optional if you aren't making mildly coconut flavoured shells) 

Swiss meringue 

36g egg whites

47g caster sugar

13g icing sugar (you may replace with caster sugar) 

1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional) 

Here's a picture of the piped batter. 

For those of you who asked about quantity of powders added, I can only share my reference here for this trial bake and you have to work out how much you want to use, especially if you are using French method instead of Swiss method that I used here as French method doesn't have an almond paste in the equation. 

The almond paste (or mass) for each colour (except yellow and white) is 47g in this bake, with 24g of swiss meringue added after the coloured powders are added. 

Light green: 3/4 tsp pandan powder + 3/32 tsp turmeric powder

Dark green : 1/2 tsp Spirulina powder + 1/32 tsp turmeric powder

Blue: 1/2 tsp blue pea flower powder

I didn't measure the amount of turmeric used for yellow but it is around a pinch or so for the teeny quantity of batter. White is just plain uncoloured batter. 

You can afford to add less blue pea flower powder as I didn't know the colour will be so dark. Tokage is a lighter shade of blue. Do note that out of the 3 powders, blue pea flower powder fades significantly when exposed to prolonged dry heat so the outcome is more of a greyish blue. 

Freshly baked shells! 

Awesome full cross-section! 

I have some thick homemade mango compote on hand so I decided to choose mango coconut as the flavour of filling. The coconut part is a white chocolate buttercream base with coconut cream added.  Feel free to upsize the recipe as necessary. 

Coconut white chocolate buttercream

Ingredients:

40g white chocolate chips (may use couverture or compound, or finely chop from a bar) 

40g unsalted butter

1/8 tsp salt

25g organic coconut cream powder

Steps:

1. Place butter and white chocolate in microwave safe bowl. Heat for 10 sec at medium low power and mix well. Repeat heating and mixing until fully melted. Be careful not to overheat. Don't worry if mixture looks a little separated. Alternatively, you may use the double-boiling method to melt the chocolate and butter. 

2. Add salt and coconut cream and mix well. 

3. Cling wrap and chill the mixture in fridge until firm. Overnight if you wish but it's not necessary. Let it soften again slightly at room temperature until scoopable consistency. 

4. Use an electric mixer (if you upsized by many times) or spatula (if quantity is tiny) to whip up until smooth, light and creamy. 

5. Transfer into piping bag and fill the macaron shells. 

Mango compote can be made by cooking mango puree with about 10-15% by weight of sugar, a dash of lemon juice and a pinch of salt. I usually reduce the mango until it is about half the original weight of puree. This takes patience as you need to be stirring constantly using low heat. 

I had some extra round macarons which I filled too! I purposely left the fibers of the mango in there. Pipe a ring of coconut white chocolate buttercream and fill the centers with mango compote. 

At the time of writing this blog post, I did use the powders again to make naturally coloured macarons with significantly less noticeable specks when I didn't take the shortcut. I hope you find this review and recipe of coconut white chocolate buttercream helpful! 

With love,

Phay Shing

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Lubo Dino Chiffon Cake

Sharing a cheerful dino chiffon cake inspired by Lubo from @lulusweetkawaiishop made during better times. 💕

Hope this brings a smile to your faces during this period! When I create cute things, my heart smiles from inside out 🥰. Is this the same for you?💖

Chiffon cake was pandan with a tinge of blue. If you can find blue pea flowers, you can use it to extract natural blue food colouring. They are quite commonly grown and can also be bought from baking supplies stores like Phoon huat or some wholesale markets.

Stay safe and take care!🙏
With lots of love,
Susanne

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Toy Story Alien Chiffon Cake

Who likes Toy Story Alien?

This Toy Story Alien is made from pandan chiffon cake (top) and blue pea flower chiffon cake (bottom), and the cake is 12-inches tall!

Thank God it was well-received! Hope this made you smile =).

With love,
Susanne

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Naturally Coloured Bean Paste Roses

I thought it's quite timely to post this since Mother's Day is coming soon. I have always admired the beauty of handmade edible flowers but was never really interested in learning how to make them because they were either inedible (gum paste) or contain too much sugar (fondant or sugar paste). And then I saw what my talented baker friend, Helen (IG account: @bakepeoplehappy), did with bean paste. The flowers were breathtakingly beautiful, hyper realistic and flexible. What intrigued me most was the fact that the dough is made of beans and contain significantly less sugar than traditional sugar paste. After having tried it, I have to add that it tastes like a bean flavoured mochi too!

I was determined to try working with bean paste dough so I bought the recipe from her and she guided me along by answering my many questions and providing useful sugar paste flower modelling video tutorials that I could refer to. I am not able to share the recipe in this post as Helen has taken time and resources to develop the recipe that is not easily available on the internet at the moment. But I can share my learning journey in this post 😊.

I was curious to know how the bean paste flowers would turn out if I used natural sources of food colouring. Here is my very first attempt at bean paste roses and leaves!

I have to admit that the bouquet isn't entirely made using natural food colouring. The leaves are coloured using gel food colouring. The pink flower has a little pink gel added.  I experimented with a few food sources as the dough base and for colouring: white beans, mung beans, purple sweet potato, blue pea flower and freeze-dried raspberry powder.

Making the dough may be a fairly lengthy process. The preparation method of the bean paste is very much like making mung bean paste for mooncake filling. I steamed the soaked mung beans. I did both with and without blue pea flowers.

Before steaming

After steaming. See how the beans absorb the blue colour after steaming!

I also prepared blue pea flower coloured and plain white bean paste.

Freshly made bean paste. I used the same treatment using steamed purple sweet potato to make the paste out of it too. I should have cooked the purple sweet potato paste longer as it was wetter than the bean based ones but it was 12am and I needed my zzzzs 😆.

Bean paste dough before steaming. I created one colour of dough using half blue pea flower coloured mung bean paste and half purple sweet potato paste (top left corner) so there are six portions instead of five.

Freshly made bean paste dough that has been steamed, kneaded and wrapped tightly

Helen provided a few video tutorial resources I could refer to since I am learning how to model roses without any hands-on expert guidance. You may refer to this video on how to shape the roses, this video on how to colour the sugar roses, and this video on how to make the rose leaves. I watched the earlier videos in the series by chef Nicholas Lodge as well to have an alternative view of how to shape the roses. Like me, you may not have the necessary shaping tools. Not to worry. You can use your fingers to shape and pinch where necessary. Won't be as professional looking but still nice enough. The videos mention the use of gauge wires to work with the flowers. I used wooden skewers and a styrofoam board instead. The glue I used is also simply made out of some of the dough dissolved in water instead of edible glue sold in baking supply stores.

An assembled rose made with some purple sweet potato dough so there are tiny specks of the potato on some petals. Mounted on wooden skewer to dry a little.

I managed to get a leaf veiner and I already have a fondant rose leaf cutter at home so I could make the leaves.

Veining the leaf with the leaf veiner

The roses would look even more realistic if I had a petal veiner but I didn't get one.

I absolutely love how the natural colours turn out!

Anticlockwise from the top left: plain mung bean dough, plain white bean dough, half purple sweet potato half blue pea flower mung bean dough, blue pea flower mung bean dough

I tried colouring some white bean paste naturally with freeze-dried raspberry powder but it turned rather dull so I added a little bit of pink gel colouring. The resulting colour is a sweet dusty pink colour!

Check out how soft and flexible the rose petals are when freshly made!

I dusted the flowers only with a little petal dust as I felt they look rather nice on their own without dusting.

My parents were around when I made these roses so they got to try. They love the taste of it! Mum chose the colours of roses that she would like on top of the cake I will be making for her later this month too.

There could be some concern about the short shelf life of these flowers based on the information that's out there on the internet. But with proper drying and storage, these flowers didn't turn mouldy even after a week in the fridge or out in the open (with adequate ventilation) in Singapore! Helen said just don't store them airtight at room temperature where they will turn mouldy fast.

Blessed Mother's Day to all mums out there!

With love,
Phay Shing

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Cookie Monster Chiffon Cake

"C is for Cookie Monster!"

Who grew up with Sesame Street like me? =p

Cookie Monster made entirely from Chiffon Cake! Another very challenging cake, thank God it worked out! The arms and hands were particularly difficult as it was entirely carved from chiffon cake. The hat was also fun! I piped polka dots in the paper cone and baked chiffon cake in it.

A bit busy on the family front, especially with kids, so posting a little less (sorry about it). Been really tired... but thank God for sustaining us daily.

Hope you have a blessed week ahead! =)

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Witch Pusheen Chiffon Cake

Witch Pusheen is stirring up a blue pea flower cauldron of #meowgical potions! 🤩

Entirely made chiffon cake, including the pot, spoon, squashes, hat and of course the Pusheen! =)

This is actually part of a collaboration with Pusheen, for their limited fairytale meowgical fall edition. I am honored and thankful for the opportunity. The actual Pusheen plush has a glowing flashing blue pot! I can only make blue pea flower soup hehe =p

Hope you liked this cute creation!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Tuxedo Sam Chiffon Cake

Tuxedo Sam chiffon cake for my dear hubby's birthday (actually requested by my kids 🙊).

Very thankful for his friendship, love and support all these years 💖💖 Does this look like a plush or cake?

Recipe for blue pea flower chiffon cake here.

Have a blessed week!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Penguin Igloo Checkerboard Chiffon Cake

This is my humble attempt at a Checkerboard Chiffon Cake for my nephew (whose class just visited bird park). As a cute Penguin on Igloo was requested, the base design is an Igloo-inspired design, made by patterning Checkerboard ‘Ice cubes’ using Chiffon Cake. This is one difficult cake which I don’t think I will attempt again so soon =p. Briefly, the checkerboard design was made by using 8 homemade dividers in the chiffon pan (picture tutorial in Deco Chiffon Cakes, similar to 6-flavour Earth Tones cake), and filling in layers like my Rainbow Chiffon Cake (in Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes, then removing the dividers. Quite a stressful project as you can tell =p. The cake is also not my tallest chiffon cake due to its complexity, but thankfully the texture was not compromised.

The Penguin was made by joining two oval chiffon bowl cakes together. The snowflakes were cut from chiffon cake sheet cakes using snowflakes plunger, and glued on with melted marshmallows. Sorry for the short post! As my kids are not well at the moment. Everyone please take care!

With lots of love,
Susanne


As mentioned above, on the 6-flavour Earth Tones cake on Deco Chiffon Cakes cover.

And Rainbow chiffon on Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes cover.

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Paw Patrol 'Chase' Chiffon Cake

This is my humble attempt at a Paw Patrol 'Chase' Chiffon Cake for a dear mummy friend some time back! Thank God it was well-received and everyone said it looked like stuffed toy! For those who are not familiar, 'Chase' is the name of a police dog in the cartoon Paw Patrol. Very cute cartoon with pups sliding down a long slide round the tower each time there's a rescue mission.

For the base cake, I used the same recipe as my previous Chocolate-Orange Giraffe Chiffon Cake, except that I piped the orange batter on one side only to form the face. For the top cake, I used the same recipe as my previous Minions chiffon cake, with blue forming 2/3 and yellow 1/3 instead.

The ears were cut from excess chocolate batter baked as sheet cake - make 2 cuts using the same circle cutter. The nose was cut from a round cake pop baked in 5-cm cake pop mold (slice off 3 sides). Other details eg eyes were also cut from sheet cakes; you can also pipe them on using melted chocolate. I used melted marshmallows as glue (pop a few marshmallows with a sprinkle of water and microwave for 30 sec). I also used a Paw patrol badge cookie cutter from JB cookie cutters.

With lots of love,
Susanne


Some exciting news, Chinese version (繁体) of my Deco Chiffon Cakes is coming! It will be available in HK, Taiwan and Macau from May 2017!

This is taken from a page of the book, some of you may encounter problems in patterning chiffon cake batter or folding multiple colours. Deco Chiffon Cakes or 造型雪纺蛋糕 has a 6-page extended troubleshooting guide specially addressing these issues:

Links to the English versions:

 

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Sweet ‘Lamb’ Cloud pasture-Rainbow Chiffon Cake

I’m very privileged to make this cake for my dear friend Victoria’s baby’s full month celebration. Super happy for her! While making this cake (and such a coincidence as this was Good Friday and Easter week), I was also greatly ministered to and reminded of God’s love for us in giving his only Son Jesus (who died on the cross and rose again) so that we could be reconciled to God.

There was much love in making this cake too. The top tier is a new creation: cloud sky chiffon cake with green pasture! I have shared the recipe for the cloud sky chiffon cake previously. This has added complexity of adding green waves under the cloud-dotted sky. The base tier is a Rainbow chiffon cake, but with 4 colours to fit the 'sunny' colour scheme of the cake. And lastly the 'lamb' figurine on top of a ‘hill’ assembled from small chiffon cake pops.

Cloud-Sky with wavy green pasture

Cloud-Sky with Wavy Green pasture Chiffon Cake (8-inch tube pan)
Egg yolk batter
6 egg yolks
40 g castor sugar
79 g vegetable/corn oil
76 + 5 + 5 g water
10 vanilla extract
120 g Prima cake flour, sifted
1 tsp blue pea flower extract (40 blue pea flowers in 10g hot water)
Blue gel food colouring
½ tsp pandan paste

Meringue
8 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
90 g castor sugar

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a tray of water under the lowest rack for steambaking. *Optional but helps to increase moisture and control oven temperature for ogura-like texture.

2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale and light before stirring in oil, water, and vanilla extract.

3. Add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found. Divide the batter ½ (for blue), ¼ (for cloud), ¼ (for green pasture). To the 1/2 portion, add blue pea flower extract and a dip of blue gel food colouring (optional but brightens up the colour). To the first ¼ portion, add 5 g water. To the second ¼ portion, add 5 g water + pandan paste.

4. Meringue: Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till frothy. Add in half the castor sugar for meringue and whip till soft peaks. Add in all the castor sugar and whip till firm peaks form or just to the point of reaching stiff peak.
*Firm peaks give finer, softer texture, especially with steam baking.

5. Divide the meringue ½ and ¼ and ¼ for each coloured batter. Gently quickly fold in the meringue into respective batter in 3 additions.

6. Spoon the plain batter in cloud-like blobs at the base and sides of the pan, then fill the surrounding spaces with blue pea flower batter. Repeat till the pan is half full. Then deposit mounds of blue batter to make waves (picture tutorial for waves in Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes). Fill the rest of the pan with pandan batter till 2-cm from the brim.

7. Bake the chiffon cake for 15 min at 160°C, then 150°C for 10 min and then 140°C for 25+ min, or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

8. Invert the chiffon cake once removed from oven and allow to cool completely.

9. Unmould the chiffon cake by hand (‘Hand Unmoulding Chiffon Cake for a Clean Finishing’ video tutorial).

4-colour Rainbow Chiffon Cake

I used recipe for my Tri-colour chiffon cake from here. Picture tutorial spooning the batter is found in Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes.

Lamb Chiffon Cake Pop

I baked plain chiffon cake in an egg shell for the body. For the ‘curly’ hair, I used a flower cutter to cut out the shape from chiffon cake from cake pop molds, and assembled together using melted marshmallows. Picture tutorial of sheep chiffon cake pops also found in Deco Chiffon Cakes (2nd chiffon book).

The hill is from baking pandan chiffon cake in a small glass bowl. Other details eg flowers and letters were cut from chiffon sheet cake and pasted on using melted marshmallows.


Thankful everything was well-received! Blessed Easter to all!!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Baby Whale Chiffon Cake (Pandan-blue pea flowers)

This baby whale chiffon cake is a another cute creation I like very much! The flavour is vanilla for the white belly, and pandan with blue pea flowers that both yummy and pretty for the teal shade. It's the chiffon version of a cute baby whale cake from fondant that's the cutest I saw (I think the originator of the design is whipped bakeshop from US).

Anyway the reviews for the chiffon cake was really good! My recipient was a pastry chef student, and she said it's nothing like what they learnt in baking school, being so much softer, moist and so tasty! 

Hope you will like this creation too!

Baby Whale Chiffon Cake (Pandan-blue pea flowers chiffon cake)

For 6-inch tube pan

3 egg yolks (I used 60g eggs with shell)
20g castor sugar
40g vegetable/corn oil
42g water
5g vanilla extract
60g Prima cake flour

½ tsp pandan paste (I used redman)

blue pea flower extract (40+ blue pea flowers in 10g hot water) 

*this is optional if you do not need the teal shade, or if you do not have the flowers, you can use a dip of blue food colour

4 egg whites
45g castor sugar
¼ tsp cream of tartar


1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Prepare a tray of water under the lowest rack for steambaking. *Optional but helps to increase moisture and control oven temperature for ogura-like texture.

2. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale and light before stirring in oil, water, and vanilla extract.

3. Add in sieved flour and whisk till no trace of flour found. Spoon out 5 tsp batter and leave plain. To the rest of the batter, add pandan paste and mix well. I further added in drops of blue pea flower extract (optional if you do not need the teal shade, or you can substitute with a dip of blue food colour).

4. Meringue: Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till frothy. Add in half the castor sugar for meringue and whip till soft peaks. Add in all the castor sugar and whip till firm peaks form or just to the point of reaching stiff peak.

*Firm peaks give finer, softer texture, especially with steam baking.

5. Spoon out 10 tbsp meringue for plain batter, leaving the rest for the pandan batter. Gently quickly fold in the meringue into respective batter in 2-3 additions.

6. Spoon the pandan batter till 2/3 of the pan. Then spoon the cream batter onto one side of the pan. Gently spread neatly till around 3-inches wide to make the belly of the whale. Fill the surrounding with pandan batter. Gently tap the tin on the counter lightly to remove air bubbles (but do not overdo it so as not to disrupt the pattern).

7. Bake the chiffon cake for 15 min at 160°C and then 140°C for 25+ min, or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

8. Invert the chiffon cake once removed from oven and allow to cool completely.

9. Pour the remaining pandan batter onto a 6-inch square pan lined with baking paper. Bake at 160°C for 15 min.

10. Flip the sheet cake over onto a new sheet of baking paper and cover with another piece to cool completely.

11. Unmould the chiffon cake by hand (‘Hand Unmoulding Chiffon Cake for a Clean Finishing’ video tutorial).

12. Fill the tube hole with any sweets or surprise and then cover it up with by cutting a circle from the sheet cake corresponding to the size of the hole.

13. Cut the fins using a leaf cutter and stick onto the sides using toothpick and melted marshmallows. Cut the water spout using tear drop cutter and stick on similarly.
*Melted marshmallow from popping a few marshmallows with a sprinkle of water on high for 30 secs.

14. Add on facial features using melted chocolate for eyes and pink food marker for cheeks, or using black/pink sheet cake cut outs (I had cut outs from a concurrent bake).

Hope this brings a smile to your faces! Have a blessed week ahead!

With lots of love,
Susanne

(@susanne.decochiffon)

More fun chiffon ideas here!

Deco Chiffon Cakes

Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes

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