Assorted Piped Butter Cookies

 Whether it's the upcoming Lunar New Year, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day, Father's Day, Christmas or any day, an assortment of butter cookies is always a welcome 😊. I adapted the recipe from Buttermilk Pantry to make a more delicate cookie by increasing the butter to flour ratio.

Orange/vanilla:
65g Golden Churn butter
15g French butter of choice
26g icing sugar
4g milk powder (or replace with icing sugar)
Scant 1/8 tsp fine salt
30g cornstarch
65g cake flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract/bean paste (optional for orange)
3-4g orange zest (omit for plain/vanilla)

Chocolate:
65g Golden Churn butter (already salted)
15g French butter of choice (may replace with Golden Churn)
35g icing sugar
12g Dutch processed cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
20g cornstarch
63g cake flour
1/8 tsp fine salt

Matcha:
65g Golden Churn butter 
15g French butter of choice
35g icing sugar
6g Matcha powder (use high grade)
24g corn starch 
65g cake flour 
Scant 1/8 tsp salt

Method:
1. Whisk softened butter, sugar & salt until lightened in colour but not too fluffy.

2. Sift in cornstarch & milk powder/ cocoa/matcha. Whisk until smooth

3. Add orange zest &/or vanilla if using. whisk until combined 

4. Sift in cake flour & fold in using a spatula until no trace of flour is seen 

5. Transfer into large piping bag fitted with open star tip of choice. I used 1M but you may use others like #827. Double up your piping bags if it's thin to prevent it from bursting. Clip the end & separate the dough into two portions within the bag as shown in reel for ease of handling

6. Pipe rosettes onto lined tray. Freeze for at least 1h or overnight if you wish.

7. Bake in preheated oven from frozen according to your preferred cookie texture*. Start at a lower temperature, bake for a longer time & end off high for crispier texture. Start high & end off low, baking for an overall shorter time for a more tender melt-in-your-mouth texture. Use a perforated mat help to contain the spread of the cookie in the oven during baking. Cool on tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

* The aim of the baking profile I used is to get a delicate texture throughout the cookie with a light crunchy bite & slight toasty notes. This cookie won't be so delicate that it crumbles too easily when stacked & stored, but also not so hard that you have to bite hard before it crumbles. The long baking time I used is for a thoroughly crisp cookie that crumbles when you bite softly. Bake in preheated oven at 140C fan mode/ 155C (as read by an accurate oven thermometer) for 10-12 min, rotate tray & bake for another 10 min. Increase temperature by 20C & bake for 1 min. Rotate tray & bake for 1 min. 

Please see the reel below for more visuals:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DT6as78CQ9d/?igsh=YzdoZGE5eGlkZTJj

with love,
Phay Shing

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Capybara in Orangeland Yuzu Orange Swiss Roll

 I have been eyeing the U-shaped cake mold from Qeleg for the longest time. I finally have the chance to try it out! 

I adapted the "Capybara in Orangeland" design from the orange template on Qeleg's store. I forgot to position all the important elements such that they are visible from one angle when rolled 😅. Here are more views from different angles so you have a better view.

I have been making patterned swiss rolls on and off for almost 11 years and finally settled on a recipe and method that I am satisfied with. I prefer using a pattern that has a similar texture to the base sponge, has fine pores and most importantly, stable enough because I work slowly 😅.

Using the U-shaped mold means that the roll cake is made of a U-shaped patterned piece and a flat rectangular piece for the base. Both pieces are cut from a 12x12" sponge:

I used cake paint from Sweet Sticks for painting in the details.

The U-shaped mold was really handy for assembling the yuzu whipped cream and fresh sweet mandarins! There's no worry about the sponge cracking since this is a "cheat" method of making roll cakes 🤭

Here's the video of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA0m442ylQS/?igsh=MXY4aW84eWpwd2lkcg==

Capybara in Orangeland roll cake recipe

Feel free to use any patterning method/ recipe you like. I developed my own for a more stable patterning batter that doesn't crack at the boundaries, produces sponge with fine pores suitable as a painting canvas & has a similar soft texture as the base sponge. I am not ready to share the method and recipe for the pattern I developed at the moment.

Sponge:
(Makes one 12x12" thin layer of sponge)
Egg yolk batter
3 egg yolks*
30g oil in
45g yuzu jam tea**
54g cake flour, sifted
Pinches of salt
1/16tsp orange emulsion (optional)

Meringue
3 egg whites*
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
45g sugar 
Cake Filling:
25g yuzu jam, blended
100g whipping cream of choice
4 small sweet mandarins, halved
Extra yuzu jam tea

* Large eggs at least 65g with shell on
** Blend 40g of yuzu jam with rind in 40g hot water. Sieve through fine sieve. Use the liquid for making sponge & brushing sponge before filling

Method: 
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Make cake pattern using your preferred method & recipe

2. Make egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks, orange emulsion, salt & oil together. Add flour & yuzu jam tea in alternating additions, whisking until well combined each time

3. Make meringue. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks, gradually add sugar once egg whites are foamy

4. Fold meringue into yolk batter. Pour over pattern. Bake for 15 min or until done

5. Cut the patterned U shaped piece & rectangular piece for the base. Paint the sponge as desired

6. Whip whipping cream until firm peaks, fold in blended yuzu jam. Transfer into piping bag

7. Place sponge pattern side down on parchment paper. Brush sponge with some yuzu jam tea. Put in U-shaped mold from Qeleg

8. Fill the sponge with cream & mandarins. Cover base with rectangular sponge. Freeze for 30-40min. Flip the cake over onto serving plate/cakeboard. Keep chilled in airtight condition. Consume within 3 days

Additional notes:

1. If it's too intensive to complete the whole project in a day, you may bake the sponge on day 1 & paint/assemble on day 2. To do so, store U shaped patterned sponge in the U shape mold lined with parchment paper overnight. Cling wrap the whole assembly & store at cool room temperature to prevent the cake from drying out

2. Keep sections of sponge that you are not painting covered with parchment or cling wrap to prevent drying out. You may also dab sections of sponge with drinking safe water if exposed for a long time as some designs may take a long time to decorate 

3. Use dairy, non-dairy or a combination of whipping creams according to your preference and serving ambient conditions. Be careful not to overwhip if using only dairy cream. Use stabilizers if using dairy and serving in a fairly warm place

4. Adjust baking temperature and time according to your oven 

You may use this link to browse Qeleg's website with the discounts already in-built or use my promo code: Phay_Shing. They have a wide range of silicone molds, metal trays, cookie cutters, fondant molds and more!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Orange Chocolate Hazelnut Log Cake

 I have a large unopened bottle of chocolate hazelnut spread, Hazella, from Redman. It's nowhere near expiry but it's not the habit of my family to consume bread with sweet spreads for breakfast and I only use it for bakes. This is the reason why this year's log cakes for my family and friends are orange chocolate hazelnut flavoured. 

 

Here's a closer look at the larger log cake at the back.

The log cakes consist of:

- Orange chocolate hazelnut chiffon sponge, brushed with orange syrup

- Milk chocolate hazelnut feuilletine crunch

- Orange chocolate hazelnut whipped cream

- Dark chocolate hazelnut ganache

- Vanilla penguin and reindeer marshmallows

- Candied orange mushroom decorations with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream (SMBC) as the stems

I have to say that I used SMBC because I happened to be making it for another bake. Otherwise I would have made the mushroom stems out of marshmallows when I made the characters but I forgot to do it. It may seem like a complicated bake but it's actually quite simple when you use ready-made chocolate hazelnut spreads, chopped toasted hazelnuts and feuilletine flakes. You may omit the edible decorations and use plastic ones sold at baking supplies stores if you wish to simplify the bake even further. The most common chocolate hazelnut spread is Nutella but you may use any brand you like. My hubby and I tasted both Hazella and Nutella and find that Hazella is a richer version of Nutella. Stronger chocolate and hazelnut flavour.

Since my motive was to use up as much Hazella as I could, I included the chocolate hazelnut spread in every element of the log cake while trying to maintain a good balance of flavours. You may increase or reduce the proportion of the spread in the whipped cream, ganache and feuilettine crunch according to your preference.

Candied Orange Slices

A few small tangerines, thinly sliced

300g sugar

360g water

A dash of lemon juice (optional)

Some granulated sugar

Note: This makes a lot more than you need to use. Keep the rest for snacking!

Reference recipe is taken from here.

Steps:

1. Place sugar, water and lemon juice (if using) in frying pan. Stir while bringing it to a boil.

2. Once it starts boiling, reduce to a simmer. Add orange slices in a single layer.

I included a few pieces of peel for fun

3. Simmer for about 45-60 min or until translucent.

4. Shake off excess syrup from each slice and place on parchment paper.

5. Dry in 90C oven for 1-2 hours or until no longer wet to touch but still a little tacky, turning the slices every 30 min. I placed half-dried slices on hemispherical silicone molds for the mushroom caps so that the orange slices are cup shaped when dried.

6. Cool completely. Roll the slices in granulated sugar. Store in airtight container until needed.

Remember to reserve the syrup from cooking the tangerine slices! It can be diluted with orange juice and used to brush the sponge.

Orange Chocolate Hazelnut Chiffon Sponge

(makes one 10x12" sheet sponge)

Egg yolk batter

3 egg yolks

45g orange juice with zest (I used 41g juice and 4g zest which is about 1 orange)

90g chocolate hazelnut spread (Nutella, Hazella or other brands)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

48g cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

60g caster sugar

Steps: 

1. Line baking tray with Teflon sheet/parchment paper. Preheat oven to 170C. You may use a slightly bigger or smaller pan. The sponge will just be a little thinner or thicker.

2. Make egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks until pale and thick. Add chocolate hazelnut spread and whisk until smooth. Add juice, zest and vanilla. Whisk until combined. Gradually sift in flour and baking soda. Whisk until no trace of flour is seen.

3. Make meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm or just reach stiff peaks, gradually adding sugar once the egg whites are foamy. Make sure your meringue is stable but not over whipped as the high fat content of this egg yolk batter tends to deflate the meringue more quickly than other batters.

4. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 additions. Pour into prepared tray.

5. Bake for 15-16 min or until done. Immediately flip the cake out onto fresh sheet of parchment paper. Roll it up to cool completely.

I used a larger tray and upsized the recipe to 4 egg portion for the larger log cake. Simply divide everything by 3 and then multiply by 4 to scale it up.

Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Feuilletine Crunch

25g finely chopped toasted hazelnuts 

25g feuilletine flakes

50g chocolate hazelnut spread

50g milk chocolate

Note: Scale up the portion accordingly if making more log cakes.

Steps:

1. Whisk together feuilletine flakes and chopped hazelnuts. Set aside.

2. Melt milk chocolate with chocolate hazelnut spread. Stir until smooth.

3. Add feuilletine nut mix and fold until the flakes and nuts are coated completely. Set aside in warm place.

Orange Chocolate Hazelnut Whipped Cream

140g whipping cream of choice* 

50g chocolate hazelnut spread

4g orange zest (about 1 orange)

Note: Scale up the portion accordingly if making more log cakes.

*I used 105g Whip Topping (pre-sweetened non-dairy whipping cream) and 35g heavy cream. If using only dairy cream, you may need to sweeten with some sugar and stabilize with gelatin especially if you are in a hot climate.

Steps:

1. Whip whipping cream of choice until firm peaks. Be careful not to overwhip if using full dairy cream. 

2. Add orange zest and fold in.

3. Add chocolate hazelnut spread and fold in. You may add more spread if you prefer a richer flavour. I kept the chocolate and hazelnut light here because these elements are heavier in the crunch and ganache layers. You may omit the spread if you wish.

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

100g dark chocolate

75g heavy cream

25g chocolate hazelnut spread

15g hot water

Pinches of salt

Note: Scale up the recipe if making more log cakes 

Steps:

1. In a small saucepan, dissolve chocolate hazelnut spread in hot water. Add heavy cream and salt. Stir to mix. Heat until just starts to bubble at the edges.

2. In the meantime, melt dark chocolate.

3. Pour hot cream mix over melted dark chocolate. Let it sit for 1min. 

4. Gently stir in one direction until smooth. 

Assembly

1. Unroll cooled chiffon sponge. Brush surface with orange syrup. I didn't measure the dilution ratio but it is approximately 1:1 fresh orange juice : reserved tangerine cooking syrup.

2. Spread a thin layer of feuilletine nut crunch.

3. Spread a layer of whipped cream over the crunch layer.

4. Roll up the sponge into as tight a roll as you can. Freeze for 2h or overnight if you wish.

5. Cut the ends of the log cake. You may arrange the branches any way you like as shown in my two log cakes.

6. Apply some ganache on the cake board. Carefully place the main log on the board. Apply some ganache where you want the branches to be and then glue them on.

7. Coat the whole surface with ganache. Let it set briefly in air-conditioned room or in the fridge for about 10 min. 

Halfway through coating the surface with ganache

8. Use a fork to mark out the bark patterns on the ganache.

9. Add any decorations you wish. Dust with sifted snow powder if you wish. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. You may freeze the cake if storing longer than 5 days in the fridge. Defrost in the fridge overnight before serving.

Watch my reel to see how the cake is assembled over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C1EmJgBSiBD/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

Have a blessed Christmas everyone!

with lots of love,
Phay Shing

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Tiger Family Chiffon Cakes

 

My little Tiger family wishing everyone a Happy New Year!🐯💕 

Thank you for your love, friendship and support!❤ 

They are made from orange chiffon cake pops. 

May you be safe, healthy and blessed!😘 


With love,

Susanne

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Tiger Roll Cake

 

This Tiger roll uses the same technique as orange chiffon recipe. Check out the previous post for the recipe.

For this roll cake, bake in a quarter sheet pan at 160C for 20-22 mins.

*Tip: If you are worried you may accidentally smudge the black stripes while piping the orange batter, you can bake the patterns for 2-3min at 160C before filling with orange cake batter to set the patterns first (optional but useful for first-timers)❤

I further tried to make Tiger stripes in the cream using chocolate and chantilly cream 🙈. Not sure what to make of it😆. 

Recipe for Chocolate-Chantilly Filling: Whip 1 cup cold heavy cream (240g) with 55g icing sugar and 1/2 tsp vanilla till firm peaks. Remove 1/3 cream and fold in cocoa paste (1 tsp cocoa powder/1 tsp cream).
Pipe humps of chocolate cream, fill the rest with chantilly cream and then roll up.

Have a great CNY in advance!

With love,

Susanne

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Tiger Chiffon Cake

 

Which version do you prefer? Cute🐯 or Stripy🐅 (below)?

Some of you had DM-ed me about the Recipe for making orange-chocolate Tiger chiffon cake. So here goes! Hope you will find this helpful!🤗 

Orange Chocolate Tiger chiffon cake 
4 egg yolks 
20g castor sugar 
40g vegetable oil 
45g orange/mandarin orange juice 
60g cake flour, sifted 
Orange zest (1 orange) 
1 tsp black cocoa powder in 1 tsp hot water (cocoa paste) 
@suncorefoods vermillion annatto for the color (or orange food coloring) 

4 egg whites 
45g castor sugar 
1/4 tsp cream of tartar 

Whisk egg yolks with sugar, followed by oil and juice. Add in sifted flour and whisk till well combined. Divide the batter into 1/3 and 2/3. To 1st part: add cocoa paste. To the 2nd part, add orange zest and vermillion annatto powder and mix well. 

In another mixing bowl, whisk egg whites with sugar till firm peaks. Divide the meringue into 1/3 and 2/3 and fold into each colored batter. Pipe tiger stripes at the base and inside the cake using black batter, interspersed with orange batter. 

*Tip: use a toothpick to drag the tips of your piped black stripes to make tiger stripes. 

Bake in a 7” cake pan at 140C for 1hr, or until a bamboo skewer comes out dry. 

Enjoy baking!! Tag me if you try it! See cross section of the stripes in the cake! ➡️🥰 

More pictures here.

Love and stay healthy, 
Susanne

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Tigger Chiffon Cake

 

Happy 2022 to everyone! Lunar new year is coming! So all the cute tigers are coming out to play, including Tigger! =)

Tigger is made from my favorite orange chiffon cake. Will be sharing the orange chiffon recipe in an upcoming post!🥰

Does the cake look like a plushie?😛❤

With lots of love,

Susanne

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Muscle Bear Chiffon Cake

Not quite 6-packs, but surely strong! 😆

My muscle bear chiffon cake, inspired by the adorable muscle bread from @konel_bread! =D It certainly made me smile! 😄

Happy Father's Day to all the wonderful fathers! <3 Thank God we are in Circuit breaker Phase 2 too! Everyone stay safe!

With lots of love,

Susanne

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Giraffe Chiffon Cake

My newest version of Giraffe chiffon cake! Finally had the courage to try a standing version. This is for a lovely church friend =). It is actually similar to my previous work, but an improved version. You can refer to the previous links for orange-chocolate chiffon and pandan chiffon cake.
My daughter is now fully well yet hence the slow down in blogging.
Hope this creation brings a smile to your faces too!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Baked Orange Slices Orange Chiffon Cake

Do you like the orange slices baked into the top or the sides of the cake? So happy my experiment worked! I first baked Mandarin oranges into chiffon cake 4+ years back. The 'Ji' chiffon cake is now in my 2nd book Deco Chiffon Cakes (without the baked oranges). The orange slices were a little sunken and not so pretty. Glad to finally come back to this and able to bake it both into the base and sides of the chiffon cake with minimal shrinkage!

Baked Orange Slices Patterned - Orange Chiffon Cake (8-9 inch chiffon tube pan)
6 egg yolks
39g castor sugar
78g corn/vegetable oil
96g orange juice (freshly squeezed)
Zest from 2 oranges
120g cake flour (sifted, Prima)

8 egg whites
90g castor sugar

Patterns
Thin slices of oranges, cooked in hot water with 25g sugar

1. Slice about 4-8 thin slices of oranges from the middle part of the orange (if you want similar sized slices), depending on whether you want to bake it into the base or the sides as well, and also the size of your pan.

2. Place the orange slices into a pan and cover with water. Add 25g of sugar and simmer at low heat for around 15 min.

3. Remove to cool and pat dry the orange slices on kitchen towels.

4. Arrange the orange slices onto the base and sides of the pan. You should stagger the slices at the sides so that they are touching the pan base where there are no oranges. Do not overload your chiffon cake with too many slices as well as chiffon is very soft and needs place to cling.

5. Preheat oven to 160°C.

6. Beat egg yolks with sugar with whisk till pale and light before stirring in oil and orange juice.

7. Next add in sieved flour, orange zest and a few drops of orange emulco (optional) and whisk till no trace of flour is found.

8. Meringue: Beat the egg whites with ¼ tsp cream of tartar till firm peaks, mixing in caster sugar in 2 additions.

9. Fold in the meringue gently into the batter 1/3 at a time.

10. Gently tap the tin on counter top, while holding the tube firmly, to remove air bubbles.

11. Bake the cake for 15 min at 160°C, 10 min at 150°C, then 30+ min at 140°C. Or until a bamboo skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

12. Invert immediately once out of the oven to cool.

13 Unmould by hand (video tutorial) after the cake is cooled completely.

Hope you enjoy making and eating these yummy baked orange slices orange chiffon cake! Reviews for the cake was very good in both taste and texture!

With lots of love,
Susanne

For more creative ideas on Deco Chiffon Cakes here: 

 

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Garfield Chiffon Cake

Who grew up with Garfield?? I remember looking forward to reading it in the Sunday papers! =D

I remembered my best friend in primary school was crazy over it! Oops is that telling my era? haha

It was a lot of work making the details, especially around the back. Here's my humble attempt at boomerang to show more details at the side and back. The stripes go all the way around the back on both sides!

And yes, you guessed! This is made from orange chiffon cake with the lovely smell of orange zest!

Hope it brought back some nice memories! It's a classic!

Have a blessed week ahead! =)

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Orange Chocolate Macaron Playground

I had an idea for a playground with moveable macaron pieces some time last year but didn't get the chance to make until now. My friends have been very kind to be my guinea pigs for this creation and they did so gladly!

Front view of the playground with a slide, Merry-go-round and seesaw

Back view of the playground. I have to show this or the ladder of the slide won't be showcased at all.

Here's a short video of the Merry-go-round and seesaw in action!

As with all unique new creations, I won't be releasing the details of how to make the parts and put them together yet. The seesaw structure is a slight variation from my macaron ferris wheel so it was easy to adapt. The Merry-go-round mechanics needed more planning as it is my first time making something heavy that is able to rotate about its vertical axis.

I used the reduced sugar recipe for the macaron shells here. Both regular and reduced sugar recipes can be found here. You may refer to my Creative Baking: Macarons book for a systematic presentation of the basics and complex shaped macarons. You may refer to my video tutorials for macaron basics and piping of complex shapes on the blog too.

Just to share some pictures of the process...

Piping the cute characters

I filled the shells with a ring of orange white chocolate and orange dark chocolate in the middle.

Recipe for orange chocolate filling
Ingredients:
80-90g white or dark chocolate (buttons or finely chopped from a bar)
20g vegetable shortening
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1/2-3/4 tsp orange oil (or 1 tbs orange zest)

Steps:
1. Put all ingredients in a microwave safe bowl and melt using medium power for 20sec. Stir and repeat as necessary until smooth and melted completely. Alternatively you may use a double boiler to melt all the ingredients together.

2. Let the mixture cool until it reaches toothpaste consistency. Transfer to piping bag and pipe onto the shells.

Filling the character shells.

Filling the side frames of the slide 

My friends and those at their gathering enjoyed playing with the playground before they made the painful decision to eat it 😅. Not only does the playground look good, it tasted good too! Here's my friend's feedback:

"the macarons taste really good too! couldn't stop eating and the kids had a very tough time to choose which one to eat 😏"

I had much fun creating this! If anyone of you would like to challenge me with new macaron structures, let me know. If it piques my interest, I will be more willing to make time to explore how to make it a reality 😉.  There are so many different designs and projects I have come up with that I have decided to create a separate "Macaron structures" label in the blog to accommodate them! I began with static structures like carousels and table with two chairs and bears sitting on them, to structures with moveable parts like Ferris Wheel, tricycle and now, Merry-go-round and seesaw! I have another exciting new macaron structure with moveable parts coming up in March so stay tuned! Gone are the days when "macaron structure" = macaron tower. Let your imagination run wild and there's so much more you can do!

With love,
Phay Shing

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'Nasi Lemak' Chiffon Cake

What is your favorite comfort food for breakfast?? 💖

Our family loves the Nasi Lemak, our local rice dish with lots of yummy sides like fried chicken, eggs, sausage, luncheon meat, long beans, cucumbers, and not forgetting the must-have chilli!! 🌶🍗🥓🍳💕

This is actually made entirely from Chiffon Cake, including the Plate! =p Hope this made you smile! 😆

Rice: Vanilla Coconut Chiffon Cake. Recipe here. Baked in a ball mold.

Plate: Orange Chiffon Cake, baked in a 10-inch round pan. Recipe here.

Luncheon meat, Sausages and Chicken drumstick: Vanilla-Chocolate Chiffon Cake, baked as sheets, roll and also carved out.

Cucumber and Long beans: Pandan Chiffon Cake, with pandan juice and paste (for darker colour). Cucumber from cupcake liners.

Egg: Vanilla-Chocolate Chiffon Cake with marbling effect (marble the chocolate chiffon batter).

Chilli: Make small holes in cake pop from Strawberry Chiffon Cake batter.


Have a delicious week! =)

With lots of love,
Susanne

Exciting Updates!

New Chinese Edition of Best Selling Deco Chiffon Cake Basics is coming mid-Jan 2018!!

English Books:

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Coconut Gula Melaka Ah Mah Sponge Cake Doggies with Chiffon 'Mandarin Oranges'

My first bake of the new year and since it's the Year of the Dog, I made some cupcake doggies along with  chiffon Mandarin oranges!

I was curious to know if Ah Mah sponge cakes can be shaped and worked with like regular chiffon sponges so I decided to experiment with it and was pleasantly surprised! Afterall, Ah Mah sponge cakes are nothing more than cooked dough chiffon cakes with the same number of egg yolks and whites used. I have baked large coconut Gula Melaka Ah Mah cakes on two occasions and both times it was very well received. You may find the recipe here. Since the Gula melaka cake has a natural warm light brown colour, I decided to use the same recipe (with minor tweaks) as the doggie body base.

I will focus on how the doggies are made in the post. I have made the chiffon Mandarin oranges every year since I came up with it in 2014 so this is the fifth consecutive year that I am making these babies. You may refer to this post for the video tutorial on how to make the oranges. Do note that I updated the method of shaping the oranges to make them look neater last year.

Recipe for coconut Gula Melaka sponge cupcakes 

Notes:
The number of doggies depends on the size of cupcake cases and size of the hemispherical moulds you use to bake the cakes. You may use silicone moulds or eggshells to bake if you don't have the  glass or metal moulds on hand. Just make sure you remove the inner membrane of the eggshells before baking in it. In my actual bake, I separated the bake into two rounds of baking instead of the one round I am sharing here for your convenience. I baked the coloured thin layer cake another day, froze it and defrosted it when I was ready to assemble. You may also choose to separate the bake if you find it easier to manage.

Here are the moulds and shape cutters I used to create the doggies.

Glass moulds have outer diameter of 8.5cm and 7cm. Metal hemispherical mould has outer diameter of 6cm.

I used a 44x35mm cupcake case for the smaller dog and 50x40mm cupcake case for the larger dog.

The recipe I am going to share is slightly different from the original one I posted in November last year as this version has more Gula Melaka. I wanted to make a more stable meringue so I chose to use 12g of Gula Melaka per egg instead of 11g.

Ingredients (makes about 4 doggies):
Egg yolk batter
42g coconut oil
56g cake flour, sifted into large bowl
1/6 tsp salt
48g coconut cream/coconut milk
3 egg yolks

Meringue
3 egg whites
1/5 tsp cream of tartar
36g powdered Gula Melaka (or very finely chopped Gula Melaka)

Colouring
1/2 tsp Dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp charcoal
A few drops of white gel food colouring
2 drops red gel food colouring
1/8 tsp red yeast powder (optional)

Steps:
1. Line a small baking tray with baking paper. I don't specify a size here as you just need to make a very thin layer cake of different colours for the body parts (ears, snout, paws) and collar. 8x8" tray should be sufficient. Larger tray is also fine. Preheat oven to 150℃ and set oven rack to lowest position. You may place a tray of water at base of oven if you wish to steam bake.

2. Heat oil in small saucepan until 70℃ or until you are able to see swirl lines in the oil but not yet bubbling. Pour into flour and whisk until well combined

3. Gradually add in coconut cream and salt and whisk until well combined. Mixture will be very thick so use an electric mixer if you need to. Add one yolk at a time and whisk until well combined.

4. In small mixing bowls, portion out 2 tsp of egg yolk batter for dark brown, 1 tsp for black, 1 tsp for white and 2 tsp for red. Add the respective colouring to the portioned batter and mix well. The red yeast powder is for red colour.

5. Make the meringue. Use an electric mixer to beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks form, gradually adding Gula Melaka along the way.

6. Quickly but gently fold in two leveled tbs of meringue for every tsp of yolk batter. Fold the remaining meringue into the main batter in three additions. Fill the hemispherical moulds till about 80% full. Carefully spoon out the different coloured batters on the baking tray and level it with the back of the spoon to form a thin layer. Remember to spoon out some light brown batter on the tray too for the paws. The red coloured portion should be a long strip as the collar is a long and narrow rectangle cutout.

7. Bake the layer cake for 10min or until baked through. Immediately remove from baking tray and cool with another baking sheet over it. Reduce temperature to 135℃ and bake the hemispherical cakes until skewer comes out clean. Baking time depends on your oven and whether steam baking was used (I did) so use mine only as a reference. I baked the smallest cake for 35min, medium sized cake for 40min and largest cake for 45min. Cool the cakes completely in the moulds before gently unmoulding by hand.

Cakes baked in metal mould

8. Shape the hemispherical cakes by inverting them back into the moulds they were baked in. This will give it a nice rounded bottom. Let it sit in that position for at least 15-20 min.

In the mean time, cut out the various parts from layer cake using shape cutters or knife/ bench scraper.

Cutting out the eyes, nose and mouth

I made the pendant on the collar from flower shaped sprinkles that had been spray painted with gold paint. Prepare marshmellow glue by melting marshmellows with a sprinkling of water. Place the largest cake as the body inside the 50x40mm cupcake case and the medium sized cake as the body inside the 44x35mm cupcake case. Insert 2 toothpicks in the body to act as dowels. Attach the head on. The head is one cake size smaller than the body. Glue on the collar and pendant, followed by the paws. Use a small fruit knife to cut the toes on the paws. Attach the parts on the face.

Almost done! Without the ears, hubby says it looks like a mole!

Brush on a bit of sugar syrup to keep the cake moist (dissolve 10g sugar in 20g hot water). And you are done! Store in the fridge in airtight condition. The cake can keep for a few days.

Just to share a work in progress photo of the oranges...

The "Mandarin oranges" before adding details of the stem.

Have a blessed Year of the Dog!

With love,
Phay Shing

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Sushi Platter Chiffon Cake

This was one crazy cake to make! And I made two of it! Lol

Instead of just 'Sushi' Chiffon Cake, this round is a 'Sushi Platter' haha. In total I made over 45 sushi!

I have already shared the recipe for 'Sushi' and the 'Wood-style' design chiffon cake in my previous Sushi Chiffon Cake post. I only add in some 'tuna' this round =p.

Hope you have a blessed week ahead!

With lots of love,
Susanne

Updates

*New Deco Chiffon Cake Basics Book launch event on 2nd Dec 2018, 4pm at Kinokuniya, Ngee Ann City! 

Taken from kinokuniya instagram. Book will be on 20% discount at Kinokuniya that day =)

*Deco Chiffon Cake Basics book on 20% discount at Popular for Popular member now!

Deco Chiffon Cake books

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