Donlim breadmaker chiffon cake 面包机戚风蛋糕

All this while, I have the impression that we can't bake chiffon cake or cotton sponge cake using a breadmaker due to the defaulted temperature preset by the breadmaker. But a client whom had bought a unit of breadmaker from me tried baking chiffon cake with it, using an extra cake pan inserted into the normal breadpan, and the cake turned out to be beautiful, soft and fluffy! I am very glad to have clients like these. Other than the chiffon cake, she has also been very adventurous in trying out and sharing new bread, cakes, jams recipes with me. 

To persue my quest of baking chiffon cake with my breadmaker, I spoke to my breadmaker supplier and checked if it is possible, and yes, he reverted that it is indeed possible. In fact, he even has the cake pan that fits in perfectly in the breadpan. I waited for the breadpan to arrive and have finally got to try it. 

It was a fluffy bake! If only you can have a whiff of the nice pandan aroma! 

Recipe for Breadmaker Pandan Chiffon Cake 
·         2 egg yolk 蛋黄·         1tbsp brown sugar 黄糖·         1.5tbsp grapeseed oil 葡萄籽油·         50g pandan juice (blended 8-10 pandan leaves with about 300ml water) 斑兰汁·         50g cake flour (superfine flour) 蛋糕粉/底筋面粉 
·         2 egg white 蛋白·         1.5tbsp brown sugar 黄糖·         1/8 tsp salt 盐

Sieve flour and set aside. Using an egg separator, separate egg white and yolk.
Using a handheld electric mixer, whish the egg white with salt until frothy, add in brown sugar, continue to beat at low to medium speed (about 2min) until it reaches stiff peak. Set aside. At the same time, turn on breadmaker, select mode no. 13 (bake), adjust time to 00:59, press START.
Combine pandan juice, oil and sugar with egg yolk. Beat until thoroughly combined. Add in sieved flour. Combine until thoroughly mixed.
Add in 1/3 of egg white meringue into egg yolk mix. Mix with a plastic spatula. Then add the batter into the remaining 2/3 egg white meringue. Mix until creamy. Line the bottom of cake pan with a carefully cut out round baking pan. Slowly pour in batter into cake mould. Lightly tap cake pan to remove trapped air.
Place cake pan into preheated breadpan. When time of baking reaches 59min, adjust TIME so that breadmaker continues to bake, making total bake time 1hr15min.
Remove cake pan, turn upside down to cool on cooling rack.

将面粉过筛。 鸡蛋用分蛋器把蛋白分开。蛋白及盐用电动搅拌机底速打至起泡，加入黄糖，渐渐加速至高速搅打大约2分钟，至到蛋白变硬。此时，将面包机插电，选择菜单13（烘烤），时间调到00:59分钟，按启动。将斑兰汁、油、黄糖一起加入蛋黄液中，用电动打蛋器搅拌均匀，加入过筛后的面粉，搅拌均匀。
将1/3 的蛋白加入搅拌好的蛋黄糊中， 用塑胶刮刀捞起底部的面糊倒回剩下的蛋白中翻拌至细腻浓稠 。蛋糕摸底部垫油纸，将蛋糕糊倒入，轻轻敲打把大泡震出来。将蛋糕桶放进面包桶内，开始烘烤，当烘烤完成59分钟，再继续调时间，以至总共烘烤时间为一小时15分钟。烤完，将蛋糕桶 翻转放在烤架冷却后用塑胶刮刀脱膜。

Donlim breadmaker is currently available for sale at Just Health at retail price RM380 (price includes the breadmaker, one breadpan and one cake pan), inclusive of one year warranty. For more information, please kindly refer here, alternatively you may contact me at 012 324 1816 for info. 

Steamed pandan milk cupcakes

Happy New Year peeps! 

I haven't blogged for so long. Been busy. Vacation. Work trip. Busy in shop. Little one started going to playschool. Etc etc. Anyways, despite all these, I managed to kick my own butt to make some nice treats for the little fella. The hubby has been away for a few days so it was just the lil' fella and I during the weekend. He has been behaving so well, I got surprised. I realized that he's especially well-behaved when there's not many of us around. When the grandparent, the aunties and uncles are around, his mischievous side reveals. 

I made these steamed pandan milk cupcakes for our Sunday treats. It smells so good. I plucked those pandan leaves from my garden and blitzed them with milk, was intending to make pandan chiffon cake w/ them, but was disappointed to realize I haven't got cornflour at home to make the cake flour required to make chiffon cakes. Oh, by the way, if you have not known, to make cake flour from all purpose flour, here's how you can do it - to make 1 cup of cake flour, just take 1 cup of all purpose flour, take away 2 tablespoon of all purpose flour, replace with 2 tablespoon of corn flour. Cake flour renders a soft and cotton-y texture to the chiffon cake. I have tried making chiffon with all purpose flour. Failed terribly. The cake rose nicely, but it collapsed when I sliced them, and wasnt as soft as the ones baked with cake flour. So I randomly picked a recipe for pandan steamed cakes from google and found this, which to my surprise, it tastes good! It was a surprise to me, cos when preparing it, I felt that the batter was a little on the thick side, almost like the texture of creamy peanut butter, yet it turn out quite soft and crumbly. I had some extra left over, so I kept them in the fridge. The next day, I steamed them for another 5 min and had them for breakfast. Tastes as good! 

Recipe adapted from Peng's Kitchen

This recipe yields 8-9 cupcakes 

• 2 eggs, medium size 
• 100g sugar (I used 80g brown sugar) 
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 60g corn oil (I used virgin coconut oil) 
• 100g pandan milk (taken from the pandan milk I have made from blending together 8 pandan leaves and 200g fresh milk)
• 200g all purpose flour, sifted 
• 2tsp double action baking powder (I omitted the baking soda, and used 2.5tsp baking powder) 
• 1/2 tsp baking soda  

Method 

1. Using an electric whisk, beat eggs, sugar, salt and oil until thick and frothy. 
2. Beat in pandan milk till combine. 
3. Sift in flour, baking powder and fold till smooth batter is formed. 
4. Fill up cupcake liner till 3/4 full. 
5. Steam for about 12min. 

I was supposed to blog about my trips. But there was so many backlog on the trips to update, I get lazy when I think about it. Anyways, here's one of my favorite photo from my trip to Taiwan with the little one. Here's my babywearing little J with my I-angel hipseat carrier (model name: Josh). 

  

Soy pandan bread roll with black raisins

If only you can smell by looking at this photo, you'll know how good this is. (blush)

 

I prepared some really soft and fragrant pandan hee pan, and I reserved the pandan soymilk I made for this bread roll.

 

I prepared pandan soymilk by pureeing about 5 pieces of pandan leaves with 1 cup of fresh unsweetened soymilk. My blender can blend the leaves till really smooth fiber-free, so I didn't even sieve the mixture. Even though pandan leaves are mostly used for fragrance where we are, they are actually quite a nutritious and antioxidant-rich plant. Screwpine foliage is rich in antioxidant  flavonoids and, as a result, is thought to have anti-cancer properties. This benefit is attained by consuming the leaves in rice, soup, as a wrap, or in desserts. The foliage is used as an arthritic pain reliever and an antiseptic for healing wounds and skin disorders, including leprosy and acne. Diabetics and those that suffer from ulcers may also find it to be beneficial. Read more about this here.

 

Some of the homemade buns and bread rolls I made are sold at my shop, Just Health. Most of the clients who buy from me regularly are those who are aware of the 'stuffs' that are added into commercial bread, making them 'mortal' or without lifespan. Some of them buy for their little ones, cos I don't use softeners, improvers, shortenings or eggs in my bread. There are also some who are cancer sufferers. This pandan bread roll with real pandan leaves, all inside them, would be great for them, cos pandan are known for its anti-cancer properties.

 

This is my usual soymilk bun recipe, using Alex Goh's scalded dough method, and is kneaded using my faithful Donlim breadmaker.

 

Scalded dough/ starter dough

·         100g bread flour

·         70g boiling water

To prepare the starter dough, pour boiling hot water over flour and stir with folk until combined into a slightly tacky dough. Cover and chill in the refrigerator. Chill for 20min before use, can keep up to 12hours in refrigerator.

Main dough

 

·         3tbsp vegetable oil (I use grapeseed oil)

·         150g soy pandan milk  

·         2tbsp brown sugar

·         ½ tbsp salt      

·         200g bread flour

·         50g all purpose flour

·         ¾ tsp instant active dry yeast 

*half a cup of raisins, soaked in warm water for 5min

1.       Remove the breadpan from the bread machine. Fit in the kneading blade.

2.       Add all the ingredients in the order listed above, except for the scalded dough prepared earlier.

3.       Insert and lock the breadpan into the bread machine.

4.       Select mode no. 7 (dough)* the display panel will display defaulted time of 01:30 (1hr30min). Press start.

5.       When all the ingredients has combined together (about 5min), add in the starter dough in small pieces.

6.       After 1 hour 30min, a beep alert will sound indicating that the dough is ready.

7.       Remove the dough from the bread maker.

8.       On a floured surface, punch the dough a few times to remove trapped air. Knead and throw a few times. Let rest for about 5min, then form about 200g portion of dough into ball shape.

9.       Flatten dough into a oblong disk, sprinkle generously with soaked raisins. Roll up. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

10.   Brush the top with beaten egg wash and sprinkle with white sesame seeds.

11.   Cover bread rolls with damp cloth or cling film (or in the oven) and proof for the second time for about 45min, or until double in size.

12.   Preheat the oven to 175deg C. Bake the bread rolls for about 20min.

 

 

 

Pandan kikaku (hee pan) (sponge dough)

Pardon me for the poor photo taken, was trying to show how fluffy this was.

I've been making kikaku (or known as hakka hee pan) a lot lately, but it just seems that the recipes I tried (I tried two similar recipes) aren't soft enough. They are chewy but not exactly fluffily soft. Then I come across one that Wendy (from Wendy's Small Small World) made and she claimed that the recipe was a keeper and the hee pan came out seriously soft and fluffy. I had a look through the instructions, the sponge dough (or starter dough) needs to be kept overnight at room temperature, then another four-hour proof when mixed with the rest of the ingredients.. hm.. reading this, I somehow, had a feeling it is gonna be soft. I decided that I wanted to do it, and I got some pandan (screwpine) leaves cos I wanted to make a soft and fragrant one.

I prepared pandan soymilk by pureeing about 5 pieces of pandan leaves with 1 cup of fresh unsweetened soymilk. My blender can blend the leaves till really smooth fiber-free, so I didn't even sieve the mixture. Even though pandan leaves are mostly used for fragrance where we are, they are actually quite a nutritious and antioxidant-rich plant. Screwpine foliage is rich in antioxidant  flavonoids and, as a result, is thought to have anti-cancer properties. This benefit is attained by consuming the leaves in rice, soup, as a wrap, or in desserts. The foliage is used as an arthritic pain reliever and an antiseptic for healing wounds and skin disorders, including leprosy and acne. Diabetics and those that suffer from ulcers may also find it to be beneficial. Read more about this here.

The pandan soymilk blend that I prepared was partly used for this recipe and the leftover portion was used for my soft and fragrant pandan raisin bun.

Here's the recipe for my pandan kikaku (hee pan) using the sponge dough method

Recipe adapted from Wendy's Small Small World

Sponge dough:

1tsp dry instant active yeast
200 g all purpose flour
150g pandan soymil

Mix the above. Cover and proof overnight at room temperature. (I didn't do this overnight, I did it for about 4hrs during the day, at room temperature).

Main dough:

100g all purpose flour
150g glutinous rice flour
125g water
125g sugar (I cut this down to 5tbsp ie 75g)

*I also added 1tbsp grapeseed oil when kneading this dough

a bit of red coloring (I omitted this)
some oil for rubbing on palms while moulding the hee pan.

Mix the sponge dough and the main dough together, knead till soft.
Cover and prove for another 4hours. (I did this for about 2.5hrs)
Then shaped 50g each and place on a banana leaf.
Let proved for another 15mins, steamed at medium heat for 10mins.

Verdict: Like what Wendy mentioned, this recipe is definitely a keeper, thumbs up! The hee pan were softer and fluffier than the previous recipes I tried. But it's not for those who are short of time, cos it requires preparation in advanced.

Pandan bun with red bean filling

This is a hand-knead bun, a truly artisan bun, without making use of bread machine and the texture turned out 'oh so fluffy!' .. I baked these in the shop, I was thinking of baking them so that I can add up to the bread stash in our freezer cos we have, once again, run out of frozen bread, but unfortunately, the moment the bread came out of the oven, some clients started entering the shop, smelled the bread and bought them. I managed to savored one 'Christmas tree' for my son before it gets snatched away.

 

I baked my son another Christmas tree!

These came with toasted walnuts and chopped figs.

 

They were 'O so soft and fluffy!'

 

 

 

This recipe is adapted from Alex Goh's sweet bread dough recipe. But I adjusted it so that it suits our palette. I found the original recipe quite sweet. I have cut the sugar way down.

 

 

Starter dough

• 100g bread flour
• 70g boiling water 

Combine together and form into a ball. Leave to chill (in fridge) for at least an hour, or up to 48hrs.

 

Main dough

• 250g bread flour
• 50g wholemeal flour
• 100g all purpose flour
• 3tbsp molasses sugar (molasses sugar is about half the sweetness level of white sugar)
• 2tbsp 24cereals powder (or you may use soy bean powder or milk powder)
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt
• 30g grapeseed oil
• 200g pandan milk (blitz about 10 pandan leaves with about 200ml milk and strain to obtain 200g green pandan milk)
• 30g butter

1. Combine all, except butter. Knead, slowly adding in the starter dough by pieces. Knead until all the liquid are well absorbed. Knead in butter. Knead until the dough passes the window-pane test.
2. Leave to proof for about 1.5hrs or until dough doubles in size.
3. Divide dough into 50g portion. Leave to relax for about 10-15min (covered with damp cloth).
4. Wrap each one with red bean filling. Form into a ball.
5. Leave to rise in a warm area for about an hour.
6. Bake at 165deg C for about 15-20min. Using a toaster oven, I baked these for about 15min.

 

 

 

 

Soy-pandan bread

I love pandan, especially baked stuffs made from freshly squeezed pandan juice.

 

From the soy-pandan chiffon cupcakes, I made extra soy-pandan juice so that I can bake bread with them. When these were baking in the oven, my whole house was smelling good, wonder if the scent was gonna chase away cockroach. Back then, my granny used to leave tied up pandan leaves in the cupboard to keep the cockroach at bay (wondering if it was cockroaches or lizards).

 

I baked these soy-pandan bread using an overnight fermentation method which I learnt from Catherine. It's an interesting one, it saves time and I can have the buns/bread done in shorter time span cos the first proofing was already done the night before. Simply summarized, it has two stages of mixing and kneading. First, the dough was kneaded the day before and left to proof at room temperature for an hour, and then kept in the fridge for at least 12hours. Then, the dough would be mixed and kneaded with a fresh batch of flour and liquid and left to proof for just 15-20min before I can shape and bake! In other words, the bread or buns can be ready in about 1 hour (inclusive of baking time!).

 

They have rough surface cos I was too lazy to apply egg wash.

 

I made two fillings for this soy-pandan bread. One is a sweet one with just dried organic blackcurrant, and the other one is a savory one with pumpkin and chicken curry I quickly prepared when the second stage mixing and kneading was in place (in the bread machine).

 

*I halved her original recipe

Sponge dough

• 120g Soy-pandan milk (from fridge)  
• 200g Bread flour (stored in freezer for about 45min)
• 1tbsp molasses sugar (blitz to fine powder)
• 1/2 tbsp. instant active yeast

Mix all and knead for about 5-10min. Let proof in room temperature for an hour. Then spread with oil over the surface of the dough and wrap enclosed tightly in a plastic bag, leaving no air for extreme fermentation/proofing. Leave in fridge for at least 12hours.

 

Main dough

• 1 egg
• 1tbsp soy milk (I added this in, cos the dough seems to be a little dry)
• 100g bread flour
• 50g all purpose flour
• 2tbsp soymilk powder
• 2tbsp molasses sugar (fine)
• 1tbsp honey
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 tbsp. instant active yeast

 

• 20g butter plus 20g grapeseed oil

Filling

• Cooked chicken breast and pumpkin curry (about 1cup which makes 3 bun)

In a breadmaker,

1. Place liquid (honey, soy and egg) followed by flour and other dry ingredients, except butter. Combine. Put in the pre-prepared sponge dough pieces by pieces. Let knead for about 10min. Add in butter when all the liquid has been well absorbed by the dough.
2. Divide dough into your preferred sizing (mine was 110g each). Let proof for 15-20min.
3. Shape and bake. I bake these at 175deg C for 30min.

 

 

Very good soy-pandan chiffon cupcake

I had to title it this way. This is really good. Sometimes I think I get biased when typing while eating the cakes fresh out of the oven. Just like what the owner of this recipe said, once you've tasted pandan chiffon warm, you will never want the cold stuffs you always get anymore. I agree! This recipe is tooo good not to be given credit for. But please be warned, this very delicious tasting chiffon cupcake will crack. It will not give you a very good outlook, but it definitely tastes 100times better than its outlook. When you know how good it tastes, you won't be bothered of its look. I already finished eating one when I'm typing this line. But I cannot have a second one, cos I already had two orange chiffon cupcakes (which I baked yesterday) and I was already way over my quota.

 

Now, if you're too, like me, contemplating on whether if you should just try out half of this recipe? Please don't. Do the full recipe. I was contemplating, cos I, again, was trying to limit myself from getting sugar overload, but then I thought, it's alright, I can give some to Aunty Helen, my neighbor, whom the homegrown pandan leaves which I used in this recipe belongs to. The pandan plant was growing at the side of the fence parting our house compound, and it just decided to cross over to our place, and I seriously remembered Aunty Helen mentioned that we can use the pandan plant anytime (which my hubby never recalled) ... hmm.. anyway, when I started tearing off the liner of this cupcake, I knew I made the right decision of baking the full recipe. I don't think I will have extra for Aunty Helen anymore (ooppspss... let's hope she never reads my blog, fingers crossed) ;p

Here's the pandan (screwpine) leaves planted by Aunty Helen

 

 

我很丑。。可是， 我真的很

柔软。。。 Can you imagine how fluffy it is?

Here's the recipe (adapted from here)
This recipe yields 8 cupcakes in those Hokkaido cupcake liners

• 4 egg yolks
• 1tbsp molasses castor sugar (which I have blended to a very fine texture using molasses sugar)
• 50g grapeseed oil
• 70g green, mature pandan leaves (rinsed thoroughly and drained, then chopped to short sections)
• 75g fresh soy milk (unsweetened)

**pandan leaves are blitz with the soy milk, and squeezed through the cheesecloth to obtain about 65g green milk (there were more, I kept them for breadmaking the next day)

• pinch of salt
• 80g cake flour (I used top flour)
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

• 4 egg white
• 4 tbsp. molasses castor sugar

As you can see, I didn't use normal castor sugar, my castor sugar are made from molasses (which was a little too coarse, so I blitz them into fine powder texture). I love cooking and baking with molasses instead of white sugar. Molasses are not that sweet and they are less refined compared to white sugar.

I have adjusted the amount of sugar in this recipe. I find it just right. I don't like anything too sweet.

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 165deg C.
2. Whisk egg whites with pinch of salt till they form soft peak. Gradually add in 4tbsp of molasses while continuing to whisk. Keep whisking till egg whites just reach stiff peak.
3. In another bowl, whisk egg yolks and 1tbsp molasses till thick. Add in oil and green milk. Whisk till combined. Sieve in cake flour and baking powder. Whist to combine.
4. Add egg whites to yolk batter in 3 batches. Fold till just evenly mixed.
5. Divide the batter between 8 cupcake liner. Tap liner gently against worktop to level batter and get rid of air bubbles.
6. I baked these at 165deg C in my toaster oven for first 10min. Then turn down the temperature to 155deg C and baked for another 10min. Just like the owner of this recipe mentioned, cakes crack after first 10min.
7. Let cool and serve.

Note: My pandan chiffon isn't green in color, cos first, I used homemade pandan paste (not the artificial flavoring with coloring), secondly, I used molasses sugar in replacement of white castor sugar.