Pandan Chiffon Cake 班丹戚风蛋糕

Ingredients

6 egg whites

60g caster sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

80g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp pandan essence

6 egg yolks

30g caster sugar

50g extra light olive oil/canola oil

80ml milk

 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C / 335F.

 

2. Use a large clean mixing bowl, without any trace of oil or water, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Add the cream of tartar. After mixing well, add the 60 grams of sugar in three batches, about one-third at a time, and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. (I just poured in the sugar and cream of tartar together)

 

 

3. Sift the cake flour and baking powder, mix well.

 

4. Whisk the egg yolks with the 30 grams of caster sugar, until the sugar completely dissolves. Stir in the oil, bit by bit, until completely combined. Add the milk and stir well.

 

 

5. Sift the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture, in three batches. Combine well. Add in the pandan essence.

 

6. Fold-in the beaten egg whites with a spatula and gently combined well.

 

7. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. After baking the first 15 minutes, if you find the cake surface gets browning, reduce heat to 160C / 320F. Continue to bake until cooked through. A needle comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

8. Remove the cake from the oven. Invert the pan immediately on a wire rack. Let it cool completely.

 

Napoleon Cheese Cake

15.8.14 (Fri)

Few months ago, a friend of mine posted her baking on Facebook and I thought it was interesting. She baked Napoleon Cheese Cake. So, by looking at the name itself, I bet you will think of the Napoleon ice cream where you have 3 flavours - vanilla, strawberry and chocolate! I wanted to bake the same cake too, since I already have my cheese cake recipe (I prefer non-baked cheese cake), just need to modify a bit.

Recipe:-
The base
McVities Digestive Biscuits (about 4-5pcs, depending on how thick you want the base to be)
Oreo biscuits (without the cream)
80g Unsalted butter (if you find that the biscuits are too dry, then add more butter)
30g icing sugar

1. Crush all the biscuits till it become almost like sand texture (crumbs) and mix it with the icing sugar.
2.  Melt the butter. Pour the butter into a tray together with biscuits crumbs. Mix it well.
3.  Compress it evenly on the base of the tray. Put in the fridge for at least 1hour or till it is hardened.
4.   Make some small holes all over the base using a fork (this is to ensure the cheese sticks to the base).

The Cheese content
500g cream cheese (I preferred Philadelphia brand)
150g vanilla flavour yoghurt
150g strawberry flavour yoghurt
280g (or 2/3 of a small tin) of sweetened condensed milk
Fresh strawberries
8 teaspoon of gelatin powder, with 200ml water

Strawberry layer
1.  Let the cheese (250g) cool down to room temperature.
2. Pour the water into a small pot and heat up under low heat. Then, pour the gelatin powder (4 tsp with 100ml water) into the pot and stir it thoroughly until melted. The end product is a very thick and sticky gelatin mixture. Set aside for use. 
3. Using an electric hand mixer, blend the cheese well to make it soft.
4. Next pour in the sweetened condensed milk (140g) and mix it well. Then pour the strawberry smoothies (blend the fresh strawberries with strawberry yoghurt together) in as well. Blend it well and thoroughly.
5. Quickly pour the gelatin mixture into the earlier cheese content and then mix it well with a spatula.
6. Finally, pour the final cheese content into the earlier prepared base tray.
7. Put in the fridge for 1 hour or until the cheese has set.

Vanilla layer
1.  Let the cheese (250g) cool down to room temperature.
2. Pour the water into a small pot and heat up under low heat. Then, pour the gelatin powder (4 tsp with 100ml water) into the pot and stir it thoroughly until melted. The end product is a very thick and sticky gelatin mixture. Set aside for use. 
3. Using an electric hand mixer, blend the cheese well to make it soft.
4. Next pour in the sweetened condensed milk (140g) and mix it well. Then pour the vanilla yoghurt in as well. Blend it well and thoroughly.
5. Quickly pour the gelatin mixture into the earlier cheese content and then mix it well with a spatula.
6.  Take out the cheese cake from the fridge and pour the vanilla cheese cake mixture into the cake mould.7.  The cheese cake should remain in the fridge for at least 2 hours before consuming (taste better if overnight). Enjoy!

For my first attempt, I used only 250g of cream cheese, and divided the cheese batter into half. Hence, the result was not really good as the texture of the cheese cake was a bit soft. Will try again next round with 500g of cream cheese.

Our new house!

11.8.14 (Monday)

In about one week more, we will be here for THREE months! How time flies. And there were many things happened since I last updated on my blog.

 

So far, life here is good. As what I posted on my Facebook, There were too many things to give thanks to, especially to our Heavenly Father, for He is always there for us, sending His angels to look after us when we need one or more. For example, there was one day we were shopping at Kmart and while making payment using credit card, the cashier informed that the payment was voided. Hubby then remembered that he forgotten to transfer some money over to the bank account and luckily there was an ATM in the mall. He quickly went to the ATM and hoping he could do some online banking there. However, things did not turn out the way we wanted it to be! And suddenly, he met a brother in Christ walking passed him. Hubby told the friend about his problem and the friend suggested maybe Hubby can use his mobile phone to do the internet banking instead. Finally, Hubby managed to transfer some money and we could buy our stuffs.

 

The children are having fun times here as there are parks everywhere, children programmes at the mall and library. Abby's favourite place is Kmart especially the toys and books sections! I registered them with the local library here. And each of the member is allowed to borrow 25 items (including books and DVDs). There is also a reading programme for the children. They are required to read at least 3 books each month to get a small reward and also at the end of the programme, if they fulfil all the requirements, they will be given a medallion as a reward. So, both Abby and Ian will be receiving their medallion in Sept!

 

Hubby also passed his driving test at first attempt but I failed mine. Reason being, the examiner said I didn't stop at the STOP sign! I did stop but examiner said not obvious and not long enough! Gosh..this was how strict the transport department here! The whole driving test is about 25-30mins but for me, I just drove out from the test centre for like 5mins and I failed! I was pretty upset and disappointed. Hubby commented that I didn't give the examiner an impression that I can drive confidently! I need to retake the test again in order to be able to drive here. (Previously, our foreign driving licence is valid for 3 mths but with the new rule, if you fail your driving test, you are not allow to drive even if the period of your foreign driving licence is still valid) According to my friend here, if a police stops you, you just show the foreign driving licence and the police will let you go. Only thing is if you are involve in an accident, then you can't claim insurance as you are driving illegally. She also told me, if you go back to Msia, a police stop you while driving, just pretend you are foreigner, show Aussie driving licence and the police will let you go without asking for $$..haha! I am not sure how true is this but her friend got through it!

 

After staying with our friends for about 2.5mths, finally, we moved to a new rented house! We found this house from the advertisement on the newspaper. Initially, I didn't shortlist this house as the information given was so minimal, just the address, unlike other advertisements where you get information like the address, number of rooms, rental rates etc. However, Hubby spotted it and said we should try this address too, and thanked God, we inspected the house and met a very nice landlord! He is a 70yrs old Taiwanese man, who has been living in Brisbane for more than 20yrs. This house was inherited by him from his parents. There were 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms, furnished and utilities  (internet, electricity and water) were included in the rental. The rental was $450/pw! We took a quick tour inside the house, and first impression was "old and not clean"! But we kept our options open and will inspect more houses before making the final decision. The owner was willing to reduce the rental to $420/pw if we are to sign for a one year contract.

 

We continued searching for houses and most of them were either old, not furnished or too expensive! After much consideration, we decided to rent the first house that we inspected, ie our current house now! We went back to take a second inspection and to our surprise, we thought that this house was actually not bad at all, and the location was strategic - close to markets, school, our church and Hubby's working place. Furthermore, the owner reduced the rental to $400/pw, seeing that we are new migrants and also brother and sister in Christ. We were really grateful and signed a one year contract with him. We couldn't believe that we found a place in such a short period and so easily. If we are to rent a place through the real estate agent, there are many procedures that we need to go through and it is very tedious. God really understand our needs and bless us with a good place to stay. The owner said he will need one week to clean up the house before we can move in.

 

About 3 days before we move in, I brought some stuffs over and saw that the owner was actually cleaning the house on his own! (we thought he might hire the cleaning services) I offered my help (after all, we are going to stay here, I have the responsibility to clean the house too) to clean the house. Because it was an old house and the owner rented to many people previously who didn't actually take care of the house properly, so there were lots of cleaning to do! I spent about 4hrs cleaning the kitchen itself, scrubbing the tiles on the floor, the cabinets etc..really a tough job but I am happy to do so coz I want my house to be clean and tidy. The owner said to me," You really like cleanliness!" I smiled and replied," Ya, we want the house to be clean and tidy, moreover, we have children, cleanliness is very important!"

 

It has been one week staying here and all of us are very happy and satisfy with the house. The children have their own room, and ample spaces to run around, more freedom as compared living with others. I usually walk to the market with the children to do grocery shopping and they are very happy to follow me, to help me carry stuffs. Next year, Abby will be going to school, which is about 15mins walk from our house and it is the second top government primary school in Brisbane!

 

As for jobs, both me and Hubby still jobless but we are working on something now. Will share more once it is more established.

 

Here are some photos to share.

 

Living hall

Living hall

Master bedroom

Master bathroom

Bathroom no.2

Children bedroom

Entrance to the house

Front view of the house, surrounded by big trees!

We have an avocado tree behind the backyard!

My kitchen!

 

Cantonese Egg Tarts

 

Ingredients of crust:
200g plain flour
25g cake flour
125g butter
55g icing sugar
1 egg, whisked
a dash of vanilla extract

Ingredients of custard:
2 eggs
70g caster sugar
150g hot water
75g evaporated milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method (making crust):
1. Place butter at room temperature until softened. Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer over medium speed until the mixture is smooth, fluffy and light in color.

2. Add in whisked egg, half at a time, beat over low speed. Add vanilla extract, mix well.
 

3. Sift in flour in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl between additions with a spatula, and make sure all ingredients combine well. Knead into dough.
 

4. Roll out the dough to a 1/2 cm thickness. Cut dough with a cookie cutter that is just a bit smaller than your tart tin in size. Line dough in the middle of tart tins, one by one. Lightly press the dough with your thumbs, starting from the bottom then up to the sides. While pressing the dough, turn the tart tin clockwise/anti-clockwise in order to make an even tart shell. Trim away any excess dough.
 

Method (making custard):
1. Add sugar into  HOT WATER, mix until completely dissolved.
 

2. Whisk egg with evaporated milk. Pour in sugar water. Mix well.
 

3. Sift egg mixture to get rid of any foam into a tea pot. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart shell.

Method (baking tarts):
1. Preheat oven to 200C. Position rack in lower third of oven. Bake tarts for 10 to 15 minutes until the edges are lightly brown.

2. Lower the HEAT to 180C. Keep an eye on them. Once you see the custard being puffed up a bit, pull the oven door open about 2 to 3 inches. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until the custard is cooked through. Just insert a toothpick into the custard. If it stands on its own, it’s done.
 

Notes:
Placing tarts at the lower rack in oven could cook crusts easily before the egg custard being heated up too quickly.
At the very last stage, pull the oven DOOR OPEN a few inches. This method is to avoid custard from being puffed up too high. The custard would collapse once they are cooled down otherwise.

Lemon Chiffon Cake 柠檬戚风蛋糕

11.8.14 (Mon)

Happy Monday to all from Brisbane!

 

I haven't been stopping to bake ever since we came here. When we were staying with our friends, she has a big oven and I bake 2-3 times weekly. Now that we moved to our own place (rented house), I specially requested Hubby to buy an oven for me so that I can continue to bake (the existing oven in the house was too old and limited baking functions). Then I saw this toaster oven on promotion in Aldi, so I asked for permission to buy and Hubby agreed! Though it's a small little oven, but I am more than happy!

 

So, this morning, I baked lemon chiffon cake. Initially, I was a lil worried that the cake will sink after baked or cooled down. But, thankfully, the cake turned out well and yummy. The texture was light and fluffy! I gave 2 pieces to my neighbour and he was so happy, asking how he could reward me for the cakes..haha..I told him, no worries, I like to bake and share with people.

 

 

Ingredients

6 egg whites

60g caster sugar

1 tsp cream of tartar

80g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 lemon zest

6 egg yolks

30g caster sugar

50g extra light olive oil/canola oil

80ml milk

 

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170C / 335F.

 

2. Use a large clean mixing bowl, without any trace of oil or water, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until bubbles form. Add the cream of tartar. After mixing well, add the 60 grams of sugar in three batches, about one-third at a time, and beat well between additions. Continue to beat until stiff peaks form. (I just poured in the sugar and cream of tartar together)

 

 

3. Sift the cake flour and baking powder, mix well.

 

4. Whisk the egg yolks with the 30 grams of caster sugar, until the sugar completely dissolves. Stir in the oil, bit by bit, until completely combined. Add the milk and stir well.

 

 

5. Sift the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture, in three batches. Combine well. Add in the lemon zest.

 

6. Fold-in the beaten egg whites with a spatula and gently combined well.

 

7. Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the preheated oven for about 35 to 40 minutes. After baking the first 15 minutes, if you find the cake surface gets browning, reduce heat to 160C / 320F. Continue to bake until cooked through. A needle comes out clean when inserted in the middle.

 

 

8. Remove the cake from the oven. Invert the pan immediately on a wire rack. Let it cool completely.