Logcake 4 - The one that was finally given away

Teh: I finally made a logcake that was given away. Initially i wanted to give many logcakes away. But i got lazy and i only made 1 (very reluctantly initally) for a Christmas Party i went to. I'm glad i made it though. It was made of a chocolate swiss roll, filled with cream cheese frosting and chocolate. Same for the outside. The effect turned out to be rather nice. The slight sourness of the cream cheese frosting was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the cake and chocolate. As usual, it was unbelievably soft and moist. It was very well received and that was the best reward for me.

Chocolate Logcake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Logcake after eating
(i'm jealous of my friend's good camera!)

Does anyone else think i need to change my phone so i can take some decent pictures? Iphone 4S? Samsung Galaxy SII?

Butter Cupcakes

Teh: It's that time of the year again - Christmas! Yes we sincerely wish all our readers (yes all 3 of them, you know who you are! hugs!) a very Merry Christmas!

I think Christmas is a time where we should get together with friends (both new and old) and spend some time looking back at the year that passed and make plans (for God to laugh at) for the new year! As i grew older, i no longer see the point in partying, squeezing at the club with 10,000 other strangers, drinking insane amount of alcohol and feeling stupid when there isn't any cab to go home in.

Yesterday i made some last minute Butter Cupcakes. It's a simple and fail-proof recipe! It's also my mum's favourite if you throw in the buttercream frosting. Without further ado!

Butter Cupcakes
125g of butter (I recommend Golden Churn salted butter for best results!)
125g of sugar (Yes, if its not sweet its not good enough!)
125g plain flour
2 eggs
2 - 5 tbsp of milk (Less milk if you like drier cakes. More milk if you prefer softer ones.)
1 tsp vanilla essence

Method:
1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and flurry (very pale creamish colour).
2. Add 1 egg at a time while continue to whisk at high speed.
3. Add milk and vanilla essence. Mix.
4. Flour in the flour gently (You all know how i feel about being gentle).
5. Fill the cupcake/muffin cups till 3/4 full or slightly more than 1/2.
6. Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes until nice and brown (plus minus timing depends very much on your oven!). It is ready when the toothpick comes out clean after inserting it to the cake.
7. Decorate as you wish.

Chocolate Swiss Roll (old fashion style)

Teh: Swiss roll has always been something I wish I can make. However I was proven to be a failure at it on many occasions! Either the cake refused to roll, it cracked or it was dry and disappointing. One day while cyber-loafing at work (yes research has shown that cyber-loafing increases work productivity!) I stumbled upon a matcha Swiss roll recipe. At first I was skeptical the amount of eggs it uses. 9 egg yolks and 6 egg whites! However the final pictures shown on the website made me want to give it a try. Upon trying it for the first time, I was sold! THIS IS IT! This is THE recipe everyone must have. Please check out Christine’s beautifully soft and moist Swiss roll at her website. This recipe is her’s. Her website has detailed information/pictures on how to bake the cake and roll it.

I tried this recipe twice. The first time I did it a normal vanilla one. I omitted the matcha powder. I used whipping cream as the filling. The cake was unbelievably soft even after spending the night in the fridge, wrapped in baking paper of course. The second time I tried, I decided to make a chocolate Swiss roll covered with chocolate rice, filled with sinful butter cream. Yes, that’s my old fashion chocolate Swiss roll. Hope you’ll try it!

Ingredients for Butter Cream:

200g soften salted butter

100g icing sugar (adjust sweetness according as you wish)

Method for butter cream:

           1.     Cream the soften butter with the icing sugar until pale (light cream colour) and creamy.

Ingredients for Swiss roll:

6 egg whites + 60g of caster sugar

9 egg yolks + 100g of caster sugar

90g of plain flour

25g corn flour

50ml vegetable oil

3 tbsp hot water

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Method for Swiss Roll:

1.     Heat up the oven to 220 degrees celsius. (my oven is one hot oven. So I used 200 degrees. Please adjust according to your oven’s temper!)

2.     Mix the cocoa powder and hot water together until the powder dissolves completely. You can add some hot water if the powder doesn’t seem to dissolve completely.

3.     Using an electric whisk, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together until pale and creamy.

4.     In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and sugar together until stiff peaks.

5.     Sift the plain flour and corn flour together in a bowl.

6.     Add the dissolved cocoa into the egg yolk mix. (You can stir in the cocoa gently. But since I was going to do a lot of folding, I only mixed slightly as I was quite confident the folding later on will distribute the cocoa evenly.)

7.     Add 1/3 of the stiff egg whites into the egg yolk mix and fold gently. Repeat with another 1/3 when the first folding is done.

8.     Fold in the sifted flour in 3 batches, alternate with the remaining 1/3 egg white. (means you further divide the remaining egg white into 3 batches).

9.     By now, the cocoa should have distributed evenly and it is time to add all the oil at 1 go. Gently fold in the oil

10.  Line the baking tray with baking paper. Grease it. Pour the mixture into the tray. Bake 10 to 15 minutes (depending on the thickness of your mix). The cake is ready when the toothpick is clean after poking into the cake. It cooks very fast. Do not go away for too long.

(Please note that you can either make 2 small Swiss rolls with this recipe or a big one, depending on the thickness of your tray. I did 1 regular size and 1 small size roll on my second attempt.)

11.  When the cake is ready, cool it on a wired tray. Wait for it to cool completely (but not turn cold!) before you try to roll it. I realized if you wait for it to cool completely, it rolls better, it doesn’t crack and no moisture will seep out and make the cake stick to the baking paper. Turn the cake onto a clean baking paper. Peel off the old baking paper. A helpful way of rolling is to cut 2-3 lines (not all the way through the cake!) at the start of where you are going to roll. Then you start to roll with the paper. Nevermind if the paper is between the cake. It’s supposed to be this way. I know some people uses a towel. But I didn’t find it necessary. Please the cake rolled for 15-20 minutes.

12.  When the butter cream is done and 15-20 minutes is up, unroll the cake. Spread the butter cream all over the cake evenly (but save some cream for later). Roll up the cake again, this time without the paper in between the cake. I tried rolling with my hands and it works! I can see if the cake is rolled too tightly or too loose since the baking paper is not in my way. If you apply too much strength, the cake may crack. The key words are – be gentle.

13.  When you’ve rolled the cake successful (look! No cracks!), use the remaining butter cream to coat the top and sides of the cake and sprinkle chocolate rice all around it. Ok if you are putting chocolate rice on the outside, I guess it doesn’t matter if your cake cracked. But we all want un-cracked Swiss roll right?!

14.   Wrap the cake up with the baking paper and leave it in the fridge to set. Probably about 1-2 hours.

15.  I recommend you to un-chill the cake before you serve. But some people likes cold Swiss rolls. It’s really up to your preference.

This Swiss roll recipe is suitable for log cakes too! Christmas is just around the corner. You can use whipped cream (chocolate or plain) to coat the cake. Use a fork to draw lines along the length of the cake to resemble tree bark. If you want clean and clear lines, wipe the fork clean after use. Decorate the log with Christmas decorations. Decorations are sold cheaply at Phoon Huat. Now that you are all set, you can consider making some for your friends! Free feel to play around with the flavours and colour combinations. Enjoy =)

Chocolate Swiss Roll - Coming soon!

Chocolate Swiss Roll recipe coming soon!

Log Cake Experiment 3

Teh: Here is Log Cake Experiment 3. My favorite so far! But it has some setbacks. The base crust is not firm enough and the center of the cake is slightly soft. Another friend said "You didn't make the biscuit right?" Since i gave this cake away, i can only imagine how it tastes like. Lim says it goes well with coffee!

Log Cake Experiment 2 - Angry Bird Cake (Pirated)

Teh: Log Cake Experiment 2 got side-tracked into an Angry Bird Cake project. My nephew decorated the cake with angry birds. He put some mini marshmallows on it too. Those are mini cream puffs around the cake. In my head, those mini puffs are supposed to be like pebbles or rocks. But they look more like boulders!

Experiment 3 in due course...

Where are the pigs?

Log Cake Experiment 1

Teh: Yes! It's that time of the year again. Log Cake making! This is my first attempt for the year. Not much "wow" factor. I already have an idea for experiment 2. Attempt 2 will take place this weekend!

Serene (Siri): Good Lick!

Log Cake Experiment 1

Banana Cupcakes

On impulse and due to having a lot of bananas all the time at home, i made banana cupcakes. They were unbelievably soft and fragrant! No cheating with banana essence. But i did add some vanilla essence. lol. This recipe is from Chubby Hubby's wife, S. I've modified it slightly. Enjoy! - Teh

Banana Cupcakes (makes 10)

150g flour
2tsp baking powder
1tsp baking soda
some salt
50g sugar
120g unsalted butter, softened
2 eggs, beaten
200g mashed bananas
4 tbsp milk
1tsp vanilla essence

Method:

1) Cream butter and sugar until creamy.
2) Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together.
3) Add beaten eggs a little at a time into the butter and sugar mix. Incorporate fully.
4) Add vanilla, milk and mashed bananas all together. Whisk to blend in the mixture.
5) Fold in the flour. (Be sure to fold in. No cheating with the whisk. And as usual, don't over mix. Be gentle!)
6) Scoop the mixture into cupcake cups and bake at 180˚C for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. (Which is around the time they have browned nicely on top, unless your oven is too hot then your cupcakes would have burnt by now. Ooops!)