Cream Cheese Pound Cake

Ingredients:

• 112.5g Butter (softened)
• 82.5g Sugar
• 112g Philadeplhia Cream Cheese (softened)
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 125g Plain Flour
• 1/2 tbsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175C
2. Beat butter with electric mixer on medium speed for 1 min.
3. Gradually add in sugar, beating well after each addition until very light and fluffy
4. Add cream cheese and beat for 2 min
5. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition
6. Add vanilla essence and beat well
7. Combine flour, baking powder and salt together and add to butter mixture. Beat for 1 min or until well combined.
8. Pour batter into 8.5 x 3.5 loaf pan and bake for approx.35min.
   

Double Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Overly-excited over my successful chiffon cake yesterday, I decided to bake another variation of the chiffon cake for practice. This time, I chose the most commonly available ingredients and made some changes to the original recipe. The texture is still baby-soft and this time, the cake rose higher than the Orange Chiffon Cake yesterday! However, the chocolate droplets were not evenly mixed thus resulting in it concentrating in one area as you can see from the picture above.

Ingredients:
Part (A)

• 70g Chocolate
• 150ml Milk
• 60ml Cooking Oil
• 6 Egg Yolks
• 110g Cake Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 20g Cocoa Powder
• 100g Chocolate Chips/Droplets

Part (B)

• 6 egg Whites
• 1/2 tsp Cream of tartar
• 180g Caster Sugar

Method:

1. Melt chocolate and milk over low heat, stirring till chocolate totally melted. Leave aside to cool
2. Combine oil, egg yolks and melted chocolate mixture in a mixing bowl and mix well.
3. Fold in flour, cocoa powder and chocolate chips into egg yolk mixture (step 2) and mix till batter is formed.
4. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed for approximately 1 min. Gradually add in sugar and beat till medium peak is formed.
5. Gently fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture in 2-3 batches till even. Do not overmix.
6. Pour batter into a 23cm chiffon tube pan and bake in preheated oven at 170C for approximately 45min or till cooked.
7. Overturn pan together with cake immediately after removing from oven.
8. Wait till completely cooled before using a sharp knife to run round the edge of the pan and remove the cake.

Orange Chiffon Cake

This is my first successful chiffon cake, at least I can consider it "successful" as it did not have the sunken look of my first try. It has risen fairly well and texture-wise, it is baby-soft and taste just like chiffon!! Although the top layer (which is bottom of the pan) does look bald after separating from the pan. Colour-wise, it is pale in comparison and the only distinction of orange is the presence of orange zest. Maybe I should add more orange juice and reduce the water content in my next try....

Ingredients:

Part A:

• 4 Egg Yolks
• 75ml Orange Juice
• 40ml Water
• 85ml Corn oil
• 90g Sugar
• 150g Cake Flour + 1 tsp Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 2 tsp grated Orange Zest

Part B:

• 5 Egg Whites
• 1/8 tsp Cream of Tartar
• 100g Sugar

Method:

1. Mix all the ingredients in Part A together in a mixing bowl and stir till smooth
2. Using an electric mixer, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar at high speed for approx. 1 min.
3. Gradually add in sugar and whisk till medium peak (the whites will droop a little but not drip when lifted)
4. Fold in the egg yolk mixture into the egg white mixture slowly and in 2-3 batches
5. Pour batter into a 23cm chiffon tube pan and bake at 180C for approx. 45min or till cooked
6. Overturn cake with pan immediately upon coming out from the oven and leave to cool completely before removing from the pan with a sharp knife.

CNY 2009 Bakes!

Finally all the hard work of my baking for CNY on display! I've made a total of 9 types of cookies and 1 big cake! This is the first time that we are featuring all homemade items for CNY!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is the last bake for CNY. I've included a very generous supply of white and dark chocolate chips into the cookies. See all those little dark and white specks of chocolate!

Ingredients:

• 185g Butter (softened)
• 125g Castor Sugar
• 1 tbsp Cocoa Powder
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla Essence
• 220g Self Raising Flour (sieved)
• 3/4 cup of White Chocolate Chips
• 3/4 cup of Dark Chocolate Chips

Method:

1. Beat butter and sugar till creamy
2. Add egg, cocoa powder and vanilla essence and mix well
3. Stir in sieved flour and chocolate chips
4. Drop tablespoonfuls onto baking tray
5. Bake at 180C for 12min or till golden brown