Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Chiffon cakes are so light and airy, they never fail to leave you with a guilt-free form of satisfaction. Don't be fooled though, my friend, these babes get their moistness from a high oil content in the recipe. So even though chiffon cakes resemble angel food cakes in terms of appearance and texture, it's not a legit "healthy dessert". Well, of course, it's a much better alternative to stuffing your face with cheesecake and shortbread when you're trying to maintain a healthier diet (save those for you 20% indulgent times).

That said, this recipe has been adjusted to be low in sugar and lower in fat, so it's much healthier and could fit the 80%-healthy criteria, I guess. Don't worry though, the texture and flavour has not been sacrificed, this chocolate chiffon cake is still moist with it's fluffiness coming from the well-beaten egg whites (meringue) and baking powder. Use a good-quality pure cocoa powder for a flavorsome and rich, yet mildly sweet cake.

The success of baking a well-risen chiffon cake depends on: (1) mastering the technique of beating egg whites (2) folding in egg whites gently and (3) appropriate tools. This tube pan below is crucial for baking chiffon cakes, the tube in the middle enables even distribution of heat, so the cake could rise beautifully. This, however, is not the most important use of the tube pan. The tube in the middle is around two inches taller than the sides, therefore, when the cake comes out of the oven we can immediately turn it upside down to cool without exerting pressure on it. By doing so, we stop the cake from shrinking while being left to cool.

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Recipe for Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Makes an 8-inch cake

Ingredients:

• 6 + 3 Tbsp Egg White, at room temperature
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 100 g Sugar
• 60 ml Vegetable Oil
• 150 ml Milk
• 180 g Cake Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 25 g Cocoa Powder
• 1 tsp Instant Coffee Powder
• 1/2 tsp Distilled White Vinegar/ Lemon Juice

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 160 °C. Prepare an 8" tube pan with a removable bottom, do NOT grease it.
2. Make egg yolk batter. Sift cake flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl. Mix in sifted cocoa powder and instant coffee powder. Add in 1/3 of sugar and roughly mix together.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients (above), then pour in lightly beaten egg yolks, vegetable oil and milk. Mix with a hand-held whisk till the batter is lump-free. Set aside.
4. Make meringue. In a separate bowl that is dry and clean, beat egg whites and distilled white vinegar/lemon juice with an electrical mixer on low speed. When bubbles form on the surface, add in half of the remaining sugar and beat on medium speed. Finish adding in all the sugar a little by little. Keep beating till stiff peak forms (the egg whites have a blunt "tail" when you lift up your whisk), this is "meringue". 
5. Combine mixtures. Scoop 1/3 of the meringue into the batter we made previously, whisk until just incorporated.
6. Pour the mixture back into the meringue and fold in with a spatula. This is a critical step to making a good chiffon cake, you have to work quickly but gently to avoid breaking and deflating the meringue. Stop immediately when there are no chunks of meringue left.
7. Pour batter into your tube pan and bang on the counter for a few times to release large air bubbles.
8. Bake for 40 - 45 minutes.
9. When cake is done, remove from oven and immediately turn it upside-down to cool completely (takes around 30 minutes to an hour, it really depends on the temperature of your house).
10. Once cooled, run a knife round the outer and inner sides of the cake to remove the pan. Do the same for the tube base. 
11. Sprinkle some icing sugar on top (maybe upload a photo and #peachybunnybakes first) and serve! :P 

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Polka Dot Vanilla Cake Roll

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Recipe for Polka Dot Vanilla Cake Roll

Makes a 9 inch roll.

Ingredients:

Cream filling

• 150ml Whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp Sugar
• 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract

Pattern Mixture

• 1 Egg White
• 30g Sugar
• 40g All-purpose Flour 
• 20g Butter, at room temperature
• Food Colouring (Red, Blue, Green and Yellow)

Vanilla Sponge Cake

• 3 Eggs
• 60g Sugar
• 1/5Tbsp Milk
• 55g All-Purpose Flour
• 12g (1T + 1t) Corn Starch
• 1/2tsp Baking Powder
• Pinch of Salt
• 2Tbsp Vegetable Oil
• 1/3tsp Vanilla Extract

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Lemon Meringue Tart

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Recipe for Lemon Meringue Tart

Makes a 7-inch tart

Ingredients:

For Lemon Curd

• 250ml Water
• 100g Sugar
• 30g Corn Starch
• Juice and Zest of 1.5 Lemons
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 25g Unsalted Butter
• 1/8tsp Salt

For the Tart Crust

• 120g Digestive Biscuit/Graham Cracker Crumbs
• 50g Unsalted Butter, melted

For Italian Meringue Topping

• 4 Egg Whites, cold
• 150g White Sugar

Directions:

1. Make Lemon Curd. Place a small saucepan on the stove on low heat, add sugar, corn starch and salt into it and mix. Pour in water, lemon juice and zest. Stir constantly and let the mixture c°ome to a gentle boil.
2. When the mixture has thickened a bit, pour 1/3 of it into the egg yolks and whisk till combined. This is called "tempering", it stops the yolks from being scrambled. Pour this mixture back into the saucepan, continue to stir constantly over medium-high heat until further thickened. Set aside to cool.
3. Make Tart Crust. Grease a 7-inch tart pan with non-stick spray/butter.
4. Mix biscuit crumbs and melted butter thoroughly, then press firmly on the bottom and up the sides of the greased tart pan with your hand or the back of a spoon.
5. Pour cooled lemon curd over the crust and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
6. Make Meringue Topping. Put sugar into a wide baking dish, put into an oven preheated at 160°C for 5 minutes.
7. Beat cold egg whites on low-speed in a clean and dry bowl. When bubbles form on top of the egg whites, gradually add in sugar, Continue to beat on medium speed till peak forms and the egg whites become glossy.
8. Spread meringue on top of tart evenly. If you want to make you tart look extra fancy, put some meringue in a pipping bag with a round nozzle (or cut off a corner of a ziplock bag) and pipe meringue topping onto it.
9. Use a blow torch to "burn" the surface of the meringue topping. Allow the meringue to cool for a few minutes before cutting up the tart.
10. Serve! :P

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Tiramisu

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Recipe for Tiramisu

Makes a 6x6 inch cake.

Ingredients:

• 250g Mascarpone Cheese, at room temperature
• 3 Egg Yolks
• 70g Sugar
• 70ml Milk
• 150ml Whipping Cream
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract
• 2 tsp Cocoa Powder
• 40ml Strong Coffee/Espresso (cooled at room temperature)
• 2 Tbsp Dark Rum
• 1pack of Italian Ladyfinger

Directions:

1. Prepare Mascarpone mixture. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a small saucepan until fluffy and light yellow in colour. 
2. Add in milk then put over low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture simmers and thickens a little. Let it cool and refrigerate.
3. In a clean and dry bowl, whip cream on medium speed with an electronic mixer or by hand to stiff peaks. TIP: When whipping fresh cream, always make sure the cream is cold and your utensils and tools are dry and grease-free, or else the cream would not whip out and might even curdle. 
4. Take egg yolk mixture out from refrigerator and combine with mascarpone cheese.
5. Add in whipped cream and mix till well incorporated.
6. Assemble Tiramisu. Prepare a cake board/plate and a mousse cake mould (either a 6-inch square or 7-inch round). 
7. Stir rum (or your choice of liquor) into room temperature strong coffee/ espresso in a wide dish.
8. Dip lady fingers into the coffee and rum mixture for 3 seconds (this is the perfect amount of time for the biscuits to be not too dry nor too soggy), then lay them onto the cake board/plate. 
9. When you have filled up the bottom layer, scoop in half of the mascarpone mixture and even out with a spatula. Sift a layer of cocoa powder on top. Repeat to fill up the cake mould.
10. Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 - 6 hours, preferably overnight.
11. Remove mould, take a photo and serve! :P
12. Upload photo to FB/Instagram and #peachybunnybakes :P

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Strawberry Custard Tart

I'm not a huge fan of strawberries, my favourite fruit is white peaches (in case you can't tell already. "PEACH-y bunny"?), but I totally adore them when baking. Strawberries have such a well-balanced flavour and texture that it goes well with basically anything. Muffins, buttercream, pies, mousse, pound cakes, napoleons, cupcakes...... you name it! 

This tart is doesn't have a whole lot of sugar in it, so the strawberry flavour really shines. It's the perfect dessert to share at a gathering or dinner party, the mild tartness of the strawberry evens out the usual overwhelming butteriness of tarts.

Sweet shortcrust pastry crust. an almond cake base and homemade custard topped with strawberries and strawberry sauce. I promise your friends will think you got it from a fancy bakery!

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Recipe for Strawberry Custard Tart

Makes an 8-inch tart

Ingredients:

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry Crust:
Store-bought or homemade (Recipe here)

For Almond Cake Base:

• 40g Unsalted Butter, softened at room temperature
• 30g Sugar
• 25g Egg, lightly beaten
• 50g Almond Powder/Flour/Meal
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract 

For Custard Filling:

• 15g Unsalted Butter
• 40g Sugar
• 1 Egg Yolk
• 150 + 50ml Milk
• 25g Cake Flour
• 1Tbsp Brandy (optional)

For the Topping:

• 15 - 25 Strawberries
• 3 Tbsp Strawberry Jam
• 1 Tbsp Water

Directions:

1. Have sweet shortcrust pastry crust ready. Preheat oven to 180C
2. Make Almond Cake Base. Beat butter and sugar until creamy and light yellow in colour.
3. Add in vanilla extract and egg a little by little, mixing well after each addition.
4. Mix in half of the almond powder, when incorporated, add the remaining half and mix till there are no large lumps.
5. Pipe/spread evenly onto pre-baked pastry crust and cover sides of the crust with tin foil. Bake for 20 minutes. When it's baked, remove from oven and leave in tart pan on a cooling rack.
6. Make Custard Filling. Heat large portion of milk (150ml) over low heat and bring to a simmer.
7. In a heatproof bowl, whisk egg yolk and sugar till it becomes a pale yellow colour.
8. Sift flour into a separate bowl and mix with 50ml of milk so it forms a paste. Add it to the egg yolk mixture and stir well.
9. Stream in hot milk and whisk constantly. Remember to do this very slowly, or else you will end up with scrambled eggs (yes. eww...)!
10. Heat mixture on low, and keep stirring until it thickens to the consistency of mayonnaise. Then remove from heat and add in butter and brandy. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate.
11. When both the tart and custard have cooled, pipe custard filling on tart starting from the centre.
12. Top with fresh strawberries, mix jam with water and drizzle this strawberry sauce on top.
13. Give yourself a pat on the back (because this is professional standard sweetie), take lots of photos and share with your friends!

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Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

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Recipe for Sweet Shortcrust Pastry

Makes a 7-inch pie crust

Ingredients:

• 60g Unsalted Butter
• 35g Caster Sugar
• 1 Yolk of a large egg
• 115g All-purpose Flour
• 2 tsp Milk
• Pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Cream butter and caster sugar till creamy and light yellow in colour.
2. Whisk in egg yolk.
3. Sift in 1/2 of the flour, mix till combined then add in the remaining half.
4. Add milk and vanilla extract to mixture. Mix again.
5. Keep mixing and your mixture should come together to form a dough. Knead it a few times then cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 - 60 minutes.
6. When you are ready (or your pastry dough is ready!) to bake the pie crust, preheat oven to 170°C and grease a 7-inch tart pan with softened butter or baking spray.
7. Remove dough from refrigerator. Lightly dust your working surface, rolling pin and hands with flour. 
8. Mould dough into a disc then roll it out into a round shape of your desired size and thickness. When you've done that, carefully lift pastry up and lay in greased tart pan, then gently press pastry to bottom of pan. Using your rolling pin or hand, press on edges of pan to remove excess dough.
9. Now poke little holes in bottom of pastry using a fork. Cut parchment paper to fit bottom of pan, place on top of pastry and pour in beans/baking weights. This will prevent the crust from puffing up.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes.
11. Take pastry out from oven, remove beans/baking weights and parchment paper. Bake for a further 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.
12. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before removing crust from pan.

Done! Your pastry is now ready for use. Be creative and you'll be able to make different desserts based on this recipe. :)

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New York Cheesecake

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Recipe for New York Cheesecake

Makes a 6-inch cake

Ingredients:

(Cake)

• 280g Cream Cheese, at room temperature
• 80g Sour Cream
• 1 Egg, at room temperature
• 40g Sugar 
• 1/2tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1Tbsp Flour

(Topping)

• 40g Sour Cream
• 15g Sugar

Directions:

1. Line baking pan. Preheat oven to 160°C.
2. Make cake. Dice cream cheese in a large bowl, then beat till smooth and creamy.
3. Mix in sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
4. Whisk in eggs one by one. 
5. Sprinkle flour on top of mixture and mix until incorporated.
6. Pour batter into lined baking pan and smooth it out with a spatula.
7. Bang baking pan on kitchen counter to release bigger air bubbles, this prevents the cake from cracking on top.
8. Place on a deep baking tray and fill the tray with hot water. (If your baking pan has a removable bottom, wrap it in tin foil before adding water.)
9. Bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove from oven, pour away hot water and bake for a further 40 minutes.
11. When your cake is done, let it cool for at least 30 minutes.
12. Make topping. Mix sour cream and sugar till creamy. 
13. Spread on top of cooled cake evenly and bake again at 120°C for 8 minutes.

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Cakey Brownies

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Recipe for Cakey Brownies

Makes a 8x8 inch cake.

Ingredients:

• 2 Eggs 
• 55g Unsalted Butter (at room temperature) 
• 130g Sugar 
• 90g Baking Chocolate
• 1tsp Vanilla Extract 
• 60g All-Purpose Flour 
• 1/4tsp Baking Powder 
• 1/2tsp Coffee Powder 
• Pinch of Salt 
• 3Tbsp Warm Milk 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven at 170C and line/grease baking pan.
2. Melt chocolate in a water bath.
3. Cream butter and sugar until light in color.
4. Whisk in eggs(one by one), milk and vanilla extract.
5. Pour in chocolate (NOT hot, or else the eggs will be scrambled) Mix until creamy。
6. Fold in dry ingredients (All-purpose flour, baking powder, coffee powder and salt.)
7. Pour in lined/grease square pan. 
8. Bake for 30minutes. When a toothpick inserted comes out clean, your brownie is done! :P
9. Remove from baking pan and let it cool for 10mins. 
10. Cut into small squares, take a photo and serve!
11. Upload photo to facebook/instagram and #peachybunnybakes! :P haha

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Wholewheat Banana Muffins

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Recipe for Wholewheat Banana Muffins

Makes 6 large muffins

Ingredients:

• 130g Wholewheat Flour
• 3/4t Baking Powder
• 1/4t Baking Soda
• 1/8t Cinnamon
• Pinch of Salt
• 1 Egg, lightly beaten
• 60g Honey/Agave syrup
• 25g Brown Sugar
• 40ml Almond Milk (or any non-dairy milk)
• 30ml Coconut Oil
• 1/2t Vanilla Extract
• 35g Walnuts
• 180g Banana, Mashed

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 190C. Line/Grease muffin tin.
2. Whisk eggs, honey/agave syrup and sugar in a bowl.
3. Mix in coconut oil and almond milk.
4. Add in mashed bananas.
5. Roughly mix dry ingredients together.  
6. Coat nuts in a tablespoon of dry ingredients. Doing this helps the nuts distribute evenly in the muffin.
7. Sift dry ingredients into the bowl and fold in with a spatula.
   
8. Add in walnuts and roughly mix them in.
9. Scoop batter into greased/lined muffin tin. 
10. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes. Toothpick inserted in should come out clean.
11. Take muffins out from oven and leave in muffin tin for 3 minutes. 
    Then put them on a cooling rack for 10 minutes.
    
    
    
    
    
    These muffins can be stored for three days in an air-tight container in room temperature or up to a week in the refrigerator. 

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No-bake Oreo Cheesecake

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Recipe for Oreo Cheesecake

Makes a 6 x 6 inch cake

Ingredients:

(Crust)

• 7 Oreo cookies
• 2 Tbsp of Butter, melted

(Filling)

• 200ml Heavy Cream (not whipping cream)
• 200g Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature
• 75g Granulated Sugar
• 1tsp Vanille Extract
• 1tsp Lemon Juice
• 8-10 Oreo cookies

**If you are not consuming this at home or you are using fresh cream, you have to ADD 1 Tbsp of Gelatin Powder melted in 2Tbsp of hot water, to the mixture before pouring it into the mould.**

Direction:

1. Make Crust. Remove filling of Oreo cookies for the crust, put them into a zip-lock bag and crush into crumbs with your hand, a rolling pin or the bottom of a bowl.
2. Mix melted butter into the crumbs and pour into a lined mousse cake mould. Press with the back of a spoon so the crumbs become firmly packed together. Refrigerate.
3. Make Cheesecake Filling. Whip cream in a dry and clean bowl until peak forms (stiffens up into whipping cream texture). 
4. Beat cream cheese in another bowl until creamy. Then mix in sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice.
5. Break Oreo cookies for the filling into little pieces, fold them into the mixture until evenly distributed.
6. Take crust out from the fridge. Pour mixture on top of the crust and smooth top out with a spatula.
7. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, or preferably, overnight.
8. Run a warm knife around the sides to remove cake from the mould. (Or wrap a warm towel around it.)

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Cantonese Custard Mooncake

Mooncake （月餅） is a type of traditional pastry eaten on Mid-Autumn Festival, which is 15th August of the Lunar calendar. The Chinese delicacy is essential to the festival and are offered as gifts between relatives and friends.

Cantonese mooncakes are quite big, approximately 3 - 4 inches in diameter, and typically have a sweet, thick filling made from lotus seed paste and salted duck eggs or mixed nuts and seeds. 

However, these classic treats have lose popularity in recent years due to increasing health concerns and change in taste of the younger generation. This custard mooncake is a modernized, high-end version of the traditional pastry.

Making mooncakes is quite time-consuming but it is not difficult at all, and I am sure even first-timers will be able to make them successfully! If you can't find mooncake moulds where you live, just mould them into round flat pieces (like a scone) or any shape you like! They might not look as pretty but I promise they'll taste just as good! :P

View demonstration recipe here 

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Recipe for Cantonese Custard Mooncakes 

Makes 30 - 33 50g-mooncakes

Ingredients (filling) :

• 35g Cake Flour
• 40g Custard Powder
• 110g Sugar
• 35g Milk Powder
• 20ml Evaporated Milk/Full-fat milk
• 170ml Coconut Milk
• 60g Eggs
• 80g Unsalted Butter
• 3 - 6 Salted Egg Yolks (optional)
• 45g Condensed Milk

Ingredients (pastry) :

• 500g Cake Flour
• 260g Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
• 50ml Evaporated milk/Full-fat Milk
• 45g Eggs
• 100g Sugar

Directions:

1. Make custard filling. Combine dry ingredients (cake flour, custard powder, sugar and milk powder), eggs and condensed milk.
2. Mix in evaporated milk and coconut milk.
3. Add in unsalted butter. There will be a lot of little lumps in the mixture, it's fine, the butter will melt and incorporate with other ingredients when we cook it.
4. Transfer mixture to heatproof dish and steam for 15 - 20 minutes.
5. When the custard is done, mix in mashed salted egg yolks.
6. Wrap with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (preferably overnight).
7. Make pastry crust. Cream butter and sugar together until light in colour and fluffy.
8. Whisk in eggs then mix in 1 - 2 Tbsp.
9. Add in 1/3 of the cake flour and mix with a whisk/spatula/your hands. Repeat twice until you've added in all the dry ingredient and the mixture forms a dough. Do not knead it.
10. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
11. Remove custard filling from refrigerator. Divide it into 19g portions and form into little balls.
12. After 30 minutes, take pastry dough out from refrigerator and roll into 30g balls.
13. Mould mooncakes. Preheat oven to 230°C and grease/line baking tray.
14. Take a pastry dough ball, flatten it with the palm of your hand. and gently press the sides with your fingers. Next, place a ball of custard filling in the centre and fold up the sides of the pastry dough to wrap around it. Roughly shape it into a ball.
15. Dip mooncake mould into flour and tap to remove excess. Lightly dust mooncake dough with flour too, put it inside the mould and place the mould onto a flat surface, then press firmly so the pattern will be imprinted clearly on the mooncake. Lift the mould up then press handle again to push the mooncake out.
16. Bake mooncakes for 6 minutes.
17. Remove from oven, brush top and sides with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 Tbsp water) and let them sit for 10 minutes. Then brush on a second layer of egg wash and bake for 5 more minutes.
18. When mooncakes are done, remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes. Brush on a layer of syrup to make them glossy if you desire.

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