Bits of Life: 8 -- Busy but Happy days

Have not been posting anything for this week, I guess it is the time for me to write something on my blog. Few days ago, I made a charcoal cake. The recipe was from a famous website which taught people on making different types of cakes and desserts. Had an overall view on the website and I found out that it was very welcoming by many people who love baking. The good thing about the website was that the portion was not very large, which was exactly what I wanted. There are only five people in the family and it is very unlikely for us to finish them within two or three days if I bake the large ones. We usually treat the desserts as our teatime in between the proper meals.

The charcoal cake that I baked turned out to be pretty okay, except for the cream, which was too sweet as I used the wrong ingredient! Initially, I bought the whipping cream from the confectionary store, because the main ingredient for the cream is whipped cream. But just before I whipped the whipping cream, I asked my mum in order to double confirm if what I thought was correct. I totally had no idea what she was talking about due to her lengthy and confusing explanation. Eventually, I decided to use non-dairy whipping cream which was used to make ice-cream, whipped it, and spread it in between the cake layers and on top of the cake, which might taste a little bit better than another. People used it for making birthday cakes, so......... Unfortunately, it turned out to be the opposite way and I finally came to realise that the whipping cream should be whipped so that it is known as 'whipped cream'. (Just that simple, which I do not know why I thought it was confusing. =( .... )

So, I will make sure that I use the correct ingredients for the next cake I am going to bake.

Link address : http://kitchentigress.blogspot.sg/

Charcoal cake

http://kitchentigress.blogspot.sg/2014/04/charcoal-cake.html

Ingredients :

1 tsp bamboo charcoal powder

45 g full-fat milk (add to charcoal powder; stir thoroughly)

10 g castor sugar

45 g egg yolks

35 g corn oil, plus extra for greasing

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

45 g cake flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/16 tsp salt

105 g egg whites

1/16 tsp cream of tartar

35 g castor sugar

150 g whipped cream

Trim 5 mm thick corrugated cardboard to fit sides of 23 x 15 cm cake pan. Wrap each piece of cardboard in aluminium foil, shining side facing out.

Line bottom of 20 x 12 x 7.5 cm cake pan with 2 layers of parchment paper. Lightly grease top layer with oil.

Preheat oven to 160°C. Measure and prep ingredients as detailed above.

Whisk 10 g castor sugar with egg yolks till dissolved. Add corn oil. Whisk till just combined. Add charcoal milk and vanilla extract. Whisk till just thoroughly mixed. Sift cake flour and baking powder into mixture. Add salt. Whisk till just thoroughly mixed.

Separately whisk egg whites till frothy. Add cream of tartar. Whisk till thick foam forms. Gradually add 35 g castor sugar whilst still whisking. Continue to whisk till firm peak stage.

Thoroughly whisk yolk mixture, scraping bottom of bowl. Add half of egg whites. Mix with whisk till almost even. Add remaining egg whites. Mix with whisk till almost even. Scrape down and fold with spatula till just evenly mixed, banging mixing bowl against worktop 2-3 times.

Pour batter into 20 x 12 x 7.5 cm cake pan, slowly and from about 30 cm high. Jiggle pan and tap lightly against worktop till batter is level. Place in bigger cake pan. Tuck cardboard between 2 pans. Bake in bottom of oven till cake doesn't make squishing sound when gently pressed around the middle, 50-55 minutes.

Remove pans from oven. Set aside outer pan and cardboard. Drop pan holding cake from about 30 cm high, twice. Invert pan onto wire rack. Leave till just cool. As soon as cake is cool, slide knife along sides of pan. Unmould cake. Remove parchment paper.

To frost cake, slice cake horizontally into 3 equal pieces. Invert top piece so that cut side faces up. Spread evenly with whipped cream, about 2 mm thick. Top with middle of cake. Spread with whipped cream as before. Place bottom of cake on cream, cut side down. Spread with whipped cream as before. Chill till cream is firm. Trim 1 cm from edges. (Trimmings are, of course, perfectly edible.) Refrigerate till ready to serve.

The charcoal cake that I made....! =P

An afternoon teatime with my sister at Noodle House cafe.. The environment there is quite comfortable with friendly waiters and waitresses. I really like the place.

Initially I ordered Rum and Raisin mille crepe because I love rum very much. Unfortunately, it was sold so I changed it to matcha mille crepe. It tasted good, neither oily nor sweet, just at the perfect level that I opted for.

Perfect heart-to-heart talk session with my lovely secondary classmate, Leerie. I really love the way she expressed herself, her life and her burning determination.

You are such a great inspiration. I was totally amazed by your courage, especially the time you told me about your dream of becoming a successful lady. Will continue supporting you from the bottom of my heart. Cheers! ;P

If there is an opportunity, I truly wish to learn something not related to medical life from you. I believe that it would be incredibly interesting. Hopefully you will see this one day and.... remember to always find me when you are in sibu, don't be overly workaholic! =P

And........

These are the random photos that I took for the past few days.

Sibu's traditional biscuits cookies that I have not seen in other places outside my hometown, except for 'Ji Dang Gao' which I have seen once in Ipoh.

One of the store's workers said this is 'Pon Bin', which I have no idea what it is and how to translate it into English.

Famous 'Ji Dang Gao'. Many of my big family members like it very much. In the olden days, elderly people loved taking it as breakfast.

I do not know the name of this biscuit cookies. The content is made of peanut, sugar, sesame seeds and some ingredients which I am not familiar with. I should have asked them more in details.

These are the cake photos which I took from a cake shop called Green Forest Cake House. I love cakes very x10 much. Looking at these beautiful cakes make me feel so happy for the rest of the day.