Tuesday, May 17, 2011

CASTELLA/KASUTERA CAKE


"success", "success", "success" Does this remind you of an old M.G.R movie's opening line; then so be it. I had baked a sponge cake successfully after so many days that my joy knew no bounds. As posted previously, i had my own inhibitions about baking cakes with oil. Now, when i came across a recipe that didn't call for oil either, i was intrigued, how on earth could they do it..? It is called "Castella/Kasutera" or Japanese sponge cake. The picture of this cake was out of the world. Seriously; anybody who takes a look at this beauty will fall in love with it instantly.

After the damp squib in the last post, i was determined to conquer the "Sponge Cake territory";So: the spider from Robert Bruce's episode, that i am: i scoured through scores of sites that dealt with sponge cake 911's.I always turn to HHB for all my baking misadventures. She is so versatile as a baker. From HappyHomeBaking's blog i jumped from site to site until i laid my eyes on The Little Teochew, another fantabulous blog that finally opened the doors to Just Hungry from where i took the recipe that didn't have a drop of oil or butter in it. It was so kind of her to dote down step by step instruction on baking the cake that i made this one which was 80% the texture of the original Castella(since i halved her recipe, i baked it in a loaf tin and i used AP flour, u dont get bread flour in chennai). Next time i would try this in a square pan. I pinched myself when the cake was sliced the next day as she had instructed. From now on this is going to be called as Ms Maki's cake. It was so tasty...that all of them drooling over it.

This was my far the best sponge cake that i had ever baked. Hip Hip Hurray.

Friday, May 13, 2011

SPONGE CAKE



Looks like i am always running out of luck when it comes to baking a good sponge cake. As i already said, i am yet to try some cakes that uses oil. This is one such (mis)adventure.

This cake uses the separation of eggs(whites and yolks beaten separately) and uses oil and water. I was very skeptical initially, but gave myself a daring bakers challenge. What is life without taking up challenges.

The cake was good but not good enough. It was more "cottony" in texture rather than "spongy" . But, i think i know where i went wrong. The pan i used was a 7 inch round pan for a 100 gm flour batter.This could be a reason (or so i think).

Any way, about the cake, as usual, my family didn't want to break my heart; they said it was good, but for me it was a learning curve. I don't like cakes filled with butter cream or whipping cream. I prefer jams and fruit preserves to coat them. This one was smothered with orange marmalade to make up for the lacklustre texture of the cake. So friends please ask the baking fairy to visit me when i bake my next sponge cake...

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

MINI CHOCOLATE MUFFINS


Am i getting repetitive; "NO": All the previous posts were to do something about chocolate and muffins. This too is no different; or so you think. Both the previous muffins were made with dark chocolate, while this one was made with cocoa powder and oil.

I had seen some chocolate cake recipes that used oil instead of butter, but i dared not try them for fear of "if they went wrong". I scaled down the proportions of the cake and tried them as muffins so that i can save the labour of cleaning so many bowls and whisks.

The muffin did'nt have a dome like a cup cake does and the crust was soft and not crunchy. May be because of the oil. It was delicious but did'nt quite taste like the cup cake. So i reserve this for any "diet time cravings".

Monday, May 9, 2011

CHOCOLATE CHIP MUFFIN


Yuuuhuu, i got new paper liners(really cute ones); so what are we waiting for, baking time folks. The last one was choco banana muffins, so this time i made some plain muffins studded with chocolate chips. I used hersheys, kind of melt in the mouth chocolate drops. Should really congratulate people who found this. This kind of stays like half melted so that you can get the taste of chocolate in between.

I baked them in heart muffin pans that the other A gave me. If you are looking at this blog then A thank you so much. As an alternative i added an extra spoonful of yogurt to the batter and made it quite runny unlike muffin batter that are just moist.

It actually worked out. The muffins were tender and stayed fresh the next day as well. The pan made bigger muffins than the cup cake pans; so next time i would eat half instead of one.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

CHOCOLATE BANANA MUFFIN


I don't know why, suddenly i got all gaga over cupcakes and muffins. I plan to bake more of them this month. With so many bananas going stale and lots of semi sweet chocolate chips lying around, the combination was inevitable.

Initially, i found bananas with chocolate intriguing, but the first bite solves it all. Bananas gives the muffins extra moistness and it tastes even better the next day.

Anytime of this month, banana cake is also on the list. I have tried various versions of it, but yet to come out with a successful recipe. This muffin was good for morning tea and an ideal snack with cold drinks in the late afternoon when the temperatures soars (literally it is reaching 40 almost everyday)
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