I have always been baking chiffon cakes using an ordinary spring form tin. But now that I have a chiffon tube from Indonesia, courtesy of my sister, I tried this recipe from Ching. The cake turned out to be tall, in fact taller than my tin, good thing I didn't submit to the temptation of adding another egg, and taste great. I replaced the coconut milk with Carnation milk - coconut flavoured (98% fat free!). The texture is somewhat denser than other recipes I have tried. Great recipe. Thanks Ching.

After my pineapple tart experiments, I am left with quite a bit of egg whites. Not wanting to waste them, I search around for recipes using egg whites. The cake recipe is from Sedap-Sekejap, and I modified the recipe for the ganache as I believe ganache made using rich cream is much nicer than that made using plain old milk.



Ingredients:
(A)
7 egg whites (about 280 gr)
1/2 tsp cake emulsifier (ovalett, SP)
1 tsp cream of tartar 
200 gr castor sugar 

(B)
100 gr plain flour
30 gr cocoa powder 
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda 
1/4 tsp baking powder 
15 gr milk powder 
20 gr corn starch
 
1 tsp vanilla powder (or extract)
50 gr margarine, melted 
25 ml milk 

Ganache:
300 gr dark cooking chocolate
170 ml heavy cream 

Method:
1. (A)Beat egg yolk with emulsifier for about 3-5 minutes. Add cream of tartar and continue beating. Add castor sugar bit by bit and continue beating until stiff.

2. Sift together (B) ingredients into the egg white mixture and fold to incorporate. Add melted margarine and milk and mix evenly.

3. Grease and line a 20 cm round tin, pour mixture into it and baked at 180 C (or 160C fan-forced) for about 30-40 minutes. Let the cake cool down then slice horizontally into 2 or 3 pieces.

4. To make the ganache, bring the cream to boil in a small saucepan. Remove from heat and add in chocolate squares and stir evenly with a wooden spoon until the chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Allow to cool

5. Assemble the cake by stacking the layers up in between ganache spread. Pour the remaining ganache on top of the cake and spread evenly on top and the side of the cake.

Serves 15

After seeing Judy's cheese cake that turned out so beautifully, I added this cake on my 'must try' list. I made a little amendment to the recipe by Amy Beh (Cyber Kuali) , because Vicky said her aunt thought it was too creamy. Another thing I must not *must use more melted butter for the base*. I guess the dry climate here means the crushed biscuits need more liquid to bind them together. Taste wise, it is delicious. Thanks god for sweet strawberries which are in season at the moment. Below here is the amended recipe of Irish origin:




Ingredients:
200g digestive biscuits, crushed
60g melted butter (more if too dry)

Filling:
1 1/2 tbsp powdered gelatin
4 tbsp water
250 g cream cheese, cubed, thaw to room temperature
125g castor sugar
125ml whipping cream
400g fresh strawberries, pureed
3 tbsp whiskey (optional)

Garnish:
6 strawberries, hulled, halved
mint leaves (optional)

Method:
Line a 20 cm spring form plan with cling wrap.
Crush biscuits, mix evenly with melted butter, press onto the base of spring form pan with a metal spoon or bottom of a glass. Refrigerate to chill (about 30 mins)

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually add sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Set aside.

Sprinkle gelatin over water. Set aside until it turns spongy. Heat up in microwave on mid-low power until liquid turnes clear.

Add dissolved gelatin mixture to strawberry puree. Whip up whipping cream until soft peaks form. Add strawberry puree (and whiskey, if used) to cream.

Combine strawberry mixture with cream cheese mixture and smoothen the top with a spatula. Chill for 3-4 hours until firm. Decorate as you wish.

Serves 12

This no-bake cheesecake-look-alike jelly is a treat on hot day. The recipe was posted by Lee Lee at M4M (Thanks, Lee Lee!)and was warmly received. It is a fairly easy recipe, but a little caution to those who want to try: BE PATIENT! Because this recipe is very time consuming, try to make other thing at the same time to resist the temptation to proceed before the mixtures are ready. My first try was a failure because I didn't wait long enough for the marshmallow layer to set before pouring the jelly layer on top of it, resulting in the jelly seeping under the marshmallow. Not a very pretty sight. The recipe below has been modified slightly by me. I used low-fat/diet products to cut down on the kilojoules. Choose jelly of the colour that complements the fruit of your choice. I used orange-mango jello with mango slices.



Base:
180 gm marie biscuits
80 gm melted butter

Method:
1. Line the base of a 8-inch springform tin with cling wrap for easy removal.
1. Crush biscuits (by hand in a plastic bag, or use your food processor!) and mix well with melted butter.
2. Press the biscuit mixture onto the base of the tin using the bottom of a drinking glass.
3. Refrigerate for later use.

Marshmallow Layer:
250 gm of marshmallow
150 ml-low fat/no-fat milk
300 ml light thickened cream 
2 tsp of gelatine powder
fruit for topping

Method:
1. Bring the milk, marshmallows and thickened cream to a boil on small fire, stir frequently until marshmallows dissolve.
2. Remove from heat, sprinkle gelatine into the mixture and whisk until gelatine dissolves.
3. Let the mixture cool down then slowly pour it into the tin with biscuit base.
4. Freeze for about 15 minutes, then arrange fruit topping.
5. Freeze again for 1 hour.

Jelly Layer:
1 pkt of diet Jello
200 ml boiling water
200 ml cold water
2 tsp of gelatine powder

Method:
1. Dissolve Jello on boiling water, then sprinkle gelatine on top of it and whisk until dissolves.
2. Add cold water, stir to mix evenly.
3. Spoon the jello mixture carefully on top of froozen marshmallow layer. If you see the jello seeping under the marshmallow, it is not ready. Freeze the marshmallow again!
4. Put in the fridge to chill (about 3 hours). Remove the jelly from the tin. Cut into serving size.

Serves 8

This Japanese Cheesecake is denser in texture compared to the one I tried before, and less eggy. It is more 'cheesecakey' than 'chiffony'. Personally I prefer this one, although the cake is pretty low. I might have to scale it up a bit next time. The amount of lemon juice in the recipe is just nice, not sour at all. And the apricot glaze is a definite must! This is the second time I baked this cheesecake. After trying out other recipe that calls for 6 eggs on 8 inch tin, I was a bit disappointed to see a low cake on the first occassion I tried this recipe. I thought it could have been my fault. But now after baking it another time, I was pretty sure this recipe yields a low cake on 7 inch pan, as shows in Kyoko's website.



Ingredients:
200g full fat cream cheese (room temperature)
50ml milk
3 eggs (separated)
100g caster sugar
30g cornflour (cornstarch)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Glazing:
2 tbsp apricot jam (or whatever you like)
1/2 tbsp water

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 175?C (350?F) or gas mark 4. Line a 7 inch (18cm) cake tin with greaseproof paper.
Soften the cream cheese with milk in a bowl. Add half of the caster sugar, egg yolks, cornflour, lemon juice and cream of tartar and combine together.
Place the egg whites in a large bowl, whisking them until they form stiff peaks and then keep whisking, adding the remaining sugar in 2 - 3 batches until the mixture stands in stiff peaks.
Fold the half of the egg white mixture into the cream cheese mixture as gently as possible, then fold in the remaining egg white mixture gently but thoroughly.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and level the surface. Put the tin into a larger roasting tin and create a bain-marie by pouring boiling water in the roasting tin. Bake on the lower shelf in the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. Leave in the tin until cool enough to handle.
Put the jam in a sauce pan on a low heat with the water and warm up until it's melted. If necessary, thicken this glaze by simmering a bit and then spread the glaze on top of the cake.

Cook's tip: If the surface of the cake becomes too dark while baking, cover with a piece of tin foil but be careful not to open the oven door until it has been in the oven for at least 20 minutes. It's easier to remove the cake from the tin if you insert a knife around the cake whilst it is still hot, however don't remove the cake yet - it will collapse if not left to cool

Serves 6

After seeing some successful attempt at this cake by my internet buddies, I was tempted to try myself. I used Jo's Pandan chiffon cake, and the kaya recipe contributed by Nora.



As requested, here it the recipe of the pandan custard by Nora, and also her excellent tips!

Kaya Topping
Ingredients:
500ml water
160-200g sugar
50g butter (to make the texture smoother)
150ml water
250g coconut milk
80g hoon kueh powder
½ tablespoon instant jelly
Green and yellow colouring

Method:
1. Boil water (500ml), sugar and butter until boiled.
2. Mix coconut milk with water (150ml), hoon kueh powder, instant jelly and colouring together and add into 1 and cook until thick.
3. Must be boiled. (If you find that it is not thick enough, you can use a bit more hoon kueh to mix with some water and add in.)

To Assemble
1. Surround the cake with a 9” cake ring and put layer of cake in then followed by kaya, then cake alternately depending on how many layer you want, but the top layer must be the kaya.
2. If you are using cake tin, then kaya first and then cake then kaya and last layer is cake.
3. Let the cake cool down then put it in the fridge to set for few hours or overnight.
4. Then after you may coat the side with desiccated coconut.

NOTES BY VARIOUS PEOPLE
1. You can use your own sponge cake recipe, just add pandan essence to make it green if you find troublesome to buy optima flour and ovalette.
2. If it is too difficult to buy optima flour and ovalette, you can actually use the premix for sponge cake, my friend tried and said result is about the same. Just make sure you add pandan paste into your cake mixture instead of pandan essence which I find is better.
3. I think the key point for this cake is the kaya spread.
4. My teacher used a knife to go round the tin to loosen the cake. He said if you don’t have instant jelly; don’t put agar-agar powder as it will harden the kaya. Just need longer time to set in the fridge. Don’t use gelatine too, as gelatine is for making mousse cake. If you don’t have hoon kueh powder, you can substitute with corn flour but hoon kueh smell nicer. (I only can smell coconut but not the hoon kueh.)
5. Actually I did it with agar-agar powder, and the result is just as good. I used ½ tablespoon agar-agar powder.
6. One thing to note is that try making more kaya, because the last time I bake this, I found it isn’t enough to cover the side of the cake.
7. I use a layered cake cutter to cut the cake evenly.
8. Your cake has to be completely cooled, then you boil the kaya. You need to assemble the kaya and cake when the kaya is hot.
9. To get a smooth surface:
a) Use a cake tin, wash it but don’t dry it, it should be wet with water droplets.
b) Pour some kaya into the cake tin, spread it evenly.
c) Then put in a layer of sponge cake, press down the cake a little in order for the cake to stick to the kaya.
d) Then pour some kaya on top of the sponge cake, and spread it evenly.
e) Same as step C.
f) Same as step D.
g) Put the last layer of cake.
h) It is up to individual how many layer you want to make your cake.
i) Then chill the cake.

A cake I baked for a friend's birthday. Happy Birthday, N. Hope you get what you wish for this year!

It is my first properly decorated cake, ie. crumb-coated, buttercreamed, piped decoration. Because I didn't do a great job the first time around, I prepared another recipe of the ganache and coated it all over. So it is totally chocolate and sugar laden. To people who ate it at Saturday night's dinner, sorry guys if I put you off chocolate for a long while :).

I suppose it is called 'teabread' because although it looks more like cakes (that you eat with your tea), it is eaten more like bread (sliced and butter) and also it is in the shape of a loaf of bread. More importantly, the leavening agents used are baking powder and bicarb soda instead of yeast, making it more like a cake than a bread. This teabread is simple and easy to bake. Just dump everything in a big bowl and mix with your electric mixer for 2 minutes.



Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
30 g walnuts, chopped
200 g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
125 g caster sugar
75 g soft margarine
grated rind of ½ lemon
2 eggs
50 g seedless raisins.

Method:
Grease a 23 x 13 x 7.5 cm loaf tin. Set the oven at 180C. Mash the bananas.
Mix all the ingredients in a large bowl. Beat for about 3 minutes by hand using a wooden spoon or for 2 minutes in an electric mixer, until smooth. Put the mixture into the prepared tin loaf. Bake for 1 hour 10 minutes, or until firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.


Makes about 12 slices