YogiLatte

Swiss Roll Recipe:
Ingredients:
50g AP Flour
15g Cocoa Powder (I used Hershey's)
6 eggs, separated
100g sugar
30ml honey (I used Australia honey)
20g Unsalted butter
30ml milk (I used Meiji Skimmed Milk)

Oven temp 200C.

1. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together 3 times and set aside
2. Place the egg yolks, 40g sugar and honey into a mixer bowl and over a bain-marie, stirring constantly until the mixture is warm to the touch.
3. Immediately beat the yolk mixture until it turns creamy and pale. (Ribbon stage)
4. Set the yolk mixture aside and beat the egg white until frothy.
5. Add 60g sugar to the egg white and beat until stiff peaks.
6. Fold in half of the stiff egg white into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in all the sifted flour mix.
7. Add the remaining egg white and fold in lightly.
8. Warm the butter and milk in the microwave for 20seconds, add into the mixture and fold in completely, scooping from the bottom of the bowl to ensure a thorough mix. Be careful not to deflate the mixture.
9. Pour mixture into a rectangular pan lined with baking paper. (I used the pan that comes with the oven) Smooth the top and bake in pre-heated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. (mine took 11minutes) The top of the roll should not have a crust and feels bouncy to the touch.
10. Remove from oven and taking the roll from the pan, drop it onto the tabletop to release the steam and prevent a wet cake. Let the cake cool to almost room temperature.

Filling - I used a chocolate swiss meringue buttercream, refer here for the recipe, and 2 big ripe bananas.

Frosting - Chocolate Ganache
Bring 200ml thickened cream to almost a boil, where there are little bubbles but it has not reached a boiling state. Immediately pour this over 200g chopped dark chocolate pieces and stir until it has become a thick chocolate liquid mix. Let it cool until it's just warm, stir occasionally so that the surface would not harden.

Assembly:
1. Flip the cake so that its facing top-down on a new piece of parchment paper. Remove the parchment paper from the bottom of the cake and gently roll the cake up without squeezing it too tight.
2. Unroll the cake and spread the chocolate swiss meringue buttercream evenly across the cake (the bottom side which is now the side facing up). Place the whole bananas across the length of the cake and roll up the cake again, making it tight this time. Ensure that the cake sits on the sealed part.
3. Place the cake into the fridge to set for an hour.
4. Remove from the fridge, and place parchment paper around the exposed cake board to collect spillover frosting. Cut away a small section from the 2 ends of the cake to make it even at the sides.
5. Pour the ganache generously across the whole roll, covering every part of the cake. Cut out 1 section from one of the ends to create the broken log effect and place this side-ways up on top of the cake. Cover this section and the 2 ends of the roll with more ganache. Place X'mas decor as desired and place it back in the fridge to chill.
6. Once the ganache has set on the cake and is pretty stiff, use a fork to draw little lines across the whole log to create the bark look.
7. Serve slightly chilled but not straight cold from the fridge. (This is to ensure the cake has soften slightly)

Submitting this to:
"Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013", hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out
and 
"Bake Along", hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids. 

Step 1 -Bake the cakes



Chocolate Cake
Ingredients:
227g unsalted butter
4 heaped tablespoons cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
2 cups All-Purpose flour
11/2 cups fine-grained white sugar (300g)
1/4 teaspoon fine seasalt
165ml buttermilk (Which I sub for 150ml Meiji Milk and 15ml of lemon juice, let stand for 10minutes)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Pre-heat oven to 175C, top-bottom.

1. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium fire. Swirl it constantly, until it reaches a slightly browned stage.

2. Add the cocoa powder and let it melt within the butter. This would start to look very thick.

3. Add the boiling water and stir to combine. Let it come to a boil and boil for about 30seconds. Remove from the heat and let it cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

4. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt and whisk to combine and aerate it slightly.

5. In a measuring cup, measure out the buttermilk, add the eggs and vanilla essence, stir to combine.

6. Add the cocoa mixture to the flour mixture, stirring quickly and thoroughly to let it come together into a  thick, sticky paste.

7. Add the baking soda to the buttermilk mixture, stir briefly and pour everything into the cocoa-flour paste. Stir vigorously to combine the mixtures and it will become a pretty liquid batter.

8.1. For cupcakes, spoon them into cupcakes cases, drop a sliced banana chunk into each cup if you'd like and bake them for 18 to 19 minutes, turning the pan around at 13 minutes.

It's a very tender cake, so cool them totally before removing it from the pan and be very careful at it or they may break into pieces.

Step 2 -Level the top of the cakes

Step 3 - Make Butterscotch Sauce and Cook the Bananas




180g thickened cream
160g brown sugar
150g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Place all ingredients in a pot and bring to boil. Simmer at low heat for around 5 minutes, constantly stirring the mixture until it thickens. 

Hands up! Who loves Garrett's Pop Corn?

10000 hands out of 10001 will probably be raised. Me.. I was never a popcorn fan, with my teenage movie dates subjected to soggy (aka Lao Hong) popcorn, limited to either sweet or salty in flavors. So, when Mr. G. popcorn appeared in the Singapore scene, I was not interested. Total L.A.G.G.A.R.D that I was, it was probably 1 year or so later when I had my first bite at a friend's place. Man.... I fell in love. Those caramel-coated macadamia nuts, the how-does-it-stay-so-crispy popcorn are simply finger licking additive, as most people and the long queues can attest to.

That was the inspiration for this post. I love having textures in my cakes, especially a crispy layer to accompany a soft and moist cake. What better way than to have a bite of cake with a mouthful of crispy popcorn, nuts and cereal. I wanted the crisps to be the highlight of the cake, therefore piling them high up on the cake which tantalises the eyes in addition to sweetening the tongue. Indeed, I thought the look was pretty appetizing, with layers of chocolate whipped cream and a glaze seemingly oozing from the nutty mix.


However, my thoughts didn't literally translate into reality. I popped the buttered popcorn, mixed them with a generous portion of walnuts and cornflakes, coated them with a light layer of butterscotch sauce and sent them into the oven to bake for 20 minutes. To the top of my chocolate sponge cake they went, piled high like a crown.

The nuts and flakes baked to a golden crisp beautifully.. crunchy and aromatic. The popcorn was another story; still as listless as the usual microwaved popcorn, in other words, kinda Lao Hong. My first foray into the world of corn didn't pop.. but oh well this experiment tells me that walnuts and cornflakes go beautifully together. I'm already envisaging another cake, maybe a salted caramel cake, with caramel-coated walnuts and corn flakes.

Chocolate Sponge Cake (Source)

When you combine chocolate and banana, you generally want a sweet and probably dense cake. Something that will melt in your mouth amidst a flurry of flavors, a sweet treat cloaked in decadence, a piece that warrants 20 minutes in the gym. At least, that's what I would love, 2 layers of fat fudgy cake, sandwiched with thick bananas cooked in a caramel sauce, coated with a sinful chocolate buttercream and finally, glazed with coat of dark chocolate sauce. Apparently, my friends love them too!

Chocolate Fudge Cake (2 tall 6 inch layers)
Ingredients:
200ml heavy cream
40ml apple cider vinegar
250g cake flour
120g cocoa powder (I used a mix of Valrhona and Lindt)
1 teaspoon (heaped) salt 
1 teaspoon (flat) baking soda
1 teaspoon (flat) baking powder
250g brown sugar
60g unsalted butter, melted and cool 
60g plain thick yogurt
1 cup hot water
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 large eggs, lightly beaten

Oven Temp: 175C.

Steps:
1. Combine heavy cream and apple cider vinegar and stir together. It will become very creamy. 
2. Combine all dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine thoroughly.
3. Add all liquid ingredients except the eggs and beat at medium speed  until just combined. Add the eggs and beat for another 2 minutes. 
4. Pour into 2 lined 6-inch pans (for tall layers) or 2 lined 8-inch pans (for shorter layers). 
5. Bake for 50 minutes until skewer test shows only a few moist crumbs and no batter on the stick. 
Notes: The batter is in liquid form so wrap the lined baking tins with an exterior layer of aluminium foil to prevent leakage.

Additional note:
1.5x the recipe above to make 2 tall 8-inch layers, bake for 55 to 60min. (More suitable as a birthday cake size)



Sauteed Banana in Caramel sauce
Ingredients:
2 large or 3 medium bananas, sliced into thick pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
50g unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Steps:
1. In a large pan, place heavy cream, brown sugar and butter together and melt over medium heat. 
2. Once melted, mix in the vanilla bean paste. 
3. Place sliced bananas into the pan and cook over medium fire. Swirl the pan gently to cook the bananas in the sauce for 2 to 3 minutes, until bananas softened slightly and has absorbed the flavor of the caramel. 
Note: After using the bananas and some of the sauce, there will still be leftover sauce. Cool to room temperature and keep in refrigerator for future use.


Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream 
Chocolate Glaze 
Ingredients:
50g dark chocolate, chopped into pieces (I used 70% cocoa)
100ml heavy cream

Steps:
Simply melt the dark chocolate and cream together in a bowl set over simmering water. Do not let any water or vapor get into this mixture. Cool slightly to a temperature just warm to the touch and use immediately.  

Assembly
1. Slice off the top of the cooled cake layers to create a flat top on each. 
2. Place 1 layer (bottom facing down) on a serving plate, arrange cooked sliced bananas on the top, pour some sauce over the bananas and place the 2nd layer of cake (bottom facing up) on top. 
3. Place cake in the fridge to chill for an hour or when the cake is no longer warm with the banana caramel. 
4. Frost cake with buttercream and chill for another hour or when the buttercream is cold and set. 
5. Pour chocolate glaze over the top and nudge the sides to let some sauce flow over the edges. 
Note: Freeze the cake for 15 minutes before pouring the chocolate glaze over. This will prevent the buttercream from melting from the slightly warm glaze. 
6. Place back in fridge. Remove cake from refrigerator for 20 to 30 minutes before serving as cake will be too dense and heavy if eaten chilled from the fridge directly. 

Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream 

Did I already mention I love Bananas? And my all-time favourite cake is the Carrot Cream Cheese Cake from Cedele. Every time I think of the cake, I feel like having 1 huge slice immediately. Carrot cakes don't always taste strongly of carrots. What I love about carrot cakes is generally the crumbly, slightly coarse texture that provides bite, an earthy flavor that goes so well with a tangy sweet cream cheese frosting. Ooh and the generous doses of walnuts! So good.

Then I came across the Hummingbird. It's like my 2 loves in 1. It has the crumb structure of a carrot cake, the ooh la la sweet fragrance of ripened bananas and as an additional bonus - the juiciness of crushed pineapples. Made these 4x so far and it has always received good reviews from my kind audience. I've adjusted the recipes from the original in a few ways and also tweaked it in my first 3 attempts, finally arriving at a recipe that has a crumble that gives bite but wouldn't totally collapsed upon cutting, is not too sweet from being sugar-laden and has defined tastes of both bananas and pineapples.

I forgot to also add that it's very easy to make. ITS A CAKE EVERYONE SHOULD TRY TO MAKE! =)

Source
Ingredients:
2 cups cake flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup castor sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3.5 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh crushed pineapple
2 cups mashed roasted banana
1 cup roasted walnut pieces

Steps:
1. Prepare the bananas and pineapples ahead of baking. Roast 6 mid-large ripe bananas at 200C for 8 minutes, flip and roast another 5 minutes. The skin will turn black, the banana will be mushy and your house will smell wonderful. Mash and keep 1 side. Peel and cut a ripe pineapple, chop 1 cup of pineapple into fine pieces and keep both the fruit and juices. Roast the walnuts at 200C for 5 minutes, be careful not to burn them.
Let the bananas and walnuts cool to room temperature.
2. Sift the flours together and add cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, soda and salt to it. Mix well.
3. In another bowl, mix the sugars together and add the eggs. Whisk well. Add the oil and vanilla, whisk to emulsify.
4. Add the flours into the sugar/egg mixture and stir lightly to just combine. Do not use electric mixers.
5. Stir in the pineapples, then bananas and walnuts.
6. Pour into 26 cupcake liners and bake for 20 minutes or 2 8-inch lined round pans for 30 minutes at 170C.
Note: Cakes will dome slightly so use less batter if cupcakes are not meant to be too high or use more to make into muffin style cakelets. Cool completely before frosting.


Cream Cheese Frosting
I used a mixture of cream cheese and swiss meringue buttercream, added a good dose of lemon and vanilla bean paste, mixed well and piped a round dollop then added a dried pineapple flower piece on top. Or, just stick a whole walnut piece atop for simplicity sake.

Swiss Meringue Buttercream (SMB) from Sweetapolita.
5 egg whites + 250g fine grained sugar- in a clean mixer bowl over simmering water, whisk constantly until sugar has melted. Using the electric whisk, beat at high speed until mixture is thick, glossy and the bowl has cooled to room temperature. Switch to paddler attachment.
Add 340g unsalted butter (cubed and softened) gradually at low speed until buttercream is silky soft.
Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice (or up to half a lemon), 2 teaspoon of vanilla bean paste and a pinch of sea salt. Mix well to combine.

Weigh the above amount of SMB and measure out cream cheese equivalent to 80% weight of the SMB. IE: if the SMB weights 500g, the amount of cream cheese should be 400g. Beat slightly softened cream cheese (removed from fridge for about 3 to 5 minutes only) until light and fluffy, then add the SMB and mix well to incorporate.

Note: The above SMB will yield much more than the amount needed for this batch of cupcakes but I generally make this amount and take the amount needed, then freeze the rest. It can keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

For pineapple flowers, refer to this site for step-by-step instructions.

3. Fill each layer with a thick layer of durian pulp cream. I find that the cream layer is too thin. Probably I will only use 3 layers of cake next time or increased the durian cream amount.