Chocolate Cream Cheese Bundt Cake

 

   

Chocolate and cream cheese is a good combination in a cake. The cream cheese makes the chocolate cake even more moist. I just took my old Chocolate Cake recipe and part of a baked Cheesecake recipe to make this cake. Baking it in a bundt pan gives the cake a very beautiful shape. It can be decorated with chocolate ganache to make it an even richer cake.

Ingredients:

• 250 g salted butter
• 250 g castor sugar, can be reduced
• 4 large eggs
• 70 g cocoa powder
• 100 g self-raising flour
• 62-65 g milk

• 225 g cream cheese
• 60 g castor sugar
• 45 g milk
• 8 g self-raising flour

Method:

• Butter a 10-inch bundt pan well. Set it aside.

• Pre-heat oven to 170 deg C.

• Prepare the cream cheese layer first:
• Let the cream cheese come to room temperature in a bowl and be soft enough for whisking.
• Add castor sugar to the bowl.
• Whisk the cream cheese and sugar till the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth and creamy.
• Add milk and whisk them well to combine.
• Add the self-raising flour and mix well.
• Set aside.

• Sift the self-raising flour and cocoa powder twice. Set the flour mixture aside.

• Add butter and castor sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer.

• Cream the butter till pale and fluffy.

• Crack an egg into a bowl to ensure non-contamination if the egg is bad. Add the egg to the bowl and mix well. Repeat till all the eggs are used up. Scrape down the side of the bowl from time to time to ensure that all the ingredients are well-combined.

• Add the milk to the mixture. Mix well.

• Fold the flour into the butter mixture using a spatula, a third at a time. Gently mix them up till no trace of the flour can be seen.

• Pour roughly 35 % of the mixture into the bundt pan. Level the batter around the bundt pan with a spatula.

• Pour the cream cheese mixture on top of the batter.

• Pour the remaining batter on top of the cream cheese mixture, covering it. Level the batter with a spatula.

• Bake in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes. Test for doneness using a wooden skewer which should come out clean.

• When done, invert the cake onto a metal rack to cool it down.

Green Onion Chinese Pancake

   

We love pancakes both the traditional thin ones which we called mee hoon kueh in Hokkien as well as thick fluffy ones which were made by beating the egg white and folding it into the pancake batter. Both of these are sweet pancakes. Some people prefer the savoury ones, for example, the Green Onion Chinese Pancake.   

Ingredients：

• A. Dough:
• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 140 g water
• 1 tsp salt

• B. Filling:
• 1 bunch of green onions (more or less depends on yr liking.)
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp black pepper (very peppery. Can be reduced according to taste.)
• 1/4 tsp chili flakes/paprika, optional
• 40 g oil

Method:

• Add all the ingredients in (A) into a mixing bowl.
• Knead the ingredients till a smooth dough is formed.
• Cover the bowl with a wet towel and let the dough rest for 1 hour.

• Wash the green onions and take only the green part.  Let the water runs off the green onions. Cut them into small pieces of about 0.5 cm long.
• Add the green onions into a bowl.
• Add the all-purpose flour, black pepper, chili flakes and oil.
• Mix them up well.

• Divide dough into number of pieces of pancakes desired, either 4 big ones or 6 smaller ones.
• Take 1 pc of dough, roll it into long rectangle.
• Brush the dough with filling mixture.
• Sprinkle green onions on top.
• Roll up dough into a long thin roll.
• Take this long roll and coil it up.
• Use a rolling pin to flatten it as thinly as possible into a round pancake (like a roti canai).

• Fry it on a pan without oil till each side is golden brown.

Super Uber Soft Wholemeal Buns (with Whipping Cream)

 

   

Wholemeal Buns can be hard and dense if the dough is not kneaded properly, hydration is too low or there is too much of wholemeal flour in relation to bread flour. Even for flours I have experienced differences in absorption level for the same time of flour bought at different times from the same shop. So during the kneading process we have to feel the dough and make changes to the amount of flour and water accordingly.

My aim had been to make soft wholemeal buns which remain soft for a few days. I did not add any bread improver nor softener in my breads and buns. So the challenge was to make breads and buns that stay soften for many days. This recipe yielded buns which stay soft till 4th to 5th day. I usually keep my buns after the second day in the freezer. I will take them out about 1-2 hours before eating. I did not steam them but just let them return to room temperature.

Ingredients:

• 315 g bread flour
• 125 g wholemeal flour
• 25g sugar 
• 3 g salt
• 6 g instant yeast
• 120 g whipping cream + 120 g warm water
• 1 egg at room temperature
• 40 g melted butter

Method:

• Put the flours, sugar, salt and yeast into the mixing bowl.

• Add the whipping cream, warm milk, egg and melted butter to the mixing bowl. It is good practice to break the egg first into a smaller bowl before adding it to the mixing bowl to avoid adding eggs which are not fresh or rotten to it.

• Knead the ingredients into a smooth dough. This will take about 20 minutes or slightly more.

• Grease a bowl with oil.

• Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and put it into the greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling wrap.

• Leave the dough to proof until it doubles in size.

• Once it has doubled in size, remove the dough from the bowl onto a slightly floured table-top.

• Knead it manually for about 5 minutes.

• Roll it into a big round dough. Cut the dough into four segments and then cut the segments into 3. This is a simple way to get 12 pieces of smaller dough.

• Or, if you prefer each dough to be exactly of the same size you can weigh the dough and divide it into 12 pieces of dough.

• Shape each piece into a round dough and place it onto a cupcake liner. Place the liner onto a baking tray. Repeat till all the dough has been shaped.

• Cover the dough balls with a cling wrap or wet towel and let the dough balls double in size.

• Pre-heat oven to 170 degree Celsius.

• Once the dough balls have doubled in size, bake them in the oven for about 20-25 minutes.

• Remove the pan from the oven.

• Remove the buns immediately onto a cooling metal rack.

• Enjoy. Great with butter and jam.

Seafood Chowder

According to Wikipedia, Chowder is a type of soup or stew often prepared with milk or cream and thickened with broken crackers, crushed ship biscuit, or a roux. Variations of chowder can be seafood or vegetable. Seafood lovers like me will definitely loves this type of soup. It is versatile as you can add any type of seafood to it. You can serve your chowder with crackers. However, I love to dunk my baguette into it.

Ingredients:

• 25 g butter
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 50 g yellow onion, cubed
• 50 g potatoes, cubed
• 40 g celery, cubed
• 30 g carrots, cubed
• 30 g green peas
• 30 g corn
• 8 pcs blue mussels
• 6 pcs scallops
• 2 squid tubes (30 g)
• 2 big prawns (30 g meat only)
• 50 g salmon, cubed
• 250 g seafood broth
• 300 g cream
• 1 pc bay leaf
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme, or more
• 1 tsp salt, or to taste
• 1/2 tsp white pepper powder, or more
• 1/2 tsp black pepper powder, or more
• 2 tbsp corn flour
• 4 tbsp water

Method:

• Add butter to a pot. 

• When butter has melted, add onions and fry till they are translucent.

• Add garlic and saute till fragrant.

• Add potato, celery, carrot and sweet corn. Stir fry for a while.

• Add seafood broth.

• When the broth is boiling, add bay leaf and thyme.

• Add seafood - black mussel, prawns, scallops, squids and salmon.

• Add cream.

• Add seasonings of salt, white and black pepper powder

• Mix corn flour with water. When the chowder is boiling, add the corn flour mixture to thicken it.

• Serve it hot.