Chocolate Marble Chiffon Cake Recipe (step by step photos)

Chiffon Cake is a very light cake made with vegetable oil, eggs, sugar, flour, baking powder and flavorings. In contrast to the traditional cakes, chiffon cake achieve a fluffy texture by beating egg whites until stiff, and folding them into the cake batter before baking. Today, I will make chiffon cake with marble effect on it using my favorite chiffon cake recipe. This delicious chiffon cake is made with flour, eggs, sugar, salt, honey, vegetable oil, water and cocoa powder. The original recipe is from:

http://cookingcrave.blogspot.com/2009/07/chocolate-marble-chiffon.html

Ingredients ( for 23cm chiffon cake pan)

• 95 grams egg yolks (approximately 5-6 eggs)   
• 25 grams caster sugar 
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1 tablespoon honey (optional) 
• 80 grams vegetable oil 
• 80 grams water 
• 95 grams cake flour 

• 10 grams cocoa powder 
• 10 grams cake flour 

• 240 grams egg whites (approximately 7-8 eggs)
• 110 grams caster sugar 
• 15 grams corn flour

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees C. 

2. In a large mixing bowl. Mix together egg yolks, 25 grams

    sugar, salt and honey with a balloon whisk. Add in vegetable oil

    and water. Mix well. Gradually mix in 95 grams cake flour. 

    Combine well. 

3. Divide the egg yolks mixture into two equal portions in 

    separate mixing bowl. Mix in 10 grams cake flour into one of 

    the egg yolks mixture. Combine well. For another bowl, mix in 

    10 grams cocoa powder. Mix well. Set aside. 

5. In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until foamy. Gradually

    add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time and beat until soft

    peak form. Finally, add in corn flour and continue beat until 

    stiff and shiny peaks form. 

6. Gently fold in the egg whites mixture into the cocoa egg yolks

    mixture and plain mixture accordingly until well combined. 

    (Note: make sure the egg whites are well combined with the 

    egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg 

    whites left will cause a big hole in the cake but over mixing will 

    make it hardly rise during baking). 

7. TO ASSEMBLE MARBLE EFFECT. Spoon in the plain batter to 3

    or 4 different corner of the 23cm chiffon cake pan, then

    continue to cover the plain batter with cocoa batter, layer 

    by layer until finish. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 45 

    minutes or until inserted wooden pick comes out clean. 

    Remove cake from the oven and invert the pan immediately 

    until cake has cooled.

Button Cookies Recipe (step by step photos)

Cookie is a small, flat, baked treat, usually containing fat, flour, eggs and sugar. This term is used in the United States and Canada. In most English-speaking countries outside North America, the most common term for this is biscuit. Today, I’m going to make button cookies using my favorite rolled sugar cookie recipe and some tools that available in my kitchen. The recipe is adapted from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/the-best-rolled-sugar-cookies/

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened 
• 1 cups white sugar 
• 2 eggs 
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions 

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until

    smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking 

    powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least 1 hour or 

    overnight. 

2. Preheat oven to 200 degrees C.

3. FOR BUTTON COOKIES. Roll out dough on floured surface

    1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shape with round cookie cutter.

    Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Use 2 

    cm to 2.5 cm bottle cap to press onto the centre of each 

    cookie to form outer edge. Use a straw to make 4 holes in 

    the center of each cookie by pressing and twisting the straw 

    until the hole is formed. 

 

 

4. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.

Flower Rolls Mantou/ Plain Chinese Steamed Bun Recipe (step by step photos)

According to Wikipedia Mantou or Chinese Steamed Bun/Bread is a kind of stemmed bun originating in China. They are typically eaten as a staple in northern parts of China where wheat, rather than rice is grown. They are made with milled wheat flour, water and leavening agents. A popular story in China relates that the name mantou actually originated from the identically written and pitched, but more heavily pronounced word mántóu meaning "barbarian's head". The name mantou is cognate to manty and mantı; these are filled dumplings in Turkish, Persian, Central Asian, and Pakistani cuisines. In Japan, manjū usually indicates filled buns, which traditionally contain bean paste or minced meat-vegetable mixture. Filled mantou are called siopao in Tagalog. In Korea, mandu can refer to both baozi and jiaozi. In Mongolia, mantuu are basically the same as the Chinese mantou. Today, I will make mantou using my favourite recipe that I adapted from http://hungerhunger.blogspot.com

Ingredients

• 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons warm water
• 350 grams pau flour/low protein flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 30 grams white sugar
• 1 tablespoon shortening
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• *200 to 250 milliliters morning glory juice/water

*If using 250 milliliters water and kneading by hand, add in 200 milliliters first, kneading well than slowly add in the remainder 10 to 15 milliliters each time. This is to make sure that the dough is not too sticky to handle.

Directions 

1. In a small bowl, mix together yeast and warm water. Stir well. 
    Allow to proof until yeast resembles creamy foam. 

2. In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour and baking powder.
    Add in shortening and combine well. Mix in yeast mixture and 
    sugar. Knead until dough surface is smooth and elastic. Roll
    over in a greased bowl. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise
    until double in bulk, about 30 minutes depending on room 
    temperature. 

3. For Flower Rolls. Punch dough down. Knead for a few 
    minutes, and divide the dough into 50 grams equal pieces.(If 
    the dough is too sticky dust your hand and work surface lightly
    with some flour). Shape each part into a ball. Flatten each ball
    and roll into a small rectangle using your hand, about 4cm
    wide. 

4. Use a metal pastry cutter and cut the dough into strips. Brush 
    vegetable oil all over the surface of the strips. Take the ends 
    of the dough, one in each hand, and twist into a pretty roll.
    Place the roll on a wax paper squares, about 6 cm square. Let
    stand covered until doubled, about 30 to 45 minutes. 

5. Bring water to a boil in a steamer using high heat. Transfer as 
    many mantou on wax paper as will comfortably fit onto 
    steamer and leave 1 to 2 inches between each mantou. 
    Cover steamer with lid. Steam mantou over boiling water for 
    5 minutes.

 

6.  REMOVE LID BEFORE you turn off heat, or else water will 

     drop back onto mantou surface and produce yellowish 

     “blisters” on it surfaces. Continue steaming batches of 

      mantou until all are cooked.