22 July 2012

Red Velvet Cupcake

I tasted my first Red Velvet Cake at NYDC and it was love at first bite! The texture of the cake was soft and moist and the cream cheese frosting was simply delicious.

After that, I would find myself scouting through restaurant or cafe to see if they have a piece of this lovely cake listed.

I found one that looked pretty at a cafe but the taste was a complete anti-climate. The cake was super dry and it tasted as though I have poured one tablespoonful of baking soda directly on my tongue. For those of you who bake, you would know what i meant when after a bite of the cake you can feel as though your tongue is coated with this static dryness. It was simply ultra yuckiness to the max!

After that encounter, I have decided to bake the cake myself but first, I must find the recipe! hahaha. Searching for the "perfect" red velvet recipe was not an easy task as you will not know if that is perfect for you until you try baking it.

It was quite a turn-off for me when I realised the alarming amount of red food colouring that goes into making this cake! However, I was determined to find the one recipe that will not use too much of the red colouring.

After searching through numerous recipe sites and looking at various comments, I have decided to give Martha Stewart's recipe a go.

This recipe is almost perfect for me! The cupcake was moist with fine tender crumbs and because it uses oil instead of butter, the texture of the cupcakes was light. The fluffy cream cheese frosting is just THE PERFECT topping for this cupcake.

The recipe still calls for red food colouring but only half teaspoon was required. The cupcake colour is more towards redish brown rather than red, but I am happy with the outcome.

The cream cheese frosting was really fluffy and heavenly. However, it was rather soft and hard to pipe so I had to place it in the fridge for about 15 minutes to make it easier for piping.


Here is the recipe that I have used with reduced amount of Oil and sugar.


Red Velvet Cupcakes
Yields 20 regular size cupcakes

Ingredients
240g Cake flour
2 tbsps Unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 tsp Salt
225g Caster Sugar (original 340g)
1 1/3 cups Vegetable Oil (original 1 1/2 cups)
2 Large Eggs at room temperature
½ tsp Red Gel Paste food colour
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 cup Buttermilk
1½ tsps. Baking Soda
2 tsps Distilled White Vinegar

Cream cheese frosting
225g Unsalted Butter
340g Cream Cheese
300g Powder Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla extract (original 3/4 tsp)

Instructions



  1. Preheat oven to 175°C. Line standard muffin tins with paper liners. Sift together cake flour, cocoa and salt.


  2. With an electric mixer on medium high speed, whisk together sugar and oil until combined. Add eggs one at a time, beating until each is incorporated, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Mix in food color and vanilla.


  3. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 batches alternating with 2 additions of buttermilk and whisking well after each addition.


  4. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar in a small bowl and add the mixture to the batter and mix on medium speed for 10 seconds.


  5. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each 3/4 full.


  6. Bake for 18-20mins until a skewer inserted comes out clean with just a little bit of crumbs sticking to the stick.


  7. Transfer tin to wire rack to cool before frosting with Cream Cheese frosting.



Cream Cheese Frosting



  1. Whisk together cream cheese and butter until creamy and fluffy.

  2. Add sugar in 3 batches and continue to whisk until pale.

  3. Add vanilla extract and mix to combine.

P. S. - I took some cupcakes to my office on Monday and my colleagues gave me 100 Marks for it! Yippee!! This recipe is a definite keeper !! :)

21 July 2012

Oatmeal Butterscotch / Chocolate Chips Cookies

Makes about 48 medium cookies (approx. 5 cm in diameter)

This cookie is chewy in the mddile and slight cripiness at the edges and the best part of it is that you can make the dough, use what you need and keep the rest in the freezer for up to a month! Simply leave it to room temperature and bake!

Try not to skip or replace the shortening part as it is the key to achieve the lightness and slight crispiness of these cookies



Ingredients
140g Plain Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
3/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
200g Unsalted Butter,at room temperature
1 tbsp Vegetable Shortening, at room temperature
150g Brown Sugar
125g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 cups Quick Cooking or Old Fashioned Oats
1 cup Butterscotch chips
1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, shortening, brown sugar and regular sugar.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix for just a few seconds.
5. Add the dry ingredients and mix together to combine but do not over mix.
6. Add the oats and divide the dough into 2 portions.
7. Add butterscotch chips to one of the portion and Chocolate Chips to the other portion.
use a spatula and mix everything together.
8. Using a small ice cream scoop or 1/2 Tablespoon, drop the dough on to a non-stick baking sheet, a couple inches apart. The cookie will spread.
9. Bake for approximately 9 – 11 mins or until lightly golden.
10. Let it cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely
11. Store baked cookies in airtight containers.

20 July 2012

Paper Wrapped Chicken


I have not posted on my blog for a good four months!

Well, the reason is because I have started a wonderful new job and have been really busy with work lately :)

Here is to start off my first posting after four months.

I have always loved paper wrapped chicken but the amount of oil used to fry it plus the way the oil swims around the wrapped packages just makes me put this dish to the furthest end of my list :P

Ever since I have started using Happycall pans, it makes a lot of oily dishes suddenly seems healthy enough to give it a go again due to the low amount of oil used!

Thus, I decided to see how the paper wrapped chicken dish would turn out using Happycall pan to fry. The results - taste as good minus the oil! Yeah!!!

Here is the recipe and we will definitely be making more of this as my dear hubby finished more than 8 packages at a go and wanted more!

Ingredients:
½ Chicken, approx. 1/2 kg (1 lb)
Oil for frying
Grease-proof paper (baking paper)

Marinade For Chicken
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Sugar
1 tsp Light soya sauce
1 tbsp Dark soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp Ginger juice
1 tbsp Cornflour
1 tbsp Sesame oil

Directions:
1. Cut, clean and wash the chicken. Cut into approximately 12 -15 serving pieces.
Marinate and cover with cling wrap and placed it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

2. Cut the grease-proof paper into approx. 17cm (7 in) squares.

3. Take a sheet of paper and brush one side with oil. Turn a corner towards you and place a piece of chicken at the corner nearest you. Fold up this corner to cover the chicken, then fold the left and right corners to cover the chicken also. Bring the remaining corner down and tuck in to make a neat package. Repeat with the remaining chicken and paper.

4. Heat the oil in the happycall pan. When the oil is hot, bring the heat to medium-low. Put the packages into the oil and deep-fry for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

5. Scoop the packages out.

6. Place the packages on a serving platter and serve immediately.