Lime Cupcakes and Donuts

Lime Cupcakes and Donuts
recipe adapted and translated from ucanmake.com
-makes 24 mini cupcakes and 8 mini donuts

300g cake flour
15g baking powder

75g sugar
80g melted butter
100g cream
zest from 2 limes
100ml lime juice (I used about 7 limes)
1 egg

1. Sift together cake flour and baking powder. Mix.
2. Whisk together sugar, melted butter, cream, lime zest, lime juice, and egg.
3. Combine (1) and (2). Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Fill prepared butter& floured pans 60-70% full.
5. Bake in preheated oven of 160C/320F for 40-45 minutes.

These cupcakes/donuts smell AMAZING and taste DIVINE!

First bite: lime-y sourness.. 
Second bite: sweetness kicks in and counterbalances the sour

The flavor is quite complexing-ly good(:
It's definitely not a one- tone sweetness or one- tone sourness!
And omg, the crust..

a picture of the donut version from my cellphone

I baked them a little longer and got a super nice CRISPPPP crust! And!! The crispiness lasted even overnight! (: Not lining the pans gave these babies more and more and more and more crisp! The whole side and bottom were super nice and crunchy. And as you see, the donut version had a even higher ratio of crispyness vs the moist fluffy center. I love both the cupcake and donut forms.

Taste: 5 stars out of 5 (sour and sweet, complex flavor)
Texture: 5 stars out of 5 (light fluffy center with crispy crust- perfect!)

I am usually not a fan of citrus baked goods.. but these are definitely changing my mind about them! Maybe the crispyness made up for the hint of citrus. Either way.. give it a try if you are a fan for crispy cupcakes!

This is ultimate recipe for crispy cupcakes.

Matcha Chiffon Cake

they kind of deflated as they were cooling

Matcha Chiffon Cake
-recipe from evan's kitchen ramblings (originally from alex goh)
-makes two 16cm cakes

70ml milk
1.5tbsp matcha powder
70g butter
90g plain flour, sifted
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
100g sugar

1. In a saucepan, whisk together milk and matcha powder until well blended.
2. Add in butter and put mixture over stove and stir until butter is melted. Remove from heat.
3. Fold in sifted flour and mix until well combined.
4. Add in egg yolks and whisk until combined.
5. Whisk egg whites until foamy, then add in sugar and whisk until stiff peaks.
6. Add 1/3 of whites mixture into the yolks, followed by the rest of the whites. Mix well.
7. Pour mixture into 16cm chiffon or angel cake pans. Bake in a preheated oven of 170C/338F for 35 minutes.
8. Immediately remove from oven and invert them until cool.

lovely green and golden brown color!

The bake time varies if you are using a different sized pan. I halved the recipe and baked in a mini tube pan and a mini loaf pan. I baked for slightly less than 35 minutes until the top of the cakes appeared firm and transformed into a golden color.

look at those "pores"
super light and fluffy!!

I was very pleased with the results of this recipe. Subtle hint of green tea flavor and the perfect light texture of a chiffon cake. I had my doubts when I first saw that this recipe include butter. Up until now, all the chiffon recipe I have came across ask for vegetable oil instead of butter.. and it makes sense since oil is lighter than butter. I was afraid that the butter would result in a denser cake. I am very surprised to see that the use of butter in this case also achieved a really light and fluffy cake that I absolutely adored.

The top of my cake got soggy as it was cooling upside down tho. This seems to be a common problem for me when I need to do the invert cooling. I am still a little confused as to why this occurs. I am suspecting that it was the moisture or steam from the cake/oven.. I would definitely try this recipe again and be extra careful and figure out why the top gets moist/soggy.

Taste: 5 stars out of 5
Texture: 4.5 stars out of 5 (super light and fluffy, minus .5 for the moist top)

Baked Honey Mochi Donut

Honey Mochi Donut! The idea of making donut with mochiko or rice flour is so inspiring! I've made mochi cupcakes before and those turned out perfectly chewy and delicious! But ahh.. what an ingenious idea for donuts too! I love mochi. And I just got a donut pan that is screaming "use me! use me!" This is the perfect recipe to try out with my new donut pan.

Mochi Donut-recipe adapted from La Fuji Mama
-makes 12 big donuts or 24 mini donuts*
2 large eggs, beaten
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp granulated sugar
2/3 cup milk
1 and 1/3 cup mochiko or sweet rice flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
Little lemon zest
Powdered sugar or melted white chocolate for topping

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Whisk together the beaten eggs, honey, sugar, and milk until well mixed.
3. whisk in the mochiko and baking powder until combined.
4. Finally, whisk in the butter.
5. Pour the batter into donut baking pan.
6. Bake the donuts for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly. Gently run a butter knife around the edges of each donut to loosen them in the pan, then turn them out onto a cooling rack. Top the donuts as desired.

I halved the recipe since I only have one mini donut pan at the moment and was too lazy to bake two batches. I made 12 mini donuts and bought them to a potluck. I only got to eat one when I was at the potluck.. By the time for my second round of food, the mochi donuts had disappeared! The donut was not overly sweet and definitely is a healthier alternative to the fried version. I especially like the hint of honey sweetness that comes out from the donut and the chewy mochi texture of the donut. However, I think it's missing a nice crunch. It would be divine if these donuts were crunchy with a soft chewy center. Also, my donuts did not come out as pretty as I would like since I think I overfilled them a little.. I would make sure I take note of that when I make these again soon!

Taste: 5 stars out of 5
Texture: 4 stars out of 5 (missing a nice crunch)

Toasted Coconut and Chocolate Chip Biscotti

Came across a simple basic biscotti recipe. I decided to give it a try since I have been fully committed my past biscotti baking to one recipe. Maybe I can find a recipe that tops that old. But mmhm, not quite yet!

I love how simple biscotti is (minus the waiting time after the first bake). You can throw in any nuts, fruits.. etc and make it something totally new and delicious. I decided to add in toasted shredded coconut in one log and chocolate chips in the other. And for the chocolate chip biscottis, I also dipped them in chocolate to make them fancier. Hehe.

I usually like to cut biscotti recipe in half so I work with only one log. But this time.. since the recipe calls for 3 eggs, it would be too much of a hassle to have 1/2 an egg left.



Basic Biscotti
recipe from delicious inspiration
- makes 2 logs

3 1/4 cups (405g) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 cup oil
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar (I cut down to 100g)
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine the oil, granulated sugar, eggs and extract.
4. Pour the liquid mixture (3) into the flour (2) and mix well, forming a stiff dough. (Stir the nuts or fruits at this point)
5. Divide the dough in half, then form the halves into logs as long as the baking sheet (about 12") and flatten slightly.
6. Bake the logs until golden brown and firm, 25 to 30 minutes.
7. Let the logs cool slightly, about a half hour.
8. Cut the logs into 1/4" slices and arrange them on the baking sheets and bake again for 10 minutes, flipping the slices halfway through, until they're golden brown around the edges.
9. Let cool completely, then store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks.



Compare to the recipe I have been using, this recipe makes more crumbly and soft biscottis. I personally prefer biscottis that are more hard/crunchy but bit-able (old recipe).

These were almost like a soft cookie. The biscotti also turned out on the thick/fat side. This might have been the reason for it to retain more moisture after the two bake times (kind of under- baked). Shaping the logs thinner/longer or baking them for a longer period would maybe change the texture of the biscottis.

I didn't mind the softer biscottis, and if you love softer biscottis.. this recipe is totally for you! I will stay with my old recipe for now.

Taste: 4 stars out of 5 (cutting the sugar half gave it the sweetness I want)
Texture: 3 stars out of 5 (crumbly and softer than old recipe)

Cream Scones

After seeing the beautiful golden brown heart- shaped cranberry scones on "Table for 2... or more"'s page, I knew I had to make them! I don't always have cream cheese on hand, but this time around I did. I liked the recipe idea of cream cheese as one of the ingredient and the less butter it calls for.



Cranberry Cream Scones
recipe from Table for 2... or more
125gm all purpose flour
125gm cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
80gm dried cranberries, coarsely chopped (opted out)
120gm cream cheese, room temp
30gm butter
90ml milk
1 egg, 1 Tbsp removed for glazing


Glaze
1 Tbsp egg mix with 1 tsp milk
Extra melted butter for glazing

1. Preheat oven at 200C/392F. Combine both flours and baking powder. Sift twice to aerate. Mix in salt.
2. Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in flour mixture until it resembles fine crumbs.
3. Combine egg and milk and pour into (2).
4. Mix with a spoon until moistened. Lightly mix in cranberries.
5. Spoon batter into floured molds and lightly tap to flatten. Lift mold carefully. (I just roughly shaped them into balls)
6. Glaze scones with egg mixture. (this gives the nice golden brown color!)
7. Bake for 9 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and quickly brush on melted butter. Put them back into the oven and bake for another 5 minutes. (buttery goodness<3)
9. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
10. Serve warm with butter and jam.



The cream cheese is definitely the ingredient that made this recipe a winner! Despite the less butter the recipe needs, the scones turned out very buttery and soft. They were fluffy with a nice crunch on the outside if you reheat them in the oven. I liked how the glaze gave it that perfect golden brown color.

Scones? Biscuits? They are so similar to me.. and I like both :p

Taste: 4 stars out of 5 (buttery)
Texture: 4 stars out of 5 (soft, moist, fluffy, crumbly, little crunch)

souffle cheesecupcakes again

My infinite love for these souffle cheesecupcakes made me make them over and over again. They are light and fluffy.. and definitely satisfy your cheesecake craving without the guilt(:


Recipe: here

Financiers

I was on the search for a recipe to use up my leftover egg white from the custard cream I made previously for the cream puffs. I came across a lot of souffle and meringue cookies recipes, but I wasn't exactly in the mood for either... and actually I only had one egg white since I cut down my original custard cream recipe. So, I needed something "small". Then, I saw financier (for the first time)! I did a quick search on the internet and found out that financiers are small French teacakes!

I was intrigued. The presentation of financiers are so delicate and fancy. They are often baked in rectangular molds and are said to resemble gold bars! There are a lot of variants of financiers as I discovered. Nuts, fruits, tea.. etc. I decided on a simple original plain version so I can get a clue on how they are like first.



Financiers
- makes 4 little financiers
25g egg whites (~1)
25g sugar
5g honey
10g flour
10g almond flour
25g burnt butter

1. Oil and place pans in fridge. (I don't have financier molds/pans, so I just opted for my tart pans)
2. Put unsalted butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Swirling the pan as butter melts and boils. Continue to cook until butter has turned deep brown. Remove from heat and strain. Let cool to room temperature.
3. Lightly beat white, sugar, and honey over double boiler until sugar has melted.
4. Mix in flour
5. Mix in butter
6. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 190C/ 374F.



My first financiers were quite delicious tbh despite that they were just a spontaneous act of mine. They were moist and had a very nice nutty flavor from the burnt butter! I didn't have a chance to snap a picture between the short time that they were out of the molds and into my mouth :p

Next time, I will tackle the full financier recipe and bake them in the super tiny rectangular tart molds I got from my recent trip to HK!

Taste: 4 stars out of 5 (sweetness from honey and nutty flavor from burnt butter)
Texture: 4 stars out of 5 (moist, dense yet light!)

Almond Tart Shell

I felt like I haven't been able to put my tart pans to use..so decided to try this recipe that only calls for some basic ingredients that I always have on hand. The recipe can make one 7" round tart, but I decided to make some mini ones and just scoop whipped cream and eat them. I was able to get 6 tarts out of it.

Almond Tart
recipe from Dessert & Bakery DIY
-makes one 7" tart
45g unsalted butter
36g confectioner sugar
72g bread flour
18g almond flour
12g yolk
few drops of vanilla

1. Oil tart pan and line with parchment.
2. Mix butter, sugar, and flour together.
3. Add yolk and vanilla and mix.
4. Roll out and lay on pan.
5. Poke holes with fork.
6. Bake at 350F for 15 minutes.



These tarts are not the flaky kind. They are cookie- like and have a nice crunch. I think I over-baked them a little so they were extra crunchy. I liked it tho. With the sweetened whipped cream and toasted coconut on top, this makes a simple and delicious snack!

Taste: 3.5 stars out of 5 (The almond taste doesn't come out too much. Next time, I will try substituting more of the bread flour for almond flour(:)
Texture: 4 starts out of 5