Hokkaido Cupcakes

Hokkaido cupcakes are made with milk from Hokkaido, hence the namesake.

I can't be bothered to go to a Japanese supermart that sells Hokkaido milk. My Hokkaido cupcakes are made with milk which is –  to quote what the carton says to the (capital) letter –  "From AUSTRALIAN DAIRY COWS". So the milk's from Australia? Hell no. The cows are from Australia but they live in Indonesia. They probably moved from Down Under frozen . . . or maybe chilled. Anyone knows how sperm is transported long distance?

Hokkaido cupcakes are small chiffon cakes that are so soft they're creased and slightly collapsed after they cool down. Perhaps taking a cue from plastic surgery, the cakes are then injected with a filler/filling to plump up and smooth out the wrinkles. Unlike pillow-faced Madonna, Hokkaido cupcakes take to the puffy look quite well.

Whilst sifting through recipes for the cake part of Hokkaido cupcakes, I was quite tempted to try Nasi Lemak Lover's. But I finally decided her cupcakes, which had no hint of wrinkles or a sunken top,  weren't as fluffy as they should be. I then looked at 周老師's recipe. I thought her cupcakes were too wrinkled and too sunken. Hmm . . . . 

In the end, I went for something between the two popular recipes. How did I control how much the cakes sank? By changing the amount of milk and egg white in the batter. More egg white and milk make softer, more wrinkled cakes that sink when they cool down. Less would give you sturdier, less fluffy cakes.

Spongy and soft, the cakes are quite bland. It's the creamy filling  that provides flavour and a luscious, unctuous texture.

The filling is a mix of custard and stiffly whipped cream. If you think making custard from scratch with 1.egg yolks and milk is too much trouble, there're three options:

1. You could use traditional custard powder, which must be heated on the stove with some milk.

2. You could also use instant custard powder which just needs to be mixed with hot water.

How about adding instant custard powder to stiffly whipped cream, as Nasi Lemak Lover does here?

You could do that, of course. I could too but I wouldn't.

Instant custard powder is a modified starch that thickens hot liquids. It doesn't thicken cold whipped cream, which doesn't need thickening anyway. You can also find milk protein, cream powder, sugar, artificial vanilla and artificial food colouring in instant custard powder. Do you want all these things in your whipped cream? I just add a bit of sugar and vanilla extract to mine, thank you very much.

3. If putting the kettle on is too much work, instant pudding powder would make you jump with joy. It doesn't require heating or anything hot. All it needs is cold milk to thicken into a pudding. To make Hokkaido cupcake filling, the pudding should be whisked with stiffly whipped cream before it's set.

Some bloggers, including 周老師, use instant pudding powder but they call it custard powder. If you follow their recipe, make sure you use the right stuff.

I opt for no custard/pudding, so my cupcakes are filled with only whipped cream. Cream is like shoes, you know? You could never have too much cream or too many shoes.

Good Hokkaido cupcakes should be lighter and fluffier than chiffon cakes and Ogura cakes but they're easy to make compared to the big brothers. You don't have to worry about the little ones sinking (a little bit).

Light and fluffy cakes that stand tall and proud can be a bit tricky. Light and fluffy cakes that are allowed obliged to sink a bit are dead easy. If you love fluffy cakes and you haven't had much luck with chiffon and Ogura cakes, I'd recommend Hokkaido cupcakes.

If you've already mastered chiffon and Ogura cakes, I'd still recommend Hokkaido cupcakes because the little darlings are so pretty, especially when they look like they're wearing a red tutu.

I know what cake I'll be baking this Christmas. Come to think of it, I'm sure some red and white cupcakes on 9 August (Little Red Dot's National Day, for those who don't know) would be quite appropriate. And red is the colour for Chinese New Year, birthdays and weddings if you're into Chinese traditions. Yup, the liners' colour can make or break the cupcakes . . . . Oh dear, am I a cake geek?

HOKKAIDO CUPCAKES (北海道杯子蛋糕) (Recipe for 9 cupcakes) Cake 45 g  egg yolks 20 g castor sugar 35 g corn oil 45 g full-fat milk 60 g cake flour 135 g egg whites 40 g castor sugar Filling 200 g fresh dairy cream, with 35% fat, thoroughly chilled 2 tbsp castor sugar ¼ tsp vanilla extract Garnish icing sugar strawberries Preheat oven to 165°C. Place bowl for whisking cream in fridge. To make cupcakes, whisk egg yolks and 20 g castor sugar till pale and thick. Add corn oil. Whisk thoroughly. Add milk. Whisk thoroughly. Sift cake flour into mixture. Whisk till just mixed. Set mixture aside. Wash and dry whisk thoroughly. Separately whisk egg whites till thick. Gradually add 40 g castor sugar, still whisking. Continue to whisk till firm peak stage. Fold egg whites into yolk mixture in 2 batches, mixing till almost even after each addition. Scrape down thoroughly, including bottom of bowl, and fold till just evenly mixed. Divide batter equally between 9 paper (not cardboard) moulds measuring 7 x 4 cm (top D x H). Bake in middle of oven till golden brown and tops spring back slightly when pressed, about 25 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool down. To make filling, remove bowl from fridge. Place cream and sugar in bowl. Whisk till cream is just stiff. Add vanilla extract. Mix evenly. To assemble, transfer whipped cream into piping bag fitted with nozzle. Insert nozzle into centre of cakes. Squeeze just enough cream to slightly puff up cakes. Rotate cakes as you pipe so that filling is nicely centred. Chill till ready to serve. To serve, dust cupcakes with icing sugar and garnish with slivers of strawberry.

Ogura Cake ♥ 相思蛋糕 ♥

Ogura cake, aka 相思蛋糕, hails from Batu Pahat, Malaysia. "Ogura" is a Japanese surname; "相思" means lovesick. Is there a love story behind the cake? Nah, there isn't. Some baker in Batu Pahat just invented the name.

Ogura cake uses the same method as chiffon cake. You whisk egg yolks and oil, then fold in flour and a non-fat liquid, followed by whisked egg whites. Here are a few tips for making the cake:

Measure all the ingredients needed and line the cake pan before you start whisking the yolks and whites. If you faff about after the yolks and whites are whisked, your cake won't rise properly.

The egg whites, along with cream of tartar and castor sugar, should be whisked till firm peak stage, i.e. between soft and stiff. The peak formed doesn't flop over but it's not ramrod straight either. The tip curls to form a hook.

The egg yolks and oil should be whisked till slightly thick, i.e. till just after the yolks turn pale, plus maybe another minute or so.

After the yolks are whisked, you add canned pineapple juice, flour and salt, and then the whisked egg whites. When everything is almost evenly mixed, you have to scrape down thoroughly. There may be some pineapple juice at the bottom of the bowl. If there's a lot, the batter is too thin. You've under-whisked either the yolks or whites, so your cake won't rise well. If the batter is too thick because of over-whisking, it forms distinct thin narrow ribbons when you lift your spatula.  It won't rise well, it'll brown and dry out quickly, and the crumb will be holey.

When you pour the batter into the cake pan, you should see lots of bubbles bursting as they flow out of the mixing bowl if the batter has the right consistency. If the batter is too thick (or if you pour too quickly), it traps the air bubbles and stops them from escaping, resulting in a holey cake. If the batter is too thin, it wouldn't have many big air bubbles.

You have to line the bottom of the cake pan. Should you line the sides as well? Not if you have a deep pan. Mine is 5 cm high, so I line the sides to extend the height by about 2 cm. If you're lining the sides, the parchment paper must be crease-free. The cake clings to the paper which, if crumpled, would make the sides of the cake crumpled too. Handy tip: smear the pan with a bit of whisked egg white, then smooth the parchment paper over it.

The batter should fill a 18 x 5 cm square cake pan to 1 cm from the edge. If you have more, you've over-whisked. If you have less, you've under-whisked. Or you've measured something wrongly.

If your batter has the right consistency but it doesn't rise well or rises too much in the oven, you're not baking it at the right temperature (or you've measured something wrongly). Just because you've set the oven at 170°C doesn't mean it is necessarily at 170°C. When the temperature is way too low, there might be a layer of starch at the bottom of the cake after it's baked. If the temperature is too high, the cake will rise too much and crack.

After removing your cake from the oven, let it rest in the pan for 10 minutes. The support from the pan helps prevent the cake from shrinking too much. When the worst of the shrinkage is over, unmould the cake and let it cool down.

If you measure the ingredients wrongly, whisk wrongly, bake at the wrong temperature, or overbake, your cake will shrink a lot after it's removed from the oven. Don't underbake or the cake will collapse.

Coconut oil gives great flavour but if that's not your cup of tea, any vegetable oil would do. Canned pineapple juice may be replaced with orange or apple juice.

Here's my video to walk you through the recipe, and the tips for getting it right:

  

COCONUT PINEAPPLE OGURA CAKE ♥ 相思蛋糕 ♥ Source: adapted from anncoojournal (Recipe for one 18 cm cake) 150 g egg whites ¼ tsp cream of tartar 75 g castor sugar 75 g egg yolks 45 g egg whites 40 g hot-pressed coconut oil 70 g canned/boxed pineapple juice 55 g cake flour ¼ tsp salt Measure ingredients as detailed above. Preheat oven to 170°C. Cut parchment paper for lining 18 x 18 x 5 cm pan, leaving overhang of 2 cm. Put kettle on. Whisk 150 g egg whites till frothy. Add cream of tartar. Whisk till thick. Gradually add 75 g castor sugar whilst continuing to whisk. Keep whisking till firm peak stage. Separately whisk yolks, 45 g egg whites and coconut oil till frothy and slightly thick. Add pineapple juice. Whisk thoroughly. Sift cake flour into mixture. Add salt. Whisk till just evenly mixed.  Add whisked egg whites in 3 batches, setting aside 1 tbsp or so. Whisk till almost evenly mixed after each addition. Scrape down thoroughly. Fold till just evenly mixed. Smear sides of cake pan with remaining whisked egg white. Place parchment paper in pan, making sure paper sticks to pan and is crease-free.  Pour batter into cake pan, slowly so that big air bubbles burst as they flow out of bowl. Tap pan against worktop 3-4 times to level batter. Bring kettle to a boil again. Place baking tray in bottom of oven. Fill tray with freshly boiled water, to about 1 cm deep. Place cake in middle of oven. Bake till cake is risen and brown, about 40 minutes, rotating as necessary so that top browns evenly. Reduce temperature to 130°C. Bake till cake springs back slightly when pressed lightly, 15-20 minutes. Remove to wire rack. Wait 10 minutes. Unmould. Remove paper from sides of cake. Leave cake on wire rack till completely cool. Remove paper from bottom of cake. Cut and serve.