Vanilla Sponge Cupcakes (香草海绵杯子蛋糕)

The cake is fluffy, moist and not too holey. The buttercream is velvety smooth and not too rich or too sweet. The roses look reasonably like roses, and stayed that way without air-condition.

Yup, I'm happy with my vanilla cupcakes.

My sponge cupcakes are made with whole eggs, i.e. the eggs aren't separated. This method is a bit tricky because yolks and whites whisked together deflate easily when you add flour and butter/oil. Deflated batter makes cupcakes that are dense and hard.

I make light and fluffy sponge cupcakes that are moist, not dried out like some sponge cakes tend to be. And the crumb isn't too holey. How do I do it?

I whisk the eggs, along with sugar and a bit of glucose, till the ribbon stage, i.e. when I lift the whisk, a "ribbon" falls in a steady stream and sits on top of the mixture without sinking.

The eggs are now thick, with some air bubbles visible. To prevent the cake from being too holey and rough, I have to get rid of these visible air bubbles. How do I do that? By whisking slowly for a few minutes, till the eggs are silky smooth, i.e. I don't see any air bubbles.

Once the eggs are whisked to the right thickness and smoothness, I sift cake flour into the mixture. If it goes into one spot, all in one go, the flour would sink and stick to the bottom of the bowl. I can loosen the flour with a spatula, right? Sure I can but the eggs can't stand that much agitation. By the time I'm done, the mixture would be horribly deflated. Solution: sift the flour into the bowl in two lots, and move the sieve around as I sift. Done this way, the flour doesn't sink like it's in quicksand but sits nicely on the eggs.

After adding each batch of flour, I mix it with the eggs using a whisk. The objective here is not to mix evenly yet but quickly spread out the flour in the eggs so that it doesn't clump and form lumps. I have to stir gently, without the whisk touching the bottom of the bowl at all. The bottom half of the eggs is undisturbed, so it has no chance of deflating. It acts as the support for the top half, and prevents that from deflating as it's being mixed.

Milk, oil and vanilla extract are stirred together, then gently drizzled around the bowl so that some of the mixture – the more the better – sits on the batter. Next, I mix a bit with a whisk to gently and quickly spread out the amount that hasn't sunk and disappeared from view. Again, the whisk doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.

I now have an uneven batter, right? I switch to a spatula and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Then I fold the batter, scraping the bottom of the bowl, and I keep folding till I don't see any oil or flour. I now have an evenly mixed batter that's totally billowy, not deflated.

The batter is very light and airy, so it sets very quickly in the oven. To make sure the top is nicely golden brown when the inside is done, I add a bit of glucose to the eggs before I start whisking. I also move the cakes a bit closer to the oven's top heat for the last five minutes of the baking.

What makes the cupcakes moist? It's the combination of oil, milk, glucose and sugar. Can you leave out or reduce any of these ingredients? Of course you can. Hey, you can leave out the flour, eggs, salt and vanilla extract as well and bake empty muffin pans in the oven if that suits you. Whatever floats your boat, you know? And if your boat sinks, or you have no boat to speak of, please don't ask me why.

VANILLA SPONGE CUPCAKES (香草海绵杯子蛋糕) (Recipe for 8 cupcakes) Cupcakes 100 g eggs 6 g glucose 40 g castor sugar 40 g cake flour 1/16 tsp salt 10 g full-fat milk 30 g corn oil add to milk ½ tsp vanilla extract add to milk and corn oil Buttercream (source: adapted from WendyinKK) 50 g sugar 30 g egg white 85 g unsalted butter, soft but not too soft Preheat oven to 180°C. Place paper liners in 8 muffin cups. Place muffin cups on baking tray. (Paper or cardboard moulds are good too. This recipe isn't fussy about what it's baked in.) To make cupcakes, whisk eggs, glucose and castor sugar till ribbon stage, i.e. mixture is pale and, when whisk is lifted, drips back into bowl and stays visible. Sift half of cake flour into egg mixture, moving sieve around bowl so that flour isn't clumped in one area. Gently stir just top part of eggs with whisk, till you see only a bit of flour. Sift remaining half of flour as before. Add salt. Repeat gentle mixing, this time till you don't see any flour. Stir milk, oil and vanilla extract till well mixed. Gently drizzle mixture around bowl. Mix with whisk till you don't see any oil, again stirring just top part of batter. Using spatula, scrape down thoroughly and fold till just evenly mixed. Divide batter equally between muffin cups, i.e. 27 g each. Bake 10 minutes on middle shelf till batter is risen. Transfer to upper-middle shelf. Continue baking till golden brown and slightly springy when pressed, another 5 minutes or so. Remove cakes to wire rack. Wait 5 minutes. Unmould. Serve whilst warm and top is slightly crusty. Alternatively, leave till cool and serve topped with buttercream. To make buttercream, cook egg white and sugar over low heat, whisking constantly and checking from time to time if sugar is melted by rubbing drop of mixture between fingers. When sugar is just melted, whisk on high speed mixture till thick, glossy and cold. Add half of butter. Whisk on high speed till well combined. Add remaining butter. Whisk on high speed till mixture is stiff. Pipe or spread on cupcakes as desired. Recipe makes enough for frosting 16 cupcakes, or 8 if you're a pig.

Pandan Chiffon Cupcakes (班兰戚风杯子蛋糕)

Pandan chiffon cake hot from the oven is way better than cold pandan chiffon cake.

That's a bit like saying Bill Gates is rich, or Angelina Jolie has thick lips. We all know that.

So when was the last time you had pandan chiffon cake that was still hot?

WHAT? You've always had PCC stone-cold?

Oh . . . my . . . God . . . . Oh dear, POOR YOU!

Why don't you eat the cake hot, or least warm?

Because you bake chiffon cakes in a chiffon pan, and those have to be cool before you can unmould them?

Hey, ditch the chiffon pan! Let's bake cupcakes!

Small chiffon cupcakes can be much fluffier than big chiffon cakes baked in a tube pan.

Why's that?

Because the taller and wider the cake is, the less fluffy it has to be or it'll collapse.

A pan with a tube in the middle makes the cake narrow. But the "tube cake" is very tall compared to a cupcake. It must have a denser structure than its small brother or it caves in after it's removed from the oven. Hence, it can't be as fluffy as a cupcake.

All cakes lose some of their fluffiness as they cool down. Those that have butter or coconut oil lose more because saturated fat is liquid when hot but hardens as it cools down. Pandan chiffon cakes made with coconut milk are at their fluffiest when they're still hot.

Not only is pandan chiffon cake fluffier when it's hot, it's also  more fragrant. And there's something about hot PCC, psychologically,  that makes everyone go "Wow!" and "Oooh!"

My recipe comes with a warning: the pandan chiffon cupcakes crack. If there aren't any cracks, then the cakes aren't as fluffy as they should be.

The cracks close up once the cakes are removed from the oven but you'd still see the "scars". If you like your cakes scarless, then this recipe isn't for you. Or maybe you could use icing sugar as a concealer. A bit of makeup always helps.

Do the cakes have a sunken top like Hokkaido cupcakes? No. The top should be flat or very slightly rounded, not caved in, after the dome subsides.

Once you get used to chiffon cake hot from the oven, you may never go back to eating it cold. Unfortunately, no one sells cakes hot (save for chocolate lava cake?). That means every time you want to eat chiffon cake, you have to bake it yourself. Of course, if you're smart, you get someone to bake it for you. I guess I'm not so smart since I'm the one who bakes.

PANDAN CHIFFON CUPCAKES (班兰戚风杯子蛋糕) (Recipe for 8 big cupcakes) 60 g egg yolks 25 g castor sugar 50 g corn oil 50 g young, light green pandan leaves rinse thoroughly and drain; chop roughly  75 g undiluted fresh coconut milk blend with chopped pandan leaves; press with potato ricer to yield 65 g green milk; discard pandan pulp 1/8 tsp salt 80 g cake flour ¼ tsp baking powder sift with cake flour 150 g egg whites 60 g castor sugar Measure and prep ingredients as detailed above. Line eight 180 ml moulds with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 200°C. Whisk egg yolks and 25 g castor sugar till thick and pale. Add corn oil. Whisk till well combined. Add 65 g green milk and salt. Whisk till evenly mixed. Re-sift sifted cake flour and baking powder into mixture. Whisk till just evenly mixed. Set aside. Wash whisk thoroughly. Whisk egg whites till thick. Gradually add 60 g castor sugar whilst continuing to whisk. Keep whisking till egg whites just reach firm peak stage. Add egg whites to yolk mixture in 3 batches, mixing till almost even after each batch. Scrape down thoroughly. Fold till just evenly mixed. Bang mixing bowl against worktop 3-4 times to get rid of big air bubbles. Fill moulds with batter, about 60 g each. Tap moulds gently against worktop to level batter. Bake till cakes are golden brown and slightly springy, about 20 minutes. Cakes should crack after first 10 minutes. Transfer cakes to wire rack. Wait till cracks close up, about 5 minutes. Unmould and serve.

Orange Chiffon Cake (香橙戚风蛋糕)

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Knock knock!

Who's there?

Chiffon cake!

Chiffon cake who?

She's fond of cakes, especially light, fluffy cakes.
.

I have a recipe for another  light and fluffy cake, a chiffon this time. I hope you like orange?

To make a very orangey orange cake, you need lots of finely grated zest from the topmost, most oily part of the peel. Make sure you use a sharp grater or you'll have more of the precious orange oil on your grater than in your cake.

Before you start grating, please get rid of the nasty stuff that's sprayed on oranges. I wash mine in boiling water, then give them a good scrub and a thorough rinse under the tap.

Besides orange zest, you also need some orange juice.

If you use fresh OJ you squeeze out of oranges, you  won't taste it when the cake is freshly baked. It needs to rest  overnight or at least eight hours for the flavour to develop.

If you use "fresh" OJ you pour out of a carton or bottle,  the orange flavour is artificial even if the juice is "100% pure and  natural" and "not from concentrate". This is what I use for baking. The man-made flavour is heat-stable, so it tastes the same before and after it's baked. And it tastes like fresh OJ, which is why a lot of people don't know their store-bought fresh OJ isn't fresh at all. You're not one of these suckers, are you? 

My orange chiffon cake recipe is adapted from the pandan chiffon cake recipe I use. Because OCC is made with orange juice whereas PCC uses coconut milk, I've made four changes to the original recipe:

• The cream of tartar, an acid used to stabilize the whisked egg whites, is reduced  from ½ tsp to ⅓ tsp. Because orange juice is more acidic than coconut  milk, the batter would be too sour if I use the same amount of cream of tartar as in the original recipe. The cake doesn't rise well when it's too sour because the more acidic it is,  the quicker it sets.

• The baking powder is reduced from 1 tsp to ¾ tsp. This is necessary because the orange flavour is mild compared to coconut milk. It doesn't hide the baking powder's bitter taste as well, hence the lesser amount.

• To make PCC, corn oil is mixed evenly with egg yolks that have been whisked till thick and pale. For OCC, the corn oil is whisked with the thickened yolks till the mixture is thick once again, like mayonnaise. This helps prevent the OCC from drying out quickly in the oven. Why doesn't PCC need the same procedure? Because it has coconut milk which doesn't evaporate as easily as OJ when heated.

• OJ replaces only the non-fat part of coconut milk. To make up for the lack of coconut fat, there's more corn oil in OCC than PCC.

I like orange chiffon cake because it uses orange peel which I would have thrown away otherwise. And also because it uses corn oil which is cheaper than butter. And because it tastes of orange, which is nice. And because I like cakes that are soft and fluffy. Actually, I like dense cakes too. And also cupcakes, cheesecakes, ice-cream cakes, mooncakes, pancakes, crab cakes, fish cakes, two-way cakes . . . . Hey, there's cake on my face!

No, I'm not fat (yet), in case you're wondering.

ORANGE CHIFFON CAKE (香橙戚风蛋糕) (Recipe for one 21 cm cake) 60 g egg yolks 50 g castor sugar 80 g corn oil 65 g orange juice 100 g cake flour ¾ tsp baking powder sift with cake flour ¼ tsp salt 15 g finely grated orange zest 180 g egg whites ⅓ tsp cream of tartar 50 g castor sugar Measure and prep ingredients as detailed above. Preheat oven to 200°C. Whisk egg yolks and 50 g castor sugar till thick and pale. Add corn oil. Whisk till thick again, like mayonnaise. Add orange juice. Whisk till evenly mixed. Re-sift sifted cake flour and baking powder into bowl. Add salt and orange zest. Mix till just even. Set aside. Thoroughly wash whisk.  Whisk egg whites till very frothy. Add cream of tartar. Keep whisking till egg whites are thick. Gradually add 50 g castor sugar whilst continuing to whisk. Keep whisking till egg whites reach firm peak stage. Add to yolk mixture in 3 batches. Mix with whisk till almost even after each  addition. Scrape down thoroughly with spatula. Fold till just evenly mixed. Bang bowl against  worktop 2-3 times to remove big air bubbles in batter. Pour batter into 21 cm  loose-bottomed chiffon pan that's not non-stick, slowly so that  big air bubbles burst as they flow out of bowl. Level batter with  spatula. Run chopstick around sides of pan and knock pan 2-3 times against worktop to get rid of more big air bubbles. Place cake in bottom of oven. Reduce temperature to 180°C. Bake till cake is level with pan and slightly golden brown, about 20 minutes. Place baking tray in top of oven to block heat from top of oven. Continue baking till cake is brown and slightly springy when pressed, another 20-25 minutes, rotating as necessary so that cake browns evenly. . Remove cake from oven. Invert and rest cake elevated from worktop. Leave till cool. Unmould by cutting cake out of pan. Slice and serve.

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.