Returning with Lemon Madeleines

Hi Blogger I'm back! And hello there Facebook, Google, Youtube…I love my Astrill VPN. Life behind China's censorship was a tad boring. I couldn't even share comments on my Kindle account. Bummer! 

At least I have my mini oven at home in Shanghai. I can't fit a regular cookie sheet in my oven, and I can't bake more than ten macaron shells at a time. However, it's a good opportunity to cut back on sugar consumption. Moreover, I have a larger audience at home--parents and little brother. No more worries of leftovers!

I hope my VPN doesn't fail me when I'm uploading (knock on wood). I'm more active on Instagram (k00kiemonster) than all other social media because as you would have guesses, it is the only uncensored app. Follow k00kiemonster for instafood moments!

And [Drum Roll] now introducing today's treat--lemon Madeleines

150g unsalted butter

150g cake flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100g sugar

160g eggs (about 3 medium sized eggs)

2 lemons' peels

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt the butter. Sift flour and baking powder into a large bowl then add the sugar. Beat the eggs in a warm bowl of water till it reaches body temperature. Pour eggs into the dry ingredients, mix well. Add butter in 3 batches. Mix in the vanilla extract and finally the lemon peels. 

If you prefer a more intense lemon flavor, squeeze half a lemon to the batter.

Set bowl in fridge for 3 hours or overnight. When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 180-190C. Butter and flour madeleine molds. Fill the molds 80% full. Bake for 17-18 minutes or until golden brown. After baking, remove the cakes right away and let them cool off on a wire rack.

Add a lemon glaze for a store-like look.

A good tip on madeleine molds: choose a mold with distinct shell lines. You don't want a semi-triangle, semi-rectangle cake. If you can't see the indents like a shell, what's the point of making Madeleines? I used a silicone mold that holds eight slots. It was too much hassle to buy individual molds and have them get lost among my cookie cutters and tart molds.

Before I log off, I would like to share a few pics of a lovely stray cat my dad adopted. She's still afraid of me, but I'm sure she won't resist my bowl of warm milk every morning, especially when the temperature is near the low 40s F in Shanghai.

Miao~

Happy Birthday to Julian--Gluten Free Carrot Cake

A big shout out to my friend Julian! He is turning twenty this coming Tuesday. A few years back he was this skinny and snobby boy and now he is twenty, so much less annoying, and more mature. Julian and the rest of the little kids belong to another group during family gatherings. He is the oldest among the kids but not old enough to join the 大姐姐 group. All the older siblings are sisters and most have a younger brother. Naturally the sisters got together, and we let the little kids run around and fight over PSP consoles.

Every year one of those boys is flying oversea for college. Even though they've out grown their tiny frame, to me they will always be a bunch of up-to-no-good boys.

Almond Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Walnuts and Macarons

I adapted Elena's Carrot Cake Cupcake recipe into this two layer birthday cake. I like the simplicity of Elena's recipe...almond meal, baking soda, spices, eggs then BOOM you get a dozen cupcakes! I wonder if the cake would be too dense if I use regular all purpose flour instead of almond meal. However, almond meal never fails to deliver a moist cake. Almond Honey Cake with almond meal and honey is one great example.

Gluten Free Carrot Cake
6 eggs
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoon ground clove
2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups almond meal
1 cup grated carrots
1/2 cup walnut pieces, toasted

2 round 9" baking pans, buttered or lined with parchment paper

In a bowl, mix together the eggs, oil, sugar, honey, spices, and salt. Sift almond meal and baking soda in another bowl. Mix the wet and dry ingredients together till you get a smooth paste. Throw in the grated carrots and walnut pieces.

Divide batter into two equal portions and pour along the side of the pan. *Don't pour everything into the middle, this is how you get a mini volcano during baking.

Bake for 40 minutes at 350F. Let cool in cake pan after baking. Frost right away or wrap in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator.

Cream cheese frosting: Blend 8oz cream cheese, 4oz unsalted butter, and 2 cups of powdered sugar together till you get a fluffy spread.

Assembly:

Spread cream cheese frosting on top

Frost the second cake

Decorate it with walnuts, macaron shells, or anything you have on hand

Chocolate Cake Saves the Day

I have a little Monster at my apartment for the summer. He likes to play with squeaking toys and one of his favorite is a purple disk. It lets out a wimpy squeak when you press a particular spot. The toy is losing its yarn at the back, and I'm pretty sure it is losing its squeak once all the air leak out. I wish Monster can lose its energy too! He whines like a puppy when I put him back in his cage. Once I let him out, he dashes around the house like he's never been let out before. It's only being a week since my little guest arrived, and already I'm baking a chocolate cake to calm nerve.

When the little one calms down and settles with his toy, it's nice to relax on the couch with a cup of milk and a piece of chocolate cake. It doesn't need frosting because it is rich on its own. The center is dense and moist. The sides crumble apart when I dig in with my fingers. Who need a fork when you have a loaf of steaming cake from the oven? The flavor comes solely from Valrhona's cocoa powder. Best of all you only need one bowl, yes just one.

I actually made this chocolate cake twice. On the first loaf I skimped out on sugar, so the body was a tad dry. The dark color made it look moist, but it was just too crumbly on the tongue. I was determined to adapt the recipe, knowing the problem to the first cake. Moreover, Monster was potty trained. I needed to reward myself with the ultimate moist chocolate cake. Adding half a cup more sugar on the second try yielded a much much more satisfying cake. I must thank Debra from Smitten Kitchen for sharing her Everyday Chocolate Cake that cured my craving.

Now that Monster has settled in and I let him crawl at my feet in bed, we are really getting along. I am not losing sleep when he cries and cries in his cage, and I don't need to fret about stepping on wet carpet. It's not bad having a company at the apartment after Evelyn moved out. I like to think it's the magic of chocolate cake. It made everything p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

    

   

   

Note on the recipe, if you don't have buttermilk like me, simply squeeze half a lemon into a cup of milk and let the acid react with the milk for five minutes before using! The original recipe called for 325F and 1 hour baking time, but my cake took an hour and twenty minutes at that temperature. So I cranked the temperature up to 350F and checked that the cake was done in forty minutes. Remember to adjust your oven and baking time accordingly.

Who Knows Cream Cheese, Tangerine Juice and Brownie Mix So Well Together

Sipping a cup of velvety latte is such an indulgence (sighing in bliss). Furthermore, what's not to love about pairing coffee with a small piece of cheese cake.

One bite satisfies cravings for brownie and cheese cake

This is not your ordinary graham-cracker-base cheese cake. Instead, it is half brownie and half New York style cheese cake.

I got the idea from a blog, which I can't relocate despite all the digging in my history drop down list. The whole blog is about recreating boxed desserts. For example, the one I spotted was a three layer biscuit/cake. The bottom was Nestle's ready to bake cookie dough, flattened into the bottom of muffin tins. Next is a layer of store-bought Oreo cookies, pressed lightly into the cookie dough. The last layer is those add your oil and egg and mix-well brownie batter. After 15 minutes in a 350 oven give you a three layered cake with a crunchy crust in the bottom. It's such a party treat, and no one would blame you for serving something out of a box.

As much as I like the creativity part, I wasn't so found of the overly sweet and artificial flavor in boxed desserts. One bite of that devilish creation is essentially a mouthful of chocolate chip cookies, Oreo and brownie. I created my own version of mixed batter dessert, and the result was half brownie and half cheese cake.

Cheese cake with a brownie 'crust'

I was worried that the two batter would settle into one another and producing an ugly marbled cheese cake because both the brownie and cheese cake batter was very runny. In fact, more runny than when I make the full serving of either the brownie or cheese cake. Luckily I made a fortunate mistake. I made the brownie batter first and just let it sit in the bowl on the countertop while I made the other batter. When it came time to fill the muffin tins, the chocolate batter sort of solidified and was on the dense side. The ultimate solution was to pour the denser batter first then the lighter one. I thought the cream cheese batter would be heavier, considering how there was a block of Philadelphia, but with a little tangerine juice and two eggs, the batter had a light chowder consistency.

Nevermind how bad the batters were before baking because when I took the muffin tray from the oven, I was delighted to see a clear separation at the bottom.

A little note on the recipe above, notice how I listed 1 tablespoon of tangerine juice under the cheese cake ingredient list. I was too lazy to squeeze a lemon and zest the fruit, so I just pulled out my citrus juice from the fridge. The cheese cake had a less vibrant citrus flavor to it. Because the tangerine juice is much sweeter than lemon juice, the cheese cake was on the sweet side with a hint of orange. Feel free to use lemonade, orange juice, or simply the classic lemon juice for your batter.

Yellow Butter Cake

I don't make a lot of cupcakes at home. In fact, that little cake in a cup intimates me. A good cupcake must have a good base, then the frosting must complements the base with just enough sweetness. Also the cake needs to be moist, so timing is everything when you bake the cake in shallow cupcake tins compare to a wider cake pan.

I've tried several cupcake specialty stores in Los Angeles. Dots Cupcake at Pasadena has the most balanced flavor. I think the cake is barely sweetened, but that makes the frosting stand out so much. The sea salt caramel cupcake even has a condensed milk filling that ups the sweetness of the cake. But besides the frosting and filling, Dots Cupcake have bland cake base. To a point where you get a acidic or perhaps a metallic taste from tasting too much baking powder.

Lemonade and The Oinkster both serve really cute petite cupcakes. I love how appetizing the size is without overwhelming your sweet tooth, but they are both super greasy. If you hold either cupcake in a paper bag, the bottom of the bag can soak up so much oil. The excess oil keeps their cupcakes moist at all times. Maybe that's just the way restaurants do to extend shelf life.

I haven't found a better tasting cupcake than Sprinkles. Yes, they are way too sweet for me, but the cinnamon sugar cupcake has no frosting just a layer of cinnamon sugar. That is the best combination in my opinion. I still get a sweet kick on the top, but I really don't need all that frosting because the cake is flavorful and crumbly and moist. It's amazing how it can be both crumbly and moist at the same time! But Candace Nelson makes perfect cupcakes.

So back to my own cupcakes, I'm not so much of a frosting person as you can tell by now. I believe in flavor not so much plain sweetness from excess sugar. Instead of frosting my cupcakes, I had a spoonful of whip cream on top. The simple butter cake with a tiny amount of jam filling topped with whip cream is just a simple dessert but so amazingly refreshing!

Here is the yellow butter cake recipe I used. Instead of baking the batter in a cake pan, I poured them into cupcake liners, and the cake had a simple yet flavorful butter profile that is light and spongy.

1-2-3-4 Butter Cake Recipe

After baking, I let them cool on the wire rack before digging out a hole on the top and filling them up with jam. Don't hesitate to splurge on a good jam. They make a big difference when you're using such simple ingredients as butter and whip cream.

If you don't have one of those cupcake tools I used in the photo, use a core remover or just cut a tiny hole and scoop some cake out.

Cupcake cored and filled with jam

Although I used the recipe as a cupcake base, it also makes a good base for cake. I made an one layer cake with this recipe, then I sliced the cake in half to add frosting and more jam! Put the top layer back and dump frosting all over the cake. Unfortunately, I did not have enough time for the frosting to set, so when it came time to serve the cake, the frosting was dripping off, making my cake look like it's melting.

Frosting dripping off the cake

It was still a easy cake after all =]

Applesauce Carrot Cake

I've been looking for ideas on what to bake next. There are so many recipes out there I want to try, but so little time on my hand. Whatever I decide to make have to click with me. When I'm on tastespotting, I'm just like a child oohing and aahing at every delicious treats. In my browser, a pile of saved recipes are all yelling and begging me to try them.

What clicked with me last weekend was carrot cake. I enjoyed a fluffy carrot cupcake from Dots a few days before my take on carrot cake. The cupcake had less sugar, which balanced perfectly with the slightly more sugared cream cheese frosting. And the frosting wasn't sky-high. There was just enough for you to indulge in that mini cake.

I tried this applesauce carrot cake from The Baker's Dozen Cookbook. It's not a fluffy delicate like the one from Dots, but it certainly has deeper flavor. Adding the applesauce also makes the cake more moist, but I think it makes it a bit more dense too.

To cut down on the fattiness, I dotted the cream cheese on top instead of frosting and layering the cake. I definitely miss the cream cheese frosting on my cake though.

For my next trial with carrot cake, I'm going to leave out the applesauce and see what that do to the cake. Maybe I'll get low fat cream cheese and just indulge myself in cheesy sweet frosting.

Dotted cream cheese frosting on applesauce carrot cake

Moist Flourless Chocolate Cake for All Occasions

Vibrant daisies from Carlsbad's Flower Fields

Traveling is a tiresome activity. You need energy to laugh, to keep up a good spirit. The best cure for a tired body is warm chocolate cake and a book in bed--the add on would be bathing beneath the warm spring time sunlight as you enjoy yourself in a timeless manner. How I love lazy days.

We don't have that many laid back days to so we should never take "free" time for granted. After all, there is no free lunch.

Layer cake batter with a chocolate ganache inside to create the lava texture

My day comes with a 30 minute preparation, and it will stay in the fridge for up to three days. When you bake it right away you get oozing chocolate lava cake, and the leftovers become flourless chocolate cake. They can then be blended in moose or cookies as sub ingredients. There is too many reasons to stay in a lazy mood and just indulge in chocolate.

Time to use up leftover almond meals

My roommate and I dug in before the almond honey cake could cool!

A problem with obsession is you tend to dedicate so much time, effort, and resources, and at the same time ignoring your conscious and abandoning your senses. When the crave fades, however, you're left with a big mess. You question yourself, what have I done? have I lost my mind?

What I have in my kitchen is bag after bag of almond meal--some are grounded with the brown almond skin; some are silky and some lumpy. They serve as constant remainder that I only made one successful batch of macarons with a frill out of I don't know how many batches.

Time to get rid of them. And lower my blood sugar from regular stuffing of tasty almond sugar cookies.

Urgh but almond meal have such limited use. After googling some almond meal recipes, I found out that people mainly make muffins or financier from them. Nothing really arouse my interest until I stumbled across Mmingcook's almond-honey cake post!

No guilt cake for tea time!

What surprised me was her recipe used neither flour nor sugar. Also the ingredient list was short and very accessible. Any home baker would have baking powder, honey, salt, and eggs at home. So preparing the ingredients was no biggy.

Maybe not everyone has honey at home. I didn't have the liquid type of honey the recipe called for, all I have is some honey solid I got from Shanghai. The recipe called for 1/2 cup of honey, so I dissolved 2 tablespoon of the honey below with half a cup of boiling water. Then let the honey dissolve and add the mixture with the rest of the ingredients when the mixture cooled a little.

If you don't have honey, I think you can use sugar instead, but be sure add some liquid. The batter can be very heavy. I thought I made a total mess by substituting honey water for honey because when I poured the batter into my brownie pan, the batter didn't form a smooth ribbon-like texture. I had to dump the thing into the pan. But the cake came out very fluffy. 

I guess the lack of gluten from flour contributes to the lightness. Plus the egg whites helped the cake rise a little, and perhaps the hot water helped too? Like how fluffy cupcakes sometimes call for hot liquid? Anyways if you're looking for a light alternative to tea cake, definitely try this recipe. 

PS If you don't have almond meal on hand, simply pulse 2 cups of almonds with some confectioner's sugar. Adding the sugar absorbs some almond oil that might sip out in the blending process.