Paper Wrap Sponge Cake 紙包蛋糕

When I started driving a handful of years ago, I use to drive out to Los Angeles quite often. Each time I return, I would buy these paper wrap sponge cakes for my mom, it was one of her favorite snacks. I use to think they were impossible to make at home, How can a cake be baked in paper, how can it be so fluffy and moist... I can't even bake a bad cake, forget baking a good cake. Then in 2008, sometime in the early spring, I got a sponge cake recipe from a friend. My first attempt failed, I didn't know that egg whites were a matter of science when it comes to beating them. I had no idea what 'stiff peaks and soft peaks' meant, on top of that, I had not taken care in separating the yolks from the whites. Turns out if the whites have any bit of yolk or oil in it, it will not beat up right. After that first attempt, I started to search online to see how a cake is made. That is the start of my caking baking experience. Every once in a while, I would change something or another, but most the time the cakes were successful.

A few months ago, one of my best friends went to Guangzhou, China, she brought back some aluminium baking cups. I used them for the very first time yesterday. Its the basic chiffon cake, topped with almonds on top. I was able to get 14 cups filled. Recipe in earlier posting.

茶葉蛋

My grandfather has grown fond of these. He is diabetic and under going dialysis three times a week. Which means he is weak and not eating well, but he loves these, and he needs the protein from the egg whites. So I make him a batch every other week or so and he will have them with his meals. Here is the basic recipe and method.

Ingredients:
12 eggs
5 cups water
6 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons pu-erh tea
1 cinnamon stick or 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 star anise
3 cloves
1/2 teaspoon Chinese five-spice powder
3 teaspoon sugar

1. Wash eggs first, put eggs in the pot, add water, bring to boil, remove from stove, set cover for 15 minutes. Take eggs out and rinse in cold water. Crack the egg shells with the back of a spoon, more cracks will give more flavor.
2. Add all the spices to the water the eggs were boiled in, bring to boil and put the eggs back in, bring to boil and simmer on low heat for 1 hour, let it seep for at least 4 hours before serving. Can reheat to add more flavor and reheat to eat if you prefer it hot/warm.

These are easy to make and can make in advance.

Hong Kong Style Egg Waffle 雞蛋仔

This is one of the yummy street foods I would buy in Hong Kong. Every I walk buy a vendor selling these, I'm always tempted to buy one. My father in law was kind enough to locate one of these waffle pans and brought it over to me all the way from Hong Kong last month! Thank You!

I found a recipe online and made some adjustments and the results were absolutely yummy! Ask my kids...Nathan, who just turn 19 months stuff 4 in his mouth and ignored everyone until he was done eating a lot of them! Here is what I have, of course its not strict, I realize you can adjust the ingredients and still have it coming out perfect.

Ingredients:
2 eggs
200 mL of milk (or 3/4 water with 1/4 evaporated milk)
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoon of baking powder
2/3 cup of sugar
1 cup of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of tapioca starch (or corn starch)
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (canola, olive, or grapeseed oil all work too)

1. On medium speed, beat eggs for 2 minutes, add in milk, vanilla, sugar and baking powder, continue to beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.
2. Shift flour, starch into the egg mixture and beat to combine, about a minute, on medium speed, add in oil and beat to combine.
3. Cover batter and refrigerate for 1 hour, can also be used immediately. But letting it rest will let the waffle rise more. Bring to room temperature before using.
4. Brush oil on the pan, then fill waffle pan 80% and then close lid and turn, heat each side for 1 minute on medium low heat.

Tofu Flower 豆腐花

I have such a weak spot for this totally plain and delicious dessert. Its so good! Its a bit challenging to make at first, took me quite a few attempts to get it silky smooth. A sure way to get it smooth is to use store brought unsweetened soy milk. That is a no brainer. However, I like to take it to the next level. Using soybeans, a blender and time.

1 pound of soy beans, soaked over night to absorb water. In the blender, puree the beans with water, 1 to 4. In the end, there should be about 6 liters of soy milk.

Tofu flower for 2 liters of soymilk recipe as follows:

2 liters of soy milk, bring to boil
2 teaspoon of gypson powder
2 teaspoon of corn starch
half cup of water (100ml, 4 ounces, half a bowl will do too, not too important to be exact to the dot here)

1. Mix the water with the two powders in a cup, dissolved well
2. When boiling soy milk, take care to stir it ever few minutes, it will burn easily.
3. Turn off heat after soy milk boils
4. Stir the powder solution again and pour it into a container large enough to hold the 2 liters of soy milk.
5. Quickly pour the soy milk into the powdered solution.
6. Cover with cloth/towel and lid
7. Give it about an hour to set, I've tried it after 15 minutes and it was too soft, so 30 minutes might work, if not, just wait the hour.
8. Serve with ginger and sugar syrup (2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar (any kind is fine) and a few slices of ginger, bring to boil, simmer for 10 mins).

Tiramisu Cheesecake

My first attempt at making this wonderful cheesecake. I modify it to my needs, but in general, it still has the same basics. The recipe calls for ladyfingers, but I have not seen any at the local supermarkets. However I did manage to find some at a specialty store. But I have not used the package I just brought. The previous times I've made I used sponge cake that I made myself. Every time I've made this, my kids would each have one big piece and I would save some for later, but I would give most of it away.

Here we go...its not that hard, just time consuming, but well worth the time and effort!

Ingredients:
4 packages of cream cheese, regular or light, 8 ounce size
1 cup (8 ounces) sour cream, regular or light
1 package (12 ounces) lady fingers or sponge cake
8 ounces of strong coffee, divide in half
1 cup sugar
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups whipped topping
2 tablespoon baking cocoa, divided in half

Directions
1. Line or grease a 13x9 baking pan, set aside. Preheat oven to 325° and set a large baking sheet with hot water inside, make sure the 13x9 dish can sit in the water, if not use something to support it over the water, baking in a water bath prevents cracking on the top.

2. In a large bowl on medium speed, beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Beat in sour cream. Adjust to slow speed and add in eggs, one at a time until combine.

3. Divide batter in half. Add in half the coffee and combine with half the batter. Layer half of ladyfingers or sponge cake in pan and brush with coffee. Spread the batter with the coffee on top of the ladyfingers/sponge cake. Sprinkle half the coco powder on top. Lay the remaining half of the ladyfingers/sponge cake on and brush with coffee. Spread remaining batter on.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes. Run knife along edges to loosen, let cool for 1 hour and refrigerate overnight.

5. Spread with whipped topping and then sprinkle with remaining coco powder and serve.

Rice Cooker Steamed Chicken

Ever want to steam the perfect chicken but don't want to deal with cleaning up a big mess? I avoid making steam chicken because I don't want to wash a the big steaming pot. So...here we go with the rice cooker!

It turn out nice, just perfectly cooked and very tasty. I started with a large chicken, about three and half to four pounds. Marinated it for 2 hours in the rice cooker, then push the cook button and pretend its rice! It will cook on its own, after about 30 minutes it will be done! Pierce a chopstick or stick in the breast area to see if its cooked, clear fluids if it is, pink if its not.

The marinade is easy, just rub it on and let it sit.
3 teaspoon of coarse salt
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of white pepper
1/2 teaspoon of turmeric
1/4 teaspoon of five spice powder

Make this the day before and serve it cold the next day. Or make it before cooking rice, then enjoy it for dinner. My kids love it! I do too!

Dark Chocolate Souffle

Today was a new experience...new experiment...dark chocolate souffle! Its easy, its yummy and its perfect with ice cream! We served it with strawberry ice cream and the kids totally love it!

5 ounces of chocolate of you choice
1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1/4 cup of milk
3 egg yolks
6 egg whites
6 ceramic ramekins brushed with butter and coated with sugar


1. place chocolate in a metal bowl, then put that in a pot of boiling water, stir and melt chocolate(preheat oven 375)
2. mix yolks with a whisk and add in milk and flour, whisk to blend
3. add yolks mixture to chocolate, mix well, it will thicken up
4. use electric mixer and beat egg whites to stiff peaks
5. mix 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture then pour that back into the egg whites and FOLD to blend
6. pour into ramekins, leaving 1/2 inch to rim to allow for rising

bake 375 for 25 minutes
remove and dust top with powder sugar, serve immediately