Quick Mix Chocolate Cake

I made this chocolate cake for my son Andrew's 11th birthday today.  I call it a quick mix chocolate cake because the steps for making this cake are simple and quick.   It's just a plain chocolate cake with no nuts or fruits added.  This cake turn out soft, moist and delicious.  Kids will love it!


A photo of our birthday brunch:

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 cup castor sugar

3 large eggs

150g butter

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder
white chocolate to garnish

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 160C.  Grease a 23cm round springform or a cake pan.  Line with baking paper.

2. In a small pot, place the butter, milk and cocoa powder in and melt the butter in medium low heat.  Using a whisk to stir until the mixture is smooth.  Do not boil it.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

3. In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until very light and fluffy.  Sift in flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix until smooth.

4. Add in vanilla extract and the cocoa mixture and beat until well mixed.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 45 - 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the centre and comes out dry and clean.

6. When the cake is completely cooled.  Garnish with shaved white chocolate or sprinkle with icing sugar!

銅鑼燒 Dorayaki - Japanese Red Bean Pancake

The other day my niece tagged me something from Youtube on Facebook.  It was a game that we used to play many years ago.  A Doraemon game!  When I saw the Dorayaki on the screen, I said to myself "I must make this"!  This Japanese red bean pancake was my son's favourite at Dream Food Japanese Restaurant, Centre Point Shopping Mall.

This pancake is Doraemon's (a robot cat) favourite food.  Dora in Japanese means "gong" and perhaps that's how the name Dorayaki originated as the shape is smilar to a gong.

There's a legend saying that there was a samurai named Benkei hiding in a farmer's home and he forgot to bring along his dora "gong" when he left.  The farmer then used the gong to cook the pancake, thus came the name Dorayaki.

Here are the ingredients:

1 cup (160g) AP flour

3 large eggs

120g castor sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tbsp honey

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

300g red bean paste, or more

makes 8 yummilicious Dorayaki

Method:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, milk and honey until well combine.

2. Sift in flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix well.  Cover and rest for about 20 minutes. 

3. Heat a medium non-stick pan on medium heat. You can wipe the pan with paper towel that is dipped in oil, but I made mine without brushing or wiping oil on the pan.

4. Using a ladle, drop the batter carefully to create a round pancake.  When the surface started to bubble, flip the pancake over and cook the other side.

5. Cover the cooked pancakes with towel to prevent them from drying.  Sandwich two pancakes with the red bean paste.

Cinnamon Rolls with Chocolate Chips

Hmmm.... Cinnamon rolls, who doesn't like them?

These soft bun/rolls with the sweetness from brown sugar and with rich ground cinnamon flavour smell and taste just as good!

I made these rolls two years ago and thought that it took too much time and too much work.  But I like soft buns, my kids like soft buns, and where we came from, most of us eats soft buns.  My kids and I don't really fancy the German's Brötchen - small buns that are soft inside but hard and crispy outside.  So I had decided to give this recipe another go.  Thinking that if this went well, I will make more bread and bun in the future.

Surprisingly, it was not too much work at all.  The original recipe call for keeping the dough in the fridge for 4 hours but instead I just leave it in room temperature to rise for 1 1/2 hours.  And I only kneaded it once.  I've made a little twist by adding some chocolate chips too, so let's start making some!


Ingredients:
160g all purpose flour
30g cold butter
15g butter, melted
60ml milk, room temperature
1 tbsp warm water (40 degree C)
1 tbsp + 2 tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
3/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
Some chocolate chips (optional)

Method:
1.  In a little bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water, cover and set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, 1 tablespoon sugar and salt.  Using finger tips rub the cold butter with flour mixture until crumbly.  Add in milk, yeast mixture, egg yolk and stir well.  On a lightly floured surface, knead for about 1 minute.   Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, keep in a warm place to let it rise for at least 1 1/2 hours.  Then gently punch the dough once to release the air.

3.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough into 25 x 15cm rectangle.  Brush the edges with butter (to seal the edges).
Mix the 2 tablespoons white sugar, dark brown sugar and ground cinnamon together and sprinkle over dough.  Top with chocolate chips.

4.  Roll up the dough like a Swiss roll cake.  Cut into eight pieces.  Place them in a greased 19cm square baking dish(a round dish also works fine).  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours.

5.  Bake at 180 degree C for 10 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.

Note:  My kids and I enjoy eating them without any glaze.  Also I find it healthier without it.  :-)