with cherries on top

Black forest cake. When this particular cake is mentioned, most people tend to think of the chocolate cake with cherries decorated with cream rosettes, maraschino cherries, chocolate flakes and sprinkles. You might think it's a little bit retro, but it holds a special place in my heart. My first few attempts were even decorated somewhat based on the original design. 

You see, when I was a kid, my cousins and I would mostly get one of those birthday cakes ordered from a Chinese cake shop with a Teletubby, Sailor Moon or Pokemon character on top. Written across the cake in chocolate would read 'Happy __th Birthday [insert name here]!'. Just like blowing out the candles, this was everyone's favourite part and all the kids would fight over who gets more. Candles even had to be relighted just so everyone else could blow out the candles (haha). But the birthday kid always got the first slice with the most chocolate bits. One birthday, I didn't get one of those cakes. Instead, I received a black forest cake from The Cheesecake Shop. It was just so different compared to the other cakes that it left a pretty big impression. Not to mention it was pretty tasty too.

I make this cake from time to time, without a proper recipe, but this time I measured out the ingredients and changed the standard whipped cream filling to a chocolate mousse and coconut whipped cream layer instead. The coconut whipped cream was actually inspired by Cadbury's cherry ripe, my favourite last minute check out counter impulse purchase. If chocolate, coconut and cherries taste good in a bar, it'll surely taste good in a cake, right? Right?! My dad and I liked the addition of the coconut, but my mum thinks it overpowers the cherries. 

Hrm, you decide.

I'm submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #32: World of Mousse Cake (June 2013) hosted by Han Ker of Hankerie. (Thank you for taking the time to host!)

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My Black Forest Cake    serves 6 - 8

Chocolate sponge     makes 1 x 15cm round cake

Adapted from Neil Perry’s simple coffee & cream sponge cake

30g self-raising flour

15g dutch cocoa powder

15g cornflour

2 large eggs

15g caster sugar for the egg whites + 50g caster sugar for the egg yolks
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
A pinch of sea salt
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

Grease and line a 15cm round baking tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 200C. 

Sift flour, cocoa powder and cornflour together four times and set aside. Separate all the eggs. 

Add a pinch of sea salt into the egg whites and whisk eggs until they reach soft peaks. Sift in the cream of tartar and whisk egg whites, gradually adding 15g of caster sugar until mixture becomes glossy and reaches stiff peak stage. When bowl is turned upside down, the egg whites should not slide and fall out. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 50g caster sugar and vanilla bean paste until mixture is thick and fluffy. Mixture should be pale yellow, thickened and reached ‘ribbon stage’ – when the whisk / beater is lifted and moved, the mixture should be able to form a ‘ribbon’ that will stay on the surface for a few seconds. 

Fold one-third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture to lighten. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and cornflour over the top and spread the remaining egg whites on top. Fold gently to combine. 

Transfer mixture into the baking tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Place the tin into the oven and reduce temperature to 170C. Bake for approximately 20 – 25 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted in the center. 

Allow sponge to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

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Chocolate mousse

120g dark chocolate, finely chopped

50ml thickened cream

150ml thickened cream, whipped to soft peaks

Melt dark chocolate and 50ml thickened cream in a double boiler / microwave and mix to combine. Allow to cool and whisk with an electric beater until fluffy. Gently fold into the whipped cream and refrigerate until required.

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Coconut* whipped cream

50g shredded coconut

150ml thickened cream + extra**

20g caster sugar

Toast shredded coconut at 150 degrees for 5 - 10 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a saucepan and pour in the thickened cream. Mix and bring to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow to cool completely. Strain cream as much as possible and top up with extra cream to make up 150ml. Refrigerate and when completely cool, whip with caster sugar until it is firm. Refrigerate until required.

*If you don't want coconut flavoured cream, simply whip cream with a dash of vanilla essence or 1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste.

**You will get around 70 - 80ml cream after the straining. Make sure to press the coconut against the strainer repeatedly with a back of the spoon to extract as much cream as possible.

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To assemble

1 x 15cm chocolate sponge

1 jar sweet / morello / griotte cherries (I like to use sweet cherries)

1 portion chocolate mousse and coconut whipped cream   

30g dark chocolate, finely chopped

30ml thickened cream

8 fresh cherries, washed

Drain the jar of cherries. Reduce the syrup in a saucepan by half and set aside to cool.

Cut the sponge into 3 equal slices.

Place the bottom slice onto a cake board / plate and brush the top with the reduced cherry syrup. Pipe or spread the chocolate mousse on top, leaving a 0.5 – 1 cm border around the edges. Top with a layer of drained jarred cherries.

Place the middle slice of the sponge on top and repeat the above step once, replacing the chocolate mousse with the coconut whipped cream. Top with the remaining cake slice.

Melt dark chocolate and thickened cream in a double boiler / microwave and mix to combine. Pour onto the top cake slice and use the back of the spoon to smooth. Top with fresh cherries. Place into a suitable container and chill before serving.

nostalgia

It was my mum's birthday a few days ago and unlike previous years, I decided to pay homage to her roots this year. 

The idea of the cake originated from the nostalgic value of the good ol' pandan chiffon cake or what my friends used to refer it to as the "fluffy green cake with the hole in the middle". I don't have a chiffon tin, so I decided to combine a pandan sponge with: gula melaka, kaya and coconut - flavours my mum grew up with, which was introduced to me early in life.

For the sponge cake, I took a risk and used a different  recipe. I adapted it from a recipe I saw on Good Food and fortunately for me, it turned out quite fluffy. A +1 from my mum!

The recipe is long but I think it's worth it, especially the gula melaka cream! Come to think of it, I would prefer gula melaka over maple syrup any day. Coconut pancakes/waffles with gula melaka syrup anyone?

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Pandan sponge cake with gula melaka cream & kaya     serves 8

Pandan sponge cake     makes 1 x 20cm round cake
Adapted from Neil Perry’s simple coffee & cream sponge cake

By the way, I found this pictorial guide on sponge cake egg beating that might be helpful for first time sponge cake bakers determine what "soft/stiff peaks" or "ribbon stage" means. Good luck!

95g self-raising flour
25g cornflour
4 large eggs (I used eggs straight from the fridge)
15g caster sugar for the egg whites + 100g caster sugar for the egg yolks
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
A pinch of sea salt
1 tsp pandan paste (koepoe koepoe brand)

Grease and line a 20cm round baking tin with baking paper. Preheat oven to 200C. 

Sift flour and cornflour together four times and set aside. Separate all the eggs. 

Add a pinch of sea salt into the egg whites and whisk eggs until they reach soft peaks. Sift in the cream of tartar and whisk egg whites, gradually adding 15g of caster sugar until mixture becomes glossy and reaches stiff peak stage. When bowl is turned upside down, the egg whites should not slide and fall out. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with 100g caster sugar and pandan paste until mixture is thick and fluffy. Mixture should be pale green, thickened and reached ‘ribbon stage’ – when the whisk / beater is lifted and moved, the mixture should be able to form a ‘ribbon’ that will stay on the surface for a few seconds. 

Fold one-third of the egg whites into the yolk mixture to lighten. Sift the flour and cornflour over the top and spread the remaining egg whites over the top. Fold gently to combine. 

Transfer mixture into the baking tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon. Place the tin into the oven and reduce temperature to 170C. Bake for approximately 25 – 30 minutes or until skewer comes out clean when inserted in the centre. 

Allow sponge to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

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Gula melaka cream     makes approximately 700ml

80g good-quality gula melaka* (palm sugar)
50ml water
600ml thickened cream

Chop or grate gula melaka into small pieces (I was able to ‘shave’ it with a knife, so the texture resembled brown sugar). Transfer to a small saucepan with the water and dissolve over low heat to make a thick syrup, adding more water if necessary to dissolve the sugar. Allow to cool completely. If sugar slightly hardens whilst cooling, give it a good stir to turn it back into a syrup. 

Whip cream until it has reached soft peaks stage. Add the gula melaka syrup and whip cream until sugar is combined thoroughly and has reached stiff peaks stage. Be careful not to over whip the cream. 

If you like, transfer two-thirds of the cream into a piping bag with a star tip.

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To assemble

1 x 20cm pandan sponge cake
Sugar syrup*, as required
Kaya (coconut jam; we like Glory brand), as required
700ml gula melaka cream
Toasted shredded coconut, as required

After slicing away the top browned part of the sponge cake, divide and cut sponge into 3 equal slices. 

Place the bottom slice onto a cake board and brush the top with sugar syrup. Spread a thin layer of kaya over the sponge and then pipe or spread one-third of the gula melaka cream on top, leaving a 0.5 – 1 cm border around the edges. 

Place the middle slice of the sponge on top of the cream and repeat the above step twice. Sprinkle the top layer with some toasted shredded coconut. Place into a suitable container and chill before serving. 

*Equal portions of sugar and water dissolved over heat.

wild dinosaur rumpus

Finished all my essays earlier in the week and took a study break to see M, who'll be taking up an internship in country Victoria during the break. I wanted to have lunch at Koko Yee, but was surprised to see the Es Teller 77 signage. Must've been changed for a while as I haven't walked down that side of Lonsdale Street in a while. Nevertheless, we both wanted to try the food at Es Teller 77. M had the mie goreng and I had the ayam bakar (not pictured).

After seeing M off, I visited my aunts and uncles and saw the chicken pox infested little guy who thought photo bombing was fun before settling down to stack dinosaurs and chairs.

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Es Teller 77
282 Lonsdale Street
Melbourne 3000

oeufs en cocotte

We recently bought this Spanish style spice grinder at Aldi and I've been using it to season eggs and roast potatoes at home. Both smell and taste amazing when they are combined effortlessly in a cocotte. Traditionally, cream is added into the dish, but I don't think it's worth going out to get a pot of cream when you only need a spoonful at most.

From experiment, the yolk sets but is still runny at around the 10 minute mark, but the whites will take another 3-5 minutes to set. At around the 17-20 minute mark, the yolk is fully cooked through. Alternatively, open your oven door constantly to check.

I tried making a non-spicy version of mapo tofu for dinner last night and as usual, my seasoning is always on the bland side. I'll definitely be more generous with the seasoning next time!

On a non-food related note, the Dumb Ways to Die app is pretty fun. Great for procrastination. No Candy Crush nonsense here (hah!).

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Oeufs en Cocotte (baked eggs)     serves 2

2 handfuls of baby spinach, washed and drained
1/2 chorizo, sliced into 8 pieces
1 small potato, peeled and diced
1/2 tomato, de-seeded (if you like) and sliced
2 large eggs
Spanish spice or sea salt and black pepper
coriander, for garnish (optional)

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees celcius. Lightly grease two cocottes*. 

Blanch spinach, squeeze dry and set aside. Cook chorizo on a non-stick pan until browned on both sides, remove and add the potato cubes. Fry until they are soft in the middle and season generously with Spanish spice or salt and black pepper.

Divide spinach, chorizo, potato and tomato equally among the cocottes and crack an egg into each one. Cover** cocottes and bake until the egg is to your liking (see above for cooking time notes). 

Season with Spanish spice or black pepper and garnish with a leaf of coriander before serving with a slice of toast.

*If you don't have a cocotte, use a ramekin and cover with foil.

** The first time I made these (baked in a tomato!) the yolk started to cook faster than the whites, therefore I recommend covering the cocotte with the lid.

pancake flipper

The last day of semester one concluded with an oral exam. It was nice being able to catch up with my friends and a few classmates whom I didn't have a chance to talk to during the semester. Somehow, the awkwardness just disappears on the last day. A fair few of us are in our final year and topics included things we wanted to do after graduation and if we were ready for exams. Of course, the "omg, you don't have a facebook?!" debacle was brought up once again. Unlike previous years, I have a few friends graduating in the coming months and it'll be a little bit sad knowing I won't see them in class next semester. Nevertheless, all the best! 

I still have three, two thousand word essays to write and an exam to study for, but the end of semester one calls for a little celebration with a tower of pancakes! I usually use my recipe for pancakes, but I wanted to give Rose Carrarini's ricotta pancakes in Breakfast Lunch Tea, another go. I made it a couple? of years ago and it didn't really work out. I must have done something wrong then because they were excellent this time round! 

The only adjustments I made was using packaged ricotta cheese as opposed to using the ones from the deli and adding 50g more ricotta since I didn't want to leave a bit rotting away in the fridge. Both recipes yield almost the same results, so maybe I'll just leave these for special occasions.

There's another version of these pancakes in Rose Carrarini's new cookbook How to Boil an Egg and you can find them over here. 

Happy flipping!