Swedish Ring Bread

This is a very pretty, tasty and moist bread that I will definitely make again. It is a ring bread with ground almond and dried fruit mixture filling in it. I am sure it will be equally delicious with other fillings that the baker's fancy. I already planned to bake this again next week, with ham and cheese filling to turn it into a savoury bread. Is the original sweet version better or will the ham-cheese version win more support? I will  let my residential food tasters to be the judge. :)

This recipe came from "The Essential Baking Cookbook" that I brought from the book store few months back at a very good discount. Given that this first recipe that I have tried from this book turned out so well-received, I will definitely refer to this book more often and put it into good use.

Recipe for Swedish Ring Bread

For the bread:

• 7g dried yeast
• 2 tbsp warm water
• 170ml milk
• 60g unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tbsp caster sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 cups plain flour (I used a mixture of bread and plain flour)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1 egg yolk, mixed with 1 tbsp water (for egg wash)

For the filling:

• 30g unsalted butter
• 1 tbsp caster sugar
• 100g ground almond
• 95g mixed dried fruit
• 100g glace cherries, cut in halves ( I replaced this with another 100g of dried mixed fruit)

Methods:

1. Dissolve yeast in 2 tablespoons of warm water in a bowl. Leave aside for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on the surface and the mixture is frothy.
2. Heat the milk, butter, sugar and 1/2 tsp salt in a saucepan until just warmed.
3. Sift 250g of the flour into a large bowl. Add the yeast and milk mixture and beaten egg and mix to a smooth batter.
4. Add the remaining flour to make a soft dough. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Place the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and brush the dough with oil. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel and leave in a warm place for 1 hour, or until well risen.
6. Meanwhile, to make the filling, cream the butter and sugar, then mix in the almonds and mixed fruits. Set aside.
7. Punch the dough down and give it a knead for 1 minute. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a 10 x 18 inch (25 x 45 cm) rectangle. Spread the filling over the dough, leaving 2 cm border.
8. Roll up into a log and carefully bend it to form a ring with the seam underneath. use a little egg wash mixture to seal the ends together.
9. Place the ring on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Use a scissors to snip the outside edge of the ring at about 4 cm intervals. Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for 45 minutes or until well risen.
10. Preheat oven at 175 degree C. Brush the ring with some egg wash mixture. Bake for 25 minutes or until film and golden. Cover with foil if the ring is browning too much.
11. Remove from oven leave it to cool down (this is the moment when all of us in the house could not resist the sweet and fresh aroma from the bead, especially my daughter who was doing her homework at the dinning table, right in front of the bread)

The bread is still so soft and aromatic in the next morning when we had it for breakfast. Brought a section to share with my fellow colleagues during afternoon tea time. They like it very much too.One of them even ask for a slice to bring home for her mum to try. This is how good it tasted :) 

Sweet Potato Pie topped with Golden-Toasted Mashmallows

I had wanted to make sweet potato pie for very long. There were several times when I bought a bag of sweet potato home with the intention to bake a pie but  I never realised the plan, until 2 weekends ago. Finally, I made this lovely Sweet Potato Pie with golden-toasted marshmallows on top.

I used purple sweet potatoes and got a nice purple colored pie.

Recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour, with slight modification.

Sweet Potato Pie

Ingredients:

For Pie Crust:

141g plain flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

85g cold unsalted butter, cubed

60g cold orange juice

For Pie Filling:

454g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

57g water

2 large eggs

80g firmly packed light or dark brown sugar

170g cream

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground allspice

some chopped crystallized ginger (optional)

For Topping:

enough marshmallows to cover the whole pie

Methods:

For the crust:

1. Whisk together flours, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes, and work it into the dry ingredients using a pastry blender until the mixture is unevenly crumbly. Sprinkle in the orange juice a tablespoon at a time, continuing to mix until the dough can hold together.
2. Pat the dough into a disk and wrap it using cling film. Refrigerate it for at least an hour.

For the filling:

1. Steam the sweet potatoes until soft and mash them. You should have about 1 1/4 cups of mashed sweet potato.
2. Mix the mashed sweet potatoes with the eggs, sugar, cream, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and allspice.

To assemble:

1. Pre-heat oven to 220 degree C.
2. Roll out the crust to a 12" circle. Transfer it to a pie pan, and trim the edges.
3. Sprinkle the chopped ginger into the pie base. Pour the filling over, and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Reduce the oven temperature to 190 degree C and bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Remove the pie from the oven and cover the top with the marshmallows. Return the pie to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the top is golden and a knife inserted into the pie comes out clean.

Note: I was too greedy and stuffed too much marshmallows as toppings, not expecting them to be fluffy and expanded to much after baking. there was an overflow of marshmallows which covered up the pie crust. It will be a neater and prettier pie if I had reduced the marshmallows quantity.

Strawberry Yoghurt & Jelly Cake - Birthday Celebration

My elder girl turned 12 yesterday As she is sitting for her PSLE (Primary School Leaving Exam) this week, she did not invite her friends to celebrate with her at home like the past years. Instead, we just brought her, her sister and cousin for her favourite Japanese BBQ dinner. She enjoyed herself very much. Besides getting to eat her favourite Japanese food, it was also because she has finally taken her the Maths exam in the morning. Maths is her weakest subject and she felt that for the PSLE this time, she has done relatively better than her school prelim for the same subject, phew!

Even though there is no party this year, I still baked her a cake. What is birthday with no birthday cake?

She loves strawberries. Hence, I baked her this Strawberry Yoghurt and Jelly Cake. It was a pleasant surprise to her. She loved the pretty design (though I think I definitely need more brushing up in my cake decoration skills) and the refreshing, light yoghurt filling. Each of the 3 kids asked for 2 servings each :)

I adapted the recipe from Happy Home Baking's Peach and Mango Yoghurt Cake. I had baked the Peach and Mango Yoghurt Cake using this same recipe 2 years ago for hubby's birthday and find it very good. Hence, decided to use the same recipe but replaced mango and peach with strawberry instead. And, this time, it is still so good.

Strawberry Yoghurt & Jelly Cake

Adapted from Happy Home Baking

Ingredients:

(makes one 18cm cake)

For the sponge cake:

• 100g cake flour
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 80g caster sugar
• 20g unsalted butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons fresh milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the filling:

• 30g caster sugar
• 350g strawberry flavoured yoghurt
• 250g non-dairy whipping cream
• 1.5 tablespoon gelatin powder
• 3 tablespoons (45ml) water
• 4-5 strawberries, diced

For the jelly layer:

• 0.5 package of konnyaku jelly powder
• 500ml water
• 2 tbsp sugar

Method:

To make the sponge cake:

1. Sift cake flour, set aside. Line the sides and bottom of an 18cm (7 inches) round pan with parchment paper, set aside. Pre-heat oven to 170degC. Position rack at the lower bottom of the oven.
2. With an electric mixer, whisk eggs and sugar on HIGH speed for about 5 to 7 mins, until the batter double in volume and is ribbon-like (the beater should leave a ribbon-like trail when the batter is lifted up). Turn to LOW speed and whisk for another 1 to 2 mins. Whisking at low speed helps to stabilise the air bubbles in the batter.
3. Add sifted cake flour into the batter in 3 separate additions. Gently fold in the flour with a spatula each time the flour is added. Take care not to deflate the batter.
4. Add the melted butter, fold with spatula until well blended.
5. Add in fresh milk, vanilla extract and fold in gently with spatula.
6. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30~35 mins, or until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean. Unmold and invert onto cooling rack, remove parchment paper and let cool completely.

  

To make the filling:

1. Measure water into a bowl and sprinkle in the gelatin (without stirring with a spoon). Set aside to allow the gelatin grains to swell (10 mins) before setting the bowl over a pot of simmering hot water. Stir with a spoon and once the gelatin melts, remove the bowl from the pot and set aside to cool to room temperature.
2. Mix sugar, yoghurt until the mixture becomes smooth.
3. With an electric mixer, whisk non-dairy whipping cream till stiff. Fold in the whipped cream to the yoghurt mixture. Blend thoroughly.
4. Add in the gelatin solution to the mixture, mix well.

To assemble:

1. Slice the cake horizontally into 3 layers. For each layer, trim away the sides by about 2~3mm, so that the resulting layers are slightly smaller than 18cm. (This is to make sure the yoghurt filling can cover the sides of the sponge layer. I did not trim the cake. Instead, I used a cake pan with removable base which is slightly bigger than the cake).
2. Place one layer of the sponge cake into the cake pan. Spread a layer of yoghurt filling on the sponge layer. Scatter some diced strawberry on top. Place the second cake later on top and repeat with the filling and diced strawberry. Place the last layer of sponge cake and spread the remaining filling on the surface evenly. Pour the remaining yoghurt filling around the side of the cake. Gently tap/bang the pan on the table to remove any empty air pockets in between the sponge layers and the filling. Leave the cake to chill in the fridge for at least 3 - 4 hours (I left it overnight).
3. Pepare 500ml of clear konnyaku jelly according to package's instruction. Let cool a bit then carefully pour jelly solution over the cake to create the jelly layer. Let the jelly firm up in the fridge before taking it out. Unmold and decorate it with strawberry slices. Keep the cake in the fridge until ready to service. before serve.

I stumbled on The Power of Pink Challenge started by Beantownbaker, calling for bloggers to make something Pink as a way to promote Breast Cancer Awareness. My daughter suggested that I submit this Pink Cake's post to particpate. So here is my entry to The Power of Pink. 

Soft Pretzels

I baked these chewy and soft pretzels on Sunday for our afternoon tea time. It has been a long while since I made pretzels. Hubby and the daughters missed them so much, especially  my elder girl. Her comment after taking her first bite was "This is the taste!"

This pretzel recipe uses cooking oil instead of butter. Thus, a healthier version that I always go to for soft pretzels.

 

I doubled the recipe and yield 14 pretzels.
  
Soft Pretzels
(Adapted from Sugarlaws)

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/4 tsp Pinch of sugar
• 2/3 cup warm water
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tbsp caster sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp canola oil

• 3 tbsp baking soda
• 1 cup hot water (around 60 degree C)

• 1 tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
• Cinnamon Sugar (1 tbsp caster sugar mixed with 1 tsp ground cinnamon)

Directions:

1. Dissolve yeast into water with a pinch of sugar, let stand 10 minutes, until the mixture is creamy colored.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt in a mixing bowl. Add canola oil and yeast mixture. Knead until combined (about 5-10 minutes).  Let the dough rise in a greased bowl until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
3. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.  When the dough has risen, pinch into small 14 balls with hand and roll each of the balls into a long strand.  Set aside.  Repeat with the rest of the dough.
4. Next, pick up the first one and pull to stretch it longer (the gluten will have relaxed at this point and thus allow it elastic to stretch longer).
5. Twist each of the stretched strand dough into a pretzel shape and place it on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
6. Dissolve baking soda into hot water and stir until dissolved.  Quickly dip each rolled pretzel into the mixture and place it back on the baking sheet.  Bake for about 8 minutes, until pretzels have browned.
7. Once they are taken out from the over, brush the top of the hot pretzels with the melted butter, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar on top.

Best enjoy while warm or reheat in microwave oven again if serving later. Serve with caramel sauce for dipping.

Steamed Sponge Cake - Ma La Gao (马拉糕)

Ma-La-Gao (马拉糕) - I grew up eating these steamed sponge cakes made by my grandma and mummy. I remember how much I enjoyed helping them to whip the egg and sugar batter with a hand whisk. Today, with modern kitchen equipment, the egg batter can be effortlessly whipped up to light and creamy stage in a few minutes using a mixer. This is my first attempt making this. Daughters and hubby love the moist and spongy texture of the cake. I will make another one soon for my mummy who has not make this for many years as she doesn't owe a mixer.

Ma-La-Gao (马拉糕) Recipe

(adapted from Mykitchensnippets)

Ingredients:

(A) 5 eggs, 140 g Castor sugar (reduced from 200g)

(B) 100ml canola oil, 130 ml milk

(C) 280g plain flour, 4 tbsp Horlick powder (instead of custard powder), 2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt

Method:

1. Sieve together the dry ingredients in (C) in a bowl and set aside.
2. Using a electric mixer on medium / high speed, whisk (A) until light and creamy.
3. Fold in (B) and then (C), mix on low speed until well combined.
4. Pour cake batter into a well greased 8" round pan and steam it on high heat for 30 mins or until skewer comes out clean when tested. (mine needed an extra 10 min  before the centre part of the cake was fully cooked).

Simple and yummy!

Puff Pastry Egg Tarts

When I woke up from my afternoon nap last weekend (my favourite weekend activity :)), my elder daughter said that she has a craving for egg tarts. As she is preparing for her PSLE exam which is coming up in 2 weeks' time, I will try to cook / bake her any request that she makes. This is the best support I can give her since I can't sit for the exam on her behalf :P

Since it is already near evening, I couldn't effort the time to prepare the tart shells from scratch. Hence, I turn to store-bought puff pastry sheet, prepared the egg custard using my favorite egg tarts recipe and baked these quick and nice puff pastry egg tarts. My daughter loved them!

Steamed Green Tea Cupcakes with Azuki Beans

I like to try out the various kind of steam cake recipes as most (not all) of them do not require oil or butter. Hence, they are much healthier and lighter, compared to the usual oven-baked cakes.

Few days ago, I found this recipe in a magazine I picked up from the bookstore, I bookmarked it immediately and got these little green cakes whipped up the next day.

 

This Green Tea Cupcakes recipe came from the husband and wife team - Sam and Forest Leong's latest cookbook titled "Home Cooking with Same and Forest". Their original recipe which is featured in the  magazine is without Azuki beans. To complete the Japanese theme of these cakes, I added cooked red bean (Azuki Bean for the Japanese). As the azuki bean paste is already sweetened, I cut down on the sugar amount to 150g which in my opinion, could be further reduced for those without a sweet-tooth, like me. However, if without the azuki beans added, 150g of sugar should suffice.

The cake is very soft and spongy. Yummy!

Steamed Green Tea Cupcakes with Azuki Beans

Ingredients:

• 260g cake flour
• 1 tbsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp green tea powder
• 2 eggs
• 220g castor sugar (I reduced to 150g)
• 3/4 tbsp sponge cake stabiliser (Ovalette)
• 125ml evaporated milk (I used low fat milk)
• 1 tsp lime juice (I used lemon juice)
• 150ml water
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g canned azuki beans

Methods:

1. Sift flour, baking powder, and green tea powder together in a large bowl.
2. In another bowl, beat eggs, sugar and sponge cake stabilizer until light and fluffy.
3. Add milk, lime juice, vanilla extract and half the water. Beat until smooth.
4. Add flour mixture and the remaining water. Mix well.
5. Stir in the azuki beans and mix to combine.
6. Spoon the mixture into cupcake cases and steam over low to medium heat for 20 minutes.