Double Chocolate Butter Chiffon Cake

This is a spin off from Enne’s version which is baked in a normal round pan. I used a tube pan and did the slit at the 25 mins mark before continue baking till cooked. Slitting the top ensures clean cracks on the surface for a nicer look. If you are not the OCD type, just omit this step.

Double Chocolate Butter Chiffon
Recipe adapted from Enne Ty’s cocoa butter sponge

Ingredients:
4 yolks (average 65g with shell)
55g unsalted butter
65g milk
20g castor sugar
60g cake flour
10g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
Pinch of soda bicarbonate
Pinch of salt
35g cooking chocolate
4 whites
45g castor sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Tube Pan size: 17cm

Method:-
1) Preheat oven to 160C. Sift flour and cocoa powder together with soda and salt.
2) Melt chocolate in the microwave.
3) Next melt butter in microwave for 40 seconds with half the milk.
4) Pour hot melted butter/milk into sifted flour/cocoa mixture
5) Mix with spatula and add balance milk followed by yolks, 20g sugar and melted chocolate. Set aside.
6) Beat the whites till foamy before adding cream of tartar and then gradually add the balance 45g sugar. Beat till firm peaks.
7) Fold meringue into yolks batter in 3 portions till well incorporated.
8) Slowly pour batter pan from a height. This will help to break bigger bubbles as they flow into the pan. Place the tube pan into another seamless pan of slightly bigger size and place this into a shallow tray holding about half a cup of room temperature water. The water helps to regulate temperature and keep the cake moist.
9) Bake at 160deg for 90 mins top n bottom heat on the lowest rack.
10) When cake is done remove and invert immediately to cool.

Chocolate Muffins (eggless)

I baked this out of curiosity taste-wise and got surprised. It was just as good as those recipes with eggs, if not better. Using buttermilk helps to keep the texture moist and the ganache in the center makes it even more delicious. I used non-dairy whipped cream mixed with cream cheese for the frosting, but personally, without the frosting is good enough for me. I find that the taste is just like cupcakes even though they’re muffins.

Chocolate muffins (eggless) (Recipe yields 6 pieces of 14cm muffins)

107 grams plain flour

100g grams Castor Sugar

20 grams Cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon Baking soda + 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon Salt

120g full cream UHT Milk mix with 1 tsp vinegar and let the mixture rest 10 mins to make buttermilk

60g vegetable oil

1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract

Instructions:

1 Preheat oven 170 degree C and line your muffin pan with liners.

2 Sieve all dry ingredients (EXCEPT sugar) together into a large bowl. Set aside.

3 In another bowl, add granulated sugar to milk and vinegar mixture (buttermilk) and whip with hand whisk until the sugar dissolved. Add in the oil and mix thoroughly.

4 Mix liquid in the dry ingredients with hand whisk only till the batter is mixed and not too lumpy but do not over mix or your muffins will be hard. Scoop batter into prepared muffin liners.

5 Bake in pre-heated oven on centre rack for about 15-20 minutes or till a skewer inserted in centre comes out with just a bit crumbs.

6 Remove from oven and cool the muffins on a wire rack completely before frosting.

Chocolate ganache: heat up 50g of whipping cream before adding 50g of cooking chocolate chips in. Let it stand a couple of minutes before stirring until chocolate is fully melted. Chill it well before use.

Frosting: whip up 100g of non-dairy whipping cream until stiff. Separately, cream 50g of cream cheese with 20g of butter and 10g icing sugar until creamy before mixing into the whipping cream. You can omit the cream cheese if you like. Use this to frost the muffins.

Assemble: cut a hole in each muffin and pipe in some ganache before closing back the cut-out piece. Pipe frosting on top.

Enjoy!

Chocolate cake with ganache

As mentioned previously, chocolate cakes have a tendency to go bubbly during mixing in of meringue. This method of warming up the oil a bit before adding flour and cocoa powder to mix seems to work in preventing the batter from going bubbly. Do give it a try and see if it works for you too. Do not reduce the sugar as this is a very low sugar cake as I wanted to add the ganache.

Chocolate Sponge Cake (cooked dough method)

by Jeannie Tay

35g plain flour + 15g cocoa powder (Sift together)

40g vegetable oil

60g full cream Milk

3 large egg yolk

1/8 tsp salt

10g sugar

3 egg whites

40g sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar or substitute with 1 tsp lemon juice

6″ round pan, bottom lined with parchment but do not line or grease the sides.

Method:

Place oil in a sauce pan and heat it up to just warm (about 65-70C). Remove from fire and add in the flour mixture and handwhisk until smooth. Add milk to the mixture followed by the egg yolks, sugar and salt. Mix until you achieve a smooth batter. Cover and set aside.
In a dry and oil free bowl, place egg whites and start whisking at high speed until frothy. Add cream of tartar and continue to whisk while adding the sugar gradually. Lower the speed once the meringue is beginning to look fine and glossy. Stop at very firm peaks.
Incorporate the meringue into the yolk batter in 3-4 batches gently with a hand held whisk. Once the final batch is added, switch to a spatula and keep folding gently until no more streaks can be seen.
Transfer to baking pan and place this pan into a slightly bigger pan. Then place these into another bigger pan (note: make sure the pans are leak-proof). Pour tap water (I used room temperature as I forgot to heat up some in advance!) into the largest pan up to about 1 cm deep and bake in preheated oven at 150C for 30 minutes then reduce temperature to 140C and continue baking for another hour or until the cake springs back when you gently press the top. There should not be much squishing sound when pressed. Note that temperature and timing defers with each oven, so adjust accordingly.
Remove from oven and unmold as soon as you can. Cool on rack before serving or frosting.

I made a simple ganache using 1:1 ratio of whipping cream and cooking chocolate.

Chocolate cake with ganache

This recipe is a spin off from the previous post here as I do not have evaporated milk. I also reduced the sugar for a less sweet cake. I think it balanced well with the ganache. Used some ganache to coat a couple of tablespoons of granola and let it set in fridge before using it as topping on the cake.

Ingredients :~

• 50g all purpose flour
• 25g dark cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 90g salted butter
• 60g castor sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 90 ml full cream milk

Method :~ 

1. Sift together all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla essence.
4. Add milk and flour mixture alternately and gradually; continue beating using low speed until done and fully incorporated. Scrape the sides with a cake spatula.
5. Pour batter in a 15cm (6 inch) lined cake tin, bake for 30-35 minutes at 170 deg C (oven temp may vary).
6. The cake is done when a skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
7. Cool on a wire rack before applying ganache.

GANACHE

150g chocolate chips (Callebaut)
150g whipping cream

Heat cream till just boiled and pour into chocolate. Place bowl in hot water and continuously stir to melt the chocolate. Place in fridge to cool (not to set) before spreading over the cake and letting it drip to the sides. Topped with chocolate coated granola if you wish and chill well before slicing. Enjoy!

Chocolate Swiss roll cake

I am surprised why it took me so long to include a chocolate version of Swiss roll recipe in this blog. So here it is; a simple recipe with just whipped non-dairy cream as filling. Tasters approved. I used 4 eggs ingredients to baked in an 11 x 9 inches pan for the cake shown here.

Ingredients:-

4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

25g Oil

45g milk

45g Cake flour + 20g cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

20g castor sugar

4 Egg whites

40g Castor Sugar

Method:

Mix egg yolks, oil, sugar and milk together and whisk until blended. Sift flour and cocoa powder together with salt and mix into the yolk batter until smooth. Set aside.

Beat the egg whites till foamy, add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff peak. You may add a pinch of cream of tartar to whip the meringue if you wish.

Add 1/3 meringue into the yolk mixture, stir with a hand whisk until batter is lightened then add 1/3 more of meringue and continue to fold until combined.

Add the final portion then switch to spatula to fold gently until batter is smooth and no streaks can be seen. Pour into prepared pan (I used 9″x 11″ pan); smooth out the top by shaking the pan from side to side. Give it a few tabs on the table top to remove big bubbles. Bake in preheated oven on the rack  above the centre rack, at 180C for 10mins, then switch the tray inside out and continue baking another 3-4 mins or until golden brown.

Remove the cake and immediately invert on a rack lined with a clean piece of parchment paper. Peel off paper lining and leave it to cool on a clean piece of parchment paper on a cooling rack.

Once cooled, apply whipped cream and roll up. Chill well before slicing and serve.

• 

Moist Chocolate Cake with ganache

A very moist and rich chocolate cake for chocolate lovers. Recipe credit to @love2cook. I halved the recipe (measurements in brackets) and baked in two 6” round pans for a 2-layer cake with whipped ganache instead of pouring.

Ingredients :~

• 100g all purpose flour (50g)
• 50g dark cocoa powder (25g)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder (1/4 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (1/4 tsp)
• 180g salted butter (90g)
• 180g castor sugar (I reduced to 160g) (80g)
• 2 large eggs (1)
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 200 ml evaporated milk (100g)

Method :~ 

1. Sift together all purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and baking soda.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until pale.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla essence.
4. Add evaporated milk and flour mixture alternately and gradually; continue beating using low speed until done and fully incorporated. Scrape the sides with a cake spatula.
5. Pour batter in a 20cm lined cake tin, bake for 45 minutes at 170 deg C (oven temp may vary). For half recipe in two 6” round pans, I baked for 30mins.
6. The cake is done when a skewer or toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
7. Cool on a wire rack before applying ganache.

GANACHE

150g chocolate, chopped
75g whipping cream

Heat cream till just boiled and pour into chocolate. Place bowl in hot water and continuously stir to melt the chocolate. Place in fridge to cool (not to set) before whipping till colour turns lighter and consistency is thick, creamy and spreadable.