Gula Melaka Chiffon

Gula Melaka Chiffon is one of my favourite flavors for chiffon cakes. If you are thinking of making this, please use a very good quality gula melaka. The genuine ones are very soft and easy to cut through. Good ones can be found in online shops these days too. Add some pandan leaves to melt with the gula melaka and coconut milk for that extra fragrant.

By Jeannie Tay

Ingredients:-

5 eggs yolks

50g corn oil

85g plain flour or cake flour

1/4 tsp salt

45g coconut milk.

40g pure gula melaka

5 eggs whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar (may replace with 1 tsp lemon juice or vinegar)

40g sugar

Method:

1. Melt gula melaka with coconut milk and a piece of pandan leaf. Strain into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly before adding the oil and yolks and mix well.

2. Add sifted flour and mix with a hand whisk until combined. Set aside.

3. Beat the egg whites until foamy then gradually add sugar to beat until very firm peaks form.

4. Add 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter and using the hand whisk to mix until combined. Add the next 1/3 portion and whisk again. Finally, add the last portion, whisk briefly before switching to spatula to scoop the batter from bottom and fold up on to the batter to make sure all are combined and no more yolk batter can be seen.

5. Pour into an 17cm tube pan and place it into another seamless pan before placing these into a shallow water bath. Bake at 160C for 30 mins or until the top of the cake is beginning to brown. Remove it carefully and slit the top. Continue to bake for another 50-60 mins. Water bath should be drying up towards the end of the baking time.

6. Once cooked, invert immediately to cool completely before unmolding.

Taiwan Old fashion sponge cake

Revisiting this old fashion sponge cake that was so popular many years back. I was baking this almost every other week until I got bored and forgotten about it! Flipping through my phone, I found the old recipe and decided to try baking it again.

Taiwan old fashion sponge cake

• Ingredient A:
• 50g Corn oil

• 6 Egg yolks (from large eggs about 65g with shell)
• 90g Cake flour

• 90ml Fresh milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Ingredient B:
• 6 Egg white
• 90g Castor sugar

• 1/4 tsp Cream of Tartar OR 1/2 lemon juice
• Optional: 4 pieces cheese slices or some grated cheese for topping

METHOD:
Preheat oven to 170C, second lowest rack. Line the bottom of a 7” square pan. Do not grease the sides.

• In a large mixing bowl, hand whisk egg yolks, oil and milk until pale and well combined then sift in the flour and mix until smooth. Cover n Set aside.
• In another clean dry bowl (make sure it’s oil free too!) use an electric whisk (or stand mixer if you have one) whisk the egg white until foamy before adding cream of tartar/lemon juice. Continue whisking until thick foams before slowly adding sugar and continue whisking until firm peaks form.
• Fold meringue into egg yolks batter gently, 1/3 portion at a time until you get a nice creamy batter that can be poured into your cake pan easily. You can use a hand whisk to fold in the meringue and at the end, switch to a spatula to scrap the bottom of the batter and fold up gently to ensure even mixing of the meringue into yolk batter.
• Pour half the cake batter into the pan, then place the cheese slices gently on top; lay the cheddar slices on top. Top up with remaining half batter and lastly add shredded cheddar cheese on the top. if using. Bake in a water bath for 20 minutes at 170C before reducing the temperature to 150C and continue to bake for another hour or until cake is cooked. Please take note that temperature and timing is only indicative here.
• De-pan immediately and allow to cook before slicing.

Gula Melaka Ogura

This cake was trending a few years ago and everyone wanted to try baking one because of the beautiful smooth top and soft, moist texture. It’s similar to sponge cakes or chiffon cakes except it’s much more moist and delicate. It’s also very difficult to get it right because it tends to crack if baking temperature is not right. Hence the use of water bath to regulate the heat in the oven. Let’s get started.

Gula Melaka Ogura by Jeannie Tay

Ingredients:
A
egg yolk ~ 100g (about 5 eggs)
whole egg 1
salt ~ 1/4 tsp
corn oil ~ 60g
liquid palm sugar ~ 70g
coconut milk (santan) – 20g
superfine flour ~ 75g

B
egg white ~ 200g (from 5 eggs)
castor sugar ~ 40g
lemon juice ~ 1 tsp or 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

utensil :
7″square pan or 8″ round pan – use the normal pan and line the bottom only.

Instructions for yolk batter:
1. Beat the egg yolk, whole egg, salt, corn oil, palm sugar and coconut milk until combined.
2. Sift in flour, then mix it well. Set aside.

Instructions for egg whites and baking:
1. Beat egg white, lemon juice and castor sugar until firm peaks form.
2. Mix into egg yolk batter, 1/3 portion of the meringue at a time , first use a hand whisk to mix gently and at the end, switch to spatula to scoop the batter from bottom to fold up. Keep doing this until no streaks can be seen.
3. Pour the mixture into prepared pan, shaking gently from side to side to even out the top.
4. Put pan into a shallow pan and put these into another larger pan and filled up with room temperature water. Bake with preheated oven at 160’C for 30 min then turn down to 150’C for 30 min. Temperature and baking time are indicatives only.
5. Once baked, remove from the pan immediately. If the bottom is still slightly wet, invert the cake on a silpat and bake it at 120C for 10 minutes to dry it out. That means you bake it without the pan, putting the cake top side up directly on the silpat. Once done, transfer to a rack and cool completely before slicing.

Cheese Sponge Cake

A light cheese sponge cake for those who do not like too strong cheese taste in their sponge cakes.

Ingredients:
(makes one 7″ square or 8″ round cake)
125g cream cheese, cut into cubes
60g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
5 egg yolks (55g eggs)
125g milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
75g cake flour
30g corn flour
5 egg whites
130g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

1. Line the base and sides of a cake pan with parchment paper.
2. Sieve together cake flour and corn flour and set aside.
3. Melt cream cheese, salt and butter in a double boiler, stirring until mixture is lump free. Remove from heat and add the milk to temper.
4. Add the egg yolks and whisk to combine.
5. Add vanilla extract and whisk again.
6. Finally, add the sifted flours, and whisk the batter until fully incorporated. Set aside.
7. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites until frothy and foamy, add cream of tartar and continue to beat until foamy before gradually adding sugar and beating to soft peaks.
8. Add the beaten egg whites to the cream cheese mixture in 3 separate additions until the batter is even and no streaks of white are visible.
9. Pour batter into the prepared cake pan and lightly run a skewer around the batter to remove big bubbles. Shake the pan lightly from side to side to level up the top.
10. Place cake pan in a baking tray filled with hot water and bake on the lowest rack at 160C for 20 mins then lower to 150C and continue baking for 60-70 minutes.
11. Unmould the cake immediately and peel off the parchment paper on the side of the cake. Then invert the cake and peel off the liner and reinvert it back onto a rack to cool completely before slicing.

Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake

This passion fruit chiffon cake is very fragrant and refreshing, making it a favorite amongst my eaters. Passion fruits need to wait till very wrinkled before using otherwise they would be too sour.

Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake

by Jeannie Tay

Ingredients:
5 yolks (average whole egg with shell size: 60-65g)
50g corn oil
20g sugar
75g freshly squeezed passion fruit juice (include some of the seeds)
90g cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 whites
60g castor sugar (reduce this if your juice is sweet)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
17cm tube pan

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C.

1. In a large bowl, mix together yolks, oil, juice, 20g sugar and salt until combined. Add in sifted flour, mix until smooth and set aside.
2. In a clean dry bowl, add the egg whites and whip until foamy before adding the cream of tartar. Continue to beat while gradually adding 60g sugar until very firm, stiff but not dry.
3. Add a third of the meringue into the yolk batter and mix with a hand whisk to lighten the batter before adding the next third portion. For the final portion, switch to a spatula and fold gently from the bottom to the top using cutting motion to minimize deflation. Mix until no streaks can be seen.
4. Transfer into a tube pan and run a skewer around the batter to remove big bubbles and also to smoothen up the top.
5. Place the tube pan into another slightly bigger pan and stand this into another pan holding a shallow water bath.
6. Bake with top heat only for 20-25 mins or until the top is slightly brown. Carefully take the cake out and cut the slits with a sharp knife. Place the cake back and continue to bake with top/bottom heat at 160C for 60-70 mins or until cooked. Oven temperature and timing is a guide only, please know your oven and adjust accordingly.
7. Once done, remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert to cool completely before unmoulding.

Banana Chiffon Cake (slit top)

Left with only one very large Cavendish banana that looks over-ripened, I decided to bake a light cake to bring over to the twin boys for a tea-time treat. They liked it a lot and the parents are happy since this cake is not overly sweet and won’t cause the boys from being over-dosed with sugar.

By Jeannie Tay

Ingredients:

• 5 yolks
• 70g corn oil
• 20g sugar (add more if bananas are not sweet)
• 100g very ripe bananas
• 30g of milk
• 100g cake flour + 10g corn flour – sift together
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 whites
• 60g castor sugar
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 17cm tube pan (20cm more suitable as I have some leftover batter)

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C.

1. In a large bowl, place yolks, oil, banana, milk, 20g sugar, and salt and blend until combined. I used an immersion blender to do the job. (If you do not own an immersion blender, just blend bananas and milk in a blend before pouring out into a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients and mix with a hand whisk.) Add in sifted flour, mix until smooth and set aside.
   2. In a clean dry bowl, add the egg whites and whip until foamy before adding the cream of tartar. Continue to beat while gradually adding 60g sugar until very firm, and stiff but not dry.
   3. Add a third of the meringue into the yolk batter and mix with a hand whisk to lighten the batter before adding the next third portion. For the final portion, switch to a spatula and fold gently from the bottom to the top using cutting motion to minimize deflation. Mix until no streaks can be seen.
   4. Transfer to a tube pan and run a skewer around the batter to remove big bubbles and also to smoothen up the top.
   5. Place the tube pan into another slightly bigger pan and stand this into another pan holding a shallow water bath.
   6. Bake with top heat only for 20-25 mins or until the top is slightly brown. Carefully take the cake out and cut the slits with a sharp knife. Place the cake back and continue to bake with top/bottom heat at 160C for 60-70 mins or until cooked. Oven temperature and timing are a guide only, please know your oven and adjust accordingly.
   7. Once done, remove the cake from the oven and immediately invert it to cool completely before unmoulding.

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.

Gula Melaka Custard Layer Cake

I don’t bake this cake often as the steps are long but sometimes I do like baking it as a treat. There is another pandan flavor version here. You can try that if you are not a fan of gula melaka. Both are equally popular.

I like to first bake the bake one day ahead and prepare the custard and assemble the next day so it will be less tedious rather than doing all in one day. For the cake recipe, you can use your favourite sponge cake or you can hop over to here for the recipe. Slice it into 3 pieces. I usually remove the crust for a more aesthetically pretty cake but if you find it wasteful, you can leave it on. The recipe below is for a 6″ round pan. You may have some extra custard leftover which you can use to decorate your cake or enjoy it on its own.

Custard Layer
Ingredients
600 g water
2 tsp white agar-agar powder
30 g brown sugar
80g gula melaka syrup (cook your own by using 100g gula melaka and 1/2 cup water. Once dissolved, measure out 80g)
1/8 tsp salt

240 g fresh coconut milk
70 g white hoen kwe flour or corn flour

1. Pour water in a large stainless steel pot and sprinkle agar-agar powder over it.  Add sugar and salt and using a spatula, stir until sugar has dissolved.  Set aside for at least 30 minutes.

2. In a large bowl place coconut milk and hoen kwe flour and stir to mix into a thick smooth batter. Keep in fridge while you prepare the next step.

3. Once Step 1 is done, heat agar-agar mixture on low heat, stirring constantly until agar-agar powder has dissolved.  Do not allow the mixture to boil. Once dissolved, remove from heat and add the prepared coconut milk/hoen kwe batter.  Use a spatula to stir until fully incorporated.

4. Return the pot of batter to the heat and continue to cook on medium-low heat until it is thick enough to coat the back of your spatula. Remove from heat and continue to stir to cool the mixture a bit so that it thickens slightly but when you lift up the spoon, it can still flow down and merge with the batter in the pot evenly.

5. I used the cake tin that was used to bake the sponge cake to assemble the cake. Rinse the tin and shake off excess water; this helps to unmould the cake easily later.

6. To assemble, slice the cake into 3 slices. Pour 1/4 portion of the kaya into the pan.  Use a spatula to even out the kaya, place a piece of cake on top of the kaya. Wait 1-2 minutes to then pour another 1/4 portion of the kaya over the piece of cake, spread and let it flow down the sides of the cake as well.  Repeat for the next 2 layer.

7. Leave assembled cake to set at room temperature before transferring into the fridge to chill no less than 4 hours until it is firm enough to unmould.

Pandan Chiffon (slit top)

After baking the orange chiffon, I have a request for a Pandan version so here it is. Quite happy with how this one turned out too. One tip to achieve the beautiful bloom is to make sure you fill the batter up to 90% full and bake it till really golden and cooked and dry. This will ensure the bloom will not sink in. I usually bake the initial part till the top is slightly brown which I find is easier to slit than pale skin. We have another recipe without slit top using a 20cm pan here if you wish to try.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

by Jeannie Tay

Ingredients:
5 yolks (average size: 58g)
50g corn oil
30g coconut syrup (OR use 30g coconut milk + 20g sugar)
45g pandan paste add with some water
90g cake flour
1/4 tsp salt

5 whites
60g castor sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
17cm tube pan

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C.

In a large bowl, mix together yolks, oil, pandan juice, coconut syrup (or coconut milk + 20g sugar) and salt until combined. Add in sifted flour, mix until smooth and set aside.
In a clean dry bowl, add the egg whites and whip until foamy before adding the cream of tartar. Continue to beat while gradually adding 60g sugar until very firm, stiff but not dry.
Add a third of the meringue into the yolk batter and mix with a hand whisk to lighten the batter before adding the next third portion. For the final portion, switch to a spatula and fold gently from bottom to the top using cutting motion to minimize deflation. Mix until no streaks can be seen.
Transfer into tube pan and run a skewer around the batter to remove big bubbles and also to smoothen up the top.
Place the tube pan into another slightly bigger pan and stand this into a another pan holding a shallow water bath.
Bake with top heat only for 20-25 mins or until to crust is slightly brown. Carefully take the cake out and cut the slits with a sharp knife. Place the cake back and continue to bake with top/bottom heat at 160C for 60-70 mins or until cooked. Oven temperature and timing is a guide only, please know your oven and adjust accordingly.
Once done, remove cake from oven and immediately invert to cool completely before unmoulding.

Orange w/cranberries Chiffon Cake

This is a very delicious and refreshing cake which I like very much. The dried cranberries lent a nice tanginess to the cake. Do chop them into smaller pieces so they don’t sink to the bottom. Also whip meringue to stiff to avoid this sinking problem. For this cake, I actually used mandarin oranges because I happened to have leftovers from Chinese New Year. You can use orange juice which works just as well. Do reduce sugar if the juice is very sweet. Let’s get started.

Orange w/Cranberry Chiffon Cake

by Jeannie Tay

Ingredients:
5 yolks (average size: 58g)
50g corn oil
20g sugar
75g freshly squeezed orange juice
90g cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
20-30 g chopped cranberries
5 whites
60g castor sugar (reduce this if your orange juice is sweet)
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
17cm tube pan

Method:
Preheat oven to 160C.

1. In a large bowl, mix together yolks, oil, juice, 20g sugar and salt until combined. Add in sifted flour, mix until smooth and set aside.
2. In a clean dry bowl, add the egg whites and whip until foamy before adding the cream of tartar. Continue to beat while gradually adding 60g sugar until very firm, stiff but not dry.
3. Add a third of the meringue into the yolk batter and mix with a hand whisk to lighten the batter before adding the next third portion. For the final portion, switch to a spatula and fold gently from bottom to the top using cutting motion to minimize deflation. Mix until no streaks can be seen. Sprinkle in cranberry and mix gently to incorporate.
4. Transfer into tube pan and run a skewer around the batter to remove big bubbles and also to smoothen up the top.
5. Place the tube pan into another slightly bigger pan and stand this into a another pan holding a shallow water bath.
6. Bake with top heat only for 20-25 mins or until to crust is slightly brown. Carefully take the cake out and cut the slits with a sharp knife. Place the cake back and continue to bake with top/bottom heat at 160C for 60-70 mins or until cooked. Oven temperature and timing is a guide only, please know your oven and adjust accordingly.
7. Once done, remove cake from oven and immediately invert to cool completely before unmoulding.