Matcha Azuki Fresh Cream Cake

On the last Saturday of April, I hosted dinner for my family. I decided to bake a matcha cake for dessert since I will be cooking Japanese curry rice. The cake was really easy to bake and assemble. My family loved the cake very much as it was soft and light.

Recipe for Matcha Azuki Beans Fresh Cream Cake

Sponge cake adapted from Jeannie's blog.
(Makes a 9" cake, though original was stated as 8")

Ingredients:
6 Large egg yolks
70g Cooking oil
100g Water
90g Cake flour
12g Matcha powder
1/2 tsp salt

6 Egg whites
100g Caster sugar
1/4 tsp Corn flour

Method:

1. Line the bottom an 9″ round pan. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Sift flour and matcha powder together. Add in salt.
3. Beat egg yolks, oil together until combined before adding water. Stir well.
4. Stir in the flour. Set aside.
5. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add corn flour into sugar to mix. Continue beating while gradually adding the sugar and corn flour. Beat till soft peaks.
6. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the yolk batter with a hand whisk. Add another 1/3 and fold until almost combined. Add the last portion and switch to a spatula to scoop the batter from the bottom of the bowl and fold up. Keep at it until no streaks of yolk batter can be seen.
7. Pour into prepared pan and bake with a water bath at 160C for 70 minutes or until cooked.
8. Remove from oven, and invert it on a wire rack to cook completely.

Assembly:
350g Whipping cream, whipped
35g Caster sugar
200g Azuki beans in a can

1. Slice the cake into 4 layers.
2. Whip the cream with sugar till thick and stiff.
3. Spread the whipping on the first layer of the cake. Add Azuki beans and spread evenly.

4. Repeat for two more layers.
5. For the final layer, spread with whipping cream and decorate as desired.

6. Chill before consuming.

Green Tea Oreo Cheesecake

This post is sponsored by Liv butter. Try Liv today!

After a wonderful holiday with my family in Tokyo, it was back to baking a birthday cake to my eldest son. He has always been a great fan of cheesecake, so this time, I decided to bake a Green Tea Oreo Cheesecake. We couldn't get enough of green tea anyway, so this was appropriate. 

Recipe for Green Tea Oreo Cheesecake.
(Makes a 8″ round cheesecake)

Ingredients:
Crust:
200g Oreo, crushed (You can get the crushed oreo biscuits directly from Sun Lik)
75g Liv Salted butter, soften

1. Mix crushed oreo crumbs with the soften butter until it resembles the texture of wet sand.

2. Using the back of your fingers, press the mixture into the base of a lined bottom removable pan or springform pan until the base is firm and compact.

3. Keep it in the fridge to harden until ready to bake. 

Filling:
500g Cream cheese, softened
80g Fine sugar
3 Eggs, room temperature
1 tsp Matcha powder
2 tsbp Whole milk
1 packet Mini Matcha Oreo (150g)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 150C.

2. Beat cream cheese and sugar in a mixer until it is smooth without lumps.

3. Add in matcha powder and milk.

4. Add eggs in one at a time, beating until well combined. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl regularly to ensure an even mixture.

5. Remove the pan from the fridge and pour the mixture into the prepared pan.

6. Arrange the mini Matcha Oreos on top of the batter. Drizzle some matcha sauce (if any).

7. Bake in the oven for 35mins. (I placed one cup of water at the bottom of the oven.)

8. Once done, turn off the oven and let the cheesecake cool in the oven with the door slightly ajar until totally cool.

9. Place it in the fridge and let it chill for at least 4 hours (best is overnight).

9. Let the cheesecake rest in room temperature for an hour before serving.

Note:

• Upon the request of my youngest son for this cake, I baked again the following week. I used a 7" round pan and found that they are taller and looks nicer. At least my design also improved a bit. I also added some matcha sauce I bought from Tokyo in my recent trip.

Green Tea Red Bean Bread Loaf

I've not baked soft buns for a few months, especially since I started baking breads using sourdough. These breads usually have long fermentation period. So far, I still haven't gotten them right. My family members also don't fancy artisan breads, likely because I haven't gotten them right. So I decided to try pre-fermentation bread.

As my helper has gone back on her home leave, I was home half the day. To make sure my children have their meals, and do the basic and necessary housework chores. Therefore, I still have time in the afternoon to prepare my pre-fermentation for baking the following day.

I decided to try this Green Tea Red Bean Bread loaf from Fong's Kitchen. The instructions were very detailed and simple. I followed through except I used storebought red bean paste and rolled them in.

Recipe for Green Tea Red Bean Bread, adapted from Fong's Kitchen Journal.

Ingredients:
Pre-ferment dough:
210g Bread flour
120g Water (80g milk + 40g water)
1 tsp Instant yeast (about 5g)

1) Prepare pre-ferment dough: Mix yeast with water, then combine with bread flour, yeast and milk powder.  Knead till smooth dough. Cover and keep in fridge for 17 hours before use.

Main dough:
80g Bread flour
6g Green tea powder
2g Instant yeast
40g Fine sugar
70g Water
25g LIV Unsalted butter, softened
230g Red bean paste, rolled out

Method:
2) Mix ingredients for main dough (except butter) and knead till combined.  Gradually add in the pre-fermented dough, piece by piece and knead to get a smooth dough. 

3) Add in the butter and knead to form a smooth and elastic dough.  Cover and proof the dough for 30 minutes.

4) Roll out the dough and place the red bean paste on the centre. Then use the sides of the dough to cover the red bean paste completely.

5) Fold the dough into thirds. Then roll it flat and fold in the opposite direction into thirds also. Then cut into thirds and plait it. Refer to the picture from Carol's site.

6) Let the dough rest in a loaf pan for 45mins.

7) Bake in preheated oven of 180C for 24 minutes till golden brown. Cover the top with foil after 13mins to prevent it from being charred.

8) Remove from the loaf pan immediately after baking. Let it cool completely before slicing.

Green Tea Fingers

I baked this last week as my fingers were feeling "itchy". This was the simplest baking one could do.
Recipe for Green Tea Fingers, modified from "Cakes & Bakes".
Makes a 8" square pan (possible to bake in a 9" round pan too!)

Ingredients:
175g Cold Butter, plus extra for greasing
225g Plain flour
1 1/4 tsp Green Tea powder
60g Fine sugar

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 8" square pan.
2. Sift the flour, green tea powder into a bowl and stir in the sugar.
3. Rub in the butter until the mixture begins to stick together.
4. Press the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a palette knife.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 40mins, or until browned.
6. Leave it to cool thoroughly before slicing and serve.
7. Stores well in an air-tight container.

Chinese New Year Goodies

This year, as Chinese New Year (CNY) was just right after Christmas, I didn't have the luxury to do many bakings. Therefore, I chose to bake the easier better ones. These were what I baked.

Pineapple Tarts
The recipe for the crust were from Zu's Kitchen. The pineapple paste were bought from PH, our local baking supplier. This year, their "premium" pineapple paste was really good, not too sweet, moist and tasty.

Bak Kwa Cookies
I decided to try this after seeing some online. Unfortunately, there was no recipe. So I came out with my own. Recipe can be found here.

Peanut Cookies
Last year, when I tried this, it didn't turn out to be melt in the mouth. However, this year's texture was good. It was really melt in the mouth kind. The recipe was taken from Wendy's blog.

Green Tea Almond Cookies
This almond cookies is a must every year. The recipe was extracted from my professional baking school previously. This year, I decided to add green tea to the taste. I think I have over baked it a little. 

Fruit Cake
I'm not a big fan of fruit cakes. However, since I started baking it some two years ago, I have started eating mine! I baked this for my in-laws and my spouse. The recipe was taken from Wen's Delight.

Kueh Lapis
Since I started making this, I've been making this every year for CNY. Sometimes, I make it into different flavours. This time, I decided to stick to the original flavour. The recipe was adapted from Do What I Like blog.

祝贺大家

新年快乐,

心想事成，

万事如意，

身体健康。

发啊！！

The Final Lap

This is the final lap that my eldest son will be going through. I'll be coaching and giving him all the support that he needs. Afterall, that was the reason why I had to work part-time just so that he gets the moral and physical support that he needs.

Therefore, I will not be putting up any blog post from now until after his PSLE "war". Once a while, I'll still take a peep at those wonderful bakes from those talented bloggers. I'll leave you with the bakes that I had done last month...

Till then,
happy baking,
happy school holidays
and happy mid-autumn festival!
And wishing all those taking PSLE, all the very very BEST!

Green Tea Cupake

I wanted to prepare some simple cakes for my meeting on Tuesday. So I decided on using one of the cake recipe from "The Cake Bible". Instead of using cocoa powder, I replaced it with green tea powder. I just realised it's been a long long time since I used my green tea powder to bake. I sort of missed having green tea desserts. Initially, I thought I wanted to mix some red beans (as I don't have azuki beans) with green tea cake. Then I decided not to make it so troublesome (laziness set in), so I did away with the red beans. Finally, I bake Moist Green Tea Cupcakes, and did some simple decoration using chocolate ganache on the cupcake. The reviews from my colleagues – moist and yummy!




You can get the recipe from Rose Levy's website..

Green Tea Macarons

I tried macarons again on Saturday since I still have some egg whites. I added one teaspoon of green tea to the recipe which I had previously. Somehow, something is amiss. The feet didn't really turn up, and it was very vey soft and almost break when not handled properly. However, the taste was really good, except a bit too sweet. I must've forgotten to reduce the sugar! :p


These were just a few better ones, the rest just cracked like nobody's business!!


I am very honoured to be tagged by Happy Home Baking. I need to provide '7 random facts about myself' meme. This is my sharable list:

1. I have always love baking and cooking, though the former is my first & endless love.
2. I wanted to take up "Home Econs" when I was in Sec One, but my mum made me take "Technical". Desperate, I joined the Home Econs Club when I was in Sec Three, and became the Chairman when I was in Sec Four.
3. When I was in Sec. Two, I went to my girlfriend's house to cook our first dish - "Gong Pao Ji Ding" (Dried Chilli with Diced Chicken)!
4. I started learning driving when I was 16 years old. Took advance theory four times & failed. Gave up. After 15 years later, finally took up the courage to take the test and learn auto-car. Passed my advance theory first time, passed my practical theory first time! Driving lessons all sponsored by my beloved hubby!
5. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to stay and study in Melbourne for almost two years.
6. My first house was a 4-room Design & Build HDB at Jurong West, next to Boon Lay MRT station.
7. I bake almost everyday. If I don't bake for a few days, I will feel something is amiss.

These are the 7 bloggers that I'm passing on the meme. I hope they will have fun too!

1. Laureen at Eat & Be Happy
2. Mandy at Fresh from the Oven
3. Small Small Baker
4. Rei at All That Matters
5. Gina at Taste of Time
6. Amanda at Held by Love, Baked from Scratch
7. Anne at Simply Anne's

Here are the rules for tagging:
Link to my blog (tagger) on your blog.
1. Give seven facts about yourself.
2. Tag another seven bloggers by leaving a comment on their blogs and letting them know they were tagged and listing them (and their blogs) on your blog.

Green Tea Chocolates

Testing testing some white chocolates with green tea powder, which is equals to Green Tea Chocolates. One of which is a Green Tea Chocolate Swirl!

Green Tea Pound Cake

I left a cup of opened sour cream, so I thought I'd better use it up before it got spoilt in the fridge. I decided to try Green Tea Pound Cake, based on the recipe from Zu's Kitchen. I used up all more sour cream, which was much more than what was required in the recipe, therefore, the pound cake turned out to be a bit wet, almost like uncooked. :p

Recipe
Ingredients
113g butter
200g sugar
125g sour cream
1/4 tsp baking soda
149g plain flour
3 large eggs
1 tsp green tea powder (my original was 1 & 1/4 tsp green tea powder. But too strong for this batter.)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 170C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat till fluffy.
3. Add the sourcream and mix until well incorporated.
4. Sift baking soda, green tea powder and flour together and add to the creamed mixture alternating with eggs, beating each egg 1 at a time.
5. Pour the batter into a greased tube pan.
6. Bake for 45minutes or till skewer comes out clean.

Green Tea Ice Cream

After my failed attempt on the macaroons, I consoled myself by making Green Tea Ice Cream. I did the custard the day before, so I just whipped up the cream and mix the custard with the cream. Then pour them into the container and placed it in the freezer.

Recipe extracted from "Making Ice Cream & Iced Desserts". This recipe used is a classic ice cream custard. You can change the flavour to your own likings.
Ingredients:
300g Milk (Original was Semi-skimmed milk, I used normal UHT milk)
4 Medium egg yolks
75g Castor Sugar
1 tsp Cornflour
3 tsp Green Tea Powder (Flavouring up to you to decide, original was vanilla pod)
300g Whipped Cream

Method:
1. Pour the milk into a saucepan. Bring it to the boil, then remove the pan from the heat, add the green tea powder and leave to infuse for 30 minutes or until cool.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour in a bowl until thick and foamy. Bring the green tea milk to the boil, then gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture. Pour the combined mixture back into the saucepan.
3. Cook the mixture over a low heat, stirring it continuously until it approaches boiling point and thickens to the point where the custard will coat the back of a wooden spoon. Do not let the custard overheat or it may curdle. Take the pan off the heat and continue stirring, making sure to take the spoon right around the bottom edges of the pan.
4. Pour the custard into a bowl and cover the surface with a clear film to prevent the formation of a skin, or cover the surface with a light sprinkling of caster sugar. Leave to cool, then chill in the fridge for at least 24 hours.
5. Whisk the whipped cream.
6. Fold the whipped ream into the chilled custard and pour the mixture into a freezerproof container.

Green Tea Red Beans Swiss Rolls

It's been a long time since I did swiss rolls. I've always like swiss rolls, but sometimes, it didn't turn out well. I didn't know what flavour I should baked, and my sister suggested Green Tea, which I also like. So I decided to go for Green Tea with Red Beans Swiss Rolls today. I hope it taste good!