Whole wheat chiffon cake

I am told that baby should eat whole wheat foods but not the white ones. When I planned to make a chiffon cake last weekend, I wondered if I could substitute cake flour with whole wheat flour. One of my cooking buddies warned me that REMEMBER, BAKING CAKE IS A SERIOUS THING, DON’T TRY TO MODIFY THE RECIPE! This made me hesitate for a while, but, then, brave me! See my historic step on the moon, HooHooHoo:

1. Line parchment paper at the bottom of loaf pan.

2. Separate egg white and yolk of three eggs. Keep egg white in the freezer.

3. Whisk 40 ml milk and 2 tsp sugar to have sugar completely dissolved; whisk into 2 tbsp vegetable oil; sift into 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 tsp baking powder; add yolks and blend to smooth batter.

4. Beat egg whites until foamy; add several drops of lemon juice and 2 tbsp sugar; beat until stiff peaks form.Well beaten egg white won't drop when its container is turned up side down.

5. Adjust the rack in the oven to the low position and preheat oven to 325 F.

6. With a rubber spatula, fold 1/4 beaten egg white with batter obtained in step 3 until smooth; then pour the smooth batter back into the remaining 3/4 beaten egg white, fold batter very gently but quickly -- try to finish this step in no more than two minutes otherwise, batter will be deflated. There should be no egg-white lumps in it.

7. Pour batter into loaf pan; give the pan three gentle raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles and smooth the top with spatula.

8. Bake for 30 minutes or until the cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the cake is golden.

9. Immediately remove the cake from the oven, invert the pan and stand it on the rack. Let the cake cool completely.

10. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the pan, then remove the cake from the pan.

Voilà, here comes the cake! The texture is good, the taste is good… my little girl likes it… we love it… why not try? Happy ending :-)

Gâteau au chocolat

My first French sentences include: "J'adore le chocolat", "Je veux du chocolat".

I know, I know, "French woman don't get fat". But for me, I have to think about the serious result after biting a chocolate cake.

Well, a party! That's what I would like to hear, and sure, it is time to do something -- make people happy, and give myself a chance to enjoy the aroma from the melting chocolate and butter.

There are tons of recipes or recettes posted on the internet for Gâteau au chocolat, mine is mostly based on http://www.lesfoodies.com/adeline/recette/gateau-au-chocolat-noir, but I did some changes.

Here are my procedures:

(1) In a double boiler, put 200g dark cholocate and 125 g unsalted butter in the upper pot, heat under medium power, stir until the mixture is smooth and silky;

(2) Remove the upper pot from heat, let cool to room temperature;

(3) Line springform pan (9') with parchment paper;

(4) Beat 4 yolks with 200g (minus 1 tbsp) sugar until it turns white in color and becomes very thick;then whisk in chocolate mixture;and mix 100 g sifted cake flour, one tbsp at a time, until the batter is very smooth;

(5) Beat 4 egg whites with a pinch salt and then 1 tbsp sugar, until stiff peaks form;

(6) Preheat oven to 350 F;

(7) Fold 1/3 egg white into cholocate mixture and then gently fold in the remaining whites;

(8) Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 F for 30 minutes;

(9) Let cool with pan on rack;

(10) Unmold and decorate with icing sugar.

Feel it, the chocolate is melting on the tongue, mmmm.

And, an orange pound cake made by Andrew:

　

Milk chiffon cake

Chiffon cake is my favourite cake -- light, fluffy, of just enough moistness, tastes even better after chilled. I once tried lemon chiffon cake and coffee chiffon cake. Since there is no butter in this cake, it is lack of rich flavour. I wonder if the addition of skim milk can help me to obtain much more creamy color and richer taste. The result cheered me :=D

Making chiffon cake is sort of tricky job: Some may say they never succeed, however, some lucky folks never fail. Why? I have to say that there ARE a lot of tips and you WILL find them in my directions. I don't use baking powder and vanilla in my recipe, the whole cake is only supported by fluffy beaten egg white.

Here we go:

1. Line bottom of a 9-inch spring form pan with parchment paper (shaped into the same size as the bottom); don't grease the pan so that it can allow the batter to cling to the sides of the pan as it rises.

2. Take five eggs from the fridge and place them on the dry towel, dry the surface of chilled egg to avoid any drop of water. You need three bowls for separating egg white and yolk: yolk bowl, egg white bowl and working bowl. Crack the egg to get a sharp and even break; pull the shells apart over working bowl, the egg white runs to the bowl; flip flop the yolk between the two shells three times, let all white leave the shell. Never let any yolk drops into the egg white (That's why you need a working bowl, in case the egg white is contaminated by yolk drops or even rotten egg or egg with blood). Put yolk into yolk bowl. Transfer egg white into egg white bowl, cover the bowl, in case it is contaminated by water or something else. Repeat the steps to finish separation of the five eggs. Bring egg white and yolk to room temperature.

3. Whisk 1/3 cup skim milk and 5 tsp sugar to have sugar completely dissolved; whisk into 1/4 cup vegetable oil (check the label: the oil should not contain silicates as they tend to inhibit foaming); sift into 1 cup cake flour and mix them well; finally, combine the flour mixture with five yolks to obtain smooth batter.

4. Beat egg whites until foamy; add several drops of lemon juice and 1/3 cup sugar; beat until stiff peaks form. You will find that beaten egg white will not drop when you turn over the bowl.

5. Adjust the rack in the oven to the low position and preheat oven to 325 F.

6. With a rubber spatula, mix 1/3 beaten egg white with batter obtained in step 3 until smooth.

7. Pour the smooth batter back into the remaining 2/3 beaten egg white, fold batter very gently but quickly -- try to fully blend the batter in no more than two minutes otherwise, batter will be deflated.

8. Pour the batter into spring form pan; give the pan three gentle raps on the counter to release any large air bubbles and smooth the top with spatula.

9. Bake for 45 minutes or until the cake tester or toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean and the cake is golden.

10. Immediately remove the cake from the oven, invert the pan and stand it on the rack. Let the cake cool completely.

11. Run a rubber spatula around the inside of the pan, then remove the cake from the pan, invert the cake onto a greased rack.

Chiffon cake can be stored in the fridge for several days.