Resepi Kek Strawberry

I've been craving for the taste of strawberries for the past few weeks now. At last, I had the opportunity to try a new recipe and a new way of doing things. Ahaks..

It's just a plain ol' sponge cake, but this time, instead of using the old bahulu method of putting everthing in, and mixing everything up at high speed; or the method of seperating the whites and the yolks, then combining the whites into the yolks, this method require the seperation of the whites and yolks, and putting in the yolks into the whites, instead of the other way round.

Sounds scary, huh?

Also, I must admit, eventhough they are called 'sponge cakes', the method of mixing the ingredients together do have the tendency to influence the texture of the cakes. While the method of folding the whites into the yolks tend to yield a lighter cake, it also has this airy, holey texture in it. However, the method of folding the yolks into the whites yields a denser and firmer, but a more spongey cake. The same goes for the bahulu method, although in my opinion beating at high speed for 8-10 minutes does not goes well with my small stand mixer :P

Enough chit-chat and let's get on with the recipe:

UPDATE 6 MAY 2011: For the Japanese Strawberry Shortcake, you can click this link.

Strawberry cake

Kek Span (hanis@myresipi.com)
Bahan-bahan ( saiz 18 cm)
3 biji telur (I used grade A)
1 cawan tepung gandum (100g)
1 cawan gula (110g) - kalau nak kurang manis kurangkan gula
2 sudu kecil susu segar
15g butter - panaskan susu dan cairkan butter di dalamnya
1/2 sudu kecil esen vanila
1/2 sudu kecil strawberi paste

Cara:

1. Panaskan oven ke suhu 180 darjah.
2. Asingkan telur putih dan kuning. Pukul kuning telur dan 1/3 gula sehingga telur menjadi keputihan.
3. Dalam bekas lain pukul putih telur bersama baki gula tadi sehingga kembang dan bertanduk (I added 1/4tsp of cream of tartar).
4. Masukkan tepung yang telah diayak sedikit demi sedikit dan gaul rata. (in this case I diverted and folded in half the flour into the beaten egg whites.)
5. Masukkan kuning telur yang telah dipukul tadi ke dalam adunan. (I folded in the other half of flour into the yolks. Batter should be very thick. Then I folded in the egg whites+flour into the yolk batter, a little at a time. Batter should then slowly be thinner as you incorporate the egg whites, a little at a time).
6. Masukkan campuran susu dan butter dan sedikit esen vanila dan strawberi paste (I poured it on the sides of the bowl, to avoid cake from being too much defalted during/after baking). Kaup balik hingga sebati.
7. Masukkan dalam loyang dan bakar pada suhu 180 darjah selama 25-30 minit.
8. Hias ikut suka (I cut it into three, layered it with fresh cream and pieces of strawberries, and decorated it with decorfil (kinda like a liquid jelly), and blackcurrants (?)).
   

Hiasan:

Strawberry decorfil, untuk dituang di atas dan sisi kek
Strawberry filling
Fresh cream

Texture of the cake- firm, yet spongey~

Resepi Chocolate Cheesecake~ bukan ala SR but close enough la

Here's a recipe I've tried and tested for the first time a couple of days ago. Got this from a facebook person, Cooking With Sue. I made half of the recipe and water bath-baked it in an 8" round cake pan. The taste's great, very cholatey though rather dry (my bad, I over-cooked it). I wasn't sure how it'll turn up, even after an hour in the oven the cake still wobbled and jiggled and had a very unbaked-like insides (is that it was supposed to be?).

My opinion? Eat it a day or two after it has been made. And if you poke a toothpick and it still comes out very moist, it's already baked (even if it doesn't look like it). Just let it cool at room temperature, stash it in the fridge, and slice it up tomorrow with a cuppa hot choc. Yummyyy~

UPDATE 15 May 2011: Another recipe for Baked Chocolate Cheesecake I made a few days back. This one doesn't use any flour in it, and is soft, creamy, and cheesey-chocolatey.

Chocolate cheesecake@http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kuala-Lumpur-Malaysia/Cooking-with-Sue/150064981942?ref=ts#!/notes.php?id=150064981942&start=10

Ingredients:

150gram digestive biscuits/oreo - crushed finely- I used marie biscuits+1tbs cocoa powder

80gram butter - melted

400gram cream cheese

250gram whipped cream - I used non-diary whipping cream, whipped till medium peak

200gram dark chocolate - grated

140gram caster sugar

3 eggs - grade A

2 tbsp corn flour

1 tbsp lemon juice

Method:

1. Mix biscuits crumbs with melted butter. Press the crumbs mixture over the bottom and about halfway up the sides of the greased spring form cake tin. Chill for 20 minutes in the fridge. Wrap the tin with aluminum foil.

2. Melt chocolate using double boil method*. Set aside to cool.

3. Meanwhile, beat cream cheese until soft, add whipped cream, lemon juice, sugar and corn flour. Beat in eggs one at a time, then fold melted chocolate slowly.

4. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and level out. Place the cake tin in a roasting tin and pour boiling water around it to about 1 inch deep.

5. Bake for about 45-60 minutes @ 180C on preheated oven. Take out from the oven and leave to cool completely. (I baked it for 75min)

5. Chill for at least 4 hours. To serve, turn the cheesecake out and dust with cocoa powder and extra grated chocolate.

*Double boil method - boil water in a pan, place another bowl filled with chopped chocolate and stir them till melt.

Note: The longer this cheesecake sits in the fridge, the better. Next time I won't bake it too long, an hour is enough. The cake rises beautifully in the oven, but due to over-baking (I suppose), it fell to the level of its original batter (tak tinggi sangat pun) and had a crisps border. Need more experiment with this one, or find another baked choc cheesecake recipe in the future if I needed a more souffle kinda cake.