Coil and foil

I want to experiment on how to avoid the macs brown while baking. Among troubleshoots that i encountered is to place an empty pan on top rack. But.... mine is a cheap little oven. It only have middle and bottom rack :(

So i think.. and think.. and think.. then i got an idea! I'll wrap the coil with an aluminum foil. Is that what you call? coil? the metal curvy thing on top and bottom of oven? Oh well, then i start heat the oven. It requires extra degrees to reach 150... place my macs in the middle rack and wait.

After 10 minutes, the macs are ready. Verdict? the top is less brown.. yeay! it works :) but the aluminum foil has tore a bit. Maybe due to heat.. Will i use this method next time? naaaah, i'm not going to try this method again. While waiting for the macs to set, i kept on praying that the oven will not explode! You wrapped the coil with aluminum foil, maybe the metal could not expand accordingly? maybe the oven is working harder? It's a risk to me.. maybe it sounds silly, but oh well.

I did lemon macs, choc orange macs and blueberry macs. Pink and blue macs look weird right??

Red velvet sucks big time!

The simple amazing red velvet cake has been a hit with everyone for years. It is not just the flavor of red velvet cake, it's the amazing look of it. So after a few months of buying red velvet cakes... i decided to give it a try.

But things doesn't goes as planned... I forgot to bring home the recipe! Lucky i have Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book in bedroom, I flipped over and found the recipe.... Yes, i kept my recipe book in bedroom. Don't be surprised when you find Jill Colonna's "Mad About Macarons!" book under my pillow :p

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self- rising), sifted
2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 large eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon red gel-paste food color
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

With an electric hand mixer, i whisked together sugar and oil until combine. I have doubt about the batter already. It look heavy... ok, maybe later it will become light and fluffy. Continue to add egg, one at a time. Mixed in food color and vanilla. Then i added in flour mixture with two additions of buttermilk. Stir together the baking soda and vinegar, add mixture to the batter and mix for another 10 seconds.

After baked for 30 mins at 350F.... here are the results. The cream cheese topping is also a disaster... so runny and i can't even pipe :( i ended up with cream cheese ganache.

The next day I brought the not-so-red-velvet-cupcakes to office. I sat at my place and look at the recipe that i forgot to bring home the other day. They were totally different, i knew it! Something wrong with the earlier recipe. Feeling guilty, i told my friends that i won't be serving them the cupcakes. They were nice enough to say it's ok, let's try it... but i just can't. What if they got food poisoning?

Later that night, i wanted to give Red Velvet Cupcakes another try. This time i'm using this recipe:

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 oz. red food coloring
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanila extract
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon baking soda

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake papers.
2. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into medium bowl; set aside. In a small bowl, mix food coloring and cocoa powder to form a thin paste without lumps; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, using hand mixer beat butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.. about 3 mins. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla and the red cocoa paste, scrapping down the bowl as you go. Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture, beat well, then beat in half of the buttermilk. Beat in another third of flour mixture, then second half of buttermilk. End with the last third of the flour mixture, beat until well combined, making sure the scrap dwon the bowl with a spatula.
4. In a small bowl, mix vinegar and baking soda. It will fizz... add vinegar mixture to the cake batter and stir well to combine. Fill the cupcake cups with cake batter (3/4 full). Place the pan on the middle rack of a preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for approximately 20-22 mins... rotating pans halfway through.
5. Cool the cupcakes and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
pinch of salt

With a hand mixer, blend together cream cheese and butter until smooth. Turn mixer to low speed and blend in powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Turn mixer on high and beat until light and fluffy. Use immediately or refrigerate, covered until ready to use.

Finally, my Red Velvet cuppies :)

Ups and down making macarons

For some reason the world seems to be fascinated by these little sandwich cookies... hehehe, i'm one of them :) As a novice baker, i've had a few ups and downs making macarons.
When i first started out, my macarons have lopsided feet.. they even stick to the pan. Not ready to give up, i whipped up another batch. Turned out, my second batch was like rumpled paper. Sad! Sad!

So i google to find solutions. I read at Not So Humble Pie that the lopsided may be caused by strong heat from the bottom of the oven. The lumpy top may due to cooked at too low temperature or not rested long enough. And i have been baking the macaron on baking paper.. not the recommended parchment paper!

This macarons are feet-less, flat, stick to the pan. I suspect the meringue was under-beaten and cooked not long enough.


I'm still doing research on how to avoid my macarons brown while baking. There are few reasons; cooked on too high of an oven rack, strong heat from the top of the oven, top element of the oven turning on (possible! next time i will place and empty pan on a top rack) or cooked too long.

So, don't be afraid to try and fail... maybe you've got beginner's luck? Cheers! (n_n)

Mac Attack #21 Ice cream and brownies and macarons

I have toying with the idea to join Mactweets Mac Attack challenge. It's my first month doing the challenge. I was fascinated by Mac Attack members endless ways to do a macaron.. they are so creative! For Mac Attack #21 the theme was Ice Cream Dreams.


I choose to work with Rosewater filling:

100 g white baking chocolates at room temperature
80 ml whipped cream at room temperature
20 g butter, softened
2 tablespoon rosewater
few drops of pink coloring liquid

The shells are recipe using French meringue method:

100 g egg whites at room temperature
110 g ground almond
160 g icing sugar
60 g caster sugar
a pinch of pink coloring powder

I wanted ice cream and brownies and macarons.... my three favorites things to be in. This is what i came out with; a brownie crumb bottom, smooth rosewater macarons, topped by brownie ice cream with glaze of rosewater filling to finish her off :)

Violet and Rose Macarons with Blueberry Cheese Fillings

Yup! i'm addicted :)

One egg recipe

I am by no means an expert on macarons, but they usually do turn out pretty good. These macs are one egg recipe from KG's blog. They turn out very well, and i end up with three yummy batches - Rosewater macs, Dark Choc Ganache with Peppermint macs and Lemon Cheesecake macs.

Ingredients

30g egg whites - i don't aged them

20g caster sugar

36g ground almond

54g icing sugar

Method

1. Prepare your baking trays with baking or parchment paper and a piping bag.

2. Sift almond flour with icing sugar, set aside.

3. Start beating egg whites until they are bubbly and frothy,then, slowly add in sugar. When all the sugar is gone, whisk faster. Yes, i used hand whisk :)

4. When you have a soft peak thick meringue, add the colour.

5. You can add the almond icing sugar mix into the meringue in 3 additions - i just pour them altogether.

6. Mix the meringue and almond mix well until you get a mass that is glossy and flows a ribbon consistency.

7. Pour into a piping bag and pipe the batter, with about an inch gap between them. The batter will spread a bit, not much!

8. Allow to dry until a skin forms.

9. Bake at 150C for about 10 minutes...depends on size of your macarons. If everything goes well, your happy feet will appear after 5 minutes (about) after you pop them batter into the oven.

Happy trying! :)

Choc bottom banana square

What a lovely weekend. Family and i have recently taken up picnic-ing. It's pretty much the most delightful thing i've ever done.

I decided to bring simple food on our picnic. This cake is awesome~ perfect for picnic.



They were easy to make, easy to eat. If you are the type of kitchen novice that does not require much use of a mixer, then this recipe will do. I mixed it with my bare hand and they were done in half hour only.



Here is easy but so delicious cake recipe:

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, about 113g- I used Buttercup

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas- I used 9 small ones

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup choc chips

Method

1.Prepare cake tin

2.Cream butter and sugar. Add in egg, vanilla and mashed bananas, mix well.

3.Sift flour with baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to the creamed mixture. Mix well.

4.Divide batter in 2 portion, in one portion add the cocoa powder.

5.Spread the cocoa portion at the bottom of your tin, and top off with the remaining cream batter. Sprinkle with choc chips.

6.Bake at 170C for about 30 minutes.

Thanks KG for the recipe. My family loves it :)