Mandarin Orange Cupcake 柑香小蛋糕

During the Lunar New Year period, our snacks are usually dominated by fat-laden cookies and cakes. Although this light and fragrant mandarin orange cupcake uses minimal oil, the softness of the cake has not been compromised 😃

PS. Lightly toast the cupcakes before serving to enjoy a crispy crust 😜

Yield: 9 small cupcakes
Cupcake mould size: 5x5x4.8cm

Baking temperature: 170℃ for 10 minutes, 150℃ for 25~30 minutes

Ingredients

All ingredients in room temperature
Using 55g Omega 3&6 eggs

3 egg whites
pinch of fine salt
60g caster sugar

3 egg yolks

95g top/cake flour

70g mandarin orange juice, from one medium size orange
15g golden syrup/honey
6g mandarin orange zest
15g rice bran oil/mild flavour vegetable oil

5x5x4.8cm paper cupcake mould

Directions:

1. Remove the white pith of the mandarin orange peel,

before chopping into very fine bits.

Extract the juice from one medium size mandarin orange. I used a garlic crusher to help me extract the juice from the orange segments.

2. Mix orange juice, golden syrup, orange zest and rice bran oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. In a clean, dry and grease-free mixing bowl, beat egg white till frothy.  Add in pinch of salt,

 and fine sugar (to be added in about 3 batches) to the egg whites.

Beat at high speed till firm peak stage. Reduce the electric hand mixer speed to low at the final one minute.

4. Add in egg yolks to the meringue, one at a time.

Beat briefly till reaching ribbon stage.

5. Sieve in 1/3 of the top flour, and mix briefly using the whisk.

Add in 1/2 of the orange mixture from Step 2, mix briefly.

Alternating between the remaining flour and orange mixture, mix the batter till it becomes smooth.

Flour → orange mixture→flour

Finally, use a silicone spatula to do a thorough mixing.

6. Pour the batter into 9 paper cupcake moulds.

Tap to level the batter in the moulds, amd place on a baking tray

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 170℃ for about 10 minutes, or till the top becomes flat, at the lower rack of an oven.

For baking in an air fryer, preheat to 140°C for 5 minutes, and bake for 15 minutes. Thank my FB friend Sylvia Khor for sharing the information 😁

Reduce the temperature from 170℃  to 150℃, and bake for another 25 to 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

8. Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack.

Enjoy it warm 😋

Mandarin Orange Mini Spongecake (Kueh Bahulu)

Kueh Bahulu, or mini spongecake, is a popular snack available perennially. To make a more festive oriented kueh bahulu, I added a little mandarin orange zest to it 😄
This is a simple recipe and can be prepared in a short span of time. Therefore, I prefer to bake in small batches and serve them fresh 😋

Yield: about 23 pieces of 3.5cm-spongecake
Baking temperature: 180℃ for about 20 minutes, at middle rack.

Ingredients

All ingredients in room temperature

1 egg, about 55~60g
pinch of salt
35g caster sugar
35g Prima Plain Flour Plus/plain flour
1/4 tsp rice flour, optional

some mandarin orange zest/or vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Brush some rice bran oil or any mild flavour vegetable oil to the kueh bahulu mould. Ensure all the grooves and rim of the mould are well coated with oil.
Or line small cupcake mould with cupcake papers.

2. Mix plain flour plus/plain flour with rice flour in a bowl. Set aside.

3. In a clean, dry and grease-free mixing bowl, whisk egg white till frothy. Add in a pinch of salt and 1/2 of the caster sugar. Continue to whisk at Turbo/high speed of an handheld blender for about 1 minute before adding the second 1/2 of the sugar. Reduce the speed to Slow in the final 1 minute.

Continue to whisk till reaching firm peak stage.

4. Blend in the egg yolk. Whisk briefly till the yolk is well blended to the meringue.

5. Sieve and blend in the flour mixture from Step 2, in about 2 batches.
I use the balloon whisk to break out the flour before using a silicone spatula to do a more thorough mixing.

6. Add in the mandarin  orange zest and mix well into a smooth batter.

Transfer the batter to a piping bag fitted with a Wilton 1A nozzle. This step is optional. It only facilitates transferring of the batter to the small moulds.

7.  Before piping the batter to the mould, preheat the oven to 180℃ and heat up the empty kueh bahulu mould (has been applied oil).

8. Pipe the batter till reaching about 4/5 height of the moulds.

Lightly bang the tray to level the batter.

9. Bake at middle rack of a preheated oven at 180℃ for about 16 to 18 minutes, or till the cake slightly shrink.

Remove the tray from the oven, let it cool awhile, then use a thin skewer to flip the cake over.

Return the cake to the oven to bake for about 8 minutes, to dry up the bottom of the cakes. This helps to reduce the moisture and make the crust crispier.

While for cupcake in paper, just let them bake for about 20 minutes, or till golden.

10. Let the kueh bahulu cool down before keeping in air-tight container. Enjoy 😋