Milk Roux Mandarin Orange Butter Cake

A butter cake that carries the unique nice flavour of the Lunar New Year - mandarin orange peel aroma. Besides the golden crumb of the velvety butter cake, the cake also embedded with small chunks of cranberries and specks of mandarin orange peels. Well, for the milk roux, it was just my experiment of adding more liquid to the cake 😉


Yield: one loaf of cake
Pan size: 21.5x11.5x5.5 cm
Baking temperature: 160°C at second upper rack for 30 minutes, lower to middle rack and bake at 170℃ for 10 minutes.

Milk Roux

25g milk
5g top flour

1. Mix the two ingredients and let them thaw to almost room temperature for about 10 to 15 minutes.

2. Stir the mixture over low heat till it thickens into a glossy paste.

3. After the milk roux has cooled to almost room temperature, transfer to a small dish. Cover with a tall glass to prevent the top from drying and forming a skin. Set aside.

Butter Cake Batter

All ingredients in room temperature
Using 56~59g Omega 3&6 eggs

110g unsalted butter, softened
About 1/8 tsp fine salt
100g caster sugar

3 eggs, beaten

15g golden syrup/honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

~25g milk roux from above

110g top/cake flour
10g milk powder
2g baking powder

30g dried cranberries
4g mandarin orange peel

Directions

1. Grease the cake pan with butter. Set aside.

 

2. Mix top flour, milk powder, and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

3. Combine golden syrup and vanilla extract in a small glass. Set aside.
Soak dried cranberries in hot water for about 1 minute. Drain and pat dry on a sheet of paper kitchen towel. Set aside.
Cut mandarin orange peel into thin strips. Set aside.

4. Cream softened butter, pinch of salt, and caster sugar till light and fluffy.

Gradually add the beaten egg into the batter. Blend well before adding the next portion.

5. Blend in the milk roux.

6. Blend in the golden syrup mixture from Step 3.

7. Fold in the sieved flour mixture from Step 2.

Give a thorough mixing using a spatula.

8. Pour about 1/3 of the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Mix the cranberries and mandarin orange peel to the remaining batter before pouring into the cake pan.

9. Bake at the second  upper rack of a preheated oven, at 160℃ for about 30 minutes. Shift down to middle rack, and bake at 170℃ for about 10 minutes.

10. Transfer the cake to a cooling rack to cool down for about 5~10 minutes, or till the sides of the cake shrink away from the wall of the baking pan.

Invert out the cake and let it rest on a cooling rack.

Cover the cake with cling wrap and let it cools to room temperature. This step is optional.

Cut and enjoy 😋

Palm Sugar Coconut Pumpkin Milk Bun

During Lunar New Year, I prefer bread that has an auspicious colour and taste, Therefore, I baked 12 golden pumpkin milk buns filled with sweet palm sugar coconut. Auspicious and delicious 😍😋

Yield: 12 buns
Raw dough weight: 583g
Baking temperature: Preheat oven to 190℃, bake at middle rack, 180℃ for 5 minutes, 170℃ for 8 minutes, and 160℃ for 10 minutes.


Pumpkin Milk Dough

Ingredients
240g bread flour
30g top/cake flour
30g raw sugar
10g milk powder
3g instant dry yeast

60g natural yeast, 100% hydration*
15g condensed milk
20g milk, cold
20g beaten egg
60g steamed pumpkin, mashed
65g water, cold

3g salt

30g unsalted butter, softened

* 60g natural yeast can be replaced by 30g each of bread flour and water.

Palm Sugar Coconut Filling
240g palm sugar coconut

Click here for sweet coconut filling recipe :)

Directions

1. Prepare the pumpkin milk dough following your preferred method of kneading.

2. Shape the kneaded dough into a ball, and place in a big mixing bowl coated with a thin film of oil. Spray some water over, cover with a lid, and let it undergo first proofing for about 60 minutes.

3. Turn the dough onto a floured surface, deflate, and divide into 12 portions. Each portion was about 48 to 49g.

Shape into 12 balls, cover and let them rest for 15 minutes.

4. Take a dough ball, roll out flat to about 0.8cm in thickness, keeping the centre of the dough thicker than the edge.
Add about 20g of palm sugar coconut to the center of the dough,

wrap up and seal tightly.

Shape into a round ball and flatten slightly.

5. Arrange the shaped dough on a non-stick baking tray, with good space in between.
Let the shaped dough proof in a cold oven for about 30~35 minutes if you want to design some patterns on the dough. Or else, let the shaped dough proof for about 45 minutes.

While waiting for the shaped dough to proof, cut 12 stencils using parchment paper.

6. Preheat the oven to 190℃ for about 10 minutes.
Spray a little water over the top of the shaped dough. Place the cut stencils over the top of the shaped dough. Dust some bread flour over the stencils. Remove the stencils and dust another thin coat of bread flour over the top.
If you skip the stenciling step, just dust some bread flour over the shaped dough.

7. Bake at middle rack of a preheated oven at 180℃ for 5 minutes, 170℃ for 8 minutes, and 160℃ for about 10 minutes, or till the top slightly golden.

8. Transfer the bun to a cooling rack to cool down.

Enjoy the bun warm 😋

Mandarin Orange Yuzu Honey Cupcake

The arrival of the Lunar New Year marks the arrival of the mandarin oranges, too. This recipe was designed to utilize the mandarin orange peels instead of the entire mandarin orange, so yuzu drink was used to replace the mandarin orange juice. I prefer to keep the juicy orange fresh for my enjoyment instead of extracting the juice and leaving behind the dry pulp.

However, if you have a surplus supply of mandarin oranges, use them for mandarin orange jam or golden citrus jam 🍊🍋


Ingredients
All ingredients in room temperature.
Using 56~58g Omega 3&6 eggs

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
45g caster sugar

2 egg yolks

57g top/cake flour
3g corn starch
2g milk powder, optional
1g baking powder

20g yuzu drink
10g honey
10g rice bran oil

4~6g mandarin orange peel, cut into thin strips

Directions

1. Combine yuzu drink, honey and rice bran oil in a small glass.

If your yuzu drink is cold, then it would have problem mixing with the honey. Stand the glass in a small cup of warm water to warm up the content before mixing. After mixing the yuzu mixture to the batter, let it cool to room temperature.

2. Combine top flour, corn starch, milk powder and baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat egg white in a clean, dry and grease-free mixing bowl with salt and sugar till reaching firm peak stage. To check the meringue, invert the mixing bowl, if the meringue stays, it is ready.

Mixing the egg yolks, one at a time, to the meringue.

4. Sieve in 1/3 of the flour mixture from Step 2, to the batter.

Combine 1/2 of the yuzu mixture from Step 1, to the batter. 

Continue to add the remaining flour mixture and yuzu mixture, in alternate sequence, to the batter.

5. Mix in the mandarin orange peels.

Give the batter a thorough mix using a silicone spatula.

6. Divide the batter among 8 paper moulds. Tap to get rid of trapped air bubbles.

7. Dip a metal cutter in a shallow dish of rice bran oil. Make a light impression on the surface of the batter just before baking. This step is optional.

8. Bake at middle rack of a preheated oven at 160℃ for 20 to 25 minutes, or till the tops of the cupcakes turn golden.

9. Remove the tray of cupcakes from the oven, and drop the cupcakes from a height of about 5cm for 2 to 3 times. This helps to prevent the cake from excessive shrinking after cooling down.

Let the the cupcakes cool down on a wire rack before enjoying or storing 😊