My Mind Patch: Steamed Zebra Cake 蒸斑纹蛋糕

Tuesday, 18 June 2013

Steamed Zebra Cake 蒸斑纹蛋糕

Yield: One 14cm round cake

Ingredients:

2 eggs, separated, room temperature
70g fine sugar

60g milk, room temperature
10g vegetable oil

90g top flour
1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cocoa powder

~ 1 tbsp hot water

Directions:

1. Line a 14cm cake tin with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. Mix flour with baking powder using a hand whisk.

3. Mix cocoa powder with hot water into a paste.

4. Beat egg whites in a clean and grease free mixing bowl at high speed using an electric mixer till frothy. This takes about 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the sugar in three lots. When the sugar is well incorporated to the batter, adjust the mixer speed to high, and beat the egg white batter for about 3 ~ 5 minutes, or till stiff peaks formed.

6. Add in egg yolks, one at a time, to the egg white batter and mix well.

7. Start to boil a small pot of water, to be ready for steaming the cake later.

8. Add in the flour mixture, one tablespoon at a time, to the batter using the electric mixer. Stop mixing once no flour can be seen.

Turn on the electric mixer, set at low speed, only for about 2 to 3 seconds with every flour addition. This is to prevent deflating the batter too much and too fast.

9. Pour milk and vegetable oil in a bowl. Add the mixture, in three additions to the batter using the mixer.

Similarly, try to mix the batter with minimum mixer time.

10. Pour about 1/4 of the batter into another bowl. Mix it with cocoa paste into an even batter.

11. First pour about 1/5 of the egg batter into the lined cake tin. Then follow by 1/4 of the cocoa batter. Alternating between the egg and cocoa batters. All the batter to be poured to the centre of the cake tin, creating a concentric pattern.

The portions need not be exact, use your intuition will do :)

12. Give the batter a few hard sturdy jerks to get rid of trapped air parcel in the batter.

10. Put a steamer stand into the pot with boling water. Lower the cake tin into the pot. Steam the cake at medium high temperature for 5 minutes. Then reduce the heat to medium low for another 15 minutes.

11. Insert a thin stick into the middle of the cake to test the readiness of the cake. If the cake is done, remove from the pot and let it cool in the cake tin for about 3 minutes.