Saturday 21 September 2019

Orange Butter Sponge Cupcake

Velvety butter cup cakes with faint orange flavour coming from the juice and zest 🙂

Update: 22 Sep 2019
Sprinkled some dried cranberry bits over the batter before baking gave the cupcakes some gem-like decoration 😍
Steps and pictorial demonstration can be found at the end of the recipe.



Yield: 6 cupcakes 4.8x4.8 cm

Ingredients

All ingredients in room temperature
Using 55~58g Omega 3&6 egg

2 egg whites
1/8 tsp fine salt
50g fine sugar

2 egg yolks

60g top/cake flour
1g baking powder

20g orange juice
10g golden syrup/honey

20g unsalted butter, melted

5g orange zest



Directions

1. Mix orange juice with golden syrup/honey in a samll glass set aside.

2. Mix top/cake flour with baking powder in a small bowl. Set aside.

3. Melt unsalted butter in a small bowl and let it cool down to room temperature before use.

4. Beat egg whites to frothy. Add about 1/8 tsp of fine salt followed by first batch of fine sugar. Sugar to be added gradually in 3 batches.

Beat at high speed till reaching firm peak stage. Reduce the hand mixer speed gradually in the final 2 minutes.

5. Beat in the egg yolks, one at a time, to the meringue. Stop beating once the yolks have been completely mixed with the meringue.


6. Sieve the 1st batch of the flour mixture from Step 2, and mix briefly using the whisks manually.

Followed by 1/2 of the orange mixture from Step 1.

Mix in the rest of the flour mixture and orange mixture in alternating sequence.
Finally, use a spatula to give the batter a more thorough mix.

7. Transfer about 1/4 of the batter to mix with the melted butter from Step 3 which has been cooled to room temperature. Mix using a whisks till no more liquid butter can be seen.


Pour the butter-batter back to mix with the rest of the batter.

8. Mix in the orange zest.


9. Divide the batter among 6 paper cake cups.

Arrange the the filled cake cups over a baking tray.

10. Bake at middle rack of a preheated oven at ,130°C for 20 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 170°C and bake for about 10 minutes, to till the tops turn golden.

11. Transfer the cupcakes out of the oven to a cooking rack.


12. Enjoy it warm 😋
Keep the unconsumed cupcakes in the fridge, and warm up before serving 😀





Adding dried cranberry bits
1. Soak 10~15g of dried cranberries in hot water for about 1 minute. Drain away the water, and pat dry the cranberries. Cut the cranberries into smaller bits.

2.  Sprinkle the cranberry bits over the top of the batter just before baking.






Tuesday 17 September 2019

Carrot Butter Bread 胡萝卜牛油吐司


I love the sunny colour of the carrot bread, though the flavour of the carrot was not distinct. Milk roux and sponge were used in this recipe to give the bread a soft and springy texture, with a nice aroma. These two extra steps also helped the bread to keep its softness for at least 4 days in room temperature 😊

Yield: 3 loves in a pan
Pan size: Wiltshire enamel coated pan 21x13x6cm
Raw dough weight: 594g
Baking temperature: Preheated oven to 190℃, bake at middle rack at 180℃ for 15 minutes, 170℃ for about 20 minutes.

Most recipes I read used raw carrot instead of cooked carrot. However, I prefer cooked carrot as it gave a closer estimation on the liquid to be added to the dough.

Steamed Carrot Paste
65g carrot, diced
20g water

1. Steam carrot for about 20 minutes, or till softened.


2. Collect about 60g of steamed carrot and blend with 20g of water into a paste.

3. Collect 75g of carrot paste and let it cool down before use.
I prepared the carrot paste one day in advance and kept in the fridge.


Sponge
10g bread flour
2g instant dry yeast
10g water
30g natural yeast *

* natural yeast can be replaced by 15g each of bread flour and water.

Mix all the ingredients and let it stands for about 60 to 90 minutes.


Milk Roux
3g bread flour
2g glutinous rice flour
10g hot water
15g milk

1. Mix and stir over low heat till it thicken into a glossy paste.

2. Cool down and collect about 25g for use later.

Cover with an inverted glass till needed.

Carrot Butter Dough

Ingredients
200g bread flour
80g Prima plain flour plus/plain flour
30g raw cane sugar
4g low-sodium fine salt
6g milk powder
1g pumpkin powder, optional

25g milk roux from above
52g sponge from above
25g beaten egg
75g steamed carrot paste from above
50g fresh milk, cold

20g cold water, added depending on dough condition

30g unsalted butter, added after gluten formed


Toppings
1 tsp bread flour for sprinkling


Directions

1. Mix all the dry ingredients in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer.

2.  Add all the wet ingredients, except the 20g of water and unsalted butter, into the mixing bowl. Add the 20g of water slowly to adjust the dough moisture.
When all the ingredients come together into a lump, cover with a lid and keep in the vegetable compartment of a fridge for 20 minutes. This allows autolysis to take place.
Wet ingredients



3. Knead the dough at low speed till it form into a smoother dough. Add the softened butter and continue to knead till reaching window pane stage.



4. Transfer the kneaded dough to a mixing bowl coated with a thin layer of oil. Spray some water over, cover and let the dough proof for about 1 hour, or till double in size.

End of 1-hour proofing

5. Invert the dough onto a floured worktop. Deflate and divide into three portions. Shape the dough into three balls, cover and let them rest for 15 minutes.


6. Take a dough and roll flat to about 0.5cm thick. Roll up into a log, cover and and let the dough rest for about 10 minutes.


Roll out the dough into a long dough of about 0.5cm thick again. Roll up like a swissroll and seal at the end.



Lower the dough into the bread pan coated with a thin layer of butter. Spray some water, cover with a tea cloth, and let them proof for about 45 minutes, or till reaching the rim of the pan.

End of 1-hour second proofing


7. Preheat the oven to 190℃. While waiting, dust some bread flour over.


Bake at low rack of a preheated oven at 190℃, lower temperature to 180℃ for 15 minutes, further lower to 170℃ for 15~20 minutes, or till the top has become golden.


7. Transfer the bread out of oven, and remove from pan immediately.


Let the bread rest on a wire rack.


Let the bread cool down completely before cutting. Enjoy 😋