Baking with Flavours - Lemon Swiss Rolls

Have you ever wondered, what is your favourite flavour when it comes to baking? For me, it would be durian, chocolate and lemon, in that order of preference. Ashamedly, I have yet to get my hands working on any durian bakes even though I consider myself a self-professed durian lover. Transporting durians poses a major challenge to me as the King of Fruits is not allowed on public transport over here due to its overpowering aroma which may be deemed pungent by some. Maybe I will work on a durian dream cake for my coming birthday, but that will take quite a few months to happen. 

On the other hand, chocolate is a staple in my pantry. Whenever I pass by baking supplies stores or supermarkets, I will always make a concious effort to stock up chocolate pistols, bars and cocoa powder (Valrhona especially, neat!). 

Lemon is highly versatile and probably the most widely used fruit when it comes to baking, I supposed. It brings out a pleasant, soothing, tangy fragrance when used for baking and I tend to incorporate it in a variety of bakes such as cookies, tarts, cakes and cheesecakes. The results never fail to amaze me.

Previously, I mentioned that my baking nemesis is Swiss Roll. After a couple of practice, I think I have gained some confidence and a better comprehension on how to handle this trouble maker. The key is to roll the sheet cake tightly. If the initial roll is good enough, there shouldn't be much problem later on. Even if the sponge breaks at the start, the cracks will be well concealed once the swiss roll comes together.

This time round, I tried using the chiffon method for the first time (for swiss rolls) to make this Lemon Swiss Roll. Where sponge cakes are concerned for me, chiffon cakes are preferred any time over genoise. To date, I have yet to try out the separated-eggs sponge method for swiss rolls or any bakes. It is said to yield a soft and fluffy sponge and is recommended by Grace and Bee Bee.

As compared to swiss rolls made via the genoise sponge method, this lemon swiss roll is soft, very moist, fine crumbed and fluffy to the bite, not forgetting that it has a nice citrusy touch imparted by one of my favourite baking ingredients.

Instead of using the lemon buttercream stated in the book, I used my leftover Honey Lemon Buttercream for the filling. Although it may require a little more effort to produce a swiss meringue buttercream, the results are worthed every effort put in. I am offically a Swiss Meringue Butttercream convert.

I will be submitting this entry for this month's Aspring Bakers #5: Fruity March  hosted by Jess from Bakericious.

Lemon Swiss Roll (Sponge recipe adapted from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷)

Serving size: 8 to 10 slices
Taste and texture: Cake base is soft, moist and fluffy. Honey Lemon Buttercream is buttery, tangy and velvety.
Equipment and materials:
1) 12 x 12 inch pan or 10 x 14 inch pan
2) Stand electric beater/ handheld electric beater
3) Spatula
4) wire whisk/balloon whisk
5) Mixing bowls
6) Wire rack
7) Flour sieve
8) Parchment/baking paper
9) Brush for oiling pan
10) Weighing scale
11) Grater/zester

Lemon Chiffon Cake Ingredients:
80g egg yolks, room temperature
25g castor sugar
2tbs + 1 tsp corn oil
1 tbs lemon juice
2tbs water
zest of 1 lemon
70g cake flour
160g egg whites
65g castor sugar

Honey Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

65g sugar
60g egg whites
150g unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened but still cold
3 1/2 tbs fresh lemon juice, strained
honey, add to taste
1/2 tsp vanilla extact

Making the buttercream:
Dissolve sugar in egg whites - Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl sitting over a pan of slightly simmering water without the base of the bowl in contact with the water (double-boiler). Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar dissolves completely. Rub the egg white mixture with your fingers to check if it is still gritty to test if the sugar has fully dissolved. Egg white mixture should be warm to the touch. Remove bowl from the heat. Do not allow egg whites to scramble/coagulate.

Beating egg whites - Beat egg whites with an electric beater on medium high speed until whites are very stiff and glossy. Egg whites should form stiff upright peaks and will not budge when bowl is overturned. Egg whites should be cool to the touch at this point.

Incorporating butter - Add in butter to beaten egg whites in 3 additions and beat on medium speed. The mixture may become watery as butter is being incorporated. Just continue beating. After the third addition, beat the mixture until it becomes fluffy and firm, like creamed butter.

Flavouring the buttercream - Add lemon juice and vanilla extract to buttercream and beat well to mix. Add in honey by the tablespoon to taste.

Making the chiffon sponge:
Prepare Oven and line pan - Preheat oven to 180 degrees C and line tin with baking/parchment paper.

Preparing the egg yolk mixture - In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 25g castor sugar, vegetable oil, water, lemon juice and lemon zests until combined. Sift in cake flour to egg yolk mixture and mix until smooth and well combined. 

Beating egg whites - In a metal bowl, beat eggs whites starting with low speed. When the egg whites turn frothy, slowly increase the speed to high and beat until egg whites are soft peaks (egg whites form peak that is drooping). Add the sugar (65g) slowly at this point and continue beating until egg whites are nearly stiff but still moist and not dry. This is when the bowl is overturned, the egg whites would not budge. Egg whites will form shiny and creamy upright peaks when beater is withdrawn. Take care not to overbeat the egg whites as they will become dry or may water out.

Folding egg whites into egg yolk mixture - Fold one third of beaten egg whites with a balloon whisk into egg yolk mixture to lighten and mix well. Incorporate another one third of the whites. Lastlty, add the rest of the egg whites and fold gently to obtain a smooth uniformly coloured foamy batter. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl with a spatula to ensure batter is well mixed.

Baking the cake - Pour batter into a 12 x 12 inch tin or 10 x 14 inch lined swiss roll tin and bake for 8- 11 minutes. Start checking for doneness at 8 mins. Cake is done when inserted toothpick comes out clean

Assembly:
Turning the cake out - Turn the baked sheet cake onto a piece of baking/parchment paper. Slowly peel off the attached baking/parchment paper from the cake. Place a new piece of baking/parchment paper over the sponge. Invert the sponge again, carefully. Now, peel of the top piece of baking/parchment paper. The skin would be stuck to the baking/parchment paper and would be removed.

Rolling the cake - Make a few slits across the breadth of the cake at the side nearest to you with a knife. Apply 2/3 of buttercream evenly over the surface of the sheet cake. With the shorter side/breadth facing you (if using 10 x 14 inch pan), roll the cake up tightly to form a swiss roll. Use the remaining 1/3 buttercream to frost the exterior.
 
Notes:
1) Apply the amount of buttercream desired for the swiss roll filling. The rest can be kept and chilled for frosting cupcakes etc.

2) Make the buttercream first before making the chiffon sponge cake.

Instagram link: http://instagram.com/bakertanbakes

My 4th Bloggers Meetup

I was casually checking my e-mails when one particular one caught my attention. To my pleasant surprise, I was invited to a Bloggers Meetup by Jasmine. Jasmine had just joined the blogging scene a few months back and I must admire her courage in reaching out to us bloggers and organizing a meetup. So last Saturday evening, 8 of us met up at Edith’s place for a potluck party. The bloggers were:

1. Jasmine from the sweetylicious
2. Edith from Precious Moments
3. Josephine from Sugar & Everything Nice
4. Cathy from Cathy's Joy
5. Jess from Jess's Kitchen
6. Jean from Noms I Must
7. Wendy from Wen's Delight
8. Zhuoyuan (Me)

Maybe you wouldn't believe it, but I never had a potluck party until I attended my first Bloggers Meetup. Even if I was keen in the idea of a potluck party back then, I couldn't even bake or cook for nuts. Things are different now, for I have learnt to bake and churn out bakes presentable enough to bring to a potluck party.

Similar to my previous meetups, this is another potluck party where each of us bloggers would volunteer to cook and bake a dish or two. Sweet lovers would definitely find this potluck party particularly inviting as it promises a spectacular line-up of of sweet treats including mango swiss rolls, mango cheesecake, mango chiffon cake, brownies, lemon bars, lemon meringue tarts, macarons and three differently flavoured frosted cupcakes. As a sweets lover and a highly sweet-toothed guy, I am more than welcome to embrace them and satisfy my palate.

Chocolate macarons with lemon curd by Cathy

Dulce De Leche cupcakes by Cathy

Chocolate madeleines by Cathy

Lemon cream cheese cupcakes with honey lemon buttercream (Swiss meringue). Recipe for buttercream at end of post.

Rich fudgy brownies. I have to confess that this batch of brownies are less fudgy and firmer than the ones I previously made.

Mango cheesecake by Jasmine

Nian gao sweet potato rolls by Jasmine

Jelly heart cheesecake slice by Jasmine

Durian chiffon cake by Wendy

Durian swiss rolls by Wendy. Have I ever mentioned that I am a durian lover?

Lemon curd meringue tarts by Edith

Chocolate mayonnaise cupcakes with caramel butterscotch buttercream by Edith

Lemon bars by Jess

savoury meatballs by Jean

thai style pomelo salad by Josephine

Saturday evening was thus spent fulfillingly with a group of wonderful and talented ladies. With good food and the right company, what more can I ask for? Thanks to Jasmine for initiating and coordinating this meetup. I shall be looking forward to my next meetup. 

Honey Lemon Swiss Meringue Buttercream (recipe adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan) 

Serving size: enough to frost 15 small sized cupcakes

Taste and texture: sweet and tangy, velvety smooth

Equipment and Materials:

1) Handheld mixer/ Standing mixer

2) Heat proof bowl

3) Wire whisk

Ingredients:

65g sugar

60g egg whites

150g unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened but still cold

3 1/2 tbs fresh lemon juice, strained

honey, add to taste

1/2 tsp vanilla extact

Making the buttercream:

Dissolve sugar in egg whites - Place egg whites and sugar in a heatproof bowl sitting over a pan of slightly simmering water without the base of the bowl in contact with the water (double-boiler). Whisk the mixture constantly until the sugar dissolves completely. Rub the egg white mixture with your fingers to check if it is still gritty to test if the sugar has fully dissolved. Egg white mixture should be warm to the touch. Remove bowl from the heat.

Beating egg whites - Beat egg whites with an electric beater on medium high speed until whites are very stiff and glossy. Egg whites should form stiff upright peaks and will not budge when bowl is overturned. 

Incorporating butter - Add in butter to beaten egg whites in 3 additions and beat on medium speed. The mixture may become watery as butter is being incorporated. After the third addition, beat the mixture it becomes fluffy and firm, like creamed butter.   

Flavouring the buttercream - Add lemon juice and vanilla extract to buttercream and beat well to mix. Add in honey by the tablespoon to taste.  

Note:

1) When piping the buttercream for frosting, heat from your palms may cause the last portion of buttercream in the piping bag to soften and separate/ melt. Simply chill the softened/ separated buttercream and beat it until fluffy. 

2) Buttercream can hold its shape well unrefrigerated. 

3) Make sure water is on low simmer and stir constantly, else the egg may coagulate.   

4) Do not omit the vanilla in the buttercream. It adds a depth of flavour and contrasts the lemony tang.  

5) Make 2.5 x buttercream recipe to make enough for frosting a 3 layered cake.

Sugarless Loaf of Honey Goodness

My baking repertoire has always consists of round shaped cakes or square shaped bars. Seldom have I bake my goods in a loaf tin. After browsing through my newly bought Rachel Allen - Bake, I decided upon a recipe that caught my attention - honey loaf cake.

The recipe is pretty straightforward without fancy ingredients. Just the usual flour, butter and eggs. Wait a minute... Where has the sugar gone to? Here is the catch. This honey loaf cake uses purely honey as a sweetener. Sounds like a good deal~

After 10 minutes into baking, I could sniff the smell of honey slowing making its way out of the oven.  When the cake was done, it has light golden hue. The loaf domed but splitted widely at the top. That did not affect the appearance too much though. Afterall, the cake is to be sliced and the split would not have been noticeable.

I could not resist the urge and took one slice of it. The cake is dense yet soft and it exudes a very light sweetness of honey. It would be perfect by adding a thin layer of jam or butter it. I tried topping with raspberry jam and peach jam on 2 separate slices and very much prefferred the later.

Honey Loaf Cake ( recipe adapted from Rachel Allen - Bake )
Equipment: 9 x 5 inch loaf tin

Ingredients:
275g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
120g butter, softened
175g runny honey
75ml milk
2 eggs (60g each), beaten
1 tbs warm honey ( for brushing)

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 170 degrees C
2) In a big bowl, sift the dry ingredients together. Whisk them well to distribute the ingredients uniformly.
3) Beat butter till soft. Add the honey and cream it with the butter till light and fluffy on medium speed.
4) Add in eggs gradually and beat till combined.
5) Fold in the flour mixture until smooth. It will be dough-like.
6) Finally, add in the milk and fold untill a soft dough-like batter is obtained
7) Pour batter into lined loaf tin and bake for 45 -55 minutes. Check for doneness using a wooden skewer. Insert skewer in the middle and it should come out clean with no wet dough.
8) Remove cake from tin and brush with warm honey