Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake

Of all the many types of cakes out there, chiffon cakes still remain my favourite.  Soft, fluffy and light tasting, how can one not love it? 

Though easy on the palate, this cake is not easy to be attempted - but fret not, learn the skill of folding in and you are on your way to making your own lovely chiffon cakes.

I have not got any store bought chiffon cakes ever since the day I baked my first successful chiffon cake. I love how I can skip using cream of tartar, lessen sugar content, use healthier oil and coming up with chiffon cake flavours that I cannot get from bakeries.

This round, I made a chiffon cake in Thai Milk Tea flavour with the instant Thai Milk tea sachets I bought during my last Bangkok trip. Milk tea taste did not come through much but I love the colour of the baked product. It was just how Thai Milk Tea looks like haha! Soft and fluffy as usual.  No regrets in trying this out.

Maybe I should try using 2 sachets next time, then cutting down on the sugar amount for yolk mixture - just to see if the Thai tea tastes more obvious!

Thai Milk Tea Chiffon Cake

Egg yolk mixture
5 egg yolks
20g sugar
30g oil 
60g Thai Milk Tea (In a cup of 60ml hot water, stir in a sachet of Thai Milk Tea and let cool before use)
100g plain flour

Egg white meringue
5 egg white
60g sugar

1. Combine egg yolks and sugar and mix well with a whisk till sugar is dissolved.
2. Stir in oil and cooled thai milk tea, whisk till combined before adding in sifted plain flour and mix well till no clumps are present.
3. In a separate clean and dry mixing bowl, add in egg white and beat till large bubbles are formed. In 3 additions, add in sugar. Make sure to beat till sugar is dissolved in between each addition. Stop when the white mixture reaches stiff peak stage.
4. In 3 additions, fold in egg white meringue into yolk mixture in a one gentle direction, taking care not to over fold and deflate mixture.
5. Pour cake mixture into chiffon tube pan and put to bake in a preheated oven and bake at 160deg C for 1 hour or till done. Remove pan and invert to let cake cool before removing and slicing.

Luo Han Guo & Chrysanthemum Tea

Weather has been scorching hot these day and what is simple and good to make at home to help ease the heatiness in us?  It has got to be arhat fruit chrysanthemum tea drink.

Arhat fruit is also known as luo han guo in mandarin.
 This fruit has got amazing health benefits - helps to ease cough and moisten lungs, rich in Vitamin C, helps in anti-aging, anti-Cancer, weight loss and colon cleansing.  Also, it is a natural sweetener which in turn makes it a good sugar substitute for diabetic patients. One can drink it everyday without worrying it to be too cooling to our bodies.

With the impending cough that hubby and I are having, this drink really helps ease our bad throat especially with the addition of chrysanthemum in it.  The combination of luo han guo chrysanthemum drink is said to work doubly well on cough and bad throat.

Luo Han Guo & Chrysanthemum Tea

2 luo han guo (briefly scrub and wash exterior of fruit)
A handful of dried chrysanthemum flowers (briefly rinse and drained)
1.5 to 2 litres of water

1. Using the back of a knife or spoon, gently crack open the washed luo han guo to expose the insides.
2. Place luo han guo and water in a pot and bring to boil on high heat.
3. Bring down to low heat and let simmer for another 15 min.
4. Place chrysanthemum flowers into pot and cover. Turn off fire and let it heat for 15 to 30 min. Strain and serve.

Note:
Choosing and buying luo han guo - pick one of the fruit and give it a gentle shake. If you can feel and hear the seeds moving - the fruit is not fresh and would not give off much taste and benefits.

Chrysanthemum Tea

Weather has been scorching hot of late! The rain did not help to ease the heat and humidity so this is when staying home is best, away from the sun!  I really do not wish to get any tanner since I was never fair to begin with! Hehe~

Home sweet home. I could do so much when at home, and one of it was making some chrysanthemum tea to cool our bodies in this hot weather.  Housework, cooking, baking and relaxing need not be further explained :P

Chrysanthemum Tea

2 handful of chrysanthemum flowers
1.5 litres of water
1 big pc or 2 medium size rock honey sugar (as per desired)

1. Wash and rinse the chryanthemum flowers under running water to get rid of dirt and impurities. Leave on a sieve to drain excess water.
2. Bring the pot of water to boil.
3. Add in rock honey sugar, adjust sweetness according to your preference.
4. Put in chrysanthemum flowers and cover, letting it simmer for about 2 minutes. Turn off fire and leave it covered for further 15 min.

5. Serve lukewarm, at room temperature or chilled.

Note: Never leave the chrysanthemum flowers to boil for a long time as it will cause the tea to have a dry and bitter taste.

Yuanyang Coffee & Tea Bread loaf (Pre-fermented dough method)

Made this loaf of bread on Sunday morning - Yuanyang bread.

Yuanyang is a combi of sweet, creamy coffee and milk tea together, and this beverage is hugely popular in Hong Kong.  One of the must-have on my list when in Hong Kong.  So back to my bread expedition... I was struggling between making a coffee loaf and a milk tea loaf, and then I thought, why not do a 2-in-1?

Kept thinking that the soothing and decadent coffee-tea mixture will bring about a nice and flavourful loaf, but sadly I was wrong :(  No, not that the bread was a flop.  It was all soft and wonderful, and the bread colour was brownish tinged like a cuppa yuanyang, except that it did not have the strong yuanyang smell or taste I wanted!  I used up a whole 30g instant yuanyang tea sachet for this loaf by the way...

Oh well... that's how life is.  Sometimes things just do not happen the way you want it to.  Nevertheless I got a really soft and fluffy loaf, and the softness lasted till the 2nd day where leftover slices were gobbled up.  Pretty sure it would have stayed as soft even on the 3rd :)

This soft loaf makes up for all that did not happen, and is worth a 2nd chance, a 3rd and more.  I will make this again!

Yuanyang Coffee & Tea Bread Loaf (Pre-fermented dough method)
(makes 1 loaf)

Pre-fermented Dough
230g bread flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp skimmed milk powder
135ml water

Dissolve yeast in water.  Add to rest of ingredients & knead until soft. Place dough in a big ziplock bag and refrigerate for at least 17 hours. The dough will expand in the bag, so make sure there is room for expansion.

Main Dough
100g bread flour
1 tbsp skimmed milk powder
1/2 tsp salt (I omitted this)
40g sugar (I used brown sugar)
1 small egg (lightly beaten)
40ml instant yuanyang coffee tea sachet (I mixed 30g of instant yuanyang coffee tea sachet with 60ml hot water and used only required amt for main dough)
1 tsp instant yeast
30g butter (softened at room temperature)
chocolate chips (optional) - I had some choc chips left which was not enough to make cookies, so I used it up for this loaf

1. Knead all main dough ingredients together (except butter), then add in pre-fermented dough piece by piece.
2. Knead as you add until the dough is soft and smooth (the dough is quite wet but should be acceptable after about 10-15 minutes of kneading) - I did the mixing of all ingredients by my trusty bread machine.
3. Add butter and continue to knead until dough is soft, smooth and stretchable and does not stick to your fingers when pressed. - I left Step 1 to 3 to my trusty bread machine and only took over from here to knead it till window pane stage as I prefer to feel the dough and achieve windowpane stage with my own hands.  I hate mixing part as I do not like my hands getting on gooey.
4. Flour your hands before shaping dough into a ball and leave in mixing bowl.  Cover the bowl with a clean and damp cloth (or with clingwrap) and let it proof for about 15-30 minutes or until double in size. (I had lunch while letting it proof for 45 minutes)

5. Punch down dough and roll dough flat into a long rectangular shape, add chocolate chips (optional) and roll dough up like swiss roll.  You may shape your dough according to your preference.

6. Grease your loaf tin with butter or oil.  Place rolled up dough in loaf tin and cover top loosely with clingwrap.  Let proof for 45 minutes or till dough has risen to 80-90% of tin.

I lined my loaf tin with a lovely greaseproof paper instead :)

After 45 minutes of proofing,  the dough rised so much it hung on the sides of the tin and a mushroom shaped loaf appeared when I sliced it after it was baked and cooled.  Uber cute!

7. Bake at 180 degree preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.  Unmould and let it cool on cooling rack.

8. Slice when cool. Eat it with a cup of tea or coffee!