Swiss Roll Meranti Copycat

Meranti swiss roll cakes is so popular in Medan, Indonesia. People visiting the place will not leave without it. I myself never visit the bakery but I did try eating the cake when my relative came to Singapore tagging this along for me :)
To me, it's just a normal swiss roll, the rich buttery kind, with different varieties of topping and filling, such as chocolate rice, blueberry, cheese, coffee, etc. It's yummy though, with a soft smooth texture

Pic source: http://makanankhaskotamedan.blogspot.sg/

The famous Meranti swiss rolls


I then did some searching, and found one recipe tried by many Indonesian bakers, and they were happy with the result. So I made one, too :)

 

 

Recipe is in Indonesian language from HERE

Here's the English version...

 

What you need:

 

A

6 egg yolks

5 eggs

125g caster sugar

20g full cream milk powder

100g all purpose flour

1g double acting baking powder

1 tbsp water

 

B

125g butter (original recipe used 100g butter & 25g margarine)

1 tbsp vanilla extract

 

Filling:

blueberry or strawberry jam (I used strawberry)

 

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180degC. Line 28cmx28cm swiss roll pan and grease
2. Beat eggs and sugar til light and fluffy, doubled in size. Add in water, beat for a while and off mixer
3. Sieve in milk powder, flour, baking powder and fold in gently with spatula
4. Add in B and continue folding in the batter gently til well mixed
5. Pour batter into the pan, lightly bang to release air bubbles (or you can tap the bottom of the pan too)
6. Bake for 20-30mins (depending on the oven). To create 'skin' switch the heat to top heat for about 5mins after the swiss roll is cooked (watch out carefully)
7. Remove from oven and on another piece of baking paper, invert the cake. Peel the top paper and leave to cool slightly
8. Spread the jam and roll the cake away from you. Wrap tightly with the baking paper and put in the fridge for about 1 hour prior to serving. Cut and serve

 

My verdict, this recipe is really close to the original Meranti swiss roll. Rich, buttery, yummy

The texture reminds me of Lapis Surabaya (see how many eggs used, and you can see the resemblance haha)

This is definitely much more sinful than the usual swiss rolls, but indulging in it once a while in moderation is ok, I guess LOL

 

This post is for Best Recipes June 2015 event where the theme this time is Secret of Chiffon & Roll Cakes. This event is organized and hosted by Fion of XuanHom's Mom Kitchen Diary

My Favorite Easy Alfredo Sauce

My kids love pasta. But they have different preference. While Abby likes tomato based sauce, Ian always prefers cream sauce. I always try to keep these two sauces in stock in my freezer
For lazy cook like me, I still use store bought bottled tomato based pasta sauce, the taste is still acceptable with addition of sautéed onion, some Italian herbs, adjust the taste a little with a little sugar and black pepper, throw in some grated cheddar, stir and that's it. I can use this sauce for both pasta and pizza
But for cream sauce, I did try a few different brands of bottled sauce but I just couldn't accept the taste. It's just not right, different, artificial. So for cream sauce, I always make my own
So far, this works best for my family. Delicious, creamy and cheesy, just like we prefer. And it's so easy, no roux whatsoever LOL


What you need:
(this makes about 5 servings)

1 tbsp butter
3 cloves of garlic, minced finely
400ml cream
200ml fresh milk
100g grated parmesan cheese
a little salt, black pepper

Method:

1. Heat butter in a pan and sautee minced garlic til fragrant
2. Add in cream and fresh milk, over low heat stir continuously til smoky and milk starts to bubble
3. Add in parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and stir til cheese melts
4. Divide into 5 and keep in small individual containers. Let cool and put them in the freezer for future use

For this pasta below, I boiled spaghetti and added frozen green peas about 5mins before draining, pan fried sliced ham together with sliced button mushroom. Mix them together in a pan over low heat, add the thawed alfredo sauce, stir well and transfer to a serving plate. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and serve

 

 

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (June 2015: Cream) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe

 

 

 

Yummy, creamy, cheesy :)

 

Mango Pudding

This is one pudding with mousse like consistency as no binding agent used such as gelatine or agar agar. Yummy as it is, but I still prefer those more solid texture kind. Nevertheless, it's still a great sweet cold treat in the recent hot humid days

 

 

Smooth, creamy and sweet, I like :)

 

 

I really can't remember where I got this recipe from. It's from one of FB group I joined. To the person who created this recipe, my apology for not mentioning you

 

Here is the recipe...

 

What you need:

 

300ml fresh milk

200ml double cream

2 medium size mangoes, cut and pureed

2 tbsp sugar (my mangoes were really sweet)

2 tbsp custard powder

 

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix in all ingredients and blend til smooth and no lumps
2. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium fire, stir all the time about 10mins
3. Pour into individual serving bowl, bring to room temperature and cool in the fridge

 

 

 

This post is linked to the event Little Thumbs Up (June 2015: Cream) organised by Zoe of Bake for Happy Kids and Doreen of My Little Favourite DIY, and hosted by Diana from The Domestic Goddess Wannabe

 

Bake Along #80 Easy Lazy Mini Chocolate Croissants

This is for me. Easy and quick. Especially during this school holiday when I heard word 'mummy' being called out hundred times LOL
So for now, I made this. With the humid how weather recently and the running around bored kids at home, I do not think it's a good idea to try out the from the scratch croissant recipe which involving time consuming never ending refrigerating, freezing, rolling, folding, and not to mention high risk of butter melting. If that thing happens right now, I think I can tear the whole house down haha...

My easy peasy mini chocolate croissants using frozen puff pastry

 

 

 

Somehow the chocolate filling looks like red bean paste here in the pic below. But no, that is chocolate :)

 

 

 

What you need:

 

1 pack of frozen puff pastry

semi sweet chocolate chips

1 egg

1 tbsp water

 

Method:

1. Thaw the puff pastry til easy to handle, and then on lightly floured surface, roll til flat in rectangular shape. Cut into smaller rectangular and cut each in diagonal to shape triangles
2. Place semi sweet chocolate chips at the centre of each triangle and roll starting from the wider end. Twist the end and curve a little to crescent shape
3. Place in lined baking tray and bake in preheated oven of 180degC for 20-25mins (mine was smaller size 20mins sufficed)
4. Once it's browned, remove from oven and transfer to cooling rack

 

Those particular in choosing the best croissants, you can forget about trying this cheat recipe I did. This is enough to please my family. But of course, they will be more than happy to eat much better version of croissants too LOL

 

 

This post is for Bake Along, an event organised by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake For Happy Kids

 

Pandan Chiffon Cake (Alex Goh)

This is my fourth time baking chiffon cake, and it's all pandan! haha.. It's time for me to switch to other varieties :)
This time is the famous chiffon cake recipe from Alex Goh :)

 

 

Still can't get the browned skin upon unmoulding the cake and look at the holes.. But aside from that, delicious soft and moist chiffon cake, another popular keeper recipe :)

 

 

I saw the recipe from Cook.Bake.Love

Here it is with slight modification I made...

 

What you need:

 

A

4 egg yolks

45g caster sugar

 

B

70ml coconut milk

45ml pandan juice

a drop of pandan essence (I added)

70ml canola oil

a pinch of salt

 

C

150g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

 

D

4 egg whites

90g caster sugar

a pinch of cream of tartar

 

Method:

1. Whisk A til dissolved. Add in B and mix well. Sift in C and mix til smooth. Set aside
2. Starting with low speed for a minute then switch to high speed beat egg whites til frothy, add in cream of tartar and 1/2 part of the sugar from D. Beat til soft peak and add the remaining sugar. Continue beating til stiff peak, switch the last minute to low speed
3. Fold in 1/3 of the meringue into the egg yolk mixture and mix well. Add in the remaining meringue and fold in gently til just incorporated
4. Pour batter into 20cm ungreased chiffon cake pan, bang on the table top a few times to release air bubbles
5. Bake in preheated oven of 175degC for 40mins. If in doubt, you can bake a little longer to be safe. For chiffon cake, slightly over baked is always better than under baked
6. Invert the cake immediately after removing from oven. Let cool completely before removing from mould

This post is for Best Recipes June 2015 event where the theme this time is Secret of Chiffon & Roll Cakes. This event is organized and hosted by Fion of XuanHom's Mom Kitchen Diary