Old Skool Vanilla Cake

This recipe has been going viral in Instagram with many Indonesian home bakers. They call it 'Bolu Jadul' (old skool cake)
All gave good reviews, so I had to give it a try too. And it's true that this recipe yields a nice and soft cake which also loved by my family
The texture is something like in between of sponge and butter cake. Yummy! :)

 

 

The recipe below...

 

What you need:

 

4 eggs (room temperature)

120g sugar

100g plain flour

20g milk powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

75g butter (melted)

 

some buttercream, chocolate spread, chocolate rice and grated cheese for topping

(I sprinkled 2/3 of the cake with chocolate rice and the remaining with cheese)

 

Method:

1. Lightly grease 20cm square baking pan. Preheat oven to 150degC
2. Sift together plain flour, milk powder and baking powder
3. In another bowl, mix melted butter with vanilla extract
4. Beat eggs and sugar til light and fluffy (ribbon stage - about 10mins on highest speed)
5. Fold in flour mixture gently
6. Scoop 1/4 of the batter and add into the butter mixture, stir til combined
7. Pour back into the remaining batter and fold in gently
8. Pour batter into the baking pan and bake for 30mins until skewer test comes out clean
9. Remove from oven and transfer onto a cooling rack
10. When cooled completely, add in topping by spreading buttercream and sprinkle with grated cheese, and spreading chocolate spread and sprinkle with chocolate rice

 

In this recipe, I used vanilla extract from Bake The Natural Way

They're kind enough to send me a set of their vanilla products for me to try out

 

The vanilla extract is quite subtle and nice, with some sweetness in it. For those prefer stronger vanilla flavor, some adjustment to the quantity is required

I had previously used it for making vanilla ice cream and I like it too :)

 

 

 

A set of Madagascan vanilla extract, vanilla powder and vanilla pods

 

My kids' choice

 

My choice

 

Nice cake with relatively easy preparation. A keeper :)

 

 

Rice Vermicelli Soup with Shrimp Balls

A nice comforting easy meal especially during rainy days

Recipe adapted from Seasaltwithfood

What you need:

For the shrimp balls:
8 large shrimps, peeled and deveined
2 spring onions, chopped
1 small carrot, chopped
1 small egg white
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
dashes of white pepper

For the soup:
8 cups chicken stock
fried shallots
sesame oil
salt and pepper to taste

a packet of rice vermicelli, soak in warm water until soft
chyesim, cut as desired
cut red chilies (optional)

Method:

Shrimp balls:

1. Put shrimps in a chopper and process til smooth paste and transfer to a mixing bowl
2. Add salt, sugar, pepper and egg white into the shrimp paste and stir in one direction, gather the paste and hit against the bowl. Add in spring onion and carrot, continue stirring in one direction and hit it against the bowl until the paste sticky and well mixed

Soup:

1. Bring chicken stock to a boil. Add in salt and pepper

Scoop shrimp paste and shape to balls according to your preference. Drop it into the boiling soup and let it cooked til floating. Add in chyesim and bring to boil just before serving

To serve:
Place softened rice vermicelli into a serving bowl. Scoop some soup with shrimp balls and pour over it. Top with a dash of sesame oil, fried shallots, more spring onion and cut red chili if desired