Green Tea Chiffon Cake

This morning, I woke up to the Santa Ana Winds rattling my windows. I knew it was going to be a chilly, blustery day. As I walked downstairs, wrapped in my fuzzy blanket, I couldn't help but wander to my little baking cupboard. The first thing I saw was the last of my matcha green tea powder. After an ingredients check, I realized that I had plenty of eggs, but no butter. So what choice does a girl have but to make a chiffon cake, right? 

This chiffon cake is pillowy soft and not too sweet with just a wonderful balance of green tea flavor. My parents already inhaled a chunk of the cake. They're Asian, so anything that's overly sweet is definitely overly despised. Onwards to the process!

The starting line-up...


My wonderful scale, for all my delicate cakes and macarons.


First off, combine the flour, green tea powder, baking powder, and salt. Sift together in a bowl and set aside.


Next, combine the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk until pale.




I combined the water and oil in one cup, and then I added it into the egg yolk mixture a little at a time.


In a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, mix the egg whites until foamy. Once it's foamy, slowly add the sugar. Whisk until stiff peaks form. Look at those stiff peaks!


Fold the egg whites into the wet ingredients in 3 installments. Fold gently.








Pour into an angel food cake pan and bake in a 340F for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the cake.


Voila!

Ingredients

Part A

• 6 egg yolks 
• 80 g white sugar 
• 200 g cake flour 
• 2 tsp baking powder 
• Pinch of salt 
• 2 tbsp green tea powder
• 100 ml vegetable oil 
• 150 ml water 

Part B

• 6 egg whites 
• 80 g white sugar 

1. Sift together the flour, green tea powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale. Slowly add in the water and oil until all is combined.

3. Add the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture. Don't over-mix!

4. Using a stand/hand mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk egg whites until foamy. Add sugar slowly. On medium speed, whip eggs to stiff peaks. 

5. Add the egg whites into the wet ingredients in 3 installments, folding gently until there are no more white streaks. 

6. Pour into a 10" tube pan and bake at 340F for about 45 minutes. 

7. Once the cake is done, take it out of the oven and turn it upside down so that the cake can maintain its volume. Cool completely. 

Green Tea Kasutera

A friend of mine recently gave me matcha green tea powder from Japan, and I've been very careful with what I use it for. It's precious stuff, not to mention expensive! I found a wonderful recipe for kasutera, a Japanese type of bread. It's supposed to have a similar consistency with pound cake, but perhaps not as dense. My cake turned out really light and soft.

I took this recipe and adapted it by replacing 2 grams of flour with green tea powder. The result is a delicate, fluffy bread that my family and I love. I believe kasutera is not supposed to be fluffy, but mine was. It was probably because I didn't have the time/patience to sit there with the eggs and whip 'em up slowly. I'll have to try mixing the eggs a little slower next time. Kasutera is somewhat temperamental, so show it some love, and it'll love you right back.

Ingredients:
8 whole "large" eggs
300g sugar
198g all-purpose
2g matcha green tea powder
1/2 cup milk


Directions adapted from Just Hungry.
I didn't want to write it all out here, so you can just go to the original website and follow their directions. They're pretty thorough!

Individual Cheesecake with raspberry swirls

A friend of mine wanted to bake with me, and so this entry is dedicated to her. Since we both love cheesecake and raspberry-flavored anything, this dessert was a "no brainer." We had our little mishaps in the kitchen. Our first batch turned out fine, but while assembling our second batch, we realized that we had forgotten to put graham cracker crust into the muffin pans. Oh well...that's life. Even though we messed up, the little cheesecakes were still pretty good.

You can follow the step-by-step instructions from Annie's Eats (not affiliated with me!):

Here's a trick for when you want to press graham cracker crumbs into the cupcake pan...use a measuring cup! The 1/4 size cup fits perfectly.


Here is the cream cheese mixture after all the sugar, eggs, and vanilla have been mixed in.


Fill each cupcake liner about 2/3 of the way up.


Add 3 drops of raspberry sauce (I used seedless raspberry jam)


And the final product!

Pumpkin Muffins

Let me just start out by saying that ANY recipe that has 5 stars from 4,609 people will ALWAYS get vote. That's what this pumpkin muffin recipe got, and it is well-deserved. This muffin, which is actually meant to be a loaf, is moist, flavorful, and delicious. Even if you adapt it to your liking, it STILL turns out a winner. So go make this recipe...now.

We start out with the ingredients.


Mix the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients separately.




Pour the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients, and mix until just incorporated. Don't over-mix, but keep going until you don't see any huge clumps of flour. Fill the cups about 2/3 and add any toppings at this point.



I doubled the recipe because I made this the other night, and my dad ate 3...in one sitting. 3. However, doubling a recipe that is already meant for a HUGE batch can lead to some shortages. I only had a cup and a half left of vegetable oil, but the recipe calls for 2 cups, so I substituted apple sauce for the remaining half cup.



Also, to make this muffin a little healthier, I made it with whole white wheat flour instead of the usual all-purpose flour. I love whole white wheat flour because it's much lighter and milder than its friend, the dense whole wheat flour. Use it in your baking! It's very similar to all-purpose...but healthier!

I hope you enjoy this recipe. It's called the Downeast Main Pumpkin Bread, and it's a-mazing! Did I mention that it got 5 stars with over 4,000 reviews?? :)



The directions below are for a loaf, but these can easily be made into muffins. Lower the baking time to 25 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 3 cups white sugar
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour three 7x3 inch loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.
3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. If making muffins, lower time to 25 minutes. Loaves are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream Frosting

There's no other flavor combination I like better than chocolate and raspberry. The smooth, rich taste of chocolate balances well with the slight tartness of raspberries. And there's no other season in the year when I crave this combination the most than fall. There's something so comforting about driving to the nearest Starbucks and ordering a tall hot chocolate with a shot of raspberry. Yum.

It's been a long time since I last baked a dessert with these two goodies. The last thing I baked many moons ago was the chocolate raspberry loaf. I don't know what took me so long to experiment with another kind of dessert. But here we are!

I adapted a simple chocolate cake recipe from here. It's a recipe for cake, but I turned it into cupcakes.

Directions for the chocolate cupcakes: (Makes about 24-26 cupcakes)
Ingredients

1 3/4 c	all purpose flour
2 c	sugar
3/4 c	cocoa powder
2 tsp	baking soda
1 tsp	baking powder
1 tsp	salt
2	eggs
1 c	boiling water; dissolve 2 tsp instant espresso
1 c	buttermilk
1/2 c	vegetable oil
1 tsp	real vanilla extract

Directions
1.   Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer.

2.   Combine eggs, coffee, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients

3.   Beat at medium speed for two minutes. Batter will be thin.

4.   Pour batter into the cupcake pan that is lined with cupcake liners.

5.   Bake at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes.

6.   Cool before frosting.

Directions for Raspberry Buttercream Frosting:

Ingredients

1. 2 sticks of butter, softened (unsalted)

2. 1/2 cup of seedless raspberry jam (not preserves)

3. Confectioners' Sugar (around 3-5 cups). Add 1 cup at a time until you reached your desired consistency.

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

This is my last week before I start work again, and I wanted to bake as many things as possible before I say goodbye to my freedom. With 1 lemon and half a bag of frozen wild blueberries needing to be used, I decided to try making these bars that I once saw on someone else's blog. These bars have a light lemon flavor from the lemon zest and juice, and the wild blueberries offer a little pop of sweet juice as you're eating them. I absolutely love the combination of lemon and blueberries. 

So here we go. First off, you need to make the crust for the bars. I love crust on cheesecake and wanted to make sure that I had enough to suit my liking. You can always lessen the amount of crust if you're not as big of a fan as I am. Also, the fact that these are bars and not a normal round cheesecake gave me even more reason to up the amount of crust. Do as you like! I found this box in the baking aisle. 

Already crushed graham crackers for baking! How great is that?? It saves you the time and energy of crushing them yourself, although if you're in need of stress pounding, by all means, go and buy the regular box of graham crackers and pound away! To the graham crackers, add 2 tablespoons of sugar and a stick and a half melted butter. 

I like to do the hand squish test to know if the graham crackers are at the right consistency. Take a chunk of graham cracker in your hand and squeeze it together. If it stays together easily, then it's good to go. If it falls apart or crumbles as you open your hand, then it probably needs a little more melted butter. Go ahead and try it.

Once you get the right consistency, grab a 9x13 pan and spray it with a little baking spray for easy release later. Pat the graham cracker firmly into the pan so that it's even. Bake in the oven at 325F for 10 minutes. After you take it out, let it cool on a wire rack while you make your cheesecake filling.

On to the filling. Using a stand mixer, mix together the cream cheese and the sour cream until it's smooth. Add the sugar next and mix until light and fluffy. 

Once it's incorporated, add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well between each egg. 

In a small bowl, combine the lemon zest, lemon juice, and the vanilla. Add that into the cream cheese mixture and mix well.

When the cream cheese mixture is nice and smooth, pour it on top of the graham cracker crust. 

Sprinkle the blueberries on top. You can use fresh blueberries, but I only had frozen wild blueberries on hand. If you're using frozen blueberries, don't thaw them beforehand because they'll leave purple streaks everywhere. 

Bake for about 35-40 minutes. You'll know when it's done when the middle of the cheesecake stops jiggling and is semi-firm. Don't worry if it isn't completely firm because it'll harden in the fridge. Take the cheesecake out of the oven and let cool to room temperature before you put it into the fridge. This is very important that you wait for it to cool! Let it chill in the fridge for 3-4 hours before you slice and serve. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

-13.5oz box of graham cracker crumbs

-2 tbl sugar

-1 1/2 stick butter, melted

-16 oz cream cheese, room temperature (I might use 24oz next time)

-8 oz sour cream

-3/4 cup sugar

-2 eggs

-juice and zest of 1 lemon

-1 tsp vanilla

-1.5 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325F. Lightly grease a 13x9in pan.

1. To make the crust, combine graham crackers, sugar, and melted butter until fully incorporated. Crust should not fall apart easily.

2. Press crust into the pan firmly and evenly.

3. Bake for 10 minutes.

4. Cool on wire rack while making the filling.

5. To make the filling, with a stand/hand mixer, mix together the cream cheese and sour cream until smooth on medium speed.

6. Add sugar and mix on med-high speed.

7. Drop in 1 egg at a time, mixing well between each egg.

8. Add lemon juice, zest, and vanilla extract to the mixture and mix until smooth.

9. Pour cream cheese onto the graham cracker crust and smooth evenly with your spatula.

10. Sprinkle the blueberries on top.

11. Bake at 325F for 35-40 minutes or until cream cheese is slightly firm. It shouldn't jiggle like jello if it's done, nor should it be completely firm. 

12. Let cool to room temperature then place in the fridge for 3-4 hours before slicing. 

Monkey Muffins

 

If you are like any other Asian person I know, then you probably have know idea what Monkey Bread is. I guess this dessert was just not a part of the typical American desserts Asian kids were given. Growing up, the only desserts I really got were Cookies and Cream ice cream, Nestle cookies (cut and bake 'til burned), Crunch ice cream bars, and the occasional Marie Callendars apple pie from the frozen aisle of the market.

Monkey Bread is a type of cinnamon bread that you can pull apart easily because they're little balls of cinnamon/sugar dough pressed together to make one massive cake. It's delicious. I saw these Monkey muffins on Pioneer Woman's blog and wanted to make them whenever I remembered to buy biscuit dough from the market. 

I adapted from PW's recipe because I wanted to make it my own...sorta. If you want the original recipe, go here to Pioneer Woman's website. 

First off, roll the biscuits into small balls. They should be about the size of a small meatball or walnut. 2 biscuit cans made 24 servings for me. 

In a separate bowl, combine the white sugar, brown sugar, and cinnamon.











Next, you want to put a pat of butter into each muffin cup.

Add about half a teaspoon of the sugar mixture over the butter and add 3 balls to each cup. I don't have a picture, but you need to put another pat of butter and some sugar mixture over the 3 balls.

 When the balls have risen and are golden brown, take them out of the oven and drizzle them with the icing.

Voila!

Ingredients

• 2 cans of Refrigerated Biscuit Dough
• 1 stick of butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 Tbl Ground Cinnamon
• 2 cups powdered sugar, 2 tbl milk, 1 tsp vanilla for the icing

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Add pats of butter to the bottom of each cup. You should use 1/2 the stick for the bottom, and 1/2 for the top. Sprinkle in sugar mixture.

Roll dough into walnut sized balls (or cut refrigerated biscuit dough into thirds). Place three into each muffin tin.

Top with the rest of the butter. Sprinkle on more sugar mixture.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden and bubbly. 

Combine the ingredients for the icing until smooth. Pour icing on top of each muffin.