better don't bake. Anyway even thou mood isnt any better, I still
went ahead to bake egg tart and try out a new recipe from a book
I borrowed from library.
Was craving for egg tarts, so were the kids. This time I used cake
flour instead of top flour. The same recipe used, full portion for
crust, 3/4 portion for the filling. Makes 12 tarts instead of 10 thou
tart base is too thin for my liking. 26g of pastry dough per tart.
Hubby said taste not as good as the previous batch (some time
back) but is still good. My boy took 2 in a go for snacks just now.
No picture to show since am rushing in cooking process the whole
day. Imagine, pizza (bread base) for lunch, sushi for dinner, plus
the egg tart and cake, so busy.
As for the cake, its from a book called "simple cakes". I find the
steps of those bakes are pretty simple. This one that I tried is a
all-in-one method cake using a mixer, but my mother (ya she
was helping cos i need to go off and put kids to nap) even omit
it and uses hand mix. After an hour, the cake is ready.
Taste wise is fine, look wise, far from the one pictured in the book.
However, after eating it, i find the funny feeling that you will get
when you touch the back of your bottom teeth after eating not
so ripe bananas. Is that the result of too much baking powder?
My mother is the one who noticed the excessive use (in her
opinion) of baking powder even thou self raising flour is used.
Can anyone tell me is there any harm in having too much baking
powder in a recipe ? My mother says its not good for health.
I will hv to try again with mixer to see if there is any vast
difference in using hand mix and mixer.
Here's my cake.
Here's the recipe from the book "Simple Cakes" by Mary Berry.
Chocolate and vanilla marble loaf
Preparation time : 30 minutes
cooking time : 1 - 1 1/2 hr
tin needed : a 900g (2 lb) loaf tin, 17 x 9 x 9 cm base measurement
Ingredients :
225g (8oz) margarine, soften
225g (8oz) caster sugar ( I use 200g sugar only)
275g (10oz) self-raising flour
2 tsp baking powder
4 eggs
2 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp hot water
For icing : (I did not use this since cake already fattening)
25g (1oz) margarine
15g (1/2 oz cocoa powder, sifted)
1-2 tbsp milk
100g (4oz) icing sugar, sifted
abt 25g (1oz) white chocolate, melted
Method:
1. Lightly grease the tin and line with a wide strip of non-stick
baking parchment to go up the wide sides and over the base of
the tin. Pre-heat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas mark 3. Put the
margarine, sugar, flour, baking powder, eggs, milk and vanilla
extract into a large bowl and beat with a hand held electric
mixer fir about 2 minutes, until well blended. Spoon half the
mixture into another bowl and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, mix the cocoa powder and hot water together
until smooth. Allow to cook slightly, then add to one of the
bowls of cake mixture, mixing well until evenly blended.
3. Spoon the vanilla and chocolate cake mixtures randomly into
the prepared tin until all of the mixture is used up and gently
level the surface. Bake for 50 minutes - 1 hour, until the cake
is well risen, springy to the touch and beginning to shrink away
from the sides of the tin. Allow to cool in the tin for a few
minutes, then turn out on to a wire rack, remove the lining
paper and leave to cool completely.
4. For the icing, melt the margarine in a small pan, add the cocoa
powder, stir to blend and cook gently for 1 minute. Stir in the
milk and icing sugar, then remove from the heat and mix
thoroughly. If necessary, leave the icing on one side, stirring
occasionally, to thicken.
5. Spread the cake evenly with the icing, then drizzle the melted
white chocolate over the top. Leave to set.
