#351_Updated Photos of Custard Cakes (Leche Flan Cakes)

 Personal size or Minis Custard Chiffon Cakes

 9" round Custard Chiffon Cakes

 Nice and smooth

 Chocolate and Chiffon Custard Cakes

Ready to go!!

For Custard Chiffon Cake Recipe, click on the  link below
http://pinoyamericanrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/06/150mango-custard-cake.html
just omit the mangoes.

#161_Irresistible Mango Custard Pizza Pie

Doesn't this look like pizza?
At first glance, it looks like pineapple pizza.
I didn't realize it until I was uploading these photos.

The crust is the Puff Pastry that I was going to use for the
Mango Custard Filling for the recipe #160,
after I had that disaster trying to make Brazo de Mercedez.

Here's how I did it:

After thawing the Puff Pastry,
I rolled it out on a floured surface to form a circle.
It didn't need to be a perfect circle.

I don't have any experience working with Puff Pastry
other than using it to make pot pies.
So, this is how I formed the edges.
It might not be a professional way, but it worked:
I transferred the dough onto a greased baking pan
and folded over the edges making twisted pleats.

Brushed the dough with egg wash and with tines of a fork,
I then pricked the bottom of the dough.

I baked the dough in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven
for about 20-25 minutes.
When the center of dough overly puffed up while baking,
I gave it more pricks.

I filled the baked crust with the
Mango Custard Cream Filling.
(recipe here)

Now you can choose whether you want to use
the Puff Pastry or the Fillo Dough.
The choice is yours,
they are both fantastic!!

Update: 8-6-09

By all means use this variety of mangoes. The peels are all yellow, no specks of green on them. Here in North America they are called Manila mangoes, click here. You can find them at most Oriental stores and at Costco.

#151_Mango Custard Chiffon Cake

This was my first Mango Custard Chiffon Cake to make which was purely experimental,
but luckily it turned out really good except the cake part wasn't thick enough.
My next tries were perfect (I think!)

The procedure is quite lengthy, but don't let it turn you off because
this cake is so delicious and it is worth all your effort.

There are 3 parts to making Custard Cake
and I got each part from 3 different sources:

1) Caramel from Tyler Florence of Food Net Work
2) Custard or Leche Flan by Manang of kusinanimanang
3) Chiffon Cake refer to my Orange Chiffon Cake, recipe which I had adapted from Joyofbaking.com

Without further ado, let's get started. First, with the mangoes....

Select good quality mangoes that are ripe, but firm.
Manila Mangoes are the best kind to use in this recipe.
Slice 2 fresh mangoes into chunks.
(Save the seeds to nibble on pulps).
Set aside.

(1) Caramel
Adapted from Tyler Florence

Make caramel using 1 cup white sugar and 2 Tb water.
In a stainless steel pot or pan,
combine sugar and water and cook over
medium high heat until sugar begins to melt.
Turn down heat and continue to cook without stirring.
The melted sugar will slowly turn into light brown then
to amber color (like burnt orange color)
Coat pans (I used 2 loaf pans) with the caramel,
swirling it around to coat about 1 inch up the sides of pans.

When caramel is set, spread cubed mangoes on top of caramel.
Set aside and prepare the Custard....

(2) Custard or Leche Flan
I have a recipe for the custard but it calls for
10 egg yolks which made me think twice
because of its cholesterol content.
Then I remembered copying down manang's recipe
even before I started blogging. Her recipe uses 4 whole eggs.

Recipe for the Custard or Leche flan:
recipe by kusinanimanang
4 whole eggs
1 can condensed milk
1 can evaporated milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix everything in a blender pulsing 3-4 times
Pour this mixture equally into the prepared pans and
let them sit on the counter while preparing the Chiffon Cake batter.(3) Chiffon Cake batter

There are 2 parts to the Chiffon Cake batter:
A) the egg yolk mixture
B) the egg whites mixture or meringue

Separate 7 large eggs and set aside.
According to joyofbaking, it is easier to separate the egg yolks from the white
while eggs are still cold.

(A) Egg Yolk Mixture:
2 1/4 sifted cake flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp baking powder
Sift all ingredients in a bowl.

Make a well in the center and add:
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup + 2 tbsp orange juice
1 tsp vanilla
7 large egg yolks
Stir all ingredients using a hand-held mixer, or a wire whisk
until everything is well blended together.

This is the egg yolk mixture.
Set it aside and make the egg white mixture...

(B) Egg Whites Mixture or Meringue
7 egg whites, @ room temp
1 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup white sugar

Using a stand mixer with the wire whisk attachment, whip egg whites with
cream of tartar till frothy then gradually add sugar.

Continue to whip until stiff-peak stage is formed.

This is a critical part of making the chiffon cake.
You don't want the egg whites to be neither under beat nor over beat.
See links below on how to whip perfect egg whites.



Fold the (A)egg yolk mixture into the (B)egg white mixture,
doing this in 3 parts, meaning
Fold 1/3 of meringue into the egg yolk mixture,
then take another 1/3 and fold.
When well incorporated, fold in the last third until
you won't see white part anymore.
This is the Chiffon Cake Batter.

Now we are ready to put the custard and the chiffon cake together....
Carefully and gently spoon cake batter on top of the custard mixture.
Bake the custard cake in bain marie or water bath:
Place the pans with the custard/cake in a larger pan,
then slide it in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven.
Pour some boiling water into the larger pan
up to sides of the height of flan.
Bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

The cake is done when tooth pick (or bamboo skewer)

inserted in to the cake comes out clean.

After taking them out of the oven,

let them cool completely on a wire rack,
then invert them onto a platter.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours before slicing.
ENJOY!!

Related Recipes:Chiffon Cake, click here.
Buko Pandan Chiffon Cake, click here.


Links on how to whip egg whites to stiff peak:

http://www.ehow.com/how_4542568_whip-egg-whites-stiff-peaks.html

http://lowfatcooking.about.com/od/dessert/ss/meringue_2.htm

http://www.ehow.com/how_7604373_stiffly-beat-egg-whites.html

http://www.nytimes.com/1998/10/21/dining/food-chain-shrinking-egg-whites.html

#146_Filipino Get-Together Dinner

We had a little Filipino get-together last Saturday
and as usual there was plenty of food and
everything was so good!!!
But I had to discreetly took some pictures
while my friends, Aida and Erlinda,
were trying to organize the buffet table,
so the people there wouldn't think I was nuts for
taking pictures of food instead of people.

Here's some of the food I was able to take pictures of....

You can always tell if it's a Filipino party when there's lumpia.

Batchoy

My friend Aida made this soup which was a hit. Ubos na ubos!
The soup was ladled into serving bowls
and sprinkled with crushed chicharon.
I like the kind of noodles she used, it is very delish.
The chicharon brings out the true Pinoy food in the soup....
no wonder some people call this a comfort food.
I asked her for the recipe which I will be posting here later.

Another of Aida's dish that was so good is the hamonado.
I need to get a lesson from her on how to make this dish as
I've tried making it once before,
but it didn't turn out the way she makes it.

Pancit Sotanghon.

Another pancit

Mango Custard Cake
Before I took this to the party, I took a slice off it for a picture.