Orange and Chocolate Pudding Layer Cake

The strangest thing happened yesterday.  My mother always has an opinion about everything, including food. I mean, she is a great cook and an excellent baker, so most likely she will have something to say on the subject.  She doesn't compliment often, not directly anyway, but when she's quiet, you can consider it a good sign. Meaning: she likes it... she's thinking about it, what's in it, how to make it, etc.

So, yesterday I was cooking cauliflower macaroni and cheese (utterly delicious recipe by Not Quite Nigella. Lorraine, if you're reading this, my mother absolutely love this dish), and I could see my mother having a slice of the orange and chocolate pudding cake.  Whilst stirring the pasta, I was anxiously waiting for the verdict. Would she has something to say or would it be a silent?!

Turned out, my mother had something something to say.  She said, "This is really nice. You can really taste the orange and the chocolate pudding is not overwhelmingly sweet."  And she had another slice and she packed few slices for some friends she's meeting later.  Hours later when she got home, she ate another slice, complimented the pudding again and passed on all the lovely comments from her friends.

I was stunned and confused by the explicit reaction but nonetheless over the moon.  This pudding layer cake has my mom's stamp of approval.

You can be all creative with the flavour combo for the sponge and pudding, but I do love orange and chocolate.  And if you ever wonder what Terry's chocolate orange might taste like in cake/pudding form, this is it.  The orange sponge is light and fragrant; and with the rich and velvety mousse like chocolate pudding, it's sublime.

To achieve the beautiful texture of the chocolate pudding, I use agar-agar.  If you've never heard of it, it's a vegetarian gelatin substitute made from seaweed.  You can get it from a specialty food store or online. Unlike regular gelatin sheet that usually needs to be soaked in cold water to soften before use; agar-agar needs to be brought to a boil in order for the setting to occur.

One might think that making the pudding layer cake is a bit time consuming, since you have to wait for the pudding to half-set before you add the layer of sponge, and so on... but it's actually not the case.  The pudding sets within minutes; and the actual process of baking the sponge and making the chocolate pudding is very easy.  Come on, I'm sure you're tempted :) 

Orange and Chocolate Pudding Layer Cake

For the orange sponge:
6 eggs
120 gr caster sugar
1 tbsp water
125 gr plain flour
120 gr butter, melted
Zest of 1 orange
1 tsp vanilla paste, or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod

For the chocolate pudding:
1200 ml milk
75 gr best quality cocoa powder
2 tsp instant espresso
300 gr caster sugar
14 gr agar-agar powder
8 egg whites (save the yolks, read notes below)
a pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 190 C and line and grease a 20 cm square baking tin.

To make the orange sponge, using a free-standing or a hand mixer, whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla paste and water until it's thick, pale and airy.  This will take a few minutes.  With the mixer running on low/medium, slowly add in the flour.  Then carefully fold in the orange zest and melted butter.  Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes. When a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean, it's done. Set it aside to cool completely and slice the cake in two, horizontally.  

Now, the chocolate pudding...  in a big pot, heat up the milk, cocoa powder, instant espresso, 150 gr of the sugar and the agar-agar.  Keep stirring until the cocoa and sugar dissolved.  When the mixture comes to a boiling point, turn off the heat and set aside.

In another bowl, again, either using a free-standing or hand mixer, whisk the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they form stiff peaks. Then add the rest of the sugar, a tablespoon at a time whilst continue whisking until it's thick and glossy.  Fold in the chocolate mixture a little at a time until everything is incorporated.  The meringue here will give the pudding a mousse like consistency. 

Using a clean 20 cm square tin, place 1/3 of the chocolate pudding mixture into the tin.  Let this half-set  (it is important that the pudding is half-set, and not completely firm, otherwise the layers may separate). Then place 1 half of the sponge followed by another 1/3 of the chocolate mixture.  Let this half-set again and place another layer of sponge and top with the rest of the chocolate pudding.  Put this in the fridge to firm up for at least a couple of hours... and you know what to do next...

Note: I hate wasting food and there's no way I'm gonna throw away 8 egg yolks. You can make loads of spaghetti carbonara if you have an army to feed, or custard/ice-cream is another good idea; but if you're like me and you live in a household where there's no such thing as too much cakes, you bake a Swiss roll :). So, my question of the day, what would you make with the extra yolks?

Kue Lapis Surabaya - Surabaya Layer Cake

Warning: this wonderfully light and airy chocolate and vanilla layer sponge cake is extremely moreish.  Kue lapis Surabaya is a classic Indonesian cake and even though it is old-fashioned, its simplicity makes this cake... timeless.  The name Surabaya refers to the capital city of East Java.  Funny thing, the name "lapis Surabaya" is only known by the people from outside of the city.  In Surabaya itself, the cake is known by the name of  "spiku".

Classic lapis Surabaya consists of three layers of sponge cakes.  A chocolate sponge sandwiched between two layers of vanilla or plain yellow sponge; or the other way round, a vanilla sponge sandwiched between two layers of chocolate sponge as I have done here.  The layers of cake are glued using strawberry jam. Chopped nuts may be added to the layers for texture for variations, but I'm keeping it simple this time.

Looking at the list of ingredients, yes, there are a lot of egg yolks used here (you can save the whites for meringues or pavlovas, etc) and that what makes the cake so rich.  This makes quite a big cake, perfect for sharing... I managed to get around 40 generous slices.

The addition of instant espresso to the chocolate sponge batter is my own take.  However un-traditional, I think it brings out more of the chocolate flavour.  So, purists out there, please don't sue me.

Kue Lapis Surabaya

For the chocolate sponge:
15 egg yolks
180 gr caster sugar
pinch of salt
50 gr plain flour
25 gr cocoa powder
1 tsp instant espresso
2 tbsp milk powder
180 gr butter

For the vanilla sponge:
8 egg yolks
100 gr caster sugar
pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla paste, or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod
30 gr plain flour
10 gr corn flour
1 tbsp milk powder
100 gr butter

150 gr strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 180 C and grease and line a 25 cm square tin.

Using a freestanding or a hand-mixer, whisk 280 gr of butter until pale and fluffy, then divide the butter for the sponges and set aside.

To make the chocolate sponge, whisk the egg yolks with caster sugar and a pinch of salt until thick, light and forms a ribbon.  In a bowl, sieve the flour, cocoa powder, instant espresso and milk powder.  Then slowly add the dry ingredients to the yolks.  Fold in the whipped butter.  Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean.  Remove the cake from the oven, let it cool slightly before removing from the tin to cool completely. Repeat the process to make the vanilla sponge. 

When the chocolate sponge has cooled, cut it in half horizontally using a serrated knife.  Try your best to make sure the layers are even. Spread one half of the cake with half of the strawberry jam. Then top with the vanilla sponge.  Spread the rest of the jam and top with the chocolate sponge.  Cut into slices and you know what to do next...  

It Mayo Shock U - Chocolate and Passion Fruit Lamingtons

I am so glad the home internet is working again... and let's just hope *fingers crossed *touched wood there will be no power shutdown as well today and forever... amen.

For those who don't know, my friend Peter over at Delicious Delicious Delicious blog is back hosting his annual Re-Inventing the Lamington event. It's a lot of fun and there will be a prize to win.  So check out the post here (also the prize you might win) and join in the baking fun!

For my first ever lamington experience, I combine two flavours that go so well together... chocolate and passion fruit. The richness and the sweetness from the chocolate work really well with the sharpness of passion fruit.  Utterly delicious.

The chocolate cake is inspired by and adapted from the brilliant Adriano Zumbo, one of Australia's best known chef.  There's a recipe from his book Zumbo called it mayo shock u, which is a chocolate loaf cake with raspberries.  What fascinates me is the use of Japanese mayonnaise in place of eggs, so I just had to give it a go. The result was... shocking... Not only the cake is super easy to make, but the result cake was incredibly soft and moist too.

You can get Japanese mayonnaise, such as Kewpie at your local Asian grocery store.  Japanese mayonnaise is different than the usual western mayonnaise.  I learn that it has a higher egg ratio and also made with rice vinegar. 

To make it easier to cut and shape into lamingtons, I bake the cake in a square cake/brownie tin.  The passion fruit element for the lamingtons comes from passion fruit curd.  You can make your own if you want to... I just bought a really good one.  Give me a break.

Chocolate and Passion Fruit Lamingtons

For the chocolate cake
145 gr Japanese Mayonnaise
100 gr caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
150 gr plain flour
3 gr baking powder
3 gr baking soda
35 gr unsweetened cocoa powder
140 gr water

Passionfruit Curd
Freshly grated coconut/desiccated coconut

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Line and lightly grease a 18 cm square tin.

To make the chocolate cake, in a mixer bowl (free-standing or hand) add the mayo, sugar and vanilla bean paste and mix for few minutes until the sugar starts to dissolve.

In another bowl, sift the dry ingredients, the flour, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder.  Then add this to the sugary mayo on a low speed.

Slowly pour in the water.  Don't panic if the mixture gets a little lumpy... just continue mixing and it'll be fine. Pour the batter into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes.  Let the cake completely cool in the tin.

When the cake is cooled, take it out from the tin, remove the baking paper and cut the cake into 2 x 2 cm square.  Take one square of the cake and add a little dollop of the passion fruit curd then sandwich with another square of cake.  With a pastry brush, brush the cake with more curd on all sides.  Then roll in the coconut.  Continue with the rest.  Thinking about it now, it'll actually be easier if you cut the cake into rectangles, so go do that instead.

Babi Kecap - Braised Pork Knuckle in Sweet Soy Sauce

Hello, friends!! How is everyone doing? I hope all is well and eating deliciously. 

I have had a crazy busy few weeks, from all the baking leading to Chinese New Year, followed by various family visits and more baking in between... so my apologies for the lack of posts and I am very behind with e-mail queries, blog reading list and I look forward to catching up soon. For now, I am just so happy to have a time alone. 

Without sounding like an anti-social, I am also pleased to not have plans to go out for both Valentine's day (I'm single, anyway...) and lantern festival tomorrow. I'm just gonna stay home, and have a Modern Family or Law & Order marathon, still to be decided.

Those of you who are following me on Instagram (@michael_toa), know that I eat embarrassingly loads (just an expression obviously... I'm actually pretty proud of my ability to eat loads) from the pictures I posted. Living in a Chinese household, the past couple of weeks is feast celebration.  Between the baking and social visits, foods everywhere and no gym... which is not good, because I'm going on holiday in few weeks time. My friend Cian and I will be travelling across Java (Jakarta, Bandung and Yogyakarta), Bali and Lombok very soon and I am very excited.  If you have any foodie recommendations, do let me know! :) 

Anyway,  one photo I haven't posted is my mother's babi kecap... and I want to share it with all of you now. It's seriously good and so easy to make.  Often mom would cook this using pork belly, but for the special occasion, and because the family loves it too, this time (as pictured below) is pig's feet/knuckle... yum.

Not a lot of spices here to be honest... none actually... just a simple homey dish we grew up eating.  Start with gently frying finely chopped shallots in a little vegetable oil in a big pot that comes with a lid.  Then add the cleaned and cut up knuckle or use pork belly and continue frying until they brown up a bit.  Pour in enough water/chicken stock/combination of the two to cover the whole thing... add the rest of the ingredients: fried tofu, hard-boiled eggs, lots of garlic (whole and unpeeled)... the garlic will become sweet and soft and in my family, everybody fights for it... and last but not least the sweetened soy sauce. Let it comes to boil and simmer with the lid on until the pork is very tender. Season with salt and white pepper to taste.

You can eat the pork straightaway with rice, but what I would suggest if you have the patience, the braised pork, like many other stews tastes better the next day or even few days after the cooking... after it's been cooled and reheated again.  And because I like to get rid of some of the grease; in the fridge, the fat rises to the top and solidifies, making it easy to scoop out.

Last thing I want to tell you is, my wonderful blogger friend, Peter from Delicious Delicious Delicious blog is back hosting his famous re-inventing the Lamington event.  You can read more about it here if you want to get involve.  I have an idea of the kind of lamington I want to bake.  I now have to test it and hope that it'll work, so watch this space!

Spicy Roasted Chicken Thighs with Miso and Ginger

As Chinese New Year is approaching in few days time, the Toa household is getting busier... Often at this time of year, my mom takes orders from family and close friends for her celebration cookies and tarts.  So, the past few days we have been baking non stop to meet tight deadlines.

But of course, no matter how busy we are, it's still not an excuse to stop eating well...  And no fast food from the joints either, but just good food, fast, like this spicy roasted chicken thighs in miso and ginger that we had for Sunday lunch earlier.  It is a recipe from The Kitchn, one of my go-to websites for kitchen inspirations. 

This recipe takes no time to prepare and for better flavour, you can marinate the chicken thighs overnight in the fridge.  I did it early in the morning until around lunchtime and it tastes wonderful...  Making the marinade is also a doddle... simple put the miso paste, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, lemon zest, vegetable oil and chili sauce in a blender and blitz until smooth and it's done.

You can use any chili sauce that you like... Sriracha is great, but today I use gochujang which is a traditional Korean chili paste... It is very versatile and a definite staple in my pantry. 

The original recipe calls for boneless and skinless chicken thighs.  I did remove the skin and make a couple of slashes on each thighs to ensure the marinade really seeps into the meat; but I kept the bones because I like to nibble on them :)

I like to serve the chicken with sweetcorn rice and cooked broccoli that I simply dress with soy sauce and sesame oil.  I hope you give this a go, because once you made this, you'll want to make it again, and again...

Anyway, it's past midnight now, and I need to get some sleep, because in a few hours time, the baking fun starts again! :) 

Spicy Roasted Chicken Thighs with Miso and Ginger

For complete list of ingredients and instructions, click here.