Chicken Farm Bakers' Project # 9: Pink Happy Birthday Cake, Raspberry Mouse Cake

For this month: Chicken Farm Bakers' Project # 9 is Pink Happy Birthday Cake. The host is my best friend Vanillaorchid , she got an idea from the fact that 3 of her family members' birthday is in the month, all of them are girl!.
So in order to celebrate 3 girls' birthday, she need pink birthday cakes (and I know that she need a suggestion for the cake from us, haha).

I have many ideas for this project, cake, cupcake, brownies and etc. But at last I choose: Raspberry Mouse Cake.
The reason is easy, I never make it before, so it's my change to make something new, ^ ^.
This cake is very easy to make (even thought you may think it's not because of the long list of how to and the long list of the ingredients, >*<), the base is the chocolate chiffon that top up with the raspberry mousse. I have to make a lot of change form the original recipe, I really don't know it's good or not but I believe that there is something wrong in the book. So, I don't want to give you the name of the book, ^ ^".

Pink Happy Birthday Cake, Raspberry Mouse Cake

Makes 4 (8 cm cakes)

Cocoa chiffon (makes 20x20cm square cake)
4	Egg yolks
70g	Caster sugar
2tbsp	Salad oil
50ml	Water
50g	Cake flour
20g	Cocoa powder
4	Egg whites
Syrup
20g	Caster sugar
50ml	Water
1tbp	Raspberry or Cassis liquor
Raspberry mousse
300g	Raspberry puree
90g	Caster sugar
6g	Gelatin powder
300g	Whipping cream

Preheat the oven to180°C
Line the base of 20X20 cm pan with baking paper.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder together.

Beat the egg yolk with half of the sugar until light, then gradually add the oil and water.

Pour the flour mixture into the egg mixture, whisk to combine.

*Note: if your cake is not black enough, use a little bit of black coloring gel.


Beat the egg white with half of the sugar until stiff peaks form.

Fold the egg white into the egg and flour mixture, until combine.

Pour the batter into the pan, level the batter.
Bake for 30 minutes.
Let the cake cool on the wire rack.

When the cake cool, cut into circle and place in the molds.

Make the syrup:

Mix all the ingredients in the pan then bring to boil.
Brush the cake with the syrup.
Put the cakes in the refrigerator.

Makes the Raspberry mousse:

Mix the gelatin with 2tbsp of water.
Pour half of the raspberry with the sugar into the microwavable bowl, heat for 1-2 minutes until hot.
Put the gelatin into the raspberry puree, whisk to combine.
Pour the hot mixture into the rest of raspberry puree, beat to combine. Let the mixture cool.

Whisk cream just to soft peaks.

Gently fold 1/3 of the cream into the raspberry mixture.

Gently fold back the raspberry and cream mixture into the cream. The mixture will be quite loose.

Top the cake with mousse. Refrigerate for 4 hours, or overnight, until set.

Chicken Farm Bakers' Project # 9: Pink Happy Birthday Cake
Raspberry Mouse Cake

Caramel Coffee Ice Cream: Better than a glass of frappe!

When the weather is extremely hot, a scoop of ice cream is very very good. I love to have a box of ice cream in the freezer, and home made ice cream is the best.

I made ice cream almost every week, but the problem is the flavor is not varied -*-. Most of the time, I make coffee ice cream (it's my mom favorite). Anyway I really need something new, (haha, I always feel bored when I make the same thing, I love to try something new (^_*)).

I got the idea from the book name: .................

Now it's time for something beyond basic coffee ice cream: The caramel coffee ice cream. The smell and the flavor of the caramel make the ice cream become more like a glass of coffee caramel frappe! But I think it's better ^ ^.

Caramel Coffee Ice Cream
serves 3-4 persons

Caramel Sauce
50g	Caster sugar
1tbsp	Water
50ml	Whipping cream
⅓ tsp	Sea salt
Coffee ice cream base
3	Egg yolks
20g	Caster sugar
250ml	Milk
20g	Caster sugar
1½tsp	Instant coffee

First make the caramel sauce:

Combine the sugar and water in a heavy saucepan and stir well to mix. Put the cream and salt in a second small saucepan (or put in the microwave proved measuring cup). Place the first pan on medium heat and cook undisturbed until the sugar begins to melt and caramelize-you’ll see a few wisps of smoke coming out of the sugar. Reduce the heat to low and stir occasionally so that the sugar melts and caramelizes evenly. Remove it from the heat when the caramel is still very pale (the sugar will continue to darken off the heat). Slide the pan with the cream onto the burner. As soon as the cream has some bubbles around the edge (if using microwave put the cup in the microwave and heat for 40 seconds), add it to the caramel at arm’s length, averting your face—the caramel will boil up and may splatter out of the pan. Pour the diluted caramel into a medium bowl and cool it to room temperature.

In a small saucepan, combine milk and 20g of sugar together. Heat the milk mixture over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan sprinkle with instant coffee powder. Set aside and cover to keep hot.

In a bowl, with a whisk, beat 20g of sugar and egg yolk together until very thick and smooth. Gradually add the hot milk mixture, whisk all the time to prevent the yolk to become curdle.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture thickens slightly and coats the back of the spoon (about 75°C). Remove the pan from heat and pour the caramel sauce into the pan.


Pour the mixture through the sieve and set it in a bowl of ice water. Stir to cool the mixture. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until thoroughly chilled.
Transfer to an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Caramel Coffee Ice Cream: Better than a glass of frappe!

Dark Cherry Cake: Easy, simply and delicious!

We all need something easy to bake, when we need a break from all the work sometimes just make something quick and easy is the best.

This cake can be the answer, from the fact that that base is a soft biscuit and the filling is a can of cherry in heavy syrup (it's time saving too, just open the can, that's all ^ ^). Top the cake with the crumb and put it in the oven, then after 30 minutes you get the delicious cake, How easy!
Actually, I have to confess, I bought this can of cherry for making the black forest cake, but I felt very lazy so I try to find other recipe, -*-.

Dark Cherry Cake
Makes 22cm cake

Base
200g	Cake flour
20g	Whole wheat flour
2tsp	Baking powder
40g	Granulated sugar
¼ tsp	Sea salt
80g	Butter
80 cc	1 egg plus whipping cream
Cherry filling
1 can (425g)	Dark sweet cherry (sieved and discard syrup)
1 tbsp	Corn starch
2 tsp	Granulated sugar
1tsp	Lemon juice
Plain crumble
40g	Cake flour
20g	Almond meal (grounded almond)
40g	Granulated sugar
40g	Salted butter

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Butter 22 cm tart pan, set aside.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, almonds, and sugar. Using a pastry Blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. Using your fingers, squeeze the mixture together to create pea-size to ¾-inch pieces. If not using right away, cover and chill until ready to proceed.

In a bowl, whisk together the cake flour,whole wheat flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Using a pastry Blender, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs with a few larger clumps remaining. Pour the egg and cream mixture into the bowl, using spatula mix until the egg and cream mixture is absorbed. Using your hand, squeeze the mixture together to create a ball.


Roll the dough into a circle slightly larger than the pan.
Place the dough over the pan and press the dough into the pan.
Using rolling pin roll over the pan to remove the exceeded dough.

Make the filling:
Mix all the ingredient together.
Pour the mixture into the pan, and sprinkle with the crumb.

Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Dark Cherry Cake: Easy, simply and delicious!