ZUCCHINI AND TOASTED STRAWBERRY BUTTER CAKE

Okay, I think I need to eat some vegetables, but I am craving for a cake. I do have some zucchinis at home and a few strawberries left in the fridge....hmmmm..... *ding! ding!* Let's be creative and make a cake with them!

Ermmm, how should I want the texture of the cake to be? I want a soft, not so dense cake, not like chiffon or sponge which are too soft. Okay, a soft butter cake base then.

The whole cake turns out to be quite good, actually. A bit more work, but it is worth the effort. Try it!

ZUCCHINI AND TOASTED STRAWBERRY BUTTER CAKE

Ingredients

About 5 strawberries, diced

3 Zucchinis

250g butter, salted, softened

180g caster sugar

150g cake flour

90g plain flour

3g baking powder

5 eggs

1 tbsp vanilla essence

40ml evaporated milk + 10ml water

Method

1. Dice strawberries, place on baking sheet lined with non-stick baking paper. Bake at 80C for about 2 hours. If your oven can go to 60C, please do so for about 3.5hrs. The fruits should be dry enough, need not to be completely dehydrated. You should get about 1/3 cup of toasted strawberry. Set aside to cool.

2. Shred zucchinis and place in a colander. I let the peel to remain for visual effect. Sprinkle with salt to draw out moisture. Leave it for about 30 min, then rinse under running water thoroughly to remove salt. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible. You should get almost 1 cup.

3. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease 7" round pan using butter wrapper.

4. Combine softened butter with sugar. With electric beater on high speed, cream till light and fluffy, until sugar is dissolved or finer.You will need to scrape down the batter a few times to ensure even creaming.

5. Sift cake flour, plain flour and baking powder onto a plate. Set aside.

6. Crack an egg into the batter. Scoop 1 -2 tbsp flour mixture from step 5 into batter along with the egg. This is to prevent curdling. At low speed, beat till egg is fully incorporated.

7. Repeat step 6 until all eggs are used.

8. Scrape down the batter. Add vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until fully combined.

9. Pour in remaining half of flour mixture into batter. At low speed, beat batter for about 20 seconds.

10. Pour in evaporated milk mixture into batter. At low speed, beat batter for about 20 seconds.

11. Now, pour in all remaining flour. At low speed, beat batter for about 20 seconds.

12. Scrape down batter and beat again on medium speed for about 20 seconds.

13. Spread almost-dry zucchini shreds and toasted strawberry dices onto batter. Fold in gently and evenly.

14.  Pour batter onto prepared pan and bake for about 50 min, or until skewer comes out clean when poked in centre.

15. Remove pan from oven, leave cake to cool in pan for 5 min. Then remove cake from pan and cool completely on cooling rack.

GREEK YOGHURT HONEY CAKE

I have never tried Greek yoghurt before this. This yoghurt's flavour is not as sour as its 'siblings', and has a creamy texture that I like. Tastes like beaten cream cheese to me. Thank you hubby for buying it for me ^o^

I wanted to do a little experiment on DIY baking strips hence I decided to try it with this beautiful butter cake. Baking strips help to bake levelled cakes, so the cake does not dome on top and does not need to be trimmed. But the strips can be quite costly and they come in different heights (meaning will need to purchase a few different strips for different height pans)

picture from google

I used a CLEAN, wet towel! Yup, that's what you need. No extra costs as we usually have an unused towel somewhere in the house. Just fold the towel to fit the height of the pan, soak in water, squeeze out excess water and secure the towel to pan with a paper clip / safety pin. The height can be easily adjusted too. I am quite happy with the results. Caution: Please be careful to use towel thick and wet enough to avoid fire in oven. I do not recommend when using very high heat.

DIY "baking strips"

 Another trick: If the cake still has a slight dome, upon removing from the oven, immediately cover a thick towel over the cake and LIGHTLY press down and smooth out the cake (wear your mitten, please). There, as level as a pancake.

Ok, now here's the cake part. It is YUMMILICIOUS!!!! This is a kind of butter cake, I made some slight adjustments to the recipe to turn out a very soft and moist version. This recipe was given to me by Ms. Hoh Weilee, a beautiful lady inside out whose passion in the kitchen is really due to the love she has for her family. A gentle, soft-spoken and talented person whose gifts are not restricted to baking. There's art, photography, cooking, etc. Permission was given to me to share her recipe. Thank you, Weilee.

GREEK YOGHURT HONEY CAKE

Ingredients (after my adjustments)

(A)

170g unsalted butter at room temperature

150g fine sugar

1/4 tsp salt

(B)

3 x 50g eggs

(C)

100g plain flour

150g cake flour

2 tsp double-acting baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

(D)

240ml Greek yoghurt

50ml honey

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp homemade cherry extract (or vanilla extract)

Method

1. Grease 8" deep round pan and preheat oven at 170C.

keep butter wrappers for such use

2. Sift dry ingredients (C) in a bowl and set aside. Mix all wet ingredients (D) in a measuring cup and stir. Set aside.

3. Cream (A) till pale and fluffy at medium speed which took me about 8 min. This step is crucial to obtain a soft cake.

4. Add in one egg and one tbsp sifted flour into batter at a time. At low speed, beat till incorporated. Repeat till all eggs are added in. Scrape down and beat for 30 seconds at medium speed.

this is to prevent curdle

5. Pour in balance 1/3 (C) into batter. At low speed, beat till well combined (should not be more than 20 seconds).

6. Pour in 1/2 of (D) into batter. At low speed, beat till well combined (should not be more than 20 seconds).

7. Repeat steps 5, 6 and lastly 5. Scrape down the batter and beat for 30 seconds at medium speed.

remember to scrape down and mix well again

8. Pour into pan, level top of batter and give the pan a few taps. Bake for 40-55 min or until skewer comes out clean when poked in the centre.

cake top is quite flat with DIY "baking strip" unlike my past butter cakes

9. Cool in pan for 10 min before removing to cool completely on rack.

10. Garnish as you like.

 

FRUITY BUTTER CAKE

Fruity Butter Cake

I have always loved butter cakes, but in the past the cakes I baked were hard and dry. I tried different recipes, yet the results were always the same.... until I found a tip from a baker in a Facebook group. After that my butter cakes, whether plain or fruity, turn out soft and no longer dry ^o^.  I shall share the tips here in my post.

Butter Cake Recipe

(A)
250g low protein flour (I mixed 100g plain flour + 150g low protein flour for fruity cakes)
3g baking powder

(B)
250g salted butter, softened and cubed (just use all of the 250g block. It is fine if the net weight is slightly less)
180g fine sugar

(C)
5 eggs

(D)
1 tsp vanilla essence (optional)
50ml fresh milk (I used full cream milk)

(E)
Fruits of your choice. I chose strawberries (sliced), blueberries and golden kiwis (sliced).

Method:
1. Preheat oven at 180C. Grease 6" or 8" pan or lay with non-stick baking paper. (I use the butter foil to grease my pans.)

2. Using electric beaters, cream butter and sugar at HIGH speed until light. It is necessary to scape the down the sides a few times to ensure all sugar is well beaten. It is done when there is no grainy feel and the butter looks like cream with a lighter shade. I took about 5 min to get it.

3. Sift (A) once. 
4. Add about 1 tablespoon of sifted (A) into the butter. Introduce one whole egg. Using SLOW speed, beat until the egg is fully mixed into batter. Adding some flour will prevent the batter from curdling.

5. Repeat step 4 until all the eggs are added.
6. Add in vanilla essence.
7. Scrape down the sides and beat batter at MEDIUM speed for about 2 min.
8. Pour in half of remaining (A) and beat at SLOW speed for 30 seconds. 
9. Immediately pour in all the milk and beat for 30 seconds.
10. Pour in all the remaining (A) and beat for 30 seconds.
11. Scrape down the sides of batter. Turn to MEDIUM speed and beat for about 1 min.
12. Pour in half the batter into pan. Lay fruits. (In one of the cakes, I added some berry jam too)

11. Pour remaining batter into pan. Level and smooth top. Gently knock the pan a few times to ensure there will not be hollow spaces in the cake. Design the top with fruits again. Do not press down the fruits.

12. Bake for about 40 min or until inserted skewer comes out clean in the middle.
13. Cool the cake in pan for about 10 min. Remove from pan and cool completely on rack.

 As the batter rises during baking process, the fruits will be covered slightly

After baking a few rounds of this type of cake, I notice that the more fruits I add, the longer the time I need to bake the cake. Above design took me 1hr 20 min!

 I added some jam to this batch. Look at the juice!!

This design took me 70min.

 This 8 inch square design took me 40min.

Verdict:

Soft and moist with the juices of fruits and jam. My boys do not like plain butter cakes, but they can gobble this in no time (I am guilty of this too >,<)

I feel that citrus fruits are more suitable. Blueberry is a good choice as it melts inside the cake. 

BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-BA-NA-NA BANANA CAKE

Mmmmm.... I used to love banana cakes, and I could eat soooo much! But sadly, after my second pregnancy, my tongue became allergic to bananas. After that I could not eat my favourite fruit anymore.

Recently at a gathering with my secondary school friends (mostly seniors), I promised a friend I would bake her favourite banana cake for herself. For so many years I have not tried my hand on this cake, so I was a little jittery how the cake would turn out.

There was extra batter, so I baked in a cup. Jamiel (my 4 year old boy) scooped it all. It was the first time I saw him finish one cupcake on his own, so it must be good for him.  :)

Recipe (adapted from Kathrine Kwa)
(A)
250g ripe banana, mashed
1/2 tsp baking soda
1-2 drops of banana essence (optional)

Mix above and set aside.

(B)
280g plain flour (I mixed 100g plain flour + 180g cake flour)
1 tsp baking powder

Mix above and sieve once. Set aside

(C)
200g butter at room temperature
80g fine sugar
70g brown sugar
1 tsp salt
3 whole eggs

(D)
50ml fresh full cream milk
50g chocolate rice

(E) - for decoration
A few pieces of roundly sliced banana
some extra chocolate rice

Method:

Preheat oven at 175C.Grease 12x4 loaf tin or lay non-stick baking paper for easy removal.

1. At high speed, cream butter, sugars and salt until pale and creamy. Takes about 5 minutes. During the process, scrape down the sides of the batter repeatedly to ensure consistency.
2. Place one tbsp of (B) into 1. Crack one egg into 1. At slow speed, beat till egg is fully incorporated.
3. Repeat step 2 until all eggs are added. Add in (A).
4. Scrape down the sides of batter. Using medium speed, beat for about 1 min.
5. Using low speed, add half the remaining flour and beat for about 30 seconds. Immediately pour in milk and beat for 30 seconds. Add in balance flour and beat for another 30 seconds. Lastly add in chocolate rice.
Scrape down the sides when necessary to ensure consistency, but do not overmix.
6. Pour batter into prepared loaf tin and smooth the top. Knock a few times gently.
7. Decorate batter on top with (E)
8. Place in oven for about 45min or until skewer comes out clean when picked.

Verdict (I risked my tongue and stole a few bites)
Very soft with nice fragrance, and the sweetness is just right. Best consumed within 2 days. May re-heat at 150C for 5-8 min to enjoy the warm cake.