Marbled Pound Cake..Simply Delicious!!

Speaking of a pound cake, it's not difficult at all to find a recipe but I'm sure it's not that easy to get one you'd really like..at least it's the case for me ! Anyway, when I saw my daughter's friend eating a piece of marble pound cake the other day , it reminded me of one great recipe of pound cake I've found on this site and although,with a lot of times on giving it a try, yet none of them could make me pleased with the textures ( though,regardless of their taste! ).

Early on this week when I had time, I decided to make it again and this time , instead of using self-raising flour as I always do, I used the cake flour brought back from Bangkok as the original recipe calls for. And when I took the cake out of the oven, I knew somehow straight away that this cake would have a texture that I've been wanting! I sliced a cake once it cooled down and I was so right about its texture.. there it was!! BUT...unfortunately, the cake was underbaked and not cooked through at the bottom...so it found a way with my help to get into the bin a second later..lol

And it's not so me who would get this thing over with easily and without getting it sorted..so the second go was done and luckily, this time is a happy ending..indeed!!

The recipe

150 g cold unsalted butter
3/4 tsp salt
150 g caster sugar
150 g cake flour ( can use self raising but texture would be different )
2 tsp baking powder
100 g milk
3 large eggs ( cold )
2 tsp vanilla
2 rounded tbsp cocoa powder + 2 tsp sugar + boiling water for cocoa paste


Method :

1. Preheat the oven to 160 c. , Lightly grease a loaf tin and line with parchment papare. Sift the flour and baking powder together and set aside. Beat the butter with a paddle attachment on low-medium speed until softened , then increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar, beat together until light and fluffy.

2. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with vanilla and pour into the butter mixture with the machine running on high speed, little at a time, stop the machine and scrape the batter down from time to time, make sure everything mixed and beated thoroughly before a new addition. Try not to let them become curdled cuz it will effect the texture for the final result.

3. Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively and mix until smooth. Divide 1/3 of the batter to a mixing bowl and fold in the cocoa paste, mix until incoperated.  Pour half of plain batter into the prepared tin, top with the cocoa batter and finish with the rest of the plain batter. Make a swirl with a thick toothpick or a cake checker. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center come out clean. Let cool in pan on a rack and turn out onto a rack. For the better result, wrap the cake and keep in the fridge/freezer for at least 4 hours before slicing.

Johnny Appleseed Bars

I've had many recipes of wonderful sweet and savoury dishes to share on my blog here but unfortunately, I haven't had that much effort ( or being capable of )  to make them posted or published on those popular ( and crazy ) foodie websites which sometimes makes me disappointed and irritated! Anyway, my aim for writing my blog is nothing to do with that and no matter what , I will continue doing things I like here as long as I'm happy !


These bars are not sophisticated at any rate but what made me interested in it is nothing but the name and its unclear story I've found from this site...  Anyway, the real reason I decided to give it a try is because I've not made anything with rolled oated for a while which I'd really missed the thing for my baking..so here it comes!! 

  

 

Dark Chocolate & Raspberry White Chocolate Mousse Cake

I'd been wanting to make this cake for a while but couldn't find a pack of frozen raspberries in the supermarkets near where I live. Anyway, with some effort made, I finally got one recently and like you can guess..when  it comes to baking, there's no doubt that I always find time to get it done sooner rather than later !

There are three steps to make the cake. Firstly, you make a cake base which I chose the same chocolate chiffon one as I've used for my chocolate mud cake. Next is to make a dark chocolate followed by white choc. raspberry mousse which is quite plain and simple..what I've thought it's the most difficult thing to make the cake is time needed to get everything set  !

As for the result, I asked my husband how he'd rate my cake and he immediately said ' ten out ten ' !! so no more word to be said !! :)

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

Dark Chocolate 100 g
Whipping Cream (1) 50 g
Whipping Cream (2) 150 g
Caster sugar  50 g
Egg yolk  2
Powdered gelatin 1/2 tsp

Melt the chocolate in a large bowl. Put the whipping cream (1), sugar, yolks and gelatin in the saucepan on the low heat until everything melted. Combine the egg mixture with the melted chocolate, stirring until well incorporated,set aside until completely cool. Whisk the whipping cream(2) to soft peaks, then gently fold in the chocolate mixture until blended. Pour mousse over the chocolate cake layer. Spread evenly over top then refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse:

1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
12 ounces frozen raspberries
1 tsp sugar
6 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
200 ml whipping cream

Pour water into a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over top and set aside for 5 minutes to bloom. Pour frozen raspberries into the bowl of a food processor and puree. Pour puree into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl. Allow the raspberry juice to drip into the bowl. Press on the solids to get as much juice out of the puree as possible. Discard solids. Pour raspberry juice into a small saucepan. Add sugar. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Continue to boil, stirring often until the juice reduces to 1/2-2/3 cup, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add the bloomed gelatin. Stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Put chopped white chocolate into a large bowl. Pour hot juice over chocolate. Allow to sit for 3 minutes. Stir until melted and smooth, set aside until completely cool.
Whisk cream to soft peaks. Whisk 1/3rd of the whipped cream into the white chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until light and fluffy. Pour over the chocolate mousse layer and the other layet of cake , then spread evenly. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Blueberry Custard Pie

The recipe is from Martha Stewart which raspberries are originally called for but I opted for blueberries since it costed much less than raspberries.. This pie takes some time before you can eat but I think it's really worth waiting !

Too bad I didn't have chance to take a lot of photos and unfortunately, there happened to be only one that is perfect !!

Curried Chicken and Onion Casserole

This casserole was traditionally chosen by my husband to be our Saturday dinner. The original recipe is called 'Chicken and Onion Tagine' but I decided to call it differently as seen on the post title cuz I thought the dominant ingredient to make the dish so scrumptious is curry powder! Trust me It's easy to make and even easier to enjoy eating it ! Simply delicious with rice and vegetable side dish..Bon appetit !!

The recipe could be found here.

Carrot, Courgette and Orange Cake

There are (always) new recipes found and  I'd undoubtedly like to give all of them a try sooner rather than later..Anyway, given a limit of time along with a luck of having all ingredients in hand, this cake is an ideal choice to satisfy my endless baking craving !

The recipe is from BBC GoodFood, the magazine I've subscribed for years..you could find the original recipe online from here which is slightly different from what I've done ( I prepared the batter the same way normally done for a butter/pound cake, then added the carrot & courgette at the end )

  

Raspberry&White Chocolate Muffins

It's Mid-Autumn Festival in HK. and people enjoy playing lanterns and eating mooncake..To celebrate the event ( what a good excuse to bake..lol ) , I opted for these muffins instead of a traditional mooncake which none of the family members fancies !

The recipe could be found here.

Bubble-Top Brioches

Once the summer holiday ended , my life has then been busy with lots of things around. However, I somehow have managed to bake things from time to time...and what I've found it's much more difficult to find time to do is blogging..Anyway, I am here now..and chose to be back with the brioches from Dorie Greenspan!

Although I couldn't make them look exactly like the original shown on the website but according to my husband's comment, it seems to be one of my best baked goods which certainly couldn't make me happier !!

The recipe could be found here.

Ps. This post has also been sent to yeastspotting hosted by Susan of Wildyeast..