Sweet potato chiffon cake

Sweet potatoes - great for chips, roast dinners and barbecues. But who would've ever thought to use them in cakes?! I know....it sounds a bit weird but HEY - this is a gorgeous soft cake.

So I googled sweet potato chiffon cake and a range of recipes came up including purple sweet potatoes! I scavenged all around the supermarkets in the UK and had no luck so resorted to traditional orange sweet potatoes. It was depressing not having the chance to achieve the bright purple colours but it was great anyhow.

The texture was heavenly and although the cake didn't taste as potato-ey as I thought it would be, it was alright! It was a very light cake indeed. I originally badly failed on my first attempt due to a VERY - I repeat; VERY silly mistake. The recipe instructed for 100g of sweet potato. I looked on the bottom of the bag holding about 5 sweet potatoes and saw "90g" somewhere. So without weighing the potatoes, I dumped the whole bag in the mix. I thought it was quite light for such few potatoes but I was so excited about making this cake that I just didn't care. When my cake appeared to still be gooey and sticky after baking for over an hour, I realised something must have gone wrong. Later did I notice that the 90g was for one potato, not the whole bag. Great.

Here's the recipe. And make sure you weigh out the ingredients correctly :)

Sweet potato chiffon cake
makes one 7 inch diameter cake

A
3 egg yolks
20g brown sugar

50ml vegetable oil
100g sweet potato (boiled and mashed with 5 Tbsp of milk)
zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp baking powder
100g flour
1/2 tsp salt

B
3 egg whites
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Peel and cut sweet potato into chunks. Boil until cooked and mash with milk. Leave to cool.
2. Sieve flour, baking powder and salt together, set aside.
3. Separate egg yolks/whites.
4. Mix together egg yolks, oil, brown sugar and lemon zest.
5. Whisk the flour mixture and oil/egg yolk mixture until fully incorporated. Add in sweet potato and mix well.

6. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, beat egg whites, cream of tartar and sugar with an electric mixer stiff peaks form.
7. Add the beaten egg white into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.

8. Pour batter into a 7 inch tube pan (do not grease the pan). Tap the pan lightly on a table top to get rid of any trapped air bubbles in the batter. 8. Bake in preheated oven at 170 C for 45 minutes or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.

9. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmold. To remove the cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the inside of the pan and the centre core. Release the cake and run the knife along the base of the pan to remove the cake.

Vanilla Kisses

You remember my piping nozzles from quite a while ago? I've put them to good use today with these rosettes of buttery cookies.

I've got to say, they were quite hard to pipe in the beginning as the butter wasn't as soft. 
However, warm and crunchy from the oven, these vanilla kisses are worth indulging in, no matter what!

 So...there was a Vienna cream to go with these gorgeous cookies however I thought they were great on its own so I omitted it. You can, of course sandwich the biscuits with the cream if you wish.

And check out my new cupcake cookie jar! Perfect for my upcoming bakes!!

Vanilla Kisses:


Ingredients:
125g butter, softened
1/2 cup (110g) caster sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
1/4 cup (35g) self-raising flour
2/3 cup (100g) cornflour
1/4 cup (30g) custard powder

Vienna cream:
60g butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup (120g) icing sugar
2 tsp milk

Method:

1. preheat oven to 200C/180C fan assisted. Grease two oven trays; line with baking parchment
2. beat the butter, sugar and egg with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, in two batches.
3. Spoon mixture into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle. Pipe little spirals, about 3cm apart on the trays.
4. Bake for about 10 mins, cool on trays
5. Meanwhile, make the Vienna cream by beating the butter and extract with an electric mixer until white as possible. Gradually beat in the icing sugar and milk, in two batches.
6. Sandwich biscuits with Vienna cream once cooled.

Mixed Spice Biscotti

A mixed spice biscotti is definitely cooking itself up today! They are large, crunchy, almond biscuits, made through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven. 

The word originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked/baked. These Italian biscuits smell divine, especially when they come out from the oven. Amazing with a cuppa or great on its own, this nutty treat will send some of you nut lovers off!

Although the recipe may look quite long-winded, its definitely worth a try!

Recipe:
Ingredients:

50g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

50g caster sugar

50g soft light brown sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

275g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

100g blanched almonds, chopped

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190C/375F/gas 5. Grease a large baking sheet. Place butter and sugars in a large bowl and whisk together until pale and creamy. Whisk the eggs into the mixture.
2. Sift the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger in the bowl.
3. Add the chopped almonds, reserving 2 tablespoons, and mix together to form a soft dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and, with floured hands, knead for 2-3 minutes, or until smooth.
4.Divide the dough in half and shape each portion into a log shape measuring about 4cm/1 1/2 inches in diameter.
5. Place the logs on the baking sheet and flatten until each is about 2.5cm/1 inch thick.
6. Sprinkle the reserved almonds on top of the logs and press into the dough.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly brown. Remove from the oven and cool for 15 mins.
8. Reduce the oven temp. to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Using a serrated knife, cut the baked dough into 1 cm/1/2 inch thick slices and place, cut-side down, on ungreased baking sheets.
9. Bake for a further 10 mins. Turn and bake for another 10-15 mins or until lightly golden brown and crisp. Transfer to a wire rack to cool and harden.

Rainbow Chiffon Cake

AND....after having not blogged for so long, I've decided to show you the most successful rainbow chiffon cake I've done!  It's about my fourth attempt at it and after having deflated or half-cooked chiffon cakes, it was about time I've mastered the basics. 

Do you remember THIS chiffon cake? I wanted to go beyond myself and tried this colourful chiffon cake! the "greeness" has improved..I'd say. "less artificial"?!

Super soft and incredibly tasty, these were gone in a flash! NOM NOM nom nom...........

I have found the recipe from this blog here when I was searching for more excuses to bake up a storm in the kitchen. Check it out and have fun adding some colour to your cakes :)

Salmon Puff pastry

Ahh..puff pastry is tooo cool~!! Its perfect for a late dinner when you're not bothered to cook anything!

I topped the pastry triangles with some luscious salmon and fresh salad this time. Amazing!! - I think I will prefer these ones than the chicken one; theres something to it that makes it ever so indulging.
Heres a picture to get your mouth watering :P

Chicken puff pastry

Nom nom nom....It has been a tiring week and mum wasn't too bothered to make dinner and so I stepped in and made her a lovely, hot chicken pastry (: Puff pastry came out puffy and perfect like always and every bite was sensational. 

Be sure to slice the the chicken thin enough  so it can cook before the pastry starts to burnt. Top the pastry up with some lovely sweetcorn and tomatoes and kick in a handful of parmesan cheese. Add some lemon juice to "zing" up the flavours; and you're done!

Back to the classics - Choc chip cookies

I've had quite a break from baking recently due to all sorts of excuses HOWEVER I've managed to bake these classic choc chip cookies seeing as the cookie jar was left empty for a good few weeks (although topped up with custard creams now and then). And after baking these cookies, I don't think I can part away from baking for this long again - I really do miss it :') 

Chocolate Chip cookies (for about 18 cookies)

Ingredients:
70g caster sugar
115g softened butter
140g plain flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
175g choc chips
70g soft brown sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 C/375 F/ Gas mark 5. Beat the butter with both lots of sugar until creamy. Break the egg in and beat until smooth. Add the vanilla and mix it in.

Add the flour, salt and bicarb into the mixture, a little at a time. Stir everything together until well combined. Add in the choc chips.

Butter the baking trays. Spoon small mounds of the mixture on, leaving quite big spaces in between. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Move onto wire rack and cool.