Life can get a little lonesome when you work from home too often. I know what I am missing - the long coffee breaks when you argue over how the European crisis going to unfold next, the excuse of having extended lunch when the afternoon rain comes unexpectedly, the "alarm" telling you its time to go home when the building air con gets turn off (yes, when I work from home, things somehow goes non-stop until B arrives home, and that's well past 9pm). To make up for the "loss", I took out my copy of Keiko Ishida's "Okashi Sweet Treats Made With Love" and went baking during my lunch break.
It is good enough to make me want to stay home and bake this everyday and chomp all day. But again, I think if I do that, i probably end up never be able to walk out of my door - 4 eggs and 160g of sugar is far from being a recommended daily diet =p
Everything is good in moderation. Pls try this once if you love japanese sweet - this is one rich chocolatey cake without the heaviness of cake that are baked with creaming method. The meringue, when done correctly, always lift the cake!!!
Chocolate CakeIngredients:
35g pastry flour (I used cake flour)
50g cocoa powder (I use Valrhona)
100g sweet chocolate 55% cocoa (I use Ikea's milk chocolate)
80g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
50g superfine sugar
4 egg yolks
50g whipping cream (I use President)
4 egg whites
110g superfine sugar
Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170°C. Line 7" cake pan with parchment paper. (I made a mistake of baking it in a muffin pan without the paper liner. Idiot makes mistake, the smart one, please, learn from it)
2. Sift flour and cocoa powder twice
3. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a double boiler
4. Once chocolate and butter have melted, add sugar, egg yolks and cream and mix well using a whisk. Set aside
5. Make meringue. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half of sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form
6. Add one third of meringue to chocolate mixture and fold with a whisk
7. Add flour and cocoa powder and fold in thoroughly
8. Add remaining meringue and fold until just incorporated.
2. Sift flour and cocoa powder twice
3. Melt chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a double boiler
4. Once chocolate and butter have melted, add sugar, egg yolks and cream and mix well using a whisk. Set aside
5. Make meringue. Beat egg whites until foamy. Add half of sugar and continue beating for a few minutes, then add remaining sugar and beat until egg whites are glossy and stiff peaks form
6. Add one third of meringue to chocolate mixture and fold with a whisk
7. Add flour and cocoa powder and fold in thoroughly
8. Add remaining meringue and fold until just incorporated.
9. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for about 50mins (or less if you are baking in muffin as i did). When cake is done, remove from pan and leave to cool on a wire rack
the texture does look very light and airy. it looks good!
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