Mandarin Orange Cranberry Muffins

I have a can of mandarin orange sitting in my kitchen cabinet. It has been there for so long. Mum was asking me to bake something out of mandarin orange as she loves them to bits..Hehe. They are so juicy.Yum! Thus to delight mum, I bake for her Mandarin Orange Cranberry Muffin for her breakfast. Mum breakfast kakis give this muffin a thumb up! I'm not a sweet-tooth person and thus I find the sweetness for this muffin is just right for me. Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think about it !

Ingredients

Unsalted butter - 130g
Sugar - 110g ( Use light muscovado sugar or brown sugar if possible as it really enhance the taste)
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Milk - 100g ( You can use orange juice too!)
Egg - 2
Flour - 220g (I use 110g cake flour and 110g wholemeal flour)
Baking powder - 2 tsp
Cinnamon - 0.5 tsp (I use 1 tsp as I like cinnamon taste alot)
Vanilla Essence -  1 tsp
Orange Essence - 1 tsp 
Mandarin Orange - 1 small can 
** Optional- You can open another can and use it for topping
Cranberry - 70g 
**Optional- You can use 50g and mix it with the batter and 20g as topping

** Just follow the guideline and you will be fine. Be creative! Baking should be fun! Do whatever that float your boat!

The 2 main ingredients which I love alot:

Juicy Mandarin Orange

Dried Cranberry

Method:

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees.
• Sieve salt, flour, baking power and cinnamon powder together in a bowl and leave aside.
• Cut mandarin orange into half. (I open another can of mandarin orange and use some as topping and eat the balance with mum. LoL)
• Cream butter and sugar together.
• Add eggs ,vanilla and orange essence slowly into the batter and whisk till combine.
• Alternately add flour and milk and fold till no flour is visible. (Flour-->Milk-->Flour--> Milk etc)
• Finally add cranberry and mandarin orange into batter and give it 2 to 3 fold to incorporate everything well. 
• Bake it at 170 degrees for 23 min (My oven temperature)
• Do a skewer test and check whether is the muffin bake.
• If yes, take it out and cool on a cooling rack.
• Enjoy it with a cup of hot beverage.

Look at the plump and juicy mandarin orange before baking below .

Happy to see my muffins rising slowly in the oven.

Have a good day everyone!

Recipe to make delicious Dim Sum Sponge Cake- Ma Lai Gou (马来糕）

This is a backdated post for steam cakes. Omg I love all sort of steam cakes.  I still remember before I bought an oven, I love to steam different types of cakes for breakfast. I will then passed it to my family for them to eat in the office. Muahaha.. My mum will always be my No 1 fan be it success or failure.  
Today I would like to share with you one of my favourite steam cake recipe -Ma Lai Gou which you will traditionally see it in Dim Sum restaurants. 

Ingredients (Make one 6 inch cake)
(Recipe adapted and modified from Wantanmein)

2 eggs
100g brown sugar (I reduce the sugar from 120g)
10g=1.5 tbsp custard powder
100g cake flour / plain flour
50ml milk (UHT)
3 tsp baking powder (Double Action)
4 tsp soda water
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
50g melted butter

*This recipe sweetness is just nice for me as it is not very sweet. Please try this recipe first. If it is sweet for you then reduce the sugar level from here.

**Timing given is just a guideline. Please always check 5 min beforehand.

** If your not using steaming basket 蒸笼 always remember to use a cloth and cover the wok /pot lid to prevent water droplets disfiguring your cake.

Method

• Sieve custard powder and flour  together.
• Whisk egg and sugar together.
• Add flour mixture into egg mixture slowly in 3 portion and fold till no flour is visible.
• Add milk and combine well.
• Using a cling wrap, cover it for 2hrs for it to ferment.
• When 2hr is almost up, start to boil water to steam the cake.
• In a bowl, add soda water and baking powder and mix well.
• Pour into batter and fold 6-7 times to combine well.
• Add vanilla extract and melted butter into batter and mix well.
• Use a steaming basket and steam 30min on med to med -high heat.

I steam Ma Lai Gou a number of times before.

And finally there was 1 evening I was so addicted to eating steam cake that I make Ji Dan Gao first then 2hrs later, I went to steam Ma Lai Gou. Haha!

How to make Chinese Steamed Egg Cake / Ji Dan Gao (鸡蛋糕)

Baking is really very Addictive!! Once I start I can't stop. Haha.. Lately Singapore weather has been really unforgiving. It is so freaking hot that I blast my aircon whole day long..Shiok! I'm gona cry seeing my next month PUB bill.

Steaming cake is the best for such weather as it does not heat up my whole kitchen. Ji Dan Gao （鸡蛋糕）is a traditional sponge cake which I love to eat during my childhood days till today. It is a soft and fluffy spongy cake which goes well with a cup of hot coffee/ tea/ Milo.

I'm gona show you  how easy it is to whipped up this steamed egg cake in a jiffy. Enjoy!

Ingredients (Make one 6 inch cake)

3 eggs

120g caster sugar

0.5 tbsp condense milk

150g cake flour

70g soda water / 7 -up / sprite

2 tsp oil

**This recipe sweetness is just nice for me as it is not very sweet. Please try this recipe first. If it is sweet for you then reduce the sugar level from here.

**Timing given is just a guideline. Please always check 5 min beforehand.

** For readers who do not like eggy taste, you can add 1 tsp of vanilla extract into the cake batter.

** If your not using steaming basket 蒸笼 always remember to use a cloth and cover the wok /pot lid to prevent water droplets disfiguring your cake.

Method

• Boil a pot of water to steam the cake later.
• Line baking paper on 6 inch baking tin
• Sieve the flour and leave it aside.
• Use electric mixer and whisk the eggs, condense milk and sugar till "ribbon stage". (Very thick and pale white looking stage. Failing to do so may render  the cake to be  dense and unfluffy.)
• Add and fold the flour and soda water in  alternate manner. (Flour-->soda water-->Flour--> soda water etc)
• Lastly add oil into the batter and combined well. (Do not over-fold)
• Steam under medium to medium high heat for 30min if you want your cake to have a slight dome shaped. (If you like "Huat Kueh" appearance, remember to sprinkle sugar making a "cross" over the cake and steam under high heat for 30min.)
• Use a skewer to check whether is there any batter clinging on it. If the skewer is clean, put the cake on a cooling rack to cool.

Matcha (Green Tea) Steam Cake （蒸抹茶蛋糕）

I love steam cake as it is easy on my waistline (may not be true but who cares...;p) and it is not 'heaty' compare to baking cake.  
In the past I used wok to steam but I find it a hassle as water droplets keep falling on my cake. Okie I admit I'm lazy to go out and buy a huge cloth that can cover my humongous wok lid. Instead I went down to chinatown and buy a steaming basket. Yay! No more water droplets falling on my cake and disfiguring it. Haha.  Furthermore I use gas instead of electricity to steam so cost saving for me too. I want to share with you a matcha steam cake which I often make as it is easy to make. It is moist because of honey and yogurt and is not very sweet. I hate very sweet stuffs. I love this alot and I hope u will too.

Receipe adapted from  justonecookbook

Ingredients (Makes 4 steam cake):
1 large egg
1 Tbsp oil
1 Tbsp honey
3 Tbsp of plain yogurt
1.5 Tbsp caster sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup (75g) flour
1 tsp matcha powder

Sometimes I added red bean paste and chopped chestnut which comes in vaccum pack that you can buy in supermarket into the steam cake too. YUM!

Method: 

• Start boiling a pot of water for later use.
• I use ramekin and place the cupcake liner inside.
• Sieve flour, baking powder and matcha powder and leave it aside.
• Crack egg in a bowl and whisk it with the oil.
• Add honey and yogurt and mixed well
• Add sugar and whisk it till it dissolve into the batter
• Lastly add the flour mixture slowly into the batter and fold well. (Do not overfold as it would result in tough steam cake  ;p)
• Scoop the batter into the cupcake liner.
• Place the ramekin into the steaming basket and steam for 12 - 14 min under medium low heat. (Remember do not steam under high fire, if not it will become huat kueh..hehe...if you dont mind. For readers using wok or pot to steam, please remember to cover the lid with a cloth to avoid water droplets disfiguring your cake..hehe..)
• Use a skewer to check if there is any batter clinging on it.
• If skewer is clean, remove it and cool on a cooling rack. 

    蒸抹茶蛋糕（4个）

    材料

  鸡蛋     1个（大）
    植物油      1大匙
    蜂蜜     1大匙
    纯酸奶   3大匙
  细砂糖   1.5大匙
  泡打粉   1茶匙
  低筋面粉 75g
  绿茶粉   1茶匙

  **喜爱红豆沙或栗子的朋友都可以加点在面糊里然后送进蒸笼。

    做法

•   蒸锅开始烧一锅水，水必须煮至大滚。  
•   将油力士纸杯放在布丁杯里。
•   将面粉，泡打粉和绿茶粉用汤匙混合均匀过筛。
•   用打蛋器将鸡蛋和油混合在一起。
•   加蜂蜜,纯酸奶和细砂糖混合均匀。
•   最后加入低筋面粉分2次倒进蛋糊里，用快速以切拌的方 式将面粉和蛋糊均匀混合（请注意不要过渡切拌以免蒸出 来的蛋糕变硬。）
•   把面糊均匀放入纸模中送进蒸笼，蒸12-14分钟左右。（如果纸杯比较大，蒸的时间就会延长。）

Cream Cheese Blueberry Muffins

I bake when I'm in the mood. Baking is therapeutic as it make me really happy.This is my first post and I want to share with you guys my favourite Blueberry Cream Cheese Muffins which my family love it a lot. My colleagues  love it too as  it is not very sweet. I incorporate wholemeal flour into cake flour to make it into a healthier version.

(Makes 9 large muffins)

Ingredients :
Unsalted Butter (Room temp)-100g
Sugar- 70g light muscovado or brown sugar and 70g caster sugar
Eggs (Room temp) - 2
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Flour- 100g cake flour and 100g wholemeal flour
Baking powder (Double Action)- 2 tsp
Milk - 120ml
Cream Cheese - 100g (Cut into small cube)
Fresh Blueberry - 140g
* Blueberry Topping (Optional)

Methods:

• Preheat oven to 190 degrees (Non convection).
• Scoop up 1 tablespoon of measured flour and lightly coat the blueberry. (This is to prevent the blueberry from sinking into the bottom of muffin.)
• Sieve remaining flour, baking powder and salt together.
• Crack eggs into bowl and whisk it lightly. Leave it aside.
• Cream butter and sugar together. Adding sugar in 3 stages to fully incorporates them.
• Add eggs slowly in 3-4 stages into the batter. (If you add too much eggs into the batter, chances of the batter to become curdled is high. You can also add 1 tablespoon of flour mixture slowly to stabilize the curdle mixture.)
• Adding flour mixture and milk into the batter. (Flour-->Milk-->Flour-->Milk....) 
• Fold till there is no visible flour in the batter and stop. (Do not over fold as this would result in tough muffin.)
• Add cream cheese and blueberry into batter and fold the batter lightly to combine everything.
• Scoop batter into muffin cup till 70-80% full.
• Lightly drop the muffin cups twice onto countertop to break any air bubbles that is trap in the muffin cup.
• Decorate with some blueberry on top.
• Bake it at 170 degrees for 25 mins. (This is my oven temperature- Non convection)
• Use a skewer to check if there is any batter left clinging onto it. If there is no batter, place the muffins onto a cooling rack to cool.
• Eat while it is warm (Enjoy!!)