Lapis Surabaya (with (Hybrid) Swiss Meringue Butter Cream)

I usually bake cake for special occasion. Hm, correction, also for my boys hungry stomach.

Lapis Surabaya is one of our favorite cake. The last time I baked it was my first son's birthday during Christmas holidays. This time, we had our second's son birthday just before Easter. Since we were going to celebrate Easter together with some friends and their family, I decided to order a cake for his birthday. Why? I have to admit that cake decorating is not my thing. I have no clue and no art sense.

The cake we ordered from a good friend, who is a professional baker, is vanilla cake with strawberry and vanilla filling. That was a good and delicious combination. The decoration was also perfect, just as he wished: Olaf and Sven on the beach in summer. My little boy was very happy that day. All the joy in one day: Easter celebration, eggs hunting with other children, and singing happy birthday in front of the birthday cake. 

However, since I usually baked for my family, it felt strange for me if I did not bake for his birthday. I felt that it was a bit unfair for him. That is why, I prepared the Lapis Surabaya cake two days ahead. The cake consists of 3 layers: 2 yellow and 1 chocolate. I used my grandmother passed down to my mother passed down to me recipe.

The butter cream is a bit tricky. I wanted to try another way to make Swiss Meringue Butter Cream (SMBC). I sometimes managed to make it, but many times also failed. With the easy foolproof SMBC was posted by Summer in her blog. Using her tips and method, I managed to make my SMBC. 

Below you can find the recipe of the Lapis Surabaya. I will post the SMBC method from Summer in my next posting.

*I am using 22 x 22 x 7 cm Lapis Surabaya pan/square pan*

Ingredient A - For 1 layer of yellow

12 egg yolks

2 egg whites

150 gr butter (melted and cooled)

100 gr fine sugar + 1 tsp vanilla 

60 gr cake flour (shifted)

Ingredient B - For 1 layer of chocolate

14 egg yolks

2 egg whites

150 gr butter (melted and cooled)

100 gr fine sugar

40 gr cake flour + 20 gr chocolate powder (shifted together)

Method 

The method is the same for both layers, only the cake flour in the yellow layer is subtituted with cake flour+chocolate powder

1. Prepare the cake tin, line the tin with margarine/butter and baking paper.

2. Preheat the oven at 200Celcius.

3. Melt the butter and let it cool

4. Whisk the egg yolks, egg whites and sugar until thick and leave ribbon traces.

5. Add the cake flour slowly. Remember the speed is at the LOWEST speed, or fold the flour until it mixes well.

6. Add the cooled melted butter, fold it using spatula in one direction. Do not over fold/mix it. But remember the butter should be mixed well. If you do not mix it well, the cake will not be fluffy.

7. Pour the mixture into the pan/tin and bake it at 200 Celcius for around 20 minutes using lower heat source. Around 5 minutes before it is fully baked, turn the upper heat to brown the surface of the cake if necessary.

8. When it is done, wait until it cool down in the oven with the door slightly open for around 5-10 minutes before taking the cake out of the oven. 

9. Arrange the cake and use the filling you like: either jam or butter cream.

I managed to take a shot of the cut cake this time. My boys love it, but they sometimes put the butter cream away and do not eat it.

Happy Easter!

Japanese Cotton Cheese Cake - Encore

My family really loves this cake. It is soft, just like sponge cake, but it has a soft cream cheese taste. A perfect combination.

I have not made this cake for at least 1 year, since I am now in love with bread making and I do not have enough energy to play around with cake making. Although, there are many recipes, that I want to try or to repeat.

Last weekend, we got dinner invitation from our friend. We used this occasion, for our children play date. I did not have an idea what to bring there. However, when I checked my refrigerator, I immediately saw that I just bought two packages of cream cheese, just more than enough to make this cake.

So, I tested my hand if I still could remember how to make this cake. It was not easy for me to make the cake perfect. Before I could ever get it right, I did produced at least 4 failed cake.

The recipe of this cake, can be found in this page.
I have added some notes there.

It turned out, that I still can make this cake right. The cake was almost finished that day. My youngest boy even ate 2 slices. He climbed on to my lap and sheepishly said that he was still  hungry. He just wanted one more slice of cake.

Baked Bulgogi Pao

Instead of making steamed pao/bread, I decided to make experiment with my leftover bapao flour. Why? Because the idea of steaming a few batches of 4 steamed bread for 1.5 hour, exclusive the preparing and proofing time, is already killing me.

So, I am going to try baking it instead and I used the water roux method to make the dough. I managed to squeeze some baking time yesterday after we cycled to the city and back (it was around 16 km). As a note: the cycling was not my idea, it was my husband's idea. He said, the weather was very nice and after a few months of cold, wet and windy winter, it was time for us to go out and we did not have to think about paying the parking ticket. Yes, he was right about not having to pay the expensive parking ticket in the city center, however, how could I trapped by the idea of cycling for 16 km, after the day before we have cycled also for around 12 km to the market.

Anyway, I was glad that we have a kind of trailer that we can attached behind the bicycle so the children could sit there and if they fall asleep, I would not worry whether they sit safely on the bike or not.

After we arrived home, I prepared food for our dinner and squeezed in some time to prepare the dough. I was also baking a potato dish for the day after. To accelerate the proofing time, I put the dough in the oven for a while, while the oven is cooling down after I baked my potato dish. It worked great, the proofing was quite fast. But, be careful not to cook the bread in the hot oven.

For the filling, I used a ready to use bulgogi marinade. My husband loves the filling better than my usual BBQ pork filling. And the children finished their breakfast (and lunch) today. I am also happy that we have extra snack stock.

This is the recipe I used.

Ingredients
Filling
600 gr pork (I do not use lean pork, we love it a bit fatty, but not too fatty) - if you do not eat pork, change it with other meat
Bulgogi marinade
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp soy sauce
pepper to taste
1/2 tsp 5 spice powder
a dash of sesame oil
1-2 tsp of corn starch
3 tbsp water

How to make the filling
1. Marinade the meat for a few hours and baked it for 30 minutes in the middle of the oven, 200Celcius.
2. Let it cool and cut the meat into small cubes.
3. Cook the meat again in a pan/wok, add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, 5-spice powder, pepper and sesame oil.s
4. Dilute the corn starch with the water and add into the pan.
5. Let it cool and keep it in the refrigerator while you prepare the dough.

Dough Ingredients
For the tangzhong (water roux) - Note: my grandmother called it "biang" in Indonesians

• 50 g bread flour
• 200 ml milk

For the bread dough

• 125 ml milk
• 7 gram instant yeast 
• 65 g sugar
• 450 g bread flour*
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs, medium size 
• all of the tangzhong (water roux) 
• 50 g melted butter, cooled

To brush

• 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Prepare the tangzhong (water-roux), in advanced. Mix the bread flour and milk in a pan, until it is well mixed.
2. Cook the mixture over medium-low heat. Stir it constantly with a whisk or spatula until it becomes thicker. When you see lines behind the whisk or spatula trail, remove it from the heat.
3. Place the tangzhong in a small bowl and cover it with cling film (plastic wrap). The plastic wrap should stick directly onto the roux to prevent it from drying. Let it cool for a few hours or put it in the refrigerator until you are ready to make the dough.

4. To make the dough, combine all dough ingredient (note: this can be done because the yeast used here is instant yeast) except the butter in the stand mixer bowl. Add the tangzhong/water-roux into the bowl. Using the hook attachment, knead the ingredients until you get a dough form and the gluten begins to develop.

5. Knead in the butter until it the dough is smooth and does not stick to the wall of the bowl and to your hand. To double check if the gluten has developed enough, you can stretch the dough. If the dough can be stretched easily to form a thin membrane, and you can light through the membrane, then the dough is ready.

6. Shape the dought into a ball shape and lightly oil the dough (I usually forget to oil it and it still works good for me). Put it back into the bowl, cover with cling film (plastic wrap) and place it in the refrigerator to proof until the next day or put it somewhere warm until it's doubled in size. As an alternative, proof it in a warm environment (the best is 28 degree Celcius) for 1 hour, or until it's doubled in size.

7. After the dough rise double in size, punch down the dough and roll into a long shape. Cut into 16 equal size pieces (around 55-60 grams per piece).

8. Roll the dough into a thin layer and fill in the dough with filling. 

9. Cover the filling with the dough and pinch the edges and press it to make sure that the filling will not leak out.

10. Carefully pinch up the edges and press together, ensuring the filling is well sealed.
11. Place the pressed side down onto the baking trays lined with baking paper. Cover them with damp tea towel and let them rest for around 1 hour for last proving. (I sometimes use cling wrap to cover them and keep them in a warm cabinet. At least that method works for me).

12. Preheat oven to 180°C.
13. Brush the top of the bread with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. I usually bake two trays with upper and below heat sources and exchange the positions of the trays halfway the baking time.

Cheese Sagu/Tapioca/Maizena Cookie

Usually, during certain festive season, we provide different types of cookie and other food to welcome family and friends who come to visit us or to share some happiness with others. This year, the Lunar/Chinese New Year fell in February. Since we are far away from home, we plan a dinner together with our friends. This time, it is a quite big group.

Usually, the reunion dinner is at the new year eve. However, since a few friends wanted to watched K3, a singing group popular with young children here, we plan the get together, 1 week after.

I had this urge to make cookie. This time, I wanted to try the sagu/tapioca/maizena cookie. Instead of sagu or maizena, I used tapioca. I got the recipe from a high school senior, who is good with cooking and food photography.

This cookie reminds me of my childhood and the festivities back home. Unfortunately, this is not the favorite of my children. They have slightly different taste than me.

Here is the recipe and the method.

Ingredients
300 gr sagu/tapioca/maizena flour
50 gr butter
100 gr margarine
2 pandan leaves
100 gr grated cheese (oud)
50 ml coconut milk
100 gr icing sugar
1 egg yolk

Method
1. Heat the flour and pandan leaves in a wok WITHOUT any oil for around 15 minutes. Put aside.
2. Whisk the butter, margarine, and sugar.
3. Add the egg and sifted flour.
4. Add the grated cheese until it is mixed well.
5. Line your baking pan with baking paper and put the mixture in the bag and use the big star tip to form the cookie.
6. Bake the cookies in the oven 170C for around 20 minutes.


Enjoy!

Yam Sweet Potato Bread

One day, I saw a posting from a childhood friend of mine. She is a good baker and a very good cake decorator. We live thousands of kilometer from each other. Thanks to social media, we can still communicate to each other. She posted yam sweet potato bread photos and also gave me the recipe.

I really loved to try that because I baked bread frequently lately for my family. We went to the Asian shop where I could find frozen grated yam. Unfortunately, I cannot find purple sweet potato here. So, I did this with orange colour sweet potato.

I modified the recipe and this time I did not use water-roux method. The result is a big hit with the boys. They love it so much. This time, the bread will not last one week (I usually freeze some portion for later consumption).

Here is the recipe.

Ingredients
Bread ingredients:
100 gr steamed mashed sweet potato and purple yam (I used 50/50)
350 gr bread flour
2 eggs
30 gr sweet condensed milk
40 gr sugar
1/4 tsp salt
25 gr melted butter
2 tsp instant yeast
120 ml milk

Filling ingredients:
400 gr steamed mashed sweet potato and purple yam (I used 300/100)
35 gr melted butter
30 gr sugar
40 gr sweet condensed milk

1 egg, whisked

How to make
Filling:
Mixed all the ingredients until it is well mixed and set aside. Keep in the refrigerator until we are going to use it.

Bread:
1. Mix all ingredients, excepts butter and milk, and knead the dough.
2. Add the milk while kneading the dough.
3. Add butter.
4. Knead the dough until it is smooth and does not stick to the wall of the bowl or until it can be stretched to form a thin membrane. This dough may be a bit sticky compared to the normal bread dough because of the sweet potato content.
5. Shape the dough into a ball shape and put in the bowl. Cover the bowl with a cling film and place it in a warm place to proof the dough until it is at least twice as big as the initial ball shape dough.
6. Punch the dough and divide it into portions. I divided the dough into 50 grams portions because I made it for my children, easier for eating.
7. Roll the dough into a thin layer and fill it with one big table spoon of the filling. Cover the filling tightly. Do this for all portions.
8. Proof the bread again for around 30-60 minutes.
9. Preheat the oven 180 Celcius.
10. Brush the top of the bread with whisked egg and bake it for around 20-25 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Enjoy the bread.

The filling

Fresh from the oven

Pastel Goreng/Gebakken Pastei/Fried Puff

I loved this snack. We usually bought it at the market. It is available here in some Asian store, but I missed the original taste. I remembered that we had some glass noodle, and since my husband bought me tool to form the snack, I wanted to try to make this snack for the children and husband myself.

Of course, as usual, we would freeze some portion for later consumption.

Ingredients 
(for the skin) - 1 recipe *I make 2 recipes of this skin
250 gr all purpose flour
1 egg
40 gr margarine
60-100 ml water (don't use all immediately, but add it bit by bit)
1/2 tsp salt
oil

(for the filling)
2-3 carrot (cut into pieces)
50 gr green peas (in bottle or can)
200 gr chicken fillet (cut into small pieces)
150-200 gr glass noodle (soak it first in hot boiled water)
3-4 cloves garlic, pressed
3-4 cloves shallot, cut in small pieces
salt
pepper
1-2 tbsp soy sauce
oil

2-3 hard boiled eggs, cut into 6 pieces per egg.

Method:
For the skin:
1. Mix the flour, margarine and egg. Add water bit by bit while kneading the dough until the dough does not stick on your hand or on the wall of the bowl.
2. Set aside.

For the filling:
1. Heat the oil and stir fry the garlic and shallot until caramelized
2. Add the chicken fillet, until it is almost golden brown.
3. Add carrot and pea.
4. Add the glass noodle.
5. Add salt, pepper, sugar, soy sauce to taste. Adjust the taste.

How to combine:
1. Take a portion of the dough. Roll the dough until thin and place it in the pastei form.
2. Put 1 table spoon of the filling and a piece of egg and press the sides together to form a nice half circle shape.
3. Heat oil in a wok and fry the pastei until it is brown.

I am a bit dissapointed with the skin. Although the taste is quite OK, but the skin is not as crispy as the ones I used to buy at the snack shops or markets in my home country, Indonesia. I am considering another trial, however, since there are more projects coming these few months, I think I have to delay the next trial. Now, it is time to enjoy the pastei with chilli sauce.

Baked Cauliflower Cheese

A simple vegetable based dish, but still can be enjoyed with our children (toddlers).


Because of the time of harvesting of the certain vegetables and fruits this year, and at the same time the conflict and banning between EU and Russia, there are excess of some vegetables and fruits. That is why, I try to cook and introduce and prepare as much as I can vegetables and fruits on our table.


One of the vegetables that is sold cheaper than it usually is to avoid the waste, is cauliflower. Usually we cook it (in Indonesia) as clear soup. But, I have tried some oven based and cream soup recipes with that. One of the easy and quick (relative to Asian dishes) is cauliflower cheese oven.


I served it last week and we ate that with grill skin salmon - with homemade teriyaki sauce.


Here is the cauliflower dish. I took the recipe from this website and copy it here for my own note next time.


Ingredients
1 cauliflower
500 ml milk (or can be adjusted) - *we usually use full cream milk*
40-50 gr of butter
4 tbsp flour
150 gr grated cheese *I use jong belegen cheese*
salt and pepper to taste *I omit the salt part, that is why I used more cheese*
breadcrumb


Method
1. Cut the cauliflower florets
2. Boil the cauliflower florets - 1 boil is enough, since we will bake it in the oven
3. Drain the cauliflower and arrange it in the oven proof dish
4. In a pan, heat the butter, add milk and flour and stirr until the flour dissolved and the mixture becomes thicker. Turn off the heat
5. Add a part of the grated cheese and stirr
6. Pour the mixture onto the cauliflower, make sure it is at least 1/2 or 3/4 covered with the mixture
7. Cover the cauliflower with the rest of the grated cheese and followed it by the breadcrumb
8. Bake it for around 20 minutes, 180C or until the top is golden brown.


I did not take a picture when it is fresh from the oven.