Coffee-Cocoa Chiffon Cake

Recipe: Coffee-Cocoa Chiffon Cake咖啡可可戚风蛋糕

Yield: 8" x 3.75" x 2.38"

Ingredients

Ingredients A 85ml milk 1 TBSP ground coffee 1 TBSP castor sugar Ingredients B 4 egg yolks (large eggs) 1½ TBSP or 25g castor sugar 30ml vegetable oil 80ml coffee-milk (from A) 70g cake flour ½ tsp. baking powder 20g cocoa powder

Ingredients C 4 egg whites (large eggs) 2½ TBSP castor sugar 1 tsp. distilled white vinegar or fresh lemon juice

Measurements: tsp. = teaspoon | TBSP = tablespoon

Preparation
1. Line a 8" x 3.75" x 2.38" baking pan with parchment paper.	2. Place ingredients A in a small stockpot and heat it up over medium-low heat for about 5 minutes. Do not let it boil but just below boiling point. Turn off the heat and cover stockpot with lid. Let steep for about 15 minutes.	3. Strain coffee milk with a fine strainer. Let coffee-milk cool slightly till warm before use.
4. Sift all the flour of ingredients B (cake flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder). Set aside. Preheat oven to 350oF / 180oC.	5. Bring eggs out from refrigerator and separate the yolks and whites into separate bowls.	6. Ingredients B: Add 1½ TBSP castor sugar to the yolks.
7. Ingredients B: Break the yolks and mix yolk and sugar with a hand whisk.	8. Whisk yolks and sugar for about 2 - 3 minutes until its color turned light and pale.	9. Stir in vegetable oil until well combined.
10. Stir in 80ml coffee-milk.	11. Mix the sifted flour in step 4 into yolk mixture until incorporated.	12. Set aside the batter.
13. Get ready with egg whites.	14. Whisk whites until foamy, about 20 seconds at highest speed. Add vinegar and half of the sugar to the foamy whites. Continue to beat at highest speed for another 1 minute till soft peak. Then, gradually add the remaining sugar.	15. Continue to beat at highest speed for about 2 minutes to medium-firm peak.
16. Continue to beat at medium speed for about 1½ minutes until stiff peak or visible obvious trace.	17. Fold one third of the whites into the batter in step 12.	18. Cut and fold the remaining whites into batter.
19. Pour batter into the lined baking pan.	20. Water bath technique: Fill a larger baking pan with ½-inch of cold or hot water. Place the baking pan in step 19 onto baking pan in step 20. Pop them into the preheated oven and bake at 350oF / 180oC for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 300oF after about 20 minutes when cake surface is beautifully browned.	21. Doneness Test: Insert a wooden toothpick in the center of the cake. Cake is done when toothpick comes out clean without any batter sticking on it.
22. Turn cake upside down onto a wire rack. Remove parchment paper from the cake and leave to cool completely. Cake is ready to serve.

Notes

Fresh milk will curdle easily when it is boiled. Similar procedures as making purple yam swiss roll. Just that water bath technique is applied for baking this cake. This cake is not very sweet because I made it to use as a cake base. You can add 1 TBSP to 2 TBSP sugar to the yolks if you like it to be sweet.

Berry Berry Juice

Recipe: Berry Berry Juice杂莓果汁

Serves: 2

Ingredients

1 cup fresh strawberries 1 cup fresh blackberries ½ cup water 1 TBSP honey or to taste some ice cubes *optional

Measurements: tsp. = teaspoon | TBSP = tablespoon

Preparation

1. Remove caps from strawberries.

2. Puree everything in a food processor.

3. Divide juice into cups and serve.

Corn Chowder

Recipe: Corn Chowder玉米浓汤

Serves: 2 - 3

Ingredients

1 TBSP unsalted butter ½ TBSP EV00 or vegetable oil 60g or ½ yellow onion (medium size) 200g or potato (medium size) 60g or ½ carrot 200ml + 100ml water 250g corn kernels, fresh (about 2 medium ears of corn on cobs)

¼ tsp. dried thyme ¼ tsp. paprika powder 1 tsp. all-purpose flour 100ml or about ½ cup heavy cream Seasonings ½ tsp. salt or to taste 1/8 tsp. ground black pepper 1/8 tsp. chicken granules

EV00 = Extra Virgin Olive Oil | tsp. = teaspoon | TBSP = tablespoon

Preparation
1. Remove the husks and silk completely from the ears of corns.	2. Cut corn kernels off the cobs.	3. Divide corn kernels into two equal portions.
4. Peel and cut potatoes, carrot, and onion into small chunks.	5. Melt butter and heat up EVOO in a stockpot over medium heat.	6. Add onions. Saute until onions are tender, about 4 minutes.
7. Add in the potatoes and carrots. Saute for about 2 minutes.	8. Stir in dried thyme.	9. Stir in paprika powder. Saute until you smell the aroma of the spices.
10. Stir in flour until well combined.	11. Add 200ml water.	12. Stir in half of the corn kernels.
13. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Then, reduce heat to medium. Cover stockpot with lid ajar and simmer mixture for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.	14. Transfer everything in the stockpot to the blender.	15. Add in 100ml water and puree the mixture.
16. Pour puree back into the stockpot.	17. Add in the remaining corn kernels.	18. Stir the mixture and bring it to a boil again over medium heat.
19. Season chowder with salt, chicken granules, and pepper to taste.	20. Turn off the heat. Then, stir in the heavy cream.	21. Corn chowder is ready to serve. To add the pie-crust, ladle soup into ramekin bowls.
22. Cut thawed puff pastry rounds or squares slightly bigger than the bowl tops and cover each bowl with pastry. Seal the edges of pastry and brush pastry surface lightly with beaten egg if desired.	23. Put the bowls on a baking tray to prevent soup splashes all over the oven.	24. Bake at 450oF preheated oven for 15 minutes until golden and puffed. Serve immediately.

Notes

You can replace water with vegetable broth or chicken broth.