Ginger & Spice Sourdough Loaf

Ingredients:

Starter 125g

Plain flour 125g

Strong white flour 125g

Milk 150g

Yoghurt 50g

Butter 15g

Honey 1 tbsp

Sugar 1 tsp

Salt 4g

Mixed spices 1/2 tsp

Crystallised ginger (chopped into small pieces) 50g

Maybe because of all the sales emails I get or the Christmas lights in town, I've started to feel I want to add some festive touch to my baking too. I added my favourite fiery aromatic root veg, ginger, and mixed spices to my loaf.

And bang! Even before baking the loaf, the kitchen smelt like Christmas! Love it. ;D

Adding plain flour made the crumb soft and bit more on the cake side. The spices came through even more when I toasted it. I think other dried fruits will work too... (hum.., maybe rum soaked dried fruits next time...;)

カステラ - Castella

I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted here! It's not I haven't been baking. In fact, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen... but I just don't get much chance to sit down and write nowadays... ;(

Anyway, this is one of my recent hit cakes called 'かすてら(Castella)'. It's a very simple Japanese cake which originally came to Japan from Portugal in 16th century. (History is not my strongest subject so don't ask me anymore please...)

It's a sort of very light sponge cake but I would say it's more like a cross between cake and loaf.

This time I used brown sugar instead of white, then added stem ginger and a bit of rum to give the popular Japanese cake a 'Yumi twist'. ;D

It worked... It was divine...
It filled my Japanese food craving hole in my stomach...

The method of making Castella is pretty similar to a classic sponge cake (cf. my Basic Swiss Roll). However, there are a few important things that make you bake an authentic tasting and looking Castella. For example, you need strong flour not plain, and you bake in a lower temperature for a longer time than a usual cake....
Anyway, all those tips are going to be illustrated on BON APPETIT soon, so just bare with me! ;D

For now, they are the ingredients:

Strong flour 100g

Dark brown sugar 100g

Egg 4

Honey 3tbsp

Stem ginger 30-50g

Rum or water 1 tbsp

Sugar free ginger cake

I made another one of those cakes that are perfect for those who are watching their diet. (Me! ...for my baby's sake....) This time Sugar free ginger cake.

As soon as I heard that ginger was good for breast feeding mums, I immediately wanted to make a cake with ginger. As a baker, I can't help tasting the ingredients that are supposed to be good for you in my baking...;)
And I thought I might as well make this cake a bit healthier by using no sugar and less fat.

So... here is how it's made.
Ingredients:

Flour 50g (or alternatively brown flour 30g + oat 20g)

Egg 1

Date syrup 2tbsp

Oil 1 tbsp

Ginger powder 2tsp

Baking powder 1tsp

1. Preheat the oven to 180º.

2. Beat egg until it's light and fluffy.

3. Mix in Date syrup and oil into 2.

4. Fold flour into 3.

5. Pour the mixture into cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes.

I used brown flour and oat this time but normal flour will work too.

Add crystallised ginger for an actual bite of ginger (though that will the cake not sugar free).

As this cake is light, not too sweet and won't make me feel too full, it's perfect for breakfast or side dish of any meals. ;)

Gluten free ginger cupcake

Even though I'm not particularly on any special diets (except non-meat...), I sometimes like to try recipes for special diets such as gluten free, wheat free, sugar free...

So today, I'm going for "gluten free". I used rice flour as an alternative to normal flour and unrefined palm sugar instead of refined white sugar. Sounds more nutritious and healthier, no?

Since I'm a big ginger lover and brown sugar and ginger go so well, I've added a lot of ginger in the cake. When I was mixing the ingredients, the spicy flavour of ginger was hitting my nose heavenly...

I was slightly worried that the cake might not rise with rice flour but it did come out looking just perfect! As soon as I bit into one, I was like..."I'm genius..." Oops sorry... I'm normally a humble baker..., but this gluten free cupcake was so tasty. Just how I like it!

Ingredients:

Rice flour 130g

Corn flour 20g

Palm sugar (grated) 150g

Butter 150g

Egg 2

Milk 50g

Baking powder 1 tsp

Ginger powder 1tsp

Crystallised ginger (chopped)  2-3 tbsp

1.Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Cream butter and palm sugar until it's fluffy.

2. Add eggs and milk into 1 and mix well.

3. Sift together rice flour, corn flour, baking powder and ginger powder into 2. Fold in.

4. Fold chopped crystallised ginger into 3.

5. Pour the mixture into a cupcake mould. Bake in the preheated oven (180ºc) for 20-25 minutes.

Apple & Ginger cake

A few days ago I made apple jam (Have you seen my Jam Family?)  which I was more than happy to eat as it is... yes.., I have a tendency of eating jams, butters and creams without anything.... However, since I went for an effort to make it, I thought I might as well make something rather than just eating it on its own...

So, I made really moist Apple & Ginger cake. I personally think apple and ginger go very well. Ginger gives a nice kick to the sweetness of apple. It tastes warm and homely, and it's something that I would love having on a rainy afternoon with a lovely cup of tea...

The recipe is very simple. It works with other jams or compote, so have a try with your favourite ones and see how it tastes;) Humm, what jam am I going to try next...?

Ingredients:

flour 160g

Almond powder 80g

Sugar 100g

Butter 100g

Egg 2

Baking powder 1tsp

Ginger powder 2tsp

Apple jam 5-7 tbsp

1. Melt butter. Pre-heat the oven to 180º

2. Beat egg and sugar until it's fluffy.

3. Add 1 into 2, and mix well.

4. In a separate bowl, mix flour, almond powder, baking powder and ginger powder. Fold them into 3.

5. Mix apple jam into 4.

6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes.

Ginger cake

This week is a baking week, so I've started this sugar rushing week with a sweet and spicy Jamaican ginger cake.

With grounded fresh ginger, ginger powder and crystallised ginger, this moist Jamaican sweets has got the kick of ginger literally in every bite;) This cake differently satisfies my ginger craving.

Ingredients;

Flour 160g

Brown sugar 140g

2 Egg

Butter 125g

Baking powder 1tsp

Ginger powder 2tsp

Cinnamon powder 1tsp

Vanilla extract 1tsp

Ginger wine 1tbsp

Fresh root ginger (grated) 1tsp

Crystallised ginger (chopped) 1tbsp

1. Sift Flour, baking powder, ginger powder and cinnamon powder. Pre-heat the oven to 180º.

2. Cream butter and sugar together.

3. Add eggs into 2 one at time.

4. Add grated root ginger, chopped crystallised ginger, and ginger wine into 3. Fold them in.

5. Pour the mixture into a cake tin.

6. Bake in the pre-heated oven (180º) for 45 minutes.