Buko Pandan Cake

Another Sunday, another Cake! ;) 
My friend Gracey is coming over for afternoon tea! We haven't seen each other for over a year yet we live in the same city. You know how time flies and life gets in the way right?! Hehe. Anyways, our schedules finally met this Sunday and what else could be perfect than a good old chin wag over a cuppa with a slice of cake of course! 

Gracey is also a Filipina so it was very easy for me to decide what cake to bake that I knew she would like too! ;) Pandan cake is fragrant cake and  usually baked as chiffon cake. While Buko pandan salad is very popular dessert in the Philippines made up of buko (young coconut strips), pandan jelly and heavy cream served chilled. I wanted to marry both dessert into this cake and I came up with this recipe - Buko Pandan Cake! This is my first time to use this recipe and I am very pleased with it! 

In this recipe, I made a shortcake/sponge version of a pandan cake,  it is a light/spongey cake but not as fluffy as a chiffon, and I've layered it with whipped cream frosting and young coconut strips. I wanted to add a layer of pandan jelly on top of the cake to have all the elements in both the Buko Pandan salad + Pandan chiffon cake but in between while the cake was cooling on the rack  and assembling the cake,  I went for a late morning 10km run, and went out for Sunday lunch with hubby and by the time I got back to it, I only have a couple of hours left before my guest arrives and theres no chance for the jelly to set!  So I'll  just reserve that idea for another bake and decorated the cake using a #1a piping nozzle inspired by the lovely @adobodownunder's red velvet #bobblecake on IG ;) So here goes! 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 coconut milk

3 Tbsps unsalted butter

1 Tbsp pandan extract

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

Frosting/Filling

300ml double cream

1/2 cup icing sugar

drop of pandan extract

1 jar young coconut (drained, 

divide into half for filling and topping)

To make the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together, 3 times. 

3. In a small saucepan, bring the coconut milk and butter to a boil. Remove from heat and add the pandan extract.

4. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until pale yellow, and fluffy, and doubled in volume. While still beating, add the hot milk mixure a little at a time.

5. Fold in the flour mixture until even in colour. Do not over mix.

6. Pour into an 8 inch cake tin, lightly coated with vegetable spray and the bottom lined with a baking paper.

7. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until golden, the centre springs back when lightly pressed and cake tester comes out clean.

8. Cool cake on a cooling rack.

To make the frosting:

1. In a mixer bowl, beat cream in medium speed.

2. Add the icing sugar a little at a time and continue beating until it double in volume.

3. Add a drop  of the pandan extract and whip for 10 seconds. Do not overbeat!

To assemble cake:

1. Cut cake into two crosswise. 

2. Spread 1/2 of the whipped cream over the bottom layer  followed by half of the young coconut on top then place the other cake layer.

3. Put the remaining whipped cream in a piping bag with a #1a tip nozzle. Pipe frosting starting around the outer edge of the cake. Top with the remaining young coconut in the middle.

Et Voila!

P.S. Promise I just had 1 slice!! ;p

Take a photo and Enjoy!

farrahlicious

xx

4. 

Stir Fried Snake Beans with Beef

Snake beans / string beans or sitaw is one of my favourite green vegetables. It is delicious stir fried, on curries, stews or adobo! It has a crunchy texture and slightly sweet flavour when cooked! I am so pleased to see snake beans at the farmer's market here in Australia and delighted to cook one of my favourite meal I missed from home. You can cook this dish as vegetarian or replace the beef with pork or tofu. There are several recipe variations to this dish and this is my own version of it. As most of my home cooked meals Hubby liked it too (actually he have no choice)! Haha!

Ingredients

1 bunch snake beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inches

200g lean minced beef

1 small red onion, sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 Tbsp sunflower oil

1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

1/4 cup water
Salt and Pepper

1. Heat 1 Tbsp oil into saucepan. Sauté garlic and onion for 1 minute. Remove from pan and set aside.

2. Return saucepan to medium high heat and add the beef. Cook, breaking up mince for 2 minutes or until browned.

3. Add the snake beans and stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, sesame oil , water and the onion and garlic.

4. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 mins. Stir to combine, add salt and pepper to taste and remove from heat. Do not overcook. Snake beans should still have bright dark green colour and crunchy.

Serve hot! Delicious on its own or serve with steamed rice!

Enjoy!

farrahlicious

xx

Shopping tip: When buying snake beans, look for firm beans with no yellowing. Use within two or three days, otherwise they will lose their texture.

Bottle Gourd Stew with Pork

(Ginisang Upo with Pork / Batso nga Tabungaw)

For @pebblesboulderoca

Bottle Gourd is also called Opo squash, white pumpkin, Long melon or Upo (in Filipino) is one of the popular low-calorie Asian vegetables. Known to aid weight loss, reduce liver inflammation and promote healthy heart. It is delicately flavoured and can be great addition in stews, curries and soups. Though most Australians are not familiar with this vege, it can be found in most Asian supermarkets when in season. I bought one yesterday at the farmers market in Subiaco. I know of one simple and easy recipe to use with this super cool vegetable: Batso nga Tabungao (Ilocano for Upo) which I was so excited to cook for the first time in my kitchen here in down under. :) 

This is one of my favourites of my Tatay's (Dad's) Ilocano dishes that he cooks for us as kids and often requested when we are at home in the Philippines. It is similar to the more common Ginisang Upo dish, the only difference is the way the bottle gourd is cut up. In this recipe, it is diced into small pieces instead of slices. This dish has a sweet taste and a vibrant orange colour from the tomato which gives an added visual appeal to the dish. It is delicious on its own or serve with steamed rice. So here goes:

Ingredients

200g pork rashers, diced

1 medium size bottle gourd/upo, diced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium size red onion, diced

1 beef/gourmet tomato, chopped

1Tbsp fish sauce

1/4 cup water

Salt and Pepper 

1. In a saucepan, render pork rashers until brown. Remove excess fat.

2. Add garlic, onion and tomato and sauté with the meat for 1-2 minutes.

3. Put in the bottle gourd, add water and fish sauce. Simmer for 5- 10 minutes until gourd is half cooked. Do not overcook!

4. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

Serve Hot and Indulge!

farrahlicious

xx

Berry Red Forrest Cake

Its bake a cake kind of Saturday here in Perth. Strawberries are in season. Cherries are everywhere and Blueberries are just a treat! So today I decided to whip up one of my favourite cake, the Red Velvet Cake. I particularly love this recipe using beetroot, this way I don't have to add much red food colouring  besides its my way of sneaking in the red vege into hubby's diet (he hates beets) without him knowing. Haha! I also use whipped cream for the frosting rather than the usual cream cheese frosting that goes well with RVC (red velvet cake). Just because its a lighter option and also I wanted this cake somewhat a version of the Black Forrest Cake (hubby's favourite). So there you go...let's begin baking! :)

For @shineymae

3/4 cup puréed beets (boiled until tender, purèed)

1/3 cup sunflower oil

1 1/4 cup caster sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 cup semi skimmed milk (or other milk you prefer)

P.S. Sometimes I add 1 Tbsp red food color to achieve a brighter red colour on my cake (depends on the colour of your batter once it's all mixed or according to your liking).

For the Frosting

300ml thick/double cream

1/4 cup icing sugar

a splash of vanilla extract

To make the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Mix the beet purèe and oil until incorporated.

3. Add sugar, vanilla extract.

4. In a bowl, sift together flour cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder.

5. Alternate adding the flour mixture and milk until incorporated into the batter.

6. Pour into 8 inches round cake tin ( or divide into 2 x 8 inches cake tin if making a layer cake ).

7. Bake for 25-30 mins (or 20-25 mins) until a cake tester comes out clean when poked in the middle.

To make the Frosting:

1. Whip cream using a stand up mixer on medium speed. (Add the icing sugar 1 Tbsp at a time until cream doubled. Do not over whip!) 

2. Cool cake on a cooling rack at least 1 hour. Refrigerate for at least 30 mins (while preparing frosting).

3. Spread 1/2 of the frosting in between layers or Spread  evenly on top.

4. Decorate with your favourite Berries or Fruits.

Take a photo & Indulge!

farrahlicious

xx