LOYYAL Cake

What is LOYYAL CAKE?

LOYYAL CAKE is both an appreciation and affirmation of LOVE. The cake begins with a spice cake and alternated firmly with layers of sourish cheesecake. The final hits of cake with bittersweet, rich chocolate-coffee mousse and all surrounded by unique favor of shredded coconut, makes the cake for a beautiful presentation, so special and delicately suitable to express love in any occasion.


The Name:

Thanks to parents, the name “LOYYAL” is derived from the first alphabets name of two best friends (L-YY and O-AL) from Asia, who know each other in Europe. Their friendship developed through foods and cooking, left wonderful foot prints into each others’ life. The leading nature of L-YY while in the reverse of O-AL resulted to this newborn of LOYYAL. The sincerity of intentions, patience need of multilayer assemblies, complete trust of flavors incorporation and faithful of product outcome, lead to the suitability use of LOYYAL to well-reflex this LAYERS cake and LOYAL courage.


The Newborn Date:

The LOYYAL CAKE was investigated on 8^th August 2008 for a forthcoming birthday party, while conveys miss for an absence of best friend, who was on vacation to East. In addition to deliver best wishes for an approaching leave of the best friend to the East for good. The sole date of 08-08-08, in conjunction with Olympic event at China, wholly right represents this unique friendship and stories behind the West and the East.


The Shape:

The LOYYAL CAKE is made to be ROUND in shape. Generally symbolizes the cyclical nature of life, most specifically, is derived from the shape of earth, sun and moon. In the other words, the round shape is traditionally implied to symbolize REUNION of separation and being PROTECT, as how the round shape has been sketched. And so, the cake is fabricated in such a way, formerly to bless for the best, to any unavoidable separation among friends, lovers, families and so forth, for an upcoming reunion; and later to transmit unconditional embraced of harmony, friendship and love.


The Assemblies:

The LOYYAL CAKE is a work in 4 acts. There are four layers of spice cake; alternated firmly with another four layers of sourish cheesecake; a final topping layer of bittersweet, rich chocolate-coffee mousse; and all-surrounded by unique favor of shredded coconut. To express BEST WISHES throughout FOUR SEASONS of the WEST (represented by cheesecake) and even throughout FOUR SEASONS of the EAST (represented by spice layers cake). The friendship is highly APPRECIATED and unconditionally EMBRACED either in EUROPE (represented by mousse cover layer) or in HOMETOWN (represented by coconut protective layer). The cake is FIRMLY stacked up to NINE layers high with care and patience to signify EVERLASTING friendship, besides to emphasis the important of every step and every stage of friendship, relationship and even life, without seeking shortcut or big jump in achieving grand and stable final successes.


The Ingredients:

The LOYYAL CAKE composed of 12 ingredients. Namely eggs, sugar, butter, plain flour, corn flour, spice, cream cheese, haw pieces, bittersweet chocolate, espresso coffee, whipped cream and shredded coconut. In which, might be a symbolize product of West (cream cheese) and/or East (haw pieces) or tropical (coconut) and/or non-tropical (whipped cream) countries. To drive BEST REGARDS and bless for HUGE HARVESTS all over twelve months a year, all around the WORLD.


The Favors:

The LOYYAL CAKE is a concoction of 4 main favors. There are SOUR from cheesecake; SWEET on the whole, BITTER from mousse and SPICE from spice layers cake. Stress-on the role of success in every friendship, relationship and even life by overcoming every aspects of living; the UP and DOWN, the GOOD and BAD as well as the BRIGHTNESS and DARKNESS sides of life, wherein are impossible to avoid all through the journey of two; in order to achieve and maintain the overall SWEETNESS and HAPPINESS. Thus, it is important for the cake to be SWEET on the whole as BLESSING


The Colors:

Another important part of LOYYAL CAKE is the art of colors integration. The cake is designed to be major with BRIGHT color rather than DARK one, neither by surface area (370 cm² of bright shredded coconut and 250 cm² of dark mousse) nor volume (1000 cm³ of bright layers cake and 500 cm³ of dark mousse). To bring GOOD LUCKS to every friendship, relationship and even life with BEST WISHES for enriching positive aspects of life, despite the fact that the negative aspects of life somehow are inevitable. The topping layer of the cake has to be darker in color (dark mousse layer) while in the reverse for internal section (bright layers cake). Formerly to illustrate the personality of the best friend, and later to highlights the beauties of oneself should not be judged base on appearance, but by means of deep communication and well understanding.


The Textures:

The LOYYAL CAKE is investigated to foremost with SMOOTH texture instead of rough part. Drive for very smooth journey of friendship, relationship and even life. Although, it may be practically hard to achieve by manifestation (370 cm² of rough protective shredded coconut and 250 cm² of smooth dark mousse), but somehow please do not give up; believe and wish for the best with sincerity, patience and care, it will works by time from unconditional hard-works and continue self-development (500 cm³ of smooth cheesecake and 500 cm³ of smooth mousse while 500 cm³ of rough supportive spice cake). “WHAT YOU GIVE, YOU GET BACK…”


Occasions Suitability:

Many peoples enjoy celebrations, whether it is a birthday, valentine’s day, wedding, mother’s day, father’s day, anniversary or any other special occasion. A carefully chosen cake can add a final, personal, finishing touch to any celebration and may be remembered for years to come. The patience, care and loyal spirit of LOYYAL CAKE preparation, for it unique incorporation of favors, for it beautiful presentation and for it sincere intentions; make the cake so special and absolutely suitable to express love in ANY OCCASION.


Is my pleasure to share out this recipe...

Best Wishes with LOVE,
Ai Lien



Ingredients:

Spice Cake:

4 egg yolks
1 cups sugar
80 g butter
1/2 cup plain flour
1 1/2 tsp cornflour
1 tsp cinnamon spice (any spice or mixed spice)
4 egg whites

Cheesecake:

500 g cream cheese
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
1 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 cup haw pieces (any sourish dried snack from East), finely chopped
2 tsp cornflour

Chocolate-Coffee Mousse (double up recipe for thicker topping):

100 g bittersweet chocolate
25 g butter
20 ml brewed espresso coffee
100 ml whipped cream
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
1 tbsp icing sugar

Protective Layer:

1/2 cup freshly shredded coconut or dessicated coconut

Method:

Lightly grease a springform cake pan (18 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Spice Cake:

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites till stiff, set aside.

In another bowl, whisk egg yolks with sugar till pale and creamy, beat in butter, stir-in flour and spice.

Pour egg yolks mixture into egg whites and fold gently, divide into four portions; set aside.

Cheese Cake:

In a large bowl, whisk egg whites till almost stiff, add half amount of sugar and continue whipping till stiff peak formed; set aside.

In another bowl, whisk egg yolks with the remaining sugar till it has a smooth consistency.

Mix-in cream cheese, fold the stiffed egg whites mixture into cream cheese mixture and mix carefully still fully incorporated.

Stir-in haw pieces, divide into four portions; set aside.

Assemblies:

Set oven to broiler mode, pour first portion of spice cake batter into prepared cake pan.

Spread batter evenly by tilting pan, and bake under broiler for 5 minutes, or till the surface is golden brown.

Remove cake pan from oven, pour-in first portion of cheese cake batter, spread batter evenly again by tilting pan.

Return to oven and bake under broiler for another 12 minutes, or till the surface is golden yellow.

Repeat alternately until both batters are used up.

Remove from oven, let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, set aside to cool completely.

Chocolate-Coffee Mousse:

In a deep bowl, beat whip cream until stiff and keep in refrigerator.

Over a double boiler, melt chocolate and butter.

Remove from heat, pour-in espresso, stir to incorporate.

In another deep bowl, whisk egg whites till almost stiff, add-in sugar and beat till soft peak form.

Add-in egg yolks to the chocolate mixture one at a time, beat to mix.

Gently stir-in one-third of whipped cream to the chocolate mixture, fold-in half of egg whites, stir to just incorporate, fold-in the remaining whites then whipped cream and stir to incorporate well.

Spoon mousse onto cooled cake, tilt cake pan to evenly spread out mousse and chill cake in refrigerator for at least 5 hours or overnight till set.

Carefullly run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan again to loosen the outer mousse layer of cake.

Remove rim of the springform and coat cake side with shredded coconut.

Decorate cake accordingly and chilled well before serving.

Cheong Cheng Fish (Gravy Steamed Fish)

Ingredients:

500 g fish, (I used gilthead seabream or orata)
1 tsp salt

Cheong Cheng Sauce:

2 tbsp vegetable oil
9 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 inch fresh ginger, finely chopped
2 tbsp fermented soya bean paste, mashed
1 tbsp sambal omelek chili paste
2 tbsp plum sauce
1/2 cup chinese parsley/coriander/cilantro, finely chopped
chinese parsley for sprinkling

Method:

Clean fish, make some gashed on both sides and rub fish well with salt; set aside for 30 minutes.

To make the cheong cheng sauce, heat oil in pan or wok over medium-high heat, stir-fry garlic, onion and ginger still fragrant and golden yellow.

Add soya bean and chili pastes, stir-fry till fragrant for another few minutes.

Add plum sauce and stir to mix thoroughly.

Remove from heat, set aside.

Line a heat resistance plate with parchment paper/onion slices/ginger slices.

Lightly rinse fish with running water, place fish on top of prepared paper/onion/ginger, add 1 tbsp cheong cheng sauce on fish, steam covered over high heat for about 20 minutes or still fish is cooked-thorough.

Remove from heat, drain excess water from fish into cheong cheng sauce.

Return cheong cheng sauce to heating source, simmer till gravy is thicken.

Remove from heat, stir-in chinese parsley, pour the gravy over fish, sprinkle with some chinese parsley.

Serve hot immediately with rice.

Green Peas Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup roasted green peas, grinded
1 cup plain flour (tipo o)
3/4 cup superfine/Castor sugar
40-60 mL vegetable oil (until to a shape-able extend only)
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg as egg-wash (omitted for this batch)

Method:

Preheat oven to 160 °C.

Line a large baking tray with parchment paper, set aside.

In a bowl, mix peas, flour and sugar.

Drizzle-in oil and mix until the mixture clump together.

Divide and press firmly into small balls.

Place close together on prepared baking tray.

Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes or until fragrant.

Remove from oven, apply egg-wash, return to oven and bake for another 10 minutes or till golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before storing.

Steamed Banana-Chocolate Cake with Espresso Coffee Whipped Cream Frosting

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup mashed banana (2 ripe banana)
1 1/4 cups cake flour (Tipo OO)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs

Espresso Coffee Whipped Cream Frosting:

200 mL whipping cream
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp espresso powder/2 tbsp white instant coffee mix/2 tbsp instant coffee powder

Method:

Grease a 18 cm cake pan.

Combine cocoa powder, sugar, milk and oil in a non-stick pan and cook over low heat until cocoa powder and sugar are fully dissolved.

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool.

In a separate bowl, sift to mix the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

In another bowl, beat eggs until light and fluffy then fold into the cooled cocoa mixture and mix well.

Stir-in banana, beat well to incorporate.

Stir-in flour mixture and mix well to form homogeneous batter.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Steam over high heat for about 1 hour with a cover that wrapped with kitchen towel to avoid water vapor droplets, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for at least 10 minutes and turn out onto a plate and cool completely.

To Make Espresso Coffee Whipped Cream Frosting:

Begin with thoroughly chilled cream and beater.

In a large bowl, combine all the ingredients.

Whip the cream mixture on medium speed until soft peaks formed (The peak should bend over at the top of the whisk).

Prepare in advance, keep in refrigerator and frost the cooled cake later.

Chickpeas-Black Bean Salad

Ingredients:

3/4 cup dried chickpeas
1/4 cup dried black bean
3 cups water
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
1 carrot, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp salt (optional)

Method:

Soak chickpeas and black bean overnight in water; drain.

Combine chickpeas, black bean and water in a rice cooker, cook till its automatically done.

In a large bowl, combine the chickpeas, black bean with all the remaining ingredients and stir-well to mix.

Serve immediately.

Siew Pau (Crispy Pork Buns)

Ingredients:

Char Siew Filling:

500 g pork belly, diced
4 chinese dried mushroom, soaked, drained and diced
1 large onion or shallot, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil

Pork Marinade
2 1/2 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp light soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp shao xing wine
1/2 tsp chinese five spice powder
1/4 tsp black pepper powder
1/4 tsp salt

Seasoning
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp oyster sauce
1 tsp shao xing wine
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp water

Pastry:

1 cups all purpose flour
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup iced water
100 g butter

Egg Glaze:

1 egg yolk
1 tsp water

Method:

Char Siew Filling:

In a bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients.

Marinate pork for at least 2 hours or overnight in refrigerator.

In a pan or wok, heat oil over moderate heat, stir-fry onion still fragrant and begin to be golden yellow.

Add mushroom, stir-fry for another 2 minutes.

Add pork, stir-fry for about 2-3 minutes.

Add-in all the seasoning ingredients, stir till pork is cooked-thorough, homogeneously incorporated with thickened gravy and almost dry up.

Dish up and set aside to cool completely.

Pastry:

In a large bowl, combine flour, egg and salt.

Slowly, pour-in water and knead till resulted to smooth dough, cover with kitchen towel and leave to rest at cool corner for 30 minutes.

Wet fingers with water, knead butter till obtaining consistence texture, form into rectangular block.

On a well-floured working surface, roll out dough into big rectangular and place the butter block onto the upper-middle of dough.

Fold another half of dough onto butter, roll slightly on dough with rolling pin to spread out the internal butter and incorporated with dough, leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Well-flour hands, rolling pin and working surface, roll out dough into 1 cm thickness rectangular, fold-in two ends of dough into middle forming 3 layers and roll out again, repeat rolling and folding for 3 times, place on glass plate, leave in refrigerator to rest for 15 minutes (repeat the whole rolling, folding and resting process for another 2 times).

Assembly:

Roll out dough into about 3 mm thick rectangular, cut into individual 6 x 6 cm rectangles.

Place enough filling onto middle of each rectangle, fold-up four edges toward center, twist to seal completely.

Place char siew sou on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

Brush each char siew sou surface with egg glaze and bake in preheated oven at 190 °C for 30 minutes or until pastry puff-up and became golden brown.

Sweet Corn Cake

Ingredients:

1 (300 g) canned sweet corn kernel, drained and blended
1 (150g) canned sweet corn kernel, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour (tipo oo)
1/4 cup cornflour
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Method:

Grease a cake pan (26 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs and tapping out excess; set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a bowl, combine corn paste and sugars, beat to incorporate.

Add eggs and oil, beat till well blended.

In another bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add dry ingredients into corn batter, mix well.

Stir-in corn kernel.

Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool thoroughly.