The View from Mama's Desk...: Hokkaido Chiffon Cakes

Sunday, May 5, 2013

Hokkaido Chiffon Cakes

A slew of activities have been planned to celebrate Singapore Mom Bloggers' 1st birthday. One of these is a Hokkaido Chiffon Cake class by Munch Ministry. The last time I attended a cooking class was some 20 years ago, when Home Economics was part of the school curriculum. Walking into the newly renovated Civil Service Club, vague memories of my not too distant past came back to mind. Then, I was baking with a bunch of 13 or 14 year old school girls. Now, I am baking with a different bunch of girls, all of whom are now mothers. Then, we didn't have the luxury of using high tech gadgets like the Kitchen Aid. Now, we have such nifty kitchen gadgets.

But somethings hadn't changed... we still have to wash the utensils before/after use, we still squeal at delight when the cakes are taken out of the oven, we are still secretly proud of ourselves when we sink our teeth into our yummilcious goodies, and we guard our lunch box filled with the day's hard work with our life, just so our loved ones can savour cakes baked by mommy dearest.

The recipe for the Hokkaido Chiffon Cakes can be found at the Munch Ministry website.

The recipe is really easy to follow... Here, I provide some pointers which will benefit you if you're not a seasoned baker like me.

1) All ingredients for chiffon cakes need to be at ROOM TEMPERATURE before you proceed with combining them. Yes - this includes the eggs & the milk. If your chiffon cakes aren't rising as they should, try taking the ingredients out of the fridge and leaving them at room temperature before you begin.

2) Separating the egg yolk and the egg white: I don't have any tips for this except to try and be careful when cracking the egg. With the yolk intact, it is much easier to separate yolk from white. In any case, if you do get some yolk mixed with the white, just try to scoop out as much as you can with a spoon. There was still some yolk left in my white, and the cakes still turned out fine. :)

3) When folding in the flour, it is easier to get a good mix if you separate the flour into two or three batches. Fold in one batch before adding the next.

As with everything else, practice makes perfect. :)

I had good time meeting up with fellow mom bloggers. It is my first time meeting and baking with Tzer Jing who blogs at www.thekamfamily.com although we've been virtual friends for more than 3 years. Her daughter is born in the same year as Nathan and we 'met' thru an online motherhood forum more than 3 years ago. I thought this baking party was a pretty good team building activity. Do contact Munch Ministry if you're interested to organise a 'BAKE OUT' or a 'COOK OUT'.