Macaroon buns and Japanese Dark Pearl cake

In order to be able to fully utilize the remaining time I have, so that I can still bake, blog, pack, keep my kids busy and do my daily duty, I drafted a rough time table for myself. Been following this time table for these couple days now and I realize the only time I seat down & relax is when I am blogging! But I really do not mind, because I get to do what I like, so tiredness isn't gonna get in my way. I guess the trick to it all is to plan ahead what I want to do and things will fall in place if I follow through. This time I decided to bake some bread and a chocolate chiffon cake. Why? Because I realize I have not baked these 2 for a long time! This Macaroon bun recipe was inspired by a Taiwan blog I saw awhile back. Thought it was really special and decided to give it a go. :)I did modified the bread recipe a little to suit my taste, so here is my version:

Ingredients for Macaroon Bun recipe (makes 8 to 10):
400g bread flour
8g active dry yeast
40g caster sugar
1 tsp salt
25g milk powder
80ml water
200g whole eggs, lightly beaten
100g unsalted butter, room temperature

Filling:
3/4 cup plump raisins
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Macaroon Coating:
75g egg white
75g caster sugar
70g fresh ground almond powder

Method:

• Mix all ingredients in main dough except for butter together in a large mixing bowl to form a soft dough. Place on work area to knead or mixer to do the kneading. Knead the dough till it is not sticky, about 20 minutes.
• Add the unsalted butter in and continue to knead till the dough is shiny and elastic. To test if the dough is ready, pull a small piece off and stretching it with your fingers. If dough is very elastic and pulls to almost see through without breaking, then it's done.
• Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to proof for at least 90 minutes to 2hrs.
• Punch out the air in dough, roll round and let rest for another 10 minutes covered before shaping.
  
• Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out into a large rectangular sheet, about 40cm to 30cm. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and raisins generously over the surface.
• Roll it up from the shorter length end into a swiss roll form. Cut it into equal 8 to 10 pieces. Place on baking tray lined with parchment to let proof for another 60 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C.
• In the meantime, make the macaroon topping. Beat the egg whites till foamy, add the caster sugar and continue to beat till thick and creamy. Add almond powder and continue to beat for 30 seconds till nicely incorporated.
  
• Using a tablespoon, scoop a spoonful of the creamy topping over the proofed buns.
• Bake in the oven for 20 minutes till the topping is slight brown. Remove from oven and cool on rack before serving.
  

Overall it's kind of like the cinnamon buns I made quite long ago. :) Taste wise, quite similar to cinnamon buns but with a soft chewy macaroon topping.

Perhaps I did not let the buns proof longer in the 2nd proofing, or perhaps my yeast is already old...the buns did not turn out as soft as I hope it will be. :-P Overall I would say the buns are satisfactory but not that fantastic. But if you love macaroon, why not give this a try?

Next item in this post is Japanese Dark Pearl Cake, recipe extracted from Yochana's blog. :) I have been wanting to bake this for awhile now. Deep, dark chocolate chiffon cake, what's not to like?! Reading her post, she mentioned that she forgotten to add the egg yolks into the recipe but still turned out great. I was contemplating whether I should follow her "mistake" because it seems more healthy! But ended up just added the yolks because I didn't know what I do with it anyway, hahaha!Verdit? Superb! Soft, moist and rich in chocolate taste! I wish I had made it earlier! Furthermore it wasn't hard to make at all with simple ingredients that you can surely find in your pantry. :) If you ask me, it's a clear win compared to the last chocolate chiffon I made. :)

A definite nice treat to serve during tea time.

I apologize for the lighting of the pictures as I am trying to experiment on taking it with extra lighting in the room. Because this cake is really dark in colour, so taking a nice shot is not that easy with my simple canon camera.

Everyone likes the cake plain on it's own. But when I served up for my girls last night, I topped it with some fresh whipped cream and a couple of fresh strawberries. They loved it even more! After devouring the cake, they demanded to have it the same thing served again tonight. :) Do try out this cake, it's wonderful, I know I would make it again. :) Have fun!