Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cake

Have been itching to bake a chiffon cake lately. And seeing other fellow bloggers posting up nice tall chiffon pictures just urged me even more. In fact I did made a Pandan chiffon a couple weeks back, but unfortunately it "flopped" ! Well, I suspect I did not bake it long enough to have the crusty sides to "hold" the cake. :P Anyway, this time round, I was pretty determine to: First: bake a chiffon cake, Second: make sure it's not under-baked again! Third : try a new flavor. :) And since I saved a sweet mango in the fridge for a week now, it seems only appropriate to use it before it goes to waste. ;) So here it is, Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cake!

Yeah, yippee, I did it! Well, that is probably what I wish I could say after baking this chiffon and removed it from the tube pan. It may look alright to you, but it's not half of what you can imagine what's wrong. :(

Arhhh! Yup...that's more like how I reacted after the cake was unmould. :P I admit it, my poor "stirring" skill resulted in this horrific hole in this chiffon cake. Somehow there is this whole gather of mango chunks that assemble themselves at that spot! Why did I stir it well enough? Disastrous! I was almost too ashamed to blog about it. :P But after tasting it, I changed my mind.

Overall the taste and texture of the cake was good, just like how a chiffon should be. Although it may be a bit bias on the sweet side, but I blame it on that super sweet & ripe mango I added in. :P Nevertheless, it was decent, so I thought this will still be a good record to keep for my reference in the future. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients for Mango Yogurt Chiffon Cake (makes about 21 or 22 cm tube pan):
120g cake flour
1/2 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
5 egg yolks
30g caster sugar
40ml vegetable oil
135g mango yogurt
3 tbsp fresh mango puree

5 egg whites
40g caster sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
100g fresh mango chunks (mine's too big, cut smaller)

Method:

• Sift together cake flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.
• In another mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar till light and creamy. Then add vegetable oil, yogurt, mango puree and mix well.
• Stir in the flour mixture to the egg yolk mixture and whisk together till well combined.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites with the cream of tartar till foamy. Gradually add in the sugar as you continue to beat the whites until it is glossy & reaches firm peaks.
• In 3 separate portions, gently fold in the whites into the yolk mixture till everything is combined together.
• Preheat the oven to 170. Pour the batter into a 21 / 22cm tube pan and bake in the oven till the tester comes out clean.
• Gently remove the pan from oven and invert to cool on rack completely before unmoulding it.

I realized that the mango chunks are possibly too big. If I ever make this again, I will cut the mango into small bits, rather then chunks...that should also minimize the "loopy" & "full of holes" look of my chiffon. :P Well, if you are not as careless as me, go ahead and give this a try, it should turn out yummy. ;) Good luck!
Before I finish off this post. I would like to thank Bakericious for passing this lovely Sunshine award to me. I would like to dedicate it to one and all that loves to blog, especially food blogging. ;)

May everyone have a wonderful day ahead. Cheers!

A healthy meal & Wholewheat Banana Blueberry Muffins

I don't really meet up with my side of the family very often even though I have relocated back to Singapore. Partly because we stay quite far away from them, takes about 30 minutes minimum to drive there if the traffic is good. Furthermore, weekdays are usually tight down by children school schedule, so it seems quite out of routine just to drop by and say hi. So I really enjoy visiting my parents that once a week or two, and spending quality time to catch up. However today, thanks to my dear husband, I am taking time off from my weekday schedule to meet up with my 3 sisters for a nice dinner together. We do that when it's one of our birthdays or some special occasion. This time we decided to dine at Cedele at Wheelock Place.

Have totally forgotten to snap any pictures of the restaurant. *sorry*:P This place serves excellent meals from hearty salads to deliciously unique pastas. Besides that, you can count on Cedele for providing quality healthy meals like wild mushroom soup or wholegrain sandwiches and even organic drinks and ice creams.

For me, I ordered Red Chilli Crab Pasta:

This is quite a delicious pasta with a generous amount of crab meat in it, topped with a lightly-fried soft shell crab. The tomato sauce is slightly spicy which gives the taste a nice "kick". Yum! Overall, well balanced taste and flavor...something I would go for again when I go back to Cedele next time.

Believe or not but all 3 of my sisters each ordered a platter of this Sea Bass and Shrimp Tampo. Why? Perhaps it's the delicious citrus vinaigrette over the fresh greens & crunchy sunflower seeds, or maybe they love the nicely grilled sweet shrimps and flaky sea bass. But I think most importantly, they choose this mainly because it's healthy and delicious!

We finished off our lovely dinner with 4 scoops of organic egg-less ice creams, classic chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

Okay, about the 4th scoop...it was served later because of my sis had to run off to buy something at the grocer before it closes. It was in fact Chai Teh with Figs...the best I must say. Slightly scented Chai tea and chunks of chewy dried figs, very unique! :) Anyway, if you do drop by Wheelock Place next time, why not give Cedele a try. ;)

Cedele @ Wheelock Place
501 Orchard Road
#03-14
Wheelock Place
Singapore 238880

Tel: 6732 8520
My initial intention before meeting up with my sisters was to bake a birthday cake for the birthday sister. But after talking to her, she told me it's already past and no point blowing candles and all. And since it was a school day, I didn't want to risk baking something too adventurous and did not have time to finish up later. So I ended up baking something healthy which I am sure my sisters and parents will love; Wholewheat Banana Blueberry Muffins. And since my family loved the Blueberry Yogurt Muffins that I baked for them the previous time, this one should not disappoint as well. :)

Muffins again!?! Apologies to those reader that come and probably felt disappointed about seeing muffin posts again. I really hope you all don't find my bake getting boring. :P But this muffins are really easy to whip up and fool proof to bake. Not to mention I am still using my MIL's halogen oven...can't be too demanding right? Besides, these healthy muffins are delicious! In fact this is the 2nd time I made them!

Ingredients for Healthy Banana Blueberry Muffins: (makes about 10 to 12)
125g wholewheat flour
135g all purpose flour
40g wheat germ
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
110g unsalted butter, room temperature
65g caster sugar
65g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 ripe bananas, peeled & mashed
80ml fresh milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup fresh / frozen blueberries

Method:

• Preheating the oven to 180°C. Grease muffin tins if using or line it with paper cups.
• Whisk together wholewheat flour, plain flour, salt, baking soda and powder in a large bowl. Set aside till needed.
  
• Beat butter, sugar till light and fluffy. Add eggs and continue to beat till creamy and sugar has mostly melted.
• Add in the mashed bananas and mix well. Then add milk and vanilla extract and again stir to blend.
• Now add in the flour mixture in and stir till well combined. Lastly add in the blueberries and combine.
  
• Pour the batter into prepared muffin cups / tins and bake for 25 minutes or till tester comes out clean.
• Remove from oven and let cool on rack. Good up to 3 days in air tight containers and refrigerate after.
  

These muffins are surprisingly tender and moist, even though there's wholewheat and wheat germ inside. The muffin tops are a real treat, slight crunchy bits from the grains gives it extra texture and chewiness. ;)

I have also made a few with chocolate chips which my younger daughter just love. ^o^ It's not easy to get my kids to eat whole grain food, so this was really a great recipe to get my kids started. ;)

Final Thoughts: I had a super duper time with my sisters tonight. Enjoyed a delicious dinner with them and catching up was really fun. I just wish we get to do this more often! I was glad we went to dine at a place like Cedele, quiet and good service. Their food was truly healthy and delicious. We all know that there's never a bad day to eat healthy, whether it's dinning out or simply whipping up something simple at home. So to all the dear friends out there, as the saying goes, "Eat Healthy, Live Happy!" ^v^