Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Gula Melaka Steam Cake "椰糖糕" & Brown Butter Chocolate Chip cookies

Before I start off my post today, I would like to thank those faithful readers of mine that frequently drop by my blog and giving me supporting comments. It's you guys that urge me to make this blog a better one! No, no, I didn't get all inspired by the recent award shows on TV that got me all giving thanks to everyone. It's just that a blog with faithful readers makes it a more worthwhile and meaningful one. And I realize even with my little updates lately, you guys still lovingly come by with a note for me. So thank you, thank you and thank you...I couldn't say it enough. :)
Just a little update on my personal life. My house renovation is almost coming to a completion now...another week and we are good to move. But unfortunately, due to the inconsiderate and poor service from the shipping company we engaged in, our container shipment from California has been delayed to almost a month! Apparently they have chose to dock our container at Korea and went ahead to ship other more "profitable" items! What in the world?! *Sigh* I just hope this delay will not incur more inconvenience then what we are going through now. :P

This time I decided to try out a new cake recipe call Gula Melaka Steam cake or"椰糖糕". It is really easy to make and ingredients are simple.The name itself might make you think that this is a real sweet desert, but actually it's not. The deep musky gula melaka aroma is intense but not over powering. This steam cake taste almost like those Chinese Fatt Goh that people use to pray with, but much much lighter in texture and fluffier. :)


Ingredients for Gula Melaka Steam Cake "椰糖糕" (makes a 8" round)
Sugar Mix
:
130g gula melaka, chopped small
40g honey
65ml water

Main Dough:

200g plain flour

35g rice flour

35g glutinous rice flour

7g baking powder

3g baking soda

Wet Mix:

3 eggs
100ml fresh milk

40g vegetable oil

1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds


Method:

  • In a small sauce pot, place all sugar mix ingredients in and heat over medium fire. Stir until everything melts and starts to turn into dark amber color.
  • Sieve all the dry ingredients in to a large mixing bowl, set aside.
  • In another bowl, add the fresh milk and vegetable oil in. Crack the 3 eggs in and stir well till everything is blended in. Add this liquid mixture into the flour mix and gently stir.
  • Add the sugar syrup into the batter and stir till everything comes together.
  • Let this mixture stand for 20 minutes, covered.
  • After 15 minutes, get ready the steamer and with some water and start boiling at medium high fire.
  • After a quick stir, pour the batter into a prepared round 8" pan, lined with parchment. Place in the steamer and steam for 20 minutes.
  • Just before removing from steamer, sprinkle the sesame seeds over the cake. Let cake cool before removing from pan and slice to serve.
My younger daughter's initial reaction to this cake when she first saw it was she thought it's a chocolate cake. Any cake or cookie that is brown is chocolate to her, lol! But after her first eager bite, she said "Mummy, it's not chocolate cake." :D

I really enjoy this cake, fluffy light and slight chewy texture. :) The next time round, I will steam up double the recipe to make some for my parents and my sisters.
The other item I baked this week was this Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. The last time I baked cookies was during Chinese New Year and my girls has been bugging me for some lately. These cookies may look like normal chocolate chip cookies to you...but it ain't as simple as it looks.
As the name implies, these cookies are basically using a browning butter method instead of the usual creaming of the soften butter. I was intrigued by this and was eager to try it out myself. Basically browning the butter, brings out the nutty flavor of the butter which makes the cookies has this yummy nutty, caramelize flavor.

Okay...a little confession to make. I bought this enormous bag of Nestle Semi-sweet chocolate chip morsels during my last trip back to California: I placed that 250g SCS butter beside the chocolate chip bag to show you how big is this pack of chips.

You must be thinking this woman (me) had her luggage packed full of baking ingredients instead of cloths! Lol! Don't you worry...I will use it all up...I'm quite confident of that, heehee. :D

Ingredients for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip cookies (makes about 30 medium size cookies)
200g unsalted butter
120g caster sugar

150g packed dark brown sugar

230g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg and 1 egg yolk

1 cup semisweet chocolate chip cookies


Method:
  • In a small saucepan, heat about 150g of the butter until it melts at medium low heat. Continue to cook, swirling constantly until the butter turns dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma. This takes about 2 minutes. Keep a watchful eye over it making sure it doesn't burnt!
  • Remove from heat and carefully transfer this hot liquid into a heat proof bowl. Add the remaining 50g butter in and stir till it melts.
  • Add in both sugars and salt and stir well. Add in vanilla extract, egg and yolk and whisk well till most of the sugar has melted. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes. Then whisk again for 30 secs and let stand again for another 3 minutes. This process is repeated for another 2 times until the mixture is thick, smooth and shiny.
  • Using rubber spatula, stir in the flour and baking powder till it just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
  • Cover the mixture and let it chill out in the fridge for 2 hrs before baking.
  • Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Scoop the cookie dough of about 1 tbsp full and space them 3cm apart from each other.
  • Bake in the oven for 18 to 20 minutes. Do not over bake as the end result will be too hard. Let cool on rack before serving. Can be kept in air tight containers up to a couple weeks.

I made the mistake of over baking these cookies and some turned out quite hard. :P Guess I really did lost touch with baking a good batch of cookies! But fortunately, my "cookie monsters" at home love it....and my elder daughter has continuously brought it to school for 3 days! She has even requested to bring more to share with her classmates. :P So I guess a hard cookie ain't a bad cookie, lol! See the cookies packed with those semi sweet chocolate morsels? Yum-O! Some might find this cookie method a wee bit "labor-intensive" as compared to the conventional kind...but I assure you...if you are a cookie lover, don't give this a miss!

Oops, almost midnight...still another long day tomorrow. Guess I better sign off for now...thanks for hanging out with me again. You all have a great one! Cheers!

24 comments:

Kitchen Corner said...

Brown butter cookies must be very tasty and very flavorful one! The caramel effects should have boost up the flavor! Nice one!

ReeseKitchen said...

Hey Bee Bee,
Nice to hear that ur house is almost done renovating but the shipment...*sigh*..just be patient and wait lo..hope everything turns out good and smooth..:)
The Gula Melaka Steam Cake...nice! I'll try it out soon. My sis also did something similar lately but the colour is far too pale compare with yours. Yours is beautiful..:)

Quinn said...

Oh My Gosh!!!! 2.04kg of Nestle Tollhouse Chocolate Chips is freakishly BIG! You know sometimes, I eat them by spoonfuls placed next to the coffee table when I'm watching series on my lappie. They disappear pretty quick even when I don't use them for baking.

petite nyonya said...

Hi Bee, the gula melaka steamed cake looks so moist and spongy! I will try this when I get my gula melaka stock from my hometown. Thanks for sharing this recipe! Bet you're excited about your house move! ;)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Grace. :) Indeed the caramel effect of the butter did give the cookie a nice nutty sweet aroma. ;)

Thanks Reese, heehee. ;) I guess I use only gula melaka and honey, that's why the color is deeper in color. But I bet Janice's is just as nice. :) Yes, do try it out...I know you will like this. :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Quinn, I got the chips at a warehouse, that explains the XXXL size. My chips snack on it oo, but under my control of course, lol. ;D

Hi Joslynn,
Yes, do try out this steam cake when you have some good gula melaka at hand. ;) You bet! Can't wait to stay in my own house, use my own kitchen and of course my brand new oven! ;)

Anonymous said...

Hi, thk you for the gula melaka steam cake recipe. Just wondering if the 3 eggs is missing in your ingredient list "wet mix"?

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Anonymous,
Thanks for letting me know about my typo. BTW, welcome to my blog and hope you will leave a name next time you visit. :)

ICook4Fun said...

I never make cake with gula melaka before except for kuih. Gula melaka is hard to find here but I am able to get gula jawa which is very dark in color. When I go back home I too will buy back nuts,dried fruits, choc chips, cake mix for my family. Better quality and cheaper here. By the way did you get the huge packet of chips from Costco :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Gert,
Do consider to try out making this steam cake if you can get hold of some gula melaka. Yeah! Got that toll house chips from Costco, heehee.

MaryMoh said...

Beautiful steamed cake and cookies. I wish I can have some! Would be great with a cup of tea.

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

your steam cake look better than those selling outside, simply light and fluffy, must try this out soon!

janice said...

Hi Bee Bee

Wah... Beautiful Steamed Cake :D I like it! ya lo... why my Gula Melaka steamed cake looks so pale! I use only Gula Melaka. The colour is't vil be deeper if i add honey ?

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks MaryMoh,
Glad that you like my bakes. Yes, nice with tea....my favorite way to enjoy them.

Thanks Sonia! You should really try this out, it is really fluffy. ;)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Janice,
Hmm...actually after I analyzed your recipe, I realize that you did add caster sugar and also more fluid then my recipe (i.e. more oil and also water). So possibly the color becomes lighter because of that. Do try my recipe next time...I bet you will like it

WendyinKK said...

Oh.... there's honey in the gula melaka cake.. It should taste really good, I can imagine that.
will bookmark this. But I'll do it in smaller cups, to shorten the steaming time :)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Wendy. ;) Yeah, I think the honey contribute the mellow dark sweetness in this cake, quite nice. Yes, do try out when you have some good gula melaka at hand.

Pei-Lin said...

Bee Bee, no worries! I know all of us are busy with other commitments in our lives ... especially, for us urbanites ... I can totally empathize with you because I'm going through the same myself, too ... :) You'll always have my support!!

Interesting ... I should try out gula melaka steamed cake! Thanks for sharing. I'm sure my family of stubborn Asian eaters (i.e. with traditional, typical Chinese taste buds) will appreciate this ... I'm the only weirdo in my family ... Ugh!

Hahaha! I did the same, too, when I came back from the States ... I brought dark choc chips, dark baking cocoa, Creole seasoning, fleur de sel ... They were food!!! *LOL* BUT, I'd never seen the Wal-Mart at where I lived carried such big of a bag of choc chips!!! Whoa ... 2 kg! (I love Hershey's Special Dark though ... Can't find any in KL ... Need to try my luck in Singapore next time ...)

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Thanks Pei-Lin, you're a sweetheart! No weird, trust me...I love all kinds of food..be it Asian, Greek or Indian...bring it all on! Hahaha!
Yes, I used to bake with Hershey's special dark chocolate too. ;) They are pretty good for baking and snacking, lol!

janice said...

Hi Bee Bee,
Ok...thanks :D I vil try it out... Thanks for sharing this recipe!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Good luck Janice...let me know how you like it after you made it. ;)

Tigger mum said...

Just made your Gula Melaka Steam cake. I didn't have any gula melaka here (Toronto) but, I do have some Indonesian Palm Sugar.

It came out perfectly! Light and fluffy!!

Thanks for sharing the recipe!

Honey Bee Sweets said...

Hi Tigger Mum,
Glad you like the Steam cake.:) It's good that you improvised and yet came out a success. ;) Happy baking!

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