Mango Pudding – NOT!

I got tired of baking cakes, and wanted to try baking some other desserts. Mango pudding seems like a good break from cakes.

I searched for few recipes, and finally decided on this, as it looks easy to make.

Mango Pudding (from Rita’s Basket)    250ml low-fat milk 250g mango, diced 200 ml water 50g fine sugar 1 ½ tbsp gelatine powder 4 tbsp water 1.  Soften gelatine in 4 tbsp water in a small bowl. Let it sit in larger bowl of hot water, stir till gelatine powder dissolve well. 2.  Peel Mango. Dice flesh and put into blender to blend with water. Strain to remove stringy fibers. 3.  Dissolve sugar in milk over low heat. Cool. 4.  Stir mango puree with gelatine, add in milk and stir till well mixed. 5.  Pour into 6 jelly molds or glasses. 6.  Chill in fridge overnight.

I chilled the pudding in wine glasses. Top it up with yogurt, nuts and kiwi to make it into a mango parfait.  

A little disappointed though with the taste of the pudding. Perhaps mango was not ripe enough, it tasted more like cucumber, rather than mango!

I done more research and have identified another recipe here, a bit more work, but should taste much better. Will try this next time.

Argghhh, so many things to bake, so little time!

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Orange Butter Cupcakes for Baby Girl

Babysitter’s in-law just gave birth to a baby girl.
Best gift? Small angpow with a box of cute pink cupcakes!

I use my trusted orange buttercake recipe to bake these cupcakes and frosted them with my favourite lemon cooked frosting.

The full 8” recipe yields 20 cupcakes and the balance was baked in a small rectangular pan.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Flower Nail to Prevent Doming - Baking Tip #2

Flower nails are used to pipe icing flowers. For me, I use it in baking to prevent doming and unbaked cake center. Cake domed on top because the sides cook faster than the middle. So, when the middle portion cooks, there’s nowhere for it to go but up.

Flower nail helps to conduct heat to the middle of the cake to bake it evenly, preventing the edges from cracking before the center is done. This is particularly helpful when baking larger cakes (8” and above).

Here’s how to use a flower nail to prevent doming:

1. Spray flower nail with cooking spray.
2. Place it upside down (head of nail touches pan bottom) in the middle of cake pan.
3. Pour in cake batter gently. If flower nail moves, adjust back to middle position. The flower nail will be submerged by batter. Bake as usual.
4. Cool cake for 5 – 10 minutes. Invert cake to wired racks. Remove the flower nail gently as it will be very hot. Invert cake back so that the tops are up. Flower nail may leave a small hole in the cake, but it would be covered once the cake is frosted.

Here, I placed the flower nail right at the centre of the pan

Summary & Tips
See my other tips to prevent doming:
1. Use home-made cake strips
2. Before putting in oven, gently swirl the pan so that the batter rise slightly at the side, and not the center.
3. Bake at slightly lower temperature for longer time to prevent cake from rising rapidly and cracking.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011

Cake Strips for perfectly even cake layer - Baking Tip #1

Ready made, commercial cake strips

Cake strip is one of the best solutions. 

Cake strip insulate the cake pan and allows the batter to bake evenly, resulting in a nice evenly baked cakes

You can buy them at bakery shops or purchase online, but they are not cheap.

Here’s how to do a home-made cake strip: 1. Cut a 2-inch wide strip from an old heavy bath towel. 2. Soak the strip in water and put in the fridge for at least 1 hour (I leave it overnight). 3. Before filling pan with batter, wrap the strip tightly around the pan and secure with safety pin. Bake as usual. 4. Remove the strip after cake has cooled and you should get perfectly even cake layers.

My DIY cake strip with an old bath towel

Tips

I also do these to prevent doming in center of cake:

·         Use a flower nail.    

·         Before putting in oven, gently swirl the pan so that the batter rise slightly at the side, and not the center.

·         Bake at slightly lower temperature for longer time to prevent cake from rising rapidly and cracking.

© copyright fiddling with recipe 2011