Longevity Cake for Mom's 81st

This is 10" Chiffon Cake using 12 eggs, with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. The cake filling is purple yam buttercream, and the letters are black candy melt.

This design is based on a Chinese painting and calligraphy.

Red Bean Rice Cake with Brown Sugar(红糖红豆年糕)

This is based on the steamed rice cake with brown sugar with brown sugar, with addition of sweetened red beans.

"Laughing" Sesame Ball(开口笑)

These sweet and crisp balls are traditional Chinese snack, originated in Beijing. The Chinese name literally means "Laughing". These small flour balls will be crackled during frying, like laughing. I modified the recipe from Xiachufang.

Ingredients

Sugar - 1/2 cup
Water - 1/4 cup
All purpose flour - 1 and 3/4 cup
Baking soda - 1/4 tsp
Oil/clarified butter - 1 TBSP
White sesame - 1/2 cup

Steps

1. Add sugar and water in sauce pan, boil util sugar is fully dissolved. Set aside to cool down. 

2. In a mixing bowl, mix flour and baking soda; then add oil and sugar water to knead lightly  into a dough. If the dough is too dry, add up to 1 TBSP water. Cover the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes.

3. Portion the dough into small balls. Prepare a small dish of water. Dip each ball in water before roll it in sesame so that the sesame will stay on the ball.

4. Add oil in a sauce pan and heat up until 320°F, turn off heat, put in the sesame balls. The high temperature should cause the sesame ball to expand quickly and crack the surface. When the balls are starting to float, turn on low heat to fry until the balls are turning yellow. At the end, turn on high heat to quickly brown the balls.

5. Serve after the sesame balls are cool down.

Egg and Bacon Bread Cup

A good looking breakfast dish.

Ingredients

to make 4 cups (serving 2)
Bread - 4 slices
Shredded mozzarella - 2 TBSP
Egg - 4
Bacon or pancetta - 4 Slices

Salt and pepper

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F. Remove the crust from the bread slices.

2. Flatten the bread slices with a rolling pin.
3. Place each slice in each muffin cup, pressing it down with your fingers. Sprinkle the bottom of each bread cup with about half tablespoon of shredded mozzarella. Wrap a slice of bacon around the edge. Add the egg and sprinkle some salt and pepper on egg.

4. Bake for about 20 minutes for a runny egg, 25 minutes for a fully cooked egg.

Coconut Red Bean Pudding(椰汁红豆糕)

Reference a video online.

Ingredients

Coconut milk - 1 can of 400 ml (1 and 2/3 cups)

Whole milk - 1 and 1/4 cups (300 ml) 

Water - 3/4 cups + 1.5 TBSP (200 ml) 

Sugar - 1/2 cup

Gelatin - 3 TBSP + 1 tsp (30 g) 

Corn starch - 3 tsp

Sweetened red beans - 1 cup

Steps

1. In a pot, add coconut milk, whole milk, 1 cup of water, sprinkle gelatin powder on. Let's sit for 5 minutes.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix corn starch and 1.5 TBSP water. 

3. Bring the milk mixture to boiling, stir in corn starch water.

4. Gently add red bean to mixture and pour into a mold.

5. Refrigerate overnight.

Steamed Red Bean Rice Cake(红豆年糕)

Used sugar instead of brown sugar to get the red and white contrast.

Ingredients

Glutinous rice flour - 1 bag (1 lb)
Rice flour - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 2/3 cup
Pork lard/Clarified butter (or old for vegan) - 2 TBSP
Water - 2 cup
Sweetened red bean - 3/4 cups

Steps

1. Boil 1 cup of water, lard and sugar in a pot until the sugar is fully dissolved. Let the sugar solution cool.
2. Mix glutinous rice flour and rice flour, add sugar water, and add 1 cup of cold water, and mix well. If the batter is too sticky, add some water.
3. In a steamer, add 1/4 batter, steam for 5 minutes, add 1/4 cup sweetened red bean, add 1/4 batter, steam for 5 minutes, add 1/4 cup red bean, add 1/4 batter, steam for 5 minutes, add 1/4 cup red bean, add 1/4 batter.

4. Steam the whole rice cake for 1-2 hours.
5. Store cake in refrigerator for 1 - 2 days for the cake to set.

6. Slice to put in sweet soup or pan fry to serve.

Sweetened Red Bean(蜜红豆)

This is used in red bean rice cake, or other desert. Beans should be soft, but skins are intact.

Ingredients

Red bean - 150 g
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Brown sugar - 1/2 cup

Steps

1. Soak red bean in cold water overnight, and drain.
2. Put red beans in a pot and add water to well cover the beans. Boiling the beans for 5 minutes, turn off heat and cover the pot until the pot is warm to touch;  remove the cover, cook on high heat for another 5 minutes, then turn off heat and cover the pot until the pot is warm to touch. Repeat the process 2-4 times until the beans are soft but with skin mostly intact.
3. Drain excess water, stir in brown sugar and salt. Cover the pot and let the bean soak in the sweetness for a few hours, or overnight.

Sweet and Sour Pork Tenderloin(甜酸里脊肉)

A common Chinese home cooking dish. I used the pork tenderloin since it is lean. 

Ingredients

Pork tenderloin - 1 piece, about 1 to 1.25 lbs
【Marinate】
Cooking wine - 1 TBSP
Flour - 2 TBSP
Corn starch - 2 tsp
Baking soda - 1 tsp
Salt - to taste
【Sauce】
Tomato sauce or Ketchup - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Honey - 1 - 2.5 TBSP
White vinegar - 3 TBSP
Corn starch - 2 tsp
【Garnish】
Sesame - for garnish, optional

Steps

1. Slice the pork into strips. In a mixing bowl, mix pork strips with all ingredients in "Marinate". Make sure the meat is evenly coated. Add a bit water if it is too dry.

2. Fry the pork strips in hot oil until golden. Set pork aside.

4. In a sauce pan, add all ingredients for "Sauce", except corn starch. Heat and let sauce boiling for 1 minute. Mix the corn starch with 2 TBSP of water in a bowl, and then pour into the sauce pan. When the sauce becomes sticky, stir in the fried pork pieces.

White Chocolate Drip Cake

This is Chiffon Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting. The new element is the white chocolate drip, which can be colored. In this case, I did not add any food color.

Ingredients

Heavy cream - 1/3 cup
Mini white chocolate chips - 1 cup
Gel food coloring (optional)

Steps

1. Heat heavy cream in a heat-proof bowl in the microwave for 45 seconds, until it's just
beginning to bubble. Gently pour white chocolate chips into the heavy cream, making
sure they are fully covered with cream. Allow mixture to sit for 1 minute.
2. Stir slowly until the cream and white chocolate are combined. Some bits of chocolate
may not be fully melted yet. Heat the mixture again for 20 seconds, and stir. Repeat as
necessary until all the chocolate bits are fully melted and incorporated.
3. Add in gel food coloring, if desired. Allow to cool until desired viscosity is reached
(barely warm to the touch).
4. Make sure cake is cold (refrigerated) before pouring the drip on.

Vegan Blueberry Muffins

Adapted this recipe from my Darling Vegan site. Very moist and full of burst of blueberries.

Ingredients

All-purpose flour - 2 cups
Soy milk - 1 cup, or coconut milk, rice milk
Fresh Lemon Juice - 1 TBSP (was 1 tsp apple cider vinegar)
Baking powder - 2½ tsp
Baking soda - ¼ tsp
Salt - ½ tsp
Sugar - ½ cup + 2 TBSP
Oil - ¼ cup + 2 TBSP
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Lemon zest of 1 lemon
Fresh blueberries - 1½ - 2 cups
Yield: 12 muffins

Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups and set aside.
2. In a small bowl combine milk and lemon juice. Set aside to allow milk to curdle.
3. In a larger bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Mix together sugar, oil, lemon zest, and vanilla extract. Add milk mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Be careful not to overmix - a few lumps are okay. Fold in blueberries.
5. Spoon into muffin tins. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and allow muffins to cool before removing from pan.

Happy New Year 2020

This is based on the Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, designed for new year's party.

Garlic Butter Baked Salmon

Super-simple oven-baked salmon recipe from Delish.com.

Ingredients

Large salmon fillet - about 3 lb

Salt - to taste

Black pepper - freshly grounded, to taste
Lemon - 2, thinly sliced
Butter - 6 TBSP, melted
Honey - 2 TBSP

Garlic - 3 cloves, minced

Thyme - 1 tsp, chopped
Oregano - 1 tsp

Fresh parsley - chopped, optional for garnish

Steps

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 

2. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with foil and grease with cooking spray. To the center of the foil, lay lemon slices in an even layer. 

3. Season both sides of the salmon with salt and pepper and place on top of lemon slices.

4. In a small bowl, whisk together butter, honey, garlic, thyme, and oregano. Pour over salmon then fold up foil around the salmon. Bake until the salmon is cooked through, about 25 minutes.

5. Switch the oven to broil, and broil for 2 minutes, or until the butter mixture has thickened.
Garnish with parsley before serving.

Snowflake Cream Puff

An easy Christmas desert.

Ingredients

Frozen Puff Pastry Sheets - 1 box
Heavy cream - 1 cup
Powdered sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Makes: 10-20 puffs depends on the cutter size

Steps

1. Whip heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract together to until firm peak.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Defrost the puff pastry sheet and carefully cut out the snowflakes. Bake 10-12 minutes.

4. Allow the snowflake to cool for 1-2 minutes before slicing them in half, pipe whipped cream in-between, and sprinkle with powdered sugar on top.