Beach Sandal Cake

To celebrate the end of school year, I made this for my daughter's scout troop party.

It is whipped cream frosted chiffon cake. The sand is powdered Graham crackers; the sandals, seashells are made of Fondant.

Cherry Cheese Mousse Cake(樱桃芝士慕斯蛋糕)

I searched for a birthday cake for myself, and came across this Sakura decorated cake. There were many versions of cheese mousse recipe online, I studied and adjusted everything to easier to measure portions.
 

Ingredients

【Bottom Crust】
Graham Cracker - 2 packs, about 280g
Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick, 113g)
【Mousse】
Cream Cheese - 2 packs total 16oz (453g)
Plain Yogurt - 3/4 cup
Milk - 1 cup (May need to add more depends on how sticky the mousse is)
Heavy whipping cream - 2 cups
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Gelatin - 4 envelopes (1oz)
Lemon juice - 1 TBSP
Cherry - about 1/2 lb
【Top Layer】
Water - 2 cups
Gelatin -  2 packs (0.5 oz)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossom - a few for decoration

Steps

1.  Rinse salt of cherry blossoms and soak them in warm water for later use.

2. Grind the graham cracker to powder. Mix in melted butter. Press a layer of the crust firmly on the bottom of the 8" cake ring, and put in refrigerator for 30 minutes or more. You may not need to use all the crumbs.

3. Remove stem and pit from cherry, and use blender to make cherry puree, add 1 TBSP of lemon juice.

4. Whisk the heavy whipping cream with powdered sugar into whipped cream, and then set aside in refrigerator.
5. Use stand mixer to blend the cream cheese, sugar, and yogurt into a smooth batter. Then split it into two batches.

6.  In one sauce pan, pour in 1/4 cup of milk, 2 envelopes of Gelatin, the cherry puree, cook at low heat until the Gelatin is fully dissolved. Let it cool.
7. In another sauce pan, pour in 3/4 cup of milk, 2 envelopes of Gelatin, cook at low heat until the Gelatin is fully dissolved. Let it cool.
8. Whisk the cherry batter into one of the cheese batter, and then fold in half of the whipped cream. Pour the pink mousse in the cake ring, and put in refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.

9. Whisk the milk solution into the other half of cheese batter, and then fold in the rest of the whipped cream. Pour the white mousse in the cake ring, and refrigerate the cake for 4 hours or overnight.

10. To make the top layer, boiling water in a small sauce pan, add in sugar and gelatin until the gelatin is fully dissolved. Wait for the solution to cool, and then pour on top of the cake. Place the pickled cherry blossom and then put the cake back to refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

You can also make mini cheese cakes like them using small cake mold.

Sakura Jello

Ingredients:

7-up or water - 1 cup
Sugar - optional
Gelatin - 1 bag (about 7g)
Egg - 4
Salt pickled cherry blossom - 4

Steps:

1. Rinse salt off cherry blossoms and soak the blossoms in warm water.
.
2. Break one end of egg carefully, and pour out the egg so that you have the empty egg shell. Wash them.
3. Melt gelatin and sugar in the 7-up or water. Then pour in the egg shells. Insert the cherry blossom, and put them in refrigerator for 4 hours.

4. Peel off the egg shell, you got the round jello. If you wrap the egg with hot towel to warm it up, it would be easier to peel.

Sweetheart Cake(老婆餅)

Sweetheart cake (lao po bing; 老婆餅, "Wife Cake") is a traditional Chinese pastry made with wintermelon. It is very popular in Hong Kong. According to wikipedia, there are many legends that attempt to explain the origins of the Sweetheart cake. One tells the tale of a couple that lived in a small village. Suddenly, a mysterious disease spread. The husband's father became very ill. The couple spent all of their money in order to treat the man's father, but he was still sick. The wife sold herself as a slave in exchange for money to buy medicine for her father-in-law. Once the husband learned about what his wife did, he made a cake filled with sweetened wintermelon and almond. He dedicated this pastry to his wife, and sold it in the street. His cake became so popular that he was able to earn enough money to buy his wife back. Another story tells of a Dim-sum chef's wife creating a pastry with wintermelon paste influenced by a recipe from her mother's family. The new pastry was so popular in tea houses and the chef proudly told everyone it was made by his wife, hence it was named "Wife Cake".

This is a modified recipe from Eupho Cafe using glutinous rice flour instead of wintermelon. It is much less sweet than wintermelon ones.  Since I do not have lard on hand, I adjusted it to use butter and oil instead.

Ingredients: 

To make 20 pasties
【Skin A】:
-  All purpose flour - 300g
-  Butter - 100g
- Powdered sugar - 55g
- Water - 150g
【Skin B】:
- Cake flour - 150 g
- Corn oil - 60 g
【Filling】:
- Sugar 140 g
- Cooked glutinous rice flour - 140 g
- Water - 230 g
- Butter - 150 g
Coating】:
- Egg yolk - 1 egg yolk

Steps

1. If you have not done so, make sure to roast glutinous rice flour in a fry pan until it is cooked.
2. In a sauce pan, add all ingredients for Filling section, until well mixed at low heat.

 3. Put the filling in a ziploc bag and store in freezer for 30 minutes+. Then take out and knead it in the bag until the dough is smooth. Divide the filling to 20 balls, store in refrigerator until ready to use.

4. Add all ingredients for Skin A to warm butter. Knead to smooth dough, and let it sit for 20 minutes.
5. Knead ingrdients for skin B into a dough, and let it sit for 15 minutes.
6. Portion the dough A and dough B each into 20 small balls. Wrap each dough B into dough A, and round it to a ball. Use a rolling pin and roll the dough into oval shape, then roll into a bundle. Repeat in the other direction.

7. Then use the rolling pin to roll each dough into a round skin, wrap in the filling (about 30g each). Use palm to press the pastry in shape and use fork to pork some small holes. Finally brush on a layer of egg yolk.

8. Bake in oven at 400°F for 15 minutes.

Macau Almond Cookie (澳門杏仁饼)

This is my attempt to mimic one of my favorite cookies from Macau. It is a nutty cookie that is perfect to go with a cup of coffee.  

Ingredients:

Whole almond  - 60 g (optional, I replaced with almond flour)
Green bean flour - 200 g (Not Green Bean Starch)
Almond flour- 60 g
Powdered sugar - 80 g
Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick) at room temperature
Water - about 4 tsp (add 1 tsp at a time)

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
2. If you have whole almond, use a rolling pin to bash the almonds into small objects but not powdered. You can roast the raw almond in the oven first to make it easier to break. Set aside.
3. Whisk all the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, add the and water a little bit at a time, and use your fingertips to rub all the ingredients until it can be formed into chucks.

4. Divide the dough into small balls, and use a moon cake mold to shape them.
5. Place cookies on the cookie tray and put the tray in the bottom shelf of the hot oven, leave a few inches gap of the door open and bake for 30 minutes, then switch off the heat and close the oven door, keep the cookies in the hot oven for another 5 minutes to make it more crunchier.

6. Cool down on a wire rack.

Panda Cookie

The dough is the same recipe from the egg free sugar cookies. I made two batches of dough, one white, and one brown. To make the brown dough, replace 1/4 all purpose flour in the recipe with 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder.

Pickled Cucumber (酱瓜)

Home made pickle to serve with porridge.

Ingredients:

Soy Sauce - 3/4 cup
ChinKiang Vinegar - 2/3 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Cocktail cucumber - 1 bag, 1.5 lb

Steps:

1. Wash and cut the cocktail cucumbers in small chucks about 3/4 inch long.

2. Put soy sauce, vinegar, and sugar in a sauce pan, and bring to boil. Then add the cucumber. Wait for the sauce to boil again (about 3-4 minutes). Then fish out the cucumbers to spread them on a tray. Cool the cucumber quickly in the refrigerator.

3. Repeat step 2.

4. Once the cucumber pieces and sauce are both cool. Add the cucumber pieces to a clean glass jar, then pour in sauce to immerse all the cucumbers. Cucumber is ready to serve after two days.