Mango Mousse Cake (Egg free, No bake)

This is adapted from the Egg free no bake strawberry mousse cake using canned mango puree that you can get from Indian grocery store.

Ingredients

【Crust】
Oreo cookies or Graham crackers - 7 oz (200 g)
Butter - 4 TBSP, melted
【Mousse】
Alphonso Mango Pulp - 2 cups
Heavy whipping cream, chilled - 2 cup
Gelatin powder  - 2 packs (14 g)
Cold water - 4 TBSP
Sugar - optional to your taste ( I did not add any)

【Top Layer - optional】
Water - 2 cups
Gelatin -  2 packs (0.5 oz)
Sugar - 1/4 cup
Salt Pickled Sakura Cherry Blossom - a few for decoration
Black Candy Melt - for letters

Steps

1. Prepare the crust. Place the Oreo cookies into the bowl of a food processor and crush until crumbs form. Add melted butter and process until evenly moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom of mousse cake ring using the back of a spoon. Refrigerate until the first layer of mousse is prepared.

2. Dissolve gelatin in cold water and let it swell for about 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Whip the chilled whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Add Mango Puree and mix until well combined.
4. Pour the strawberry mousse over the crust and refrigerate the cake for at least 4 hours or overnight to set. Draw decoration using black candy melt on cake and refrigerate until pattern is solid.

5. To make the top jello 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.6. Run a knife around the edges of the cake to remove the mousse cake ring.

Sweet 16 Orange Rose Cake

This is Chiffon Cake with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting.

Honey Kasutera (Castella) Cake (蜂蜜长崎蛋糕）

Honey Kasutera (Honey Castella) is a popular Japanese dessert. It's essentially a sponge cake, raised solely by egg, with no butter or oil.

The cake is soft yet sightly spongy. Traditionally, it is baked in a bottomless wooden frame. Wood conducts heat slowly, which helps to bake the cake evenly. There is no wooden frame at local bakery store. This seems like a perfect situation for Engineers - create then solve their own problems. I specified the dimension, my coworker designed and built me a Castella cake frame.

After the first time in the oven, the wood warped. So we added some screws and it has been tested a few more times with no more issues.

There are many recipes online; I combined and adjusted them to fill my frame properly.

Ingredients

Large eggs - 5 (at room temperature)
Granulated sugar - 1/2cup + 1/3 cup
Bread flour -  1 and 1/3 cup
Honey - 1/4 cup + 1/2 TBSP
Warm water - 2 and 1/2 TBSP

For glazing: 

1 TBSP honey, diluted with ½ TBSP warm water

Steps

1. Cut parchment paper to line the baking frame and put it on a baking tray.

2. Preheat oven to 320°F.
3. Sift the bread flour with the sifter or a fine meshed strainer.
4. Add warm water to honey and whisk well.
5. Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment. Crack eggs into the bowl and vigorously whisk until combined and frothy.
6. Add sugar and beat the eggs and sugar on high speed (Speed 10) for 5 minutes. The volume of the beaten eggs will increase about 4 times. The texture will be thick and the color will be pale yellow. When you stop the mixer and lift the whisk attachment, the mixture should fall in ribbons.

7. Add the honey mixture into the egg mixture and whisk on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds.
8. Add the bread flour at three separate times: add 1/3 of the bread flour and whisk on low speed for 15 seconds, then add more flour and whisk for 15 seconds. Add the last remaining portion and whisk until just combined for about 1 minute. Do not overmix.

9. Pour the batter into the baking frame. Drop/bang the pan a couple of time to remove the air bubbles in the batter.

10. Bake on middle rack of oven for 60-70 minutes, or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  

11. Mix the honey and warm water in a bowl and apply the honey mixture on top of the cake with a pastry brush.

12. Immediately wrap the cake with or without the frame with plastic wrap or bag to keep the moisture while it's hot . Store in the refrigerator overnight (at least 12 hours), keeping the top side facing down. This will help the cake have more fine and moist texture.
13. Peel parchment paper off cake. To serve, slice off the sides of the cake with a sharp bread knife and cut into thick slices.

To save for later, wrap individual pieces with plastic wrap and freeze up to a month or keep in fridge up to 5 days.

Minnie Cake Pops

I made these Chocolate Cake Pop to share at a Disney theme camp.

The ears are made from trimmed candy melt, and the bows are made with fondant.

Putting it together!

Egg-free Crepe

I found an egg-free crepe recipe online, and modified it a little.

The notes from the recipe pointed out that "The crepes are a bit more tender than those made with eggs, so you need to use a gently touch when flipping. The best utensil to use is a very thin spatula. You could also slide the crepe on to a plate and invert it back into the pan. Wait until the edges appear almost crisp before flipping. It'll feel like you're cooking too long, but the underside really won't be overly browned at that point. The longer you can cook the first side, the easier they are to flip." Those are very good advice. It took me a couple of tries to get it right.

Ingredients

Cake flour - 1 cup
sugar - 1 TBSP
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Milk - 1/2 cup
Water - 2/3 cup
Butter - 1/4 cup melted
Vanilla extract - 2 tsp

Steps

1. In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and salt together.
2. In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, water, melted butter and vanilla.
3, Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat until the batter is smooth. Cover
and refrigerate for one hour or overnight.

4, Place a large skillet over medium high heat.
5. Drop 1/3 cup of batter into the pan. Immediately start to swirl the pan over the heat to spread the batter into a large circle. When the edges of the crepe appear dry and lightly browned, flip the crepe and cook other side until lightly browned.

6. Repeat with remaining batter.
7. Fill the crepe with whipped cream and fresh fruit and fold it up like a burrito. You can also top it with cinnamon, powdered sugar, or chocolate syrup.

Naked Chocolate Cake

Naked cake, easily recognized by its exposed layers and minimal garnishes, have become a staple style. It is simple and beautifully rustic.

First bake an 6 " Chocolate Chiffon Cake, slice it into 4 discs.

For each layer, wet it with rum syrup first, pipe a layer of whipped cream, place a layer of fruit, and then pipe another layer of whipped cream.

Continue until the last layer. Top it with some powered sugar.
Ta-ta!

Wonder Woman Cake

This is Chiffon Cake. with Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting, decorated with Marshmallow Fondant.