Sweet Potato Pound Cake

After a delay of 2 weeks, I finally got down to baking my sweet potato pound cake.  And it is a resounding success!  My family enjoyed it and my collegues/ friends had no major complaints.  Here's  the recipe I got from "All Cakes Considered" and I tweaked as usual on the butter/ sugar amount, substituted the milk and pecan nuts.

Sweet Potato Pound Cake
4 medium sweet potatoes (baked for 75mins, centre rack at 160 deg C, cooled, scraped and mashed)
224g (1 block) unsalted SCS butter

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

4 large eggs

31/2 cups plain flour

2 tsp double action bakng powder

1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup rice milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp maple syrup

1 peeled and diced Granny Smith green apple

For the Topping

1 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pats

1 tbsp brown sugar

3/4 cup walnuts

1.  Position rack at middle of oven and preheat at 160 deg C.  Line the bottom of 10-cup tube pan with parchment paper and spread the pan with oil and cover finely with plain flour.  Remember to remove excess flour.

2.  Cream butter at medium speed.

3.  Combine the 2 sugars and add to the creamed butter, 1/2 cup at a time, for 1 minute each round.

4.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating at medium speed for 1 minute each time.

5.  Reduce the speed to low and add mashed potatoes, 1/2 cup at a time.

6.  In a separate bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt.

7. Similarly, mix together rice milk, vanilla and maple syrup.

8.  Alternate the mixing of 1/2 cup of flour mixture with 1/2 of the milk mixture. Beat well till properly mixed for every addition. 

9.  Scrap down with spatula and blend for 2 minutes till the batter is well mixed.

10.  Lower speed to the lowest and add in the green apples.  Stop once well mixed.

11.  Pour into prepared pan and smooth out batter with spatula.

12.  Sprinkle the topping (blended into crumbs using wooden spoon).  Bake till set for 75 minutes.

Batter Just Before Baking

Cake Done, Cut Up and Ready for Eating! Yum!

Fear

What exactly is fear? And how does it manifest in us? Is a person
inborn to be shy and retiring or does nurture plays a part? Both, in
my opinion. The human being is a wondrous creature. We actually have
the sixth sense with the ability to detect fear. That is when you have
the goosebumps and your hair starts to stand. Your throat goes dry and
you palpitate madly.


Our sixth sense guides us as a precursor of things to come. It warns
us to prep ourselves to "fight" or "flight" using the classic phrase.
Humans also scare themselves for fun and this comes in haunted houses
or thrill rides like roller coasters. About 14 years ago I enjoyed
such activities, very much on fact. But, a ride which I was not
prepared for; yes, that's freaking what happened to me. And
henceforth, sweaty palms become de rigueur when I approach any signs
that goes "xxxx ride - queue 20 mins".


This year, this is one of the items I intend to overcome and with the
upcoming family trip being planned and which possibly involve theme
parks, I will venture on bravely.


Fear is also that feeling one feels when doing something that one has
failed before. Chiffon cake is my bane due to an egg white-overbeaten
case. It is the next cake I will do as greedy me really love this
confectionery. Swimming is something I had successfully overcome as I
increased the frequency of its activity. So, hurray for that!


Fear is also that feeling that drives you to try new things and
prevent you from resting on your laurels. Just like climbing. I have
a fear of heights but after passing level one, I find that things are
not too bad or scary after all. And that is when I realized the
familiar feeling of fear is real but often overestimated. What you
fear and what you actually encounter is often not as bad as one
thought. It is a constant reminder to me to bite the bullet and face
the music even when things seemed tough and insurmountable. And with
that my growth in character and maturity is assured.

Thank god!

Cake Adventures Continues

I had talked about starting my cake project a while back and had done
the second one - brown sugar pound cake with nuts. Now I am embarking
onto the 3rd one and am excited to do it this weekend. It will have
the special ingredient, sweet potato, which will need roasting in the
oven. And I bet my dad will dig it as he is partial to this root
vegetable.

Here is my take on the project so far. It is tiring, an
unflinching-feedback-process and absolutely FUN, FUN, FUN! I cannot
emphasize enough the joy and passion one feels when doing something
you absolutely adore and love.  My recordings on my journal had been
diligent and up to date so this helps with looking back on the lessons
learnt.

I also realized the tremendous amount of support friends are wiling to
give to me. Whether in terms of a store that sells better priced
ingredients or giving honest feedback after trying my stuff, these
little things help me on my journey as I delve deeper and deeper into
the world of cakes, pastries and bread.

All these serve to embolden me and increase the thickness of my 'hide'
which made me less vulnerable to failures. Good overall character
devlopment I must say! Haha.

CHICAGO

After waiting for nearly 3 months, Chicago was finally here! Back in the past, all I knew about the story was gleaned from watching the movie musical version starring Renee Zellweger and Catherine Zeta-Jones. 

It was with much fanfare that my sister went with me to the show that was to be put up on Esplanade.  We made a point to dress up for fun and took loads of pictures along the way. 

Anyhow, the theatre was full house and it was the 2nd last performance with the last ending today 9 May 2010.

What is my verdict? Strong performances from the 2 leads.  Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart were fleshed out adequately and the dance choreography is expertly executed.  The cast was well supported by the slinky Lawyer Billy Flynn and Amos.  Sufficient interaction with the audience was weaved in and music by a 'live' orchestra contributed to an overall good experience.  There were fun, funny, sexy and bittersweet scenes accompanied with whoops & claps for every set of performance. 

All in all, I had witnessed a world class act right in the comfort of my home city.  It helped too that Chicago is one of my favourite musical and the movie musicals had been watched countless times to death by me!

Essence of Baking

So, there I was reading this new cookbook I bought, when an idea hit
me. I, like the author also indulge in baking every weekend where
possible. The only difference is that I keep my goods largely to my
family and a few close friends. In this wondeful bible called "All
Cakes Considered", author Melissa Gray engaged in a year of project,
bringing cakes to her colleagues every Monday. Her writing is totally
reassuring as she walks you through the fundamentals of creaming,
preparing a pan and the baking process - essentially all the basics.

You may wonder, me, Jean, with all my cookbook stash should not need
another back-to-basics read right? That's where you are dead wrong.
Once in a while, there comes a gem which fits what u need at that
moment. This, fulfills all the fundamentals that I want to rehash and
run through now.

29 Apr 10 was an apt timing to embark on the first recipe - sour
cream pound cake. Other than substituting yogurt with the sour cream
and leaving out the orange essence, I followed the recipe down to the
T. My verdict - fragrant with sugar crusting and simply delicious!

Recipe
1 block SCS unsalted butter (224g) at room temperature such that it yields slightly when you press it with your finger (allow at least 1 hour for it to come to room temperature)
3 cups sugar
5 large eggs (also at room temperature)
3 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extracrt
1 tsp lemon extract

1.  Center your rack in your oven.  Make sure your 10-inch tube pan is in the middle of the oven.  Preheat to 160 deg C.

2.  Using K beater on your standmixer, beat softened butter till there are no lumps using medium speed.  Add in sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating well for 2 mins after each addition.

3.  Prepare your tube pan while the creaming is ongoing.  Butter, flour and place a parchment paper, cut out to fit the base of the pan.  Thereafter butter and flour the parchment paper.

4.  Mix together flour, baking soda and salt in other bowl.

5.  Eggs are to be added thereafter, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

6.  In 1/2 cup portions and with the standmixer speed at low, mix in the flour mixture alternately with the yogurt into the mixer. Beat the batter for 2 mins for each portion.

7.  Add in vanilla essence and lemon essence, giving a brief spin between each item.  Thereafter, to make sure everything is nicely incorporated, give a final run on the standmixer for 2 mins.

8. Pour out the batter using spatula to coax it along into the tube and allow it to flow lava style from one end to the other.  Smoothen out and tap the pan at the sides to ensure any excess air bubbles are eliminated.  Allow a minumum of 1 1/2 inchspace from the brim of the pan to the top of the batter to prevent overflow. 

9.  Bake for 90 mins and no peeking by opening the pan in between till you detect the aroma which should happen around 1 hour.  Mine is an electric oven and the heavenly smells starting permeating from 55 mins and is done when a skewer came out clean after inserting in the middle of the pan at 75 mins.  It is important to know your oven and the hot sponts so that you do not overbake.

10. Allow pan to cool for 10 to 15 mins. Remove cake from pan, allow to cool before cutting and enjoy!

Presence of God

Okay, I wont and am definitely not an authority on the topic of god.
Heck, I can't even say I'm an expert on Him. Nonetheless, I love God
with a relentlessness that ebb and flow depending on the setbacks I
encounter each day.

I can't abandon Her and he is so intrinsically linked to me that I do
feel its comforting presence. And what assurance and groundedness
that is. Immediately, the burden just eases from your chest and the
future u see in front of u is clear. Nothing is scary anymore or less
scary as you make your way forward.

It's a warmth that radiates from the core of my soul and just keeps me
very, very happy! It does ebb still like what I mentioned but like the
advancing and receding tides, it never quite goes away. Thus is my
relationship with God.