Recipes: Viewing Cake Articles

Part A. Make the Filling

200g frozen taro, thawed & cut into 2cm chunks
70g caster sugar
2T cornflour
2T coconut milk
1T cornflour

1. Steam taro for 30mins or until fully cooked through.

2. Place cooked taro in a med bowl and mash. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Push through a fine sieve to remove any lumps.

3. Cover with cling film and place in the fridge to chill and set.


Part B. Make the Snow Skin

40g glutinous rice flour
40g rice flour
20g wheat starch
20g caster sugar
150g full cream milk
 

20g canola oil
A drop of ube/purple food colouring

4. Add flours, wheat statch, sugar and milk into a heatproof bowl. Whisk until smooth then cover the bowl with cling film. Steam for 20mins or until the centre is fully set.

5. Remove bowl from the steamer and discard the cling film. Add in oil and carefully work it into the mix.

6. Break off 1/3 of the dough and add food colouring. Knead the colour through then divide into 10 even portions. Divide the white dough into 10 even portions.

7. Pair one portion of purple dough with one portion of white dough. Continue until you have 10 pairs of purple and white dough. Cover with cling film and allow to cool completely.


Part C. Make the Snow Skin Mooncakes

8. Divide the prepared taro filling into 10 equal portions and form into balls.

9. Grab one blue and white dough combo. Form into a ball and roll into a disc. Wrap the disc around a taro ball and seal completely. Shape using the mooncake mould. You can use a little cornflour if you’re finding the dough a little sticky.

These mooncakes are best enjoyed on the day they are made.

PS: If you don’t have mooncake moulds, you can just present these sweet treats as taro and coconut filled mochi balls! Go one step further if you want to unleash you inner creative skills … shape the mochi balls into cute figurines like bunnies, kittens, hedgehogs etc by using a small pair of pointed sharp scissors to snip in ears and spines.

1. Preheat oven to 180C.
2. Grease and line a 13cm x 33cm baking tray with baking paper.
3. Using electric beaters or stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and beat through.
5. Sift in flour and salt. Fold through with a spatula.
6. Add almond meal and mix until well combined.
7. Spoon mix into prepared pan and spread evenly. Stud with sliced nectarine and ¾ of the blueberries. Evenly scatter flaked almonds on top.
8. Bake for 30-35mins until golden.
9. Meanwhile, dissolve 2T caster sugar in 2T boiling water and set aside. When the slice comes out of the oven, brush the top of the slice and fruit with this sugar syrup for a glossy finish.
10. Garnish with remaining fresh blueberries and lightly dust with icing sugar (optional).

Allow the slice to cool in the pan before cutting.

1. Peel bananas and slice in half lengthways. Sprinkle on sugar and gently toss to coat. Leave to marinate for a couple of hours.

2. In a very large mixing bowl, add condensed milk, coconut milk, fresh milk, melted butter, egg, vanilla and salt. Whisk to combine.

3. Cut baguettes into 1” long slices on the diagonal. You should roughly get 5 slices out of each baguette. Add baguette slices into the mixing bowl and coat with the ‘custard’. Leave for 15mins to soak.

4. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line a 20cm tall round cake tin.

5. Build your cake, layer by layer. Start with a base layer of soaked bread. Make sure the pieces are tightly packed and there are no gaps. Use half of your bread for this layer.

6, Next, arrange half of your bananas to form the next layer. Keep your bananas flat with no overlapping.

7. Add the remaining soaked bread to form the next (third layer). Gently pressed down on the cake to remove any air gaps.

8. For the final top layer, arrange your bananas, cut side up. This is the presentation layer. Gently press down so that the bananas nestle into the bread layer.

9. Bake for about 70 mins.  Cover the top with a piece of foil at around the 45min mark to prevent the top from getting too dark. Remove the foil 15mins later to allow for the top develop a nice golden top until the end.

10. Leave the cake to cool in its tin. Chill overnight to set in its tin.

11. Turn out cake and then serve.