Taro Cream Cake 芋泥蛋糕
Taro is known colloquially as ‘yam’ in Malaysia and Singapore, so this cake is probably better known as ‘Yam Cream Cake’, or ‘Yam Delight Cake’, or ‘Yam Layer Cake’ in Malaysia and Singapore, although ‘yam’ is a misnomer for this root tuber because true yam (山藥, or the dried 淮山 which is a common Chinese medicinal herb) is a completely different root tuber.
Adapted from the recipe 'Taro Mousse Cake' at 'Food Down Under'
Makes one 20cm cake.
[Ingredients]
Taro Paste (Ornee 芋泥):
600g taro flesh
150g ghee or unsalted butter or canola oil
150-220g granulated sugar, adjust according to taste
¼ teaspoon salt
Sponge Cake:
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
75g plain flour
50g cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
30g melted butter
20ml hot water
Filling & Frosting:
450g Taro Paste
450ml thickened (whipping) cream
50g pure icing sugar
blue and red (cochineal) food colouring
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Taro Paste (Ornee 芋泥):
1. Cut taro into slices, then steam until soft, about ½ hour.
2. Mash steamed taro with a fork. If you want smoother paste, press the mashed taro through a sieve.
3. Melt ghee in a saucepan. Add mashed taro and stir to mix well. Add sugar in two batches and stir to mix in. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until sugar dissolved. Let cool. You need about 2 cups (about 450g) Taro Paste to make cake filling.
Sponge Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Sift plain flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt three times, set aside.
2. Beat eggs for about 1 minute on medium high speed. Start adding sugar gradually as you continue to beat the egg mixture. Beat until the mixture leaves a trail of ribbon when you lift the egg beater, total beating time can be 6 to 10 minutes depending on the power of your beater.
3. Beat in vanilla then sift the flour mixture in a few batches into the egg mixture and fold in after sifting in each batch. Once all the flour is folded in, pour the melted butter and hot water mixture along the outer edges of the batter and fold in.
4. Pour into prepared tin and give the tin a tap on the bench. Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until cooked. Turn out and let cool. Split into 3 even layers.
Filling & Frosting:
1. Add a couple drops of blue food colouring to thickened cream, then add red food colouring (need about 5 - 6 times more than blue colouring) to get a light magenta colour. Add icing sugar and whip the cream until soft peaks.
2. Remove 2 cups (about 450g) of the cold prepared Taro Paste and give it a good stir (if it is still a bit too hard, give it a quick heat up in the microwave to make it easier to fold in the whipped cream, let cool before folding in). Remove one cup of whipped cream and fold into Taro Paste. Use this Taro Cream as filling for the sponge cake.
3. Use the remaining whipped cream to frost outside of the cake. Chill the cake before serving.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Adapted from the recipe 'Taro Mousse Cake' at 'Food Down Under'
Makes one 20cm cake.
[Ingredients]
Taro Paste (Ornee 芋泥):
600g taro flesh
150g ghee or unsalted butter or canola oil
150-220g granulated sugar, adjust according to taste
¼ teaspoon salt
Sponge Cake:
4 eggs
150g caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
75g plain flour
50g cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
30g melted butter
20ml hot water
Filling & Frosting:
450g Taro Paste
450ml thickened (whipping) cream
50g pure icing sugar
blue and red (cochineal) food colouring
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Taro Paste (Ornee 芋泥):
1. Cut taro into slices, then steam until soft, about ½ hour.
2. Mash steamed taro with a fork. If you want smoother paste, press the mashed taro through a sieve.
3. Melt ghee in a saucepan. Add mashed taro and stir to mix well. Add sugar in two batches and stir to mix in. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until sugar dissolved. Let cool. You need about 2 cups (about 450g) Taro Paste to make cake filling.
Sponge Cake:
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 20cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Sift plain flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt three times, set aside.
2. Beat eggs for about 1 minute on medium high speed. Start adding sugar gradually as you continue to beat the egg mixture. Beat until the mixture leaves a trail of ribbon when you lift the egg beater, total beating time can be 6 to 10 minutes depending on the power of your beater.
3. Beat in vanilla then sift the flour mixture in a few batches into the egg mixture and fold in after sifting in each batch. Once all the flour is folded in, pour the melted butter and hot water mixture along the outer edges of the batter and fold in.
4. Pour into prepared tin and give the tin a tap on the bench. Bake in preheated oven for about 45 minutes, or until cooked. Turn out and let cool. Split into 3 even layers.
Filling & Frosting:
1. Add a couple drops of blue food colouring to thickened cream, then add red food colouring (need about 5 - 6 times more than blue colouring) to get a light magenta colour. Add icing sugar and whip the cream until soft peaks.
2. Remove 2 cups (about 450g) of the cold prepared Taro Paste and give it a good stir (if it is still a bit too hard, give it a quick heat up in the microwave to make it easier to fold in the whipped cream, let cool before folding in). Remove one cup of whipped cream and fold into Taro Paste. Use this Taro Cream as filling for the sponge cake.
3. Use the remaining whipped cream to frost outside of the cake. Chill the cake before serving.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
Labels: Asian Cakes, Cakes and Cupcakes
posted by SeaDragon @ 16.7.06
29 Comments:
thank you, thank you, Seadragon! yayyyy! *jumping around for joy*
hi seadragon, i m very keen to try this recipe. May I know
1) how to tell the batter for sponge cake reach ribbon stage?
2) do u use dairy or non dairy whipping cream?
Thanks
Thanks.. I will show you if i have the time to do that in near future.... thanks again...
sibugal,
You're welcome :)
A.,
To answer your question:
1-When you lift up your whisk and let the batter drips down, try to write a figure '8' with the batter, the '8' should stay visible for at least a few seconds on top of the batter, this is the ribbon stage - because it looks like a piece of ribbons.
2-I used dairy.
Doreen,
Looking forward to your cake then :)
oh my goodness..thank you so much for posting this recipe. I've been looking for it online for a very long time. I can't wait to try making it. Please do continue to blog because this is one of the best cooking sites out there. Thank you again!
cafe of the east,
I tried your recipe but it sinked :(
and it turned out very oily.
was wondering if i did something wrong..
linfoong
oh and the cake turn out so eggy. it was like yellow not like yours, white and fluffy.
it was almost like 'kai tan ko' :(
would you know the cause?
Hi linfoong,
It sounds like your sponge has failed. The reasons could be that you did not beat the eggs to its proper ribbon stage, or
when you fold in the flour, you either did not fold in properly or you did it too vigorously and deflated the air bubbles in the beaten eggs. Always fold the flour in small batches and fold in by hand, don't use mixer unless you are very confident with making sponge cake.
The oiliness is an indication that the melted butter was not mix in properly. You must make sure the batter thoroughly absorbed the melted butter.
Have you make whole-egg sponge cake before? If not, you may want to start with the method of separating the eggs and beat the egg whites with about 2/3 of the sugar until firm (almost stiff peaks stage). Then beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until sugar dissolves, then fold the egg-yolk mixture into the egg-white mixture and continue from there, this method is much more fail-safe.
Another way is to make a basic vanilla chiffon cake and use it instead of the sponge if you are not too confident with making sponge cake. Hope this helps.
Dear seadragon,
Thank you so sOo much for your advice! seriously your blog is so good, and your just so experience!! really pei fuk you!! :)
yea i think it was the folding part. there was still bits of flour in it when i pour into the tray -_- cause i heard from someone that you cant fold too much or the cake will deflate, so i wasnt to sure how much i need to fold. when you fold , do you just scoop the sides and place it on top of the flour that you sifted in is it?
i read from your another post (the japanese sponge cake one) after my deflated sponge cake that you need to make sure that the flour is properly folded in or else the cake will rise sky high in the oven and deflate once its out. that was the case for mine, and does it apply to this sponge cake recipe as wel?
this is the fourth time i tried (3 times chiffon cake) and it deflated again T_T. the cake that i was planning to make was meant for a mum too, as people in uk celebrate mother's day today, so its a bit sad that my cake din turn out. T_T
oh and was wondering, what is the difference between basic vanilla chiffon cake and sponge cake?
sorry for asking so many questions -__-'
linfoong
Hi,
Don't worry, I have done many failed sponge cakes before, just learnt from experiences :)
Always use eggs at room temperature when you make sponge or chiffon cake, a very crucial step. When you fold in the flour, it is best to use a large metal spoon. Hold the spoon so that the edge cut down into the middle of the batter down to the bottom of the bowl, then scoop upward so that the batter falls back on top of the batter, continue to turn the bowl and dig, scoop until you cannot see any dry flour. If the eggs have been beaten properly, you shouldn't worry too much about deflating the air bubbles as it will be quite stable.
If the flour is not properly folded in, yes, it will rise up high then deflate after removing from oven. The flour not mixed in properly will basically sink to the bottom, making the bottom part dense and kuih-like. The top part will basically rise like a souffle in the oven and deflate like a souffle after removing from oven because there is no flour to support it.
A sponge cake is dryer, a chiffon cake is moist. Basically a true sponge does not have any added liquid in it (milk or water) and may or may not have any melted butter (usually about 20% to the amount of flour). But most recipes nowadays will add a little liquid in the batter, again about 20 to 30% to the amount of flour.
A chiffon cake has a lot more liquid in the batter, usually at least 50% to the amount of flour. It also uses oil instead of melted butter, and again about 50% to the amount of flour in the batter.
The techniques of making are also different between a sponge and a chiffon. The sponge is made like I described in this recipe, or as I described in my last comment by separating the eggs.
A chiffon is always made by separating the eggs. However, beat egg yolks with part of the sugar, then mix in liquid, oil and flour. Meanwhile beat egg whites with remaining sugar until stiff and fold into the yolk mixture. Hope this helps.
Dear Sea dragon,
Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!!!
i tried it again today following what you said, separating the egg yolk and whites. i actually turned out!!! ^_^
but hor, its a bit flat leh. is it cause i over fold it? or too much water? cause i felt i might have added more then 20 ml of water. cause i think the cake is only about 3-4cm tall only -___-
but still, im so happy that it actually turned out!!!
i haven cut it yet, but when i do, i will post it on my blog and let you know yah!! ^_^
Hi,
So glad to hear you have success with the method of separating the eggs :)
Yes, the flatness of the cake could be due to overfolding the flour, but could also be due to overbeating the egg whites, try not to beat until too stiff next time, beat until just under the stiff peaks stage should be fine. Hope this help.
dear sea dragon,
ive posted the pictures!! ^_^
i made it into a mango mouse cake, tho i think there was not enough mango :( not all the mango in the house was ripe, so i could only use one for my cake :(
but anyway, im really pleased that it turn out ok! :D thought you'd like to have a look since you are sorta the sifu who thought me, hahaha!
oh, i din know you cant overbeat it too -_-. i am pleased with it i must say. just have to make two, cause its insufficient i thought to make one only.
anyhow, thanks a bunch!!!
linfoong
hi its me again.
i saw ur comment and i jus wanna say i am so paiseh.
sorry for the confusion. my bad >_<
Hi SD,
First of all, thanks for sharing your knowledge and recipes. Now that you have resumed your blog, I am totally addicted to trying more of your recipes.
Tried making your sponge cake this afternoon. I got to the ribbon stage. Sifted the flours, etc. once, and added them in batches into the batter.
I have tried numerous recipes in the past from different dessert books. And this is by far, the best turnout as it rose close to the top of my baking pan. The cake is soft and moist throughout.
1) How do I get it to rise even higher?
2) A thick crust was formed around the cake. The thick crust, although delicious, does make cutting a little challenging. I wonder if it is related to the higher elevation of our home. Is 356 degrees fahrenheit too high or 45 minutes too long?
I reduced the butter and sugar content of the Taro paste. It was very delicious. My husband commented that I could use it as bun filling. So, I saved half of the paste.
The other half of the paste, I mix it with the whipped whipping cream and spread them between two layers of the cake.
Additionally, do you have a tip on how to divide and cut the cake in three parts?
Thank you, SD...
Hi lee ping,
I'm so pleased to hear the recipe works for you :)
To answer your questions,
1) It is hard to say. There're various reasons if the cake did not risen to its fullest. Altitude is a factor. Whether the ribbon stage is beaten to its ultimate ribbon, or when folding in the flour, how much air bubbles are deflated at that stage all affect the results. The best way is to practice and practice and note down the results each time, so next time you have an indication of what works for you.
2) The recipe for this sponge does have a thick crust after cooling down. Maybe let it sits for a couple more hours for the crust to soften a bit for easier cutting.
3) I used a cake cutting tool for cutting the cake evenly. I have put a pic in one of the posts to show someone before, I can't remember which post it is now. Let me check thru this weekend and show you when I've a bit more time.
HTH.
lee ping,
The pic of the cake leveller is shown in the
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/2006/08/gteau-peaches-and-cream.html
post. The wire bit can be moved up or down to cut the cake.
hi SD,
Thank you very much for the photo of leveler tool. It almost look like a saw except instead of a metal blade, it is a metal thread?
I am reading your recipes and tips carefully, making sure that I don't leave any important steps out. Wow, if only I am this diligent in school. :)
Making sponge cake is so fun. The greatest tip I got from you was the ribbon state. In the past, my sponge cakes have failed because I never got to the ribbon state.
You are right, if I let the cake sit for a few more hours, the thick crust will soften.
Folding the flour into the egg batter without deflating it, is another lesson. Your tip about writing notes is good - what work and what did not work.
Thanks again SD. Wish more cookbooks are written as well as your blog.
lee ping,
You're welcome :)
Yes, the cake leveller has the metal thread.
Hi
Today is my 1st time visiting yr wonderful blog.
I would like to try this cake but may I know for sandwiching and covering the sides of cake, why sometimes we use non-dairy cream and for this cake, we have to use dairy type. What's the difference ? Hope you can enlighten me ! Thanks so much !
MsCake,
Welcome.
It has to do with the countries you live in. In hot tropical countries, dairy cream melts easily, so most people used non-dairy cream which is more stable in hot weather. As I'm in Australia, I use dairy cream to frost all my cakes, as a matter of fact, we cannot even buy non-dairy cream here at all. HTH.
Hi
Thanks for yr prompt reply.
Will try this cake next week.
Keep up yr good work !
Cheers !
Hi
I tried baking yr this 'sponge cake' recipe yesterday but I frosted with whipped cream & kiwi jam. Result was a failure esp the texture was rough and base of cake is hard. Would appreciate if u can advise the followings :
1)Yr step 3)- This is the 1st time I pour in melted butter and hot water along the edge of batter. (WHY THE EDGE?). My 'melted' butter was creamy but not drooping type. I think I failed from this step. Can I after step 2),i.e. after beating eggs and sugar to get 'ribbon'stage, I add in the melted butter and water (just mixed together), then fold-in flour ?
2) When 'melted' butter, means I have to melt over stove or micro-wave oven to get liquid type ?
3) Can I change plain flr to cakeflr for finer texture ?
4) Why add in cornflr ?
hope I can know where I went wrong.
Thanks so much !
Catherine
Catherine,
Sorry to hear about that...
1)Yr step 3)- This is the 1st time I pour in melted butter and hot water along the edge of batter. (WHY THE EDGE?). My 'melted' butter was creamy but not drooping type. I think I failed from this step. Can I after step 2),i.e. after beating eggs and sugar to get 'ribbon'stage, I add in the melted butter and water (just mixed together), then fold-in flour ?
Melted butter means you melt the butter over the stove or in microwave so it is in liquid state. The reason to pour it around the edges is to minimise deflating all the air you already beat into the egg mixture.
I wouldn't recommend adding melted butter and hot water before adding flour as you might 'cook' the egg mixture.
2) When 'melted' butter, means I have to melt over stove or micro-wave oven to get liquid type ?
Yes.
3) Can I change plain flr to cakeflr for finer texture ?
Yes, then you must replace the cornflour with cake flour too.
4) Why add in cornflr ?
To reduce gluten content of the total flour. It is basically the same as using cake flour instead. In Australia, it is easier to buy plain flour and cornflour than cake flour as not all supermarkets carry cake flour for sale, whereas plain flour and cornflour are both essential pantry items in all homes. That's why in most Australian cookbooks, usually they ask for a combination of plain flour and cornflour to make cakes instead of just asking for cake flour.
Hi
Thanks so much for the detailed explanation on the sponge cake. I will try again another day and keep u updated !
Catherine
SD,
After I cooked the taro paste, it's not like paste, still got 'liap liap'. Did I overcooked it? How to remedy it?
delia,
If you still got lumps after cooking, maybe try pressing it through a sieve again. I usually don't even need to press through the sieve since the steamed taro is usually very soft and easy to mash with a fork.
I usually buy the taro with the purple veins inside the white flesh to make taro paste, I know there are other varieties of taro which may not be as suitable to use, but I'm not too sure too as I don't have info on that.
Tried this recipe of yours. Turns out very well. Thanks for sharing
Glad to hear you have success with the recipe, congrats!
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