Muffin Apams
Here they are for those of you wanting a Apam Mekar recipe without using emulsifier. Not sure what to call them, as I don’t want to call them Apam Mekar too, it will be very confusing. So I will just name them ‘Muffin Apams’ since I basically adapted a basic muffin recipe and steamed them. Remember my Steamed Banana Muffins from a couple of years ago?
Although they don’t ‘blossom’ as prettily as the Apam Mekar, they still crack beautifully. They are also very light and fluffy in texture.
Makes 6 steamed apams.
[Ingredients]
120g plain flour
30g cornflour
2 teaspoons baking powder
110g (½ cup) caster sugar
1 egg
125ml (½ cup) water
few drops essence paste (I used raspberry paste for these apams)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Prepare a steamer for steaming. Line 6 muffin holes with paper cups.
2. Sift all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
3. Lightly beat the egg, add water and essence paste to colour.
4. Wait until the water boils rapidly in the steamer, then pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. (This is to ensure the steamer is ready to receive the apams as soon as you finish mixing them.) Quickly fold in until all dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over-mix. The batter should still be lumpy.
5. Divide batter equally into the six muffin cups. Steam immediately for about 20 minutes.
[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.
Although they don’t ‘blossom’ as prettily as the Apam Mekar, they still crack beautifully. They are also very light and fluffy in texture.
Makes 6 steamed apams.
[Ingredients]
120g plain flour
30g cornflour
2 teaspoons baking powder
110g (½ cup) caster sugar
1 egg
125ml (½ cup) water
few drops essence paste (I used raspberry paste for these apams)
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
1. Prepare a steamer for steaming. Line 6 muffin holes with paper cups.
2. Sift all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl.
3. Lightly beat the egg, add water and essence paste to colour.
4. Wait until the water boils rapidly in the steamer, then pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients. (This is to ensure the steamer is ready to receive the apams as soon as you finish mixing them.) Quickly fold in until all dry ingredients are moistened. Do not over-mix. The batter should still be lumpy.
5. Divide batter equally into the six muffin cups. Steam immediately for about 20 minutes.
[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.
posted by SeaDragon @ 20.6.07
21 Comments:
SD, these look nice! You are mastering the cake-steaming skills now. :)
Have to try this one day. I have a new steamer. Might have to officiate it soon. The texture is the same as the one with ovalette?
I forgot to add, there is another type of apam I found from Hanieliza fotopages. She used rice flour, yeast and also rice mix with water. You need to put it aside for a while before steaming it. I tried it before, but my apam didnt rise and it was so hard. Hehehehe
Hi, 'dank u well' (dutch- thank u) for sharing this recipes.I will try it!!! MMmmmmm, your recipes are easy and simple to do it and result is good too. I'd tried your bak chang recipes, it turn out so nice!!!!!!! thannks again. You might think to write a book for new beginners likes me!!!!!!! thanks!!!!
Anh,
Thanks, yeah steaming up to my ear in the past week, hehe...
Flower,
This one is more like the soft drink apam.
Yes, I think I know which recipe you're talking about, is it the one using mug to measure the ingredients? It seems like quite a time consuming recipe...
QQ red apple,
You're welcome :)
SD,
very nice looking cake. I will try it soon. I've tried a lot of times making huat kuih but all failures. I hope I'll be successful this time.
whoa!!! i just finished steaming them and...SUCCESS!!!! haha sooo happy! =DDDD coz it opened and all! thanks so much!
Yes the one that uses a mug. I'm not sure whether my yeast is not active or the weather is a bit too cold to make the rice and yeast rise. And I also didnt blend the rice properly. In the end the apam was too hard and grainy.
Seadragon,
I think you really make baking and making confectionary seem easier. esp for newbies like me.. hee
one qn, can i opt out of using the plain flour n baking powder and just use self-raising flour instead?
TIA! =)
Cheers,
Lindy
Hi,
I tried to make the muffin apams over the weekend and I followed your recipe exactly (except i used pandan paste cos' i don't have the raspberry one). I found that my steamed muffin apams don't crack at all, in fact very much like what I see on your "steamed banana muffin" page, just a smooth rounded dome on the steamed muffin. I wonder why it's like that. My apams also turn out bit heavy and dense, though it still taste good. Would really appreciate your thoughts on this. Thanks a lot.
Serena
delia,
If you want the texture more closer to the proper Huat Kuih, use the other recipe I posted for Lily in the comments section under the Apam Mekar post. This one has a fluffier texture due to the egg used and don't have that slight 'glutinous' texture.
^shinigami^,
Very happy to hear of your success with this recipe, great work :)
Flower,
Yes, I also have trouble with using yeast in winter. I might give that recipe a try next summer though.
Lindy,
Yes, you can use self-raising flour in place of plain flour and baking powder. However just to be sure, I would still add about 1/4 teaspoon baking powder to the self-raising flour.
Serena,
Sorry to hear about that. A couple of questions:
Did you steam immediately after mixing?
What type of 'cup' did you use to steam? Sometimes the material of the 'cup' and the shape of the 'cup' used can affect whether the cupcakes can 'smile' or not. Best to use a material that can conduct heat well, like metal muffin tin.
From your description of the apams being on the heavy/dense side, I was wondering if your baking powder is not active anymore?
Other factors may be:
- the heat is not strong enough when steaming, also do not open the cover during the steaming process;
- do not use bamboo steamer to steam, as it is not 'airtight', best to use aluminium steamer or a wok with a tight fitting lid.
HTH.
I read your post about "high rise cupcakes", and I want to ask you that you fold in the flour, milk and oil by what? by hand or by machine?
thanks for your answer
Hi SeaDragon,
Thank you so much for your advice and comments on my recent experience. I will definitely give it another try soon, taking into account your comments. I was using an aluminium steamer with aluminium tart molds (with a paper case). I had also kept the steamer steaming while I mixed the batter. I may want to try steaming in a different "cup" and also a deeper pot, like a spaghetti pot, as what lily had informed is best for her huat kuih. You are right that there are so many variables in this, so got to experiment until we get it right. Thanks again for such a simple recipe, I will keep trying and then when I succeed, I will try to add another egg as I love very eggy steamed cakes :)
Re - Highrise Cupcakes
When folding in, I always do it by hand unless otherwise stated in the recipe.
Serena,
Yes, try a different 'cup' because I suspect the tart moulds could be the problem. Are they the type with a wide mouth and the base is small so the sides are sloping? Try different type of moulds with a vertical sides or those like muffin cups which have almost vertical sides.
Also if you want to add another egg, you might want to reduce the proportion of the liquid, or the batter will be too thin and the surface won't crack.
Hey!=) I just browsed through your entire archives and I am in love with your blog!!!=) I miss home so much now and I really want to try making snowskin mooncakes, Any idea on how to make my own lotus paste for the filling? =) (I'm in Aust too) and what exactly is thick coconut milk? Can i get it from a can? =) THANKS for your help! I'm so excited about making mooncakes.
http://ooohcake.blogspot.com
Hi SeaDragon,
Thanks so much for your comments again, it's so great for me to be able to learn from you. Yes, I used those tart moulds with sloping corrugated sides and wide mouth. Guess I didn't follow your directions as exactly as I thought :) I will go out and get those proper muffin tins and try again. I will also remember what you said about the eggs and be careful with the amount of liquids. Thanks again, I really enjoy visiting and reading your blog.
Victoria,
Welcome! Glad you enjoy my blog.
Lotus Paste is quite time-consuming to make. You can buy ready-made Lotus Paste in tin from larger Asian supermarkets (the brand is 'Wu Chung' from Taiwan).
If you can't find it, I will post a summary of how to make it yourself using frozen lotus seeds, see if you can find this in your Asian supermarkets too. Let me know yeah?
Thick coconut milk is the first squeeze of milk from grated coconut. Just buy in tin or in tetra pack from supermarkets, buy the ones labelled 'coconut cream' to use as thick coconut milk.
Serena,
You are welcome :)
When you mentioned tart moulds, I remembered reading about someone who experimented with different shapes of mould for making Huat Kuih a couple of years ago, and one that had difficulty in making Huat Kuih 'smile' was wide-mouth mould! So I also learnt a lot from others' experience :)
It's me again, I did find ready made lotus paste at my asian grocers but I went to 3 asian groceries and STILL couldn't find freid glutinous rice flour. Is it a whole lot different from glutinous rice flour? I did see the wheat starch by the Cock brand and I also can't find the mooncake moulds. =( I was so excited to try mooncake making.=(
Victoria,
Fried glutinous rice flour is already cooked, so you can eat it without having to cook it again. Normal glutinous rice flour is raw, you need to cook it before eating.
Fried glutinous rice flour should be available in larger Asian supermarkets (especially those located in suburbs where a lot of Asians lived), ask the assistants for 'koh fun' its Cantonese name (see the last image in my 'Ingredients by Pictures: Flours & Starches' post).
I don't think you can get mooncake moulds here, at least I haven't seen them being sold here. You can just make them into round shape, or shape them using large cookie cutters. Another idea is to get those small-size animal-shape cake/jelly moulds and use them as the mould to shape the mooncakes.
BTW, it would be more appropriate to ask these questions under the mooncake posts, as it will be hard to find under this post in the future.
Do you think the 12 muffin tray can fit in the large aluminium steaming tray? Would the chwee kuay mould do the same job? I'm going to try this tmr. Thanks.
Mmm, sorry don't know how big is your steaming tray? I just used my wok to steam.
You can always try with the chwee kueh moulds, I have not used them before, again can't answer your question.
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