Renee K

I would concur with Ling and suggest increasing the water. However, I also half suspect that the texture you are hankering for can only be achieved with the use of some emulsifier. To get that rather moist yet very soft and fluffy crumb like the commercial cakes. You can try using a sponge mix (like optima) in lieu of the plain flour and see how you like it. Just a suggestion.

Yep, LittleIsland, the hoon kueh (green bean) flour is for the texture... the rather "unique" texture often found in Nonya & Asian desserts... soft yet firm enough to slice cleanly... pudding-y (new word ) and custardy without being gloppy... you know... like in those Nonya kuehs I guess the key (and the difficulty) is to find that perfect ratio needed in the recipe to get the texture you want.

LittleIsland, my apologies for the late reply. Took me a while to dig the recipe out from amidst the several humungous (and ever growing) messy piles of unfiled recipe notes lying around my study Anyway, here is the recipe. I tried it out quite a while back. I kind of modified the usual recipe to get something closer to what I like... replacing the usual water (sometimes milk) with cream and water... using Valrhona chocolate and cocoa instead of just cocoa... and adding a bit of instant jelly for the texture and reducing the hoon kwe powder at the same time. I have to admit my recollection of the result of that test is rather hazy now. Unfortunately, all I scribbled in the margin was "needs further tweaking" (not much help huh?) without detailing what it was I wanted to tweak again Anyway, if I remember correctly, I think I still wasn't 100% happy with the texture and perhaps wanted it even more chocolatey tasting. So, for what it's worth... here it is... 320g 35% cream 320g water 165g sugar * 2t instant jelly 20g hoon kueh (green bean) powder 20g cocoa powder 100g couverture chocolate (I used Valrhona 70%) * I like mine very bittersweet, so this can be adjusted to suit personal tastes. Stir instant jelly, hoon kueh powder and cocoa powder into water, and try to dissolve as much as possible (they won't really dissolve). Place above mixture, together with the cream and sugar into a saucepan. Cook on medium heat, whisking constantly with balloon whisk, until the mixture starts to come to a boil and thicken. (Note: the mixture does need to come to a boil for the starch to activate.) Remove from heat, and stir in chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Oh, I do remember discussing with a friend that perhaps it might be worth the while to try agar agar instead of instant jelly. Apparently, according to rumours Lana uses some agar agar in her filling. Anyway, if you get a chance to try it out, hope you'll report back and let me know how it goes. Good luck!

LittleIsland, you're from Singapore right? Are you looking for something similar to what is commonly refered to as "fudge topping" in Singapore (sort of along the lines of Lana's chocolate cake and those of the same ilk)? I.E. shiny/glossy but soft and somewhat fudgy and yes, kind of pudding like. If so, these toppings/frostings usually require the use of "hoen kwe" flour (green bean flour) and is cooked almost like a standard pudding. I may have a recipe floating around in one of my notebooks. Let me know if this is what you are after and if you would like the recipe (and I'll go hunt it down for you).

May & Devagi, my pleasure

Yunnermeier, If you ever make a trip down to Singapore, you can get Valrhona cocoa at Sun Lik (Seah Street). It's about S$11.50 for 500g. And they sell Valrhona chocolate at around $30 per kilo... varying a few dollars depending on the cocoa %. Hope that helps

Rajsuman, so sweet of you to remember! I decided to take a hiatus... and might bring it back in another form in the future Good luck with the cake, let us know how it goes.

Hi Rajsuman, Was the flour meant for use for making steamed dumplings like "har gow" and "siew mai" i.e. those with just a very thin layer of (sometimes translucent) dough wrapping a filling of prawns and/or meat... or was the flour for making steamed buns "paus" like "char siu pau" etc. The reason I ask is that if for the former, it is quite likely to be wheat starch and not wheat flour i.e. no gluten. This would not be suitable for cake making. If it is for making paus, then it will almost definitely be highly bleached, low protein flour, which can be used for cake making. Though it might be helpful to note that certain "pau flours" can be mixes i.e. with added emulsifiers and such like, so that might affect the cake if you use it in cake baking. Hope that helps.

Thanks mmm_chocolate! That's interesting, about how everyone seems to prefer the vegan version. I'm going to have to try it out. Am currently doing some experimenting with egg-free baking, so this is definitely going on the list of to-trys. Thanks!

Patrick, those tarts are gorgeous!

Michelle, do you do any substitutions when you do the vegan version? Or do you simply leave out the eggs? Thank you.

What I usually do when I make kaya (a rich pandan flavored coconut milk curd/jam) is to make tears along the length of the pandan leaves at different spots, stack a few of the leaves together and tie into a knot, then gently "pound" the knotted leaves with a pestle or anything heavy really... this really helps to release the aromas. Then just plop the knotted leaves into the coconut milk mixture and stir it with the milk till the curd is cooked and ready. And the jam carries a beautiful pandan fragrance without any added color. Yeah, drying the leaves will kill the aromas, unfortunately.

Thanks for sharing this great link!

Hi Daniel, Please excuse my ignorance... I've never seen or eaten a shoofly (love the name!) pie before. It looks really good. What is it made of? Would you have a recipe to share? Thank you.

Thanks rajsuman and Corinna for the warm welcome! Rajsuman, sorry to hear about the cake. Yeah, I should have mentioned (sorry!), when substituting between single acting and double acting, just use the same amount (as mentioned by JustKay), as changing the amount alters the ratios and yet still doesn't give you the "second leavening" action with the heat... and a lot of the times, you (or at least I can) taste the after taste of the excess baking powder. BTW, just as a point of interest... American recipes implicitly mean "double acting" when they state "baking powder" because I think that's the main kind that is available in supermarkets, whereas English / British recipes imply "single acting" in theirs. Talk about confusing, eh?

Hi, I’ve been lurking in the Pastry & Baking forum for a while now, and learning lots and lots from the incredibly talented members here. I’ve been a little shy about participating, but I just came across this thread and realized it was my cake that was being mentioned, so I hope it’s ok for me to chime in with my 2 cents worth. Rajsuman, ScorchedPalate is right… the baking powder is not cream of tartar. The recipe uses a combination of both baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) and double acting baking powder as leaveners. The cream of tartar at the end of the recipe is supposed to help the meringue whip up easier, and can be left out if you so wish. Here in Singapore we get both single and double acting baking powder. I’ve used the Royal brand of baking powder that you linked to before… and it’s a single acting baking powder. If you can get your hands on any American made baking powder, they should be double acting. I’m currently using Bob’s Red Mill aluminum-free double acting baking powder. Unfortunately, I’ve thrown away the wrapper and rebottled the powder in an air-tight bottle (due to the humidity here) and won’t be able to tell you the composition of the powder. Anyway, I think it would be alright to do the cake with single acting baking powder (although I haven’t tried it yet) if that’s all you have on hand. Maybe just mix the flour mixture into the yolk mixture only just before folding in the meringue (rather than letting the baking powder sit and react with the liquids while you whip the egg whites), and then get the cake into the steamer as soon as possible after the mixing. Hope that helps. Oh, and an early happy birthday to your husband