Thursday, October 12, 2006

Carrot Cake With Frosting



Another cake on the "for sale" list recently has been the carrot cake. Aitelyu in this life, you REALLY cannot please everyone. Some say its too dense, they prefer it more cakey, fluffy, ....but when you make it lighter, some say they prefer it dense.

So, for the ease of future ordering, you may follow this guide for lemon and carrot cakes. No point doing one for durians, because, 1. the cliparts of durians aren't available on Microsoft, 2. if you are ordering durian cake, in all likelihood, you'd want DURIAN. Very little room for grey area with durian. You either like it, or you don't. So even a hint of it can make a person sick, if inclination is of the latter.


During a recent dinner, a friend's friend from Ipoh suggested I try making a cempedak cake. She has childhood memories of eating it, and remembers it being divine. Anyone got a recipe to share?

Off the top of my head, this is how I would make it, if I were try.

400gms of cempedak flesh, pureed, with some milk.

250gms butter
3/4 cup sugar

5 eggs

2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup custard powder

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I wonder why this isnt a more popular snack. Butter and sugar on its own, is divine. Recently, I found out that some friends think BUTTERCUP is butter. Hallo, please read your contents list. If its too cheap to be butter, it ain't!!!

2. Add in the eggs one by one. My favourite cooking eggs are Seri Murni, large. They separate easily too, and are reasonably priced. Who cares about low cholestrol eggs if you are whacking 250gm of butter.

3. Stir in sifted flours in two batches. Add the cempedak puree. Bake in preheated 180C oven for an hour.

Anyone game to try? I am dying to try, but haven't seen any cempedaks on the road yet. Oh, cannot replace with jackfruit, I'm pretty sure. The cempedak needs to be ripe too.

I've got a friend, Woman I am Scared Of, who recoils in horror at the sight of jackfruit and cempedak. Some childhood related trauma. Dunno if it fell on her head or something.

11 comments:

Karen said...

hahaha, i like your indices!!! and it's true, there's no pleasing everyone - my same cake was complained of as too sweet by oldies and 'tasteless! no sugar ah?' by the younger generation.

and i like seri murni eggs best too! very suspicious about the omegaomega low/no cholesterol ones - i mean, is it still EGG??

the cempedak cake sounds interesting... guess it would be liked by pple who like durian cake.

boo_licious said...

I guess you can use the same principles like a durian cake since it's similar in texture. Looking at the recipe, it's a cempedak butter cake.

I like dense carrot cakes and light ones too. Most amazing light one is Vanilla Box's version - light but still with all the flavours.

Kinda agree with Snowdrop on the difference in opinion abt cakes. The younger ones will always say how come no frosting since they are used to Secret Recipe cake. So rare to find people who actually like CAKE vs cream!

I usually use fresh eggs - no idea where they come from but if I buy eggs from the supermkt to cook dinner, it's also Seri Murni.

fatboybakes said...

and the fact that most commercial cakes use fake whipping cream....shudder.....yar gimme cake over cream any day.

oh, btw, u two, i found a place (might or might not be new to you), lees frozen foods in kg attap that stock a variety of interesting stuff. cheap(er) whipping cream and mascarporne. RM10/litre, and RM21 for 500gm. (Italian brand)

Spot said...

Maybe if you hung a garland of cempedak or nangka around you when you meet your friend, she can be renamed Woman I'm No Longer Scared Of? :D

Karen said...

wow! that's cheap. thanks for the tip.

farnee to think that Woman You Are Scared Of is scared of fruit!

btw, did you know there's a shop that sells wilton goods near jaya supermarket? got cake decor classes too! but all flowerflower stuff. and mahal mahal belaka.

fatboybakes said...

hmm, i recently bought a wilton something or other in hong kong...cant remember if it was the lettering set, cookie cutter, silicone sheet or WHAT!!! where exactly is the wilton shop?
aitelyu, there was this shop in TTDI called kneading needs, which a friend tot was bake shop, but turns out, was a massage place!!!

oh, they have a whole new range of silicone bakestuff in jusco, MVM.

Karen said...

"kneading needs"... kahkahkah! the wilton shop is on the row of shophouses further on from the old metrojaya, near geortown chemist. oh hold on, i have their website address: http://www.2decoratecakes.com/index.htm

i also saw silicone stuff in living quarters in 1-utama yesterday. so tempted man!!

fatboybakes said...

thanks for the wilton site. looks great. am gonna sign up if the price is right.

actually i think my friend also gave me that link awhile back but i lost it.

boo_licious said...

Yeah, I bought the silicone stuff also. Think I'll make madelines soon since I found my madeline tray. Yeah, I know abt the KG attap place but usually buy frozen lamb shank there.

Wilton stuff is so expensive. That place came out in the Flavours mag that day, looks interesting.

Karen said...

price: it's 550 for the 1st level, 650 for the 2nd, 750 for the third [4 classes at 2 hours each, once a week for 4 weeks for each level].

there's also going to be an intensive class taught by the founder, rosalind chan, over 3 full days from 30 oct to 1st nov. that's RM2050.

[can you see i have gone and asked them about it already! but too costly for me for now, and also being near the end of the year, i dont have that much leave to spare! maybe next year...]

fatboybakes said...

snowdrop, thanks, rosaline herself replied my email. I think i'll go for the first level one. (i'm assuming its like university, they don't let you into 2nd year if you havent done 1st).