Tokyo Desserts

This cake is a bit unique with the addition of milk and salad oil to the recipe. These two ingredients add additional moisture that makes this a perfect dessert.

Recipe

Egg whites (room temperature) 450 grams

Granular Sugar 150 grams

Flour 150 grams 

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Milk 6 tablespoons

Salad oil 6 tablespoons 

1. Sift together the salt and flour into a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk and salad oil.
2. Whip the eggs whites with a hand mixer for 3 - 4 minutes then add the sugar in 3 – 4 portions and mix until soft peaks form. Do not over mix.
3. Use spatula and mix in the flour in portions. Lastly, add the milk/oil mixture and mix thoroughly.
4. Spoon the batter into a large size chiffon cake pan (do NOT butter the inside of the pan). Preheat the oven to 170 C. and place the baking pan into the oven. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes depending on your oven.

The combination of banana and coconut just screams of summer, however, this combo is probably best in a cake rather than a drink. I was never a big fan of pineapple upside down cake, but replacing the pineapple with bananas just seemed right. I made a few adjustments to the traditional recipe and made this cake lighter and the crumble a little less sweet.

Sliced and ready for dessert

One tip is to use bananas that are not too ripe. Keep the old ripened bananas for the bread not this cake. Bananas are delicate and since you need to lightly cook them in the crumble before baking the cake they can easily become softened if they are old and too ripe.

Recipe

Cake
4 egg whites
110 grams sugar
4 egg yolks
20 grams almond flour
20 grams powdered sugar
90 grams flour
15 grams butter (melted)

Creamy chocolate mousse with raspberry gelatin

Winter is my season of choice for baking with chocolate. My house is not well insulated so it is chilly even with the heat on so basically a good place to work with chocolate.

In this recipe you need to combine the warm chocolate with the warm anglais - keeping both at about the same temperature - and the room temperature can effect how these two mix together.

This recipe does have several steps to it but you can make it a day ahead if you want to have it for a special dinner.

I used an 18 cm x 6 cm baking ring to make this cake.

Cake

I visited Iceland in 2019 and while going through the Copenhagen airport I found a wonderful cookbook about Scandinavia and Icelandic desserts. The cookbook weighed at least 2 kilos (about 3 pounds) and luckily I was on my way home so I didn't have to carry it around too much.

Unfortunately I did not eat this cake while I was in Iceland but after seeing the recipe in the cookbook, I wanted to try it. I think this is a fun recipe to make with kids since you can't get into too much trouble. Basically, this cake is made of several layers with jam between each layer. Simplicity at its finest.

I had extra dough after lots of baking so I froze it and later used it for a pie dough and it turned out quite nicely.

Deliciously simple

Sliced dried figs decorate the top

Ingredients

The generous amount of fruits makes this a delicious cake

Right out of the oven Baking paper is used instead of butter & flour to line the baking tin

Simplicity at its best

This cake is simplicity at its best. Not too much fuss and probably no extra shopping needed. 

Don't be limited to the traditional filling of raspberry jam but go a little crazy and use something like Nutella for a winter version or lemon curd for a summer version. Fresh strawberries or blueberries sound quite nice to add extra zest to the cake.




225 grams room temperature butter

This cake has several steps to it so you may be a bit hesitant to tackle this, however, if you can find a kitchen helper then the process will fly by. The cake has four steps - bake the cake, make the mascarpone mousse, coffee chocolate mousse and lastly the chocolate mousse. The finished product is very delicious and is a great dessert to impress your friends and family.

The recipe below is enough for a cake that fits a cake ring 18 cm x 6 cm.  Overall, the cake will take about 2 hours or less to put together. Each step is done separately so it is easy to do other activities around the house while making the cake. Please allow about 3 hours for the cake to set in the refrigerator before serving.

To use a baking ring for a mousse cake, you can either line the inside of the ring with mousse film for easy removal or if you don't use the film you can remove the cake by heating the outside of the ring with a kitchen torch which loosens the mousse and allows the ring to be lifted off easily.

You can put the cake together as you finish each step. For each of the mousses, once the gelatin and chocolate are combined the mixture can become firm quickly so be ready to use the mousse once you make it.

Here is the full recipe. Please feel free to use short cuts or substitutions as you like.

1. Mix the egg yolk and sugar in a small bowl.
2. Soften the gelatin in cold water. Heat the cream to lightly boiling with coffee then add to the egg yolk mixture and mix. Put back into the sauce pan and heat lightly on low heat to thicken. Lastly, add the gelatin and melt.
3. Pour the cream mixture over the chocolate and mix well with a small whisk. Allow the mixture to come to room temperature.
4. Fold in the whipped cream using a spatula.

Who can't resist the two great tastes of chocolate and marshmallow. Whoopie pies are an easy way to get your homemade cake craving satisfied but without too much fuss in the kitchen. Also, they are easy an dessert to put together if you don't have the right baking pan for a full cake.

There are all sorts of flavor combinations, but here is my winter recipe for chocolate Whoopie pies with homemade marshmallow filling. Obviously, if you need to save time please substitute the homemade marshmallow for marshmallow fluff, Nutella or any flavor of your favorite jam.

Whoopie Pies
120 grams butter milk (add a few drops lemon to milk if you don't have buttermilk)-room temperature
130 grams room temperature butter
30 grams room temperature shortening
130 grams sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
200 grams flour (sifted)
1 teaspoon baking powder
60 grams cacao powder

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together, the flour, cacao powder and baking powder.
3. In a large bowl, mix the butter, shortening and sugar using a hand mixer on low speed (or stand mixer) until well mixed. Add the egg in portions and mix well. Lastly, add the vanilla.
4. Add the dry ingredients and milk to the butter mixture alternately and continue to mix on a low speed with the mixer until everything is well blended.
5. Scoop the dough into a piping bag fitted with plain nozzle and pipe small mounds of dough onto the parchment paper. Tip: dip a small round cookie cutter in flour and then tap on the parchment to provide a guideline for piping the dough. Do this to make a guide for all of the pieces you need to pipe.
6. Bake 12 - 15 minutes. After removing from the oven cool completely before filling.

Whoopie pies on a silpat sheet ready for baking Flour circles are a guide to size each piece

Marshmallow Filling
25 grams gelatin
120 grams water
80 grams water
120 grams sugar
40 grams corn syrup or equivalent (in Japan use mizu ame)
80 grams egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Soften the gelatin with the 120 grams water in a bowl.
2. Whip the egg whites in a bowl until soft peaks form.
3. Heat the 80 grams water, sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan until it reaches 110 degrees Celsius. Slowly pour this mixture into the whipped eggs and continue to mix with the mixer (or stand mixer).
4. Add the gelatin water to the saucepan and heat lightly so that the gelatin dissolves completely. Add this to the egg whites in portions and continue to mix with the hand mixer for a few minutes and then add the vanilla. Mix with the hand mixer until the mixture starts to become cool.
5. Spoon the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a decorative nozzle and pipe a round circle on one side of a whoopie pie. Use another piece of whoopie pie to make a sandwich with the first.
6. Tip: after step 4 the mixture will become firm quickly since it contains a lot of gelatin so have the piping bag and whoopie pies ready. You can pipe leftover marshmallow pieces onto a baking sheet that has been dusted with cornstarch. The cornstarch will keep the marshmallow pieces from sticking to each other.

In Japan everyone loves Christmas cakes with BIG decoration. Fresh fruits, whipped cream, chocolate and other decorations are usually used for these special cakes. Gingerbread and fruit cakes are not so popular in Japan at Christmas.

For some early Christmas practice, I baked a chocolate cake and decorated with cream cheese icing and chocolate topping. The chocolate is tricky to get the right temperature so that it drizzles down the cake with the right mouth watering look. The cake was a little cool so the chocolate cooled down as soon as it hit the icing which slowed down the chocolate flow.

The cake is a basic chocolate cake recipe which is easy to put rather together quickly. The cream cheese icing is also quite fast to make, however, if you aren't familiar with icing a cake that can be challenging. A palette knife can make the job of icing much easier. The chocolate has a small amount of gelatin so that it stays firm.

Chocolate Cake

200 grams sugar
200 grams flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100 grams butter
180 grams sweet chocolate (chopped)

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl, measure the butter and melt over a saucepan filled with hot water.
2. In another bowl, put the chocolate over a saucepan of hot simmering water and melt.
3. In a large bowl, whip the eggs with a hand mixer and gradually add the sugar. Mix on medium speed until the batter is a light yellow color and slightly thickened. This may take a few minutes but don't skip this step.
4. After the batter is well mixed, add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until well mixed. Next add the melted butter in portions and mix on low speed.
5. Lastly, add the chocolate in portions and mix with a spatula.
6. Prepare 2 round baking pans (20 cm round) and lightly butter and flour each of them.
7. Pour the batter evenly between both pans and bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 40 minutes. Check if done by using a toothpick.
8. When finished baking, cool thoroughly.

Cream Cheese Icing
200 grams cream cheese (room temperature)
40 grams butter (room temperature)
125 grams powdered sugar

1. In a large bowl, mix the butter and powdered sugar with a hand mixer on low until well mixed. Then gradually add the cream cheese in pieces and continue to mix.
2. You can add some flavoring to complement the chocolate like vanilla.

Chocolate Topping
40 grams water
40 grams milk
45 grams sugar
25 grams cocoa powder
2 grams gelatin (softened)

1. Heat the water, milk, sugar and cocoa powder in a saucepan until just lightly boiling. Turn off the heat and add the gelatin. Pour into a bowl to cool. The chocolate should be a little thickened to when pouring on the cake.

Putting everything together
1. Put the bottom piece of the cake on a plate cut the top so that it is flat. Spread some icing on the top add a little strawberry jam on top of the icing (don't spread the jam to the end of the cake though).
2. Place the second piece of cake on top and then spread the remaining icing on the cake using a palette knife. Recommendation is to icing the cake once with about half of the icing and then place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Remove from the refrigerator and use the rest of the icing to icing the cake.
3. Starting from the center of the cake, start pouring the chocolate and use a spoon to distribute it evenly on top of the cake and so that it gradually starts to drip down the sides.
4. Decorate the cake with fresh cream and fruit as you like.

I found two great combinations - white chocolate and pumpkin. This is a bit of a nontraditional dessert for Halloween but it is always good to update the recipe box. The white chocolate is made into a mousse and combined with a soft pumpkin flavored cake and delicious pumpkin flavored gelatin.

This cake has several steps to it but don't despair since the end result is well worth it. If you are looking for short cuts you can also buy the cake that sits on the bottom.

Let's get to it. Put on some good music and set aside a couple of hours for this one.

This recipe is enough for a 18 cm x 6 cm baking ring

Is it autumn yet?  It's almost mid-September and the weather is still too warm.  At least the sweltering temperatures of August have cooled down but I am still looking forward to much cooler temps.

The stores already have Halloween decorations and I found a few new ones to buy this year so I included them in the photos -- BOO! Also, I wanted to have Indian corn for decoration for the holidays but since I am living in Japan these are very difficult to find. One of my friends spotted them at a Tokyo Farmer's Market and they must be about the only ones in the Tokyo area. Could have kissed that farmer when I spotted them.



Full disclosure, I did not bake the roll cake in the photo. Since I was collecting all of the beautiful fall pumpkins, Indian corn and apples I just wanted to grab my camera and start shooting without the baking part. Also, it's still too warm to start using the oven. In Japan the most popular taste for cakes is chestnut. All types of cakes and cookies with chestnut filling are popular. Pumpkin is not very popular for desserts so I will need to bake my own pumpkin spice cake.  Also, if you visit Starbucks in Japan you won't find a pumpkin spice latte.



I may be a  little too early for Halloween but I wanted to get this fall feeling started. Looking forward to cool evenings and hot drinks. Once this hot weather is over, then we can start complaining about the cold.

This July cities around Hiroshima in Japan are recovering from record levels of rainfall. If you have a chance to support the recovery effort for the area, please do.

Also, most areas in Japan are experiencing a very hot summer with temperatures staying consistently around 36+ C/90+ F. Very hot indeed. It is hard to think about turning on the oven in such heat but July is also the height of peach season so time to try a few recipes. 

I found this cute ribbon in a shop in Tokyo and couldn't resist to buy. Not sure where you can find it in your country but it is a great to way wrap home baked gifts to give to friends and family members.

This recipe combines white chocolate into a traditional peach cake recipe to give it an extra taste boost.

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.         Preheat the oven to 180 ° C.
2.        Peel and dice the  peaches. Blanch  the peaches in hot water to peel more easily. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and almond flour.
3.       In a bowl, pour the yogurt, sugar and vanilla and mix with a small whisk. In  portions, mix in the eggs and mix with a small whisk until well blended. Mix in the flour and baking powder mixture.
4.        Lastly, mix in the diced peaches and white chocolate and mix with a spatula.
5.        Pour the mixture into a lightly buttered and floured pan.
6.        Bake 25 to 30 minutes. After baking, remove from the pan and cool before serving. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with ice cream for a beautiful and delicious summer dessert.