Bake Off entered a whole new world this week. The world of Japanese baking.
If my knowledge of Japanese food is at best limited, my knowledge of their baking is even less. This was the sort of week where contestants who’ve managed all that’s been asked of them so far suddenly started to falter. A week when everyday baking skills didn’t really count, it was all about throwing caution to the wind and trying completely new things.
For me, it was a week when the coronavirus restrictions we’re all currently living under hit home. As the bakes were all unusual it meant I was missing many of the required things. Previously I’d have been straight out to the shops, but that just isn’t so easy now. It was a week for making do with what I had.
The baker’s challenges were to make a batch of steamed buns with a filling of their own choice as the signature bake. To bake a matcha mille crepe cake as the technical challenge and to produce a Kawaii themed cake as a show stopper.
If we were being pedantic there’s probably an argument to be had as to whether a steamed bun qualifies as baking. Those the bakers produced were what I know as bao buns and to be honest I’d always thought of them as something from Chinese or Vietnamese cooking before this show. I would like to have a go at making some but the lack of a steamer in my kitchen ruled them out for now.
Also out of the question was the crepe cake. If you’ve clicked on the link you’ll already know it requires matcha powder. Matcha isn’t something I have in my cupboards and given my limited shopping options as the UK goes back into a full lockdown there was no chance of getting any.
That left the showstopper for me to have a go at and even here my options were limited. Kawaii refers to the Japanese popular culture obsession with all things cute and is not a baking specific thing. This toadstool cake was one of the baker’s efforts and gives you an idea of the sort of thing the judges were looking for. I didn’t have the fondants and colours required for ornate and fancy decorations but at least I could bake a cake.
Thankfully there is one Japanese cookbook on my shelf, all be it very underused, and this came to my rescue with a recipe for chiffon cake.
This cake uses sunflower oil rather than butter for the fat element in the mixture and the result is one of the lightest, airy sponges I’ve ever made. As there isn’t a great deal of flavour in the cake I served it with some fresh raspberries.
Ingredients
- 4 eggs separated
- 90g caster sugar
- 60ml milk
- 55ml sunflower oil
- 70g plain flour
Method
- Preheat the oven to gas mark 4
- Whisk the eggs yolks with 30g of the sugar until pale and frothy.
- Gradually add the milk and then the oil. Keep whisking as you add. Then sift in the flour and combine with a spatula
- Put the egg whites In a separate bowl and use an electric whisk until they are foamy. Then add 30g of the sugar and continue whisking until the mix is firm. Add the final 30g of sugar and whisk until the meringue has stiff peaks.
- Add a third of the meringue to the to egg yolk mixture. Mix it in with a hand whisk and then add the second third. Once combined add the final third of the meringue and fill it in with a spatula. Try to be gentle through this process as you want to keep as much air in the mixture as possible.
- Pour the mixture into a small bundt tin*, mine is 16cm, and bake for 30 minutes.
- The cake is ready when a skewer comes out clean.
*The recipe says not to butter or flour the tin before you add the mixture. I’m not 100% sure why but I did follow the instruction. All I will say is be very careful as you get the cake out of the tin after baking. Being such a soft sponge it is quite fragile.
David in the kitchen. 