Originally posted on September 28, 2012
WHEW! I can relax now. FLAVORS Magazine’s event for September, FLAVORS @12: A Celebration, has been successfully staged. It took place at the Concourse of SM Makati yesterday, and the turnout for our relatively small and simple event celebration of the magazine’s 12th anniversary was really good. A lot of shoppers stopped by our venue and became part of the audience who witnessed a 3-hour after-office show featuring cooking demonstrations by Kitchen Aid and Fine Living Essentials, an explosive flairtending exhibition plus cocktail- and mocktail-mixing courtesy of Monin and Savoroso Inc., fun games put together by Ascof Lagundi and Knorr Rice Mate, and dance numbers by the LPU Wild Style Chiqazz from the Lyceum of the Philippines University.
Kitchen Aid’s demo was actually a baking demo conducted by Chef Michelle “Mimi” Ong, a home baker, cake artist, instructor and consultant who owns and runs her own Mimi’s Cakes Kitchen since 1990. She made Pandan Cupcakes and topped these with Boiled Icing. Delightfully light and not too sweet, the Pandan Cupcakes which she baked real time and the bar versions which she pre-baked and brought to the event in big boxes for sampling, disappeared in a matter of minutes when these were served to the audience. They were so good that I thought I’d share the recipe here in my personal weblog so anyone who wants to try can do so.
THE PANDAN CUPCAKE:
115 grams cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
60 grams white sugar
¼ tsp. salt
3 eggs, separated
60 ml. water
½ tsp. pandan flavoring
1 tsp. green food color
30 grams corn oil
30 grams white sugar
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
shortening for greasing pan
1. Lightly grease the center of each hole on muffin pans with shortening and line with paper cups.
2. Combine flour, baking powder, 60 grams sugar and salt in a medium-sized bowl, sift, then set aside.
3. Place egg yolks in a bowl. Add water, pandan flavoring, green food color and corn oil, and mix at Speed 2 of mixer for 30 seconds.
4. Pour mixture into the sifted dry ingredients, mix at Speed 2 for 30 seconds then at Speed 4 for 2 minutes. Set aside.
5. Place egg whites in another bowl. Add 30 grams sugar and cream of tartar, and whip at Speed 7 for 3 minutes or until soft peaks form.
6. Fold whipped egg whites into the egg yolk mixture.
7. Transfer batter into a piping bag and pipe onto paper-lined cupcake pans. Bake in a preheated 180°C or 350°F oven for 15 minutes.
8. Remove and let cool.
THE BOILED ICING:
3 egg whites
120 ml. water
300 grams white sugar
¼ tsp. cream of tartar
¼ tsp. pandan liquid flavoring (optional)
1 tsp. green liquid food color (optional)
1. Place egg whites in a medium-sized bowl.
2. Heat water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Do not stir.
3. When syrup reaches 100°C, immediately start whipping the egg whites with the cream of tartar at Speed 7 for 3 minutes.
4. When the syrup reaches the soft ball stage (118 to 120°C), remove mixture from heat, add flavoring and color if desired, then stir. Set aside.
5. Continue whipping mixture until it reaches the soft peak stage. Then start pouring the still hot syrup into the mixture at low speed for approximately 1 minute.
6. Whip mixture at Speed 7 until well-aerated, stiff and shiny, about 5 minutes.
7. Transfer icing to piping bags fitted with desired icing tips with coupler, and pipe onto cupcakes.
