Oh em gee. Do my eyes deceive me? This blog has reached one million views! 1,000,000! I have finally conquered the milestone that every blogger dreams of (I think)! I still remember the time the counter registered 100 and I literally couldn't fall asleep after that, and now here I am another four zeros later. I'll probably be opening the dashboard window every waking hour to just marvel at the sight of seven digits in the counter over the next few days. Hah.
Of course, I would like to thank each and every one of you for visiting my modest domain. I don't know how many blog posts you've read, how much time you've spent scrolling through this blog, how many recipes from here you've tried, but I'm grateful enough that you found my blog interesting enough to stop by.
I would also like to thank Blogger for providing an idiot-proof way for people as hopeless at technology as me to share with a greater audience our pictures and words. I can't fully express how appreciative I am to have a platform that is so easy to navigate (although I freaked out a little when the dashboard was reformatted a while back). And not to forget the brilliant service from the Blogger staff! I actually encountered a few difficulties with this blog some three, four years ago so I emailed Blogger twice on separate occasions and their both their replies came within the hour. To the people at Blogger, if you're reading this, thank you so so much for making this blog hosting site possible.
I think I deserve a pat on the back as well for keeping this space alive for the past five years and a bit. *Cough* shopping *cough*!! It has frankly been quite easy to blog regularly in the later half of my blogging journey because I know that every post I publish will garner a few hundred views at least but the start was admittedly quite a test of perseverance. It was as if I was just talking to myself really.
So too celebrate the big one-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, I think some kind of celebration is in store. I was considering a revamp of the site buuuut I don't really feel that risking the destruction of the facade is a particularly fun activity on such a momentous occasion. If you are a regular reader of Crumbs and Cookies, you would know that I'm unfortunately fairly prone to almost irrevocably messing up the layout whenever I fiddle with the template. Therefore, what better and safer way to commemorate the one million with what I do best - baking cake! I've not been interested in baking layer cakes with tons of buttercream lately though so I went with a simpler, but no less delicious, one.
This cake is like a fallen chocolate souffle cake except that it uses white chocolate instead of dark. Honestly speaking, the white chocolate isn't very prominent in this cake; the matcha taste outshines it completely, which means that you should get some good quality matcha powder if you're planning to make this cake. Like a good fallen souffle cake, the center is dense and fudgy, the top layer of crust crisp and crackly. The only thing I can fault this recipe with is that there's a bit too much sugar so the matcha taste isn't as bitter as I would like, but that's easily remedied. If I were to make this cake again I would reduce the sugar by a third.
I was actually planning to make a different cake - made it, in fact - but I slipped up and entirely forgot the sugar in my early morning stupor. FYI it was a almond mocha banana cake, modeled after my favorite Smoothie King drink. The cake was surprisingly edible despite the lack of sugar so I guess the three bananas that went into the batter must have made the cake sufficiently sweet. Anyhoo, in the end I decided to make another cake instead of wasting frosting on a semi-failed cake and ta-dah! Matcha white chocolate cake.
P.S. I made the chocolate cookie decorations beforehand with the almond mocha banana cake in mind which is why they are a tad out of place on the matcha cake. Forgive me o' godly matcha cake.
Matcha White Chocolate Cake
adapted from here
makes a 6 inch cake
The original recipe said to bake the cake in a 9 inch pan but I wanted a taller cake so I went with a 6 inch one instead.
80g white chocolate chips
80g butter
80ml heavy cream
100g sugar
3 eggs, separated
30g matcha powder
50g plain flour
Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 6 inch pan.
Combine the white chocolate chips, butter and heavy cream in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. When the chocolate and butter are almost completely melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
Whisk the egg yolks and half of the sugar in a separate bowl until smooth. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Sift in the matcha powder and flour and whisk until smooth.
Beat the egg whites and rest of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold one third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest of the egg whites until the mixture is homogenous.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Cool before unmolding; refrigerate until cold before decorating.
This cake is like a fallen chocolate souffle cake except that it uses white chocolate instead of dark. Honestly speaking, the white chocolate isn't very prominent in this cake; the matcha taste outshines it completely, which means that you should get some good quality matcha powder if you're planning to make this cake. Like a good fallen souffle cake, the center is dense and fudgy, the top layer of crust crisp and crackly. The only thing I can fault this recipe with is that there's a bit too much sugar so the matcha taste isn't as bitter as I would like, but that's easily remedied. If I were to make this cake again I would reduce the sugar by a third.
I was actually planning to make a different cake - made it, in fact - but I slipped up and entirely forgot the sugar in my early morning stupor. FYI it was a almond mocha banana cake, modeled after my favorite Smoothie King drink. The cake was surprisingly edible despite the lack of sugar so I guess the three bananas that went into the batter must have made the cake sufficiently sweet. Anyhoo, in the end I decided to make another cake instead of wasting frosting on a semi-failed cake and ta-dah! Matcha white chocolate cake.
P.S. I made the chocolate cookie decorations beforehand with the almond mocha banana cake in mind which is why they are a tad out of place on the matcha cake. Forgive me o' godly matcha cake.
Matcha White Chocolate Cake
adapted from here
makes a 6 inch cake
The original recipe said to bake the cake in a 9 inch pan but I wanted a taller cake so I went with a 6 inch one instead.
80g white chocolate chips
80g butter
80ml heavy cream
100g sugar
3 eggs, separated
30g matcha powder
50g plain flour
Preheat oven to 350F and prepare a 6 inch pan.
Combine the white chocolate chips, butter and heavy cream in a bowl over a pot of simmering water. When the chocolate and butter are almost completely melted, remove from heat and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.
Whisk the egg yolks and half of the sugar in a separate bowl until smooth. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Sift in the matcha powder and flour and whisk until smooth.
Beat the egg whites and rest of sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold one third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate mixture. Fold in the rest of the egg whites until the mixture is homogenous.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Cool before unmolding; refrigerate until cold before decorating.
Hi i was wondering if the yolks and sugar need to be whisked till its pale and thick? or as long as it is combined?
ReplyDeleteHi, just until it is combined :)
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