Letter Cake/字母蛋糕

I’ve been wanting to make a number cake for such a long time. But I don’t like the idea of using cookies for base. I believe a lot of people have the same thought when it comes to cutting the cake. It is cookie, how do you cut it without breaking it? how do you cut it evenly? So, the thought of making one faded after a while until recently I saw another beautiful one. I started think really hard and I decided to make a cake base instead of cookie base.

I wanted to make a letter cake for my birthday 2 weeks ago, but my birthday day is my all I can eat junk food day so I didn’t have extra stomach for cake. And this week I finally decided to make one because today is my Chinese Lunar birthday. The fun part is decorating. I should have bought some fresh flower to make it better looking.

This cake is easier than it seems. I use below cake recipe for base, and I made 1.5 times as much of batter for my letter cake( depends on how big you want to make your cake, adjust accordingly):

https://caiqinchen.com/2017/06/07/sponge-cake%e6%b5%b7%e7%bb%b5%e8%9b%8b%e7%b3%95/

IMG_3885

IMG_3929

The Cream Cheese Whipped Cream Frosting:

12 oz. cream cheese

1/2 to 2/3 cup sugar

1.5 cups heavy cream

1.5 tsp Vanilla extra

Add cream cheese and sugar together and mix them with a electronic mixer until creamy.

Add vanilla extra and heavy cream and continue to mix until firm about 4 minutes.

Assembly:

  1.  placing one layer of the letter onto a cake platter. Using a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip, pipe the whipped cream frosting over the cake in dollops. You can choose to evenly spread the frosting too, I don’t have a round tip, so I used one that is similar.
  2. Place the second layer of the letter cake on top of frosting. Pipe some more frosting on top in dollops.
  3. Finally, decorate the cake with your desired toppings. I used fresh fruit, M&M, chocolate, fake macarons that are made of marzipan,  I also use marzipan to make some fruits.

Tips:

If you are making a number cake, this recipe is good, if you are making double digits, make sure you double everything.

IMG_3930

我一直想做一个数字蛋糕。但我不喜欢用饼干做底。当要切蛋糕的时候我相信很多人都有同样的想法。它是饼干 你怎么切它而不会碎呢?你怎么可以切得均匀呢?后来我也就忘记了要去做,直到最近我看到了另一个漂亮的数字蛋糕。我就很努力的想要怎么做,后来我决定做一个蛋糕底的。

2周前 我想为我自己的生日做一个字母蛋糕, 但我的生日那天是我吃垃圾食品的时候, 所以我没有额外的胃容量来装蛋糕了。这个星期我终于决定做一个因为今天是我的农历生日。做这个蛋糕最有趣的部分是装饰。我应该买些鲜花让它看起来更漂亮。

这个蛋糕比看起来容易。我用下面的蛋糕食谱做的基底, 我做了1.5 倍的面糊 (取决于你的蛋糕大小相应 调整):

https://caiqinchen.com/2017/06/07/sponge-cake%e6%b5%b7%e7%bb%b5%e8%9b%8b%e7%b3%95/

IMG_3908

IMG_3895

奶油乳酪奶油霜:

12盎司奶油乳酪

1/2 到2/3 杯糖

1.5 杯动物奶油

1.5 茶匙香草精

加奶油奶酪和糖在一大盆里,用电子搅拌器搅拌在一起, 直到奶油变软。

添加香草精和奶油, 并继续混合, 直到硬挺约4分钟。

装配:

把一层字母基底放在蛋糕盘上。用一个装着大圆尖挤奶油嘴的糕点袋里装上奶油霜。你可以选择均匀的涂抹奶油霜在基底上, 我没有圆尖的奶油嘴, 所以我用了一个类似的。把奶油均匀的挤在第一层的基底上。
将字母蛋糕的第二层放在挤好奶油霜的第一层上。再在第二层上挤奶油霜。
最后, 用你想要的配料装饰蛋糕。我用了新鲜水果, M&M巧克力, 巧克力, 由杏仁糖制成的假马卡龙 , 我也用杏仁糖做一些水果。

技巧:

如果你是做一个数字蛋糕, 这个食谱也可以了, 如果你是做两位数的, 那你材料要加一倍的量了。

WeChat Image_20180826155500

Mushroom Shrimp Cups/蘑菇釀虾

This is a very light and healthy dish for summer time when you don’t feel like to eat anything. It is also very easy to prepare.

IMG_3716.JPG

Shrimp 200 g

White Mushroom (jumbo size) 8 pieces

Ginger 1tsp

Corn starch 3 tbsps

Egg white 1/2

Chinese celery 1/3 cup

Cut the stem off the mushrooms.

Add Shrimp, ginger, corn starch, egg white, Celery, 1/3tsp salt, a few pinches white pepper, 1tbsp rice wine to the food processor and press until everything is well combined.

Scoop the shrimp paste and fill into the mushroom cups. Smooth the top with wet fingers.

Steam the mushroom over the boiling water for about 8-10 minutes.

Pour the juice in the bottom of the plate back to a sauce pan, add some broth if there is not enough of it. Add pinch of salt and chicken bouillon to taste, when it comes to boil add some starch water to thicken it up.

Pour the sauce over the mushroom.

Tips:

If you want richer flavor, you can use fresh shiitake mushroom instead of the white one.

Also you can use whiting fish, or chicken breast to substitute the shrimp.

IMG_3725

虾200克

白蘑菇 (特大号) 8 只

姜1茶匙

玉米淀粉3汤匙

蛋清1/2个

中国芹菜1/3 杯

把蘑菇的茎切下来。

加虾, 姜, 玉米淀粉, 蛋清, 芹菜, 1/3 茶匙盐, 几捏白胡椒粉, 1 汤匙米酒到食品搅拌机里搅拌到所有的食材都变成黏糊状。

舀一些虾浆填入蘑菇杯里。用湿的手指平滑顶部。

将蘑菇隔沸水蒸上大约8-10 分钟。

将盘子底部的汤汁倒入锅里, 如果没有足够的汤水就加一些鸡汤。加入少许盐和鸡精调味, 煮开后加一些淀粉水勾个薄芡。

把酱汁倒在蘑菇上。

小贴士:

如果你想要更丰富的口味, 你可以用新鲜的香菇代替白蘑菇。

你也可以用鱼或鸡胸肉来代替虾。

Cold Rice Soup/冰饭

This is a very famous cold dessert from my home town. Compare to other desserts, this is relatively healthy. In a summer time like this, this is just beyond delicious!

IMG_3688.JPG

Sticky rice 2 cups

Raisin 1/3 cup

Water melon 1 cup

Papaya 1 cup

Crispy peanut 1/3 cup

Cold water 1-2 quarts

Sugar 1/2-2/3 cup

Banana extract 1-2tsps

IMG_3665

Soak rice in water for 2-3 hours

Steam rice over boiling water for 15 minutes

Let cool then refrigerate for a few hours or until rice are harden.

Cut fruits into smaller pieces.

Add sugar, banana extra to the cold water and stir to dissolve the sugar.

Add rice and everything else to the cold flavored water.

Tips:

You can use any kind of tropical fruits you want. If you don’t have banana extra,  use any other kind of extract you prefer. I tried maple bourbon pecan and it was pretty good too.

You can use honey or syrup instead of sugar.

Adjust the amount of water and everything else to your own preferences.

糯米 2 杯

葡萄干1/3 杯

西瓜 1 杯

木瓜1杯

酥花生1/3 杯

冰水 1-2夸脱

糖1/2-2/3 杯

香蕉精1-2茶匙

做法:

米泡水2-3 小时

隔滚水蒸15分钟

糯米饭凉了以后冷藏几个小时到米变硬

水果切小块

香精,糖加入冰水里。搅拌到糖融化

将所有的食材加入到调过味的冰水里。

小贴士:

家里如果没有香蕉精可以用其他的香精替代。也可用蜂蜜和蜜糖替代白糖。

用料可以根据自己喜欢来调整。

IMG_3678