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Wednesday, June 27, 2012

I baked: Hokkaido chiffon cupcake

After trying the Hokkaido cake from RT Pastry House and writing about it, some blogger friends mentioned that it is a very easy cake to make at home. Since I've recently caught the "baking bug", I decided to try my hand at making this and they were right - it is very simple to bake this!

My take on the Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes


Hokkaido cake is basically a light chiffon cake with a whipped cream filling and dusted with icing sugar. A Japanese friend tells me that he has never come across this in Hokkaido, Japan. Perhaps the icing sugar represents the pretty snow in Hokkaido during winter time, hence the name.



I looked around for some recipes and found Sonia's (Nasi Lemak Lover) Hokkaido chiffon cupcake recipe. I adapted it slightly to suit my tastebuds. First time baking these Hokkaido cakes was a success (yay!). I did not use the square cupcake liners, instead I just used regular round ones. The cupcakes do not look very pretty when they come out from the oven (they will look a little "cracked"), but do not despair. There's nothing a little "make-up" can't fix.... in this instance a light dusting of icing sugar completely transforms it into a gorgeous lil' cupcake.


A good way to make your children eat fresh fruits - top it on your Hokkaido cake! ;)



Or you could always just serve it with cream and icing sugar

Tastewise, the cake was very light and not too sweet hence I could easily eat a few in one seating. I especially love the cream filling in the centre, the more the better - hence, I have increased the amount of whipping cream in my recipe. Sonia's recipe includes addition of custard powder to the whipping cream and sugar, but I omitted that as I preferred the taste of pure whipped cream. If I remember correctly, the RT Pastry ones do not have custard powder added to the filling as well.

I have made this several times now, as it is really easy, doesn't taste too sweet and the kids love it! I usually make it in the afternoon, just in time for their evening treat. Make it at least 2-3 hours in advance as you need to allow the cakes to cool or else the cream will "melt" when you pipe it into the cake.

Baby D is happy to see 'em cakes!


Hokkaido chiffon cupcake
Makes 8

Ingredients
3 egg yolks, at room temperature
20g caster sugar
35g corn oil
60g full cream milk
70g cake flour, sifted

3 egg whites, at room temperature
25g caster sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar

100g whipping cream
10g sugar
1 tsp instant custard powder (I omitted this)

Icing sugar, for dusting


1.Pre-heat oven to 170°C.

2. Remove eggs from fridge 30 minutes before you start, and separate the egg yolks and whites and place in separate bowls covering them in cling film until ready. Arrange paper liners on a muffin tray.

3. Using an electric whisk, beat the egg yolk and sugar until pale yellow in colour. Add in oil and milk, and mix well. Add the cake flour and combine.

4. In a separate bowl (make sure bowl and whisk are very clean and free of oil or else the eggs whites will not rise), use an electric whisk to beat the egg white until foamy and then add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks are formed. Gradually add the sugar, and continue to beat til stiff peaks.

5. With a spatula, gently fold 1/3 of egg white into the egg yolk batter.

6. Fold in the balance egg white until well-combined.

7. Fill the pre-arranged paper liners to about 3/4 full.

8. Bake for 18- 20 minutes until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Do not overbake or else texture of the cake won't be as light. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

9. Using an electric whisk, beat whipping cream with sugar until firm. If you are using custard powder, add in now and mix well. I omitted it - after experimenting a couple of times with the different fillings, I prefer the pure whipping cream & sugar combo.

10. Pipe cream into the cooled cupcake and dust with icing sugar. Serve immediately or refridgerate until ready for consumption.








*My Hokkaido cake photo is featured on  UKTV's Good Food Channel "Summer of Cake" Gallery in June 2012. This recipe was also featured on Asian Food Channel's Facebook page on 19 July 2012.
This post was also featured on DailyBuzz Moms Top 9: Berrylicious! on 22 August 2012.  

Full set of photos can be viewed on my Facebook page here. 

72 comments:

  1. the rest of us should start a petition to get you to launch a home-baking business where we can order goodies from you. i can be one of your first customers: would like to place an order for six chiffon cupcakes please. you know where to deliver them :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. P.S. i love the photo of Baby D in front of the cupcakes. his expression and look actually remind me of Linus from the Charlie Brown comic strip. i swear that photo could sell a thousand cupcakes :D

      Delete
    2. Aww Sean, you are too kind with your comments. The next time I come to your office building, I will make sure that I bake some and bring them for you. Just hope that they live up to your expectations.

      I also love the photo of Baby D, he's really cooperative when it comes to taking directions for photos, I ask him to do a certain pose, look a certain way, or do a certain action and he always complies :)

      Delete
  2. Your Hokkaido cupcake looks very beautiful!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hokkaido cakes tat are bulat-bulat are good with me...hehe =)

    Second Sean's petition...will order the Madeira cakes and these...hehe :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehehehe... thanks for your support too. OKla, I will bake some for you also if we ever meet up k :)

      In the meantime, you know who to give this recipe to, maybe she'll make u some this weekend ;P

      Delete
  4. These cupcakes are just wayyyy too cute to be eaten! I bet Baby D can't wait to lay his hands on it =)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha my children never see them as cute, just DELICIOUS. Wolf them down in a matter of mins. :P

      Delete
  5. Wow! definitely a wrong time to read this....hungry LOL
    just make a hole in the middle to pipe in the cream?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you just poke your piping bag in the centre and pipe until the cream reaches the top. But if you want more, maybe can use a chopstick, make the hole even bigger and then only pipe. LOL.

      Delete
    2. Hello!!~:)
      I made this today, but just wanted to ask...cause mine is a lil bit...salty? haha i don't know why. never altered the recipe. plus my top is very shiny not like yours. do you seem to know the reason? :) just wanna find out! thnks

      Delete
    3. Hmm, salty.. that is strange! Did you accidentally use salt instead of sugar? I made it a few times and no problems wor. It's very hard to diagnose a problem just like this - sorry!

      Maybe you can drop me an email and list out the brand of ingredients that you use and I see if it's very much different from mine. goodyfoodies@live.com

      Delete
    4. Hi dear, I thought about it somemore, and was wondering - was it your cream or cake that was salty? One of the reasons I ask is bcos if you overbeat your whipping cream it will become butter.

      Delete
  6. So you made it! NAIZ!! This will be a regular cupcake in my home. We all love it. Yet to try it with durian filling.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oooo then you can call it "Malaysia chiffon cupcake" ... since no durian in Hokkaido :P

      Delete
  7. soft and delicious! :) so niceee~

    Latest: Arabic For You!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Mmmmmm These cupcakes look delicious ! Will have to try it sometime :D The muffin liners are so cute , okay , I got the same liners ! lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh thanks Anne! You should try it, its a very nice cake and very easy to make!

      And btw you have great taste... same muffin liners ;P

      Delete
  9. These cupcakes look beautiful! Yum yum. :D

    ReplyDelete
  10. The cake has very little sugar compared to most cakes out there, which is something i am happy about. hehe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I cringe sometimes when I see how much sugar goes into making some of the other cakes, this one has little sugar which is good for kids too!

      Delete
  11. So pretty. Soon you'll be opening your own store!

    ReplyDelete
  12. AH! So pretty and nice. How I wish I could bake... Now, I could just see and drool... Sobssss!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have oven at home? Yes right, I think I saw you make pasta bake. This is very easy to make!

      Delete
  13. this is too pretty to eat! lol

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Haha my kids will gobble them out no matter pretty or not :P

      Delete
  14. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Do you believe I just had my 1st Hokkaido cake yesterday? >.<

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hehe now you know how it taste, you can bake it too!

      Delete
  16. wow, thanks for sharing. I want to try it!

    What do you mean by 'gently fold 1/3 of egg white into the egg yolk batter.'?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're welcome.

      Gently fold = use a spatula, and using slow gentle motions, scoop from centre and moving to the side of the bowl then fold it over the top, just enough to combine the egg white and egg yolk batter. This is so that you don't deflate your egg whites and get a nice light cake.

      Delete
  17. Oh no, late for the Hokkaido cupcakes, must have all gone by now! Sonia is a great cook & baker & I also want to try her recipe later! Nice job, Yen & lovely cupcake liners too!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should try this Jessie, it's really very good. And so so easy to make too!

      Delete
  18. Nice cupcakes! One question. I still don't understa you're explanation on folding the egg white.
    Can't wait to attempt baking these during my mid semester break!

    ReplyDelete
  19. Nice cupcakes! One question. I still don't understa you're explanation on folding the egg white.
    Can't wait to attempt baking these during my mid semester break!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe it's easier to explain by sharing this video link, the wonders of youtube: http://www.joyofbaking.com/OrangeChiffonCake.html

      Half way through the video, the lady will show you how to fold the egg whites into the batter.

      Delete
  20. Hi....i would like to check with u d whipping cream pipe inside d cupcake or on top of cup cake?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, the whipping cream is inside the cake... so to get more in, you use a chopstick to make a passage for the piping bag, then you pipe until the whipping cream comes to the top of the cake.

      Delete
  21. Can i use d muffin paper cup to replace d square paper cup

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Ivy, the ones I used are muffin paper cups and not the square ones. Whichever ones you use will work, you just need to adjust / watch the baking time.

      Delete
  22. Replies
    1. Cake flour is low protein flour, usually used to make delicate cakes such as chiffon cake. You can get it from the supermarket or baking supply shop. It will be labelled as cake flour.

      Delete
  23. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Hi! Your Hokkaido Chiffon cup cakes really looks delicious and beautiful. I love to eat Hokkaido Chiffon cup cakes. My place here is selling RM2.50 to RM3 for one. So expensive. So, thinking to make it myself. I am new at cake baking. Would like to ask to bake this cup cake, do I need to get a muffin cake pan? Or I just need to buy the papre cup?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Hui Hoon, you do not need a muffin cake pan, it just helps the liners stay in place. You can just get the paper cup. You need a deep, tall one so that the cake can rise.

      Delete
    2. Thanks Baby Sumo for your update. :)

      Delete
  25. Hi Baby Sumo Aka Yen,
    I just bought a packet of Musang durian and plan to bake perhaps durian cake, muffin or cream puff. In the end, not many good recipe available, but bumped into your blog, love it! Your Hokkaido cakes attracted me and of course your photography skills are excellent. Wow, a lot to learn from you. Hope to stay in touch. And will try the Hokkaido cake in these few days.
    Thanks for sharing.
    Cheers
    Callie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Callie,
      Thanks so much for your kind words. I do hope your Hokkaido cakes turn out well, feel free to share a photo of your bake on my FB page. I would love to see them.
      Btw, if u like mooncakes, maybe u can try making musang king durian snow skin mooncakes.

      Delete
  26. hi! found that they are just too many recipe for this Hokkaido cake, and reading it online just making it more and more confusing. I have a few questions and hope you can help to clarify it.
    1. can i use self raising flour instead of cake flour?
    2. your recipe mentioned beating the egg whites still stiff peak. any idea what will happen if i under beat the eggs, for example still soft peak only?
    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Hui Hoon, you can read this guide abt flour here, it will explain all the different flours with different protein content: http://www.joyofbaking.com/flour.html

      For Hokkaido cake, you need to use cake flour, if u use the SR flour, it may not be as fluffy as it shd be. You can get this easily in supermarkets or baking supply shops.

      You beat it til stiff peak to get more air into the egg white, then your cake will be light and fluffy. You must rmbr to fold gently so that you do not lose the air pockets so that your cake can rise nice and high.

      Delete
  27. Hi,
    Can you tell me where to buy the cake flour and what brand?
    i have tried 3 supermarkets and they only have SF and Superfine.
    thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, I usually get mine from this baking supply shop in Bandar Tun Hussein Onn: http://goodyfoodies.blogspot.com/2011/09/fun-food-homemade-custard-koi.html

      I have also seen it in Cold Storage and Jusco in MidValley/The Gardens.

      Delete
  28. Hi,
    I tried this recipe yesterday; but my cakes didn't turn out well.
    The texture of the cake was tough like muffin; and the surface was slightly rough after baked.

    I baked the cakes at 170Deg for about 28 mins. The timing is longer than the recipe because when I inserted a skewer at the 18-20 mins mark, it doesn't comes out clean. What could have happen?

    Questions:
    1) How do I know when the egg whites are at stiff peaks; is it when I overturned the bowl and nothing falls out?
    2) What happens if I do not fold the egg whites into the egg yolks gently?
    3) I whisk the egg whites first; before I did the egg yolk batter. When I'm taking out batches of egg whites to fold into egg yolk batter, I noticed a layer of water beneath the eggwhites? What happen? (*I cleaned the bowl dry*)

    Thanks for your recipe and answers!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Justin,

      I think you probably have overbaked the cake if the texture is so hard. Cos Hokkaido cake using this recipe is fluffy and soft. Do check a few things:

      1. Your fan for oven is off (ie use the setting without fan). You need to watch the cakes after 15-16 mins, if u watch it start deflating, u need to take it out immediately. Did u preheat the oven before u started baking? Cos the skewer shd come out clean at 18 mins if u follow the steps exactly.

      2. Yes, correct on the stiff peaks.

      3. If you do not fold the egg whites in gently, you may deflate the egg whites and your cake might not rise up as much as you like. This Hokkaido cake has texture just like chiffon cake so you need to fold it in gently.

      4. Mmmmm, on the water in egg white issue, I am just guessing - maybe u overbeat the egg whites?

      Sorry I can't be of more help, but it is very hard to diagnose your problem since I am not there. But I have tried this recipe more than 10x and it works fine for me. Pls do try again and if u have any problems, do get in touch again, we will try to troubleshoot together again.

      Delete
  29. One question ! Is this fattening ? currently super addicted to this but Im really scared that its fattening TT /:

    ReplyDelete
  30. Hi. Came across your blog when I googled Hokkaido cup cake. I tried baking it today. One prob, the cake sinked after cooling down. Any advice on how to improve this? Thks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It can be caused by a few things:
      1. did u open the oven door while baking? This will cause the cake to sink.
      2. How long did u bake it for? It can also sink if underbaked.
      3. You also have to measure the amounts accurately if not the cake will sink.

      I hope it helps, just try n repeat again following the method EXACTLY. I have done it many times with this recipe and always it turns out. If you experience any other problems, then feel free to email me and I will try my best to guide you.

      Delete
  31. ya..i did open the oven coz I wanna see if it is well baked..will take note on my second attempt.

    I also sprinkle some icing sugar as deco but once I put them into thh fridge..the icing sugar melted..

    thks for your reply.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Try to dust it before serving, the icing sugar will melt due to moisture in fridge.

      Delete
  32. Hi, sorry to disturb again. I am facing the same old prob again, puff sunk after cooling down. I took note on the 3 points u mentioned earlier but still sunk. cld it b the problem on whisking the egg whites?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Maybe or try to be more gentle when folding in the egg whites. You can find some YouTube videos to learn how to fold properly (which is how I learnt to do it) to preserve and prevent cake from sinking. Hope this helps.

      Delete
  33. hey..thks for your suggestion, I found the relevant youtube and will try again.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Hi is the milk used in the form of powder? Or liquid?

    ReplyDelete

Please drop any comments or questions you may have here. Thank you so much for reading!