GOLDEN SPONGE CAKE

Ingredients :

(Recipe adapted from here)

*makes a 6.3" (internal diameter) x 3" height round cake tin with removable bottom (not a non-stick)

50g butter (salted)

50g cake flour
3 egg yolks (A size)
55g milk

3 egg whites (A size)
50g caster sugar
6g corn starch

 Method :

1. Prepare a cake pan, don’t need to line paper.
2. Immediate separate cold eggs from fridge (easy to separate this way) into two mixing bowls. Set aside to return to room temperature.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan, once you see small bubbles, remove from heat.
4. Immediately add in flour, quickly stir to become batter, then add in milk, mix well.
5. Add in egg yolk one at a time, stir well on each addition. The batter is slightly runny if compare to normal chiffon batter.
6. Mix sugar and corn starch together. Beat egg whites till foamy, gradually add in sugar and corn starch mixture (in three batches) and continue beat until approaching stiff peaks (meringue stand straight up with a little curve at the tip) or till stiff peaks (this stage is a bit difficult to fold with egg yolk mixture)
7. Take 1/3 of meringue and use a hand whisk to mix well with egg yolk batter.
8. Fold in 1/3 of meringue and use a silicone spatula, gently fold with egg yolk batter till slightly combined. Fold in the balance meringue and gently fold till well combined.
9. Pour into cake tin, bake at pre-heated oven at 140C (no fan) for 25mins at low rack, then increase to 170C (no fan) for another 25mins.
10. Once baked, turn your chiffon tin upside down and cool completely before remove from the tin.

SWISS MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM
(Recipe and step by step instructions adapted from here)

Ingredients :
60gm egg white (about 2 large whites)
100gm sugar
170gm unsalted butter (taken out from fridge and cut into 10-12 small pieces just before you start to heat the egg whites)

Method : (instructions are adapted to tropical weather and hand held mixer)
1. Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream.
(egg whites in buttercreams are safe for consumption once it reaches 65C, to know how much is 65C w/o a thermometer, just mix 250gm ice with 500ml boiling water. Stir the water gently and wait until all ice has melted, then feel the water. It is approximately there)

2. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Put the bowl into a basin of water. The water should feel cool, like tap water on a rainy day. Do not use very cold water, not icy water. Beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 5 minutes.  

3. Now add in add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. 


Important:
Temperature: If you have a room temperature and humidity, try to add 3-4 pices of ice cubes into the water in step (3) when you add in the butter to prevent the whole mixture's temperature from going too high. The movement of the mixer will heat up the buttercream. Temperature plays an important role whether cream or soup will form. Too cold and the butter can't get fluffy, too hot and you'll get runny soupy cream.
Butter: It must be at 19-23C. Most recipes call for butter to be at room temperature. Yes. But that is non tropical room temperature. Our room temperature can be somewhere 28-37C. So, if you leave your butter to come to our room temperature, failure is not far from grasp. The butter should not be shiny. It should be matte in colour, and you will be able to hold it firmly with your fingers like what you see in the picture and soft enough to be dented thoughout with some pressure. Eggs: Do not use pastuerized eggs. The egg whites won't melt the sugar. 


Common types of buttercream
1. Simple buttercream -icing sugar and buter. Less stable in tropical weather.
2. Italian buttercream -sugar and water cooked to soft ball stage, poured over beaten egg whites and then beaten with butter. Very stable
3. Swiss meringue buttercream -egg whites and sugar heated together, then beaten like a meringue and beaten with butter. Stable.
4. French buttercream -method similar to italian buttercream, but yolks are used in place of whites. Less stable


How to make checkerboard cake
(Please refer to the link here)