Learning My ABCs (Asian Birthday Cakes)

Mainstream Western cakes that people bring to the office tend to be sweet, dense and moist—think the chocolate whisky cake from Rocket Kitchen, for instance. In contrast, Asian bakery cakes (which people tend to buy for special occasions like birthdays) differ in a few ways:

1. they are light, soft, and airy
2. they are less sweet
3. they tend to have multiple layers
4. they are covered in whipped cream
5. they tend to have detailed, maybe even over-the-top, decorations
6. bonus points for fresh fruit
7. Asian flavours like taro, durian, mango, or green tea cakes are available

Fresh cream gateau from the Gateau House website.

While you or I could easily whip up a standard cake ourselves by following various recipes from a magazine or cookbook, not many people attempt to make the Western-style cakes* that are sold in Asian countries like Hong Kong, Korea or Vietnam (I was surprised to read this style of cake is also eaten in Mauritius.). Partly, I think it is because people in Asia don't tend to have an oven (they are more likely to steam cakes instead). But it doesn't help that there are not many recipes published for the cakes sold in Asian bakeries**, and they are often quite elaborate and challenging to make at home.

* I say "Western-style cakes" because traditional Asian cakes are a different beast, from the thick and dense mooncakes, to the chewy, steamed, bite-sized kuih.

** By "Asian bakeries", I mean bakeries similar to those you would find in Asian countries, not old-school bakeries that happen to be run by Asians.

There are now plenty of Asian bakeries in Auckland, including Gateau House, La Couronne, Classic Bake House, Well-done Bakery, and Rio Kitchen.

The "Sponge"

It turns out the part of the cake which I had always thought of as "sponge" is only sponge in the general sense, an umbrella term for foam cake. The particular kind of foam cake used in Asian bakery cakes is actually a reduced sugar chiffon. You'll end up with a lighter texture than if you used a standard sponge recipe anyway.

Type of Foam Cake	Eggs	Fat	Texture	Other Comments
Sponge	Whites and yolks whipped separately	None (other than egg yolks)	Firm, yet well aerated, relatively dry
Genoise	Whole eggs	Butter	Airy, relatively dry	Rich flavour from butter. Less sweet than other foam cakes. Eggs are warmed before beating in sugar.
Chiffon	Whites and yolks whipped separately	Oil	Moist, light and springy	Rich flavour from oil. Often has added baking powder.
Angel Food Cake	Whites only	None	Delicate, light and airy	Highest sugar content to support egg whites.

There are all sorts of tips and tricks out there for baking chiffon cake, but the most important ones I found were:

• using an ungreased aluminium pan, so the cake can climb up the sides
• turning it upside down immediately after baking, optionally resting the pan on four glasses

The Cream

As you will see, the whipped cream topping was the part I struggled with the most. Freshly whipped cream tastes amazing, but I either overwhipped it and made it grainy, or it wouldn't hold its shape, and the cake looked like a mess by the time we went to cut it. No matter how hard I tried, my whipped cream did not have the amazing airiness and staying power of the commercial cakes.

I'm not sure what professional bakers use, but I wonder if it might possibly be an imitation whipped cream like Cool Whip or Pastry Pride, though I haven't seen these for sale in New Zealand, and I assume the flavour wouldn't be that great. The Cool Whip ingredients look pretty unappetising, with the main ones being hydrogenated vegetable oil and high fructose corn syrup, and containing less than 2% cream. Bakel's NZ has a new Easy Whip product that is made of dextrose, skim milk powder, vegetable oil, sugar, and stabilisers and emulsifiers. I guess that might be what you are eating if you buy something from those cheap, run-down bakeries.

Cool Whip Original ingredients from Kraft Brands website.

According to some posts online, whipped cream in bakeries holds up longer because it has a higher fat content, or has stabilisers added, such as pectin, xanthum gum or guar gum. Dr Oetker's Whip It product (available to home cooks in North America at least) contains dextrose, modified corn starch, and tricalcium phosphate.

You can achieve amazingly airy whipped cream by using canned whipped cream, as in Tatua's Dairy Whip. Nitrous oxide (N2O) is mixed into the cream and when pressure is released, foams the cream up to four times its liquid volume (compared to whipping by hand which only doubles it). Unfortunately, this whipped cream does not last long, and will go back to liquid form after 20 - 30 minutes.

Up until Lewis Road Creamery started selling double cream (48% fat) a couple of years ago, there was only one kind of cream for sale in New Zealand, with around 37% fat. I can't imagine bakeries making cakes with premium quality organic double cream, so I looked at what methods people used to stabilise their whipped cream:

• Adding milk powder - this was actually the only method I tried as I happened to have milk powder I wanted to use up. It didn't seem to make much difference for me though.
• Dissolving gelatin in hot water, then mixing into cream - the most popular method on the web, but you have to use it quickly after making it. Some also add cream of tartar.
• Using agar agar - vegetarian substitute for gelatin, either using the same amount or less.
• Cooking cornstarch before beating into cold cream - easy method but can give a grainy texture or floury flavour.
• Mixing in crème fraîche - also makes the cream tangier.
• Using processed ingredients like marshmallows, piping gel or pudding mix

Also, there's a buttercream recipe (fresh cream not needed) with rave reviews, which apparently has the texture of light whipped cream and is not too sweet. I'll definitely have to give this a go some time!

Cake Attempt #1: Chestnut Chiffon Cake

My parents gave me a bag of fresh chestnuts, so I decided to bake a cake with them in it. It really is a labour of love, because shelling chestnuts is a time-consuming exercise! Most recipes tell you to cut an X into the flat side, but I found it easier cutting a single slit along the rounded side of the chestnuts.

Shelling roasted chestnuts.

Although I had a tray full of roasted chestnuts, there was not enough there for the chestnut chiffon cake recipe I wanted to try, so I supplemented it with tinned chestnuts too.

Canned chestnuts (left) and roasted fresh chestnuts (right).

The sponge came out beautifully, though it did not rise much, presumably because I used baking paper, and did not invert the cake after baking.

Chestnut chiffon cake.

I used the fresh chestnuts in the lighter whipped cream topping, and the canned chestnuts in the intensely dark and delicious caramelly filling (enhanced with a nut flavoured liqueur).

Mixing chestnut cream.

I need to work on my technique a bit as the final cake was on the dense side, but the flavours were worth the effort!

A slice of chestnut chiffon cake.

Cake Attempt #2: Taro Chiffon Cake

Making a taro cake is a lot easier, because you can simply buy frozen taro from your local Asian grocer and steam it—it's not such a fiddly process as boiling, roasting and shelling fresh chestnuts.

Mashing steamed taro.

I used a Japanese chiffon cake recipe, and Eupho Cafe's taro filling (minus the coffee creamer). The chiffon cake came out very springy, but I found its flavour overwhelmingly eggy.

Japanese chiffon cake.

The taro filling was lumpy and solid when I first mixed it, but once I put it into the food processor for a few minutes, it turned into a smooth and fluffy spread.

Taro filling, smooth filling on top, lumpy filling at the bottom.

If it weren't for the strong egg flavour in the sponge, this would have been an excellent cake!

Cake Attempt #3: Durian Cake

In an attempt to reduce the egginess of the cake, I tried making an angel food cake, which only uses egg whites. Unfortunately, I lined the bottom of the pan with a circle of baking paper this time, and it made a crater when the cake was turned upside down.

Curved bottom of angel food cake.

It was also cloyingly sweet, though it did have a very soft and light texture. I ended up chopping it into cubes, coating it in dark chocolate, and palming it off to workmates.

Levelling the bottom of the cake.

Next, I tried Nasi Lemak Lover's Vanilla Sponge Cake. It had me baking the cake for over an hour, which was a lot longer than some other recipes, though admittedly at a lower temperature and for a higher volume of batter. The top of the cake split, and the outside seemed to have browned too much, so it was a bit dry and overcooked.

Overcooked cake.

I tried the recipe again, this time lowering the temperature at the end, turning the oven off altogether for the last 10 minutes. It rose promisingly high...

Cake rose high.

... but still cracked after further baking.

Flattened and cracked.

Although I turned it upside down for cooling, it actually shrank upwards (away from the bench), and ended up being pretty dark as well. The taste and texture of the sponge were pretty much perfect once I cut away the unsightly parts though.

Cake shrank on cooling.

With the chiffon sorted, I mixed up my own durian filling using about half a frozen durian (it takes a good few hours to thaw!) and about the same amount of sweetened whipped cream. I should have used a bit more sugar to bring out the flavour of the durian, but it seemed fine on its own, and I forgot to take into account the fact that the sponge part was not very sweet either.

Creamy flesh of thawed frozen durian.

I decorated the cake with whipped cream mixed with a bit of milk powder and icing sugar, and also added some slices of dried durian candy. Not the most beautiful of creations, but you'll love this if you like the aroma of durian!

My durian chiffon cake,

Cake Attempt #4: Mango Chiffon Cake

For my final cake, I made a mango chiffon cake with a layer of pudding mix in the middle, as well as custard (okay, maybe pastry cream is more accurate) and tinned mangoes.

I used the same chiffon recipe as before, but placed a piece of foil over the pan to protect the top of the cake once it started browning. I didn't get the same splitting and dark colouring I saw earlier, but it still sank even after being cooled upside down.

Some sinking in my chiffon.

Once you slice the top off, it doesn't really matter anymore though!

Chiffon cake, sliced horizontally.

I added less water to the mango flavoured pudding mix than instructed, so that it would have a more intense fragrance, but it was very sweet, so I thinned it out a bit again. I poured the liquid into a springform cake tin lined with baking paper, which wrinkled up from the moisture, as you can see in the picture below. After refrigeration, it set into a very slippery round of jelly which smelt more mangoey than real mangoes themselves.

Jelly-like mango pudding layer.

Although the jelly sat on top of the cake layer with no problems, the next layer (pastry cream with mango pieces which I dolloped on top) threatened to slide right off.

Pastry cream and mango layer on top of the pudding layer.

Indeed, that is exactly what happened, after the cake was transported to a restaurant, put in the fridge, and taken out again at the end of our meal. The entire top half of the cake shifted slideways, making it look like a spectacularly chaotic heap.

Top half of the cake slid to one side.

Looks aside, the cake tasted better than I expected, thanks in no small part to the Asian mango pudding mix, which also added an interesting texture contrasting with the softness of the cream and the sponginess of the chiffon. Thanks, artificial flavours and colours!

A very thin but tasty slice of mango chiffon cake.

This post is part of Our Growing Edge, a monthly blogging event aimed at inspiring us to try new things. This month, it is hosted by Pia from Joie de Vivre and Cupcakes, with the theme "party with friends".

3 Places that Magically Appear at Night in Auckland

We keep hearing about the skyrocketing house prices in Auckland, with people turning to pint-sized apartments in order to live in a central location. But our population growth is putting pressure on commercial property too. We've all seen those tiny shops and semi-permanent carts around town, and it seems that the creative uses of retail space have been taken to new heights recently.

Kebabs and "sensational chicken" being sold from a window of a convenience store.

Not only are places opening where there has previously been little foot traffic (Little and Friday's Tuck Shop and the Scratch Bakers HQ are examples of this), but they are popping up where you would never have expected to find a store at all, like Elsie's spot under the stairs near Myers Park.

Elsie is tucked away under the stairs.

The latest phenomenon that has intrigued me is the concept of stores co-sharing a space. I don't mean businesses diversifying their offerings (like Barkers having an espresso bar in their menswear shop), or even communal areas being used by multiple operators (as in food courts). Rather, I have started seeing stores take turns using the same facilities in a kind of time-sharing system.

To some degree, this was already happening at popular eateries, where tables have been known to spill into neighbouring businesses at night, when the space would otherwise have been unused.

Having dinner inside a hair salon.

Here are three eateries I've come across, which you would not have known existed at all, unless you turned up at night.

1) O Bar (오빠)

O Bar has been around for years, but during the daytime, you just see a cafe from the street.

Caffe Madison by day.

The Korean bar used to be easier to find at night, because they would hide the cafe counter behind black partitions, forming a corridor leading to the covered courtyard area of the nocturnal drinking hole.

O Bar entrance appears at night.

Now, however, they have started operating the cafe at night too, so you kind of have to know that you can walk through it for fried chicken, kimchi pancakes and more.

O Bar can be found out the back at night.

2) One Shot (소주한잔)

You might see the One Shot symbol hanging over the footpath outside the takeaway part of Kushi on Durham Street West, but you can easily be forgiven for thinking that someone had just forgotten to update their signage.

Kushi Takeaway by day.

At night, however, the Kushi shopfront is covered by what looks like roller blinds, printed with the One Shot name and Korean cuisine menu, offering a number of different dishes, from sashimi to Korean pancakes to popcorn chicken.

Night time signage on display.

3) Bien Street Stall

According to their website, Bien has six different locations around Auckland. I can tell you that there is at least one additional one, though it is not permanent. Situated where the Buns Cafe is on High Street, there is no indication that it exists at all during daylight hours.

Photo from the Buns Facebook page.

Swing by at night, however, and you will find a little stand selling Japanese street food in the cafe courtyard: okonomiyaki, yakisoba and takoyaki.

Bien street stall at night.

Have you seen any other examples of eateries that only pop up at night, on a daily basis? What other hidden gems have you come across?

Memories of Melbourne: Gazi Greek Restaurant

Auckland doesn't have much in the way of Greek eateries. The few that exist tend to be Greek-and-something places like Niko's Pizza (Greek and Italian), Nicolino (Greek and Mediterranean) or Gyros Kebabs (Greek and Middle Eastern). Recently, I came across Greek Mamas, which doesn't claim to be anything other than Greek, but that is the only such place I've seen so far.

In Melbourne, on the other hand, we kept stumbling across Greek food. No doubt this has something to do with the fact that the city has the largest Greek population outside of Greece (after Athens and Thessaloniki). Eating at one of these restaurants was, of course, high on our list of priorities.

We decided to go to Gazi, as a casual Greek canteen in the CBD owned by Australian MasterChef judge George Calombaris. Apparently named after his favourite Athens neighbourhood, he calls this street food venue his playground.

Interior of Gazi.

We turned up without a booking, not really sure what to expect. Situated in the heritage-listed former Herald and Weekly Times building, it was dark and loud, with red lines lighting the way from the bar to the dining area, where the ceiling was covered with thousands of terracotta pots. Fortunately, we got to sit at one of our favourite locations, at a counter overlooking the open kitchen.

Parallels to Depot Eatery and Oyster Bar

Almost straight away, we started noticing things that were very similar to Depot, one of our favourite casual eateries in Auckland. It had the same buzzing vibe, cutlery in tins, and overhead shelving containing bottles of alcohol; there was even the flat bread cut into triangles and served with dips (not free at Gazi, but you get to choose which dip you want).

Cutlery and paper napkins in tins.

Perhaps it was just what we ordered, but the rest of the food also reminded us of Depot. There were no oysters on the menu, but there was the woodfire grill, and an inspiring selection of vegetable sides, including Brussels sprouts and iceberg lettuce.

Open kitchen next to the bar area.

We assumed Al Brown must have come here before opening Depot, until we realised Gazi didn't yet exist at the time (it didn't open until 2013).

The Food

Our Marouli Salad (A$9.50) was the first thing to come out after our drinks. Deceptively simple with only iceberg lettuce, oregano, lemon juice and freshly-grated cheese, we were blown away by the flavour. Our waitress explained that the kefalograviera was made with a mix of sheep and goat's milk, and we looked for something sinilar as soon as we got home, in an attempt to reproduce the dish.

Marouli salad.

This was followed closely by the Garida (A$13): tiger prawns in shredded flaky pastry, perched on a bed of spicy mayo, every bit as impressive as they looked.

Garida - Crispy kataifi pastry, tiger prawn, aleppo mayo, honey, smoked almond.

We made the mistake of ordering from the Wood Fire Spit menu for our main dish. The chicken (A$28) turned out to be an absolute mountain of meat, more suited to sharing with friends. Although it was smoky and delicious, we wished we had gone for the smaller souvlakakia.

Woodfire chicken with white beans, tyrokafteri, walnut dressing.

Instead, we watched as the cone-shaped rolls flew out of the kitchen next to us, and vowed to come back and try them next time.

We had a seat next to where the French head chef was working.

Apart from the food, we particularly liked one of the house-made sodas, the kiwifruit and coconut one (A$7.50).

Drinks with our meal.

On the advice of our waitress, we also ordered a light dessert called Acropolis Now (A$12.50), without even checking what the other options were. This turned out to be something like a strawberry mousse in the shape of a Greek column, and partially covered with chocolate soil.

Acropolis Now.

Overall, the level of cooking and service at Gazi were way up there, and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening. Based on the food we had, we wouldn't have guessed it was Greek, but then again, we've never been to Greece, and its cuisine is diverse. We would love to return and try more from the menu!

Restaurant Details

Gazi
2 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, Australia
+61 3 9207 7444

Auckland Diner's Diary: June 2015

Coffee Hit

• Ceremony Cafe - Grafton cafe from a well-connected duo, with amazing-looking "sandwiches"
• Elsie - cafe under some stairs by Myers Park, run by an experienced team
• Geeks on Sainsbury - cafe in St Lukes, offering not just great coffee but also tempting food
• Little John's - coffee stop in Parnell from Eightthirty
• [Added 10 November 2015: Little Local - "organic cafe, deli, bakery & catering" in Parnell]
• [Added 10 November 2015: Up Cafe - hotel cafe in town at Quay West]

Central City Eats & Treats

• The Jefferson - whiskey bar at the bottom of Imperial Lane that also offers such American comfort food as ribs, crumbed mac 'n' cheese and apple cinammon pie
• Pepitos - the second branch of this Spanish tapas bar is now open in the Sugartree complex on Union Street
• Lalele Organic - market vendor of gelatos, sorbets and cocolatos has opened a more permanent home in a hole in the wall on Queen Street

Party in Ponsonby

• Miss Moonshines - previously found at various markets, this "low 'n' slow BBQ joint" now has a home in Lot 3 in Ponsonby, so it's easier to sample the Southern cooking from their smoker imported from Kansas
• The Street Food Collective - brainchild of the husband and wife team behind Miss Moonshines, the space opposite their new restaurant makes it easy for market vendors to pop up. There have already been rotating appearances from The Bearded Clam, Coreano, Judge Bao, The Lucky Taco, The Roaming Dive, Brooklyn Dogs, Mahurangi Oysters, and for those with a sweet tooth, Sweet Val's Ice Cream, The Pie Piper and Waffle Supreme. This Saturday, there will be a special American Bootleggers Party to celebrate the 4th of July.

Fast Food and Smoothies

• [Added 4 July 2015: Texas Chicken (known as Church's Chicken in the US) has opened in Westfield Manukau City.]
• [Added 4 July 2015: Pie Hole - pies, sandwiches and coffees in Glen Innes]
• [Added 3 November 2015: Johnny Mango - cold-press juices, dairy-free smoothies, sandwiches, and salads, in Westfield St Lukes (and from July in Albany) ]

Coming Soon

• Ralph's - bar and eatery just off Dominion Road (where Serafin used to be), from the people behind Vinyl Coffee Shop
• The Glass Goose - rooftop bar near the Sky Tower
• Pepitos - third branch of this tapas bar is opening in Parnell
• Menino Meneiro - Brazilian food truck currently being done up
• Graze and Feast is an exciting new Friday night food market in the CBD (Shed 10), with its opening night this Friday! [Added 14 July 2015: Unfortunately, it was canned after just two weeks.]

Events (Street Food Galore)

• Graze and Feast opening night (mentioned above) on Friday 3 July
• American Bootleggers Party (mentioned above) on Saturday 4 July
• The Food Show is in Auckland from 30 July to 2 August
• Heart of the City is making August Auckland's Restaurant Month, with special menus and events, including Street Eats on Saturday 29 August.