Milk Longan Pudding / Agar Agar

LONGAN LONGAN LONGAN LONGAN! My craving just wont stop! Lol.
Another craving of the week, milk longan pudding! <3
It's been years since I had it. My aunt used to make it last time and I love it! Sadly she just don't make them anymore. =3=

It's really easy to make and very less time is needed! I highly recommend to try it!

Recipe adapted from Jiayeen

Ingredients:

* 1500ml Water
* 1/2 packet Agar-agar Strips
* 150g Caster Sugar
* 3 leaves Pandan Leaf
* 1 tin Longan in Heavy Syrup
* 1 tin "Carnation" Evaporated Creamer
* Plastic container with cover

Method:

1. Place water, agar-agar strips, caster sugar & pandan leaves in a pot, bring to boil. Turn off the fire & remove pandan leaves.

2. Pour in longan syrup & evaporated Creamer, stir well. Leave to cool.
^Don't leave it cool! The mixture will solidify at room temperature.

3. Apportion 1 tin of longan fruit into the mini-containers & pour in the agar-agar mixture.

I've left pandan leaves out of my pudding because I've forgotten to bring it back from my house.. XD

Remember to boil the agar agar strips till it melt thoroughly~

Let the mixture cool under a fan for about 10minute before putting it into the container. Not too long! Because it will solidify at room temperature! Leave it continue cooling down to room temperature in the container then put it into the fridge.

Tadah~ The ugly one that I kept it for myself. XD


The pretty one for my friend


It is pretty important to pick, or more like lucky draw on a can of good canned longan. The can I bought wasn't made with fresher longan. Although it is canned, but sometime it really depends on your luck in getting a good or bad batch of it. Good ones will have similar crisp with fresh longan and bad ones are similar with lychee. Not really that bad but I didn't quite like the texture of bad longan. D=

I was really afraid if the pudding didn't turn out well because the canned longan tasted a little sour. I'm glad it didn't! I personally prefer a creamier taste, so probably I'll try with 1 and a half can of evaporated milk next time. =D

Enjoy!

Good luck in trying!
I hope you enjoyed the recipe as well. ^_^

With love,
Aiko

Pressure Cooker Moist Butter Cake

As I was craving for something buttery and along with my friend's birthday is approaching, there comes the butter cake! I've used a pressure cooker this time to bake the cake instead of an oven. Oh well, my mom was in a bad mood and she disallowed me from using the kitchen. I had to borrow my hostel mate's pressure cooker since no one that I known of has an oven to borrow me. ;-; It didn't turn out as what I expect it is, still it's a nice try using pressure cooker to bake. XD

Recipe adapted from MariasMenu

1. Butter – 125 gm, softened
2. Vanilla essence – 1 tsp
3. Caster sugar – 1 1/4 cups, (275 gm)
4. Eggs – 3, at room temp
5. Plain flour – 1 cup, (150 gm)
6. Self-raising flour – 1/2 cup, (75 gm)
7. Bicarbonate of soda – 1/4 tsp
8. Milk – 1/2 cup (125 ml) at room temp

Preheat oven to 180 C, 10 mins before baking. Grease a deep 20 cm/8 inch round cake tin; line base with baking paper. Beat ingredients in medium bowl on low speed with electric mixer until just combined. Beat on medium speed until mixture is smooth and changed to a paler colour. Pour mixture into prepared pan.

Bake cake in the preheated oven for 40-50 mins or until the skewer inserted comes out clean. Stand cake 5 minutes then turn onto wire rack; turn cake top-side up to cool. Dust cake with a little sifted icing sugar, if desired.

Notes: The batter might look curdled, but its ok, go ahead and bake it. If you want a caramel flavor, substitute 1 1/3 cups (275 gm) firmly packed brown sugar for the caster sugar.

Substitutes:

Substitution for self raising flour – to get 1 cup self-raising flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder+ 1/4 tsp salt to 1 cup all purpose flour. (source: http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html)

Substitution for caster sugar: to get 1 cup caster sugar. process 1 cup granulated sugar (usual sugar) in a food processor/mixer until fine, but don’t powder it like icing sugar. (source: http://www.joyofbaking.com/IngredientSubstitution.html)

I don't really know how to deal with the pressured cooker. I'm using electric pressure cooker instead of the stove top type, yet all recipe out there are for stove top pressure cooker. oTL So? Screw it, anyhow bake! LOL!





I've prepared the dry ingredients all together at home and pack it into one container to bring it to my hostel.




My hand being very itchy, I've added a teaspoon of cocoa powder and sprinkle of cinnamon powder. That's why the cake became caramel color. XD

No picture of the whole cake because I didn't manage to snap a picture of it before it is chopped into pieces.. >_>;

Baked it at high pressure for 5 minute and low pressure for roughly 50minute. I didn't close the cover tight enough, so I'm not sure if that affected my end product. D=

The cake is indeed MOIST, like steamed cake. >_>; It is not underbaked, but it felt dense like.. Banana cake? My friends says it's nice but I'm unsure about it myself. Personally I didn't quite like it... >_>; Not buttery enough! D:<
Guess I'll just go with a different recipe next time! With pressure cooker if possible. XD

I didn't quite enjoy this recipe, so well I hope you enjoyed reading the post instead! XDDDD

Have a nice day!

With love,
Aiko