Skip to main content

Mini Osmanthus Chiffon Cake




Osmanthus  aka 'Gui Hua' are tiny golden yellow flowers that impart a pleasant and sweet smelling fragrance which can be detected from afar.  My first encounter with this flower was during my trip to Hangzhou, China.  Our tour group was taken to some historical museum and I was standing under a tree full of beautiful golden little flowers which were very fragrant.   Out of curiosity, I enquired our tour guide and was told that, that was a "Gui-Hua' tree  which also brought to my mind the popular 'Gui Hua Gao' that was often mentioned as one of the sweet delicacies that only the ancient Chinese emperors and their royalties could enjoy.

Other than tossing some dried Osmanthus into my Pu-Er tea I was looking for some other ways to make use of these tiny weeny flowers.   What next, but to surf the net to find out.  I  was glad that I stumbled  upon  Vivian Pang's   post on  Brown sugar 'Gui Hua' chiffon cake.  I didn't bake a whole cake but instead made them in cupcake liners.  Tweaked the recipe a bit as I didn't strain out the Osmanthus, just use up the Osmanthus as  well as the brew to see how the cakes will turn out.  These cakes were very aromatic, fluffy, soft and the sweet smelling fragrance lingered in my kitchen even till the next day.
















The tiny specks of flowers were barely visible but the sweet, strong flowery aroma said it all!

Recipe for Mini Osmanthus Chiffon Cake  
(adapted from Vivian Pang's Brown Sugar 'Gui-Hua' chiffon cake with slight modification)

Ingredients

(A)  50 gm brown sugar
       2  Tbsp dried Osmanthus
       150 ml water
(B)  4 egg yolks
       1/4  tsp salt
       40 ml vegetable oil
(C)  100 gm superfine flour, sifted
        1  tsp baking powder
(D)  5 egg whites
        30 gm caster sugar

Method

  1. Bring (A) to the boil, let cool, set aside.
  2. Cream (B) in a mixing bowl till creamy and light, add in the cooled syrup (A) on low speed.
  3. Fold in sifted flour and baking powder.  Mix till smooth with a balloon whisk.
  4. Whisk egg whites till frothy, add in sugar gradually and beat till stiff but not dry.
  5. Fold in 1/3 egg whites into the yolk mixture till well incorporated.
  6. Slowly pour in the remaining egg whites and fold in gently till well combined.
  7. Spoon mixture into individual cupcake liners and arrange on a baking tray.
  8. Bake in a preheated oven @ 180 deg C for 15 mins., switch to 175 deg.C for another 15 mins. till golden brown.  Test with a skewer till it comes out clean.
  9. Immediately invert the cup cakes onto a wire rack to cool before serving.


 I'm submitting this post to  Weekend Herb Blogging # 331 hosted by

Comments

  1. Wow, what a special flavour of chiffon served in this beautiful cupcake liners! I always heard of "gui hua gao" but never thought of using it to make chiffon! I made a different flavour of chiffon today, share with you later!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love this. Have been wantint to try cakes with Osmanthus. Wonder how it taste like? Did you get my hint?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, Chris, I got your hint loud and clear. Just too bad that you live across the causeway.
      Tastewise, ok, moist and soft but very fragrant.

      Delete
  3. Hi Cheah, your chiffon cake look good. I presume the aroma of gui hua must be very nice.
    Lovely cake liners. :)

    Have a nice day.

    ReplyDelete
  4. never use Osmanthus in cooking or baking before,,your mini chiffon cake must be full of flower aroma, nice one!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow....I can imagine how fragrant these chiffon cuppies are;) they look fluffy and soft too.

    ReplyDelete
  6. i've tried osmanthus tea and the taste is very fresh. i also see quite a number of osmanthus bakes at one time but hv not tried out any yet. I might just give it a try one day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you must give it a try and see whether you like it.

      Delete
  7. The roundup of WHB 331 is pubblished, if you like it this is the link
    http://zibaldoneculinario.blogspot.it/2012/04/ecco-il-raccoltoand-now-round-up.html
    Bye and thanks elena

    ReplyDelete
  8. nice cake. i must try to bake today. thank you for your recipe. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You're most welcome. Do let me know how it turns out.

      Delete

Post a Comment

Thanks for dropping by. Please click on 'Anonymous' if you do not have a blog but do leave your name after the comment because I would like to know who you are.

Popular posts from this blog

Hakka Mee aka Hakka Noodles

This is yet another one dish meal, Hakka Mee/Hakka Noodles. These noodles are quite similar to Won Ton Noodles, except that they  have less lye water and the noodles are a bit flat and thicker.  They're served with bean sprouts with a generous serving of minced meat sauce. the noodles, ........... need to loosen them up before cooking serve with chilli sauce topped with chopped garlic ..... that will do the trick ..... yummy! Recipe for Hakka Mee aka Hakka Noodles Ingredients 180 gm Minced Pork 60 gm Garlic  -  chopped 200 gm Bean Sprouts 4 dried Chinese mushrooms - soaked and diced 3/4 cup water 1 Tsp cornflour + 3 Tbsp of water 3 servings of Hakka noodles Oil for frying. Garnishing  -  Chopped spring onions Seasoning for minced pork 1/2 Tsp Salt 1  Tsp sugar 1  Tbsp  Fish sauce 1  Tsp dark soya sauce A dash of pepper Preparation Saute the chopped garlic with 1 Tbsp oil, fry till fragrant Add in the seasoned minced pork, diced mushroo

Herbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Gao

H erbal Jelly ~ Gui Ling Ga o literally translated means 'Tortoise Jelly' is one of my family's favourite desserts.  It's much more economical to prepare this at home for you'll need to fork out between Rm 9 to Rm 11 for a bowl of this cooling dessert in any of those herbal tea outlets.  This soothing jelly, served chilled, is supposed to be able to help reduce our body heat, helps to get rid of toxins and is believed to be good for the skin thus culminating a healthier complexion.

Double Boiled Herbal Chicken Soup

Double boiling is slow cooking ........ means to put a soup pot or any covered ceramic or steel pot inside a bigger pot, immerse in boiling water, and let the soup cook at a lower temperature.  Hence the soup is cooked from heat generated from the boiling water and not from direct heat source. Double boiling lets the soup ingredients slowly release their nutrients into the soup, thus making it tasty and wholesome.  It's a long cooking process, roughly averaging 2 to 4 hours.  The tip is not to open the cover to check on the soup as it'll bring down the temperature and affect the cooking process.  The plus point is there's little evaporation and the soup will not boil over.  The only thing is to monitor that there's enough water in the bigger pot and not let it run dry.  Of course, nowadays, the slow cooker is another alternative to double boiling, saves the hassle of checking the water level.