Hokkaido Cupcakes (Original)

I'm supposed to blog this yesterday but I was too busy with my work and Father's Day cake. So, yeah - here it is - Hokkaido Cupcakes. The light and puffy cake with soft cream inside and fresh fruits on top. I innovated mine with some almond nibs added on top. I have excess of them.

Hokkaido Cupcakes 

Adapted recipe taken originally from Eva Yu and steps referred to Hs Hs Vi  

This recipe yields 8 cupcakes 

I have my coconut Ferero on top - that's bookmarked, mine. =P 

INGREDIENTS

(A)

4 egg yolks

1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla extract 

25g sugar 

40g full cream milk 

70g low protein flour (cake flour)

20g Canola cooking oil 

(B)

4 egg whites 

1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar 

50g sugar 

(C) - Filing 

Topping cream 

(D) - Decoration 

Fresh fruits 

Almond nibs 

UTENSILS

Hokkaido paper baking cups - Expensive =( but comes with quality and beauty

Oven 

Weighing scale 

Piping bag 

Spatula 

Mixing bowls 

Knife 

Non-usable pan + bowl (for double boiling) 

Electric whisk 

Hand whisk 

Chopstick 

STEPS

1. Preparing egg yolk mixture: By using double boiling method, melt all ingredients (A) except cake flour. 
2. Remove from heat and let it cool a while in room temperature. Add in cake flour and mix well. The egg yolk mixture should be smooth and not starchy
3. Preparing egg white mixture: By using an electric mixer, whisk the egg whites until huge bubbles are formed. 
4. Add in cream of tartar and continue whisking. 
5. Add in 1/3 of sugar at a time into the egg white mixture and continue beating. 
6. Stop whisking when your egg white mixture reaches stiff peak stage.
7. Preparing the batter: Mix 1/3 of egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture using spatula with folding method. 
8. Add another 1/3 of egg white mixture into the egg yolk mixture and fold gently. 
9. Add everything to the remaining egg white mixture and fold gently.
10. Preheat oven at 110 degrees Celsius.  
11. Filling up the cups: Get batter into a piping bag. 
12. Pipe out the batter into each cup until it reaches 9/10 full of the cup. 
13. Knock the cups filled with batter a few times on the table to get rid of air bubble and uneven surface. 
14. Baking the cakes: Bake using up and bottom fire. Put a tray of water underneath the baking tray. Bake at 120 degrees Celsius for 15 minutes. Continue baking another 15 minutes at 130 degree Celsius. Continue baking another 15 minutes at 140 degree Celsius. Continue baking 10 minutes at 150 degree Celsius. Using only the top fire, bake another 5 minutes at 160 degree Celsius. 
15. Remove cakes from the oven and let them cool down to room temperature without the fan. 
16. Putting in filing: Whip topping cream. 
17. Poke a small hole in the middle of each cupcake using a chopstick. 
18. Pipe in the topping cream through the hole. Leave some cream on top of the cake surface.
19. Decorating the cake: Put some fresh fruit on the cream. 
20. Sprinkle almond nibs. 
21. Chilling in the fridge: Chill in the fridge for about 2 hours before serving. 

NOTES:

• This type of baking method requires different temperature and time settings. It's to ensure that the cake is properly baked slowly and reduce its tendency to shrink. Regulate and monitor your cakes if you are not familiar with your oven temperature settings. Make sure the top surface of the cake is dry. One of the biggest reasons that cause this cake to shrink and collapse is the present of water in the cake. Make sure your cake is really baked dry enough before you get them out from the oven. 
• Do not allow yours cake to cool down by switching on high fan. Just let them cool down slowly in room temperature will do. I guess this is to prevent the cakes from having sudden temperature change which cause it to shrink. 
• Remember to fold in the egg yolk and egg whites properly to ensure your cake is really soft and fluffy at the end. 
• Using a piping bag to fill up the cups with batter is to ensure that batter doesn't touch other parts of the paper cup. Its main purpose is to get everything poured over neatly. 
• Use double cooling method method when you're whisking your topping cream. 
• Start piping cream only after your cake has completely cooled down.
• Just if you are curious - I'm using B sized eggs. Most recipes call for A sized eggs. My house only has B sized eggs all these while.  

北海道杯子蛋糕

大约可做8杯

A

4蛋黄

半茶匙VANILLA香精

25克糖

40克牛奶（我用20克奶粉+水= 40克奶水）

70克低粉

20克CANOLA食油

B

4蛋白

¼ 茶匙TARTAR粉

50克糖

C [内陷]

适量植物奶油（打发）

适量芋头香精

D  [设计]

任意水果

杏仁碎粒

糖粉

1. 中小火隔水方式，溶化材料A除了低粉。不要煮滚。
2. 待凉一会儿，加入低粉，迅速搅拌均匀，形成蛋黄糊。
3. 打发蛋白直到大泡沫出现，加入TARTAR粉。
4. 分几次1/3的糖加入蛋白打发到湿至硬性中间的阶段。将1/3的蛋白糊加入进蛋黄糊内，以刮刀上下搅拌均匀。
5. 把混合了的蛋糕湖倒入剩余的蛋白糊内，以同样方式搅拌均匀。
6. 将蛋糕湖装进挤花袋内。
7. 将纸杯倒到9分满（包括最顶部一起算在内）。
8. 敲打杯子几下。
9. 放一个盛水了的盘在烤炉最底层，将蛋糕烤在下层。温度和时间只供参考。110度（15分钟），120度（15分钟）,130度（15分钟），150度（5 - 10分钟。
10. 烤出来后，在桌面上敲打杯子几下(以避免回缩)，放在没有风扇底下纳凉。
11. 蛋糕凉了后，用筷子插个洞在中间。
12. 将打发了的植物奶油与适量的芋头香精混合。然后，挤入蛋糕中间。
13. 设计蛋糕：随意。
14. 建议冷藏4个小时以上再食用。

提示:

• 用手按蛋糕顶部，如果没有听到沙沙声，就代表可以出炉了。否则，请继续烤；不然，蛋糕出炉后回缩几率很高。
• 蛋白打到硬性就会使蛋糕口感较硬。湿就会比较软。

Here's some photos - 

The process of preparing egg yolk mixture. 

The process of preparing egg white mixture. 

The process of preparing batter.

This is how the batter should look like. 

With some gas inside, it looks like bubbles. 

Get everything filled up in the piping bag - 

I didn't put nozzle. 

All I want is just to pipe into the paper container neatly.

9/10 full 

For 4 eggs, I can only make 8 cups. 

That's cuz I put a lot of batter - outside sell mia all put little bit. 

I hope that you could see this clearly. 

Ta-dah after decorating them. 

It's supposed to look like some kind of bug/butterfly on top.

I am very satisfied with the product this time. 

After putting them in the fridge for 2 days, they still taste soft and yummy. 

I didn't even cover them up. 

The cake is really delicate and soft. 

Don't think that the crust on top is hard - 

It is not at all when you bite it. 

This desert is really amazing. 

By the way, do you know that the Hokkaido cupcakes are sold at a crazy price outside?

And yet, they don't look and taste as good as DIY homemade.