Deliciously moist hokkaido chiffon cupcake

This is a really, really delicious recipe! I mean it!

And it's so easy.. really! Who would have thought! (^^)

Anyways, the hokkaido cake craze started last year, but I have no interest in a cake that's sold out before noon! And it costs a bomb too! Ok, not a bomb, but pricey enough.. And now that I know how easy it is to make, I really think it's should be priced cheaper ^^!

I finally had my first taste of hokkaido cake two weekends ago. Big and baby pig wanted me to take them to the bakery to get mama pig her mother's day pressie, a hokkaido cake with strawberry filling. Had to wake up early on a saturday morning to do just that. And you know what, hordes of people were there too, buying boxes and boxes of hokkaido cake (?!).  Anyways, the cake came in small paper boxes like a cupcake, filled with a custard filling. The sponge and custard was really light-as-air and melt-in-the-mouth. Nice.

So I thought I'd check out some recipes online and found one I like from not-thekitchensink, who adapted from jessie of hearty bakes.

Hokkaido chiffon cupcake (adapted from not-thekitchensink and jessie of hearty bakes)

4 egg yolks
70g caster sugar (consider using 40-50g)
1 tsp vanilla extract
80ml fresh milk (I used Farmhouse low-fat fresh milk, no prob ^^ )
60ml corn/sunflower oil

135g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder

6 egg whites
50g caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 180C.

2. Whisk egg yolk with 70g (I'll definitely use less next time) sugar till pale and thick.

3. Add vanilla extract, milk and oil. Mix till well combined.

4. Sift flour and baking powder. Fold into cake batter in two batches.

5. Whisk egg whites till foamy and add 50g sugar bit by bit. Beat till you get soft firm peaks.

6. Gently fold egg whites mixture into cake batter in two batches.

7. Fill cupcake liners till 3/4 full. Bake for 20 minutes.

the rise, before the fall..

8. When cupcakes are cool, fill cake with filling (in piping bag with nozzle) by pushing the piping nozzle into the centre of the cake and pipe in filling (you'll feel your cake expanding.. stop when the filling starts to come up to the top). 

all wrinkly and crinkly now

The cupcakes turned out really well. I tried one right out of the oven and thought it was quite well done - a light sponge with a beautiful texture.. however, it probably is not as light(-as-air) as the ones from the bakery. Anyways, I still think this is an achievement, cos I hardly ever get my chiffons right (^^)! It was however a tad sweet, in my opinion.

Though the sponge cake was good, it was not spectacular.. yet. Something was still missing. The custard filling, perhaps? Err.. what do you do with custard powder expired in 2006? On to plan B.. what plan B???

Strawberry cream filling

200ml whipping cream
150 ml strawberry pie filling

1. Whisk cream till stiff. Do not over-whip. I did, and wasted 200ml worth of cream (><)

2. Fold in strawberry pie filling gently. Add however much you like, to your taste ^^

Yes, the mind works in amazing ways.. especially when it comes to making do (^^||). And I remembered an old super easy favorite frosting/filling.. strawberry filling with whipped cream (^^). A frosting/filling that makes everything EXTRAORDINARY!

And voila! An amazingly spectacular deliciously moist melt-in-the-mouth hokkaido chiffon cake! I really mean it! (^^)