Chinese Fresh Fruit Cake

Recipe updated April 28, 2024: Since publishing this recipe almost 10 years ago, I have made numerous modifications to improve the recipe.

We all want to feel like we belong. Nothing can be more true than my longing for others to include my nut-allergic little man at social gatherings involving food. In the food allergy world, we keep hearing, "exclude the food, not the child". While I wholeheartedly agree that we should exclude the food, the practicality of this in a society centered around food often makes this task impossible. Since food is part of the social norm and how we bond, I often wondered why don't we adapt the food or find an allergy friendly alternative so a food allergy child can be included?

For the past year or so, Chinese fresh fruit cake seems to be the cake of choice. No, this is not the fruit cake that gets passed around at Christmas like a hot potato. This cake is light and slightly sweet, decorated with slices of fresh fruit and frosted with fresh whipping cream sandwiched between two layers of light and fluffy sponge cake. This is the good stuff. And it generally costs a pretty penny, averaging $30-$40 for a 7" cake at a reputable Chinese bakery in Vancouver.

At these events, while everyone chows down on the cake, my little man always looks at me with a glimmer of hope. I would whisper to him that it may contain nuts (as certain bakeries decorate their fresh fruit cake with sliced almonds). At 2 years of age, he is learning to accept that he cannot eat certain foods. As usual, I always have a safe snack available and he is happy that I had thought to include him. I have noticed that as he grows older, he notices everyone happily sharing the same treat while he is given something different. I feel the exclusion too when my little man is excluded from these events. Sometimes, I would eat the same safe snack as my little man to show him a little solidarity.

Hence my need to learn to make this darned fresh fruit cake.

To be honest, I have always been intimidated by how labour intensive it is to make a Chinese fresh fruit cake. However, after I made it three times, I realized that making this cake is no different than any other cake I have made. In fact, I have found that this cake is quite easy, provided that you carefully read all the instructions and follow it.

My Adaptations

• I found the original recipe to be quite sweet and halved the sugar in the whipping cream recipe.
• I also did not use almonds in my finished cake as my little man has a nut allergy. In lieu of almonds, you can use dried coconut flakes or shaved chocolate to decorate the sides. Please make sure to read the labels to avoid cross contamination. I opted to leave the sides undecorated to let the flavors of fresh fruit shine through. 
• Having made this cake at least 60 times since publishing in 2015, I now use parchment paper to line my baking pans, and also add the sugar later on in the process. 

Most of all, I want to thank Mika at 350 Degree Oven for posting and sharing this wonderful recipe. Armed with Mika's recipe, my little man was finally able to have a slice of Chinese fresh fruit cake, just like everyone else.

Ingredients
6 large eggs, separated
12 tablespoon white sugar, divided
1/2 tsp table salt
1 tsp clear vanilla extract (regular vanilla extract will work as well)
1/2 cup cold water
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup cake flour (do not substitute in AP flour)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cream of tartar  

475 ml (~1 pint) heavy whipping cream
3 tbsp white sugar

Fresh fruit to decorate: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, kiwi, peach/necterine, cantaloupe or honeydew (you generally want to use fruits with a soft flesh). Please do not use canned, frozen or dried fruit in this cake.

1 cup chopped fresh fruit (I usually like to use the same fruit as I used to decorate the cake. This is the perfect place to use those end pieces not suitable for decoration).

Directions
1. Separate the egg yolk from the egg white; be careful not to contaminate the egg white with any egg yolk otherwise the egg whites will not whip properly. I like using my hands to separate the egg yolk from the egg white. I always use three bowls: one for the egg yolks, one for the egg whites and one bowl for the egg that I just cracked to check to make sure the egg white in the bowl is not contaminated. This way, if you have some egg yolk in the egg whites, you can easily discard the contaminated bowl without having to discard your whole batch.

2. To the bowl of egg yolks, add 6 tablespoons of sugar, 1/2 tsp of salt, 1 tsp of clear vanilla extract.

3. Using a hand blender, beat the egg yolks until the mixture is smooth.

4. Add 1/2 cup cold water and 1/3 cup canola oil to the egg yolk mixture. Beat until smooth.


5. In a bowl, sift 1 cup of cake flour and 1 teaspoon baking powder. Do NOT add cream of tartar!

6. Pour the sifted flour mixture into the egg yolk batter and beat until just combined; do not over mix. I personally prefer to beat the mixture until only a few traces of flour remain and folding the rest of the batter by hand with a spatula.

7. Detach your whisks and wash it thoroughly in warm soapy water. Dry the whisks thoroughly with a paper towel to remove all traces of oil and fat.

8. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

9. With your clean and dry whisks, beat the egg whites until it is foamy. Then add 6 tablespoons sugar and 1/4 tsp cream of tartar until the egg whites are stiff and should hold if you try to tip the bowl. This can take a while, up to 3 to 5 minutes in some cases. Be patient.

10. Using a flat spatula, stir in 1/3 of the egg whites into the egg yolk batter.

11. Then, gently fold (using figure 8 motions) in another 1/3 of the egg whites.

12. Lastly, gently fold in the remaining egg whites with your spatula. Do not over mix. It is okay if your cake batter has streaks of egg white throughout. Over mixing will result in a denser cake which is the opposite of what we want to achieve.

13. Line your cake pans with parchment paper (do not use wax paper). Divide the batter evenly between 2 cake pans. I used two 9" round cake pans but 8" cake pans work just as well (you will need to adjust the baking time).

14. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, depending on your oven. In my oven, it took 30 minutes to bake two 9" cake pans. I have also tested switching the cake pans half way through and have found that leaving the cakes alone to bake uninterrupted worked the best. Bake until the sides of the cake look like they are pulling away from the cake pan. Once the cakes look golden brown and the edges look like it is pulling away, turn off the oven and leave it in the oven for another 5 minutes.


15. Allow the cakes to cool upside down on a cooling rack. This step is important as otherwise the cake will deflate if allowed to cool upright.

16. Once the cake has cooled completely, run a knife along the edge of the cake pan to loosen it. At this point, you can either use it right away or store it in the fridge in a tight lidded container lined with parchment paper for up to a day. If you choose the latter option, make sure to take the cake out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before you frost the cake.


17. In a large bowl, pour in the whipping cream. Beat until the whipping cream forms soft peaks. Add in 3 tablespoons of sugar and beat until the whipping cream is just about to form stiff peaks. 


18. In a small bowl, mix in 1 cup of whipped cream with 1 cup of fresh fruit.

19. Place the cake right side up on a cake board or a cutting board covered with aluminum foil. Using an offset spatula, spread a thin layer of whipped cream on the top. Then spread the fresh fruit and whipped cream mixture evenly over the cake.

20. Place the second cake upside down on top of the fresh fruit mixture. Frost the top and sides with whipped cream.

21. Place the whole cake in the fridge uncovered to allow the whipped cream to firm up for at least 15 to 30 minutes.

22. Meanwhile, slice and prepare the fresh fruit. Place the sliced fruit on a clean and dry paper towel to absorb any excess moisture. I should note that you should only use fresh fruit, not canned, not frozen, and certainly not dried fruit. The best thing to do is to use fruits in season as they are the most economical, and taste the best.

23. Take the cake out of the fridge and smooth the whipped cream with an offset spatula. Decorate with sliced fruit. At this point, you can either chill the cake for up to 4 hours (cover with a loose lid to prevent the cake absorbing other smells from your fridge) or serve the cake right away for immediate consumption. Now it's time for me to go work off all the calories from eating three cakes within one week!!

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Source: Adapted from The 350 Degree Oven

Jamba Juice Strawberries Wild Smoothie Copycat Recipe

Summer used to be my favorite season of the year. At the end of each school year, I would happily draw up a list of "Must Do Activities" and check them off as I accomplished them.

I mean, what's not to like about Summer? Warm days, no school, later bedtime, and endless playing around outside (unchaperoned) with the only mandate to return home before it got dark. I rode my trusty bike everywhere, read all of my favorite books and met up with friends to play. I basked in the warm Summer sun for hours on end.

Since I have transitioned to the role of being a Stay At Home Mom, my days are filled with activities for the little man. While I may not enjoy Summers as much since I have become a heat wimp with a never-ending to do list, I experience sheer joy watching my son playing at the water park, riding his bike, kicking a soccer ball or blowing bubbles. Most of these things are a daily Summer time ritual for us since the little man loves playing outside.

To cope with the intense heat wave we had lately, we would cool off with this delicious Jamba Juice strawberries wild smoothie copycat recipe. I love this strawberry smoothie so much that I have been making it on a daily basis since my discovery 3 weeks ago.

For us, this is the perfect Summer time drink: cold, refreshing and full of nutrients. The best part about this recipe is that it is takes no time to prepare, so you can take this smoothie with you to the park. It is a great way to hydrate and energize your little ones and yourself as you bask in the summer sun (or hide in the shade like I do these days!). This is one recipe that is definitely on my "Must Do" list for the Summer.

Ingredients
3/4 cup pure apple juice (I like Sunrype 100% Pure Apple Juice)
1 cup fresh strawberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 frozen banana, peeled
3/4 cup ice cubes
2 tbsp honey

Directions
1. In a blender, add the ingredients in the following order: apple juice, strawberries, yogurt, frozen banana, ice cubes and honey. Blend on high for 10 seconds or longer until the ingredients are fully blended and no ice chunks remain. Serve immediately.

Source: Slightly adapted from Rasa Malaysia

Red Bean (Azuki) Paste (Free of Top Allergens)

My mom loves red bean. Growing up, our pantry was always stocked with at least a bag or two of dried red beans. We regularly had red bean steamed buns, red bean soup, red bean glutinous rice balls (recipe here), red bean pancakes, red bean and rice; see a common theme?

As a child I loved red bean. But I went through a phase in my 20s when I was not a fan of red bean and would cringe every time I see it. I guess after many years of not eating it ALL. THE. TIME., I started liking red bean again.

Recently, for Chinese New Year, I made Sweet Red Bean Glutinous Rice Balls. It brought back good memories of my childhood as I carefully bit into each glutinous rice ball and savored the smooth sweet red bean paste.

This red bean paste recipe is easy but requires some time to soak and cook the red beans. Traditionally, red bean paste does not have butter in it (at least not my mom's version) but I like the addition of butter in red bean paste as it adds a richer taste. My little man ate a bowl of red bean paste on its own and kept asking for more. I guess he must take after grandma.

Ingredients
400 g (13 oz) dried red beans
Cold water
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2 tbsp butter or vegetable oil

Directions
The Night Before
1. Soak the beans in a large bowl or container overnight for at least 8 hours. Cover the red beans with at least 1 inch of cold water.

The Next Day
2. Discard any red beans that float to the surface. Drain and rinse the red beans.

3. In a large pot, add the red beans and enough water to cover the pot by 1 inch.

4. Bring to a boil over high heat. Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to simmer for an hour until the red beans are soft and easily mashed with a spoon.

5. Transfer 1/3 of the cooked red beans to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Add a little of the reserved cooking liquid or water if needed. If you are using a blender, you will need to scrape down the sides of the blender a few times. Repeat until all of the red bean has been pureed.

6. Over medium heat, add the pureed red beans, butter and sugar to a large pan. If you are using vegetable oil, heat the vegetable oil first in a large pan over medium heat before adding the red beans and sugar.

7. Cook until the paste is thick (similar to the consistency of tomato paste). Allow the red bean paste to cool completely before using. The pureed red bean paste can be refrigerated for a week or frozen up to a month.

Oh the possibilities of all the things you can make!

Source: Slightly adapted from China Sichuan Food

Ginger Syrup for Glutinous Rice Balls

This year has been my busiest Chinese New Year (CNY) to date. Between a full deep cleaning and decluttering of our whole house and making 8 of the 9 course CNY meal from scratch, I am so exhausted. Needless to say, I am looking forward to eating leftovers, catching up on writing blog posts and watching Season 5 of Downton Abbey!! Any Downton fans reading this by any chance? (No spoilers please until Sunday evening; we are planning a long binge watching session). :)

As promised in yesterday's post, here is a nice and light ginger syrup you can serve with glutinous rice balls. If you decide to make your own, please check out the Red Bean Glutinous Rice Balls recipe I posted yesterday; it is free of the top allergens).

This ginger syrup is amazing. Not just because it came from my favorite blogger in the whole wide world: Jen Yu of Use Real Butter. It is light, not too sweet and pairs perfectly with my homemade glutinous rice balls. It has a nice light ginger flavor but if you love ginger, add a few more ginger slices.

This was our ninth course in our Chinese New Year dinner feast. Despite being overstuffed, I managed to finish my bowl of glutinous rice balls without any issue.

A nice light dessert.

Happy Chinese New Year! Gung Xi Fai Cai (Mandarin) or Gung Hay Fat Choy (Cantonese). (Translation: This means best wishes for a prosperous new year.)

Wishing you and your loved ones a happy, healthy, prosperous Year of the Sheep.

Photo Credit: Photo.elsoar.com

Ingredients
2 cups water
3 tbsp brown sugar
5 slices ginger

Directions
1. In a small saucepan, mix the water, brown sugar and ginger. Bring to a boil on high heat.

2. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes. Ladle 1/4 to 1/2 cup of ginger syrup over cooked glutinous rice balls. Serve hot.

Source: Use Real Butter

Sweet Red Bean Glutinous Rice Balls (Tang Yuan) - Free of Top Allergens

Today is New Year's Eve. Wait, what?

Yes, it is Chinese New Year's Eve. For many Chinese families around the world, this is the biggest celebration of the year. It is the equivalent of Christmas and Thanksgiving merged into one holiday.

The celebration is rooted in lots of tradition; too many to cover in this post but if you are interested, you can read more about it here on Wikipedia.

Each family has their own way of celebrating Chinese New Year. Until recently, we did the bare minimum to celebrate Chinese New Year: putting out oranges, giving away red envelopes, and sharing a Chinese feast with family or friends. This year, we went all out: cleaning our house from top to bottom, wearing new clothes, paying off debts before the New Year, among many other things. One day to go and I am pooped from all the cleaning and cooking!

Three years ago, I started a tradition of making my own Chinese New Year's feast. This year, I have 8 dishes and 1 dessert (all made from scratch except for the dumplings which I outsourced due to lack of time):

2015 Chinese New Year Menu

Dumplings ~ Prosperity

Lettuce cups* ~ Rising Fortune 

Steamed Fish ~ Abundance

Soy Sauce Chicken* ~ Health 

Turnip Cake (Lo Bak Gao)* ~ Good Fortune 

 Jai (Buddha's Delight)* ~ Fortune, Prosperity, Luck

Tea eggs ~ Fertility/Prosperity

Long life noodles* ~ Longevity 

Tang Yuan ~ Togetherness

* I will be posting the recipes next week.

Each dish eaten during the Chinese New Year dinner is symbolic of what you wish for the coming year: health, luck, fortune, fertility, longevity, prosperity, abundance, togetherness, and etc. This recipe for glutinous rice balls (tang yuan) signifies togetherness.

Glutinous rice balls are served at festivals or at Chinese New Year as a dessert. It can have many different types of fillings: red bean, sesame, peanut, among others. Despite its name, glutinous rice balls do not contain any gluten, so it is safe for people with Celiac or those allergic to wheat (please always read labels). Store bought glutinous rice balls can be unsafe for people with food allergies, so this year, I made my own.

Overall, the recipe is relatively easy, especially if you use store bought red bean paste. The most time consuming part was rolling each rice ball. I thought this is a worthwhile recipe to make as my little man (who is allergic to peanuts and almonds) can enjoy. This recipe is free of top allergens and is a great way to celebrate togetherness with my family.

Glutinous rice balls with ginger syrup

Ingredients
1 cup glutinous rice flour
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil (do not use olive oil)
1/4 cup room temperature water
1/4 cup red bean (azuki) paste (homemade recipe here)

Directions
1. In a bowl, mix glutinous rice flour, oil and water together. Add more water by the tablespoon until it is silky smooth and does not stick to the sides of the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap until you are ready to make the rice balls. Note: Do not refrigerate the dough (at this point) as it will make the dough brittle.

2. Scoop 3/4 of a teaspoon of red bean paste on a plate. Repeat until you have 16 red bean balls. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 10 minutes.

3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with plastic wrap.

4. Take the red bean balls out of the freezer. Roll each piece between the palms of your hands so it forms a round ball. Wash your hands so you do not get the red bean paste all over your glutinous rice balls.

5. On a cutting board, divide the dough into 16 equal pieces. Cover with plastic wrap so the dough does not dry out.

6. Powder your hands with a bit of glutinous rice flour. Using your hands, flatten the edges of the dough into an oval, making sure not to flatten out the center. If the dough breaks apart, dip the dough in some water.

7. Place a red bean ball in the center of the oval, fold the dough over and seal. Lightly roll it into a ball with the palms of your hand.

8. Put the rice ball on the plastic wrap lined baking sheet, making sure there is lots of space between each rice ball. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

Cooking Instructions
1. If you are eating right away, bring a pot of water to boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer and drop in the rice balls. Stir occasionally to prevent the rice balls from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Do not boil the rice balls on high heat as this causes the filling to burst. You have been warned. :)

2. Using a slotted spoon, fish out the rice balls once they float.

3. Eat on its own or serve with ginger syrup (highly recommended).

Freezing Instructions
Cover the rice balls with plastic wrap and freeze for 2 hours until it is frozen solid. Transfer to a Ziploc bag.

Source: Slightly adapted from Instructables

Best Belgian Waffles

I have had an obsession with Belgian waffles for a long time now. So much so that when we traveled through Brussels on our trip to Europe 3 years ago, I dragged my husband everywhere to look for this delightful treat. Sadly, most of the places we went to were tourist traps and resulted in waffles that are sub-par to what I envisioned: a buttery and sweet waffle with a crispy exterior and a soft fluffy interior.

My mission for Belgian waffles was also thwarted by Belgian beer, moules frites (mussels and fries), and Belgian frites (crispy fries with a crazy amount of sauces to dip the frites in!). I guess I will have to go back to Belgium to seek out more authentic waffles and hopefully not get distracted!

As my regular readers know, I am not a morning person. Making breakfasts is not my thing unless it is relatively easy to execute. Most of this recipe is fool-proof, however, it requires you to pay a little attention when it comes to whipping the egg whites. But trust me when I say the result is worth getting up early for.

This is the waffle I was longing for when we went to Brussels. The waffle is buttery, sweet and crispy on the outside, and soft and fluffy on the inside. It is also slightly sweet so you could eat this waffle on its own, without any syrup.

Now, this is the type of waffle you dream of and obsess about.

Makes: 10 - 12 waffles

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar (scant)
3-1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, separated*
1-1/2 cups milk
1 cup butter, melted**
1 tsp vanilla extract

Top with fresh fruit (blueberries, strawberries - optional)

* Separating the eggs: Make sure to separate the egg yolk from the egg white carefully, ensuring the egg white is not contaminated with any egg yolk. Please read Wikihow's methods for separating an egg. I prefer separating the egg yolk by hand and placing the egg whites into a clean and dry bowl.

** The best way to melt butter without splatters or without overheating it is to defrost it in your microwave on the regular defrost setting (and not quick defrost).

Directions
1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and baking powder. Mix well.

2. In a separate bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks. Add in milk, butter and vanilla and mix well.

3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until it is just combined. Make sure not to over mix.

4. In a stand mixer, beat egg whites on low until the egg whites are foamy.

5. Then beat on high until stiff peaks form. Please read the troubleshooting tips below if this is your first time beating egg whites.

6. Fold in 1/2 of the egg whites into the batter, mixing thoroughly.

7. Add in the remaining egg whites, carefully fold the batter with a rubber spatula until just combined. Do not over mix!

8. Preheat a waffle iron according to manufacturer's directions. For my waffle iron, I use a scant 1/4 cup of batter (I used my muffin scoop) and cook for 10 minutes until the waffle is light golden brown.

9. Serve on its own, with fresh fruit or a light dusting of powdered sugar. Note: The waffle will appear quite soft when you take it out of the waffle maker but will crisp up after it cools. As my husband said, "Who in the world could wait that long?"

Source: Slightly adapted from Taste of Home

TIPS: Beating Egg Whites

1. Make sure your utensils and bowls are clean and dry. Any residue of oil or water will prevent your egg whites from forming stiff peaks.
2. Separate the egg yolk carefully from the egg white. The presence of the slightest bit of egg yolk will foil your plan for stiff peaks.