Long time no see, Breakfast!

It's been ages since my last update, almost a week! Been very unmotivated this week to do anything, and it's just been one of those weeks where one finds himself/herself not getting along with anyone despite best efforts to keep things civil.

So today's short post before work will be a Breakfast! buzz post, cheat's edition once again. I realize Hong Kong posts series isn't completed yet, but it'll happen...

From Weeks 9-12, 2011

Breakfast! today is... microwave sponge cake with boysenberry jam and butter =D Yup, that base you see there aren't scones or muffins, it's a cake made in a cup.

I was craving cake late last night and started looking at a few recipes online for microwave cakes. My brother sent me a link before with a recipe on microwave chocolate cake. From what I remember, it tasted like plastic and had a rubbery texture, which is expected of microwave cakes. I decided to just make my own adjustments for a simple yet non-rubbery sponge cake.

Since I don't have many baking ingredients at hand, I just used 4 essentials:

2 tbsp sugar (adjust to taste)

1 tbsp butter (I just cut a thin slice from the block... forget precision here)

1 egg

2 tbsp self raising flour (Mine weren't heaped tbsp, dw, this recipe is very forgiving)

Then I added a little bit of vanilla essence and cinnamon powder, but those are optional.

From Weeks 9-12, 2011

Chuck the sugar and butter together into a cup. Don't worry if the butter is the hard No Frills kind straight out of the fridge, just microwave it for 5-10 seconds so it's half melted. Then mix with fork to get as much air in as possible. People tend to call this "the creaming process".... I just call it mixing butter and sugar.

Once the sugar and butter are quite well-mixed (you can decide how mixed you want it), crack the egg in and mix again. Then add the flour and mix again. You can also add vanilla and cinnamon, or whatever flavoring you like.

Tap the cup on the counter once or twice so the surface doesn't deform as much when microwaved. Nuke it for about 1 minute, check it, and if it's not done, nuke it for a few more seconds. I didn't really time mine, but it's done when the sides come off the cup. The cake still cooks after removing from microwave and if you overcook it, you get rubber. Or a hard lump of stuff. Or a burnt lump. I don't know cos I didn't overcook mine =P

After that, it's a simple process of tipping the cake out onto a plate and slicing it into thick pieces. Mine made three pieces and the texture... well, not as soft as sponge cakes usually are, but for a 5 minutes effort, it made a good breakfast, wasn't rubbery and could actually pass off as a proper cake =D 

Now I just gotta experiment and find out how to make them soft and fluffy, like chiffon cakes...