8 July 2013

Steamed Double Chocolate Cupcakes

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
I didn't grow up with an oven. It just wasn't popular in Singapore among my parents' generation. They didn't grow up with one either. But that didn't stop us Chinese from having cakes. How did we make cakes then, you might ask. 

We use a steamer. A steamer is an essential kitchen tool in a Chinese family. We use it to steam vegetables, seafood, eggs, buns, dumplings and cakes. I prefer steaming food to frying simply because it usually doesn't involve using oil and it's healthier. 

Here's a photo to show you what a traditional, old-fashion Chinese steamer looks like. This is the upper layer. It's 28cm wide which is a good size since I can fit my largest bowl in it when I need to. 
Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures

As I'm feeling a little guilty for the lack of exercise today, I'm going to share with you a non-traditional, but healthy double chocolate steamed cupcake recipe! The basic recipe is similar to making traditional chinese steamed cakes. Are you ready for it?

Ingredients

  • 75g all-purpose flour
  • 1tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1 egg
  • 3.5 tbsp milk
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 4 tbsp chocolate chips
Instructions (Makes 6 cupcakes)
  1. Fill a steamer with water and bring it to boil.
  2. Sift the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a large bowl.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg, sugar, milk and vegetable oil together.
  4. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture and mix them together well.
  5. Add the chocolate chips to the mixture and mix well.
  6. Fill each cupcake holder half-way. (I used silicon cupcake holders. Do not use paper ones!)
  7. Place the cupcake holders in the steamer. Cover it and steam for 10 minutes.
  8. The cupcakes are cooked when a skewer comes out clean.
  9. Serve when cupcakes are warm or at room temperature. 
Tips

I find steaming cakes a lot more hassle free and easier than baking. But a huge pull factor is that I don't have to use that much butter and sugar that a traditional chocolate cupcake would usually call for.

Copyright Yoyo's Kitchen Adventures
As you can see, the cupcake is really moist, fluffy and light. The cupcakes weren't too sweet so if you have a sweet tooth, you might want to double the sugar needed. I personally like it as it is and would prefer to taste the actual chocolate chips instead. I am really interested to make variations of steamed cupcakes since this was such a success. What other flavours do you reckon you'll experiment with?

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