Thursday, June 29, 2006

FLY AFRICAN

I learnt this cake about 25 years ago from one of my neighbours who is a malay woman. Till today I still make this cake and everytime when I bake it, memories of this lady will creep into my mind.







Ingredients:

10 egg white (about 360 gm.) - cold
2 egg yolks
220 gm. castor sugar
250 gm. Hong Kong flour/Superfine Flour (Softasilk flour is the best for this cake)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 Tbsp. Ovalette (emulsifier)
1 Tbsp. Condense milk
7 ozs. melted butter (about 210 - 220 gm. melted butter)
1 tsp. Butter Oil
15 gm. cocoa powder + 1 tsp. of Instant coffee powder
1 - 2 tsp. of chocolate emulco (colur depends on your cocoa powder)
150 gm. chopped walnuts

Method:

(1) Beat egg white, egg yolk, sugar, flour, ovalette and baking powder together at
high speed until it's fluffy and almost double in volume.

(2) Pour in condense milk , mix for awhile and then pour in the melted butter. Do
not beat too long, just let it mix till even and then stop the machine.

(3) Prepare a 10" round baking tin, lined with greaseproof papaer.

(4) Divide the cake batter into 2 portions. Add cocoa powder and nescafe mixture
into one portion and if the colour is not dark enough, add in some chocolate
emulco. Add Butter oil into the other plain portion.

(5) Scoop the batter alternately into the prepared tin and sprinkle
chopped walnuts on every alternate layer. (Use a ladle to scoop the
batter).

(6) Sprinkle some chopped walnuts or slice amonds on top of the cake and bake at
180C for 60 mins.

(7) Cool on wire rack.

71 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
Can I use cake flour instead and what do you mean by cold egg white? Sorry to ask so many questions as I just started my interest in baking.
Rgds.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous

Yes..cake flour will be good. Cold eggs means eggs from the refrigerator.

rgds..

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,
I baked the Fly African last night.As my parents doesn't have the teeth to bite chopped walnuts, I actually ground the walnuts (hee hee).Sad to say, the walnuts are all on top on the cake after bake even though I sprinkle on every alternate layer.In my next attempt, I shall fold the ground walnuts into the batter before dividing into 2 portions.Hope I will be successful.
Rgs,
AnC.

Anonymous said...

Thanks for sharing this recipe, was just going through my mom's recipe scrap book and found Fly African but didn't have the baking time and temp. Hope it'll turn out well when I try it at home. Thanks again!

Anonymous said...

Hi Yochana,

May i know what is Butter Oil used in Fly African Cake? can i use corn oil instead if i can't find it here?

rgds
yoke

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi yoke,

Butter oil is just one of the essence. Instead of butter oil, use Vanilla essence.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Yochana,

thanks for yr help!

rgds
yoke

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty Yo
Whenever I bake this cake, it always sink in the middle when it is cool. Do you know what's the reason? Please advise. Thank you.
Irene

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Irene,

Try using cold eggs and warm butter and don't overmix. Hope you try again.

rgds

Cherry said...

Hi Yochana! Just want to let you know that I made this cake for a friend's birthday. Made it using your directions but since I couldn't find ovalette in the US, I think the texture didn't turn out as soft. However, I beat the egg whites for several minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients. I like the way the color-strips turned out! Thanks for the recipe. :)

Aunty Yochana said...

Cherry,

do remember to buy some ovalette back to US if you do come home. If you need some badly, I will post some in the envelope for you.

rgds

Home Baker said...

Hi Aunty,
I use the balance egg white to bake these as per your suggestion...It taste really good. Thanks for the idea and recipe!

There is crack on the top of the cake after I remove it from the oven, is it because the temperature is too high? What other possible reason can cause that?

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi cyndi,

cracks on cake are bound to happen once in a while... it could be that the height of your cake tin is too short. Temperature should be around 175C. At times, I do encounter cracks too.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

hi Lucy,
I've tried to buy ovalette but to no avail. can i substitute with another ingredient or can I skip this?

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi ee,

you need ovalette for this cake. Where do you live? Ovalette is a cake emulsifier.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

hi Lucy,
thanks for ur prompt reply.
I live in Melbourne, Australia. I finally found the ovalette in one of the indonesian grocery shops. very happy about it n will try to bake the cake this weekend.can't wait.
btw, can u share the sarawak layer cake recipe?? hehe...it's very tempting cos I'm from Sarawak....
thanks heaps!!!

Kastine said...

Hi Aunty

The instant coffee powder is those 3 in 1 type of just instant coffee powder?

Thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi qing,

I used Nescafe powder, not 3-in-1.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty,

what is chocolate emulco for? can i omit/substitute it?

thanks!

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

yes you can omit the chocolate paste but add in some extra cocoa powder instead. It helps with the colour and taste.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

how much do i need to add the cocoa powder in order to omit the chocolate emulco?

thanks in advance for your precious advice, aunty..!

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi anonymous,

Use 25 gm. of cocoa powder to sub.

rgds.

Anonymous said...

Hi Hi

I am dying to bake this cake but I don't know where I can buy Ovalette! Please help!!! I live in Singapore .... can you give me the name of the shop?

Thanks.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi newchef,

Ovalette is easily available. You can get it from NTUC, Bake King's brand. Giant and many other supermarkets also sells this. It's a cake stabilizer.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty
I've baked last Sunday but my
batter was more yellowish unlike
yours which is more white-also mine is more runny though I've beaten all on high for at least
10-15mins.
Does it help if egg white is beaten first b4 adding the rest ?

I added additional 10gm of Hershey's cocoa powder to replace choc.emulco but I think it's too dark.
I made a silly mistake by stirring in additional flour b4 baking to thicken & ended with a hard
texture.
Hope to hear fm you as I wud like to try again.Thanks for sharing.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi c k

Make sure your eggs are cold. On no...don't add in additional flour and don't overbeat the batter too.

Rgds.

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty
Thanks for the speedy response.
Yes, I used chilled eggs.

Just one more question, approx.how long shld I beat the batter.

I will definitely try again.
Thanks and kudos to all your great bakes....

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi C K,

Until double in volume. It will become very thick...beat approximately 10 mins. (all in all). When pouring in melted butter, pour in steady stream.

rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi aunty,
Is there any substitute for ovalette??
I live in Australia but not sure where to buy it....

Thanks
Nina

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi NinA,

oVALETTE is a cake stabilizer and keeps the volume of the batter. Can you find any cake stabilizer in australia? Which part of Australia are you in? Melbourne?

Rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi aunty,
I went to the local supermarket but couldn't find any cake stabilizer....
yes i'm in melbourne....

thank you,
Nina

Bella cook said...

Aunty,
do you know where in melbourne i can find those cake emulsifier??

Thanks,
Nina

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Nina,

I was thinking that if you are in Perth I could get some for you. I can bring it over.

I've no idea about Melbourne. maybe someone here can help.

rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi aunty,
when are you gonna be in perth??

Cheers,
Nina

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Nina,

next week...very very short trip only.

rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi aunty,

Hm...do you have an australian bank account?? cause if you do then you can help me buy and post it when you're in perth... and i can send you the money....

you can email me on jmpmok@gmail.com

Thanks,
Nina

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Nina,

I do have an account with WestPac but it's only a small thing.

Firstly do you think they will allow me to carry in the ovalette? Can you find out? I can ask my daughter to post it to you from perth.

Last trip my daughter's macarons and Chinese herb "yen san" (American Ginseng) was thrown into the dustbin.

rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi aunty,

I'll try asking immigration....
when exactly is your flight??

Thanks,
Nina

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Nina,

I'll leave at 1.00a.m.and reach there at 7 to 8 a.m.

rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi aunty,
Just called australian quarantine office.... they said it should be ok as long as it is commercial package so they can see exactly what it is.....

Thank you,
Nina

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Nina,

I will try to bring some over and ask my daughter to send it to you.

Let me go through first and I will let you know.

Give me your email address.

rgds

Bella cook said...

Hi Aunty,

my email address is jmpmok@gmail.com

Thank you so much,
Nina

maggie said...

hi i have try your fly african it was so good, thanks

Anonymous said...

Hello again aunty Yo,
May i add cream cheese to the batter? I'm going to bake it tonight for my grandmother who loves cheese so much. If yes, how much proportion should i use?
Thank you.

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Fanny,

I've not tried with cream cheese in the batter. What you can do is to sprinkle grated cheddar cheese on top of alternate layers. It will work and it will take lovely.

rgds

Anonymous said...

woww....sounds good i'll try it then...thank you

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty,
Hardly drink instant coffee...
kind of wastful after that. What would be best to replace that? I have milo, how about milo with coca powder? Thanks

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty,

I've tried baking this cake last week. It was perfect except that the top layer turned a little moist several hours later. I did wrap the cake with aluminium foil, but that was done after the cake was completely cooled. What could have been the cause? Thanks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi leen,

How did your fly african become moist on top? It's baked in the oven and it should be golden brown on top.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi aunty,
Sorry for my late response..The top layer was brown, but somehow most of my bakes turned out a little moist on the top layer the next day..I'm wondering is it because of my creaming process of butter and sugar. Normally how long do we do creaming? Is 8 mins too long? Tks

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi leen,

something could be wrong with your oven. I suggest you switch on and see whether the top heat is working or not.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty Yochana, can you tell me where do you buy your baking pan as shown in the picture? Thanks, Chris

Anonymous said...

Aunty Yochana, can I post a question to your fan "Ee" to find out which Indonesian grocery shop she got the ovalette from in Melbourne. Many thanks again! Chris

Aunty Yochana said...

HI,

you can get this baking pan from Sun Lik.

rgds

Anonymous said...

hi, Aunty.

I'm very interested to try bake this cake. Can i replace the flour & baking powder with self-raising flour? if yes, the amount is same?
Tks & rgds......Mandy

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi mandy,

yes you can use sr flour but ovalette is a must.

rgds

Anonymous said...

hi aunty,
wish to ask.. if i was to bake this cake into cupcake is it possible? and the time and temp to reduce to?

thanks :)
regards,
irene

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Irene

I've never tried making into cupcakes. You can try and then let me know how you fare in it.

rgds

Bibi Masturina said...

Anyone here know where I can get Ovalette in Brisbane? I tried to find in Asian Market, but it seems there is none.

Bibi Masturina said...

Does anyone here know where I can get ovallete in Brisbane? I have tried to search for it at Asian Market but there is none.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for posting this recipe. It looks beautiful and I would love to try it, but I live in the US and ovalette is not available here. I have heard that adding sodium bicarbonate instead can help with the cake texture. Will this work for the Fly African?

Thanks,
Piya

Anonymous said...

Hello Aunty, All your baked goods are always beautiful. I have a two year old who is allergic to egg, so i can only be envious of your recipies. I recently came across an egg free swiss roll recipe that requires sp cake emulsifier (similar to ovalette?) I live in adelaide australia and have searched high and low for this product but to no avail ^^. Do you know how i could get hold of some? Maybe someone on this blog has an idea of a supplier here in adelaide, that would be great help. If i could get hold of some then maybe we dont have to eat dense cake anymore ^^, ling88

Flower said...

For those in Australia, try those Oriental whose the owner is Indonesian. In Perth we can get it in almost all shop but I found it first in a Chinese Indonesian shop.

Baking Queen said...

Hi Aunty,

Can I replace condensed milk with evaporated milk? I find it a waste just to buy a tin of condensed milk and only using a Tbsp. Thanks!

Anonymous said...

Buy Ovalett
In Melbourne: LAGUNA in Glenferry Road, Hawthorn and
LAGUNA @ QV Retail in Little Collins Street, CBD

Cheers!

Anonymous said...

hi

Can I please ask is the softasilk flour including a raising agent like our self raising flour in Australia. I can see that you add a small amount of baking powder but was wondering if that is because the softasilk you use already contains raising agents.

Greg

Aunty Yochana said...

Hi Greg

yes, please add in the baking powder cos the softasilk is just a low protein four.

rgds

Anonymous said...

Hi Aunty Yochana,

have emailed you! :)

Frances said...

Hi Aunty Yochana,

Have emailed you! :)

Unknown said...

Hi Aunty, how to get beautiful brown streaks on cake like. Marble cake, pls help Aunty, thanks

Unknown said...

Hi aunty...your cake looks so soft eventhough you use more egg whites than eggyolks this is good recipe to spent egg whites after baking thousand layers cake...thanks...