Mooncake is an essential dish in the lantern festival. However, this holiday if you want to try a different, unique cake to treat your family, let’s join TasteVN cook and show off your skills right away with the thousand-layer peach blossom cake filled with rich red bean paste, which is very appealing!
1. How to cook red bean paste
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Preparation
5 hours
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Cooking
1 hour
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Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients for How to cook red bean paste For 300g of filling
Red beans 250 g Water 800 ml Sugar 130 g Glutinous rice flour 30 g Water 45 ml (Mix with glutinous rice flour) Cooking oil 55 g
How to choose good quality red beans
- Choose beans that are bright red, free from pests, and have no signs of mold or unpleasant odors.
- Choose beans that are of moderate size so that after cooking, the beans achieve the desired softness and delicious taste.
- Avoid choosing oversized beans, as these tend to taste less good, are less nutritious than smaller beans, and especially often create a slight bitterness when eaten.
Tools Required
Non-stick pan, bowl, stove
How to Make Red Bean Filling
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Soak the red beans
Wash the red beans, then soak them in water for 5 – 7 hours or overnight.
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Simmer and puree the red beans
Add the red beans to a pot with 800ml of water, ½ teaspoon of salt, and cook over high heat until the mixture boils.
When the mixture boils, skim off the impurities, reduce the heat, and simmer the beans until they are soft.
Then, use a hand blender or a blender to puree the beans.
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Red bean filling
Strain the red bean mixture through a sieve, then put it in a pan with 130g of sugar and cook over medium heat.
Dissolve 30g of glutinous rice flour in 45ml of water. When the sugar dissolves, add the flour mixture and stir well.
When the filling thickens slightly, gradually add 55g of cooking oil while stirring, reduce the heat to low, and continue cooking until the filling is dry and forms a smooth, pliable mass.
Note:
- Do not add all the oil at once; only add a little at a time, stirring completely before adding more oil.
- If the filling becomes oily while cooking, it may be due to high heat; you can fix this by adding a little hot water and continuing to cook.
- After cooking or letting it cool, if the filling is crumbly, it may be due to not covering it, causing it to lose moisture, or using too little oil or sugar.
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Final product
The red bean filling has a characteristic fragrant smell along with a nutty, slightly sweet taste from the red beans. You can use this filling for baked or sticky rice cakes according to your preference!
2. Layered peach blossom cake with red bean filling
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Preparation
1 hour 30 minutes
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Cooking
45 minutes
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Difficulty
Medium
Ingredients for Layered peach blossom cake with red bean filling Serves 4 – 5 people
All-purpose flour No. 8 220 gr (120gr for water dough – 100gr for oil dough) Granulated sugar 20 gr Shortening 100 gr (45gr for water dough – 55gr for oil dough) Cold water 50 ml Pink chrysanthemum powder 5 gr
Tools needed
Oven, dough scraper, spatula, bowl, rolling pin,…
How to choose flour for making layered cakes
To achieve a soft and fluffy layered cake crust, you should use all-purpose flour rather than general-purpose flour. This is because the protein content in all-purpose flour is higher, which produces more gluten during kneading, making it easier to roll out the dough.
It is best to use No. 8 flour, as it has just the right amount of protein. If you choose No. 10 or No. 11 flour, the higher protein content will make the crust tough, resulting in a dry texture when eaten.
How to make Layered Peach Blossom Cake with Red Bean Filling
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Make the Water Dough
Put all the ingredients: 120 grams of flour number 8, 20 grams of granulated sugar, 45 grams of shortening, and 50 ml of cold water into a bowl and use a spatula to mix well.
When the dough feels heavy while mixing, switch to using your hands to knead the dough until it becomes smooth. Then, divide the dough into small balls of 20 grams each and let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
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Make the Oil Dough
To make the oil dough, use a spatula to mix 100 grams of flour number 8 with 55 grams of shortening until well combined. To create a pink color for the cake skin resembling cherry blossom petals, remember to add 5 grams of pink chrysanthemum powder!
After the ingredients are well mixed, use your hands to knead the dough until it becomes smoother, then continue to divide the dough into small balls of 15 grams each and let it rest for 15 minutes.
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Make the cake wrapper
You use a rolling pin to flatten the water dough ball first (note that you roll the dough vertically, you don’t need to roll all four sides to make it round).
Next, you place the red oil dough ball on top of the flattened water dough and spread it evenly, then roll it up and flatten it again to complete the cake wrapper!
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Wrap the filling
After rolling out the dough, you proceed to roll it up and use your finger to press firmly in the center of the dough, then fold the edges of the dough inwards and use a rolling pin to roll evenly in all four directions so that the dough forms a circle.
Next, you place the flattened dough in your hand and put a red bean filling (about 20 grams) in the middle, using force to shape the filling tightly so that the dough and filling do not separate after baking!
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Shape the peach blossom
After completing the filling process, place it on a cutting board or flat surface and use a dough scraper (a tool for scraping dough or a fork) to press lightly down on the dough to form the mold for the flower.
Next, use scissors to divide the dough into 5 equal parts (note that you only cut 2/3 of the radius of the dough to leave space for the flower’s center). Then, use your fingers to gently pull the two edges to form the shape of the petals of the peach blossom. Repeat this until all the edges are connected, and the layered peach blossom is complete.
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Baking the cake
Place the cake on parchment paper and put it in the oven for the first time for 25 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius. After the time is up, flip the cake over, add an egg yolk in the center of the cake, and sprinkle a little white sesame to make the flower’s stamen, then bake for the second time for 25 minutes at 170 degrees Celsius.
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Completion
The multi-layer peach flower cake with red bean filling, after baking, has a pink color of peach blossoms that is extremely sweet and appealing, combined with the rich and nutty flavor of the red bean filling, making you want to enjoy it endlessly.
Multi-layer Peach Flower Cake with Red Bean Filling features an extremely sweet pink outer layer, blended with rich, delicious flavors, making it suitable for gifting during festive occasions. This Mid-Autumn Festival, let’s get into the kitchen with TasteVN to make this delicious cake to treat our family and friends!
