Ingredients for approx 100 Love Letters
125g Plain Flour
125g Tapioca Flour
210g Confectioner's Sugar
1TBS Margarine/Butter
2 Egg Yolks
1 Can of Coconut Cream (shake well before opening)
Water
1 tsp Salt (to taste)
1 tsp Vanilla Crystals (to taste)
Equipments:
One 12mm pin for rolling
Butter knife to remove cake from pan
Chopping Board/Mat to roll on
Love Letter machine
*paper towels to wipe away excess oil between each round
Method:
1. Sift together plain flour, tapioca flour and sugar
2. Add in margarine and egg yolks and combine
3. Once the margarine turns into small crumbed pieces, gradually add in coconut cream. Add in portions to avoid lumps of flour.
4. If the consistency is still quite thick, add some water until mixture is slightly runny. If you lift the mixture up, it shouldn't make any ribbons.
5. Add salt and vanilla crystals to taste. We just crystals instead of essence as we want to avoid any more liquids. This gives the cake a little more crisps when you cook it.
*note: we used our hands to mix just because. but do not use a beater as we do not want to put too much air in. you can use a spatula.
6. When you're happy with the taste of the batter, pass it through a sieve to remove any lumps of flour/margarine.
7. Beat mixture for about 30seconds to get some air in.
8. Grease the Love Letter machine with some oil, then heat it up.
9. When hot (usually it has some kind of light indication) - ladle the batter onto each rounds and close the lid. Batter should cover about half of each round. If your machine was like mine and had a ring in the middle, do not go past that middle ring; in fact your batter shouldn't even be near the ring. Might take a few tries to get the right amount.
10. After about 30sec, open the lid to see how brown it is. The right colour would be a lightly golden brown. Time may vary between each round so keep checking.
*note: the coconut milk gives off some oil after you cook it, so wipe any excess oil every 2 rounds. I realised that if you don't, the chances of the batter sticking to the lid is high, and also if you open it too early the batter might move when you open it, thus ruining the pattern.
*note: if your machine was anything like mine - which heats up via a coil; you might find that the batter cooks unevenly, resulting in slightly whiter areas.
11. when the colour is right, quicky scrap off ONE piece at a time as contact with air hardens the cake. Roll fast - if you have uneven surface, roll the lighter side towards the darker side. Repeat.
12. Cool and serve or store in a container lined with baking paper.
Happy Chinese New Year!
