Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Special Mamon (mala-Goldilocks)


Well, at least that's my first thought when I tasted this milk sponge cake the first time I made one for the base cake of crema de fruta. And I was not the only one who had the same opinion. The latest comment I received for crema de fruta was from Joy Leaming, who said the cake itself tasted like mamon from Goldilocks.

I would have wanted to wait until I receive my recently ordered brioche molds, but munchkin mommy's mamon post just made me crave it earlier, so I made these using muffin pans mostly.

Usually, sponge cakes tend to be dry and "nakakasamid" (sorry if I could not grope for the equivalent English term), that only with frosting or filling will they be redeemed. My hubby is not particularly fond of sponge cakes for this reason. But when he tried this milk sponge cake that I made into mamon (just by using muffin cups and brioche molds instead of a cake pan) he liked it; he had to eat two pieces. He said it was like the Twinkies (yeah, he is such a junkie for junk foods). I love it with coffee. My kids loved this special mamon as well.

I added the word "special" to this not because it is a better recipe than other sponge cakes you will find on the net, but to distinguish it from the ordinary mamon one will find in the neighborhood bakeries in the Philippines, which is also called "kababayan." Kababayan is more like muffins. I liked kababayan only when freshly out of the oven, with a crunchy outside. When it had cooled down completely, it did not appeal to me at all. So there really is not much motivation for me to seek out the recipe for kababayan. Special mamon, on the other hand, is just so good, that even if I end up with leftovers, (which I doubt will ever happen) I can turn it into mamon tostado, which is another favorite of mine.

This recipe for milk sponge cake was lifted off the recipe for Boston Cream Pie from baking911.

Ingredients:
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup milk
3 tablespoons unflavored vegetable oil
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 egg yolk, room temperature (edited as of 4/21: you might want to save the egg white of this, whip until fluffy and firm, then fold in with the batter before placing in baking pan)
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (plus optional few drops of lemon extract)

Instructions:



Adjust rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease/butter (softened butter is preferable) and flour your muffins pans or brioche mold (make sure the corners get a good brushing with grease/butter).

Sift flour, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl add the the milk and oil; do not be concerned that they do not blend together.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, yolk and sugar to combine. Using an electric mixer at medium speed, whip the egg mixture until it is light ivory in color and very fluffy, about 6 minutes. Add the vanilla [plus lemon extract, if using] toward the end of whipping. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture in two additions. Pour the milk mixture down the side of the mixing bowl. (It will sink to the bottom of the bowl under the batter.) Gently fold until the milk mixture is thoroughly incorporated. [edited 4/21/09: If you whipped the egg white as mentioned above in the ingredients, fold it in at this point.) Pour the batter into the greased muffin pans/brioche molds. Bake 15 to 18 minutes or until the cake is golden on top and it springs back when lightly pressed in the center. Remove from oven then tap against a wire rack so the mamon falls off from muffin pans (it is important to remove from molds right away; otherwise, if you cool these in the tin molds, they will sweat at the bottoms, soaking that part of the cake. It might then turn hard once cooled and taken of the tin molds.) . Place the mamon upright on the wire rack and let cool completely (about 5-10 minutes; check against your cheek). Place in plastic bags right away those that you will not consume. Keep on countertop instead of the refrigerator. Enjoy plainly or with frosting (buttercream suggested) or filling (custard or jams suggested) if you like.

UPDATE: This special mamon recipe was tried and posted about by Ebie of the Main Ingredient, complete with beautiful photos and a narrative in her native language Bisaya.

25 comments:

Munchkin Mommy said...

ooh, yummy! i love how they look so big! hee hee. and i also don't know the english translation for the word "nakakasamid". :D

manang, i have a mamon update. i tweaked the first recipe i used based on another recipe that i found on the net. take a peek when you have time. :)

Ebie said...

Haha! I have all the ingredients and also the mold from Pinas for the Visayan "torta" mamon. Now its time to cook.

Anonymous said...

Manang, thank you for your recipe...just finish baking them and my kids looove them, they said they taste exactly the same like the ones in the Philippines.

I am so happy that they turned out good for my first try. I found your site trying to find a pandesal recipe, which I have not succeded with numerous tries (the dough was so soft and sticky), either with manual kneading or bread machine way.

Anyways, this recipe was easy to make. SALAMAT :)

Tangled Noodle said...

Between you and Munchkin, I have no excuse not to make these!

raquel said...

manang! you made mamon...and i have yet to try your ensaymada recipe! :( it even looks like goldilocks' mamon. sarap!

Manang said...

Hi Luz,
I don't think so...it might not be as silky.

Luz said...

Hi Manang,
I'm sorry I missed a word on my previous comment. I meant that I made my own cake flour.. I searched on the web ..to make your own cake flour is to use 1 cup of All purpose flour minus 2tbsp. and substitute 2tbsp. cornstarch, I am sure you know that too ,I got it from Joy of Baking.I guess it works :)

basyang said...

Hi Manang,
What kind of milk do I need to use for this mamon? Is it evap or fresh milk? Can you also specify the milk you used for your soft ensaymada? Thanks!

Manang said...

Hi basyang,
I use fresh milk for both. If I have to use evap milk, I speecify it as evap milk (like in leche flan or monay). :)

jane said...

manang, i've tried your mamon recipe today the taste is really delicious but the texture is not that soft medyo parang napipit na mamon ang texture ng ilalim. the thing na nasobrahan ako ng lagay is the vanilla extract.why it turns out like that? did i do something wrong or kulang?

nga po pala, i would like to THANK YOU for posting and updating recipes. Not only your giving us another treat/dish to serve to our family but also giving us the knowledge and ideas to make it more yummy-ness! like i made them spanish bread, pandesal and pan de coco, they love it so much! Thank you for sharing it with us expecially like us who trully missed our food in the Philippines.

Manang said...

hi jane,
I can only think that probably, kulang ang pagka-mix (so yung batter hindi ganon na-incorporate sa egg white). Or baka pagkatapos mo ilagay sa brioche molds (or muffin tins), natagalan bago ibake (so that yung batter which is heavier than the whites tended to sink). I don't think vanilla extract would be the problem there.

Thanks for letting me know about how your family love the spanish bread, pandesal and pan de coco. I just made spanish bread two days ago and I am gonna make them again today. I mixed in raspberry flavored feta cheese to the flour (I grabbed the wrong feta cheese and thought I probably could use it on some sweet type of bread). It was awesome! You should also try the supersoft ensaymada, super easy gawin.

Emeriza said...

Hi manang!! I just want to thank you for all the recipes you are sharing to us!! Its really a big help especially for those people who are always curious how to bake breads and cakes like me! Since i started to bake breads... my dad keep asking me for a fresh baked bread every morning! My whole family couldn't believed that I was the one who baked those breads!! Thank you so much! and More power!! May you continue to shAre your knowledge of baking to us! God bless you!!

jane said...

your right manang! kulang ako sa mixing, dapat fluffier. pinanuod ko sa youtube how hey make it eh. thanks manang! i'll try again making mamon next week. I was planning to make some ensaymada too. kaya lang pumalpak nga yung mamon ko eh. hehe. nag lie-low muna ako.baka sabihin ng asawa ko eh nagsasayang ako ng kuryente at ng ingredients. hehe. thanks po uli! =)

mavicity said...

i tried this and it's the loveliest mamon recipe ever. haha. other flopped quite literally.
question lang though, how come parang nagsisink sa bottom ng pan yung batter ko tapos nahihirapan siyang mag rise? kasi yung bottom parating heavier than the top, hindi pantay pantay. papano kaya yon?
also, when you say na sa lower third ng oven, is this for ovens with fire on top or bottom> hehe kasi dati the oven i used has heat top and bottom, yung ngayon only has fire sa bottom.
hmmm, last na pala, i tried mixing powdered coffee sa dry ingredients but it made the batter heavy at naging parang jelly sa bottom ng pan! haha dapat ba dinissolve ko sa milk?
:D

Manang said...

Hi mavicity,
thanks for your feedback! Please read my comment above addressed to jane. She had the same problems. Check out my reply to see if that could have solved your problem.
Re coffee, I have not tried that,(although I experienced adding powdered ube to make ube roll cake and it had the same effect on the batter -- came out heavy), and yeah, I think dissolving in warm milk could probably solve that (but I cannot be too sure how coffee would affect the texture here).

mavicity said...

thanks manang! gagawa ako ng christmas mamon cake... practice muna ako

Manang said...

Sige mavicity...update me please kung mage-experiment ka with coffee...

betty q. said...

Mavicity and Manang: If you intend to make mocha flavoured mamon, it is best to disslove the coffee in the milk. If you are using evap (diluted, heat the water and dissolve the instant coffee and add the evap. and just like in MOCHA CHIFFON CAKE,I find that Nescafe instant coffee works best (I AM NOT IN ANYWAY CONNECTED TO NESCAFE!). I have tried other brands!

Manang: Have you tried making chiffon cakes into Mamon? It is light and can easily be used to add any flavouring...orange zest, lemon, burnt almond, butter pecan, etc.

Manang said...

Hi betty q.,
Thanks for your tips!
You might want to share your recipe as well for mocha chiffon cake? I saw several recipes but I wonder if they taste at all like what we Filipinos are used to? If you have one that is tried and tested, would you be willing to share?

Anonymous said...

Hi Manang,

What's the ideal size of brioche mold and where can I get it? Amazon's price is so expensive. Thanks

Celso said...

Hello,

Thanks for this recipe. I've made this twice already and it tastes just like the real mamon. The only problem I have is that when the mamon cools, they collapse. They're ok while they're still warm and just came out from the oven. Do you know what I could be doing wrong?

Thanks again.

Manang said...

Hi Celso,

Hmmm...I have not encountered this problem. Things you can check out is, are they thoroughly cooked even at the middle? Do you remove them right away from molds after baking to cool completely on wire rack?

If you do, I cannot think of anything else...

Ella said...

Hi, Manang! Thanks for the recipes. It's really helpful esp. for a beginner like me. I'm so happy I found your blogspot. I want to try all the recipes you posted here. SO far I tried pandesal and mamon and my kids just love them. Again, thanks and more blogs and recipes to come!!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Hello Manang I really admired your passion in Cooking and Baking. I have a question, here in New Zealand, Cake Flour is not available in Supermarket. Can you suggest any replacement for it?

Anonymous said...

Hello Manang Thanks for your reply, I will try and make your recipe and will let you know what happens. Oh by the way I tried your "Supersoft Ensaymada" and my daughter loved it. Thanks again.

Custom Search