If you are following me on Instagram, you probably would have seen the rainbow agar agar cake that I made for Grandpa's 84th birthday along with Mommy's guidance.
If you know me personally, I can't bake for nuts. The only thing that I'm good at is making jelly - both Konnyaku jelly and almond jelly because they are super duper foolproof!
Well, you might ask what spurred me to make a birthday cake for Grandpa. Due to health reasons, Grandpa doesn't take anything sweet. He's super disciplined in terms of controlling his diet. Every year during his birthday, he would only take a nibble at his slice of cake - nothing more than that. So I thought.. why not make a cake that Grandpa can enjoy the entire slice of it?
After googling for inspiration, I finally settled on agar agar cake. Since I love rainbow cake, it makes me happy just by looking at it (which you can tell from the pictures below), I decided to make a rainbow agar agar cake for Grandpa.
For layered agar agar, normally coconut milk is used but because Grandpa doesn't take coconut milk, I substituted it with fresh milk which is also healthier.
So here it is.. the final outcome of my rainbow agar agar cake!
Recipe for Rainbow Agar Agar Cake
Ingredients:Colored Layer (A):
1 packet of agar agar powder1200 ml water150 gm of sugar2 pandan leavesFood coloring
Milk Layer (B):
1 packet of agar agar powder400 ml fresh milk800 ml water150 gm of sugar2 pandan leaves
Directions:
Colored Layer (A):
1) Boil 1200ml of water with the pandan leaves.
2) When the water is boiling, slowly add in sugar and stir until sugar melts.
3) Then add agar agar powder slowly and whisk the mixture evenly at the same time.
4) Leave mixture on the stove on the lowest heat to keep the mixture warm.
Milk Layer (B):
1) Boil 800ml of water with the pandan leaves.
2) When the water is boiling, slowly add in sugar and stir until it melts.
3) Then add agar agar powder slowly and whisk the mixture evenly at the same time.
4) After the mixture boils, add the fresh milk and stir evenly.
5) Sieve mixture and set aside for use.
Putting the agar agar together:
1) Using a measuring cup, take about 250ml of the transparent agar agar mixture (A) and add in food coloring of your choice and pour mixture into the mold.
2) Let layer set slightly, not completely before adding 250ml of the milk layer.
Tip: Using a fork to form indents on each layer helps the layers to stay together.
3) Repeat Step 1 and 2 until the mixture is used up.
4) Allow the agar agar cake to set in the fridge for a few hours before serving.
5) For double-tiered agar agar cake, repeat Step 1-4 for the 2nd tier.
Here's a close-up shot of the Rainbow Agar Agar cake that I made. Mommy added longevity buns made of agar agar on top. I got those old school number candles from Phoon Huat. They are so reminiscing right? I remember Mommy buying them to put on my birthday cake when I was a little girl.
You might be wondering how to tell if an agar agar cake is a successful one? Well, it is so as long as the layers doesn't come apart when you cut it!
Here's the inside of the agar agar cake. Now, tell me - how does it fare?
Ending this post with a picture of my Grandpa looking very happy with his rainbow agar agar cake.
Super happy not only because the rainbow agar agar cake brought a smile to Grandpa's face but also because Grandpa told me that its been a while since he last finished an entire slice of cake and know that it won't have any impact on his health.
I hope you like this post. Do let me know how it goes if you do try your hand at making rainbow agar agar or an agar agar cake.
Love,Patricia -------------------- CONNECT WITH --------------------SWEETESTSINS
