Classic Chocolate Cake(rich and moist) 古典巧克力蛋糕

Christmas is coming and then welcoming new year 2019. How to celebrate?To me, a classic moist, and rich chocolate cake with some nice decoration and share with my close friends.

I love flower.Every ladies should love flower as gift. My husband does not buy me much bouquet, that explains I love my dessert to look like any kind of beautiful petals. ( One of my self-comforting methods, embarrassed )

 

This classic chocolate cake is extremely, confidently and no hesitation for me to crown it as : The  most moist, rich, softest and chocolatey cake I ever tasted, more than one positive descriptions. Yes, you may taste this cake from somewhere in a good bakery shop. We were not aware of what kind of chemicals or softening agent they might added into those moist cakes. This cake is definitely 100% chemicals-free from any softening agent. My husband and I had to thumbs up for this classic chocolate cake. Remember: Moist, rich, softest, and cottony are those words I can find.

3 little components, shall we start?

 

 

 

3 components:

• Classic chocolate cake
• Dark chocolate mousse
• Chocolate glacage/glaze

 

 

 

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

@makes 1 X 6cm diameter half sphere

• 30g egg yolks
• 20g sugar
• 10g water
• 30g Cadbury baking dark chocolate  ( or any baking dark chocolate)
• 70g  Bulla whipping cream ( or any dairy whipping cream)

1)Melt chocolate over bain marie(a pot of simmering water sits underneath the bowl of chocolate without allowing water touches the chocolate)

2)How to make Pate a bombe(a):

a)Beat  egg yolks till foamy stage with hand whisk.

b)Heat up sugar and water in a pot till reached 117C.

c)Add in to beaten egg yolks slowly and keep whisking fast until slightly pale like picture shown.This is called pate a bombe.

3)Fold in the melted chocolate into pate a bombe(a)from step (2).(It will slightly turned thick  a little)

4)Beat cream in a mixing bowl till soft peaks formed. Fold  whipped cream into chocolate mixture from step (3) in 2 additions. Pour into a 6cm diameter silicone half sphere mould. Freeze to harden.

Note:

(a)What is Pate a bombe:

A pâte à bombe is the French term for a mixture used as a base for making chocolate mousse and other mousse-like desserts.

It is made by pouring a sugar syrup that has been cooked until it is 117C degrees celsius over egg yolks and whipping the mixture until it is completely cold and has transformed into an uniform, unctuous, airy mass.

b)While comes to mixing pate a bombe and chocolate with the whipping cream, you will find the mixture is slightly hard to whisk at first, but if you keep whisking together, it will tend to loosen up a little.So do not panic,when you fold in the remaining cream, it will give you a smooth, velvety and heavenly chocolate mousse.

 

 

Classic Chocolate Cake:

@makes one 6″ round cake pan

• 67g  Cadbury baking dark chocolate ( or any baking dark chocolate)
• 50g  Western  Star unsalted butter ( any unsalted butter)
• 25g  Bulla whipping cream ( or any dairy whipping cream)
• 50g  egg yolks
• 136g  egg whites
• pinch of cream of tartar
• 40g  castor sugar
• 20g  cake flour
• 20g  Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any unsweetened cocoa powder)

1)Melt chocolate, cream and butter  over bain marie(a) (double boiler) until all dissolved. Mix well.

2)Lightly beat egg yolks and slowly add into chocolate mixture from step (1). Sift in cake flour and cocoa powder.

3)Beat egg whites and pinch of cream of tartar until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar and continued beating to soft peaked formed.(this is called “Meringue”)(b)

4)Fold in 1/3 of meringue from step (3) into chocolate mixture (You might find the mixture is slightly hard to mix but keep whisking until well combined.) Fold in remaining meringue till all incorporated.

5)Oil the 6″ round cake pan and line with grease-proof paper on the bottom and sides.

6)Pour in the cake batter into cake pan and bake in water bath(d) at 140C for 70-80 minutes or until inserted skewer in the middle comes out clean.

7) Once baked, remove from oven and inverted to cooling rack.Allow to cool completely.

This cake is undeniable: RICH, chocolatey, MOIST, SOFT and exquisite. You can just eat all by it’s own. No lie.

Note:

(a)Bain marie or double boiler means a pan of hot water in which a cooking container is placed  above it for slow cooking. Please remember do not allow the hot water touches the bowl of chocolate mixture while using slow heat cooking it.

(b)what is meringue? Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

c)Always remember when folding meringue into chocolate mixture,it has to be done slowly and gently without deflating the air pockets, usually by using spatula to fold from bottom to upwards in slow motion until both mixture are well combined without any trace of meringue has been seen. Deflating the air pockets will not produce a well risen cake as result.

(d)To prepare a water bath for baking, put your filled cake pan in a larger pan and add enough boiling-hot water to reach halfway up the side of the smaller cake pan. I am using normal round cake pan.If you are are using removable cake pan, remember to wrap the bottom with 2 layers of aluminium foil to prevent water seepage.

 

Chocolate Glacage/glaze:

• 20g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 40g sugar
• 30g water
• 30g  Bulla whipping cream(  or any dairy cream )
• 3g gelatin leave, soaked in cold water until soften

1)Boil water, cream and sugar. Slowly sift in cocoa powder. Mix well.

2)Bring back to heat on medium heat until just boil.Remove from heat.

3)Squeeze out water from soften gelatin leaves. Fold in gelatin leaves into chocolate mixture. Strain, and allow to cool.

 Note:

• It is best to cool down the chocolate glaze till 28-33C  to glaze the mousse(frozen).
• Stir the glaze now and then before glazing to prevent skin forming.
• you can chill the glaze overnight to rest before using.The glaze will be jelly like texture form.
• Carefully warm up with bain-marie or microwave until liquid and no trace of lump.(Remember to cool down to the optimum temperature when glazing)

 

Prepared chocolate petals:(Decoration is optional)

• some Cadbury baking dark chocolate ( or any baking dark chocolate)
• rectangular acetate sheets
• A small baking tray
• rolling pin

1)Melt dark chocolate in microwave on high heat.Bring out to stir well every 10 seconds until all melted.

2)Spoon one dollop of melted chocolate over the acetate sheets.By using small palette knife, lightly make a swirl circulation motion on the dollop of chocolate, then drag outside of the circle chocolate petal and lift your palette knife to make a pointy tail from the petal.Repeat few more chocolate petals on each acetate sheet.

3)Align the acetate sheet  with the chocolate work on one side of the baking tray,by using a rolling pin to press down one side of the acetate, so it curls up the chocolate petals. Allow to harden in fridge.Once hardened, peel off every petals from acetate sheet.Repeat this step to make 40-60 petals altogether.

 

 

Assemble:

1)Remove chocolate mousse from silicon mould.Place on to a rack, pour the chocolate glaze over the harden chocolate mousse.Allow to drip excess.

2)Pipe some whipped cream in the middle of classic chocolate cake. Place the chocolate mousse on the whipped cream.

3)Decorate with chocolate petals around to form a flower.(optional this part if you do not prefer any flower decoration.)

If you prefer no chocolate petals, you can whip some Chantilly cream (Which is cream, sugar and vanilla) then pipe around the chocolate mousse which is above the chocolate cake to replace the chocolate petals.Then to cover the whiteness of the whipped cream, you can shave some chocolate and cover the Chantilly cream or sprinkle with some almond flakes onto the whipped cream.IT is purely my suggestion.You can do however you prefer.Just enjoy the process.Go wild with your own imagination.

4)Serve.

 

 

Note:

(a)If you want to eliminate the mousse, welcome to just bake the moist chocolate cake.

(b)Decoration is for your own imagination, you can decorate however you love because that is your cake now. ^_^

 

 

Today’s Word:

 

MERRY Christmas and HAPPY new year 2019 everyone !

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

 

 

French Macaron @ Passionfruit Chocolate Ganache

Christmas is around the corner, it is the end of the 2018. Bittersweet memories, which sometimes i have some time to sit down and look back at this year.

 

I used to bake so much macarons to conquer the fear of failing. The temperature of the oven, the weather, humidity , the freshness of egg whites some said, the quality of the almond meal all play important rules in baking into perfect macarons. Sometimes a bad day in the kitchen also could cause your macarons to fail. These little macarons can be tricky to bake .Many attempts are taken  to get the right shells.There are so many excuses not to bake these, the sweetness of the macarons is the reason for most people might not consider having it. To me,if you conquer you fear and manage to get the right recipe which suits you, it will be a breeze to bake then enjoy it at last.

 

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

The ganache tastes of sourness from passionfruit combined with the dark chocolate, fill into french macaron. You just don’t find it too sweet.It is such lovely.

I think that this  pretty little dessert is easy to enjoy during christmas party or even as a gift for friends.

If you like to bake some for x’mas, lets check out this recipe

Hope you like this sharing too.

Components you needed:

• French macaron shells
• Passionfruit chocolate ganache

French macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• some yellow and chocolate food gel colouring

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with almond powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions , continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Add in  yellow food gel colouring into meringue.Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.Scoop out 1 tbsp batter and add in brown food gel colouring, mix well then pour into a piping bag.Snip off small hole from the piping bag.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) nozzle with the yellow batter.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).

6)Pipe in small dollop of brown batter in the center of every yellow batter. Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

7)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

8)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Sift almond powder and icing sugar together few times

Beat egg whites and sugar in a grease-free and dry bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak).Add in yellow food gel colouring.Mix well

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

The batter is lava-like and thick

Pipe in batter onto the prepared pan.Pipe in the brown batter in the center. Tap the pan.Rest. Bake.

 

 

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

 

 

Passionfruit Chocolate Ganache:

• 50g  passionfruit puree
• 110g Cadbury baking dark chocolate ( or any caking dark chocolate)
• 20g Western Star unsalted butter, softened( or any unsalted butter)

1)Scoop out the flesh from passionfruit, strain it to get the juice and discard the seeds.Bring the passionfruit puree to boil.

2)Melt the dark chocolate over double boiler until fully melt.

3)Pour the puree over melted chocolate and mix until well combined.

4)Add in butter until fully incorporated.

5)Leave to room temperature for 2-3 hours to cool or cool down in refrigerator to piping consistency for later use.

6)Once the ganache is set ,  pipe in the ganache onto macaron shells and sandwich it.

7))It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moistened by the ganache.

 

Ideally, ganache can be used immediately. Once it starts to set, the ganache can be stored in the fridge for 2 day.Return it to room temperature before using.

 

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size4 -6cm( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size6 –8cm(2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base16cm or mor(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

 

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting, welcome to leave any comments here ^_^

 

Eggplant Mushroom Brioche Burger ( Vegetarian )

 

I tasted these amazing eggplant mushroom vegetarian burger with brioche bun in one of the local bakery for breakfast. It is located in the city , and we had to travel to city to dine in.I forgot the cafe’s name but the burger is amazing even eating cold. I believed it is a pop up store. Both husband and I tasted it and wondered how to replicate it. I hope you can also try vegetarian burger with different flavour.

 

Hope you enjoy.

 

 

 

 

Components we need:

• 4 Brioche Burger, recipe at  : https://wp.me/p3PiK3-CR
• 4 Eggplant mushroom patties
• Coleslaw

 

 

 

 

Eggplant Mushroom Patties:

• 3 long eggplant/brinjal ( medium size),slice thinly to about 4-5mm in thickness
• 8-10 flat mushroom,sliced (Or you can use portabella mushroom)
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 1 tbsp chinese soy bean paste,and mix with 1/2 tsp raw sugar ( or 1/2 tbsp miso paste)
• 1 tbsp cooking oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• plain flour,for coating
• 1 beaten egg, for coating
• japanese breadcrumb (or normal breadcrumb), for coating

1. Lined a baking tray with parchment paper, preheat oven to 200-230C(depending on individual oven).
2. Marinade egg plant slice with soybean paste, sugar and 1 tbsp cooking oil to well coated. Arrange every slice eggplant onto prepared baking tray, and bake at top oven rack for 30 minutes until slightly charred and cooked through. Remember to flip all eggplant slice half way cooking for achieving both side charred. Remove the grilled eggplant from oven to allow to cool down, then store in refrigerator for an hour.
3. In a non-stick saucepan:Heat 1 tbsp cooking oil, saute the chopped onion until soften, then add in the mushroom. Saute until cooked, season with salt and pepper to your taste. Transfer to a clean plate, allow to cool down fully.Then store in refrigerator for an hour .
4. Take out the cooled mushroom, take a small handful of mushroom, hold tight in our palm to squeeze out extra juices to form a patty shape.
5. On other side, on your chopping board, arrange cooked eggplant in a particular order like shown in the picture. Place the mushroom patty onto the eggplant, and fold the eggplant to cover all the mushroom. Gently hold the egg plant patty on your both palms and shape into a nice patty shape, and coat entire patty with enough plain flour. Wrap with cling film and secure it tightly.
6. Repeat step 4 and 5 for the rest of the patties. You will get 4 patties altogether. Allow to chill in freezer for 1-2 hours until hardened.
7. Remove the hardened patties from freezer and unwrap altogether. Coat each patties with beaten egg, then with the japanese breadcrumb. You can repeat this coating process once again,(it is called double coatings).
8. Heat enough oil in a saucepan: deep fry all the patties to golden brown.

 

Prepare your coleslaw:

• some purple cabbage, finely sliced
• 1 small carrot, finely slice
• 2 spring onion,green part (chopped)
• some japanese mayonnaise

1. Wash all vegetables, pat dry and finely slice. Mix with japanese mayonnaise into mix vegetables. Set into refrigerator for later use.

How to set up your burger:

1. Half your brioche burger, spread with more mayonnaise on both sides.
2. Layer with coleslaw, then top up with your homemade eggplant mushroom patty.
3. You can add your favourite sweet chillies sauce if you want.
4. You can serve it freshly prepare or chill in refrigerator to serve cold.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note:

• You can use other types of eggplant such as the classic and regular eggplant also named as Black Beauty or black bell pepper. I am using chinese eggplant that is longer and cylindrical in shape.

For more information on varieties of eggplant: http://goo.gl/pu3gxa

• The reason to freeze your eggplant patties before final coating because the patties are so soft with the mushroom and eggplant, secondly there is no other ingredients act as adhesive agent such as potato mash. So we need to make sure it is hardened in freezer for easier coating and deep frying.
• This meat-free vegetarian burger supposed to serve as cold sandwich, but if you preferred crunchy patties and super soft brioche, slightly toast your brioche burger on hot pan for just less than 30 seconds on medium-high heat,otherwise might burn your brioche due to the high content of milk and butter used in this recipe. The bread is super soft after toast, so be gentle when handling brioche burger in hot pan.
• you can use  any favourite vegetables such as lettuce, tomato, cucumber or even beetroot slice for the burger.

 

 

Thanks for visiting and your comments are greatly appreciated.

Hope you like this vegetables burger.

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Brioche Burger Bun

              Brioche bun, is light sweet yeast bread and also is  a pastry of French origin that is similar to a highly enriched bread, and whose high egg and butter content give it a rich and tender crumb . Brioche bread has the amazing buttery flavour with a flaky crust and a fluffy inside,

These brioche dough that can turn into burger shape and sandwiched with our favourite fillings or patties, of any kinds.

             Brioche buns are in high content of fat, eggs and milk compare to normal burger buns you made, but brioche buns are much fragrant once you pan fry without any oil on the saucepan.

               Instead of spending money to buy burger bun ring, you can DIY, do it yourself with just few tools, and you can make many burger bun out of the few equipments.

Let’s try out the recipe and how to make the burger ring molds and bun.

  Ingredients:

    @makes 10 burger buns

• 350g bread flour/bakers flour/strong flour/High gluten flour
• 180g eggs, beaten
• 40g castor sugar
• 75g Liddells Lactose free milk ( or any full cream milk)
• 8g instant dry yeast
• 100g unsalted butter, room temperature
• 10g table salt

Egg wash:

• 25g Liddells lactose free milk ( or any full cream milk)
• 25g egg, beaten

1.  Combine eggs and milk together. Set aside for later use.

 Methods:

1.  Combine eggs,castor sugar, milk and dry yeast into a mixing bowl.By using  a dough hook, mix these ingredients on low speed until sugar has dissolved. Remember to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
2. Add in bread flour and salt in 2 additions at low speed until all well combined.
3. The dough is very fluid-like at this stage, just keep kneading until the dough comes together, increase to medium speed. Throw in the soften butter and continue kneading until well incorporated.
4. Continue kneading the sticky dough into smooth dough which dough pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl, it might takes 25 minutes.
5. Once kneaded , remove from mixing bowl and transfer to any container which lightly grease with cooking oil.
6. Lightly press and distribute the dough evenly to the container. Cover with cling wrap and allow to rest in the refrigerator for 1- 2 hours until the dough is cold or overnight.
7. Once the dough is cold, the dough should not be sticky but firmer.

How to make ring molds for the burger:

There burger bun dough is pretty soft, and it cannot remain the shape after proofing and baking. Therefore,to avoid this  and to keep the buns round as burger shape, it is advisable to bake in ring molds.If you have these exact ring molds, feel free to use it. Otherwise, here is how to make our DIY ring molds with few tools.

1)Get a piece of used A4 size paper,fold in 36cm length  x 1 cm width on the longest side of the paper 3 times to get a strip.

2)Then place into a slightly bigger rectangular aluminium foil and make 3 foldings to make a long strip.

3)Make a diameter of 10cm ring from the strip by joining 2 ends together, then staple it down.Repeat this for 9 more ring molds.

8. Line baking paper on tray, and place in all the ring molds.Lightly spray some cooking oil around the ring molds.

9. Divide dough into 10 balls(roughly 80g per portion) by cutting out with scissors or using a scraper to cut the dough for much easier task, then roll into round and smooth balls.

10. Once all buns are formed, transfer quickly to the prepared pan , placing each bun in the center of each ring molds. Keep everything loosely covered with damp towel.Lightly flatten the buns into burger bun shapes.

11. Allow the buns to proof in a warm room(I did this in my oven, roughly 25C)  to double in size for about 2 hours.

12. Before baking, prepare the egg wash.Brush the egg wash onto each buns nicely, then sprinkle with some white and black sesame seeds.

13. Bake the buns at preheated oven of 175C for 15-18 minutes , depending on individual oven.

14. Once brioche is done or reach golden brown colour, transfer the tray of brioche out of the oven to a cooling rack. Allow to cool down completely before remove from the ring molds to retain the shape.

15. You can serve fresh brioche with just butter and jam, or with any fillings you like.

Note:

• Once all buns are formed, burst any air bubbles that have formed. Spray lightly with oil and flatten them slightly to make a burger bun shape.
• For better results: To increase the humidity of the oven especially during cold weather,you can place a pan of hot water under the trays of brioche dough when first  put into the oven, allow the buns to expand to fill up the ring molds , then remove the water from oven to finish off the baking.
• You can store brioche in a container for 2 days at room temperature,some said it can turn the brioche bun to a softer texture.You can store the baked brioche in freezer too up to 1 month.Bring  the frozen buns to room temperature if needed and pan fry with some oil for crispy bun or without oil at all.
• These buttery brioche can be served cold too as cold sandwich.

 

Thanks for your visit and comment and deeply appreciated.

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

 

 

I am back for my health update.Just a bit.

                     It has been awhile, so long I don’t even remember how to blog. Too much things are going on in my life, looking after my health, consult doctors for my health issues, and identified one of my health issues, then packed all our belongings to move to our new place.

                     Bittersweet memories in the old home that my husband and I have been stayed for the past 10 years, all the baking memories scattered around that little tiny and old kitchen.Some awesome memories and some not so but that little kitchen has been useful and has given the force for me to push myself to the limit.I would said: limitless, boundless, and feeling as though Yoda has spoken to me “may the force be with you…” lol

                      They said, Australia doctors are good, seen them, listened to their advices and allowed them to play with my body with all sort of medications such as “strongest pain killers, mobic, anti-depressant…and the worst and ridiculous medication which given to treat seizures, and 10 steroid injections all over my body in one go…those pain I can bear. The longest needle injected deep into my feet tissue about 10cm in deep every 2 to 3 months for both feets.  Everytime enters the injection room with this Dr Ho (chinese pain specialist), I felt the worst feeling, knowing that he will inject this steroid to numb my body ache, no matter how awful the pain, how frustrated I felt, my husband nudged me:”he has the tool to numb your ache temporary,just one injection, and good to go.”

Lying on the hospital bed, turned my back facing the doctor, and Dr Ho asked:”this will be a sharp pain, for a bit.”

“Fxxx, the pain is not a bit, Dr, have you seen the needle yourself?You made a hole in my feet, then injected another needle into the same hole you made, and pushed deep into my plantar fascia about 10cm, and released the steroid slowly and enough to make me tearing up and you called it abit of pain?”,I thought to myself. This injection last me 3 months top, for one feet.Then i have to return to his injection room for another round.

                      Seeing him for a year now, not only he diagnosed me with “FIBROMYALGIA” which with no medications but he said the pain all over my body is control by my brain, basically one word he tried to say, my mental is causing my body pain, could be trauma or past injuries causing this chronic pain. Treated by him for a year, all he did was giving me Anti-depressant that make me stay awake at night.God knows, I didn’t follow and take any of those anti-depressant.

                     Any ideas how I go through with the chronic pain? Either I prescribed with strong dose of pain killer called”MOBIC”, this medication is good for stopping the pain, meantime good at screwing up my kidney and liver, and then I advised to run some few blood tests to check both my organs are functioning well. Since being a vegetarian, my blood test proved them wrong, and I am perfectly healthy.According to the test results, my organs so far are functioning well, and this given the Dr Ho another Bullsxxx to tell me:”It is all in your mind, there is no medication, take the anti-depressant, take the anti-depressant, take the anti-depressant…..” It is like a nightmare lullaby to me.

                     Honestly, Dr Ho has PhD, that is why he is a doctor. I am freaking furious at  this statement and came along with his face expressions.One word”FAKE”.

“Have you try acupuncture?,Dr asked me.

Then he continued his rude statement that not only humiliate other acupuncturist in the world, but to his professionalism:”Acupuncturist, just using finest needle and poke your skin, how hard can it be?I can do that too.”

Can you believe a psycho doctor with PhD and with his statement came out from his PhD mouth”?I wondered how many patient like me has to go through brain washed session by him.

                  Then my one year constant appointment with his steroid injections for both feets and my shoulders pain, and my back pain. Came along with all the strongest mobic and pain killer and medication for seizure which also prescribed by him because it is good for relaxing my nerve, according to him, my nerves are being overly sensitive.

                  My one year treatment by my GP,different chiropractors, then Dr Ho the pain specialist with strong pain killer, seizure medications,popping all these pills are my daily routine to control my pain. If I do not consume?I barely came down  from my bed, barely stand nor walk,my body aches or migraines are 24/7 constant .No camera, no blogging , no baking , no nothing for anything related to my hands and legs. Was it a torture? Yes in the beginning and now I am getting use to this pain.

                 Family worried for my pain.The steroid injections not only carry more fat on my body, the medications are not solving the root problems, so I flew back to hometown to seek a better treatment with this amazing chiropractor who recommended by my sisters.

This muslim female chiropractor is amazing, I would say that she is the healer compared to Dr.Ho

                  Met her first day, she saw my standing posture, she instantly identify my pain.Knock knee is the main root of problems for all my pain, then tag along with Achilles tendon, plantar fasciitis that caused by knock knee. Knock knee patient like me basically our legs are not straight, is a condition in which the knees angle in and touch each other when the legs are straightened. Individuals with severe valgus deformities are typically unable to touch their feet together while simultaneously straightening the legs.

                   I was born with this since I could remember, i barely learn to walk until quite old.My grandmother had it and she barely walk during her old age, she used wheelchair since I recalled.  Mum was shocked by what the chiro told. This amazing chiro told me that I should have repair my legs since I was young, but nobody noticed and cared for my problems .They thought I was normal. Doctor said either I should have knee surgeries or receive  her treatment.

I don’t want any surgeries, slicing my legs and insert some steel and stitching back my knees are my night mares and recuperation process varies on different individuals, it could take years.

                   During the 4 days with her, she diagnosed me with crooked back bones, shoulders pain and my hips are abnormal due to my neglected knock knees issue. She said that I was her first patient with multiple problems that she has never seen, she wished could put me into laboratory and show to all her doctors friends.

She was amazing to repair my pain severity ,from 110% to left like 80 percent of pain all over my body just in 4 days.

                   She said this problems I have only can heal for 50 percent with her treatments,but I am willing to take the twisting and bending by her bare hands than surgeries.I don’t want to be cut open and stitch back.She taught me some legs stretch which helping me without seeing the unprofessional Dr Ho.

Told this chiro about Dr Ho’s all kind of medications and treatments that he gave me .

                  Her reply was: “Doctors that are lazy will diagnose patient with FIBROMYLGIA because this doctor just plain lazy to treat you but shhhh patient away with the pain killers “.

She also added that:” why this Dr Ho injected you so many times, every person is allowed to take this injections 2 times in a year, and he allowed you to be injected more than 30 times all over your body?”

                  My conclusion is, I am born with knock knee with crooked back bone and tag along with alot of others pain, I am not suppose to run or squat, or do certain exercises.And definitely do not require any injections or anti-depressant.

So, whoever is reading this with friends with pain, please make sure get a good doctor that trust you instead of keeping you quiet with some pain killers and anti-depressant. Not all Australian doctors are good, not all doctors are being professional with their duty.

                  Doctors nowadays only believe in short cuts with some medications that does not cure but only give side effects. Wasn’t for me seeing this hometown female chiro, I might have still popping pain killer or anti-depressant every single day. I told my husband that I find Doctors in Australia are unprofessional and stubborn and never listen to patient at all , and never believe in any diet. They basically did not take time to diagnose you, but simply let you tell them what is going on your body, and they give you some pain killers and push you away.

Ladies and gentlemen, love your body, if you don’t trust some advice from some labeled doctors, always follow your intuitions and seek the right help. Not all doctors nowadays can put you out of misery.

                   There are times that your family so tired of you moaning for pain every single day, and think anti-depressant could save you, but, stop right there.Nobody understands your pain more than yourself.

                    I can’t believe that I googled so much to self-seeking my pain before even see doctors in Australia.Even so, don’t you give in with medications,not all medications are working fine with your pain in long run, there is always some nasty side effects, run some blood test if you are undertaking some nasty medication for your own adjustment.

                    Try healthy diet, cut down unhealthy stuffs from your body.If your years of diet causing you ill, then try alternative options with foods. No harm in trying healthy options by being vegetarian or vegan or no processed food. Your body will tell you what works best, as long as you have determination to give up long years of torture.The torture of food in your body , that you might unnoticed , You could be stubbornly think that  it is doing nothing bad to your health because your great grand parents and parents brought you up with those amazing food. But your great grand parents are walking and working their body muscle more than we are sitting right now in front of the computers, not only that,  the food chains are not being disturbed back then, the water they consumed are not polluted like now.

                     Anyway time flies, things changed, DNA in your food chains has changed, so do what you can to save your body from being self torture, or tortured by your doctors.

                    Months of not talking, but things like this bound to be said by me , and it is in my blog.

                   I am blessed that I do not need to pop in pain killers like eating rice. But I am still looking after my health, I am blessed that I changed my diet, therefore I no longer bake dairy food as often as before.

To those really read my long due article , thank you for being so patience with me and supportive.

I am blessed that I am alive and able to blog after a year long.

                   Thank you for visiting my blog. I will not be active like few years back, not even in facebook anymore. I want to focus on resting my hands from being numb and pain from typing.  Forgive me.

Thank you for listening my long winded article of my updates.

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Hubby was secretly taken my pic while i was capturing another sunset. The view is more breathtaking with your bare eyes than my actual phone capture. I am blessed

This is taken in one of the sunset ,in winter with my handphone from by balcony view.

Raspberry & Hazelnut Delice

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By sivia

This dessert although seem familiar, it is an absolute challenging task for me when lack of proper equipment. The chocolate task definitely is the time consuming work.That has taken me days to complete and practice due to insufficient acetate sheets.(I have to pipe one,set in freezer, peel off from acetate sheet and repeat this for 5 more).Acetate sheets, it is not easy to find in Sydney. Everytime I go back to Malaysia, that is the only way I can top up my baking material. Acetate sheets become one of my essentials that I need to use it thrifly. Other than that, to make the sponge, cremeux and glaze are really easy to make.

Winter, such a good weather for all the chocolate work but not a pretty time to snap some pictures. Waiting for a sunny day during these cloudy winter has put many task in pause modes. Now almost into summer in Sydney. I miss the heat from summer.

This dessert produces 6 pieces. Decoration is up to your imagination. I wanted to learn, so I did. Just wish I have more acetate sheets for me to practice.

Let’s get started! Don’t fret over this long process, alright?

Components you need:

• Raspberry puree
• Raspberry mousse
• Chocolate sponge
• Hazelnut biscuit macaron
• Chocolate rectangles
• Dark chocolate cremeux
• Raspberry glaze
• Simple sugar syrup

Rapsberry Puree:

• 125g raspberries ( fresh or frozen)
• 13ml water
• 13g castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice

1)Process raspberries to puree.

2)Bring water and sugar to boil. cool slightly.

3)Pour warm syrup and lemon juice into puree. Mix well.Strain.Leave to cool.

Note: Raspberries puree can be stored in airtight container for 2-3 days.

Raspberry Mousse:

• 2g gelatin leaves
• 84ml Bulla whipping cream( or any dairy whipping cream )
• 2 tbsp raspberry puree
• 14g castor sugar

1)Soak gelatin leave sin cold water.Let it soften. Squeeze the water out. Microwave on high heat for 30 seconds until melted.

2)Beat whipping cream  and sugar to ribbon stage.[ picture shown in step 2 ]

3)Mix in  the melted gelatin into raspberry puree.Stir till dissolved.Strain.

4)Fold in whipping cream.Mix well. Pour into piping bag.

5)Make 2 acetate tubes that are 1.5cm( 1/2 inch) in diameter and 30cm long by curling acetate into cylinder and securing with sellotapes. Secure base of the cylinder with cling film. [Picture 6 and 7 ]

6)Gently fill the prepared acetate tubes,ensure there is no air pockets inside.Secure another ends of tubes with cling film. Allow to set in freezer for at least 2 hours till harden.

Chocolate Sponge:

• 75g wholes eggs
• 19g egg yolks
• 30g castor sugar
• 10g ALDI brand plain flour, sifted ( or any plain flour )
• 10g corn flour, sifted
• 12g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder (or any unsweetened cocoa powder )
• 38g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter )

1)Preheat oven to 190C, line baking paper on a 26cm X 16.5cm rectangular baking pan.

2)Put eggs , yolks and sugar over a bowl, whisk over bain marie (a) (Double boiler) until 37C. (Remember to keep whisking without scramble the egg.)

3)Remove from heat, continue whisking eggs mixture to ribbon stage (b)[ picture 2 ], this is also called SABAYON (c).

4)Fold in all the flours using spatula through whisked sabayon mixture from step (3).

5)When flour is 3/4 folded through, scoop out some mixture and add into melted butter.

6)Add butter mixture  from step (5) to sabayon mixture until smooth.

7)Pour into prepared pan.Bake for 15 minutes or till sponge springs back when pressed gently.Cool down and trim into 6 pieces of 13cm X 4cm of rectangle.

Note:

(a)Bain marie ?  also known as water bath. Set a bowl over saucepan of simmering water. It is important that the base of the bowl does not touch the water while cooking in the bowl.

(b)Ribbon stage? Aerated of eggs with sugar by whisking it. As you lift the egg mixture, it will fall back on itself and a trail of “ribbon” will be left across the surface. The ribbon will hold shape for a moment and then sink back into the mixture. [Shown in step 2 in picture above]

(c)What is sabayon? Sabayon is the French name for zabaglione, a light, mousse-like Italian dessert that’s made by whisking eggs and sugar over gently boiling water until the eggs thicken but do not scramble. [ Shown in step 3 in picture above]

Hazelnut Biscuit Macaron:

• 72g egg whites
• 50g castor sugar
• 28g  Lucky ground hazelnut ( or any hazelnut meal )
• 15g ALDI plain flour (or any plain flour )
• 40g icing sugar
• 40g Lucky ground almonds ( or any almond meal)

1)Preheat oven to 190C and line baking paper on a 26cm X 16.5cm rectangular baking pan.

2)Beat egg whites and sugar to soft peak meringue(a) formed. [step 2 in picture shown]

3)Mix ground hazelnut, flour, icing sugar and ground almonds together.

4)Fold in  meringue into hazelnut flour in 3 additions until well combined.

5)Spread mixture on prepared pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool down and trim into 6 pieces of 13cm X 4cm of rectangle.

Note:

(a)what is meringue? Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

Dark Chocolate Cremeux:

• 170g Cadbury baking dark chocolate button
• 84ml milk
• 190ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any dairy whipping cream )
• 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 60g egg yolks
• 30g castor sugar
• 22g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter )

1)Put chocolate in a bowl.

2)Bring milk, cream and vanilla paste to just boil.Off heat.

3)Beat yolks and sugar til light in colour with hand mixer.

4) Add in half of the hot cream into egg mixture, whisking till smooth. Pour in remaining hot cream mixture and keep whisking until all combined.Return over low heat, stir the mixture and cook till it coats the back of a spoon (or till 82C-84C) [Picture in step 4 ]

5)Switch off the heat. Strain over chocolate. Mix until smooth.

6)Add in butter, mix till smooth.

7)Spread into a shallow tray, cover with cling wrap, leave in fridge to semi-set for piping later. Pour into a piping bag with round nozzle.

Preparing Chocolate Rectangles:

• some  Cadbury baking dark chocolate, chopped ( or any baking dark chocolate)
• 12 pieces of 14cm x 4cm rectangular  acetate sheets
• small palette knife

1) Melt chocolate over bain marie/double boiler or microwave every 10 seconds in high heat (keep stirring every time comes out from microwave) till melted smoothly.

2)Spoon few dollop of melted chocolate into acetate sheet. Thinly and gently spread the chocolate over the sheet. Allow to semi-set then transfer into a baking tray. Place a piece of baking paper onto arranged chocolate rectangles followed by another baking tray to keep it flat while it sets in the fridge. Once chocolate has fully set, carefully peel the acetate away from the chocolate.

Note:

Remember to keep the chocolate in airtight container in the  fridge before using it.

Raspberry glaze:

• some neutral glaze/ mirror glaze
• some raspberry puree
• 2 tbsp of water

1)Mix all into together to well combine.

Simple sugar syrup:

• 1 tbsp castor sugar
• 2 tbsp hot water

Mix all together til sugar dissolved.

Assemble :

1)Once raspberry mousse is hardened, remove from freezer.Peel off the acetate tubes. Cut into 6 piece of 10cm long raspberries cylinders. Place back in freezer for few minutes. Brush the raspberry glaze onto all the raspberry mousse.Place back in the fridge.

2) Place the cut Hazelnut Biscuit Macaron onto a tray,brush with simple sugar syrup.Pipe 3 small bulbs of Dark Chocolate Cremeux on top of the Hazelnut Biscuit Macaron.

3)Place the piece of Chocolate Sponge on top , then soak the sponge with simple sugar syrup.

4)Pipe 3 small bulbs of cremeux on top of the Alhambra Sponge and top with one of the prepared chocolate rectangles.

5)Pipe 2 rows of large bulbs of Cremeux along the top of chocolate rectangles.Top with another chocolate rectangle, then place a small line of cremeux in the centre of each chocolate rectangle.

6)Remove raspberry mousse from fridge and use a small palatte knife to place them into the middle of the chocolate.Decorate with prepared chocolate hoops as desired.

7)Place back in fridge for 30 minutes. Serve.

Note:

(a) This dessert is definitely  interesting. I love the dark chocolate cremeux , smooth and silky. The raspberry mousse is my first try in tubes, goes well with all the chocolate. The sponge and biscuit macaron are not suppose to be super soft, it has a very different dimension in the texture and flavour.Overall, I love it.

(b)What is chocolate delice?Chocolate Delice is a form of dessert that is made from chocolate and a host of other ingredients like whipped cream, berries and nuts, caramel, eggs, milk and icing sugar. It is a popular dessert in the UK.

Another alternative of decoration with much easier effort

Today’s word:

Thank you for your visit and deeply appreciate your positive comments. ^_^

 

 

p/s:If there is any mistake and doubt of my work, do let me know, I will try rectify it.This work has been constructed under taking multiple medications which could cause drowsiness. My deepest apology.

 

 

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Rich Chocolate Tart

It has been long for posting my recipe, since I got my viral flu from my husband, and unfortunately sick for more than month and I still have not recovering from my coughing.Why the virus has been so strong in Sydney?Why the doctor insisting not prescribing any medicine:”I am sorry, there is nothing we can do for the viral flu.”Both of us were told by the doctor. Every night all I did is coughing , lack of sleep, how am I going to heal my dear doctor in Sydney? The only thing is to make my body immune to any sickness…Healthy food, and healthy lifestyle, plenty of sleep and no dessert for a while.Sorry my dear blog.

Here is one of the recipes I tried before I was sick, just to share with you.I am going into a big transition very soon and I am going to miss some of the genuine readers due to I owe it to my health. Gosh…

Enjoy baking,dear folks! Not sure how long I can bla bla bla here so much. Going to miss you guys.

Components you need:

• Rich chocolate mousse
• Sable breton (Sweet Pastry)
• Chocolate glaze

Rich Chocolate Mousse:

• 225g  Cadbury baking milk chocolate,chopped ( or any baking milk chocolate)
• 100g egg yolks
• 60g castor sugar
• 30 ml water
• 280 ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)

1)Melt chocolate over bain marie(a pot of simmering water sits underneath the bowl of chocolate without allowing water touches the chocolate)

2)How to make Pate a bombe(a):

a)Beat  egg yolks till foamy stage with hand whisk.

b)Heat up sugar and water in a pot till reached 117C.

c)Add in to beaten egg yolks slowly and keep whisking fast until slightly pale or ribbon stage like picture shown.This is called pate a bombe.[Picture 6].Continue to beat the mixture until it is cool.

3)Beat cream in a mixing bowl till soft peaks formed[picture 7].

4)Fold in whipped cream into pate a bombe(a)[picture 8].

5)Fold  1/3 of cream mixture into melted chocolate from step (1).(It will slightly turned thick  a little).Fold in remaining cream mixture into chocolate mixture.

6)Pour the mousse into a prepared 6″ round cake ring sitting under a tray lined with parchment paper.Allow to freeze for 4 hours or overnight.

Note:

• Ensure to pour in the sugar syrup slowly into beaten egg, otherwise pouring too fast of  hot sugar syrup will curdle the beaten egg.

• (a)What is Pate a bombe:

A pâte à bombe is the French term for a mixture used as a base for making chocolate mousse and other mousse-like desserts.

It is made by pouring a sugar syrup that has been cooked until it is 117C degrees celsius over egg yolks and whipping the mixture until it is completely cold and has transformed into an uniform, unctuous, airy mass.

Sable Breton: (Rich sweet pastry)

• 100g plain flour
• 3g baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 75g unsalted butter, softened in room temperature
• 30 egg yolks
• 65g castor sugar

1)Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

2)Beat the butter until soft and creamy.

3)Beat egg yolks and sugar in another bowl, beat till light in colour.

4)Add in softened butter into egg mixture, and mix to well combined.

5)Fold in the sifted flours.

6)Mix into forming a dough.

7)Lightly press the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper.Allow to rest in refrigerator for an hour.

8)Transfer the dough the work bench, roll the dough into roughly 8mm in thickness. Cut into a 8” diameter round disc.

9)Place the pastry  on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

10)Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack once baked, allow to cool completely.

Note:

• Lightly dust some flour between the 2 sheets parchment paper before roll the dough to desire thickness to prevent stickiness.
• Do not over roll or work the dough otherwise it might cause shrinkage during baking in oven.
• You can allow the dough to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes again before bake if the dough becomes sticky due to hot weather.
• This pastry should be used the same day as it is made, or can be frozen for up to a month after wrapped properly.

• (a)What is Sable Breton:

This pastry is enriched by using egg yolks and flavoured with some salt. The pastry is definitely rich, buttery and crispy. It is from France and famous for the addition of salt.

Chocolate Glaze:

• 9g gelatin leaves /or  gelatin powder(Dissolve powder into enough water to mix into paste)
• 117g water
• 150g castor sugar
• 50g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder( or any unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 85g Bulla cream ( or any dairy cream)

1)Bloom gelatin in ice cold water till softened.Squeeze to remove excess water when use.

2)Bring water and sugar to just boil , immediately reduce to low heat to simmer for 2-3 minutes.

3)Add in cocoa powder and cream.

4)Bring it back to boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes on low heat.

5)Remove from heat, add in softened gelatin(Same goes to the gelatin powder if using powder instead).Stir until dissolved.

6)Strain, Leave to cool to 25C.

Note:

• It is best to cool down the chocolate glaze till 28-33C  to glaze the mousse(frozen).
• Stir the glaze now and then before glazing to prevent skin forming.
• you can chill the glaze overnight to rest before using.The glaze will be jelly like texture form.
• Carefully warm up with bain-marie or microwave until liquid and no trace of lump.(Remember to cool down to the optimum temperature when glazing)
• You can store in an airtight container in fridge and use in 4 days.

Assemble:

1)Remove the mousse from freezer, lightly torch around the cake ring for few seconds. Remove the mousse from ring.

2)Place mousse back to freezer for 15 minutes.

3)Pour the chocolate glaze over the harden chocolate mousse.Allow to drip excess.

4)Transfer to the cooled sable breton(Pastry disc).

5)Decorate fresh raspberries around the mousse, and place some chocolate square piece on the top, more raspberries. Dust with some edible gold powder.

6)Allow the mousse tart to bring back to edible temperature in refrigerator for 30 minutes before serve.Enjoy this rich, chocolaty and buttery tart.

Hope you enjoy this alternative of rich chocolate tart, it is so rich and melt into your mouth. Hope you like this sharing.

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Ispahan Macaron with Pineapple & Raspberry(Valentines Special)

It has been long time again to post but finally i am able to put something here for the Big Fat Valentines Day.Forgive me for being this late.

What Am I Doing lately for those who worrying for me?

Same old same old: recuperating from  my health issue, spending more time with God and yeah trying to learn how to enjoy the simplicity of life apart from blogging days,food photography.

Okay, hope you enjoy this simple V-day dessert.

Happy Valentine’s Day 

To anyone who deserve to be pampered

Yes anyone deserves good dessert

 

 

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

It is such romantic season for some sweet desserts.Pink, roses, pineapple, raspberry and some sweet desserts are here to celebrate this romantic season.

Hope you like this recipe.

Few components you need:

• Basic french macaron shells
• Creme mousseline
• Raspberries and pineapple

 Basic French Macaron ( Love shape)

• 1 cup almond powder
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 egg whites (leave in room temperature for  few hours or a day )
• 3 tbsp castor sugar
• pink food colouring

1)Draw out two love shapes on a parchment paper as your template, estimated 18cm in diameter. Invert the sheet and place onto a baking tray.

2)Sift twice of the  almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in  and continued beating to soft peak. Add in pink food colouring and continued beating to a stiff peaks formed.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip. Pipe out  love shapes onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide. Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160-170C for 30-40 minutes, depending on your individual oven and the size of the macarons. About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.(I baked my macaron on middle oven rack)

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

1)sift almond powder and icing sugar together

2)Crack egg whites into a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

3)Get ready with your pink food colouring

4)Beat egg whites and sugar to soft peak, and add in food colouring

5)Beat meringue till “stiff peaks” formed

6)Fold in meringue into almond mixture

7)Fold into a lava-like batter

8)Pour into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle

9)Pipe onto prepared template

Note:

a)Remember to sift your almond powder and icing sugar.If you make your own almond powder, remember to process to super fine and give it few sifts.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.

Cream Patissiere: Also known as Pastry cream

( Kindly refer on HOW TO MAKE CREME PATISSIERE  at : http://wp.me/p3PiK3-8d .    Remove the butter for this recipe )

Ingredients:

• 125ml  Liddells Lactose free milk ( or any milk)
• 25g  sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste
• 30g egg yolks
• 13g  cornstarch

1. STEP 1

   In a medium saucepan, combine milk and vanilla paste. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.

2. STEP 2

   In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot-milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until it has been incorporated. Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens ,about 2 minutes.

3. STEP 3

   Transfer into a clean bowl.

Creme Moussseline:

• 1 quantity of creme patissierre
• 100g Western Star unsalted butter, cubed and in room temperature

1)Prepare creme patissiere , remove from heat, transfer into a bowl of an electric mixer.

2)Beat on low speed until reaches room temperature.

3)Increase speed to high, slowly add in butter cubes, one by one, until fully incorporated.

4)Pour cream into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle.

Note:

a)What is creme mousseline?

It is also known as German buttercream which is the combination of creme patissiere/pastry cream with  softened butter. It can be used as filling for macarons and also good for frosting in any desserts or cakes.

Assemble:

• some fresh raspberries
• some pineapple, cut into small cubes

1)Pipe out creme mousseline onto one of the macaron shells.

2)Layer with pineapple, then with raspberries, and finally with pineapple again.

3)Sandwich with another macaron shell.

4)Decorate with fresh rose petals and some raspberry or go wild with your imagination.

5)Refrigerate. Best serve after chill for a day.

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The aim for this macaron has to be rustic and not smooth, yes smooth surface is not what I want to see here. Ensure the final batter not to be over-folded otherwise cannot reach this rustic texture. The aim for this macaron has to be little rustic as I have tried the first time,ended up the entire macaron become overly smooth, and the distinctive shape is not what I am aiming for.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4-6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 – 8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

 

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 150C, and start baking your macaron.

 

 

 

Thank you for visiting, and your comments are very much appreciated.

 

Lots of love,

hellosweetdessert

Strawberry White Chocolate Mousse Cake(Flourless/Gluten free)草莓之恋

It is the strawberries season and I loaded more berries during my groceries shopping. I wish everyday is berries day so I can decorate my cakes with these juicy, vibrantly colourful berries.

This cake is designed for  playing the fresh , red and juicy strawberries as the main component. Moreover, I want to create a flourless(or gluten free) cake by implementing the hazelnut and almond dacquoise. This dacquoise produces the best hazelnut aroma with a slight crunch to it ,which giving a new depth of texture to a normal mousse cake.

I have made this cake couple of times and I received very generous and amazing comments such as :” I am hiring your wife for my wedding cake!”,” I do not mind eat this everyday!”,” I have eaten half of the cake by myself “. I never thought men could  love strawberry flavour mousse cake that much. Guess I must done something right to prove men can choose strawberry shakes too. 😛

I am over the moon for anyone accepting my creation with such positive comment.I am blessed.

So I do hope you all like it too. ^_^

(this recipe has been made for couple of times since 2015 till now)

 

Few components you need:

• Raspberry-strawberry gelee
• White chocolate mousse
• Hazelnut and Almond dacquoise
• Strawberry mousse
• Pink glacage/glaze

 

 

 

Raspberry-Strawberry Gelee:

• 100g raspberry frozen
• 60g castor sugar
• 100g fresh strawberry puree
• 1/4 tsp lemon juice
• 6g gelatin leaves (soak in cold water until soften)

1)Heat up frozen raspberry  together with castor sugar until thickened.

2)Blend the mixture into puree.Add in strawberry puree and gelatin.Mix well.Add in lemon juice.Mix well.Strain.

3)Pour into 5″cake ring(which wrapped with cling wrap at the bottom) sits underneath a tray lined with baking paper.

4)Allow to set in freezer for at least 4 hours or more.

White Chocolate Mousse:

• 60g Cadbury baking white chocolate ( or any baking white chocolate)
• 1  small egg, room temperature
• 1 tbsp castor sugar
• 100ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)

1)Beat whipping cream to soft peaks.

2)Melt white chocolate.

3)In a bowl: Beat egg and sugar until ribbon stage(a) over bain marie(b).(Ensure water is 40C )

4)Fold egg mixture through the whipped cream.

5)Scoop out one ladle of egg-cream mixture from step (4) and fold through melted white chocolate to well combine.Then fold it back to remaining egg-cream mixture.

6)Pour onto the hardened raspberry-strawberry gelee earlier and allow to set in freezer for at least 4 hours or more.

 

 

Note:

(a)What is ribbon stage?

A term referring to the thickness of a whipped/cooked batter (typically with eggs)or cream.When the batter is lifted it should fall in ribbons or smooth sheets that will hold their shape momentarily before falling into the batter.

(b)Bain marie or double boiler means a pan of hot water in which a cooking container is placed  above it for slow cooking. Please remember do not allow the hot water touches the bowl of chocolate mixture while using slow heat cooking it.

 

Hazelnut and Almond Dacquiose:

• 25g hazelnut meal
• 25g almond meal
• 10g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter)
• 50g castor sugar
• 6g corn flour
• 40g egg whites
• Icing sugar for dusting

1)Preheat oven to 170C. Line baking tray with baking paper or non-stick baking mat.

2)Melt butter. Mix hazelnut and almond meals with half of the castor sugar together.

3)Beat egg whites in a clean mixing bowl till bubbly foam, and slowly add in sugar while beating to stiff peaks meringue(c).

4)Fold in meringue into dry ingredients in 3 additions.

5)Add in spoonful of meringue mixture into melted butter.Fold together.

6)Pour butter mixture into rest of meringue mixture.Mix well.Pour into a piping bag.

7)Pipe  in circular motion into a 5″ round disc .Dust with generous amount of icing sugar.

8)Bake for 18-20 minutes until lightly golden brown.

 

Note:

(a) Dacquoise is a dessert made with layers of almond and hazelnut meringue and whipped cream or buttercream. It takes its name from the feminine form of the French word dacquois, meaning ‘of Dax‘, a town in southwestern France.

(b)If cannot find hazelnut meal, you can kindly eliminate hazelnut meal and increase almond meal to 50g.

(c)what is meringue?

Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

(d)Always remember when folding meringue into flour mixture,it has to be done slowly and gently without deflating the air pockets, usually by using spatula to fold from bottom to upwards in slow motion until both mixture are well combined without any trace of meringue has been seen. Deflating the air pockets will not produce a well risen cake as result.

 

Strawberry Mousse:

• 4g gelatin leaves(soak in cold water till soften)
• 180ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)
• 110g strawberry puree
• 40g castor sugar

1)Process fresh strawberries into puree.

2)Beat whipping cream to ribbon stage. [Picture 1  ]

3)Put half of strawberry puree and sugar in a saucepan.Gently warm till sugar dissolved.

4)Squeeze water from soaked gelatin, add into saucepan from step (3).Stir well.

5)Strain into mixing bowl. Add the remaining strawberry puree in.

6)Pour in whipped cream. Fold to combine.

 

Assemble:

1)Lightly torch the edges of the 5″ cake ring containing gelee and white chocolate mousse. Remove the set mousse from cake ring.

2) Place the hazelnut-almond dacquoise onto the base of a 6″ cake ring lined with baking paper in a tray.

3)Pipe in strawberry mousse around the cake ring. Place the raspberry gelee-white chocolate mousse onto the dacquoise.(White chocolate mousse touches the dacquoise)

4)Pipe in remaining strawberry mousse, smooth the top. Allow to set in freezer for at least 4 hours or more.

 

 

Pink Glacage:

• 125g Bulla cream ( or any brand of cream)
• 10g castor sugar
• 25ml glucose ( or corn syrup)
• some pink food colouring
• 100g Cadbury baking white chocolate
• 3g gelatin leaves (soak in cold water till soften)

1)Bring cream, sugar and glucose to boil at 85C.

2)Add in chocolate in few additions.Combine.Stir

3)Stir in soften gelatin.Mix together with pink food colouring and strain.

4)Allow to cool down to 25C.

Note:

(a)Stir the glaze now and then before glazing to prevent skin forming.

(b)Remember to be quick and generous when pouring the glaze over the mousse.

 

Assemble II:

1)Remove the mousse from freezer, lightly torch around the cake ring for few seconds. Remove the mousse from ring.

2)Place cake back to freezer for 15 minutes.

3)Place a small cake ring onto a tray. Place the mousse onto the cake ring.

4)Pour the pink glaze over the mousse.Allow to drip off excess.

5)Decorate with some fresh strawberries and macaron shells, dust with some icing sugar  or decorate with however you, go wild with your imagination.

 

 

 

 

 

Hope you like this sharing.

 

 

Today’s Word:

 

 

I am sorry that I am still on sick leave here

  To those genuine friends and readers:

          I   Am Genuinely Sorry

For Being so Inactive on my blog

I am truly sorry for such a long disappearance and inactive on my blog .

Due to my personal health issues, I will no longer being so active on my blog like a year ago.

I am truthful thankful for those who supports me and worrying for me while I am gone.

Without your supports and kind understanding, I would not able to create a blog.

I do what I passionate without anyone could stop me down until this personal health problems came along,

makes me doubt how long I can hold on to what I love to do.

So thank you for your understanding, patience and genuine supports.

I have put everything aside included my cameras and blogging days aside for such a long time,

hoping to rest enough so I can stand back right up.

Sorry for my true friends who worry for me, sorry that I unable to answer everyone of you personally due to my health reason, I am so thankful that I found some of you who genuinely care for me. Please look after your health and continue do what you like and passionate.

Days without some of you just makes my days less colourful.I am going to miss you alot.

I will be uploading some of my recipes I created awhile ago from now on before my health is completely alarming.

These recipes were created while I was still capable , so bear with me with the time given.

I just need a long long rest . Having some of you to like what I do makes me no regret.

Welcome to leave any comments and question here and please be patience for my reply. Truly sorry for everything.

I am going to miss some of the nicest truthful kind souls I have met during my blogging days. Thank you friends and sorry that I unable to reply each of you, I want to say:”Never stop doing what you like no matter what others say.”

Love, 

Sivia,

hellosweetdessert

 

.

 

Dessert Review : Stones Patisserie in Berrima, NSW

Stones Patisserie in Berrima, was the next patisserie bakery shop that we dropped by to grab one piece of dessert after having tried GUMNUT Patisserie’s desserts before we headed back to Sydney. It was nearly half past three in the afternoon and we need to head back before encountering any traffic. The experience in Gumnut patisserie ( which is located 4 minutes walk , opposite to each other) was the reason we had to stop by at Stones to give it a try. We could not find any dessert in Gumnut anymore, not on the day we dined in so we wanted to renew our luck at Stones Patisserie instead. [Find out you why : Gumnut Patisserie ]

We grabbed home one particular piece called:

Tanghana Salted Caramel Gluten free  $12.50 invididual piece

I tried to bring home to taste and identify the components myself and here are the components I guess:

Components are:

1. 1st layer: Chocolate glacage/glaze
2. 2nd layer:Dark chocolate cremeux/ cream
3. 3rd layer:Gluten free Chocolate sponge/cake
4. 4th layer:Salted caramel cream
5. 5th layer:Milk chocolate cremeux/cream
6. Base: Hazelnut chunks cream filling

[Components above are based on personal assumptions, since there was no any written explanation]

Overall:

It is pretty good for a gluten chocolate entremet.

I personally wish that they could add more solid crunch in the dessert apart from the hazelnut chunk pieces. Please do not get me wrong, I loved the hazelnut especially, wish the hazelnut chunk was incorporated with some joconde or cookies base to give the extra depth for the entire dessert. Apart from the hazelnut chunks, when I bite into it I felt as though I could only taste just one texture all the way down the entire dessert  that is soft and creamy.  I loved the idea of hazelnut. If the chef could turn the base  into some cookies base by using the same hazelnut chunks would be good.

Alternatively, keep the hazelnut base as it is, but  to increase the bite to the gluten free chocolate sponge would make this dessert fabulous and excellent even more.The time when I slowly taste the sponge, sogginess maybe the word to describe what the sponge has become, it could possibly be explained by all the cream layers  stacked altogether over the entire dessert? Or the sugar syrup has moistened the sponge so much that tasted unlike sponge, just my personal opinion.

All in all, flavour is good  for gluten free dessert.

[Forgive me for the dessert has been ruined on the surface due to the fact this dessert traveled with us for 90 minutes, I could have ruined it while holding it through the bumpy ride in some where along the trip even how careful I was.]

Since time is ticking before heading home to Sydney, we only had 10 minutes left approximately to give a final wrap at Stones Patisserie.

When I first stepped in, I discovered that ambient lighting how cozy it  was unsuitable for such amateur photographer like me to snap some super quick shots in just few minutes included choosing my dessert and lining up at check out counter. Forgive me again for the poor and unclear pictures.

The decor is cozy and there was a line for desserts. On the left side when we walked further into shop, there was a place for customers to dine in for other choices of the menu.

There is a table with all the chefs’s center pieces standing proudly . I unable to capture all the desserts on the table due to the line. (It is considered a little rude when customers are queuing up, while I force my way for some pictures, do you agree?)

Beside the desserts sitting on the shelf(just right beside check out counter), there is a small kitchen for the real chefs to make the magic happen. The line was long, thus I unable to capture the precise movements of the chef, also due to space constraints.

To sum it up, I would not mind to try another desserts from the menu here again if I am given the chance.

Thank you for visiting.

[Article above is based on personal experience and opinions which has  no intention against anyone’s business associates as every individual has their own preference on how their dessert should taste like.]

 

For more information:

Stones Patisserie

11 Old Hume Hwy

Berrima, New South Wales

(02) 4877 1019

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Dessert Review: Gumnut Patisserie in Sydney

Gumnut Patisserie, the place where you can many assorted kinds of pastries and  desserts which is at the heart of Berrima township , Southern Highlands. Gumnut Pattiserie has few different location around the highlands. My husband did some research of good pastries in Berrima and he found this Gumnut Patisserie was on the desirable list. It was a 90 minutes drive from Sydney. After few minutes of searching, we came by this place.

Outside of the bakery, I saw this most important road side signage that is good enough to attract  customer. I had to take this picture because I am excited that I am going to try their desserts soon. I love desserts despite of being lactose intolerant together with my husband. We are willing to take our own risk, included spending more money to take some lactose enzymes.

It was a good Sunday, rained for awhile and turned sunny again. There was no line for us to wait for too long on this particular day, yahoo we thought we were lucky.

When we first stepped into the bakery, my eyes gazed around all the desserts and gateaux,The combinations of coffee and pastry, oh my goodness, we must come back for dessert right after my lunch at Zen Oasis restaurant. I must keep my stomach for second round of food, we quickly grabbed a cup of Long Black and left.

Mobile phone shot

Mobile shot

Mobile phone shot

Mobile phone shot

Mobile phone shot

Around 2pm, we came back for seconds from a decent lunch and kept some empty space for trying some pastries here. Cannot wait as the aroma from the coffee and pastries were killing me softly.

So these are what we ordered. We ordered few desserts and planned to get some home initially for supper. Unfortunately, husband  immediately shook  his head in disapproval after having tasted their well known signature vanilla slice which has won an award, and the caramel tart. Its was my turn to taste and I have no doubt to agree with him. We were struggling to finish it. The flavours in our opinion is an acquired taste.

If we were given another chance to travel here, I would want to try  other pastries or desserts apart from the Vanilla slice which was merely suggested by the staff. I am super critical of choosing a good slice of dessert as the effort and time we traveled for , just to try the desserts, I have some high expectations especially with the good reviews and the title Gumnut has received over the years.

I wish the staffs were enthusiastic enough to give me or other customers some suggestions of their pastries, especially when we asked for the second slice. The girl was little less passionate of what she sells, perhaps? Maybe ask us what would we like for our palette and guide us to some good desserts, perhaps? The varieties are excellent.

I would love to give them some insight on how to identify what kind of customers are coming for just the desserts:

When someone who came back to the shop for the second time and who glanced through all the desserts  inside and out, occupied and engaged herself / himself in snapping pictures of the pastries and the front door sign, snapping pictures of  all the ordered desserts for a good 15 minutes before eating it and last but not least just concentrate in tasting the desserts and components without coming here for just a coffee talk, I think all tell tale signs are that is enough to show that this customer cares of her/his dessert. Two words: dessert lover.

I cannot judge the pastry by just two desserts and one mocha to define the final conclusion, that is unacceptable, do you agree?After the dessert experience in Gumnut, not knowing which one to choose(So many choices, I am sure there must be one or two I would love) , it might not be practical or enjoyable experience to travel back here  to get the dessert due to the time it took to get here.

People who travel  to Berrima here are majorly tourists. There are not more than even twenty shops around here. I assumed customers are mainly tourist who had to travel in the first place to get here? I hope Gumnut could give me another reason to try their desserts once again to proof that their desserts are exquisite. I don’t like to be critical, I want to enjoy the desserts, because  I am a dessert lover.

Soy Mocha:

Reasonable taste however towards slight bitter after note. Perhaps they slight burnt the coffee, this is what my husband suspected who is considered  a coffee expert compared to me.

Caramel Tart: $ 4++

Comment:

From the taste of the caramel, I can confidently tell you, they are using large amount of sweetened milk and some melted white chocolate. The 5mm thickness of the tart skin combined with the 90% of the caramel somehow does not balance out the taste. All I can taste is sweet , sweet and overly sweet. My husband has been brought up with heavy cheese and milk flavour but he just couldn’t take half of the tart without the soy mocha to swallow it down.

Secondly, I personally do not get the idea of decorating strawberry sauce on both caramel and vanilla slice serving plates, please kindly enlighten me? I understand that Vanilla slice could go well with the strawberry sauce but definitely not to caramel tart. I personally think that the sauce is unnecessary. The taste and the amount are not relevant to the heavy sweetness of caramel. I wondered: do they serve all pastries with the strawberry sauce? I rather prefer some ice cream or whipped cream to cut down the sweetness of caramel . We both shared the tart and ended up having no choice but to disrespect the  hard work by the chef, unfortunately we both had to leave aside 1/4 of the  caramel tart on the serving plate. Indeed, we struggled to finish the artwork although  we were born without wasting food as you all should know.

Personal Suggestion(actually 2 person):

• Please make portion to a small mini tart if you insist in having this caramel tart on the shelf. The caramel flavour has killed the entire tart. It is as though I am drinking a canned of sweetened milk instead. Forgive me being so straightforward.
• I respect the Chef job to create something nice, but I would prefer either top it up with some whipped cream  or reduce the tart size to at least 1/3 of original size which would greatly appreciated.
• Perhaps chef can turn this caramel into salted caramel instead, to prevent any portion size reduction. I could understand some customers prefer to pay based on value.
• Please kindly remove the strawberry sauce, or on other desserts too. Not all desserts are happily married to the sauce. Please kindly consider this key point too.
• Passionate staffs to give some assistance in helping first experience customers like us in picking some desserts apart from Vanilla slice?

This is known as the “famous”  Vanilla Slice that won many awards, made with layers of butter puff pastry with Crème Patissiere between the layers and topped with vanilla fondant, decorated  with chocolate ganache.

When I first entered the store, requesting politely from staff what would they suggest me to try on for our first visit. She had no doubt and answered: Vanilla slice. So we had a slice.

INDIVIDUAL Vanilla Slice  $4.60

Comment:

The good part is the buttery puff pastry , unlike other bakery cafe that serve their vanilla slice which is always soggy due to the cream patisserie sandwiched in between every puff pastry layers.Not only that, those unknown bakery shops love to use poor quality of butter to make the puff pastry which goes soggy easily. So bravo to “Gumnut patisserie ” of the buttery  and multiple layers of flakiness of puff pastry that never let us down.

The vanilla fondant is seemingly necessary component to tie up the entire vanilla slice due to the fact that the cream patissiere tasted towards rather on the plain side,it is screaming for considerable addition of sweetness. From what I tasted: The 90% of the sweetness comes from the vanilla fondant and 10% would be from the cream patissiere. When I tried the 3 components together in one mouthful, somehow to me, it is does not bind well together as though they were not belonging together in a family anymore.

Personal Suggestions:

• Would be greatly appreciated if they can increase the amount of sweetness to the cream patissiere,
• Reduce the the amount of the vanilla fondant,
• Keep the vanilla taste and the buttery goodness of puff pastry,
• With all these small adjustments, I would award them a pretty damn good “Vanilla Slice” of the year.

Placing a slice of dessert for an unusual spot for a picture taking is another sign shows that I am a dessert lover.

You will see a pretty adorable bookstore just right beside Gumnut Patisserie.

[Article above is based on personal experience and opinions which  has no intention against anyone’s business associates as every individual has their own preference on how their dessert should taste like. ]

For more information of BERRIMA SHOP:

Shop 1, Post Office Corner
Hume Highway
BERRIMA NSW 2577
Telephone: 48772 177

http://gumnutpatisserie.com.au/ 

Thank you for visting. ^_^

Love,

hellosweetdessert

 

A Day out at Southern Highland,Berrima NSW

 

Joadja Vineyards and Winery Love this outdoor wood fire oven behind the winery

 

2 August , husband and I went for a good trip in one of the secluded areas of New South Wales where the pace of life is alot slower without the hustle and the bustle of city life. It is a quiet country side with plenty of opened grass area, cows and horses are grazing deliberately.The occupants are definitely free from stress as they considered one of the friendliest people I have encountered compared to city inhabitants.

We did not have any strict schedule and time constraint for this trip. The atmosphere was peaceful and serene that we had to stop by almost every place that we encountered. Although in saying that, Berima is a very small town with small population  without many touristy things to do, which did not stop the fact Berima is a fantastic place to unwind. The drive which took us estimated about 90 minutes one way, the time taken is immaterial as the peacefulness was worth every single minute, as exhibited in my pictures.  I hope you enjoy my visual journey

Allow the pictures to speak it’s own  little story.

 

Joadja Vineyards and Winery: I spot this scenery when I first walked into the winery and I love it.

 

I saw this along the way we traveled. Husband saw it and instantly stop for me to capture the scenery.Love how the different shades of colours on all these lined up trees.

Saw plenty of hourse and cow along the way we traveled, it speaks closely the word of country side.

 

 

 

Spotted this when we went to nearby public toilet from far distant.Don’t get to visit this rabbit shack store due to limited time during winter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love all kind of peculiar design, and look at the tap, fully covered with the wild leaves, amazing for such small thing.

 

 

Love this feminine signage.

 

 

 

 

 

Duckies wear colourful winter boots captured almost all the tourist who passed by.

Thanks for visiting.Hope you enjoy my sharing of such short trip.

Simplicity in life comes from feeling within your heart.

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Food Review: Zen Oasis Vegetarian Restaurant in Berrima, NSW

I always miss vegetarian food from my home town but to get on a flight every time I crave for it is just not economical at all.

So, husband and I went for 90 minutes drive to Berrima in Southern Highlands. Although it is situated on fringe of the beautiful historic village, we both enjoyed the entire trip. This restaurant is only open on weekends for lunch time. I heard so much good feedback of it, so I thought to give it a go.

The restaurant  offers a variety of gourmet delicacies which is over 30 selections of yum cha entrées, freshly wrapped sushi, home made desserts and a wide variety of hot and cold beverages. We did not get to taste the desserts much as we had plans for next dessert at some well known cafes nearby.

There was a long line outside the entrance , waiting for the restaurant to open. So, its true for the rumour, indeed there was a long line.

When I first entered the place,  Chinese calligraphy was the first thing I spotted, then gave a quick glance through the entire place, it  gives away the  rustic and cozy  ambiance   with the wood fire fired up to warm up the place. Mind me, the temperature outside was around 13° Celcius. The only problem was I did not get to take any proper pictures in with the limited time, the lighting did not make is easier as well. Besides, everyone rushed in for the food like a pack of wolves, unlike me who came in to look around and started to take pictures. Customers were lining up for food while I was standing there causing some inconvenience for them to feed their hungry appetite. Everybody lined up for food, if I took any longer time to capture picture, perhaps by the time I am done , there might not have been any food left for me  as too many starved tummies to be fed here. Forgive me  for the poor qualitiy of pictures .

Freshly rolled sushi finished so quick that I got to taste 2 varieties.I only snapped this picture before I served myself. Lucky there was a person decicated in making new ones as the images below:

This lady is the one who serve freshly rolled sushi.

What I picked for making my tummy happy:

Deep Fried Breadcrumb tofu with vegetarian abalone

Vegetarian Bak Kut Teh: bean curd skin, goji berries, some vegetarian meat in the soup

Assorted deep fried snacks: glutinous rice balls, popiah, popiah skin with seaweed sheets, and more deep fry bean curd skin with vegetables…..

Fried rice, vegetarian BBQ pork(char siu), deep fried snacks(unsure what is that but husband loved it the most)

Stir fry vegetables, stir fry spicy mushroom with soy meat, crispy fish and mushroom skewer(my favourite but did not like the olive though)

The least favourite is these steam glutinous crystal vegetables dumpling and steam glutinous pumpkin-like filled with some coconut fillings(not my favourite)

All in all, the taste is very close to Malaysian vegetarian food. I wish that I could taste more of the dim sum such as steam BBQ bun, deep fried taro balls, or more mushroom made food. For appetite like my husband and he such a poor eater, this could be the one time deal.

The service is excellent. I saw those waiters  explained the ingredients of the varieties food to non-asian customers patiently. If anyone loves a good Asian vegetarian food, this is one of the options here close to Sydney so far I reckon.

After settling a nice meal, we went out of the restaurant to capture some surrounding area:

I enjoyed my time in Berrima, people here are mostly friendly.

Thanks for visiting.Hope you enjoy this simple sharing.

More Information:

Zen Oasis

Address and contact details are as follows:
230 Medway Road Berrima NSW 2577  (Berrima & Moss Vale Exit of Hume Highway).

Tel: (02) 4877 1285 or 0404 099 285  (Between 9:30am and 5:00pm Monday to Sunday for bookings. ) 

http://www.zen-oasis.com/

Crispy Garlic Oat Bread Roll

 

My husband loves these garlic bread, so I bake it very often. The crispiness of the japanese breadcrumb after crisped up from the homemade garlic butter, makes the bread roll extra tasty. The garlic butter perfumed the entire bread,especially freshly came out from oven.

These bread is extra soft , goes well with soup or just eat it on its own.

Hope you like this sharing.Let’s get started?

 

 

Garlic Butter:

• 150g Lurpak unsalted butter,room temperature (Or any unsalted butter)
• 5-6 cloves of garlic, minced or grated
• 1/4 tsp dry mix herbs
• 1/4 tsp lemon juice or white vinegar
• 1/4 tsp of salt

1. Mix everything together and place into a prepared parchment paper.Roll it up into a log and twist both ends properly.
2. Keep in the freezer for 30 minutes until hardened.

Note:

• Garlic butter can be made in bigger portion and stored in the freezer up to half year.
• Garlic butter can be made in advanced.

 

 

Oat Bread Roll

• 300g bread flour / strong flour/ bakers flour
• 2 tbsp instant oats
• 30g castor sugar
• 4g salt
• 15g  Lurpak butter ( or any butter)
• 5g instant yeast
• 100g soy milk ( or any full cream milk )
• 110g water
• 2-3 tbsp of Japanese breadcrumb( Panko breadcrumb)

 

Methods:

1.  Mix all ingredients together except butter. ( reserve 20 ml of milk)
2.  Knead all ingredients into a dough,then mix in the butter in 2 additions until it comes together.Slowly pour in the remaining  milk and continued kneading until a smooth dough formed.
3.  To check if the dough is done, take out some dough, and lightly stretch your dough into a thin skin(membrane) without having any holes form. The thinner of the membrane can be stretched and light can see through, the better the dough.
4. Once done, take out the dough and give it a good knead into big ball. Spray some water onto dough to prevent drying. Allow to proof to double in size by covering with damp towel.
5. Once the dough is done, release the air by kneading it. Divide into 12 portion, roll into balls. Rest for 15 minutes by covering  with damp towel.
6. Roll each portion into a round smooth ball.
7. Lined a metal tray (2″ deep) with oil paper. Spread 1/3 of your garlic butter all around the base and sides of the tray. You can cut into cubes and place all over the tray.Scatter in Japanese breadcrumb all over.
8. Arrange 12 ball of dough  into the metal ray ( 3 across x 4 long). Scatter 1/3 of the garlic butter onto the balls. ( or you can brush it onto the balls.Sprinkle more breadcrumb onto the balls(Roughly 1 tbsp)
9. Allow to proof to double in size, roughly an hour.
10. Bake in a  180C preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until golden brown,depending on individual oven. You can bake the bread on the bottom oven for the last 3 minutes at 200C to achieve golden brown crispy breadcrumb.
11. Once done, remove from oven and brush the remaining garlic butter onto each golden brown bread roll.Serve.

Note:

• If you prefer just plain bread without oat, remove oat  from recipe.
• Remember to use Japanese breadcrumb to achieve crispy and golden texture on the bread roll.
• If you cannot find dry mix herbs, just replace with freshly chopped parsley.

 

Thanks for visiting and your comment is much appreciated.

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Thank You for another year

 

 

Another year older.

Deeply blessed and grateful for small things in life. I am grateful for the chocolate, the food, the new place I put my footsteps on, the flower, the thoughtful wish.

Thank you God for another grateful year with all the blessings and love.

Thank you my hubby, my families and genuine friends who support me throughout my life.

Great health and wonderful memories created each day are all I pray for everyone in my life.

Yes, I am counting all  blessings every second of my simple life.

Thanks love.

Love, 

hellosweetdessert

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Vanilla Profiteroles@ Vanilla Cream Puff ( Choux a la Creme)

This small little delicate  cream filled profiteroles or cream puffs are like finger food that suitable for any occasions.

Top up with this vanilla craquelin, as though dressing them with aromatic crunchy hats seemed a necessity.

Serve this with some fruit juice , tea or coffee, you just cannot stop popping in your mouth.

 

 

Vanilla Craquelin:(goes over the top of choux pastry)

• 30g plain flour, sifted
• 30g castor sugar
• 25g Western Star butter ( or any  butter)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste

1)Sift flour into a bowl, add sugar ,butter and vanilla paste, rub together until mixture forms a dough.

2)Roll out between  2 sheets of silicon paper.

3)Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

 

Choux Pastry / Pate a Choux:

• 60ml water
• 60ml milk
• 60g  Western Star unsalted butter ( Or any unsalted butter)
• 6g castor sugar
• 80g plain flour, sifted
• pinch of salt
• 125g whole eggs, beaten

1)Heat water, milk, butter and sugar in a saucepan. Bring to boil.

2)Take pan off heat, add in sifted flour and salt.

3)Use spatula to stir until completely combined.

4)Return to cook on low heat, continue stirring until dough leaves the sides of the pan.

5)Transfer dough to a mixing bowl, leave to cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

6)Gradually add in the beaten egg into dough.

7)Beat the mixture until it is smooth with spatula.

8)Pour into a piping bag with plain round nozzle  of 8mm.

9)Preheat oven to 200c. Pipe choux pastry onto a baking tray lined with a non-stick baking mat, leaving gaps in between.

10)Using a 2cm round cutter to cut each craquelin into round disc. Top the piped choux pastry with craquelin disc.

11)Bake for 15 minutes, then turn down to 180C and cook for further 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven, leave to cool.

 

 

Note:

(a) Do not open oven for 12-15 minutes after placing choux into oven otherwise pastry collapses. Choux pastry rises when the moisture in dough heats and creates steam. If oven is opened before the outside of the dough has time to cook, the steam comes out of the dough, pastry then collapses.

 

Assemble :

• Some whipping cream
• castor sugar to your taste
• vanilla paste

1)Beat cream, sugar and vanilla to soft peak formed.Make a small hole from the bottom of every choux pastry.

2)Pour vanilla cream into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle, pipe into cooled choux pastry.

3)Ready to serve or chill in refrigerator for an hour and ready to serve.

Note:

Be adventurous and creative to your filling, custard, cream with any flavours would make your profiteroles extra special because you create your own.

 

 

 

 

Cream in choux pastry

I also sliced the choux pastry into half, then piped in some freshly made vanilla cream, and top up with my favorite raspberry.(Cream can be made into personal preference such as chocolate, strawberries, coffee and etc)

 

Thanks for visiting and hope you like this simple sharing.

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Review: Adriano Zumbo Dessert Tasting

Dessert Name:

Ed, it’s been long time,

Individual

 

Description:

Cappuccino marshmallow mousse, chocolate crunch, lemon olive oil and coffee cremeux, chocolate olive oil sponge and chocolate mousse.

Contains: Tree nuts, eggs, dairy and gluten.

 

Finally I tried Zumbo dessert:

Yesterday, a rainy day during winter in June, I decided that I must get Zumbo Adriano dessert. I went to the store approximately 10 times, but something prevented me from getting a slice of Zumbo’s dessert until yesterday.

Visited Zumbo’s store for 10 times and have not try it yet, why?

Allow me to reason why I couldn’t make myself to get dessert from zumbo’s store:an hour of travel just to reach to Zumbo’s store;no place for customer to dine in;not much choices almost everytime I went there(also a good thing which limit my choices to get something exciting);not-so-welcoming staff towards first time clients like me.So far these are the reasons preventing me to move forward to be one Zumbo’s customer.

Until yesterday, I bought Zumbo’s cookbook.Okay, his desserts started to tickle my curiosity of wanting to really try one.I love all his Tim tam creations,I think it’s good enough to bring me back to his store and give it a real taste adventure.

Experience in front of Zumbo’s store :

I was in front of his store, again, making it 11 times now,however this time my husband and I are seriously considering to get his dessert.

Let see, the store served slightly more varieties desserts compared to the 10 previous times I came here for dessert window shopping, apart from his ordinary and familiar macarons.Besides, I saw some pastry, oh finally.I finally saw his well known “Zonut”( as you all know also named as” cronut”).

There was no designated counter area that I can find to place my orders, nor is any of staff friendly enough to acknowledge me or others customers. I circled the entire store which is more like a shoe box size,and yet there was nobody really noticing us. I was there approximately 5 minutes,I quickly scanned through all the customers, and realised there were high numbers of Asian tourist(Supposedly can be potential zumbo’s customer if given better customer service) was attracted by Zumbo’s desserts.

First thing we both noticed at the pastry area:There were fruit flies circulating above the pastries. My husband has an eagle eye alert on food hygiene. Winter with flies, how it this possible during such cold weather,I was astonished.

One Asian man in particular caught my attention:” Come and see these beautiful desserts, but what are those flavour? I couldn’t work out the components ? Guess we better go to next coffee store to find their staff who can explain and introduce their menus.Let’s go.”, this man was whispering to his friends and they were speaking in Cantonese.Indeed,I can understand because I am Asian myself.

Oh yes, there were  explanation cards of every desserts sitting inside the glass cabinet.Those explanation cards are sitting cold and stale inside without anyone make any effort to explain them in simpler way. Such ashamed! Not every customers comes to Zumbo store knows or ought to know all the vocabulary in dessert’s world. I wish that zumbo’s staff can be friendly and passionate towards approaching the Asian’s customers, because these tourist  can have great chance  to be a spender here or even to polish the reputation of Zumbo’s name outside of Australia, what do you reckon?Obviously, we are screaming for assistance here.

I wanted Zumbo’s dessert badly, so I finally caught a lady staff’s attention after 10 minutes standing there. I was politely asked for her permission before taking my orders:” May I ask, is there any specific line for me to place my orders or perhaps I was standing at the incorrect area to ask for your help?”

An English speaking lady who apparently looked like she is carrying a baby inside her, rolled her eyes to me and replied:” Oh, there isn’t any line here as you can see. The line is pretty much everywhere. I will come back to you in a moment” , she eventually approached us.

My husband wanted a yummy looking pastry, but there was not any explanation card, so I quickly asked this lady again:”May I ask what is that as there isn’t any name for that pastry.”

Thank God she replied:”It is sticky macadamia roll with caramel sauce.”

I placed my order and after paid, this lady quickly grabbed a blue paper box,and placed the dessert into the box. I noticed how reckless she has been treated  this piece of dessert.This was how she dealed with my dessert; she placed the dessert into a transparent plastic bag in an incorrect angle such that the lid of the paper bag was not shut well, it was half opened, and the dessert inside definitely is screaming for help, it can be squashed anytime soon.I always have serious issue with how to handle food especially desserts. A good piece of dessert like this  should be treated gently and full with care,so I opened my eyes widely and holding  down my inner scream :”Oohhhh……”

The lady finally got my sign language, she quickly rearranged the bag and dessert properly and handed it to me.

Since there isn’t any table for customers to dine in,I have to rush home with this dessert.Thank God it is winter.Picture yourself if it is summer time.No place to eat here and the delicate mousse dessert has to be traveled quite a distance back home.

New adjustments perhaps in NSW store?

Despite of the whole experience at Zumbo’s store in NSW, I wish the staff were friendly,passionate and approachable. Wish they can explain or describe the desserts for those who cannot understand some components of the desserts.I wondered, could it be the flies busy serving themselves with yummy pastries here give extra flavour to the desserts?

My husband is a super polite and nice man.If he noticed that  the staff’s service is questionable, it shows the staff has poor standard of service or just understaffed. My husband secretly complaint that how unacceptable the lady served me with her rolled eyes and sarcastic attitude.I guess I know simple English without double meanings, I don’t even realise this lady provided me  poor service, I was merely fixated with the dessert.My assumption was that God wants me to be less sensitive.

The taste of the dessert:

Okay, I tasted the dessert.I loved it. The main flavour came from the coffee and chocolate. The cappuccino marshmallow mousse is soft and melts into mouth.The sourness taste from the lemon olive oil cremeux lightly cuts through the sweetness of the dessert.The best part I adored  is  how the bottom chocolate crunch tastes in my mouth,it is slightly crunchy and the unexpectedly  saltiness in the  chocolate crunch is an amazing positive surprise.All in all, I do not mind to give my taste bud a sweet adventure  again. Nicely to go with a cup of  hot tea, oh ya~~~

The design of the dessert no doubt caught my attention compared to other’s desserts so far in this store. Wish there were more choices though,somehow.

I love all kind mousse desserts or cakes despite of being  severely lactose intolerant, together with my husband too. For Zumbo’s dessert, we are willing to take some enzyme pills before trying his dessert, guess worth the flavour in my mouth. My husband loved the sticky macademia caramel roll and I loved zumbo’s dessert. Both of us in a win- win situation.

 

 

Components of this dessert:(top to bottom)

• milk chocolate glaze
• Cappucino marshmallow mousse
• Chocolate mousse(insert)
• lemon olive oil and coffee cremeux(insert)
• chocolate olive oil sponge(Insert)
• chocolate crunch

Components are based on my own experience in desserts, because there is no specific explanation on the components in particular order.

 

For more information:

Adriano Zumbo

http://adrianozumbo.com/

 

 

This is a review based on my own experience in Zumbo, there is no intention on criticizing but purely describing my first attempt in Zumbo. Wish the store has more varieties ,and staffs are friendly(Not friendlier, but friendly).

 

Thank you for reading and enjoy life with desserts.

 

Love

hellosweetdessert

Vegetarian Wholemeal Pizza (Potato@Margherita)

 

Will you want to try super flavourful potato pizza with additions of:super aromatic garlic butter, crispy texture from the japanese panko?

 

2 toppings onto a large pizza:  potato pizza and classic margherita pizza.

This pizza dough recipe is supposed to be soft.After tasted the pizza from Domino back in Malaysia, husband and I fall  in love deeply.

Soft, flavourful and melt into your mouth. Crispy and chewy pizza dough definitely not to our liking. Guess explained I love Japanese soft bun.

 

Hope you like this sharing.

 

 

This pizza is:

• no meat

• wholemeal

• lactose free

• totally from scratch

• Pack with flavours even this is vegetarian due to the garlic butter and japanese breadcrumb I used.

Basic  Wholemeal Pizza Dough:

 

 

 

 

Potato Filling:

• 3 potatoes, peeled and sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• some salt and pepper

1. Heat saucepan with oil, then saute the potatoes.
2. Seasoned with salt and pepper to taste.
3. Saute till potato just cooked.Take out and set aside for later use.

 

Tomato Sauce:

 

 

 

Garlic Butter

• 4 tbsp Lurpak  butter ( or any butter), room temperature
• 2 cloves garlic, grated
• 1/4 tsp mix herbs
• 1/4 tsp white vinegar
• pinch of salt and pepper

1. mix all ingredients into soften butter to well combined and chill in fridge.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the lactose free cheese I used for my pizza.

 

Assemble:

• basil and parsley leaves
• japanese breadcrumb
• Liddells lactose free Block cheese ( or any cheddar cheese you prefer)
• Liddells lactose free shredded cheese ( or any mozzarella cheese you prefer)

1. Punch the dough to release air.
2. Divide into 2 portions and roll into 2 round disc. Place onto the prepared baking tray lined with parchment paper. Roll  in 1 cm of the outer edge lightly and press in hard to form the thicker edge around the pizza base.
3. Reserve half of the garlic butter, and spread the rest of the garlic butter over the pizza base.
4. Arrange all the potato slice onto half of the pizza base. Sprinkled with the rest garlic butter onto potato, sprinkle with some japanese breadcrumb(about 1 tbsp), shaved some block cheese. Lastly sprinkled with basil leaves.
5. For half of the pizza base: Spread  few tbsp of your tomato sauce , sprinkled with abundant shredded cheese and some fresh parsley leaves.
6. Bake in preheated oven of 230c for 20-25 minutes, until base is brown and crisp.
7. Brush with some garlic butter around the edge of the pizza.Serve.
8. It is going to be very flavorful even without meat.

Chuck into the oven and bake bake bake

 

 

 Notes:

• You can convert this wholemeal pizza into basic pizza dough by replacing 1/2 cup wholemeal flour with plain flour.
• Occasionally you might require to add little more water to form a soft dough due to the different brand and quality of wholemeal flour use.Pour in extra water slowly into the dough while kneading by your machine if dough is starving for more water.
• The finished pizza base is soft  compared to your usual crispy pizza base.
• This is a fully vegetarian pizza that does not use any soy meat or any kind.Welcome to use any toppings you like.
• If you prefer no adding garlic butter and japanese breadcrumb throughout your entire pizza making, feel free to eliminate from recipe,but the use of the garlic butter  and japanese breadcrumb definitely give the biggest impact to your pizza that you never have tasted so good before. This vegetarian pizza will never be the same again.
• I used this recipe to bake one large pizza, however you can divide the dough into any portions as long as you adjust the baking temperature and time accordingly.

 

Hope you like this simple sharing.Welcome to drop by any comment.

 

Love

hellosweetdessert

 

Easy French Macaron shells( for decoration)

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Since I want to use this macarons as part of the decoration for any cake I bake, so to me by using simple recipe like this is always accessible and quick to make.

Hope you like this recipe.

French macaron shells:

• 1 cup almond powder
• 2 egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 4 tbsp castor sugar
• pinch of cream of tartar
• some orange food colouring

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak. Add in orange food colouring and continued beating to a stiff peaks formed.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will increase size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 15-20 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

1)Sift almond powder and icing sugar together few times

2)Beat egg whites and sugar in a grease-free and dry bowl

3)Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

4)Fold in meringue into almond mixture in 2 additions

5)Mix in orange food colouring paste,fold and press down the mixture.

6)The final batter is lava-like and thick

7)Pour in the batter  into piping bag with round nozzle

8)Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest.Bake

9)Final macaron shells

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.

e)What is Double trays?

Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) can crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size4 -6cm( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size6 –8cm(2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base16cm or more(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

 

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Orange Mousse(bavaroise) Cake

 

Orange ,the source of  Vitamine  C

Do you still remember the first time you were asked to take vitamine C ?The candy type vitamine C?

Vitamine C is so essential to us, I want to believe my cake has the magic to heal us (giggling with laughters)

This cake uses low amount of cream. The texture of this orange mousse tastes like in between the normal cream  and jelly texture, which is something different from common mousse cake you try. Besides I love the idea of putting candied orange on to the cake as decoration.

I wound give this cake with the name as Orange bavaroise cake. This cake was created for our 11th years anniversary.Being with my husband as though tasting an orange , it is so essential to our health. Indeed, we can taste of sourness at times but  overall I can taste of the sweetness part being with him.

 

What is Bavaroise?

Creme Anglaise + Whipped cream = Bavaroise

Bavaroise: a french name for bavarian creme. It is a delicate cream dessert with a Cr̬eme Anglaise base, and then aerated with whipped cream or yogurt, egg whites and various flavourings such as fruit pur̩e, chocolate, coffee, tea or liqueurs before being set in the refrigerator with gelatin.

 

 

Components you need:

• chocolate sponge
• candied orange
• orange mousse/bavaroise

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Sponge: (produces 2 pieces of 16cm x 16cm cake sponge)

• 5 egg (I used small size or 4 large eggs), cold
• 20g castor sugar
• 40g castor sugar
• 50g Liddells full cream milk( or any milk )
• 30g oil
• 20g cocoa powder, sifted
• 60g cake flour, sifted
• 20g corn flour, sifted
• 2 tsp lemon juice/1 tsp white vinegar/ pinch of cream of tartar

1)      Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Sifted the flours. Line a 10” x 14” cake pan with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2)      Mix egg yolks with 20g sugar. Mix in oil and milk. Mix in flours to well combine.

3)      Beat egg whites and  lemon juice until frothy. Then slowly add in sugar (40g) in 2 additions,continued beating to soft peak. Fold meringue into yolk mixture in 3 additions until well combined.

4)      Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth the top and knock the pan for rid extra air pocket.

5)      Bake for 12-15 minutes, or skewer inserted comes out clean,depending individual oven.

6)      Remove the cake immediately onto a new sheet of baking paper.Invert . Cool completely.

Note:

(a)what is meringue? 

Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

 

 

 

 

Candied Orange:

     

• 2 oranges
• 300g water
• 150g castor sugar

1)Cut the orange to get 6-7 piece of orange slice with 3mm in thickness.

2)In a saucepan:Bring water, sugar and orange slice to a boil on high heat. Once boiled, reduce to medium-low heat.Remove scum at all times. Turn off the heat once the  orange skin turned from white into yellowish colour and the orange syrup is thickened. Keep the orange syrup for later use.

3)Transfer the orange slice onto wire rack sitting above a prepared pan lined with baking paper. Allow the candied orange to drip the excess juice and allow to cool down.

4)Keep the orange syrup aside.

 

orange syrup

 

 

Orange Mousse/ Orange Bavaroise:

• 200g Liddells full cream milk (or any milk)
• 1 tsp of orange zest
• 30g castor sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste
• 4 egg yolks
• 50g castor sugar
• 35g orange juice
• 10g gelatine leaves
• 200g Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)

1)Soak gelatin leaves in cold water until soften.

2) Bring milk,orange zest, 30g sugar and vanilla paste to a boil. Once boiled, turn off heat.Let it infused for 20 minutes.

3)Beat egg yolks and 50g sugar to ribbon stage(a) with electric hand mixer. Slowly pour in the boiled milk mixture, and keep stirring.(Do not pour too quick otherwise cook the egg ). Mix well. Add in orange juice.Mix well.

4)Bring the mixture back to low heat and continue cooking till the custard coats the back of the  wooden spoon and reaches temperature of 82C – 84C.

5)Add in soften gelatin leaves into the boiled custard.Mix well. Strain.  Cool down over ice bain marie(b).

6)Beat the cream to ribbon stage and fold into the cooled custard in 2 additions until well combine.

 

 

 

Note:

(a)What is ribbon stage?

A term referring to the thickness of a whipped/cooked batter (typically with eggs)or cream.When the batter is lifted it should fall in ribbons or smooth sheets that will hold their shape momentarily before falling into the batter.

 

(b)What is ice bain-marie?

Place the bowl of  hot custard under another bowl containing ice cubes to cool it down.

 

 

 

Assemble:

1)Cut the sponge sponge into 2  pieces of  16cm x 16cm square. Brush  each side with generous amount of  orange syrup.

2)Remember to wrap the bottom of the cake ring with cling film to prevent seepage of mousse later.

3)Arrange candied orange onto a 16cmx16cm square cake ring  sits onto a prepared pan lined with baking paper.

4)Pour in half of the orange mousse. Layer with first piece of chocolate sponge.

5)Pour in remaining orange mousse and top with second piece of chocolate sponge. Lightly press down the sponge.

6)Allow to set in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.

7)Once mousse is set, remove from fridge. Unmould. Decorate with macaron shells on the side by brushing with some soft butter on the shells.Brush the top with some clear fruit glaze ( or called nappage). Serve.

 Note:

(a)you can replace square cake ring with 6 ”  round removable bottom cake pan if no square cake ring.

(b)Decorating the sides of mousse cake with macaron is optional, you can skip this step and go wild with your own imagination.

(c)The reason to brush soften butter on the macaron shells is to prevent the macaron turns soggy.

 

 

 Hope you enjoy this sharing and thank you for your visit.Welcome to leave your comment here.

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Vegetarian Flaky BBQ Pork Bun(Siew Bao)

My husband loves cantonese baked pork bun but in vegetarian style.It is as tasty as the real meat too but comes with bonus that is healthier. These little bad boys, also another dim sum that I make quite often  for him.

What is Baked BBQ pork bun?

It is a cantonese Barbeque-pork filled baked bun. The dough is kneading under 2 different dough (water dough and oil dough) and allow both dough merge together under rolling for numerous times to create the flaky texture. The fat from layers of oil dough tend to puff up when heat is applied, so created numerous of flaky skin and texture, nice to your appetite. These baked buns are normally filled with barbecue-flavored pork/ chicken. They are served as a type of dim sum during yum cha and are also sold in chinese bakeries.

Ingredients：

• 300g vegetarian pork (or you can used chicken meat or BBQ pork meat)
• 1 big red onion, chopped

Seasoning:

• 1 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp sugar (or 3 tbsp maltose)
• 3 tbsp oyster sauce ( vegetarian oyster sauce)
• 3 tsp soy sauce
• 3 tsp dark caramel sauce
• 3 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp 5 spice powder

Starch solution: Mix 1 tbsp corn flour with 2 tbsp water. Set aside.

1) heat pan with some oil, add in onion and saute until fragrant.Add in vegetarian pork meat. Saute until fragrant.

2) Mix in all the seasoning. Mix well. Add in the starch solution and allow to thicken the sauce. Set to cool down. Store in freezer for an hour to harden.

Water dough:

• 300g plain flour
• 90g Lurpak butter( or any butter)
• 3 tbsp castor sugar
• 150ml water

Oil dough:

• 240g plain flour
• 150g shortening (or butter)

1) Mix all ingredients for water dough and oil dough separately into dough. Divide into 18 balls for each dough.

2)Wrap oil dough into water dough.( oil dough inside the water dough).So you will get 18 combined balls.

3)Roll every combined dough into a long oblong shape. Roll into a swiss roll-like. Rest for 10 minutes.

4)Roll again into a long oblong shape. Roll into swiss roll-like. Press down and roll into a round disc.

5)Wrap in filling, seal properly. Place onto a tray with baking paper underneath.

6)Egg wash(beat one egg in a bowl and brush onto each bun). Sprinkle with some sesame oil.

7)Bake in a preheated oven of 200C for 30 minutes until golden brown,depending on individual oven.

8)Serve.

Note:

1)If you allergic to maltose, you can just use white sugar for the vegetarian pork. Maltose tends to give a very nice barbecue flavour that is not too sweet to palate.

2)Shortening is believed to help in making the dough much flaky but I personally think butter also gives very nice flaky texture to the dough once you roll correctly.

3)Storing the cooked meat in the freezer helps in sealing the dough later so the sauce is not hard to manage while sealing where the sauce will ooze out later while baking it. (more gravy, I love it 😛 )

4)Since my husband does not eat pork or meat, I keep this recipe as vegetarian as it can be. His feedback is super positive, there is no difference in eating the “Seremban SIEW BAO”- the best BBQ bun must from Seremban.

This baked buns are so well accepted by my husband that he asked me to bake as often as he likes.

These buns are irresistible.yum yum~~

Hope you enjoy this simple sharing. Welcome to place your comment or feedback here ^_^

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Rich Chocolate Tart

It has been long for posting my recipe, since I got my viral flu from my husband, and unfortunately sick for more than month and I still have not recovering from my coughing.Why the virus has been so strong in Sydney?Why the doctor insisting not prescribing any medicine:”I am sorry, there is nothing we can do for the viral flu.”Both of us were told by the doctor. Every night all I did is coughing , lack of sleep, how am I going to heal my dear doctor in Sydney? The only thing is to make my body immune to any sickness…Healthy food, and healthy lifestyle, plenty of sleep and no dessert for a while.Sorry my dear blog.

Here is one of the recipes I tried before I was sick, just to share with you.I am going into a big transition very soon and I am going to miss some of the genuine readers due to I owe it to my health. Gosh…

Enjoy baking,dear folks! Not sure how long I can bla bla bla here so much. Going to miss you guys.

 

Components you need:

• Rich chocolate mousse
• Sable breton (Sweet Pastry)
• Chocolate glaze

Rich Chocolate Mousse:

• 225g  Cadbury baking milk chocolate,chopped ( or any baking milk chocolate)
• 100g egg yolks
• 60g castor sugar
• 30 ml water
• 280 ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)

1)Melt chocolate over bain marie(a pot of simmering water sits underneath the bowl of chocolate without allowing water touches the chocolate)

2)How to make Pate a bombe(a):

a)Beat  egg yolks till foamy stage with hand whisk.

b)Heat up sugar and water in a pot till reached 117C.

c)Add in to beaten egg yolks slowly and keep whisking fast until slightly pale or ribbon stage like picture shown.This is called pate a bombe.[Picture 6].Continue to beat the mixture until it is cool.

3)Beat cream in a mixing bowl till soft peaks formed[picture 7].

4)Fold in whipped cream into pate a bombe(a)[picture 8].

5)Fold  1/3 of cream mixture into melted chocolate from step (1).(It will slightly turned thick  a little).Fold in remaining cream mixture into chocolate mixture.

6)Pour the mousse into a prepared 6″ round cake ring sitting under a tray lined with parchment paper.Allow to freeze for 4 hours or overnight.

Note:

• Ensure to pour in the sugar syrup slowly into beaten egg, otherwise pouring too fast of  hot sugar syrup will curdle the beaten egg.

 

• (a)What is Pate a bombe:

A pâte à bombe is the French term for a mixture used as a base for making chocolate mousse and other mousse-like desserts.

It is made by pouring a sugar syrup that has been cooked until it is 117C degrees celsius over egg yolks and whipping the mixture until it is completely cold and has transformed into an uniform, unctuous, airy mass.

 

 

Sable Breton: (Rich sweet pastry)

• 100g plain flour
• 3g baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 75g unsalted butter, softened in room temperature
• 30 egg yolks
• 65g castor sugar

1)Sift together flour, baking powder and salt.

2)Beat the butter until soft and creamy.

3)Beat egg yolks and sugar in another bowl, beat till light in colour.

4)Add in softened butter into egg mixture, and mix to well combined.

5)Fold in the sifted flours.

6)Mix into forming a dough.

7)Lightly press the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper.Allow to rest in refrigerator for an hour.

8)Transfer the dough the work bench, roll the dough into roughly 8mm in thickness. Cut into a 8” diameter round disc.

9)Place the pastry  on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

10)Bake in a preheated oven of 180C for 25 minutes until golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack once baked, allow to cool completely.

 

Note:

• Lightly dust some flour between the 2 sheets parchment paper before roll the dough to desire thickness to prevent stickiness.
• Do not over roll or work the dough otherwise it might cause shrinkage during baking in oven.
• You can allow the dough to rest in the fridge for about 15 minutes again before bake if the dough becomes sticky due to hot weather.
• This pastry should be used the same day as it is made, or can be frozen for up to a month after wrapped properly.

 

• (a)What is Sable Breton:

This pastry is enriched by using egg yolks and flavoured with some salt. The pastry is definitely rich, buttery and crispy. It is from France and famous for the addition of salt.

 

 

 

Chocolate Glaze:

• 9g gelatin leaves /or  gelatin powder(Dissolve powder into enough water to mix into paste)
• 117g water
• 150g castor sugar
• 50g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder( or any unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 85g Bulla cream ( or any dairy cream)

1)Bloom gelatin in ice cold water till softened.Squeeze to remove excess water when use.

2)Bring water and sugar to just boil , immediately reduce to low heat to simmer for 2-3 minutes.

3)Add in cocoa powder and cream.

4)Bring it back to boil and simmer for 4-5 minutes on low heat.

5)Remove from heat, add in softened gelatin(Same goes to the gelatin powder if using powder instead).Stir until dissolved.

6)Strain, Leave to cool to 25C.

 

Note:

• It is best to cool down the chocolate glaze till 28-33C  to glaze the mousse(frozen).
• Stir the glaze now and then before glazing to prevent skin forming.
• you can chill the glaze overnight to rest before using.The glaze will be jelly like texture form.
• Carefully warm up with bain-marie or microwave until liquid and no trace of lump.(Remember to cool down to the optimum temperature when glazing)
• You can store in an airtight container in fridge and use in 4 days.

 

 

 

Assemble:

1)Remove the mousse from freezer, lightly torch around the cake ring for few seconds. Remove the mousse from ring.

2)Place mousse back to freezer for 15 minutes.

3)Pour the chocolate glaze over the harden chocolate mousse.Allow to drip excess.

4)Transfer to the cooled sable breton(Pastry disc).

5)Decorate fresh raspberries around the mousse, and place some chocolate square piece on the top, more raspberries. Dust with some edible gold powder.

6)Allow the mousse tart to bring back to edible temperature in refrigerator for 30 minutes before serve.Enjoy this rich, chocolaty and buttery tart.

 

 

 

Hope you enjoy this alternative of rich chocolate tart, it is so rich and melt into your mouth. Hope you like this sharing.

 

 

 

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

 

 

Hazelnut Macaron@Honey Cream (Super Easy French macaron recipe)

 

Happy Mother’s Day

 

The hazelnut powder really gives the aromatic of hazelnut throughout the entire eating process. I personally love Nutella,and I prefer these macarons. These macarons perfumed of hazelnut or should I say”NUTELLA”.

These macarons are made from pure hazelnut powder instead of commonly used almond powder. The taste of these macarons are like eating crunch-at first,then gooey-middle Nutella spread , yes taste of Nutella spread we normally eaten, compared to the normal macaron which made from almond meals.

These honey creme mousseline is lightly sweetened, and I added the fresh strawberries for lighten the entire sweetness taste.

Pastry cream + butter = Creme mousseline 

Few simple ingredients can turn into delicious and aromatic of hazelnut macaron with few simple steps. Do you want to try?

 

Components you need:

• hazelnut macaron shells
• honey creme mousseline
• fresh strawberries

Hazelnut macaron:

• 60g hazelnut powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• some yellow food colouring

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process hazelnut powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the  hazelnut powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites  and egg whites powder  until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak. Add in yellow food colouring and continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Fold in the meringue into the hazelnut mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will increase size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minutes or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

1)Sift hazelnut powder and icing sugar together few times

2)Beat egg whites and sugar in a grease-free and dry bowl

3)Get ready with yellow food colouring

4)Beat meringue till soft peak and add in the food colouring

5)Beat meringue till stiff peak

6)Fold in meringue into hazelnut mixture in 2 additions

7)Fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

8)The batter is lava-like and thick.

9)Pour in the batter into piping bag with round nozzle

10)Pipe in batter onto the prepared pan.Rest.Bake.

Note:

a)Process the hazelnut powder until become powder form because you might find store bought hazelnut powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through.  Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) can crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure hazelnut powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Cream Patissiere: Also known as Pastry cream

( Kindly refer on HOW TO MAKE CREME PATISSIERE  at : http://wp.me/p3PiK3-8d .    Remove the butter for this recipe )

Ingredients:

• 125ml  Liddells Lactose free milk ( or any milk)
• 25g  sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste
• 30g egg yolks
• 13g  cornstarch

1. STEP 1

   In a medium saucepan, combine milk and vanilla paste. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to a simmer.

2. STEP 2

   In a medium bowl, whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch. Whisking constantly, slowly pour about 1/2 cup of the hot-milk mixture into the egg-yolk mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until it has been incorporated. Pour mixture back into saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, whisking constantly, until it thickens ,about 2 minutes.

3. STEP 3

   Transfer into a clean bowl.

Honey Creme Moussseline:

• 1 quantity of creme patissierre
• 1 tbsp of honey
• 100g Western Star unsalted butter, cubed and in room temperature

1)Prepare creme patissiere , remove from heat, transfer into a bowl of an electric mixer.

2)Beat on low speed until reaches room temperature.Add in honey. Mix well.

3)Increase speed to high, slowly add in butter cubes, one by one, until fully incorporated.

4)Pour cream into a piping bag fitted with round nozzle.

Note:

a)What is creme mousseline?

It is also known as German buttercream which is the combination of creme patissiere/pastry cream with  softened butter. It can be used as filling for macarons and also good for frosting in any desserts or cakes.

b)If you prefer your own made filling, welcome to use it too.

Assemble:

• some fresh strawberries, cut into small cubes
• prepared honey creme mousseline

1)Pipe out honey creme mousseline onto one of the macaron shells.

2)Place the cubed strawberries in the middle on the macaron.

3)Sandwich with another macaron shell. Optional:Coat the edges of filling with some pink sugar sprinkle.

4)Refrigerate. Best serve after chill for a day.

 Tips:

• If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:(a) Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.(b) Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.
  

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time:

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Mediumsize4 -6cm( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessertsize6 –8cm(2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base16cm or more(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome for your comment. ^_^

 

 

Love.

hellosweetdessert

Moist Chocolate Cake with Coffee Mousse

by Sivia

I love chocolate and coffee.

What     about      you?

Nothing much to describe for these two simple combination.It just as though a magical chemistry reaction occurred once slip into your mouth, you will fall in love when you love both so deeply.

The moist,rich and chocolatey cake, combined with the addictive coffee aroma,ice cream-like coffee cream, as though you are having ice cream soft cookies in your mouth, the closest words I could describe.

Oh yeah, although it sounds rich, apparently not too overly sweet.

Girls love flower, and so do I.

This is my another experimental chocolate work.

Shall we get started?

Few components you need:

• Moist Chocolate cake
• Coffee mousse
• Dark chocolate glaze

by Sivia

by Sivia

Moist Chocolate cake:

@makes one 5″ round cake

• 45g  Cadbury baking dark chocolate ( or any baking dark chocolate)
• 35g  Western  Star unsalted butter ( any unsalted butter)
• 18g  Bulla whipping cream ( or any dairy whipping cream)
• 35g  egg yolks
• 90g  egg whites
• pinch of cream of tartar
• 28g  castor sugar
• 14g  cake flour
• 20g  Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any unsweetened cocoa powder)

1)Melt chocolate, cream and butter  over bain marie(a) (double boiler) until all dissolved. Mix well.

2)Lightly beat egg yolks and slowly add into chocolate mixture from step (1). Sift in cake flour and cocoa powder.

3)Beat egg whites and pinch of cream of tartar until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar and continued beating to soft peaked formed.(this is called “Meringue”)(b)

4)Fold in 1/3 of meringue from step (3) into chocolate mixture (You might find the mixture is slightly hard to mix but keep whisking until well combined.) Fold in remaining meringue till all incorporated.

5)Oil the 5″ round cake pan and line with grease-proof paper on the bottom and sides.

6)Pour in the cake batter into cake pan and bake in water bath(d) at 140C for 40-60 minutes or until inserted skewer in the middle comes out clean,depending on individual oven.

7) Once baked, remove from oven and inverted to cooling rack.Allow to cool completely.

Note:

(a)Bain marie or double boiler means a pan of hot water in which a cooking container is placed  above it for slow cooking. Please remember do not allow the hot water touches the bowl of chocolate mixture while using slow heat cooking it.

(b)what is meringue? Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

c)Always remember when folding meringue into chocolate mixture,it has to be done slowly and gently without deflating the air pockets, usually by using spatula to fold from bottom to upwards in slow motion until both mixture are well combined without any trace of meringue has been seen. Deflating the air pockets will not produce a well risen cake as result.

(d)To prepare a water bath for baking, put your filled cake pan in a larger pan and add enough boiling-hot water to reach halfway up the side of the smaller cake pan. I am using normal round cake pan.If you are are using removable cake pan, remember to wrap the bottom with 2 layers of aluminium foil to prevent water seepage.

Coffee Mousse:

• 230g Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)
• 4g gelatin powder
• 26g Liddells Lactose free full cream milk ( or any milk)
• 2 tbsp castor sugar
• 1 tbsp coffee powder ( or  decaffeinated coffee powder)

1)Dissolved coffee powder into milk. Add in gelatin powder. Microwave for 10 seconds on high heat until gelatin and coffee powder dissolved.Set aside.

2)Beat cream to ribbon stage, then add in coffee mixture. Beat till soft peak formed.

Assemble I:

1)Once cake cooled, place a 6″ cake ring onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Pour in the coffee mousse into the ring, then place the moist chocolate cake onto the mousse.Fill up the gap with remaining coffee mousse. Smooth out the mousse with palate knife.

2)Allow to set in freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Dark Chocolate Glaze:

• 6g gelatin leaves
• 78ml water
• 60g castor sugar
• 33g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any unsweetened cocoa powder)
• 57ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any cream)

1)Bloom gelatin till soft in cold water.

2)Put sugar and water in a saucepan, bring to boil, then continue to simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes.

3)Add the sifted cocoa powder and the cream. Mix well.

4)Bring back to the boil, simmer for 4-5 minutes.

5)Take pan off the heat, add the soften gelatin and stir till dissolved.

6)Strain, leave to cool.

Note:

a) Remember to stir the glaze on and off to prevent thick skin formed.

b)Best glaze to used at temperature of 28-33C. I used my glaze at 28C.

Assemble II:

1)Take mousse out from freezer, heat the outer ring with hair dryer or warm towel for seconds. Remove the cake out from the ring( put the mousse onto a bottle, gently push the ring downwards). Put the mousse back to freezer for 20-30minutes.

2)Take out the mousse, and pour the  dark chocolate glaze all over the mousse.Allow glaze excess to drip off.

3)Decorate with chocolate flower and spray with edible gold spray.

Note:

a)How to prepare glazing work area:

1) Put a jam jar into a big mixing bowl. Place mousse onto the jar, and glaze.

2) Place cooling rack onto a baking tray.Place mousse onto the rack and glaze.

b)Decoration is up to your own imagination.

by Sivia

Hope you like this sharing.

Your comments and visit are so much appreciated. Thank you for dropping by ^_^

Wholemeal Bun@Potato Croquette ポテトコロッケパン

Japanese croquette is a small breadcrumbed fried food roll consisting : mashed potatoes and/ or ground meat(beef,chicken or pork), fish  and vegetables, sometimes with a filling such as  sauteed onions. The croquette is usually shaped into a cylinder, or oval shape,then bring to deep fried and named as one of the Japanese fast food.Japanese also enjoy this snack by putting into a bun.

So I make wholemeal bun with this vegetarian fried croquette. It tastes good when serve hot or cold too.

Hope you enjoy this simple sharing ^_^

Ingredients:

• 250g bread flour / strong flour/ bakers flour
• 50g wholemeal flour
• 1 tbsp instant oats (optional:I love to have some oats into my homemade bun)
• 30g  Western Star butter ( or any butter)
• 1 tsp instant yeast
• 1 egg
• 210 ml Liddells lactose free milk ( full cream milk )
• some sesame seeds or some shredded cheese(optional)

Methods:

1)      Mix all ingredients together except butter. ( reserve 20 ml of milk)

2)      Knead all ingredients into a dough,then mix in the butter in 2 additions until it comes together.

3)      Slowly pour in the remaining  milk and continued kneading until a smooth dough formed.

4)      To check if the dough is done, take out some dough, and lightly stretch your dough into a thin skin(membrane) without having any holes form. The thinner of the membrane can be stretched and light can see through, the better the dough.

5)      Once done, take out the dough and give it a good knead into big ball. Spray some water onto dough to prevent drying. Allow to proof to double in size by covering with damp towel.

6)      Once the dough is done, release the air by kneading it. Divide into 8 portion, roll into balls. Rest for 15 minutes by covering  with damp towel.

7)      Using rolling pin, flatten the dough into a long tear drop shape, slowly roll into swiss roll shape. Seal properly become a long sausage bun.

8)      Place onto prepared tray with baking paper. Allow to proof to double size again.

9)      Once done, brush with egg wash and drizzle with sesame seeds and some with shredded cheese.

10)  Bake for 12-15 minutes at 190C until golden brown.

 

 

Potato Croquette:

Ingredients:

• 2-3 potatoes
• Half red onion
• Salt and pepper to taste
• plain flour
• Egg, beaten
• Japanese breadcrumb or panko

Methods:

1)      Peel skin off from potatoes, cut into cubes . Chop the onions.

2)      Place the potatoes into a pot of cold water with some salt into together. Bring to boil until potatoes are cooked through.

3)      Drain the water and place cooked potatoes into a bowl, mash it with fork or masher. Ensure no more chunks.

4)      Sauté the chopped onion with some oil until golden brown.

5)      Add in the onions into mash potatoes, season with salt and pepper. Mix well.

6)      Roll into small little 7-8 round disc.

7)      Roll the potato disc onto plain flour, then coat with some beaten eggs, finally coat with breadcrumb evenly. Repeat to the remaining of potatoes disc.

8)      Deep fry until golden brown.

 

Assemble:

1)      Lightly make a small cut in the middle of each bun.

2)      Brush inside bun with some Japanese mayonnaise.

3)      Arrange some lettuce and sliced cucumber inside(any vegetables you like), and finally half the potato croquette into two parts. Place onto the bun. Drizzle with your favourite sauce: mayonnaise, ketchup or chillie sauce. Serve.

 

 

Note:

1)This is one of the japanese snack with the bun.Normally, Japanese loves to make into meat croquette with minced beef or pork, but I try to keep this vegetarian.

2)If the weather in the kitchen is cold, remember to put a cup of warm water into the area where you proof your dough. It helps to speed up the proofing time.

3)The taste of the potato croquette is amazing with the homemade wholemeal bun.

4)Just drizzle with some Japanese mayonnaise with some fresh salad, and there is your first croquette bun,vegetarian style,tastes as good too.

5)Of course, you can sandwich the wholemeal bun with any filling you like such as: ham, chicken,tuna, salmon basically anything you adore.

 

Hope you enjoy this homemade bun.

Thank you fro dropping by and love to hear from your feedback. ^_^

Ferrero Rocher Mousse

How many of you love these small little monster “Ferrero Rocher” chocolate balls?

I love it! Everytime seeing these exquisite advertisement on Ferrero Rocher, it has just drawn me closer to my own little fantasy lane “making it”.

My aim is to make into a bigger version of Ferrero Rocher Mousse balls. Bigger the better, what do you think?

If you are interested, let’s have a look of my version?

 

Components you need:

• Chocolate wafer
• Milk chocolate cremeux
• Chocolate cream chantilly
• Chocolate ganache
• Edible gold spray

 

 

 

 

Chocolate wafer:

• 23g rice pop
• 90g  Cadbury baking milk chocolate( or any baking  chocolate)

1)Melt the chocolate in microwave on high heat, bring out and stir well every 10 seconds until completely melted.

2)Pour in the rice pop into melted chocolate and mix well.

3)Pour into 4 x 7cm diameter of hemisphere silicon moulds. Spread the mixture around the mould to form a thin layer around the hemisphere.(Remember to leave small gap for other fillings)

4)Chill in freezer until completely harden.

 

Milk Chocolate Cremeux:

• 50g Cadbury   baking milk chocolate button ( or any baking milk  chocolate )
• 22ml Liddells Lactose free full cream milk ( or any milk)
• 95g Bulla whipping cream ( or any dairy whipping cream )
• 18g egg yolks
• 9g castor sugar
• 9g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter )

1)Put chocolate in a bowl.

2)Bring milk and cream to just boil.Off heat.

3)Beat yolks and sugar til light in colour with hand mixer.

4) Add in half of the hot cream into egg mixture, whisking till smooth. Pour in remaining hot cream mixture and keep whisking until all combined.Return over low heat, stir the mixture and cook till it coats the back of a spoon (or till 82C-84C) [Picture in step 4 ]

5)Switch off the heat. Strain over chocolate. Mix until smooth.

6)Add in butter, mix till smooth.

7)Spread into a shallow tray, cover with cling wrap, leave in fridge to semi-set for piping later. Pour into a piping bag with round nozzle.

 

Assemble I:

1)Once the mixture become semi-set, pipe onto the rice pop mixture to fill up the gap. Arrange and lightly press in 2 whole  hazelnuts into the middle of  cremeux on 4 separated hemisphere. Leave to set in the freezer for 4 hours.

 

Chocolate Cream Chantilly:

• 200g Bulla whipping cream (or any whipping cream)
• 4 tsp Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any cocoa powder)
• 4 tsp castor sugar

1)Beat everything together to firm peaked. Pour into piping bag.

 

 

Assemble II:

1)Pipe around 4  x 8cm diameter hemisphere silicon moulds. By using a spoon, lightly spread the cream evenly with a spoon to ensure no gap was found otherwise you might see air trap inside the final mousse when peel off.

2)Take out the 7cm  hemiphere silicon moulds out from freezer. Remove each hardened mousse from moulds. Gentle press the hardened mousse into the chocolate cream chantilly. Remove excess cream chantilly and smoothed out. Keep in the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight until hardened.

 

Chocolate Ganache:

• 150ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping or thickened cream)
• 125g Cadbury baking milk chocolate ( or baking milk chocolate)
• 13g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter)

1)Bring cream to boil. remove from heat.

2)Pour into chocolate. Mix well until chocolate is melted.

3)Stir in butter.Mix well.

4)Allow to cool until 30C.

 

Assemble III:

• 80g hazelnut, chopped finely

1)Take out the hemisphere mousse from freezer, remove from the moulds.

2)Press the chopped hazelnuts all around the mousse.(You can let the mousse bring back to room temperature for few minutes, then press the hazelnuts around to it stick to the mousse)

3)Stack 2 hemisphere altogether into a sphere. Repeat this for making another sphere.

4)Pour the chocolate ganache all over the hemisphere mousse.Allow to drip off excess.

5)Spray edible gold spray all over the 2 spheres Ferrero Rocher mousse. Chill in fridge for an hour before serving.

6)Remember to share with few person.

Note:

(a)If you do not have edible gold spray, you can remove from the recipe.

(b)If you preferred more hazelnuts, you can sprinkle more nuts onto the chocolate ganache as well.

(c)This is a crazy idea that I fantasized for awhile, so go crazy with any other ingredients you prefer.

 

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop by your comment. ^_^

 

 

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Easy Japanese Strawberry Shortcake (Light & Moist)

I love cottony, moist and light strawberry shortcake and I really want to make this cake in no time.

This cake is done in a day and serve after few hours. Yummilicious!

Let’s get started on a simple shortcake.

Dear Honey bun Hubby~ 

HAPPY 12th Anniversary

Thank you for holding my hands  

                                          Love, Wife

What is Japanese Strawberry Shortcake?

Japanese strawberry shortcake is a layered sponge cake with a strawberry and whipped cream filling, and whipped cream frosting.  Unlike the American concept of strawberry shortcake , there are normally sweet biscuits/scones topped with strawberries and whipped cream.

Components you need:

• sponge cake
• cream Chantilly
• fresh strawberries

Sponge (Egg separation method):

• 4 egg yolks
• 20g castor sugar
• 60g Liddells lactose free milk( or any milk)
• 40g vegetable oil
• 80g cake flour
• 20g corn flour
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 70g castor sugar

1)Whisk egg yolks and 20g of castor sugar.

2)Mix in oil and milk to well combine.

3)Sift in all flours and mix well.

4)In a  clean bowl:Beat egg whites and cream of tartar until foamy,add in castor sugar in 2 additions and keep beating it on high speed until soft peak achieved.

5)Fold in 1/3 of meringue(a) into yolk mixture from step (3) to well combined, then fold in the remaining meringue to well combine without deflating the volume.

6)Pour into a prepared 10″ X 14″ baking tray lined with baking paper.Bake at preheat oven of 170C for 20 minutes or until it springs back when press in, depending on individual oven.

7)Once baked, remove pan from oven and invert onto a new sheet of baking paper. Allow to cool.

8)Once cooled, peel off the baking paper and cut out 4 pieces of 5″ circle discs.

9)Wash strawberries, dry it and slice thinly.

10)Prepare the cream chantilly.

Note:

(a)what is meringue? Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

(b)Always remember when folding meringue into yolk mixture,it has to be done slowly and gently without deflating the air pockets, usually by using spatula to fold from bottom to upwards in slow motion until both mixture are well combined without any trace of meringue has been seen. Deflating the air pockets will not produce a well risen cake as result.

(c)You can bake this sponge at 180C for 15 minutes.For my sponge to achieve cottony , airy and moist texture,  adjust to 170C for 20 minutes until golden brown and spring back when lightly press in.The temperature sometimes greatly  depend on individual oven.(watch your oven temperature)

Cream Chantilly:

• 250g Bulla whipping cream ( or any dairy whipping cream)
• 2 tbsp of castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste ( or vanilla essence )

1)Beat cream, sugar and vanilla paste together until thickened or firm peak formed.

2)Spoon 1 cup of cream into piping bag with round nozzle attached.Chill in fridge.

 

First option to assemble:

Assemble 1 :

• some strawberries, sliced thinly
• cream chantilly
• sponge

1)Place 1st piece of sponge onto your rotating cake stand or just table.

2)Spread some cream on the sponge, and arrange strawberries onto the cream.

3)Top up with 2nd piece sponge, spread some cream and arrange strawberries onto the cream.

4)Repeat step (3).Finally cover with last piece of sponge.

5)Frost your entire cake with cream chantilly.

6)Pipe some cream with tear drop shapes around the edges of the cake, top up with some sliced strawberries.

7)Serve.

Note:

(a)For beginners to frost your cake:You can frost your cake with thin layer of cream first, allow to chill in the freezer for 30 minutes. Take out and frost with another layer of cream.( both layers of the cream should not be too thick)

(b)Decoration is up to your own imagination.So go wild with your imagination.

(c)You can just bake a classic sponge cake and slice into 4 pieces but my aim is to save electricity(heheheh, baking can be expensive for the electricity).A classic 6″ shortcake after frosting which produced 5″  circle discs  need to be baked for 25-30 minutes and slice into 4 equal pieces with good cutting skills. To me, I want to use minimal time, effort to bake and slice my sponge.With this sponge cake method,you will achieve even size of sponge pieces.

(d)This cake is not too sweet which I like.The berries are on season, definitely the first batch of sweetness as I don’t like sour strawberries.

If happen you enjoy more cream chantilly , feel free to increase the amount of whipping cream, and add sugar to your own taste. Since I love the flavour of vanilla, I added this vanilla paste which you can see these vanilla seeds are visible in my cream chantilly.

(e)Normal sponge cake usually using  whole egg and beat into ribbon stage, then fold with flours. I find it, that sponge cake is little dry and requires some sugar syrup to moisten it before layer with cream and berries. Egg separation method which means separate egg yolks and whites, and beat the egg whites with sugar (to soft peak)to create alot of air pockets inside , then fold with yolk mixture will create softer texture. Besides, I bake this under 170C to get more cottony and moist sponge cake.

How to choose good strawberries

• After reading some articles on how to choose good berries, I found the same description of the berries that has to be even size with pointy tail.
• If you found odd shapes of the berries or extremely huge(sometimes it can be square or very odd  shape, they are normally genetically modified food, please don’t get them)

 

Second option to assemble:

Sometimes, I love to play around with this easy, quick and soft-cottony Japanese shortcake:

1)I used the same recipe but little adjustment on the cream chantilly (probably minus or plus on the cream depending on your preference).

2) using the same recipe for the cottony sponge above, baked in the same rectangle 10″ x 14″ baking tray lined with baking paper, then trim the cooled sponge into 2 x rectangle ( roughly 5″ x 14″ each piece)

Assemble 2:

1) Prepare the 2 x rectangle sponge, chantilly cream and sliced strawberries on hand.

2) Place the 1st piece of sponge onto your rotating cake stand or table.

3)Spread decent amount of chantilly cream on the sponge, and arrange fresh strawberries onto the cream, then lightly press down the berries. Spread small amount of cream onto the berries just to cover it.

4) Top up with your 2nd piece sponge, and spread decent amount of this luscious cream on top of this sponge (I would say depending on are you that kind of cream lover like me? No harm for more cream) .

5) Trim all the edges of this cake to give a nice and clean appearance so you can see the layers of this shortcake.

6) Pipe some cream with tear drop shapes around the edges of the cake, top up with some sliced strawberries, or decorate how ever you prefer for your cake with the berries and cream, so you enjoy this cake with your love ones. 

7) Serve immediately, or set in the refrigerator for little more ( cover in a cake container so it won’t become dry ) during the hot summer day.

Enjoy ~ 🙂

 

Hope you enjoy this japanese shortcake with 2 decoration options.

Your visit and comments are greatly appreciated.

 

Love, 

Sivia

hellosweetdessert

 

Chinese New Year Eve Dinner 2015(Vegetarian)全素除夕夜晚饭

新年快乐

虽然没机会回娘家庆祝团年饭，自己亲手为我和他两人一餐全素年菜。

第一次的经验，还不错吧！加油。

为了自己最近的健康，就打算学吃素。

妈妈曾说过：过年吃素不但对身心好，也是在佛教里的一种美德-不杀生。（要学习吃素其实要更严格，不能有面粉，面筋。。。等等。我会慢慢学习的，希望不破戒）

Happy Chinese New Year~

Although I may not spend this important dinner back home with family, I still learn to prepare a complete vegetarian meal for today.

For better health, I need to learn to be vegetarian.

Being a vegetarian in fact supposed to be stricter than I am eating now(No flour, gluten, deep fry….. need to be avoided but I believe I need to learn from now)

For the first full vegetarian meal , definitely not as time consuming as cooking a full meat meal. Alot to learn from. Way to go , sivia~

 

 

• Vegetarian crispy duck with orange sour plum sauce 素脆鸭

I made 2 dipping sauce for this dish: 1) orange sour plum sauce 2) peking duck sauce.

Love them both equally.

 

 

• 清炒菜 Stir Fry Lettuce

My husband loves the simplicity of this stir fry dish, multipurpose dish I would say.

 

• Vegetarian Barbecue Pork with cucumber slice 素叉烧配黄瓜

Love the sticky and nicely caramelised hong kong style char siu goes well with the slice cucumber, try to make into finger food.

Recipe Char Siu Sauce:

• 1.5 tbsp maltose
• 1 tbsp vegetarian oyster sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• pinch of 5 spice powder
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• salt to taste
• thickening sauce ( 1 tsp corn flour mix with 2 tbsp water)

1. Mix all together with another 2 tbsp water.
2. Cook the sauce until thickened under medium low heat. Set aside.
3. Pan fry the char siu with some oil first, then pour in all the sauce until the soy meat has caramelised evenly.
4. Let it cool down a little, then prick every slice cucumber with the caramelised char siu by using toothpick.
5. Serve. You just cannot stop eating it.

 

• Stir Fry Mushroom with zucchini 清炒菇类

Lately just love mushroom mushroom and mushroom.

 

 

• Deep Fried Crispy Mushroom with mayonnaise apple 炸脆菇类配美奶汁苹果

The batter is extremely crispy even it serves cold. The oyster mushroom is the best for deep fry, it does not taste like mushroom at all. Crunchy and crispy, oh my goodness.

Recipe for the batter:

• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 1 tbsp rice flour
• 1 tbsp corn flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
• enough water to make into batter,enough to coat the mushroom
• some oyster mushroom(You can use any mushroom you like too but I find oyster mushroom tastes the best)

1. Mix all together and chill in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
2. Wash mushroom, drain and pat dry.
3. Heat wok with enough cooking oil.
4. Coat each mushroom with enough batter and deep fry until light golden brown.
5. Serve with your favourite sauce.

 

• Vegetarian Herbal Soup in coconut 药材椰子素炖汤

It is coconut juice season here during cny.

I added some coconut juice into the coconut husk.I left the layer of coconut flesh in the husk, so it brings out the sweetness of the vegetarian soup without any meat added. Thumbs up.

 

 

2015 full vegetarian dinner

 

 

Thanks for visiting. ^_^ happy new year

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Chinese New Year 新年快乐 2015

 

祝大家羊年平平安安，健健康康过个好年。

没什么给你们，就是一颗颗大蒜，风水来说大蒜带财运，希望能为你带财运。

新年快乐

Wishing all live in bliss, peaceful, safely and healthy goat year.

Nothing much for you, but just bulbs of garlic believed in giving all the money and wealth luck.

Happy Goat goat year~

 

by hellosweetdessert

Sivia

Happy Valentine’s Day

Quietly whispering to those who have not forgotten me for being away for so long:

Happy Valentine’s day~

My love for you is truthfully genuine and sincere

Love,

hellosweetdessert

Happy New Year 2015

Combination of all those unwanted and un-acceptable pictures I have taken in 2014.Let’s put the past in the past, move forward.

Happy New Year with good health and happiness

It has been a roller coaster in 2014,

many things had happened which not under our understanding.

Let’s put the past be the past,

Let’s move forward.

Thank you for another year I able to live with my loved one.

Thank you God for everything, being there for me thin and thick.

Thank you  for those who stand by me and giving me support.

Love Sivia

French Cacao Macaron(Simple and Easy steps)

Merry Christmas everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love the raw cacao powder is  incorporated in the macaron as well as the buttercream that easy to make.To me, chocolate is my all time  favourite flavour in  all desserts.

Hope you like this sharing too.

Components you need:

• French Cacao macaron shells
• Cacao buttercream

French Cacao macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• 1 tbsp cacao powder ( or cocoa powder )

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder ,cacao powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Process almond powder with icing sugar

Give  few sifts for almond mixture

Sift in 1 tbsp of cacao powder into almond mixture

Add in egg white powder into egg whites in a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

Fold in meringue into almond mixture in 2 additions

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

Final batter should be thick and lava-like

Pour in batter into piping bag fitted with round nozzle

Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest. Bake

The macaron is done when you can lift up macaron easily without sticking to parchment paper

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Easy Cacao Buttercream

• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g  icing sugar
• 1 tbsp cacao powder( can replaced with cocoa powder if can’t find cacao)
• 2 tbsp Lactose free milk ( or any milk)

1)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in cacao powder to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

3)Fill up the macaron shells with cacao buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more (6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

French Vanilla Macaron (Simple and Easy steps)

Merry Christmas Everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love vanilla bean paste is incorporated in the macaron shells, as well as in the buttercream.It makes me feel like so vanilla-like.

Hope you like this recipe.

Components you need:

• French Vanilla macaron shells
• Vanilla buttercream

French Vanilla macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.Beat in vanilla paste.

4)Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Process almond powder with icing sugar

Give  few sifts for almond mixture

Add in egg white powder into egg whites in a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

Beat in vanilla paste in meringue

Fold in meringue into almond mixture in 2 additions

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

Final batter should be thick and lava-like

Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest.Bake

The macaron is done when you can lift up macaron easily without sticking to parchment paper

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Vanilla Buttercream:

• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g  icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/2 tbsp Lactose Free full cream milk ( or any milk)

1)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in vanilla paste and milk to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

2)Fill up the macaron shells with buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more (6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

French Blueberry Macaron(Simple and Easy steps)

 Merry Christmas everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love blueberry puree is incorporated in the buttercream that so easy to make.

Hope you like this sharing too.

Components you need:

• French macaron shells
• Blueberry buttercream

French macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• some purple food gel colouring

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Add in purple food colouring into meringue.Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

Process almond powder with icing sugar

Give  few sifts for almond mixture

Add in egg white powder into egg whites in a grease-free and dry mixing bowl

Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

Remember to fold and press down the mixture to reduce the air pockets

Final batter should be thick and lava-like

Pour in batter into piping bag fitted with round nozzle

Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest. Bake

The macaron is done when you can lift up macaron easily without sticking to parchment paper

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

Blueberry Buttercream:

• 40g blueberry puree
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g icing sugar

1)Process the blueberry into puree, then bring blueberry, lemon juice and 1/2 tbsp water to boil, cook till slightly thicker.Set aside to cool down.

2)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in blueberry puree to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

3)Fill up the macaron shells with blueberry buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more(6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

French Raspberry Macaron (Simple and Easy steps)

Merry Christmas Everyone~

There are 2 ways to create macarons shells:

1)French macaron : French method is much simpler just by folding french meringue into almond mixture

2)Italian meringue macaron: Italian meringue method is created by cooking sugar syrup(to 112C) then added into meringue and continued beating to firm peaks formed , finally folded into almond mixture.

This macaron is easy to make with few little steps that I think it is easier to master.

Love raspberry puree  is incorporated in the buttercream that everyone can make.To me, red looks so christmas-like.

Hope you like this sharing too.

Components you needed:

• French macaron shells
• Raspberry buttercream

French macaron shells:

• 60g almond powder
• 60g egg whites ( leave in room temperature for few hours or a day )
• 1 tsp egg white powder
• 120g/1 cup icing sugar
• 60g castor sugar
• some red food colouring

1)Take a piece of parchment paper and draw 1.5 inch (3.5 cm) circles, spacing the circles about 1 inch apart. Invert the baking sheet and place on a baking tray.

2)Process almond powder and icing sugar together.Sift twice of the almond powder and icing sugar together in a mixing bowl.

3)In a clean bowl: Beat egg whites with egg white powder until foamy, slowly add in castor sugar in 2 additions  and continued beating to soft peak, continued beating to a Stiff peaks formed.

4)Add in red food colouring into meringue.Fold in the meringue into the almond mixture in 2 additions until a thick lava-like batter is achieved.

5)Fill a pastry bag, fitted with 1/2 inch (1 cm) tip.  Pipe about 3.5cm circle  1 inch apart onto the parchment paper, using the template as a guide(usually pipe slightly smaller than the actual template size as batter will slightly expand in size after you tap the baking tray on the counter).Then gently tap the baking sheet on the counter to break any air bubbles.

6)Rest macarons at room temperature for about 30-60 minuges or until the top of the macarons are no longer sticky to your finger when you touch.

7)Bake the macarons in a preheated oven of 160C for 16 minutes, depending on your individual oven,in the middle rack of your oven . About half way  through baking, rotate your baking tray, front to back.

or

If your oven is a way too hot like a  furnace:Try bake your macaron on double trays(e) and bake your macaron at 160C until you begin to see your “feets” are formed on your macarons, remove the empty bottom tray immediately and reduce heat to 140C to finish off your baking.

8)Once baked, remove from oven, and allow to cool completely.

1)Sift almond powder and icing sugar together few times

2)Beat egg whites and sugar in a grease-free and dry bowl

3)Beat egg whites and sugar till stiff peak(Firm peak)

4)Fold in meringue into almond mixture in 2 additions

5)Mix in red food colouring paste,fold and press down the mixture.

6)Batter should be lava-like and thick

7)Pour in the batter into piping bag with round nozzle

8)Pipe in batter into prepared pan. Rest.Bake

Note:

a)Process the almond powder until become powder form because you might find store bought almond powder, the granules are not powdery enough, some might be hard to sift through. Use processor to blitz almond and icing mixture for few seconds and then sift few times.

b) The correct consistency of the batter is: the batter falls back in the bowl in a visible ribbon and the ribbon disappears within 10 seconds.Remember under-mix or over-mix batter will not able to create nice macaron at the end.

c) Release the air bubbles on the unbaked macarons with the end of a toothpick.

d) Sometimes you might have to rest the macarons longer than the time required due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen.Macaron tends to crack on the surface while baking if not rest enough.When heat is applied, egg whites coagulates and forces the surface to crack due to insufficient dry top shells.

e)What is Double trays?Place the tray with macaron batter onto another empty tray.Reason to prevent excessive high heat from the bottom of the batter(egg whites coagulates and expands too quickly) to crack your surface of your macarons.

e)To see if macaron is baked properly:Once baked, try lifting the macaron slowly, if easily lift off clean without sticking to pan, showing it is baked properly.If not, continue baking for few more minutes.

 Important tips:

• Ensure almond powder and icing sugar have to be sifted for few times to get smooth macaron shells.
• Ensure eggs are in room temperature, uncovered for few 2 hours or more.
• If you are in hurry, take your cold eggs from refrigerator,crack into a bowl and cover with lid, and warm it up by placing into a bowl of warm water(not too hot otherwise cook your egg whites). Allow to sit for 30 minutes or more.
• Cold eggs tend to create more air pockets in the meringue while beating, we do not want this for macaron as we try to deflate the air pockets while folding with almond mixture. Too much air pockets in the meringue can somehow crack your macaron shells when heat is applied due to coagulation of protein from the egg whites.Sometimes too much air pockets create excessive “feets” that are not appealing.
• Do not open your oven door too early otherwise the  macaron shells might collapse when drastic change of heat . You are allowed to open the oven door once while you rotate your baking tray half way baking macarons.
• The reason to rotate your pan half way baking to ensure the macaron creates even “feets”.

 Raspberry Buttercream:

• 40g raspberry puree
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
• 60g Western Star, unsalted butter (Or any unsalted butter)
• 90g icing sugar

1)Process the raspberry into puree, then bring raspberry, lemon juice and 1/2 tbsp water to boil, cook till slightly thicker.Set aside to cool down.

2)Beat butter and icing sugar till pale and creamy. Beat in raspberry puree to well combined.Pour buttercream into piping bag.

3)Fill up the macaron shells with raspberry buttercream. Sandwich with other macaron shells.

4)It is best to serve  after sit in the fridge inside air tight container for a day until the macarons turn slightly moist by the buttercream.

Tips:

If you’re not going to consume your macarons immediately, you can store them:

•  Unfilled macarons: can be stored in an airtight container for 3-5 days.Empty macaron shells can be stored in the air tight container in the freezer up to 3 months.

•  Filled macarons: keep them in an airtight container inside the fridge and they taste the best up to 3 days and after that taste little crumbly. Bring to room temperature before eating them.  They are even tastier 1-2 days after having been made!It is also possible to freeze them once they are filled.Filled macaron can be kept in the air tight container in the freezer also up to a month.Remember to defrose about 20-30 minutes before serving.

Reference:

Different sizes of your macaron with different temperature and baking time

Macaron Diameter	Oven Temperature	Baking Time
Medium size 4 -6cm ( 1.5” – 2.5”)	140-150C	14 mins
Dessert size 6 –8cm (2.5” – 3.25”)	160C	15 mins
Cake base 16cm or more (6.25”) or more	170C	17 mins or more

Problem in forming skin for macaron?

There are time when your macaron just cannot form the skin even  how long you have waited. Due to the humidity and temperature of your kitchen play an important rule on this issue. Winter or rainy day is definitely the weather you are trying to avoid. Of course there are cases that macarons are still manage to form the desire skin in these undesirable weather, depending on your luck perhaps?

If your macarons are having trouble in forming skin, you can try this method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C for 10 minutes.
2. Put the unbaked macarons into oven, switch off the heat immediately.
3. Leave the door ajar(put  glove in between your oven door to create a gap for hot air to release) , for 6 minutes.
4. Touch the macaron if the skin is formed.
5. Once skin is formed, turn on the heat to the right temperature,let say 160C, and start baking your macaron.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to drop your comments here. ^_^

Jasmine Orange Cake (Spring Edition)

by Sivia

by Sivia

It’s spring !

I love flower blossoming season. I love how the trees are looking alive with vibrantly attractive flowers, bees are awaken from hibernation to start their hectic nectar-sucking job.

I love the aroma release from tea.To me, Jasmine tea seems to be the type of tea that I am very familiar with.The aroma and the taste are very distinctively easy to recognize.

I love experimenting

especially with the aroma and taste from the daily food I consume. Tea and fruit should go well after all many fruity tea is so available nowadays.

Orange + Jasmine = Deliciousness

I hope you like my little tasty experimenting dessert to celebrate the spring.

Let’s get started!

Components you need:

• Orange sponge
• Jasmine bavaroise
• Red Chocolate glaze
• Chocolate bowl  for decoration (optional)

by sivia

Orange Sponge:

• 50g whole eggs
• 10g icing sugar
• 5g cake flour
• 5g plain flour
• 30g almond flour
• 50g egg whites
• 10g castor sugar
• 8g vegetable oil
• 1/2 whole orange

1)Sift all the flours.

2)Boil orange.Once boiled, peel off the skin, slice into chuncks, deseed. Process it to form a puree in blender.Set aside.

3)Beat egg and icing sugar until pale then add in the orange puree and mix well.

4)Fold in the flours and mix well. Add in the oil and mix well.

5)In other bowl: Beat egg white and sugar to foamy,slowly add in sugar and continued beating to reach soft peak.

6)Fold  meringue(a) into yolk mixture in  3 additions.(without deflating the air pockets)

7)Pour batter into a prepared pan of 8″ x 10″ ( 20cm x 25cm) lined with baking paper.

8)Bake at 200C for 15-20 minutes,until golden brown ,depending on individual oven.

9)Once baked, remove from oven and lay onto a new baking paper.Peel off the old baking paper immediately.Cool down.

10)Once cooled down, cut out (6 x 38mm )and (6 x 57mm )round discs.Total: 16 round pieces sponge.

Note:

(a)what is meringue? 

Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

Jasmine Bavaroise Mousse:

• 170ml  Liddells Lactose free milk  (Or any milk)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste
• 1/3 tsp jasmine tea
• 27g castor  sugar
• 27g egg yolks
• 4g gelatin leaves
• 150ml Bulla  whipping cream (Or any whipping cream)
• 1/2 tbsp castor sugar

1)Bring jasmine tea, vanilla paste and milk to a boil in a saucepan. Off heat.Leave to infuse for 20 minutes with lid on.

2)In a mixing bowl: whisk together egg yolks and sugar until light in colour.

3)Pour half the boiled liquid into egg mixture, mix well.

4)Return mixture to the remaining boiled milk mixture to heat.Stir well.

5)Continue cooking the liquid until thicken, coats the back of the wooden spoon, and reaches 82-84C.

6)Add soaked gelatin to custard and strain into a bowl in an ice bain-marie(a).

7)Beat cream to ribbon stage(b).

8)When custard is cold, remove the bowl from ice bain marie.

9)Fold in whipped cream into cold custard and mix well.

Note:

(a)What is ice bain-marie?

Place the bowl of  hot custard under another bowl containing ice cubes to cool it down.

(b)What is ribbon stage?

A term referring to the thickness of a whipped/cooked batter (typically with eggs)or cream.When the batter is lifted it should fall in ribbons or smooth sheets that will hold their shape momentarily before falling into the batter.

(c)What is bavaroise?

Creme Anglaise + Whipped cream = Bavaroise

Bavaroise: a french name for bavarian creme. It is a delicate cream dessert with a Cr̬eme Anglaise base, and then aerated with whipped cream or yogurt, egg whites and various flavourings such as fruit pur̩e, chocolate, coffee, tea or liqueurs before being set in the refrigerator with gelatin.

Assemble I:

1) Pour in some jasmine Bavaroise  into 6 separated 6cm  half sphere silicon baking moulds.

2)Place the small round disc  orange sponge into the bavaroise. Top up with more bavaroise.

3)Place big round disc orange sponge into the jasmine bavaroise and lightly press in. Remove excess bavaroise.

4)Allow to set in the freezer for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Red Chocolate Glaze:

• 250g Bulla cream ( or any cream)
• 20g sugar
• 50ml glucose
• some red food colouring paste
• 130g Cadbury baking white chocolate ( or any white chocolate)
• 6g gelatin leaves

1)Bloom gelatin in cold water until soften.

2)Bring cream, sugar, glucose and food colouring to boil at 85C.

3)Add in white chocolate in few additions. Stir to combine.

4)Sitr in soften gelatin, mix well. Strain.

5)Allow to cool down to 25C-28C.

Note:

• It is best to cool down the chocolate glaze till 25-28C  to glaze the mousse(frozen).
• Stir the glaze now and then before glazing to prevent skin forming.
• you can chill the glaze overnight to rest before using.The glaze will be jelly like texture form.
• Carefully warm up with bain-marie or microwave until liquid and no trace of lump.(Remember to cool down to the optimum temperature when glazing)

How to make chocolate bowl:

1)Melt some dark chocolate. Pour into a piping bag.

2)Ready with a 7cm half sphere silicone moulds.

3)Cut off small tip of the piping bag.

4)Pipe some lines over the moulds or any shapes you like. Set in the freezer.

5)Gently remove the chocolate bowl from the silicone moulds.

Assemble II:

1)Remove the half sphere mousse from the moulds.Place onto a prepared cooling rack that sits above a baking tray.

2)By using a ladle, gently ladle the red glaze over each mousse. Allow to drip off the excess.

3)Decorate with chocolate bowl or any fruits that you like.Go wild with your imagination.Serve.

Note:

a)Remember to place the dessert into refrigerator to bring the temperature back to optimum temperature before eating.

b)Chocolate bowl is optional for decoration, it can be removed from the recipe and the cake still taste like spring.Yummy.

Hope you enjoy this dessert!

Thank you for dropping by and deeply appreciate your comments.

Hummingbird Cake(Husband’s birthday)

by sivia

            Happy birthday My love, husband

To husband,

Every time life has been tough and every time a storm tried to blow me away, you have been my rock and you have always saved the day.

Every time I look at you and every time I see your handsome face, I feel lucky to be your wife and I feel glad that no one else took my place. Happy birthday my dear.

 Love, wife

Nothing big or exquisite of this birthday cake.

This year would love to bake something way different from the other birthdays

Hope he likes it.

I love the soft and moist of this hummingbird cake with so much of flavour from the bananas and pineapple. Top up with this cream cheese frosting,makes this cake extra moist and rich.

by sivia

Components you need:

• Hummingbird cake
• Cream cheese frosting
• Hazelnut brittle

Hummingbird cake:

• 3 large bananas, mashed
• 400g pineapple from the tin, chopped(drain the excess juice)
• 100ml vegetable oil
• 150ml olive oil
• 3 small size eggs (separate egg whites and yolks)
• 350g self raising flour, sifted
• 1 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/4 tsp ginger powder
• dash of  nutmeg powder (Optional)
• 100g castor sugar
• 100g brown sugar
• 50g castor sugar
• 1/8tsp sea salt

1)Preheat the oven to 190C. Grease and flour 2 x 20cm round cake tins.

2)Sift the flour, cinnamon,ginger and nutmeg powder  into a mixing bowl, then add the sugar and  sea salt.

3)Place mashed bananas in a bowl, add in chopped pineapple. Add in oil.

4)Lightly beat the egg yolks and add into the bananas mixture from step (3).Mix until combined.

5)Fold into the dry mixture until smooth.

6)In a clean mixing bowl: Beat egg whites until foamy, then slowly add in 50g of castor sugar in 2 additions.Fold meringue into the flour mixture in 2 additions until well combined.

7)Divide the batter evenly between your prepared tins. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes at 190C-200C, or until skewer inserted in the middle and comes out clean, depending on individual oven.

8)Once baked, allow to cool in the cake pan for 10 minutes, then transfer into cooling racks to cool completely.

Note:

a)You can use fresh pineapple, choose the ripen one.

Cream cheese Frosting:

• 200 g icing sugar, sifted

• 80 g Western Star unsalted butter, (at room temperature)

• 125g, Philadelphia light version cream cheese(Room temperature)

• 1 lemon, juice and zest

1)Beat butter and icing sugar until pale and creamy.

2)Add in cream cheese , lemon juice and zest.Beat till smooth.Keep in fridge for later use.

Note:

a)Double up the recipe here for more frosting.

Hazelnut Brittle:

• 1/4 cup whole hazelnut
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp hot water
• pinch of salt

1)Place sugar and hot water in a saucepan.Cook at medium high heat until it reaches light golden brown.Do not stir , only swirl the caramel occasionally. You can brush the sides of saucepan with some water.

2)Add in hazelnut and pinch of salt.Allow to cook until golden brown.

3)Once is done, pour onto oil paper, allow to cool completely.

4)Once is cooled down, smash the brittle until half small crumbs and half dust.

Note:

a)Do not stir the caramel in the beginning otherwise it will crystallize, you don’t want this at all.

b)You can use processor to blend your brittle ,remember not to over blend it into dust.We want some texture from the sugar and nuts for this cake.

Assemble:

1)Place the first sponge, and spread with half of the frosting. Sprinkle with half hazelnut brittle dust.

2)Top with another sponge, spread with frosting.Sprinkle with rest of brittle dust.

3)Decorate with your favorite edible flower or fresh pineapple. Serve.

by sivia

I am happy you were born, my husband.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

Your comment is greatly appreciated. Thanks for visiting

How to comfort a friend in need(True friend)

 

True friends are hard to find

Appreciate them when you found them

Be an active listener when they share you their problems

Hug them when they need to

Remember, if ones is depressed, she just need a pair of good ears

Give them chance to be understood ,just like you need to be listened  and understand too

 

 

 

Chocolate Banana Mousse Cake 巧克力香蕉慕斯蛋糕

by sivia

                             I remembered how Chocolate Banana mousse cake enticed me  once I tasted .The velvety and chocolatey mousse combined with the soft cottony sponge. I love mousse cake.I think sponge and mousse are heavenly compatible to each other,one cannot lost the other. The banana definitely is one of the main  flavour  to the entire cake.Can’t complaint.This is how I fall in love to mousse cake,madly in love.

                          Chocolate banana cake is classic, everyone has their way of doing it. I have been baking this couple of times in my life  evolving from using instant sponge cake mix(17 years old) to making it from scratch (now).And this is another version of it. Hope you all like this sharing ^_^

Let’s get started, shall we?

Components you need:

• Chocolate sponge
• Torched banana/ fresh banana
• Coffee chocolate round disc (optional)
• Chocolate mousse
• Chocolate glacage/glaze

 

Chocolate Sponge: 

• 2 egg yolk
• 10g castor sugar
• 15g salad oil
• 30ml Liddells lactose free milk ( or any milk)
• 15g cake flour
• 10g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any cocoa powder)
• 2 egg white
• drop of lemon juice/white vinegar
• 20g castor sugar

1) Sifted flour and cocoa powder. Line a 7″ cake pan with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180C.

2)Whisk yolk and sugar together to well combine.

3)Add in oil and milk.Mix well.

4)Add in sifted flours in 2 additions, mix to well combined.

5)Beat egg whites and a drop of vinegar in a clean bowl to foamy stage, add in sugar slowly , continued beating to stiff peak.

6)Scoop out one-third of meringue(a) to mix with yolk-mixture at step (4).Fold in remaining meringue to batter in 2 additions to well combine.

7)Bake: 180C, 10-15 minutes depending on individual oven.

8)Remove cake from oven to cool down. Remove baking paper and cut into slightly smaller than 6″ in diameter.( We are going to use 6″ cake ring, so we need to cut into a round sponge slightly smaller than 6″ in diameter)

Note:

(a)what is meringue?

 Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside . Usually to double or tripled of volume.

Torched Banana:

• 1 and half banana, (depending on size, you can use more if you love banana, the more the better)
• some brown sugar(optional)
• torched gun

1)Peel off bananas and halve it.

2)Sprinkle with some brown sugar onto each banana.(ignore this step if prefer no sugar)

3)Caramelize each banana with torch.Set aside for later use.

Coffee Chocolate round disc: (optional)

• some  coffee chocolate button or some baking chocolate.

1)Melt some of the compound chocolate, and lightly spread on a sheet of baking paper. Put another sheet of baking paper ont op of the chocolate,and using a tray to lay on top(reduce the chocolate disc wobbles).Keep in refrigerate until set

2)When the chocolate is set, using a 5″ round cutter,dip the round cutter into warm water, wipe it to dry. Cut a round disc out.

Chocolate Mousse:

• 300ml Bulla whipping cream( or any whipping cream)
• 140g Cadbury baking dark chocolate ( or any baking dark chocolate)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp of sugar

1)Melt the chocolate over a pot of simmering water(do not allow water to touch the bowl of chocolate)

2)Beat eggs and sugar in a pot of simmering water(do not allow the water touches the bowl of egg mixture). Keep beating the egg and sugar until fluffy and pale or ribbon stage(a)[Step 3 in picture below]

3)Fold the egg mixture step (2) into melted chocolate at step (1).

4)In a clean bowl: beat whipping cream until soft peak formed.

5)Fold whipped cream into egg-chocolate mixture at step (3) in 2 additions until a velvety chocolate mousse achieved. Pour into a piping bag.

Note:

(a)What is ribbon stage?

A term referring to the thickness of a whipped/cooked batter (typically with eggs)or cream.When the batter is lifted it should fall in ribbons or smooth sheets that will hold their shape momentarily before falling into the batter.

Assemble (1): 

1)Place 6″ cake ring onto a baking tray lined with baking paper underneath.

2)Place the chocolate sponge, and pipe chocolate mousse onto the sponge to cover the sponge.

3)Place the coffee-chocolate round disc on (Optional if you dont want to add ),please jump to step (4).

4)Arrange torched banana slices all over the mousse.

5)Cover with remaining chocolate mousse.

6)Smooth the top and allow to freeze until set for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Chocolate Glacage:

• 260g Bulla cream ( or any cream)
• 180g sugar
• 60g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder (Or any cocoa powder)
• 6g gelatin leaves (soak in cold water till soften)

1)In a pot:add in cream, sugar, cocoa powder(sifted),keep cooking and stirring under medium heat.

2)After the mixture came to boil and cocoa powder has dissolved.Remove from heat.

3)Add in the soaked gelatin sheet(discard the water),stir till dissolved.

4)Strain the mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.Stirring occasionally to avoid skin form.

 

Note:

• It is best to cool down the chocolate glaze till 28-33C  to glaze the mousse(frozen).
• Stir the glaze now and then before glazing to prevent skin forming.
• You can chill the glaze overnight to rest before using.The glaze will be jelly like texture form.
• Carefully warm up with bain-marie or microwave until liquid and no trace of lump.(Remember to cool down to the optimum temperature when glazing)

 

Assemble (2):

1)Take out mousse cake from freezer, remove the cake ring by using hair blower to gently heat up all around cake ring for few seconds.

2)Place mousse cake onto a cooling rack sitting above a baking tray.

3)Pour the chocolate glacage all over the mousse.Allow to drip excess.

4) Decorate however you like.

Note:

1.If you prefer slicing the bananas in smaller pieces, then arrange around the mousse, of course you can do that.

2.Do not sprinkle sugar onto sliced banana if preferred less sweet.

3.If you have no torch gun, you can just arrange sliced banana.

4. This  cake is preferably eaten fresh with the bananas inside.

5.Be generous and quick when glazing your mousse cake so it does not have air bubbles trap into your glaze which resulting wrinkles on the glaze.

6.Eliminate the coffee chocolate round disc from the recipe if preferred without it.

by sivia

Hope you enjoy this another version of chocolate banana.

Thank you for dropping by and deeply appreciate your comments ^_^

Today’s word:

 

脸书的黑与白（黑白分明）

by hellosweetdessert

 

 

有时候，觉得：人生就是有黑白分明，也就说有点“懊”妙。

懊恼的懊， 美妙的妙。

懊恼是因现实生活与“脸书”没什么差别。还是有机会遇上型型色色的人。

美秒是学会了很多知识，烘焙或烧菜。还可以友人分享医学的学问。

没想过会上脸书，也没想过会有了部落格。

人家说：多人的地方就有麻烦，让你懊恼种种人群无时无刻在埋伏着。

从前，我就单纯的放食谱上网。普通的照片，苍蝇都难找。没人晓得我是谁。更何况说找我闲聊？

一年多地为爱好而分享食谱，遇上好多事情。好的是认识些非常诚恳的人，感恩有你们，我的生命多了一些福气。有些更救了我的生命，为我日夜祷告。

脸书也是多样化，多种人群的恶化，埋伏等着遇上你。

不好的就是：拿了食谱归为自己；知道我就是一名普通的家庭主妇就溜；我有他们想要的，就虚伪地对我好；有个还会间接性来讽刺为何有人喜欢做马卡龙（当天我分享马卡龙），说甜到不能吃，然后看见她们也开始烤马卡龙；有些blogger也到处散播谣言，说只会烤蛋糕，马卡龙，吃三文鱼，与其123g 面粉而不是120g 面粉的食谱等等是为了取悦有钱的人（K.G先生，你了解爱好吗？我喜欢蛋糕，难道得罪你？）；有些却看见我的本人后也突然删掉我；而有些为了部落格的读者人数，为了赚点退休后的费用，不择手段来想得名气（A.L 女士，我没有想为了名气而烘焙，也不是为了赚退休费，我的食谱不是为了争夺名利而分享的，我很平凡，没有心计去跟任何人比较，请别虚伪地围绕我）；朋友告诉我，有些blogger是为了读者人数，邀请你加入他人的群团，如果你的食谱获得众人喜欢，就自然为他的部落格制造交通（抱歉，电脑的知识，我是听电脑达人解释的），如果你的食谱分享不悦，他就block 你，不给你加团（我的几位脸书友无辜就被block了，很不开心）。

因此，我更要小心。 脸书是有好有坏。但，把是非人加入自己的account 只会添麻烦。

我可以很客气和有礼貌地对待你，但有几点我不容纳：

• 别虚伪地围绕我。如果想要利益，我觉得我没有你要的利益。
• 若你不了解我和我的兴趣，请被随意判断我为人。我不是为名利和赚退休金而拼命要大家加入你的团 而制造网路交通。我是有权力选择我喜欢的群团。
• 假如我开始不加你或block你，是因为听了太多关于你的不是，也遭受过你的坏待遇。
• 妒忌也好，讨厌也好，若你不喜欢我的为人与我的样貌，觉得我的谦虚是你称的“虚伪”,抱歉！（样貌是我妈给的，为难你了，对不起！谦虚是上帝教我的，我不爱自赞！很多人就少了谦虚，也有人认为我的谦虚是假假。我认为是“客气”，就算有人说羡慕我或什么的，想说： 我的能力是上帝慷慨地给我，不是我一人功劳。）
• 因为被伤害过，我选择往后退，不再那么热情。想说：若你不伤害别人，就不需期求被原谅。而我不想再受伤害，选择自护。毕竟是脸书，有多少是真心的。

我是为兴趣而上脸书做我喜欢的甜点来与你们分享，不是为了名利。

我记得曾经的我与现在的我还是一样，不喜欢是非，冷言冷语和虚伪。

还记得曾经的我简直没有人想认识我，我不懂得找你闲聊不是因为我是高尚的，因为我内向，不懂找话题。

我想继续为我的兴趣而分享。不想为了某些利益而上脸书。

那些了解我的，曾经的我与现在的我还是一样，黑白分明。希望还是会有你诚恳的支持，平平凡凡地为爱好而继续。

懂我的会留下，不懂我的，请别靠近。谢谢你。

感谢上帝让我看清很多，学习自护。

谢谢那些对我的真与好，我会记得你的恩。Thank you so much.

 

Thank you God for your guidance every single day.

My 2014 humble and blessing birthday

Birthday cake: Something I would say different from what I normally tasted.

 

Oh no, I am old….

 

But I am so blessed with all the wishes from friends and family.

 

Nothing greater than warming wishes from people that I love.

 

Thank you for everything for all your genuine wishes.

 

A decent cake from BLACK STAR PASTRY for my birthday. I cannot believe I finished all with my hubby the time we bought home.

 

I heard so much of Black Star Pastry. It took us 2 hours of journey by train just to bring home this cake.The journey was long but the time we finished  the cake was just 15 minutes.

The shop is unforgettable.People lined up outside of the shop to taste the food.

Adored the aroma from the good quality of coffee bean  used in their beverages that evolved around the entire shop. The pastry aroma definitely woken my senses in a good way.

 

Lily from my both sisters and mum from Malaysia to Sydney. I love you all so much

Received a bouquet of fresh lily from the beautiful family ( Cassandra”kei kei”, Tracy and Amainda) when I returned home from a heavy lunch.

It was a blessed surprise. Honestly,I did not receive much flowers from anyone, husband bought me roses twice during the 10 years time being together.

Although men would think sending flower is not practical gift, honestly speaking “flower” is every girl’s favourite.

 

I thought it was from anonymous, since the flower was not from husband after I questioned him. Who called me ” BABY” apart from hubby?

hahahah, my both sisters and my mom, you are my only everything now. Just the 4 of us, the family.

 

 

 

Bought home some sushi,  a must to eat for my birthday every year. No dinner out today since husband is so busy.

 

 

So many grilled chicken in Sydney, so far for reasonable taste, I would say NANDOS chicken.Juicy, succulent and the marinaded sauce into the chicken is the bonus of all.I just don’t enjoy any aussie grilled chicken, it just plain taste.

 

Handphone shot: Nandos in Sydney

I love the authentic and woody ornaments and decor in this shop.

 

Handphone shot: (Oliver Brown) Belgium waffles with ice cream and melted chocolate, Belgium dark chocolate mocha and oreo cheesecake

 

 

 

Okay, this “Oliver Brown” has just  newly opened nearby my housing area.I have to try this for my birthday.Just a simple and humble tea break.

Comment: Since my husband is a waffle-fanatic, his comment for this waffle is extremely critical.

 

Few suggestions for this Belgium waffle improvement-$12++ :

(1)Try not to drizzle the melted chocolate over, it is overly sweetened and sometimes reducing the crisp of the waffle.

(2)Try to toast the waffle in a better way that grilling it, waffles tasted burnt.Or any of a better way to treat this valuable waffle.

 

He ordered a slice of  Oreo Cheesecake cost $7++ :

Our comment: Please remove this cheesecake from the menu, or get a good cheese for the cake, what about Philadelphia cream cheese, perhaps?

 

Beverage: Belgium dark chocolate mocha– $6++

Comment: The best of all the food we ordered.Like the chocolate chips on the side which mix into the hot drink.

 

Noticed the customers who dined in, we are the only one who seemed to order a meal, the rest were only beverages.

Guess you know why.

 

Handphone shot:(Oliver Brown): cheesecake, tiramisu, Chocolate mudcake, swiss roll, eclair, profiteroles, Red velvet, opera, Chocolate mousse, assorted macarons and etc.

 

 

Handphone quick shot: Assorted Belgium chocolate

 

 

 

 

I am blessed when I get to wake up everyday.

I am blessed to have my hubby to love me on his own way.

I am blessed for all the genuine wishes from friends and family.

I am blessed for a humble birthday .

Neither do I need a day with expensive gift nor fine dining restaurant.

A simple and joyous birthday that filled with love and blessings are more than I asked for.

Thank you for today.

 

 

 

Banana L’Opera 香蕉欧培拉蛋糕

 

by sivia

I wanted to try second time of opera and the banana concept is the key from one of my readers here(U know who u r :P, thank you so much) I wanted to do it from how she told me: Strong banana and chocolate flavour,less on the coffee(unlike the classic one).I am aiming to reduce the sweetness by adding less buttercream onto this cake,but it still taste very delish!Here you go~

by Sivia

 

Few components:

• Banana Joconde
• Coffee(Decaf) syrup
• Coffee(Decaf) buttercream
• Banana buttercream
• Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
• Dark Chocolate Glaze

 

•  

Banana Joconde:

• 63g almond powder
• 63g icing sugar
• 18g cake flour
• 85g eggs
• 1 ripen banana, mashed
• 80g egg whites
• 16g castor sugar
• 18g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter)

 

1)Preheat oven to 200c.Line baking paper onto a 30cmX30cm baking tray.

2)Sift almond powder, icing sugar and cake flours.Set aside.

3)In a mixing bowl: beat eggs until ribbon stage(a), fold in the almond-icing-flour mixture and banana mashed.(Do not over mix)

4)In another clean mixing bowl: Beat egg white till foamy stage, slowly add in sugar and continued beating till stiff peak achieved.

5)Fold in 1/3 of meringue(b) into the egg-flour mixture to ligthen it.Then, fold in the remaining meringue.(Do not over mix otherwise deflate the air bubbles)

6)Pour in the melted butter and mix to just well combined.

7)Bake at 200C for 8-15 minutes,or to light golden brown,depending on individual oven.

 

Note:

(a)Ribbon stage? Aerated of eggs with sugar by whisking it. As you lift the egg mixture, it will fall back on itself and a trail of “ribbon” will be left across the surface. The ribbon will hold shape for a moment and then sink back into the mixture.

 (b)what is meringue? Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

 Simple  Coffee Syrup (Decaffeinated)

 

 

Italian Buttercream:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 30ml water
• 2 egg whites
• 225g Western Star butter,unsalted(room temperature) or any unsalted butter

 

1)Combine water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat.Bring it to boil. Once it starts boiling, insert a candy thermometer.

2)Standby your butter cubes on other side.

3)Whip egg whites in mixing bowl of a mixer to soft peaks, at medium-high speed. (Goal: egg whites whipped to soft peaks by the time sugar reaches 112C.)

4)When sugar reaches 112C, add it to egg whites in a slow steady stream on medium speed. (Careful: Pour sugar directly into egg white without hitting edge or side of bowls or beater)

5)Increase speed to high and beat until cooled to room temperature. ( Test with thermometer if cooled meringue is at or lower than 35C.)

6)Reduce mixer speed to medium, start adding butter ,one at a time. Mix well and be patient.

7)When all butter has been added, continued beating at high speed until incorporated or a completely smooth buttercream is obtained.

 

Note:

(a)Do not panic if you see curdled during the stage where adding butter, keep beating at high speed ,you will see it comes back together and become smooth.

(b)Ensure you butter is cut into small cubes and it is in room temperature, not too soft and not firm to touch. When you touch it, it leaves a soft dent on the butter.

(c)If your kitchen happen to be hot, you can use a bowl of cold ice sits underneath the italian meringue while adding your butter into. It helps to prevent butter to split due to  the heat from italian meringue.

 

From Italian Meringue buttercream we prepared, we make into 2 different flavours:

 

a)Decaf Coffee Buttercream:

• 2/3 of italian buttercream(prepared above)
• few tsp of the decaf coffee syrup(prepared earlier)

1)Whip all these together to get a smooth decaf coffee buttercream.

 

b)Banana Buttercream:

1 ripen banana,mashed(or few drops of banana essence)

1/3 of italian buttercream(Prepared ealier)

1)whip all together to get a smooth banana buttercream.(notice: using banana mashed will see chunks of banana puree,it is ok.If want to avoid it,use banana essence)

Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling:

 

Dark Chocolate Glaze:

 

Another version of Chocolate glacage:

• 260g  Bulla whipping cream ( or any whipping cream)
• 180g sugar
• 60g Hershey unsweetened cocoa powder ( or any cocoa powder)
• 6g gelatine leaves
• 30g water (use to soak the gelatine)

1)in a pot:add in cream, sugar, cocoa powder(sifted),keep cooking and strring under medium heat.

2)After the mixture came to boil and cocoa powder has dissolved.Remove from heat.

3)add in the soaked gelatine sheet(discard the water),stir till dissolved.

4)Strain the mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.Stirring occasionally to avoid skin form.

 

 

 

 

 

Assemble:

1)Cut the banana joconde into 3 equal parts.

2)Brush Decaf coffee syrup onto the first joconde.

3)Spread decaf coffee buttercream then spread the chocolate ganache.

4)Add 2nd layer joconde.

5)Brush with syrup,then spread banana buttercream.

6)Spread chocolate ganache.

7)Layer the last joconde,brush syrup.

8)Spread decaf coffee buttercream.

9)Set inside the fridge to chill for few hours till buttercream has harden.

10)Remove cake from fridge,warm up the chocolate glaze if harden.

11)Pour the chooclate galze on top of the buttercream layer.(Dont worry to run over the edges)

12)Trim the 4 sides.Set in fridge for 30 minutes.

13)Decorate how ever u like.Slice and serve.

 

 

 

Note:

1)Since no added colouring,I suggest to eat this cake fresh,not to keep too many days because of the added fresh banana in buttercream. 🙂

2)If you prefer stronger coffee flavour,welcome to add more into your syrup(coffee essence also can be used,but I tried to keep everything natural)

3)Dear friends,if you prefer sweeter ,double the recipe for the buttercream. As you can see from my buttercream layers,it consists of 2 layers decaf coffee buttercream & 1 layer banana buttercream 🙂

by Sivia

by Sivia

 

Sometimes,life is so full of unspeakable series that we never expect.I want to dedicate this cake for my love one,my only husband:” You’ve been so tired these days.You’ve become much stronger from all the things we have been through. I love you today and everyday.Thank you.”

 

Happy Trying 🙂

 

Lemony Sour Cream Cotton Cake柠檬酸奶油棉花蛋糕

by Sivia

 

 

If you wonder what is the difference between Japanese cotton cheese cake  and this sour cream cotton cake?

I personally think, sour cream cotton cake :

• has light and refreshing flavour compared to cotton cheese cake
• sour cream is cheaper in cost
• I find by using sour cream, I can melt the butter and sour cream at ease without worrying the lumps  compared to cream cheese requires milk helps in dissolving evenly,and sometimes cream cheese creates so much lump that required the straining method
• The texture is light and cottony as well

To sum up, when you cannot find cream cheese, do consider a lighter and cheaper substitution for cream cheese that is: sour cream. You just cannot spot the difference in taste.It tastes as good and refreshing too. Light, cottony and soft…what else could you have ask for more.Agree? Thank you for nodding your head with me. 😛

 

 Ingredients:

• 50g Western Star unsalted butter ( or any unsalted butter)
• 200g Bulla sour cream (full cream/light version) or any sour cream
• 4 egg yolks
• 40g cake flour, sifted
• 25g corn flour,sifted
• 4 egg whites (medium size)
• 75g castor sugar
• 1/2 lemon juice (Optional)
• 1/4tsp cream of tartar

Method:
1. Melt butter and sour cream first over a double boiler. Cool the mixture. Beat in egg yolks(one by one)mix well.Then mix in lemon juice. Fold in the flour and corn flour and mix well.

2. In a clean and grease-free bowl:Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Then slowly add in the sugar and continued beating until medium peaks form( between soft and firm peak)

3.Fold in meringue(a) from step (2) into flour mixture in 3 additions. Pour into a 7-inch round  removable cake pan (you can lightly grease and line the bottom and sides of the pan with baking paper  but I just oil the pan only). Knock out extra air pockets on the table bench.

4. Bake batter by using steam bake method at 150-160C for 50-60 minutes,or until skewer inserted in the middle and comes out clean ,depending on individual oven.( Place a tray at bottom rack in the oven.Pour in cold water onto the tray once placed the cake pan in the middle rack of the oven.)

5.Once done, remove the water tray from oven. Let door ajar(b) for 15 minutes to allow cake cools down little. Remove the cake immediately from oven and Do Not invert(I want to keep the cake with smooth top, OR you prefer to invert onto a wire rack and that’s is okay as well).Allow to cool down completely. Store the cake into refrigerator for few hours for better taste.

 

(a)What is meringue?

Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

(b)Door ajar?

Open your oven door just 3 fingers gap to allow hot air release to avoid drastic changes in temperature.Big changes in temperature sometimes could cause your cake collapse, with a curvy waistline.

 

Notes:

1. Before pushing the tray into the oven, remember to tap it onto the table a few times. This is so that you wouldn’t end up with air pockets in the cake.
2. You can use oil paper to lay around the cake pan,since I am lazy  so I sprayed some oil to the pan.Cake still can remove easily.
3. The reason I do not use water bath as I find water bath method tend to produce soggy bottom for the cake. Steam bake method may as well create cottony and soft texture too.
4. You can use 6″ square cake pan too. If you cannot find removable cake pan, just use normal round or square 6″cake pan are optional. The removable cake pan helps in remove the cake easily without  inverting the cake while normal cake pan requires inverting the cake onto cooling rack.I want to have smooth cake top. So just work the way you want.
5. Every oven acts differently.If you start to find cracks on your cake(before getting worse), reduce the temperature roughly 10 to 15 Celsius. For example: you can try bake the cake batter for 140C for 60-80 minutes, until inserted skewer in the middle, it comes out clean.
6. If the water is drying out, please add more cold water into the tray. If you find your oven is way too hot (If only you start seeing cake cracks, add more ice cubes into the water tray)
7. If you do not like the lemon flavour, remove the lemon juice because I want the refreshing lemony flavour in this cake.

 

by Sivia

Before leaving,I always want to share some insight and  information.Sometimes I find recipes books do not share the proper way of creating different egg whites (meringue) which really hard for us to understand.

 

Difference between Meringue of SOFT PEAK   , MEDIUM PEAK  & FIRM PEAK:

After numerous times of beating egg whites and sugar(meringue)  to different stages: Soft peak, medium peak and firm peak, I find many people fairly know how to differentiate the stages of the meringue.Without the right peak, you might not able to create air in your cake and resulting numerous problems for your cake.

A)     SOFT PEAK: 湿性蛋白霜

After reached bubbly and foamy meringue, the first stage the egg whites turn into when beating  on high speed. When it is done, the egg white is not runny, but hold the shapes with the  peak will curl 40% and it will not drop .

 

 

B)     MEDIUM PEAK:中性蛋白霜

the 2^nd stage of the meringue, after the soft peak. When you continue beating the meringue after soft peak, the peak will curl about 20% when lifting the beater. This stage will be before reaching a firm pointed peak or stiff peaked.

 

C)     FIRM PEAK (a lso known as  STIFF Peak):硬性蛋白霜或挺直蛋白霜

The 3^rd stage after medium peak of the meringue. The meringue will form a stiff or firm and pointed peak when you lift up the meringue after beating on high speed. It will not drop, no curling down.

 

[pictures for the meringue here are outsourced from google]

Hope you enjoy the sharing and feel free to leave your wonderful feedbacks. ^_^

Baked Caramel & White Chocolate Cheesecake 烤白巧克力焦糖起司蛋糕

This white chocolate and caramel cheese cake sounded so sweet but once taste it, you will throw away the first “sweet” impression, it is not sweet at all, I am telling ya~ hehhehe

My husband loves cheesecake,the heavier of  the flavour the better for him.That explains why he gives me a pet name called: “Jong Belegen Kaas” which means “young cheese” in Dutch. So he bought 6 blocks of cream cheese,I cannot let it sit in fridge until all turn bad, then decided to make this cake after the first  block of cheese for tiramisu. I think more cheese to use in baking soon.

Classic baked cheese cake is his favourite and commonly bake for him, let’s try something new. I have packets of white chocolate from the last purchase, thought to use it for chocolate work during autumn,but I was living in flu during the entire autumn.I have to finish it quick. What about “white chocolate with caramel infusion?”

Let’s get started, shall we?

 

(A)Biscuit Base:

• 100g maria /McVITIES digestive biscuits ( or any digestive biscuit)
• 60g Western Star unsalted butter, melted ( or any unsalted butter)

1) Process the cookies until formed crumbs, slowly pour in melted butter and mix to well combine.

2)Transfer the mixture to a (6″) 15cm removable around cake pan. Use a straight-sided glass or hand to spread and press the biscuit mixture firmly over the base.Allow to chill in freezer for 20 minutes.

(B)Cheese filling:

• 170g Philadelphia cream cheese ( or any cream cheese )
• 140g Bulla sour cream ( or any sour cream )
• 50g sugar
• 100g Cadbury baking white chocolate, melted over double boiler (Or any baking white chocolate)
• 140ml Bulla whipping cream ( or any  dairy whipping cream )
• 65g castor sugar
• 1tbsp water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 tbsp corn flour

1)Microwave cream cheese on high heat for 30 seconds.Beat cheese with sugar until creamy and soft.

2)Add in sour cream,then add in eggs, one at a time, and corn flour . Mix well.

3)How to prepare caramel:In a saucepan: Heat up sugar and water on medium high heat until turn amber colour, turn off the heat. [ Picture 1 ]

4)Microwave cream 30 seconds to 1 minute on high heat until just boiled, slowly pour into caramel (3).[Picture 3]

5)After 1 minute, stir in melted white chocolate into caramel from step (4).Mix well.

6)Pour in white chocolate-caramel mixture from step (5) into cheese mixture step (3).Pour into cake pan with the biscuit base earlier. Wrap in 2 layers of aluminium foil.

7)Bake at water bath  at 200C for 30 minutes ,then 150C for 30 minutes.

8)Once done, remove from oven, allow to cool completely. Chill in refrigerate for at least 6 hours or overnight. Remove from cake pan and serve.

 

 

 

Note:

a)When handling or making caramel, remember to be careful. When pouring the hot cream into hot caramel, you will see some big reaction from here, just stay alert.

b)Do not over cook the caramel until turn dark amber otherwise it creates bitterness in your caramel.Do not stir when cooking caramel.Only swirl around by moving the pan.

c)Alternatively, I baked this cake in a 8″(20cm) round removable cake pan for 200C for 30 minutes, then 150C for another 15 minutes.

d)Chill cheesecake overnight only taste better.

Hope you enjoy this sharing ^_^

 

 

Today’s WORD:

 

Thank you for your time here and deeply appreciate every single comment you leave. ^_^

 

 

 

 

Baked Cheese Cake@Strawberry Coulis烤乳酪蛋糕@草莓浆

by Sivia

My husband has been asking for a classic baked cheese cake.Since I bought this 6 packs cream cheese at good deal, thinking what to bake with it.

Classic baked cheese is something heavy in cheese.I remembered that he is the reason i started to eat pizza and cheese cake. From how he grew up, classic cheese cake is always his favourite from his mom.

I want to make classic cheese cake with some twist. So added some fresh strawberry coulis into the cake.

Let’s get started shall we?

 

2 components you need:

• Strawberry coulis
• cheese cake

 

 

 

Ingredients:

• 70g McVITIES digestive biscuits (or any digestive biscuits)
• 30g marie biscuits
• 50g Western Star unsalted butter, melted ( or any unsalted butter)
• 250g Philadelphia cream cheese, softened in room temperature( or any cream cheese)
• 120g castor sugar
• 200g  Vaalia natural yoghurt /or Jalna greek yoghurt ( or any natural or greek yoghurt)
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste
• 2 tbsp cake flour
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 200ml Bulla whipping cream / pouring cream( or any whipping or pouring cream)
• some fresh strawberries for garnish

 

How to make cheesecake :

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 8″ round (base) spring-form cake pan.
2. Process the cookies until resembles fine crumbs. Add in melted butter and mix well.
3. Lightly oil the cake pan with some butter, press mixture over base and sides of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes until sets.
4. Beat cream cheese and sugar until creamy. Then add in yoghurt and mix until smooth. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until just combined.
5. Lastly add in vanilla , cake flour then lemon juice and whipping cream. Strain the mixture until no lump is found. Pour  1/3 of mixture into prepared cake pan,then pour in the strawberry coulis. Pour in the remaining cream cheese mixture.
6. Bake at 180C for 50-60minutes  until cake is set but still wobbly in the middle.
7. Allow to cool in oven with door ajar(a) for an hour. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate 6 hours or overnight. 
8. Before un-moulding, run a knife around the edges of cake.
9. Decorate with some fresh strawberry. Brush with some mirror glaze /clear glaze/nappage(b)(if you have).Serve.

Note:

(a)Ajar : something that is slightly open. Oven door ajar means oven door slightly open to allow hot temperature flows out slowly to prevent drastic temperature changes.

(b) Nappage : apricot glaze is a baking technique. Jam made from apricots is diluted with water to form a transparent, slightly apricot-colored glaze.You can find in any bakery store. Sometimes they called it neutral or mirror glaze.

 

 

 

 

 

by Sivia

Note:

• You can just bake a classic plain cheese cake without strawberry coulis for your own preference.
• Red wine added is optional,you can remove it from recipe.
• You can turn this “baked cheesecake” recipe into ” New York cheesecake” by few changes:

a) replace yoghurt with sour cream, equal amount.

b) replace cake flour with corn flour, equal amount

c) New York cheese cake require water bath method: wrap aluminium foil around the base of cake pan, bake at 200c for 30 minutes until golden brown on

top, then turn down heat to 160c for another 30 minutes.You can leave in the oven with  door ajar for 30-60 minutes by removing the water bath.

d) classic baked cheesecake does not bake by using water bath,but i personal wrap with aluminium foil for preventing oil flowing out from the base mixture.You can always remove the aluminium foil and just bake it straight in the oven.

by Sivia

 

Hope you like this sharing. Welcome to leave any comment ya ^_^

Classic Tiramisu 提拉米苏

Tiramisu is an Italian dessert typically made from Lady Fingers, espresso coffee, mascarpone cheese, eggs, cream, sugar, marsala wine, cocoa and rum. The Italian name tiramisù means “pick-me-up” , referring to the two caffeine-containing ingredients, espresso and cocoa. 

There are many modified versions of tiramisu. Using sponge fingers are the popular version. You can either buy the store bought finger or you can make those fingers too. Since I want to make everything from scratch, simple and still retained the classic flavour. I replace the sponge finger with chocolate sponge, something familiar and easy to make.

There are  2 components in this dessert you need to prepare and you will get your tiramisu in no time.(everything is from scratch)

• Chocolate sponge cake ( base)

• tiramisu filling

Let’s get started, shall we?

Components you need:

• 1 slice of 7” x 7” chocolate sponge cake
• Classic cheese filling

Chocolate Sponge: (produces 2 pieces of 7” x 7” cake sponge)

• 5 egg (I used small size or 4 large eggs), separate yolks and whites
• 20g castor sugar
• 40g castor sugar
• 50g Liddells Lactose free full cream milk( or any milk )
• 30g oil
• 20g cocoa powder, sifted
• 60g cake flour, sifted
• 20g corn flour, sifted
• 2 tsp lemon juice/1 tsp white vinegar

1)      Separate the eggs into yolks and whites. Sifted the flours. Line a 10” x 14” cake pan with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 180C.

2)      Mix egg yolks with 20g sugar. Mix in oil and milk. Mix in flours to well combine.

3)      Beat egg whites and  lemon juice until frothy. Then slowly add in sugar (40g) in 2 additions,continued beating to soft peak. Fold the meringue(a) into yolk mixture in 2 additions until well combine.

4)      Pour batter into prepared pan, smooth the top and knock the pan for rid extra air pocket.

5)      Bake for 12-15 minutes, or skewer inserted comes out clean,depending individual oven.

6)      Remove the cake immediately  from baking tray.Let it cool down completely.Once cool down , peel off baking paper and cut into 7” x 7” piece of sponge.

Note:

(a)what is meringue? 

Meringue means  egg whites and castor sugar are beaten to airy texture with alot of air pockets trapped inside.Usually to double or tripled of volume.

Tiramisu Filling:

• 4 egg yolks
• 80g castor sugar
• ¼ cup coffee liqueur( I used Tia Maria  or any coffee liqueur you like)-optional
• 250g Philadelphia cream cheese ( Or you can use mascarpone cheese)
• 300g Bullla whipping cream ( or any brand of dairy whipping cream)
• Hershey unsweetened Cocoa powder( or any unsweetened cocoa powder) for dusting

1)      Whisk egg yolks and sugar over double boiler on low heat( over a pot of simmering water) until all sugar dissolved. Keep whisking it otherwise egg yolks might cook.

2)      Once sugar dissolved, remove from heat and add in coffee liqueur. Beat with electric hand mixer until thicken and pale.

3)      In other bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy and smooth.

4)      Add in yolk mixture from step (2) into cheese. Mix well.

5)      In a bowl: beat whipping cream to firm peak. Gently fold whipped cream into cheese mixture.Set aside.

 

Assemble:

1)      Place the 7” x7” chocolate sponge onto a same size square cake ring. Place this onto a prepared baking tray with baking paper.

2)      Brush the sponge with ¼ cup of coffee liqueur.

3)      Pour the tiramisu filling onto the sponge until full. Smooth the top and store in freezer for 4 hours or over night.

4)      Decorate and dust with cocoa powder. Slice and serve.

Note:

1)      You can use any chocolate sponge you like from the market or any recipe you prefer to be the base. This recipe can give you 2 pieces of chocolate sponge of  size 7 “ x 7”:

 

What can you do with the extra chocolate sponge?

a)      Make a swiss roll out of it by spreading some tiramisu filling and roll.

b)      Make 2  tiramisu cake of 7” x 7”  by adjusting the tiramisu filling as below:

• 6 egg yolks,
•  1 cup castor sugar,
• some coffee liqueur ,
•  400g cream cheese,
• 360ml whipping cream

2)      You can replace the sponge with store bought sponge fingers too. Just soak with coffee mixture( 1 tbsp of sugar + ½ tsp of coffee powder into 1/2cup of hot water, let it cool down before soak with the sponge finger)

3)      When you heat the egg yolks with sugar over double boiler, remember not to allow the water touches the bowl with yolk mixture.Remember to whisk constantly until you touches the mixture ,there is no more sugar crystals and it is warm to your hand). Remove pan and keep beating it.

4)      Remove the liqueur if preferred alcohol free.

Liqueur choices can use Kahlua or any coffee liqueur you like.

This is the coffee liqueur I am using. Free free to use any alcohol you prefer

Hope you all enjoy this sharing.

Thank you for visiting and deeply appreciate your wonderful comment ^_^

Flourless Chocolate Cake ( Little Black Black Dress in a girl’s closet) Gluten Free

 

Hubby wants few things on his menu:pound cake and chocolate mud cake.In my mind:I want something fast,easy,very chocolatey and moist,YES Moist!!! But i dont want with so much of butter and flour.There you go, this super moist flourless chocolate cake is a must in your menu.It is like a little black dress in every girl’s closet.

 

This dessert is simply RICH, SIMPLE and SEXY….Simple serve with some whipped cream or just eat plain,you will keep eating it without realise you had enough..^_^

Flourless Chocolate Cake:  Recipe adapted by Delicious ABC

• 250g dark chocolate or good quality chocolate,chopped
• 63g unsalted butter,cubed
• 4 eggs, separated
• 40g castor sugar
• 75ml thickened cream/cream
• 1 tbsp rum/brandy (or rum essence for non-alcoholic)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4tsp cream of tartar

1.Preheat oven to 180C.Grease a 24cm springfoam cake pan and line base with baking paper.

2.Place chocolate and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water(Do not let the bowl touch the water)

3.Stir until mixture is smooth and combined,remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

4.In a clean bowl:Place egg yolks and sugar,beat with electric mixer til thicken and pale.Stir in cream,rum,vanilla and cooled chocolate mixture.

5.Beat egg whites and cream of tartar in a clean bowl until soft peaks form.

6.Fold in 1/3 egg whites into chocolate mixture till well combined.Fold in the remaining egg whites in 2 additions into chocolate mixture until fully incorporated.

7.Pour mixture into prepared pan.Bake for 25 minutes until skewer inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs.

8.Cool completely in a pan on a wire rack.

9.Run a knife around the edge of the cake to remove from the pan.

10.Slice and serve with whipped cream.

 

Note: The cake tasted very moist and chocolatey after cool down in fridge. Simple serve with some whipped cream or just eat plain.

Thank you for visiting and hope you like this sharing ^_^

 

Today’s word:

Earl Grey Tres Leches Cake ( 3 milks cake)格雷伯爵茶三奶蛋糕

 

A tres leches cake, or pastel de tres leches (from Spanish, “three milks cake”), or pan tres leches (“three milks bread”), is a sponge cake—in some recipes, a butter cake—soaked in three kinds of milk: evaporated milk, condensed milk, and whole milk.

The cake is well known in many parts of Latin America.

The idea for creating a cake soaked in a liquid is most likely of European origin.It is milky and definitely different from usual sponge cake you eat. My husband and I love it.

這是一道拉丁美洲的點心,奶油蛋糕浸泡在三種奶 汁(淡奶、奶水、煉乳)裡,加入三種奶汁浸泡至隔天,從冰箱取出,切開的感覺,就像一塊吸飽了奶汁的海綿,覺得很好吃,濕軟的口感,有興趣的朋友,可以試試,這款很不一樣的蛋糕.

Happy Mothers day ^_^

 

 

 

Few components:

• 1) Tres Leches Cake (adapted from Marth Stewart)
• 2) Raspberry Jam
• 3) Earl Grey Mousse (Light Version)
• 4) Italian Meringue,torched

 

Tres Leches Cake :(adapted from Martha Stewart)

Directions on how to make tres leches cake:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Line baking paper on a 30cmX30cm. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar on high until pale and thick, about 4 minutes. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Gradually add flour mixture and fold to combine. With a rubber spatula, fold in melted butter until incorporated. Transfer batter to dish and bake until top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 15-18 minutes(depending on individual oven), rotating dish halfway through.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together milks. Poke warm cake all over with a wooden skewer or toothpick, then pour milk mixture over top and let cool abit, then place into fridge for 1 hour

3. Raspberry Jam:

    

    

   Part 1:Assemble

   1.Remove the soaked tres Leches cake sponge from fridge.

   2.Cut out 4  equal slices of round shape from the cake.(6″ cake ring I used to cut the cake)

   3.Place the first layer of cake onto the 6″cake ring,spread generous of Raspberry jam onto the cake.

   4.Place the 2nd soaked Tres Leches on top of the raspberry jam.

   5.Place 3rd soaked Tres Leches sponge, spread with raspberry jam.Top up the 4th Tres Leches sponge.

   6.Allow to chill in fridge, while continue the next component(Earl Grey mousse)

    

   

    

    

   Earl Grey Mousse(Light version):

    Part 2: Assemble

• Remove the Tres Leches layers cake out from fridge.
• Pipe some mousse onto the base of a 7″ cake ring.
• Place in the Tres Leches layers cake onto the mousse.
• Full up the gap with all the mousse.Smoothen the top of the mousse with a palatte knife.
• Allow the cake to chill in freezer for at least 6 hours until completely hardened.(I chilled it overnight)

 

 

Italian Meringue,torched:

 

 

 

 

 

Part 3: Assemble:

1.Remove the chilled mousse from freezer.

2.Torch the side of the cake ring for few seconds.

3.Remove the mousse out of cake ring.

4.Pipe the meringue onto the mousse.

5.Garnish with fruits you like.

6.Torch the meringue.

7.Allow the cake to thaw in the fridge for few hours.Serve.

 

 

(A) or (B)?I am trying to keep it as simple as possible to retain all the classic flavours

 

Note:

– This cake originally consist of tres Leches cake( 3 milk sponge) which soaked in 3 types of milk,topped up with just fresh cream. Sometimes also eaten with fruits that you like.
– You can make it simple without the italian meringue (Torched italian meringue was my another idea)
-Decorate however you want because this is your cake now. ^_^

Happy Mother’s day everyone.May all the mommies happy and healthy every single day

Korean Fried Chicken 韩式炸鸡(inspired by korean drama: My love from the star来自星星的你)

By Sivia

I am not a Korean dramas or movies fanatic. I used to watch one Korean drama back when I was 18 years old. It was long  and emotionally triggered dramas. Since then I do not watch any more Korean series.Never.

Since this new drama “ My love from the star “ was recommended by my friend, with the fried chicken as the main snack in the drama has been evolving throughout the facebook. I have to break my old stereotype thinking, give a chance to this drama.

Indeed, I recreated the Korean Fried Chicken and have a go on the Korean style black bean sauce noodle(Jjajiangmyeon) as well.

 

Let’s have a short briefing on this famous Korean drama :

“My Love Who came from the star or 来自星星的你 “

Language: Korean                                 Country: South Korea

Pilot(Story)：

Do Min-joon is an alien that landed on Earth 400 years agoduring the Joseon Dynasty. As his spaceship is broken, he is stranded on the planet for the next four centuries. Do Min-Joon possesses a near perfect appearance and enhanced physical abilities involving his vision, hearing and speed.He meets a young girl whom he saves from death, but later on she gives her life saving him.

As time goes by, Min-joon is forced to take on a new identity every ten years, as his human appearance never ages.

In the present he works as a college professor and finds out that due to a comet coming in three months, he will be able to return to his home planet. In the meantime he accidentally meets famous actress Cheon Song-yi, the biggest Hallyu star in Korea. He finds out that Song-yi looks like the young girl he fell in love with in the Joseon era. No matter how he tries to keep himself away from her as he needs to leave the planet, the love is getting much stronger and he rather devote his life for just spend one more day with her.

This is the over view of the main actress apartment which next to the main actor’s apartment too.

This is the Main actor’s apartment’s view.

I think who ever draw this is beautiful.

Why watch this?

I would say a Korean movie without much of the crying and heart tearing elements. I am so afraid and critical on watching typical Korean dramas with all the actors are crying day and night. Love affairs or somebody is going to die are those two elements I am trying to avoid.

Do not worry, this dramas are a love story with different approach and dimensions, drawn you with the laughters and heart  sucking magnet.

See, the main actress is eating her favourite korean fried chicken, and I want to taste it too ^_^

Reason to watch this simply due to the fact it has the Korean snacks (Yes, food and oh ya I Love Food) :

(A) Korean fried chicken with beer-main actress love to eat this has become the main food evolution here.

(B) Jjajangmyeon (Noodles in blackbean sauce) – was found in one of the scene when the lawyer is enjoying his lunch with slurpy blacksauce noodle.

What is Jjajangmyeong?

(자장면; 짜장면) is the Korean version of this dish. In addition, the brown colour of the sauce is from the use of chunjang (a salty, black-colored paste made from roasted soybeans), rather than soy sauce. Jajangmyeon may also feature a variety of diced seafood rather than pork or even vegetarian version too.

This store bought Korean Jjajiangmyeon was really small in portion. All I do is follow the instructions: boil, drain and mix with the black bean sauce. Garnish with sliced cucumber and sesame seeds and topped up with boiled egg for my own preference. Very saucy.

Two components you need for this Korean fried chicken:

• Fried chicken
• Korean style sweet soy sauce

Korean Fried Chicken Wings

Recipe is adapted by : Kirbie’s Cravings

ingredients:

• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• Some flour for coating all chicken wings
• 2/3 cup flour
• 1 tbsp. cornstarch
• Pinch of baking powder
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 20 chicken wings （I used corn fed chicken, or any organic chicken you want)

Directions:

1. Wash the chicken wings,cut wings into 2 parts. Dry and marinade with salt for 6 hours or overnight.
2. Rinse the chicken again with tap water. Pat dry.
3. Coat each pieces with some flour, dust out excess.
4. Pour oil into a 6-qt. pot to a depth of 2″. Heat over medium-high heat until a thermometer reads 350F (or  176C).
5. Whisk flour, cornstarch, pepper, baking powder and water in small bowl until no lumps remain. Coat chicken in mixture.
6. Working in 3 batches, fry chicken until golden, about 8 minutes. Drain on paper towels. Return oil to 176C. Fry chicken until crisp, about 8 minutes more.
7. Brush wings with desired sauce or dip your chicken with the prepared sauce. Serve immediately.

Note:

1)      This fried chicken is slightly different from all the other fried chicken you have eaten.

2)      This recipe is mainly coated with flour batter which creates a layer of batter all around every pieces of chicken. After fried the piece, the new dimension of “crispiness” with a very light and airy texture would definitely amaze you. You can hear the sound of “ crisp crisp” while biting to the golden dress on the chicken. We call it sound of “crispiness”

3)      If you cannot accept new cultures or new flavor and would always want to keep the traditional way of frying your chicken,it probably might be little strange for you to experience this new recipe.

4)      Coating the chicken with some flour first before dressing them up with flour batter helps for better coating, so the batter can stick to the chicken pieces more readily.

5)      You can remove the baking powder in your flour batter, but a pinch of baking powder actually helps in creating a better and darker golden colour for the fried chicken. Without baking powder, the fried chicken has lighter in golden brown colour.

by Sivia

Sweet Soy Sauce 

Sweet Soy Sauce for Korean Fried Chicken

Recipe is from : “Serious Eats by J.Kenji Lopez.Alt”  

http://goo.gl/Pfvkdz

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup mirin or other sweet rice cooking wine
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced (about 2 teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed dried red pepper or Chinese style dried chillies flakes ( Optional)
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/4 cup finely sliced scallions, for garnish ( I did not add this )

Directions:

1)      Heat soy sauce, vinegar, mirin, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper, and sesame oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved.

2)      Combine corn starch with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and whisk into sauce. Bring to a boil and cook until sauce is slightly reduced and thickened, about 3 minutes.

3)      Transfer to a bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes. Serve with Korean Fried Chicken.

Note:

1)     Traditional Korean fried chicken usually dress up their pieces with ready made Korean sauce. It can be spicy  or just sweet. So I chose the sweet flavour which suitable for all the children too.

2)      The sauce is amazingly delicious and definitely a finger licking good experience.

My husband does not eat chicken, but he loves the sauce and he asked for more.

3)      Since for better photography, I do not coat the chicken with all the sauce, otherwise I might not able to see how golden-ish colour on my freshly fry chicken. I just dip with the sauce with each bite of my chicken or I  eat the chicken without any dressing and it is crispy and delicious.

By sivia

Hope you girls have an amazing experience in making and eating this Korean fried chicken. ^_^