Bake in Paris

Ivory

2012-02-01T08:55:00.000-08:00

It was great working with just one color: ivory, a strong color despite its light and humble being. It carried pure charm that didn’t need to shout just to be noticed. And it owned an elegant property that never missed to impress any cake decorator who determined to indulge in this color. I truly had my special moment with it.

It was also intriguing working with a single color and anticipating how it would turn out at the end. Apparently my client was pleased that she got just what she had expected for her wedding. Could it be the fact that a bride just couldn’t resist a cake with accessories on it? A simple touch of silver dust and sheer glaze was all that it needed to turn heads.

Well, January was a month of bliss welcoming the year 2012. And with this joy I present this piece of work to you! Enjoy :-)

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

2011-12-29T02:45:00.000-08:00

Guys, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Hope you all have a great time enjoying your holiday! As for me, it won't be any traveling at all, maybe just hanging out in the malls or if I am lucky enough, going to the beach when the weather and transportation allow and T's office is closed. So are you going somewhere?

Lately I have been quite swamped with cupcakes and became fond of them. There was a few corporate orders that sum up to 500 pieces of vanilla cupcakes required to be delivered within one week. It was kind of fun and amusing exploring how I could cope with tight deadlines, and cupcake stress.

When all was over and I looked back at the cupcake moment, I was pleased knowing that I have done my part in spreading joy to other people during this festive season, particularly those who have consumed my cupcakes. Hopefully at the end of it, those who liked them would do their part spreading words to their friends and I would get to bake more cupcakes next year, right?

As for now until the end of the year, I am delightfully taking my day easy, although I have to start thinking about the UK visa application soon.

Let's wish all the best for our 2012! Good luck and greatest success for all of you!

London... London

2011-11-15T00:21:00.000-08:00

It has been a while since the last time I posted something on this blog. My apology to all of you who have taken the time to drop by only to find the same old post. And my gratitude to all of you who have sent warm regards and concerned emails asking how I was doing. Thank you!

A couple of things happened that took my time entirely away from blogging. First I was so overwhelmed of preparing my entry to the ICCA Wedding Cake Competition in Malaysia taking place end of last September. It was my very first competition so it was understandable how seriously I must have taken it. A three week dedication that consisted of flower preparation, coloring and dusting, and a lot of rolling and folding. In the meantime I also had to worry about the flight, accommodation, and how to carry my cake on board.

I was just super busy. There were times when I thought it was just too tiring joining such overseas event and should just quit. But then T was always there to comfort me and put me back on track thinking positively that it was a worthwhile journey of experience, either win or lose at the end. Due to the number of things we need to hand carry into the airplane, T finally decided to accompany me for the trip. A great support came just right in time, one week to the competition day.

We arrived in Petaling Jaya, the city where the competition took place 2 days earlier. It was nice since we could do a final touch to the cake, check out the distance between the hotel and the competition hall and figure out the feasibility of hand carrying the cake on the competition day, and of course have time to find good food and enjoy ourselves a little bit.

We were asked to deliver the cake between 8:00 and 10:30am in the morning of 30th September and since my cake was fully done the night before we had the luxury to show up at 9:00. I carried the cake with my hands, out of my hotel room and all the way to the competition hall, going through lift, pavement, stairway, and escalator. T was right in front of me looking out for my steps. It was such a relief when I finally lied my cake on the display table.

Everything went smoothly and we had the privilege to see the judges take their rounds, observe and jolt down their comments. Our judges were Rosalind Chan - the owner of ICCA, Chef Wan and Chef Ami - both celebrity chefs of Malaysia, and Alan Dunn and Lorraine McKay - gurus of sugar flower and sugar modeling.

The surprise came about the next day while I was attending classes with Alan Dunn and Lorraine McKay. On a coffee break, I bumped into Adlina from ICCA who asked whether I had heard about the winner announcement and since my answer was "No", she invited me to walk with her to the exhibition hall.

There I strolled around passing through other participants’ cakes before finally stood in front of mine which happened to be at the end corner, and noticed that there was a 1st sign placed right beside my cake. Good heaven!! I jumped in joy and quickly shared my bliss with T. Guess what? I won a sponsored trip to London to attend Squires Kitchen's 5 day professional cake decorating class and Squire Kitchen exhibition in March 2012! Oh, London... London...

So from there I and T got to celebrate the winning with our friends in Malaysia - Jerry and Suki. We had a wonderful time exploring Petaling Jaya and traveling in Malacca. It was such a great trip packed with beautiful places and delicious food that we promised to go back again as soon as we could.

Our following destination, Jakarta was supposed to be a sweet one week trip which happened to be over extended due to flooding in Bangkok. Being away for that long made me realize how much I missed home and wanted to fly back and return to my routine life, and of course blogging and cake decorating.

Daring Bakers' Candylicious

2011-08-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!, this month is passing by with lots of fun, call it candy fun!

I am sure many Daring Bakers have developed great chocolate and candy creations, and that is why I have been so excited about this challenge, and make sure that I will not skip it, no excuses whatsoever. This is a great challenge I have been looking forward to...

Personally I felt great that finally got to make a chocolate version of Ispahan, which is a blend of white chocolate, rose water, and lychees. It is in fact a compatible match with almonds, so I just can't wait to eat all these once the photo shoot is over. And they are in pink, who could resist?

At the same time, I also made Lychee Delight (a lychee version of Turkish Delight)and Coconut Lime Chocolate Truffles. So all in all, I have made two chocolate candies and one non chocolate candy. It has been a great time and I am on my way to fulfill my craving for chocolate right after this. I am sure you are too, aren't you?

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies!

CANDYLICIOUS

1. Ispahan
Makes 10 balls

Ingredients:
- White chocolate > 125g
- Whipping cream > 40ml
- Rose water > 2 tsp
- Pink coloring > a few drops
- Lychee flesh – dice > 50g
- Almond sticks > 100g
- Grounded almond > 20 g
- Golden pearls > 10 pcs

Method:
- Finely chop white chocolate and place in a bowl.
- Place whipping cream in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to boil.
- Pour into chocolate and leave for 5 minutes for chocolate to melt. Stir until smooth stir and fold in rose essence and coloring. Stir well. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until it is firm.
- Roll ganache with hands to form balls and fill with a lychee dice. If the balls are too soft due to heat generated from palms, refrigerate again for a short while. Remove from fridge and leave for a short moment before sticking almond around chocolate balls. Sprinkle top with grounded almond and garnish with golden pearl.

2. Lychee Delight
Adapted from “Turkish Delight” in Petits Fours: A Fine Selection of Sweet Treats (Murdoch Books)
Makes 32 pieces
Prepare: baking tin of size 10cm x 20cm

Ingredients:
- Lychee juice > 280ml
- Gelatine powder > 30g
- Granulated sugar > 340g
- Lime juice > ½ tsp
- Cream of tartar > ½ tsp
- Lychee flesh – cut into chunks > 50g
- Lychee essence > 2 tsp
- Pink coloring > a few drops
- Icing sugar > 100g
- Corn flour > 60g

Method:
- Brush baking tin with water and set aside.
- Place lychee juice in a saucepan and sprinkle with gelatine. Heat over low heat and stir until gelatine dissolves. Add sugar and lime juice and continue stirring until sugar dissolves. Bring to boil and continue to boil for 8 minutes, stirring constantly.
- Fold in cream of tartar and lychee essence into the mixture. Add a few drops of coloring until the desired pink color is achieved. Finally fold in lychee chunks.
- Pour mixture into tin and leave overnight in room temperature to set.
- Sift icing sugar and corn flour into a shallow bowl. Set aside.
- Dust table top with adequate icing sugar. Ease Lychee Delight away from the sides of tin with a knife, and holding the tin upside down push it out of the tin onto the work surface.
- Oil knife and cut Lychee Delight into a 2.5cm squares. Toss these squares into the bowl of icing sugar. Store them in air tight container, with baking paper between each layer.

3. Coconut Lime Chocolate Truffles
Makes 16 balls

Ingredients:
- Dark chocolate > 350g
- Coconut milk > 100ml
- Almond > 200g
- Grated lime zest > 1 tsp
- Coconut rum liqueur > 2tbsp

Method:
- Combine chocolate and coconut milk in saucepan and cook over low heat until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Pour into a plate and set aside to cool.
- Chop almonds into small chunks and place into a shallow bowl. Set aside.
- When chocolate mixture is cool, fold in lime zest and liqueur. Stir well and refrigerate for 30 minutes or until firm.
- Roll firm mixture with hands into balls and toss into almond chunks to coat.
- Refrigerate overnight until totally firm.

Shopping Bag

2011-08-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

T landed a birthday cake order, for his company who runs a stylish shopping center in Bangkok. He was very excited about it as he was in charge of organizing the party and keen on making it extraordinary.

He thought I was the right person who could make the cake that fitted the occasion. I asked him what he had in mind and he firmly conveyed that the cake had to represent the company's business. So after throwing a few ideas, T settled on a fondant cake in a shopping bag shape. That would be the first customized fondant cake for such birthday event in his company and he was sure everyone would be delighted about it.

Apparently I was just as excited as him about the cake. Took the initiative to do a sample cake one week before the actual event. Just wanted to make sure that it would be the right size and decoration that would fit the theme that he had planned out for the party. It was also a good practice to get all the things right for the real cake.

Everything went smoothly with the sample cake, and the real cake in the following week. It was so much fun watching the company's staff who attended the party taking turns in photographing the cake. And as for the next day, I had seen at least two or three persons including the cake photos in their Facebook. Cool!

My conclusion is as everyone likes shopping, everyone seems to like a shopping bag cake too. Thanks T for having the confidence in me! And hope you all enjoy the photos of the pink sample cake and the purple real cake!

Daring Bakers' Fraisier

2011-07-29T04:35:00.000-07:00

I had thought about skipping this month’s challenge due to my lack of focus. My mind was filled with thoughts about completing a shopping bag birthday cake which was initially being ordered for delivery on 22nd this month. For some reason it was postponed for another week and the new date was 27th which was also the date of delivering Daring Bakers’ Fraisier. It was tedious to concentrate on a couple of things at the same time so I finally decided to just focus in my shopping bag project.

The cake was delivered on time and I thought that was it – me setting aside the Daring Bakers Challenge and was merely happy with one achievement rather than two. But then something happened, on the way back home T bought me 2 packs of strawberries out of the blue. He never did this before and it was like a hint that within whatever time left out there I had to continue with the challenge, even though I was late. Well, better be late than never at all, right?

So there I was, making the best I could mending for the lost time. And I should really say that I am glad that I have done it. This Fraisier is filled with strawberries and instead of having a layer of almond paste on the top, I chose to cover it with Mango Jelly. I was just so in a mood of summer due to my boredom of the rainy season we have right now, so mango and strawberry definitely brighten up my day… and I am sure they will to yours too.

Thanks to Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes for this wonderful challenge. Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

FRAISIER
Makes one 8 inch cake

1. Basic Chiffon Cake

Ingredients:
- 155 gm all-purpose flour
- 4 gm baking powder
- 170 gm sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably kosher
- 60 ml vegetable oil
- 3 large egg yolks
- 95 ml water
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 3 gm lemon zest, grated
- 5 large egg whites
- ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar

Method:
- Preheat the oven to moderate 325°F (160°C/gas mark 3).
- Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons of sugar, and all of the salt. Stir to combine.
- In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk thoroughly.
- Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
- Put the egg whites into a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment on a medium speed, until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat on a medium speed until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
- Using a grease free rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
- To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring

2. Pastry Cream Filling

Ingredients:
- 250 ml whole milk
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 teaspoon salt, preferably kosher
- 10 gm cornstarch
- 55 gm sugar
- 1 large egg
- 30 gm unsalted butter
- 4 gm gelatin
- 1/2 tablespoon water
- 1250 ml heavy cream

Method:
- Pour the milk, vanilla, and salt into a heavy sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and scald, bringing it to a near boiling point. Stir occasionally.
- Meanwhile, in a stand mixer add the cornstarch and sugar. Whisk to combine
- Add the eggs to the sugar and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
- When the milk is ready, gently and slowly while the stand mixer is whisking, pour the heated milk down the side of the bowl into the egg mixture.
- Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and continue to cook over a medium heat until the custard is thick, just about to boil and coats the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and pass through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for ten minutes stirring occasionally.
- Cut the butter into four pieces and whisk into the pastry cream a piece at a time until smooth.
- Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for up to five days.
- In a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand for a few minutes to soften.
- Put 55 mm of water into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
- Measure 60 ml of the chilled pastry cream into a small stainless steel bowl that will sit across the sauce pan with the simmering water, without touching the water.
- Heat the cream until it is 120 F (48.8 C). Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the water bath, and whisk the remaining cold pastry cream in to incorporate in two batches.
- In a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Immediately fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula.

3. Simple Syrup

Ingredients:
- 75 gm sugar
- 80 ml water

Method:
- Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
- Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
- Remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly.
- Transfer syrup to a lidded container or jar that can be stored in the refrigerator. Simple syrup can be stored for up to one month.

4. Mango Jelly

Ingredients:
- 400 ml mango juice
- 16g gelatin

Method:
- Place 100 ml of mango juice in a bowl. Sprinkle with gelatin and leave to bloom for 1 minute.
- Heat 300 ml of mango juice in a saucepan until just boiled. Pour immediately into the gelatin bowl and stir until gelatin is completely dissolved.
- Leave to just warm.

5. Fraisier Assembly

Components:
- 1 baked 8 inch (20 cm) chiffon cake
- 1 recipe pastry cream filling
- 80 ml simple syrup or flavored syrup
- 400 ml mango jelly

Method:
- Line the sides of a 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with plastic wrap. Do not line the bottom of the pan.
- Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers.
- Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with the simple syrup. When the cake has absorbed enough syrup to resemble a squishy sponge, you have enough.
- Hull and slice in half enough strawberries to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the cut side of the strawberry against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring.
- Pipe cream in-between strawberries and a thin layer across the top of the cake.
- Hull and quarter your remaining strawberries and place them in the middle of the cake. Fill with more pastry cream.
- Place the second cake layer on top and moisten with the simple syrup.
- Spread the remaining pastry cream on the top of the cake.
- Chill the cake for 15 minutes (while you go and prepare the mango jelly).
- Pour mango jelly on top of pastry cream.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the plastic wrap.
- Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Mich and Gerbera

2011-07-23T04:20:00.000-07:00

Sometimes we are surprised of how simple things could please our eyes and bring us happiness. I guess some great cake decorators understand and practice this concept occasionally. The other day I was decorating my cake and thinking hard what design I should create to go along with my Gerbera sugar flowers. So there Mich Turner came into picture.

A London’s top cake designer who are well known for her creations, Mich Turner has written many inspiring cake decorating books. One that is in my collection and has become an important source of ideas is “Wedding Cakes” published in 2009. In that wonderful book on page 78 Mich, who is famous for her chic and contemporary design showed that when a grid of ½ inch lines running in random direction are piped on cake, and then dots of pearls are added at random spots on those lines, the result is a very cool pattern.

It took me just a short while to complete such seemingly detailed pattern. And I could not wait to quickly compose my Gerbera flowers on it. These blossoms are made in various colors and sitting in the air-proof container for quite some time now. The moment has arrived for them to strike a pose.

Thanks to Mich for the wonderful pattern, and wish to read and enjoy more of her books in the near future. I am sure if you are fond of fondant cake decorating, you might have some of her books in your collection too. Which one is your favorite?

Cattleya

2011-07-06T04:19:00.000-07:00

Cattleya is a genus of 113 species of orchids from Costa Rica to tropical South America. The genus was named in 1824 by John Lindley after Sir William Cattley[2] who received and successfully cultivated specimens of Cattleya labiata that were used as packing material in a shipment of other orchids made by William Swainson (wikipedia.com)

Cattleya is definitely the queen of orchirds. Due to its size and beauty, Cattleya represents our visual idea of all orchirds. Typically recognized by its showy flowers, there are hundreds of species around. Recently my observation in the orchird exhibition concluded that there were almost no color limits to this flowers – white, yellow, light green, purple, orange, you name it!

I had so much fun forming and shaping these flowers. And if you notice well, Cattleya is in Top 5 of flowers to be used in decorating Wedding Cake. I can’t agree more, once these flowers are up there on the cake, they turn the creation into magical beauty and elegance. I wasn’t sure about which colors to start with but yellow and purple could never go wrong.

Satisfaction was all I had once they were up there on the cake. With their charm, they made my photo shoot into a fun but indecisive session – I had to photograph them in almost any angle possible instead of just stick with one best.I promised myself I would continue making them in the future.

My next attempt would be lime green and white orchird, even though frankly speaking the orange ones did catch a lot of my attention.

Daring Bakers' Baklava

2011-06-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

I have to admit that from the outset I was not so keen of this challenge, simply because I was not moved by how Baklava looked. It vaguely reminded me of Apple Strudle challenge quite long time ago. Rolling dough until it was transparent was just as challenging back then, but I had done that with Apple Strudle and that was the second reason I wasn’t quite interested.

But then I had a strong reason to join this challenge – I was so eager to make the home-made phyllo, the compulsory of this challenge. It might be astonishing, phyllo is an ingredient one could never find in Bangkok. I remembered ordering a phyllo pack from a shop in Singapore and my friend who had picked it up left it in his fridge and totally forgot about it on the day he left for Bangkok to see me.

Apparently I could make good use of my huge rolling pin which helped expand the phyllo dough as wide as possible quite easily. I had decided to go moderate with the recipes and be happy with a smaller size Baklava: 4 inch x 11 inch.

When the baking was done, I couldn’t resist tasting Baklava while it was still hot and crispy. I figured that it would taste better without soaking it in syrup but simply brushing the top with a layer of syrup to create a glossy surface. What do you think?

My first bite into Baklava was just delightful, it was delicious - the nutty fragrance and crispiness had fulfilled my most anticipating palate. Felt good I had taken the Baklava challenge and right there and then, I was glad I could tell everyone how delicious this Greek dessert was.

Thanks so much to Erica of Erica’s Edibles for this luscious dessert! Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

BAKLAVA
Makes one 4 inch x 11 inch baklava.

1. Dough

Ingredients:
- 185 g unbleached all purpose (plain) flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 105 ml water, plus more if needed
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
- 1/2 tsp cider vinegar, (could substitute white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar, but could affect the taste)

Method:
- In the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour and salt.
- Mix with paddle attachment
- Combine water, oil and vinegar in a small bowl.
- Add water & oil mixture with mixer on low speed, mix until you get a soft dough that sticks together, if it appears dry add a little more water.
- Change to the dough hook and let knead approximately 10 minutes. You will end up with beautiful smooth dough. If you are kneading by hand, knead approx. 20 minutes.
- Remove the dough from mixer and continue to knead for 2 more minutes. Pick up the dough and through it down hard on the counter a few times during the kneading process.
- Shape the dough into a ball and lightly cover with oil
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest for 2 hours or more.

Rolling your Phyllo
- Unwrap your dough and cut off a chunk slightly larger then a golf ball. While you are rolling be sure to keep the other dough covered so it doesn’t dry out.
- Be sure to flour your hands, rolling pin and counter. As you roll you will need to keep adding, don’t worry, you can’t over-flour.
- Roll out the dough a bit to flatten it out.
- Wrap the dough around your rolling pin/dowel.
- Roll back and forth quickly with the dough remaining on the dowel. Remove; notice how much bigger it is!
- Rotate and repeat until it is as thin as you can it. Don’t worry if you get rips in the dough, as long as you have one perfect one for the top you will never notice.
- When you get it as thin as you can with the rolling pin, carefully pick it up with well floured hands and stretch it on the backs of your hands as you would a pizza dough, just helps make it that much thinner. Roll out your dough until it is transparent.
- Set aside on a well-floured surface. Repeat the process until your dough is used up. Between each sheet again flower well. You will not need to cover your dough with a wet cloth, as you do with boxed dough, it is moist enough that it will not try out.

2. Syrup

Ingredients:
- 150 ml honey
- 150 ml water
- 140 g sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 fresh citrus peel (lemon or orange work best)
- a few cloves or a pinch or ground clove

Directions:
- Combine all ingredients in a medium pot over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until sugar has dissolved. Boil for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.
-3. Once boiled for 10 minutes remove from heat and strain cinnamon stick and lemon, allow to cool as baklava cooks.

3. Filling

Ingredients:
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 100 g almond meal
- 50 g almond chunks
- 75 g sugar
- phyllo dough (see recipe above)
- 100g melted butter

Directions:
- Preheat oven to moderate 180°C.
- Combine nuts, sugar and spices. Set aside.
- Trim your phyllo sheets to fit in your pan
- Brush bottom of pan with butter and place first phyllo sheet
- Brush the first phyllo sheet with butter and repeat approximately 5 times ending with butter. (Most recipes say more, but homemade phyllo is thicker so it's not needed)
- Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
- Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
- Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
- Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
- Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
- Continue layering and buttering phyllo 5 more times. On the top layer, make sure you have a piece of phyllo with no holes if possible, just looks better.
- Once you have applied the top layer tuck in all the edges to give a nice appearance.
- With a Sharp knife cut your baklava in desired shapes and number of pieces. If you can't cut all the ways through don’t worry you will cut again later. A 9x9 pan cuts nicely into 30 pieces. Then brush with a generous layer of butter making sure to cover every area and edge
- Bake for approximately 30 minutes; remove from oven and cut again this time all the way through. Continue baking for another 30 minutes. (Oven temperatures will vary, you are looking for the top to be a golden brown, take close watch yours may need more or less time in the oven)
- When baklava is cooked remove from oven and pour the cooled (will still be warmish) syrup evenly over the top, taking care to cover all surfaces when pouring. It looks like it is a lot but over night the syrup will soak into the baklava creating a beautifully sweet and wonderfully textured baklava! Next morning all syrup is absorbed .
- Allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled cover and store at room temperature. Allow the baklava to sit overnight to absorb the syrup.
- Serve at room temperature

Macarons Learnt From The Queen

2011-06-20T06:54:00.000-07:00

In between my time of decorating fondant cakes, I regularly manage to allocate some time to bake macarons or stumble into things related to them. And for that I need to update this blog regarding my meeting with the Queen of Macaron, Thip of Bonbini, recently in Bangkok.

It was a nice Wednesday morning when we arranged to meet at Heart Core Café run by Thip’s friend in Chaeng Wattana Road. And as everybody would have suspected, it was Thip’s kindest gesture to show a small group of friends how to bake macarons.

Thip was just so friendly and it was pleasant to meet her and her sister, Ba (middle in the photo) of Sawasdee Blog Culinaire. Had a great time chatting with both of them. Thip was very generous to share with us – like what she would normally do in her macaron classes – tips and technique of baking macaron. And for that special occasion, she had picked Italian meringue style to bake chocolate macarons with chocolate ganache filling.

During delicious lunch break which was also the time to leave the piped macarons form skin on the surface, I had ample great time to talk some more with Thip and Ba. The macaron session was finally wrapped up with a luscious tasting of chocolate macarons. Yummy! Soon I was back home, I just had to remake macarons learnt in Thip's session! And the result can be seen in these pictures...

“Thanks so much, Thip! I wish to see you again in San Francisco, and good luck to you for your future endeavors!” For those who are interested in learning macarons with Thip, do check out Bonbini!

The Flower Spray

2011-06-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

What could be more interesting than decorating cakes with flowers? In this case, gumpaste flowers. While before I found my passion for fondant decoration, my cakes were mostly decorated with either fresh fruits, chocolate pieces, or buttercream piping.

Only when I embraced the muse of fondant world, the decorating ideas became truly limitless. And I enjoyed every design and color possibility - it is like pushing myself back into graphic design all over again - only now I fiddle with fondant and gumpaste as my media.

For those who love flower gumpaste, mostly are big fans of Alan Dunn, the author of uncountable cake decorating and sugar flower books. Alan is a true inspiration for many of us who admire the natural beauty of flowers and plants, and make an attempt to mimic them into cake decoration.

I am sure his upcoming book "Tropical and Exotic Flowers for Cakes" that will be published in August this year will become a big hit. Can't wait to get a copy of it!

Meanwhile, I was spending my free time developing this set of birthday cakes for my boss' birthday celebration. Apparently he was very excited about the flower spray - he started pulling the blossoms out from the arrangement and giving to the female staff in the office. The white rose which was the centerpiece, was given to his assistant. All in all, it was a wonderful celebration and everyone seemed to enjoy his or her slice of chocolate cake.

Daring Bakers' Marquis on Meringue

2011-05-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

The rainy season finally came. It is late than last year but the rainfall is definitely still as stong. People in some parts of Thailand start worrying about flood, the worst nightmare that could happen and drive them away from their houses, and destroy their farms and cattles. Let's wish it doesn't go into that state of disaster this year.

However, thanks to the rain, the weather is cooler right now. After the extreme heat in April, I basically so looked forward to welcoming the rainy season.

May is the month when things are getting better and nicer. It is a month full of public holidays, and swamped by a wide variety of fruits. Durian, the king of fruits are available abundantly with reasonable price and excellent taste. Mangosteen is a dear friend of durian and always present right side by side. Mango, orange, lychee, and jackfruit are next to them. It is a great month for fruit lovers.

And in this great month, we have a great Daring Baker's challenge: Marquis on Meringue. Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt, the hosts are proclaiming that this is a special dessert due to its rareness - never being seen in mainstream cookbooks or written about online. By participating and indulging in this dessert makes me one of the small percentage of world population who ever made and tasted Marquis.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

MARQUIS ON MERINGUE

1. Chocolate Base

Ingredients:
- 12 oz (240 grams/ 1½ cups) bittersweet chocolate (about 70% cocoa)
- 12 oz (355 ml/ 1½ cups) heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1/4 cup (60 ml/ 2 fluid oz.) tequila
- 1/4 cup (60 ml/ 3 fluid oz.) light corn syrup
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup (4 tablespoons/ less than an ounce) cocoa powder (we used extra brut, like Hershey's Special Dark, but any Dutch-processed cocoa would be fine. Do not substitute natural cocoa powder.)
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 oz unsalted butter (2 tbsps./30 grams), softened

Directions:
- Place the chocolate in a small mixing bowl.
- In a double-boiler, warm the cream until it is hot to the touch (but is not boiling). Remove from the heat and pour over the chocolate.
- Allow it to sit for a minute or two before stirring. Stir until the chocolate is melted completely and is smooth throughout.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
- Set aside until cooled to room temperature. Do not refrigerate, as the base needs to be soft when added to the marquise mixture. If you make it the day before, you may need to warm it slightly. Whisk it until it is smooth again before using it in the marquise recipe.

2. Chocolate Marquise
Servings: 18 2"x2" cubes (or other optional shapes)

Ingredients:
- 11 large egg yolks at room temperature
- 4 large whole eggs
- 2/3 cup (120 grams/ 4 oz.) sugar
- 1/3 cup (2.5 fluid oz./ 70 ml.) water
- Chocolate Base, barely warm (recipe follows)
- 2 cups (16 fluid oz./ 500 ml.) heavy cream
- 2 cups Dutch process cocoa powder (for dusting)

Directions:
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the egg yolks and whole eggs. Whip on high speed until very thick and pale, about 10 - 15 minutes.
- When the eggs are getting close to finishing, make a sugar syrup by combining the sugar and water in a small saucepan.
- Bring the syrup to a boil and then cook to softball stage (235F/115C). If you have a cake tester with a metal loop for a handle, the right stage for the syrup is reached when you can blow a bubble through the loop (as seen in the following picture).
- With the mixer running on low speed, drizzle the sugar syrup into the fluffy eggs, trying to hit that magic spot between the mixing bowl and the whisk.
- When all of the syrup has been added (do it fairly quickly), turn the mixer back on high and whip until the bowl is cool to the touch. This will take at least 10 minutes.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whip the heavy cream to soft peaks. Set aside.
When the egg mixture has cooled, add the chocolate base to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Try to get it as consistent as possible without losing all of the air you've whipped into the eggs. We used the stand mixer for this, and it took about 1 minute.
- Fold 1/3 of the reserved whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, and then fold in the remaining whipped cream.
- Pour into the prepared pans and cover with plastic wrap (directly touching the mixture so it doesn't allow in any air).
- Freeze until very firm, at least 2 - 4 hours (preferably 6 – 8 hours).

3. Torched Meringue
Servings: Makes about 4 - 5 cups of meringue. If you aren't planning on serving *all* of the marquise at once, you might want to scale this recipe back a bit.

Ingredients:
- 11 large egg whites
- 1 ¾ cups (12 oz.) sugar
- Splash of apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
- Combine the egg whites, sugar and vinegar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using your (clean, washed) hand, reach in the bowl and stir the three together, making sure the sugar is moistened evenly by the egg whites and they make a homogeneous liquid.
Over a saucepan of simmering water, warm the egg white mixture. Use one hand to stir the mixture continuously, feeling for grains of sugar in the egg whites. As the liquid heats up, the sugar will slowly dissolve and the egg whites will thicken. This step is complete when you don't feel any more sugar crystals in the liquid and it is uniformly warm, nearly hot.
- Remove the mixing bowl from the saucepan and return it to the stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
- Whisk until you reach soft peaks. In the last 10 seconds of mixing, add the vanilla to the meringue and mix thoroughly.
- When you're ready to plate the dessert, spoon the meringue onto a plate (or use a piping bag) and use a blowtorch to broil.

4. Tequila Caramel
Servings: Makes about 1 cup of caramel

Ingredients:
- 1 cup (8 oz.) sugar
- 1/2 cup (4 fluid oz./ 120 ml.) water
- 1 cup (8 fluid oz./ 240 ml.) heavy cream
- 3/4 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons tequila

Directions:
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the sugar and water on medium-high heat. - Boil until the water completely evaporates and the sugar caramelizes to a dark mahogany color.
- Working quickly, add the cream to the darkened caramel. It will bubble and pop vigorously, so add only as much cream as you can without overflowing the pot.

5. Assembly

Directions:
- When you're ready to plate, remove the marquise from the freezer at least 15 minutes before serving.
- While it's still hard, remove it from the pan by pulling on the parchment 'handles' or by flipping it over onto another piece of parchment.
- Cut it into cubes or other desired shapes, and dust with cocoa powder. These will start to melt almost immediately, so don't do this step until all of your other plating components (meringue, and caramel) are ready. The marquis needs to sit in the fridge to slowly thaw so plating components can be done during that time. They don’t need to be ready before marquis are dusted with cocoa powder.
- Plate with the torched meringue and drizzled caramel sauce, and garnish with chocolate coated almond chunks if desired. You want to handle marquis as little as possible because they get messy quickly and are difficult to move. However, you want to wait to serve them until they've softened completely. The soft pillows of chocolate are what make this dessert so unusual and when combined with the other elements, you'll get creamy and crunchy textures with cool, spicy, salty, bitter, and sweet sensations on your palate.

Brush Embroidery and The Queen of Macaron

2011-05-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Besides the sugarpaste and flower gumpaste, one of the things that a fondant cake decorator has to familiarize himself with is the royal icing. While at first I was merely aware of royal icing conventional piping, as I get to learn more about fondant decorating, I find out there are so much more I can fiddle with such as broderie anglaise, lacing, filigree, extension work, embroidery, etc. So many things to learn ... so little time.

Brush embroidery is the decorating technique which involves imprinting, outlining and brushing. The decorator usually imprints a pattern on the cake, then outlines the design following the imprint by piping the royal icing starting from the deepest or most internal layer. A damp paintbrush is then used to pull the edges of the outline piping inward leaving brush strokes pattern. The whole process is time consuming especially if the design is elaborate and extensive, but normally the end result is worth the effort as brush embroidery gives an elegant look to the cake.

As I was practicing Brush Embroidery, meanwhile at the other side of the world the Queen of Macaron, Thip of the inspiring Bonbini informed me that she would be visiting Bangkok. It was totally delightful to receive her email a few weeks ago and arranged an appointment to meet up one of these days.

My respect and admiration for her were earlier established in her very first year of blogging when she introduced her irresistible range of macarons and exquisite pastry. It was intoxicating, I should admit that I had entirely dedicated my time in baking macarons through and through. Into these days, while any presence of macaron is in my sight, I would instantly think about Thip.

It was mainly her that shed the lights into exotic, adventurous, and sophisticated desserts such as basil-lime sorbet with basil gelee, coconut vanilla bavarois with hibiscus gelee, and many more…. And not to mention her fabulous feuille d' automne. Sensational… Do check out her blog, Bonbini :-)

I am sure meeting up with Thip would be pleasant and exciting…. So look forward to it!

Daring Bakers' Maple Mousse in Edible Container

2011-04-28T01:18:00.000-07:00

I just had to jump into the wagon. Due to my overly focus on fondant practice I had entirely forgot last month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I almost couldn’t believe myself for such ignorance, but then I had promised myself I would definitely keep track of the next one. So here it is.

Never thought this was going to be an interesting discovery of great taste. In the beginning I was setting my expectation quite low on the outcome of this challenge judging from my rejection over bacon cups, one of the challenge mandatory items. But when it was revealed that the compulsory challenges were the maple mousse and a creative edible container, I was glad I could skip the bacon cups altogether.

I was looking into the nut bowls. My liking for almonds led me into the decision to develop almond bowls. It was pretty much the same as making the tart cups, just that it was mostly consisting of almonds. I had to say I couldn’t wait to taste the baked almond bowls since the baked almond fragrance overwhelmed my kitchen and quickly turned my curious taste buds on.

The almond bowls were heavenly. And so was the maple mousse. It was sweet, thick, and smooth. They were such a good couple as soon as I added peach slices. Somehow a slight tanginess was all that it needed to break the dominating sweetness of maple mousse. As an overall, the taste was a true marriage of sweetness, nuttiness, and slight tanginess.

Thanks to Evelyne for this wonderful challenge! Without her I wouldn’t have found the wonders of maple mousse and almond bowls. The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

MAPLE MOUSSE IN ALMOND BOWLS

1. Almond Bowls

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups crushed almonds
- 1 egg, beaten, at room temperature
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate pieces

Method:
- Use a food processor or a zip-lock back with a rolling pin to crush almonds, use about 1 cup of almonds to get 3/4 cups crushed. You want it somewhat coarse.
- In a bowl mix the almonds with the beaten egg and the sugar.
- Take 6 small ½ cup capacity Pyrex cups or a similar container and line the inside with aluminum foil. Spread ¼ cup of the mixture in the bowl, all the way up to the sides making sure you have a thin and even clean layer all around.
- Bake at 350 degrees F/175 degrees C. until the almonds are golden and fragrant (about 15 minutes). Let cool completely before unmolding.
- Melt chocolate (either in the microwave or over a double boiler). Dip the rims of the cooled nut bowls in the chocolate. Place in the freezer for at least 15 minutes or until the chocolate has hardened and is set.

2.Maple Mousse

Ingredients:
- 1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine
- 1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)

Method:
- Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
- In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
- Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
- Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
- Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
- Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
- Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
- Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.
- Decorate as desired and serve while it is cold.

Sunflower

2011-04-22T02:33:00.000-07:00

Regularly used to depict the sun, sunflower is a true symbol of energy and power. It is perhaps the biggest in the family of flowers in the world. Or wait.... maybe not, now suddenly I remember what I have seen in Discovery Channel about this flower called Rafflesia Arnoldii found in the rainforest of Indonesia and Malaysia. Well, as this flower produces the odor of decaying flesh, it is just eerie to even talk about it. Let's drop it for sunflower then :-)

Sunflower is the most outstanding flower that never stops impressing me. I could vividly recall how once had brought these flowers for a date and greatly mesmerized him. A big smile on his face said a thousand words.

Again, I like to use sunflowers for something creative - no, not for creative dating or anything like that, but more for fondant cake decorating. Having borrowed the sunflower cutters from Kate of Artisan Sweets by Kate, I thought I might as well put them in good use, and at the same time dedicate this cake to her. Thanks Kate, will send these cutters back to you soon :-)

My sunflowers are more in graphical form, I don't think I could go into the meticulous detailing as what has been described in Wikipedia: "The sunflower has a rough, hairy stem, broad, coarsely toothed, rough leaves and circular heads of flowers. The heads consist of 1,000-2,000 individual flowers joined together by a receptacle base". I am happy with the simple and cheerful form.

This 4 tiered cake took a couple of days of preparation and is exhausting. But at the end of the day, it is worth the effort. You can definitely see my big smile that says a thousand words...

Wet

2011-04-11T22:55:00.000-07:00

It is right in the middle of summer in Thailand and Bangkok is supposingly hot like many other years I was here, but this year things are really turning strange. There was cool breeze blowing from China that for a week or two turned Bangkok into a resort on the mountain. And then the rain came and flooded the Southern part of Thailand. Whilst gearing up to help out the tsunami/earthquake victims in Japan, Thailand again had to look inside and face its own disaster.

Several people believe that the end of the world is approaching - that finally the world is going to fall apart. Or are they confirming that what was shown in the movie "2012" is just going to happen for real? Some were stunned by the fact that "nothing lasts, everything will pass". Others quickly embraced the principle "live today to the fullest, worry about things only when they arise".

Lets' just say I am like the latter, for today and the next few days. Because it is the Thai New Year - The Songkran Water Festival. It is the greatest time of the year when everything is so nice - the city is calm and peaceful, no traffic jam, people are more generous, and we all get to play water, in any form of splashing, shooting, or throwing a big bucket of water. For once, we are not hesitant to get wet.... and be happy!

And I do need a break from practicing fondant. Set aside fondant, flower gumpaste, and edible glue... I just want to be with T, getting wet and happily celebrating our festive time together.

A Surprise from St. Louis

2011-03-28T22:16:00.000-07:00

First and foremost, I like to thank Fitri of Rumah Manis who has been so supportive in my fondant pursuit and generous in adding my fondant tools. Her unexpected package came by as a sweet surprise in the middle of a long boring week at work. I couldn’t help but feel so blessed since she sent me all the things that I had wanted but unavailable in Thailand. The package consisted of spiral pattern and mini fondant rolling pins, flower cutter and pattern press sets, and dusting and decorating tip pouches, and lots of chocolates… and of course a very special St. Louis keychain and postcard. Wow, thanks Fitri! Thanks so much :-)

This has been such a big inspiration to get me going with my fondant creation as what she has so precisely put it in her postcard:
“Greetings from St. Louis :-) Dear Kris, I send you some stuff to help you create more and more lovely things with fondant. Enjoy, and always follow your dreams.”

This week I tried something that kids like Fitri’s daughter would love, I hope… Never quite sure how well it turned out but I thought it was time to lay my hands on figurines and explored the fun of creating cute little persons. Fit, this is a dedication to you and your daughter. Hope both of you like these! :-)

Meanwhile, I like to show my gratitude to Cindy Cullen of Culinary Arts College who has included my blog in the Top 40 French Cooking Blogs. Couldn’t believe my eyes that Bake in Paris was placed in the Pastry category right next to the prestigious celebrity blog of David Lebovitz. And Cindy's description of my blog goes something like “… a pristine site with beautiful images that will have any reader salivating instantly. The blogger is a graphic designer whose artistic instincts play a pivotal role in the construction of each pastry. Undoubtedly, these pastries taste as good as they look”. Feel free to check it out!

And another gratitude goes to Xiaolu of 6bittersweets for inviting me into the judging panel for this month’s DMBLGIT. It has always been fun and exciting to stay focused and objective in giving points to the participants’ photos. Drop by 6bittersweets to see who are the lucky winners!

Passion... fruits

2011-03-14T05:12:00.000-07:00

Hi, friends! I have been away taking my time practicing sugar flowers and yet felt so much wanting to go back to blogging. Yes, after a couple of years blogging has become a habit or a ritual or a lifestyle... yes, everyone?

Well, as much as I wanted to be a regularly posting blogger, I am juggling between a full-time job, a relationship, and this new calling of fondant world. No no no can't use those as an excuse... Well, in that case let me say "I'll do my best!"

However I do want to keep baking and posting something that everyone would love to see, read, or to my wishes, bake following the recipe. I have thought about Joconde challenge and decided to give it another shot since it was quite a wonderful challenge last time.

This round I gave the Joconde a tint of orange color complete with the, as usual, my favorite passion-fruit flavor. And I just couldn't resist the passion fruits so here I go messing up with passion fruit mousse. Sour and tangy, just the way I like the mousse cake. And I also wanted to give that wooden-pattern scraper which has been sitting in my drawer a go on chocolate decoration.

So before you can see the orchard fondant creation as what I promised in my previous post, I hope you are happy and enjoy this Joconde creation! Have a great week ahead :-)

JOCONDE PASSION FRUIT MOUSSE
Makes one 7 inch mousse cake

1. Joconde

A.Patterned Joconde Décor Paste
Needs one 13inch x 13inch baking pan

Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter – soften > 50g
- Icing sugar> 50g
- Egg whites > 50g
- Cake flour> 55g
- Orange coloring > adequate (If chocolate color is desired, reduce cake flour to 43g and add 15g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture).

Method:
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
- Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
- Fold in sifted flour.
- Tint batter with coloring (or cocoa variation) to desired color.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:
- Prepate 13inch x 13inch baking pan. Place upside down. Upside down pan makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
- Spread silpat on the reversed side baking pan. Place imprint stencil on it.
- Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 5 mm thick across the imprint stencil on silpat with a spatula. Level up the décor and lift the stencil away.
- Keep the colored décor paste leftover (approx.. 125-155g) aside. Use later.
- Slide the baking pan with décor on silpat into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare joconde sponge.
- Preheat oven to 250C.

B. Joconde Sponge
Needs one 13inch x 13inch baking pan, reverse upside down

Ingredients:
- Unsalted butter- melt > 15g
- Egg whites > 45g
- Granulated sugar > 5g
- Almond meal (if use hazelnut flour, omit butter) > 43g
- Icing sugar > 38g
- Cake flour > 13g
- Eggs > 75g

Method:
- Melt butter. Leave to cool.
- Dust the reversed side of baking pan with icing sugar.
- In a clean mixing bowl whip egg whites and granulated sugar to firm, glossy peaks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
- Sift almond meal, icing sugar, and cake flour. Set aside
- On medium speed, add eggs into almond mixture a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
- Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
- Fold in melted butter. Mix well.
- Remove décor paste baking pan from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde sponge batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
- Bake at 250C until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 8-10 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
- Leave the oven at 250C.
- Cool joconde. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from silpat.
- Flip cooled cake on to the sugar dusted reversed baking pan. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The icing sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)
- Set aside. (If you are not going to cut the joconde décor into strips on the same day, put it inside an air-proof container or a closed box.

C. Joconde base
Needs: one 9inch x 9inch baking tray and one 7inch cake ring.
-Place silpat or parchment paper on baking tray.
- Use a 7inch cake ring as a guide to spread the colored décor paste leftover on silpat or parchment paper.
- Bake at 250C for 8-10 minutes.
- Remove from oven. Peel away the parchment paper if used. Cool.

Preparing the mold for mousse:
Needs: one 7 inch cake ring.

- Press 7 inch cake ring into joconde base to cut out a 7 inch base. Remove the excessive bits.
- Line the inside of cake ring with a curled piece of parchment paper with the height same as cake ring.Stick the top part of paper with paper tape.
- Bring joconde base to press into the bottom of the mold. Measure the height of cake ring deducted with the thickness of joconde base.
- Cut décor joconde into strips following this height.
- Press décor joconde strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing the ring wall. Meet the ends together.
- The mold is done, and ready to fill.

2. Passion Fruit Mousse

Ingredients:
-Passion fruit juice > 125g
- Granulated sugar > 75g
- Egg whites > 90g
- Granulated sugar > 60g
- Gelatine powder > 20g
- Water> 5 tbsp
- Whipping cream > 270g
- Orange coloring > a few drops
- Passionfruit flesh and seeds > 22g

Method:
- Combine passionfruit juice and sugar in a blender. Blitz until fine. Leave aside.
- Beat egg whites until frothly. Fold in sugar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Set aside.
- Heat gelatine powder and water on double boiler until gelatine is completely dissolved. Leave until just warm.
- Meanwhile beat whipping cream until soft peaks form.
- Pour passionfruit mixture into whipping cream mixture and mix moderately. Fold in meringue, a few drops of orange coloring, and passionfruit flesh and seeds, combine them well.
- Pour mousse mixture into cake ring.
- Pour into the cake ring until the brim of the décor joconde strips.
- Refrigerate overnight. Remove from cake ring and peel away the curled paper.

3. Passion Fruit Glaze

Ingredients:
- Passion fruit juice > 60ml
- Passion flesh and seeds > adequate
- Granulated sugar > 2 tbsp
- Corn flour > 1 tsp
- Gelatine powder > 1 tsp

Method:
-Combine all the ingredients except gelatine in the saucepan. Cook at medium heat until glaze is boiled and thickened.
- Remove from fire. Fold in gelatine powder and stir until it is fully dissolved.
- Cool. Spread on mousse cake. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Decorate.

2 Tiered...

2011-03-04T22:28:00.000-08:00

I have been feeling so great of knowing and keeping in touch with Kate of Artisan Sweet By Kate who has been so supportive and attentive in providing information and help regarding fondant decoration. Together with the Cake Strips, she also included a book about Creating Celebration Cakes and Sugar Flowers in the envelope. I was so grateful! Thanks so much Kate! This 2 tiered cake is dedicated to you, my friend! :-) And a visit to her blog is a cake decorating bliss! Check it out!

My fondant learning progress has been slow but sure, a couple of things I have learnt from Kate, books and Internet. I am glad I am moving forward. In between spare time I have been reading and practicing, and yet find that it is necessary to plan ahead for attending more classes, either the art of royal icing, sugarpaste and flower gumpaste. My options would be Singapore, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. I am just so excited imagining when the time comes and I am actually sitting in the class with sugarpaste in my hand and a big smile in my face.

Well, this 2 tiered cake is my first attempt on making a tiered fondant decorated cake. It was scary at the beginning but when it was done, I didn't waste any second of incepting new ideas for my next fondant cake. So what would it be? I don't know, maybe some decoration that would involve orchid and striking red color?

And undoubtedly I need to get organized! Need to start sketching my ideas. Since fondant decoration involves many steps of preparation, a clear understanding of all elements is crucial.

Last but not least, I like to thank Avanika of Yumsilicious Bakes and Linda V of Bubble and Sweet for their great comments and offers to help in terms of learning more about fondant. And thanks to many others whose comments have been tremendously encouraging!

Daring Bakers' Panacotta and Florentines

2011-02-26T12:14:00.000-08:00

It is fifteen minutes past midnight and well in Bangkok it is officially three hours and fifteen minutes on a 27th February. So I might just get this challenge posted since I have got plenty of errands to run tomorrow... Hope you all don't mind :-)

What have I been doing these past few weeks? Pretty much frantically dealing with fondant. First of all I need to get the cakes perfect in terms of shape and texture, I have had so many unleveled cakes that at one point I thought that was all I could deal with, but then I was introduced to cake strips, the magical belt used to wrap around the side of a cake tin while baking and somehow helps to slow down the heat penetrating the sides of the cake and result in a level cake. Thanks God, I have this way out, even though the strips are still on their way, thanks to Kate of Artisan Sweets By Kate .

Then I still have to deal with icing the cake before rolling with fondant. Due to hot weather in Bangkok, should I use butter buttercream? shortening buttercream? meringue buttercream? I haven't figured it out, that is the reason why I haven't got into practice of rolling the fondant and covering my very first fondant cake.

Okay, take it easy... one step at a time... Let's get this challenge out, and later get back to fondant all over again. Hopefully everything will go smoothly. Meanwhile, thanks to Kate of Artisan Sweets By Kate for being such a great source of information and inspiration!

Okay, let's switch to the challenge a bit here...... This months's Panacotta and Florentines are truly fun to deal with. Colorful layers, bring it on :-) I decided to work with Chocolate Panacotta layered with Papaya Gelée and Peach Milk Gelée.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

PANACOTTA AND FLORENTINES

1. Chocolate Panna Cotta
Recipe adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
- 1 cup (240 ml) whole milk
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) (7 gm) (¼ oz) unflavored powdered gelatin
- 2 cups (480 ml) whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
- ½ cup (115 gm) (4 oz) sugar
- ¾ cup (145 gm)(5 oz) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
- ½ teaspoon (2½ ml) vanilla extract

Directions:
- Pour milk into a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over the top, set aside for 2-5 minutes.
- Place a medium saucepan over medium heat, stir in cream, sugar and vanilla. Bring to a low boil.
- Add chocolate and whisk until melted. Whisk the milk/gelatin mixture into chocolate cream mixture. Whisk until gelatin has dissolved.
- Transfer to ramekins, or nice glasses for serving.
- Cover and chill at least 8 hours, or overnight.

2. Papaya Gelée
Adapted from Mallory

Ingredients:
- 300 ml papaya puree
- 60 ml water
- 75 g granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin

Directions:
- Sprinkle gelatin over water.
- Place papaya puree and sugar in a small saucepan and simmer until sugar has dissolved. Now mix the gelatin into the papaya mixture and stir until gelatin has dissolved.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool
- When cooled, pour on top of chocolate panacotta and refrigerate.

3. Peach Milk Gelée
Adapted from Mallory

Ingredients:
- 230 ml whole milk
- 90 ml peach syrup
- 60 ml water
- 2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin

Directions:
- Sprinkle gelatin over water.
- Place milk and peach syrup in a small saucepan and simmer. Now mix the gelatin into the milk mixture and stir until gelatin has dissolved.
- Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- When cooled, pour on top of papaya gelée and refrigerate.

3. Nestle Florentine Cookies
Recipe from the cookbook “Nestle Classic Recipes”, and their website.

Ingredients:
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm) (5.3 oz) unsalted butter
- 2 cups (480 ml) (160 gm) (5 2/3 oz) quick oats
- 1 cup (240 ml) (230 gm) (8 oz) granulated sugar
- 2/3 cup (160 ml) (95 gm) (3⅓ oz) plain (all purpose) flour
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) dark corn syrup
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) whole milk
- 1 tsp (5 ml) vanilla extract
- pinch of salt
- 1½ cups (360 ml) (250 gm) (9 oz) dark or milk chocolate

Directions:
- Preheat oven to moderately hot 375°F (190°C) (gas mark 5). Prepare your baking sheet with silpat or parchment paper.
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan, then remove from the heat.
- To the melted butter add oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Drop a tablespoon full, three inches (75 mm) apart, onto your prepared baking sheet. Flatten slightly with the back of your tablespoon, or use a spatula.
- Bake in preheated oven for 6-8 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool completely on the baking sheets.
- While the cookies are cooling melt your chocolate until smooth either in the microwave (1 1/2 minutes), or stovetop (in a double boiler, or a bowl that fits atop a saucepan filled with a bit of water, being sure the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl).

- Peel the cookies from the silpat or parchment and place face down on a wire rack set over a sheet of wax/parchment paper (to keep counters clean).
- Spread a tablespoon of chocolate on the bottom/flat side of your cookie, sandwiching another (flat end) cookie atop the chocolate.
- This recipe will make about 2 1/2 - 3 dozen sandwiched Florentine cookies. You can also choose not to sandwich yours, in which case, drizzle the tops with chocolate (over your wax paper).

My 3 Hour Baby Step

2011-02-15T03:42:00.000-08:00

Thank you all for the comforting words and mental support for my taking the introductory journey into the fondant world!

It was not an easy start I must say. After a long wait and obviously almost everything was idle during Chinese New Year Festive in Singapore, I out of good fortune, could finally make it to the basic fondant class just one day before I left. Amidst a compact 3 hour class in the group of eight students, I learnt or struggled to learn a few things including sugarpaste for flowers and forming roses, fondant and rolling, covering cake and decorating. And without any break or a refreshing sip of water, 3 hours flew like nobody’s business, the class was over and the fondant cake was right in front of me rushing to be captured in a photograph.

Everyone was posing in front of his or her cake, took some photographs, and made sure that it was a moment to be remembered since afterwards everyone of us had to go home, replay our memory and hopefully be able to make the fondant cake all over again on our own. That was another challenge by itself!

As I said good bye to the class instructor and new friends I just met, I had wondered whether everything hereafter would be fine. Firm cakes, pliable fondant, natural-looking sugarpaste flowers, tools and rolling pin, smooth fondant rolling were all occupying my mind. And right then, I couldn’t wait to have the taste of the cake.

I had my friend V come over that night so he could grasp the appearance of the cake I was trying to describe to him about a few days before and enjoy the cake with me. So there we had the first cut and to our surprise, it was very smooth. We had not expected that such firm and tough looking fondant was just so obedient to the rim of our plastic birthday cake cutter. However, just right on the first bite, we both paused and stared at each other. We shared the agreement that the cake was just unbearably sweet. We did finish our slices though, but I had V take the rest back to his house to share with his family members. I remember telling him “If they find it too sweet, ask them to remove the fondant and eat the cake only!” And I had hoped everything would be just fine.

An Exciting World of Fondant

2011-01-31T23:52:00.000-08:00

To all of you who celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year: GONG XI FAT CHOI!". I am sending this post from Singapore over my long Chinese New Year holiday in this marvelous country. Yes, taking the annual leave from work and at the same time collecting information and finding resources for my new inspiration.

I don't know whether anyone of you have had experienced thinking about what would be next after all those blogs posted over the years. I have, and a new idea hit me recently after reading through some articles posted on Singapore Strais Times Online regarding the trend of customized decorated cakes, or to be more specific customized fondant decorated cakes in Singapore.

While fondant or also known as rolled sugar paste has been popular for a long time in US and European countries, it is rather new in Thailand or some other Asian countries. I have envied enjoying photos of fondant decorated cakes in hundreds of baking books and posts on the Internet, but always faced despair over the fact that fondant is a rare ingredient to find in Bangkok. Ever since my failure on developing fondant on my own last year, I never took the initiative of looking at it, ever again...... until now.

However recently I pledged to myself that I would work through this obstable and take a new step into an extremely exciting fondant world where colors are vivid, ruffles are almost so real, gum-paste flowers are so natural, and graphics find no limits. After a long indulgence in the variety of baking, it is now time to focus on improving the decorations on cakes and throw many real colors!!

Friends and blogger fellows, I wish for your mental support on this new endeavor :-) A new sweet friend, Kate of Sweet Artisan has been providing valuable information on fondant and all, and she is the fondant artists I have found and interacted with in Thailand. Go and check out her beautiful works.

AVOCADO CHEESE CAKE Adapted from recipe by Alex Goh, a master chef in Singapore and Malaysia.
Makes a 7 inch cake
Prepare: a 7 inch cake ring

Ingredients:
- Chocolate biscuits > 150 grams
- Melted butter > 75 grams
- Cheese cream > 250 grams
- Granulated sugar > 60 grams
- Avocado flesh > 100 grams
- Lime juice > 1 tbsp
- Hot water > 3 tbsp.
- Plain yoghurt > 100 grams
- Whipping cream > 200 grams
- Fresh fruits > as desired

Method:
- Line the base and sides of cake ring with aluminium foil. Set aside.
- Put biscuits in food processor and blitz until fine.
- Toss ground biscuits into melted butter and mix well.
- Press into the bottom of foiled cake ring. Push with the spoon to ensure it is compact.
- Rerigerate for one hour.
- Combine cream cheese and sugar. Beat until light.
- Place avocado and lime juice in a blender and blitz until smooth. Add into cream cheese mixture and mix well.
- Fold gelatine into hot water. Stir until gelatine dissolved. Set aside until it is just warm.
- Scoop 3-4 tablespoons of cream cheese mixture into dissolved gelatine. Quickly mix them well. Fold the whole batter into the cream cheese bowl to combine.
- Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Together with yoghurt add the whipped cream into cheese cream mixture.
- Take crust from the fridge and pour the cream cheese mixture onto it. Level up the surface, and refrigerate overnight.
- Unmould the cake and decorate with fresh fruits as desired.

Daring Bakers' Joconde Imprint

2011-01-27T02:47:00.000-08:00

Thanks so much to all of you for sharing your favorite TV series :-) It is so nice to know a little bit more about your viewing favorites. Well, I could sort of deciding what series to go for next! Thanks again!

Meanwhile, I have to confess that I love love love this month's contest. Reminiscing one episode of my baking classes long time ago which included a lesson on joconde. Apparently it was not a great class, I would say or more like it was not a perfect joconde recipe that I got from the baking instructor. My imprint was never been clear and sharp like what I just did with recipe provided by Astheroshe. Thanks to her lesson with Chef John O. at The International Culinary School in Atlanta, Georgia USA!

I have had this imprint stencil sitting in my cupboard for the longest time and this challenge just gave me a chance to make good use of it. And while this month is a perfect month to bake everything that involves strawberries, I wouldn't skip any opportunity to include these beautiful fruits into my joconde mousse. Hope you will enjoy this Joconde Strawberry Mousse with me!

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

JOCONDE STRAWBERRY MOUSSE
Makes two 8 inch mousse cakes

1. Joconde

a. Joconde Sponge
Yiels two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
- 85g almond flour/meal
- 75g confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 3 large eggs - about 150g
- 3 large egg whites - about 90g
- 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar
- 30g unsalted butter, melted

Method:
- In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
- Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
- On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
- Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
- Fold in melted butter.
- Reserve batter to be used later.

b. Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste
Yields two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:
- 200g unsalted butter, softened
- 200g Confectioners' (icing) sugar
- 7 large egg whites - about 200g
- 220g cake flour
- Red coloring

Directions:
- Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
- Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
- Fold in sifted flour.
- Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.
Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:
- Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.
- Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.
- Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
- Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.
- Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.
- Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
- Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)

c. Preparing the Mold for entremets:
You can use any type of mold. I would suggest:
- Start with a large piece of parchment paper laid on a very flat baking sheet. Then a large piece of cling wrap over the parchment paper. Place a spring form pan ring, with the base removed, over the cling wrap and pull the cling wrap tightly up on the outside of the mold. Line the inside of the ring with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping top edge by ½ inch. CUT the parchment paper to the TOP OF THE MOLD. It will be easier to smooth the top of the cake.
- A biscuit cutter/ cookie cutter- using cling wrap pulled tightly as the base and the cling covering the outside of the mold, placed on a parchment lined very flat baking sheet. Line the inside with a curled piece of parchment paper overlapping
- Cut PVC pipe from your local hardware store. Very cheap! These can be cut into any height you wish to make a mold. 2 to 3 inches is good. My store will cut them for me, ask an employee at your store. You can get several for matching individual desserts. Cling wrap and parchment line, as outlined above. 4.4 Glass Trifle bowl. You will not have a free standing dessert, but you will have a nice pattern to see your joconde for this layered dessert.

d. Preparing the Joconde for Molding:
- Trim the cake of any dark crispy edges. You should have a nice rectangle shape.
- Decide how thick you want your “Joconde wrapper”. Traditionally, it is ½ the height of your mold. This is done so more layers of the plated dessert can be shown. However, you can make it the full height.
- Once your height is measured, then you can cut the cake into equal strips, of height and length. (Use a very sharp paring knife and ruler.)
- Make sure your strips are cut cleanly and ends are cut perfectly straight. Press the cake strips inside of the mold, decorative side facing out. Once wrapped inside the mold, overlap your ends slightly. You want your Joconde to fit very tightly pressed up to the sides of the mold. Then gently push and press the ends to meet together to make a seamless cake. The cake is very flexible so you can push it into place. You can use more than one piece to “wrap “your mold, if one cut piece is not long enough.
- The mold is done, and ready to fill.

2. Strawberry Mousse Filling
Enough to fill two 8 inch mousse cakes

Ingredients:
- Strawberry halves > 590g
- Granulated sugar > 200g
- Boiled water > 200g
- Gelatine powder > 40g
- Water > 10 tbsp
- Whipped cream > 600g

Method:
- Combine strawberry halves, sugar, and water in a blender and blitz until fine. Set aside.
- Heat gelatine powder and water on double boiler until gelatine is totally dissolved. Cool a while until just warm.
- Mix strawberry mixture and whipped cream in a mixing bowl.
- Bring a small portion of strawberry cream mixture into the melted gelatine bowl. - Stir until well combined. Pour back into mixing bowl and combine thoroughly.
- Pour filling into the prepared molds.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- When cold, decorate as desired.

Glued

2011-01-17T02:13:00.000-08:00

Who doesn't like to watch TV drama series? I for one have been forbidding myself from falling into the Korean TV series mania that hit the whole world like a storm. Say a few.... Winter Sonata, Stairway to Heaven, Coffee Prince? Any of these you haven't watched? I confess, I have watched none...

And I was just doing okay turning away from what everyone or anyone was talking about in the last few years. Our office maid is a Korean serie fanatics, she claimed she had watched and kept every single Korean series she could laid her hands on in this country. And feel free to talk to her about any actor or actress, old and new. She knows it all.

But to my surprise, I could never keep my eyes off of the US TV series. Some were exposed to me and got me glued to every minute and second of the storyline. Once I was a big fan of Carrie Bradshaw in "Sex and The City". I had watched and rewatched the episodes a couple of times and started to write my sentence that went like "I can't stop but wonder ......". And then there were a few more provocative ones that entertained me shortly afterwards like "Six Feet Under", "The Ghost Whisperer" and "Lost". These three evently got me annoyed - don't know why, I just saw my interest diminish overtime until I found "Nip Tuck" and "Desperate Housewives".

The latest has become my all time favorite and funny enough I think the production could not catch up with my viewing speed so I ended up facing a lot of void for a certain period of time. And while waiting I got myself busy with replaying the old episodes or ..... opening myself to new options...

I stumbled into "Ugly Betty" a while ago and never really thought of getting into it until a closed friend told me she really liked it. My niece left our family trip this month with a message that I should catch "Glee". Wow, can I commit to that? While eventually came to meet face to face with "Ugly Betty" first episode, I had to admit - despite being a bit dull in the beginning - she grew into an interesting personality and soon enough she was adorable and had to exit Disc 6 of the first season. Oh man!

Do I miss Betty already like I miss all my family members that left after spending our wonderful time together in Thailand? Yes, I kind of do... so just have to catch the second season, shouldn't I ?. Meanwhile I have a few in my list: "The Traveler", "The Mentalist". "Brothers and Sisters" and "Dirty Sexy Money". Which one will drop and which one will sustain? Lets' see!

Do you have any favorite series too? Share your titles with me :-)

COCONUT VANILLA CUPCAKES
Makes 13

Ingredients:
- Cake flour > 250 grams
- Salt > 1 teaspoon
- Baking powder > 6 grams
- Evaporated milk > 100 ml
- Coconut milk > 165 ml
- Salted butter – room temperature > 75 grams
- Granulated sugar > 270 grams
- Vanilla extract > 2 teaspoons
- Eggs > 3
- Whipping cream > 200 ml
- Desiccated coconut - to decorate
- Gooseberries

Method:
- Preheat oven to 180 C.
- Combine cake flour, salt and baking powder. Sift. Set aside.
- Mix evaporated milk and coconut milk together. Set aside.
- Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla extract with electric cake mixer at medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time and beat thoroughly.
- Set to low speed, fold in sifted flour mixture and evaporated milk mixture, alternately a little bit at a time. Beat until smooth.
- Pour batter into cupcake moulds, about 80% full.
- Bake for 25 minutes or whilst inserting toothpick into cupcake, it comes out clean.
- Leave to cool.
- Beat whipping cream at high speed until soft peak.
- Fill into the piping bag and pipe on top of cupcakes as desired.
- Sprinkle with desiccated coconut. Top with goosebery.

Happy New Year, Everyone!

2011-01-08T06:42:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! Wish you all lots of luck and joy, great health and success! Hope you have had a great new year holiday with your loved ones, family and friends!

It took me a while getting back to blogging. After my family trip was over and they all left last week, I was spending time cleaning up the house, taking good rest, and settling back to my old life. While these three things were accomplished, I realized it was about time to make new year resolutions, something I hadn’t allocated my time for due to the trip. It was about time to plan for my life in 2011!

I was glad that my family members were all happy with the trip. We had time exploring the beautiful mountain resort at Phuchifah, the relaxing beach resort at HuaHin, engaged ourselves in the intensive shopping marathon - something of which Bangkok is well known for, and most of all indulged in Thai cuisine. And with T’s presence in the trip, my family had learnt more about Thai culture. Can’t wait to have another trip with them next year!

YELLOW PLUM SCONES SERVED WITH PASSIONFRUIT SAUCE
Makes 15 scones

1.Yellow Plum Scones
Prepare: 2 inch cookie cutter

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour > 300 g
- Baking powder > 2 tsp
- Salt > ¼ tsp
- Lemon zest > 4 tsp
- Milk > 100 ml
- Whipping cream > 100 ml
- Dried yellow plum – cut into chunks > 100 g

Method:
- Prepare a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Preheat oven to 225 C.
- Combine all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt. Sift into a big bowl.
- Add in lemon zest, milk, whipping cream, and plum chunks. Mix well into a dough.
- Dust table top with a bit of flour. Spread dough on it and roll into a sheet with thickness of 1 cm.
- Use cookie cutter, cut dough sheet into circles. Place these circles into the prepared baking tray.
- Bake at 225 C for 15 minutes.

2. Passionfruit Sauce

Ingredients:
- Passionfruit juice > 125 ml
- Passionfruit flesh with seeds > 1.5 tbsp
- Granulated sugar > 3 tbsp
- Corn flour > 2 tsp

Method:
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Stir until corn flour is fully dissolved.
- Cook and stir continuously at medium heat until mixture is boiled and thickened.
- Pour into a bowl. Cover with cling film.
- Refrigerate until cool and serve with scones.
- Serve also with cut orange segments.

Daring Baker's Stollen Wreath

2010-12-24T21:49:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, dear friends! I am on my way to the Northern part of Thailand with T and 11 of my family members. They are all excited about this trip as much as we are. Planned out the whole itinerary and hope that everything will proceed as what we desire. See you guys in New Year 2011. Happy Holiday and Happy New Year!

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book.........and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

STOLLEN WREATH
Makes one large wreath or two traditional shaped Stollen loaves. Serves 10-12 people

Ingredients

- ¼ cup (60ml) lukewarm water (110º F / 43º C)
- 2 packages (4 1/2 teaspoons) (22 ml) (14 grams) (1/2 oz) active dry yeast
- 1 cup (240 ml) milk
- 10 tablespoons (150 ml) (140 grams) unsalted butter (can use salted butter)
- 5½ cups (1320 ml) (27 ozs) (770 grams) all-purpose (plain) flour (Measure flour first - then sift- plus extra for dusting)
- ½ cup (120 ml) (115 gms) sugar
- ¾ teaspoon (3 ¾ ml) (4 ½ grams) salt (if using salted butter there is no need to alter this salt measurement)
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 grams) cinnamon
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- Grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange

- 2 teaspoons (10 ml) (very good) vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon extract or orange extract
- ¾ cup (180 ml) (4 ¾ ozs) (135 grams) mixed peel (link below to make your own)
- 1 cup (240 ml) (6 ozs) (170 gms) firmly packed raisins
- 3 tablespoons (45ml) rum
- 12 red glacé cherries (roughly chopped) for the color and the taste. (optional)
- 1 cup (240 ml) (3 ½ ozs) (100 grams) flaked almonds
- Melted unsalted butter for coating the wreath
- Confectioners’ (icing) (powdered) sugar for dusting wreath

Note: If you don’t want to use alcohol, double the lemon or orange extract or you could use the juice from the zested orange.

Method

- In a small bowl, soak the raisins in the rum (or in the orange juice from the zested orange) and set aside. See Note under raisins.

To make the dough

- Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) warm water into a small bowl, sprinkle with yeast and let stand 5 minutes. Stir to dissolve yeast completely.
- In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup (240 ml) milk and 10 tablespoons (150 ml) butter over medium - low heat until butter is melted. Let stand until lukewarm, about 5 minutes.
- Lightly beat eggs in a small bowl and add lemon and vanilla extracts.
- In a large mixing bowl (4 qt) (4 liters) (or in the bowl of an electric mixer with paddle attachment), stir together the flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, orange and lemon zests.
- Then stir in (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) the yeast/water mixture, eggs and the lukewarm milk/butter mixture. This should take about 2 minutes. It should be a soft, but not sticky ball. When the dough comes together, cover the bowl with either plastic or a tea cloth and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Add in the mixed peel, soaked fruit and almonds and mix with your hands or on low speed to incorporate. Here is where you can add the cherries if you would like. Be delicate with the cherries or all your dough will turn red!

- Sprinkle flour on the counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing with the dough hook) to distribute the fruit evenly, adding additional flour if needed. The dough should be soft and satiny, tacky but not sticky. Knead for approximately 8 minutes (6 minutes by machine). The full six minutes of kneading is needed to distribute the dried fruit and other ingredients and to make the dough have a reasonable bread-dough consistency. You can tell when the dough is kneaded enough – a few raisins will start to fall off the dough onto the counter because at the beginning of the kneading process the dough is very sticky and the raisins will be held into the dough but when the dough is done it is tacky which isn't enough to bind the outside raisins onto the dough ball.
- Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling around to coat it with the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Put it in the fridge overnight. The dough becomes very firm in the fridge (since the butter goes firm) but it does rise slowly… the raw dough can be kept in the refrigerator up to a week and then baked on the day you want.

Shaping the Dough and Baking the Wreath

1. Let the dough rest for 2 hours after taking out of the fridge in order to warm slightly.
2. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
3. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 with the oven rack on the middle shelf.
4. Punch dough down, roll into a rectangle about 16 x 24 inches (40 x 61 cms) and ¼ inch (6 mm) thick.

- Starting with a long side, roll up tightly, forming a long, thin cylinder.
- Transfer the cylinder roll to the sheet pan. Join the ends together, trying to overlap the layers to make the seam stronger and pinch with your fingers to make it stick, forming a large circle. You can form it around a bowl to keep the shape.
- Using kitchen scissors, make cuts along outside of circle, in 2-inch (5 cm) intervals, cutting 2/3 of the way through the dough.
- Twist each segment outward, forming a wreath shape. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

- Proof for approximately 2 hours at room temperature, or until about 1½ times its original size.
- Bake the stollen for 20 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue to bake for 20 to 30 minutes. The bread will bake to a dark mahogany color, should register 190°F/88°C in the center of the loaf, and should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.
- Transfer to a cooling rack and brush the top with melted butter while still hot.
Immediately tap a layer of powdered sugar over the top through a sieve or sifter.
- Wait for 1 minute, then tap another layer over the first.
- The bread should be coated generously with the powdered sugar.
- Let cool at least an hour before serving. Coat the stollen in butter and icing sugar three times, since this many coatings helps keeps the stollen fresh - especially if you intend on sending it in the mail as Christmas presents!
- When completely cool, store in a plastic bag. Or leave it out uncovered overnight to dry out slightly, German style.
- The stollen tastes even better in a couple of days and it toasts superbly…. so delicious with butter and a cup of tea… mmmmm

Plagiarism

2010-12-20T02:02:00.000-08:00

In the midst of properly planning for the upcoming trip of my visiting family, I had tonnes of things to do. While things in regards to itinerary were fully in control, I spent the entire weekend cleaning up the house, and making sure that it would be presentable to my special guests. Apparently this is the least that I can do to welcome my family members, especially those few who are visiting Thailand for the very first time.

The good news is I managed to juggle with a couple of baking chores, including the December’s Daring Bakers Challenge. Lucky me, I had finised baking the challenge item yesterday and photographing it this morning. So I guess I am good to go for the trip which will start the end of this week. My family will be visiting this Friday, big big deal!

Meanwhile, I was visiting bloggers’ sites and came across plagiarism. I was once being warned about plagiarism when stumbled into Fitri of Rumah Manis’s post. She was furious about the fact that some of her photos were stolen. It happened a couple of times and it was her friends who happened to see her photos elsewhere and quickly informed her about this disrespect and irresponsible act.

Of course ever since Fitri has taken a tough measure such as displaying a warning “don’t steal the images” at the end of her posts. That was just the right thing to do. However, the irresponsible party who are decisive about utilizing her images without her consent, most probably might still be stealing. But she has done her best in protecting her blog photos (of course including the photo watermark). And if plagiarism still persists, whoever that steals has consciously claimed himself or herself a THIEF!

This morning, plagiarism again came knocking. This time it happened to Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen. The same, a friend accidentally saw it in a publication and decided to let her know. She was of course mad about it and put herself into full confrontation. The media was contacted, the editor was spoken to, and the conclusion was that this supposingly property-right-aware entity admitted (believe it or not) that they took the photo and used it because it just came out on Google search engine. How ridiculous could that be!

Lucky for Aparna, after her persistent fight, she got what she fought for: the publication printed the retraction on the following issue and paid all the damages (inspite initially claimed they didn’t have any budget for it)! Bravo to Aparna and everyone of us, food bloggers who have taken the stand to fight for what is right. Cheers! Read all about it here!

CHOCOLATE BANANA CAKE WITH BANANA CREAM AND GOOSEBERRIES
Makes one 7.5 inch cake

1.Chocolate Banana Cake
Prepare one 7.5 inch cake mould

Ingredients:
- Cocoa powder > 6 g
- Cooking oil > 1 tsp
- Evaporated milk > 63 g
- Lime juice > ½ tbsp
- Cake flour > 125 g
- Baking powder> 2g
- Baking soda> 4g
- Salt > ½ tsp
- Granulated sugar > 135 g
- Butter at room temperature > 90 g
- Ripe bananas > 100g
- Eggs > 2

Method:
- Grease and line a 7.5 inch cake mould. Set aside.
- Prepare cocoa paste by mixing cocoa powder with cooking oil and stir until smooth. Set aside.
- Combine milk and lime juice. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 150 C.
- Combine cake flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Sift together.
- Fold flour mixture into a mixing bowl. Add butter and beat at low speed until crumbly.
- Add in bananas. Increase to highest speed and beat until smooth.
- Add in eggs, one at a time. Set the speed to the lowest, pour in cocoa paste and milk mixture and beat until smooth.
- Pour batter into the cake tin. Bake at 150 C for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and turn the cake onto wire rack. Remove the lining paper.

2. Banana Cream

Ingredients:
- Mashed bananas > 85 g
- Lime juice > 1 tsp
- Whipping cream > 385 g
- Egg yolks – beat moderately> 50 g
- Granulated sugar > 70 g
- Gelatine> 5 g
- Vanilla essence > ½ tsp
- Egg whites > 90 g
- Water > 2 tsp

Method:
- Combine mashed bananas, lime juice, and 85 g of whipping cream in a saucepan. Bring to boil.
- Set fire to medium heat and pour in egg yolks and 10 g of sugar. Heat and stir batter until it reaches 85C.
- Fold in gelatine and vanilla essence. Stir until gelatine dissolved. Set aside.
- Beat egg white until full of bubbles. Set aside.
- Heat 60 g of sugar with water at medium heat until sugar dissolved. Increase the heat and cook until syrup reaches 121 C.
- Gently pour hot syrup into the bubbly egg white mixture. Continue beating until soft peaks form.
- Combine this egg white mixture with banana mixture. Beat at slow speed until smooth. Set aside.
- Whip 300 g of whipping cream at highest speed for 2 minutes until firm peaks form. Set speed to low and add in 300g of banana egg white mixture. Continue whipping until smooth.

3. Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
- Whipping cream > 50g
- Dark chocolate – chop > 50 g

Method:
- Place chopped chocolate in heat-proof bowl.
- Heat whipping cream until boiled.
- Pour immediately into the chopped chocolate. Leave for 5 minutes and stir until chocolate is completely melted.
- Leave to cool.

4. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Chocolate banana cake above
- Banana cream above
- Chocolate glaze above
- Banana slices – cut into 5mm thickness > 4-5 big bananas
- Gooseberries > sufficient to decorate

Method:
- Slice chocolate banana cake into 3 equal layers.
- Apply half portion of chocolate glaze into the bottom cake layer, followed by a thin layer of banana cream.
- Arrange banana slices on top of the cream. Cover again with another thin layer of banana cream.
- Top with another cake layer. Repeat the above step.
- Cover the top with last cake layer. Coat the surface with banana cream.
- Decorate with more banana slices and gooseberries.

Uncertainty

2010-12-08T04:45:00.000-08:00

We are stuck in the middle of the Kasert flyover bridge. A few cars in front of our van have decided to turn back instead of waiting for the traffic jam to loosen up. It is just depressing since we don’t really know what is going on up front, is there an accident? Apparently there is this big uncertainty before us. Are we supposed to wait in patience or turn back and find another better way? We don’t know!

In life it is pretty much like that. Sometimes we are stuck and don’t know what to do. This traffic episode was preceded earlier by a confusion over unresolved ending of the movie “A Serious Man”, a movie about Larry Gopnik, a physics professor who was caught in problematic life tornedo, didn’t know how to get out of it and decided to get advice from his rabbies only to find disappointment of what he expected to know. He just couldn't manage to make sense of all that were happening.

Life in his case was all about problems and uncertainties and no matter how hard he was trying to deny facing some of them, they always come back to haunt him. The movie was ended with another disaster episode of the professor’s life when his doctor called requesting an immediate meeting to talk about his overlooked chest x-ray results, meanwhile his son and the entire group of classmates most probably will be hit by the approaching massive tornado.

And just like that, the screen was filled with the rolling credits suggesting the movie has ended, again it is like telling the audience to grab another idea of life uncertainty, go figure!

Meanwhile I like to thank Renata of Testado Provado e Aprovado for the One Lovely Blog Award and Nale of Coolinarija for the Me Encanta Tu Blog Award!

HONEY PARFAIT ON GREEN APPLE JELLY
Makes about 4 wine glasses

1.Apple Jelly

Ingredients:
- Apple flavoured gelatine dessert mix > 100g
- Boiling water > 1 cup
- Cold water > 1 cup

Method:
- Place gelatine dessert mix in a bowl. Pour in boiling water and stir until gelatine is completely dissolved.
- Add cold water and stir well.
- Pour equally into 4 wine glasses. Leave to cool. Refrigerate until firm.

2. Honey Parfait

Ingredients:
- Honey > 90g
- Water > adequate amount to make honey runny
- Egg yolks > 4
- Whipping cream > 300ml
- Grand marnier > 1 tablespoon

Method:
- Beat whipping cream until soft peaks form. Set aside.
- Combine honey and sufficient amount of water in a saucepan and bring to boil. If honey used is already runny, do not need to add water.
- Beat egg yolks until thick and pale. Add hot honey in gentle stream into egg yolks while continue beating.
- Mix in whipped cream and Grand marnier. Stir well.
- Pour parfait on top of refrigerated apple jelly. Chill overnight until firm.
- Garnish with green apple slice. Serve.

Daring Bakers' Crostata

2010-11-27T07:32:00.000-08:00

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a Crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I would say this is the easiest Daring Baker Challenge ever! Crostata, an Italian baked dessert tart that happens to translate into nothing else but pie seems to be familiar to anyone who ever picks up baking. Well, for food bloggers this would be an easy task. And to some, this could be something that they have been baking or making more than once.

But despite all that, Crostata is definitely a beautiful name that generates flow of creativity. One could choose to play around with the crust (or what Simona mentioned as pasta frolla), the filling or the topping.

For the crust, they are many possible ingredients to use in order to create a certain texture and flavor. For filling, jam or marmalade is one of the options among pastry cream, lemon cream, custard, crème patissiere, or simply whipping cream. Some would even combine jam with cream or fresh fruits with cream. For topping there are many options such as chocolate, caramel, any family of nuts, or the most favorable fresh fruits.

For practical purposes, one could choose to just blind bake the crust, leave it to cool, keep it in an air-tight container and stuff with whatever desired filling just before serving. But others might like to actually bake the crust together with the filling, either just jam, jam with fresh fruit, jam with cream, or fresh fruit with cream. The possibility is just endless. And feel free to serve it warm or cold.

I like pies, and therefore I decided to bake 4 crusts in one go. In that way, I could just store them in air-tight container and fill whenever I like later on. That also triggers me to constantly think about interesting filling that I have never made before. As a consequence, I assume that I would be consuming lots of pie for the next 30 days. I do hope that T will help me on this...

Thanks to Simona for this wonderful challenge and the opportunity to try out new recipes that are different from the few that I had used before. The taste is wonderful and I just couldn’t stop eating these. Somebody has to stop me now…

For those of you who would like to find the complete Challenge recipe, click here. Happy Crostata!!!

CROSTATA
Makes one 9 inch pie

1. Pasta Frolla for Crust
Prepare: 9 inch tart pan

Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup [80 ml, 75 g, 2 2/3 oz.] superfine sugar or 1/2 cup [120ml, 60 g, 2 oz]powdered sugar (see Note 1.)
- 1/2 cup [120 ml, 65 g, 2 3/8 oz.] unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup [120ml, 65 g. 2 1/4 oz.] whole-wheat pastry flour
- 1/4 cup [60ml, 28 g, 1 oz] unpeeled ground almond
- 1/4 cup [60ml, 28 g, 1 oz.] whole-grain barley flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
- a pinch of salt
- 6 tablespoons[90ml, 85 g, 3 oz] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:
- Whisk together sugar, flours and salt in a bowl.
- Rub or cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.
- Make a well in the center of the flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten egg and vanilla extract into it.
- Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into mixture and then use your fingertips.
- Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.
- Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.
- Heat the oven to 190ºC
- Roll out a batch of the pasta frolla and cover the base of the tart pan.
- Cut a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil large enough to cover the bottom of the crust and extend out a bit over the edges of the pan.

- You can use pie weights or dry beans to blind bake. Place whatever weight you’re using directly on the parchment paper or aluminum foil in an even layer.
- Place the crostata shell in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove the weights and parchment paper and continue baking the crostata shell until the border is light golden, about 5 minutes (watch carefully to avoid over-baking, which results in a hard shell). In the absence of weight, the crust may rise in the middle: if that occurs, gently push it back down with the back of a spoon.
- Remove from the oven and let the crostata shell cool completely before proceeding.

2. Creme Patissiere

Ingredients:
- Milk > 350 ml
- Egg yolks > 3.5
- Granulated sugar > 90 grams
- All purpose flour > 18 grams
- Corn flour > 18 grams
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Boil milk in the saucepan. Remove from fire and leave to cool slightly.
- Whip egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Fold in all purpose flour, corn flour, and vanilla powder.
- Slowly pour milk into the egg yolk mixture and combine to form custard.
- Place custard back into saucepan and cook at low heat while stirring continuously until it is thick. Leave to boil for one minute. Keep stirring.
- Pour into shallow container and cover with cling film. Leave to cool.
- When it is cool, beat with electric mixer until smooth. Set aside.

3. Assembly

Ingredients:
- 1 batch of Creme Patissiere.
- Strawberries and orange segments.

Method:
- Pipe the prepared pastry cream over the cooled shell.
- Decorate the surface with strawberries and orange segments. The crostata must be cool, but not cold, so if you refrigerate it, take it out of the fridge half an hour before serving. This crostata is best eaten the same day it is prepared.

Food is Powerful

2010-11-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Food is powerful! Generally people would say "You are what you eat!", but I say "You are what you want to eat!" That explains the state of my mind lately. You see, I was sick two weeks earlier and as I was recovering last week, everything seemed to come back to normal gradually, but one thing that could prove my getting completely well was my craving for food. Food, food, food!

Nothing seemed to be appealing to me the week I was sick, I couldn't bring myself to think about any food. In fact, the thought about food disgusted me. And dessert - the most profound food that would rise my heartbeat everything I look at them in the shop display couldn't seem to do any trick on me. Basically sickness was a total doom, nothing seemed to be desirable, everything was just pure gloominess and horror.

So what came as a remarkable sign that I was once healthy again? My thought about tomyum fried rice and spicy fried noodles! It was so intensely making its way to instant fulfilment. That lured me into taking a long stroll in my warm jacket, against the evening wind, heading to my favorite restaurant and found myself disappointed overseeing the unsupposingly closed premise. "Why on earth it is closed on a Wednesday night and where am I going to eat?".

The same disappointment recurred again on my second attempt two days later, pushing the restaurant door opened only to find staff cleaning up the floor. I almost screamed my head off as it was just 8:30 pm and they were supposed to stay open until 9:30. Hello!!!!!!!!!

Consequently, my recovering soul was looking for a quick replacement and insisting on the next most desirable pursuit. I had to settle on something else since I had turned into a big bubble of hunger and crave and was about to burst any moment then. I had abruptly turned greedy and desperate, two things that have been deprived from my vocabulary due to sickness and too much rests. So what was my next best thing?

Had to be a plate of salmon sashimi and a bowl of Tensaru Soba with tempura! I finally got what I wanted and they tasted just like how I expected them to be! True pleasure, nothing less! The munch into those slices of raw salmon brought back my memory of my most desirable tastebuds. My mind was exclamating "Boy, it tastes like heaven!", "Salmon sashimi is a blessing to the human race", "Life is worth living!". The recurring of these same old lines reminded me of my normal tasting experience........... "I am so back now!". And I couldn't help grin with my messy lips. "Thanks, Big Guy... for I am back!"

Meanwhile I like to thank Lynn of Cafe Lynnylu for hosting DMBLGIT October and giving the opportunity for me to take part once again and win the award. Thanks also to the judges: Asha, Denise, Nicole and Susan! Check out Lynn's DMBLGIT winner page.

YAM CAKE WITH LEMON GLAZING
Makes one 9 inch gugelhupf cake.

1.Yam Cake
Prepare: one 9 inch gugelhupf cake tin

Ingredients:
- Butter > 150 grams
- Granulated sugar > 108 grams
- Salt > 1/8 teaspoon
- Eggs > 2.5
- Mashed yam > 108 grams
- Granulated sugar > 15 grams
- Coconut milk > 50 ml
- Cake flour > 100 grams
- Multi purpose flour > 75 grams
- Baking powder > ½ teaspoon
- Purple coloring > 3-4 drops

Method:
- Preheat oven to 180C. Place a baking tray in the oven.
- Grease and flour a gugelhupf mould.
- Combine butter, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl and beat until light and thick.
- Fold in eggs and beat more until smooth.
- Add mashed yam, sugar, coconut milk. Beat at low speed to combine well.
- Combine cake flour and multi purpose flour in a bowl. Sieve flour into the yam mixture, add purple coloring and stir well.
- Pour into gugelhupf mould and bake at 180C for 50 minutes. If the cake surface starts to crack or already looks cooked after 30 minutes, cover the top with aluminium foil and continue baking to the desired 50 minutes in order to make sure the bottom portion is baked to perfection, or else the bottom will stick to mould and it will not look good when invert the cake to wire rack later on.
- Leave to cool a bit in mould before invert into wire rack. Set aside to cool completely.

2. Lemon Glaze

Ingredients:
- Icing sugar > 250 grams
- Lemon juice > 2 tablespoons
- Lemon rind > 2 teaspoons
- Softened butter > 40 grams

Method:
- Combine all ingredients together in a saucepan.
- Put saucepan over a pan filled with simmering water.
- Mix glazing until it reaches spreading consistency.
- Pour over yam cake.
- Decorate with orange slices and pomegranates.

Family Affair

2010-11-10T23:06:00.000-08:00

Just got the most powerful jab of my life that sent me to a long sleep I haven’t had for a long long time. A sleep I thought I didn’t have to wake up anymore. This combination of Dexamethasone and Ceftriaxone was really that lethal. The reason was that I haven’t been sleeping enough and being exposed to stress due to many things that have been happening around me, and especially planning for an exciting trip for my visiting family of 11 in Christmas.

Gee, that is the biggest thing I have to deal with right now. The last time they visited was 6 years a go and based on their confession it was the best trip they had had in the past. They had reminisced about it everytime I visited them and kids, especially kids, were making clear gesture that they would definitely want another trip very soon since then. Only then, they realized they had to wait for 6 more years to make it happen. It was a big decision since it involved a few families which then involved their annual leave permission, kids’ school holiday, and not to forget the other essential part: the money!. Comparing to joining a tour, they would rather to have me organize a trip for them, they preferred the freedom and flexibility involved in traveling on our own, the opportunities to try out local delicacies and go to non-touristy areas, and budgetwise, it is also cheaper.

Considering how short time has left to Christmas, I have pushed myself to do the best within the time restriction. Visited the travel expo during the weekend and that helped me moderately in working out places to visit for the trip (by the way, I think I had been exposed to some virus from the expo crowd as I started coughing and having fever right then). Needed to work out a concrete itinerary in order to make things right including booking for train tickets, air tickets, touring vans and other transport, meals and budget.

Time is really running out. Some desired accommodations are fully booked. That left me with very little choices or bigger budget to spend. I was lucky enough that T’s friend who happened to be residing in one of our destinations has offered to help for the local itinerary. Thanks H, you are the best!

Making this trip a sucess story is crucial to me, and therefore I have been focusing on doing it right a little bit too much. T disclosed how much he disliked me when I was so stressful about this matter. I was like “Hello, this is my family trip we are dealing with! I have to make this a happy trip for everyone”. Family connection is something personal and subjective. My view about my family might be different from his.

So there I was, sick for a couple of days while the itinerary was taking shape. It was just relieving that I had done the most crucial part regarding train and air tickets which are in fact running out quickly as everyone is going away on Christmas. For now, I need to be healthy again and I am pulling myself together, mostly on my own…

And these are photos of which I had promised in my previous posts. Without any delay, hope you all enjoy the scenes of the nature in KhaoKoh National Park. Maybe you will be there one day!

Foggy Mountain

2010-10-31T02:29:00.001-07:00

So excited that finally I will have opportunity to get away for a holiday on the mountain this weekend. Have been waiting to breathe in fresh mountain air and indulge in the glorious mountain scenery for a long time. Sometimes I feel very blessed staying in this country that owns so many exciting holiday destinations, either mountain or sea. We can just pick from a long list of beautiful destinations and go shortly on weekend. Or else if we fancy a longer stay we might need to wait until the next public holiday or take a few days off at work.

T’s colleague takes care of the itinerary, and we will be going in a group of 6, an adequate number of people to interact and have fun with. Our destination is Khao Koh National Park which is famous for its beautiful scenery. It is going to be an enjoyable trip because it will involve camping on the cliff overseeing the biggest cabbage farm in Thailand. I imagine the air would be so cold and that vegetable scent will be all over in the air. I can’t remember the last time sleeping in the tent and admiring the sound and serenity of nature, or looking out to the night sky full of stars.

And our mind just go wild knowing that most of us are game to cook and prepare our own meals right outside our tents. We agree we should be cooking something simple of which ingredients could be easily retrieved from the nearby market or even Seven-Eleven.

And before I forget, I should definitely mention about the fog. It is anticipated that we will be seeing lots of fogs in the morning and even the daytime. The view is guaranteed to be extremely remarkable. 4 from 6 in the group have prepared to bring cameras, and guess what, we all are fans of Canon :-)

Want to see the pictures? Well, you just need until we are back…. And I promise to take many pictures for the next post, okay? Allright, I hope you have a great weekend too, like I and all of us will. Cheers and enjoy this fabulous Lemon Cheese Cake topped with Caramelized Cumquats!!

LEMON CHEESE CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED CUMQUATS
Makes one 20cm round cake

1.Base
Prepare: one 20 cm cake ring, covered bottom and side with aluminium foil.

Ingredients:
- Chocolate biscuits > 250 grams
- Melted butter > 100 grams

Method:
- Ground biscuit until fine. Add melted butter and mix well.
- Press to the base of cake ring. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Filling

Ingredients:
- Gelatine > 1 tablespoon
- Hot water > 2 tablespoons
- Cream cheese > 250 grams
- Lemon rind> 2 teaspoons
- Condensed milk > 370 grams
- Lemon juice> 50 ml (approx. 1 big lemon)
- Lime juice > 20 ml (approx. 2 limes)

Method:
- Prepare hot water in a bowl. Sprinkle with gelatine and stir until totally dissolved. Cool for 5 minutes.
- Whip cream cheese and lemon rind until smooth. Fold in lemon and lime juice and condensed milk. Beat until even. Immediately fold in gelatine and stir well.
- Pour filling into cake ring on top of cookie base. Refrigerate overnight.

3. Caramelized Cumquats

Ingredients:
- Cumquats > 250 grams
- Caster sugar > 175 grams

Method:
- Wash cumquats and prick the skins with a skewer.
- Boil water in a saucepan. Fold in cumquats and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Strain cumquats and keep 250 ml of the liquid.
- Pour this liquid back into saucepan. Set heat to medium and add in sugar. Stir until sugar is fully dissolved. Increase heat and boil for 10 minutes more.
- Fold in cumquats and simmer for 20 minutes. By then, cumquat skins will be soft.
- Remove from heat and cool.
- Spoon cumquats and sauce onto cheese cake and serve.

Daring Bakers' Doughnuts

2010-10-27T13:21:00.000-07:00

Doughnuts? Just fancy this challenge. Have imagined it as a straight-forward exercise or practice that opens to many decoration possibilities. Going through the posts in the forum, I have come across many variations of doughnuts in terms of filling, topping, shaping and finishing. Some would prefer a classic hollow-in-the-center creations, some enjoy just rounded shapes and chose to fiddle around with the topping instead, while others have come up with inordinary shapes like squares, flowers, or just about anything under the sunlight.

I was familiarized with doughnuts since my young age, just happened that my auntie picked up baking and occasionally fried doughnuts for everyone in the family. Then as I grew up besides liking doughnuts from the local markets, I patronized Dunkin Donuts. It was the brand that teenagers and office workers would go to spend their free time with friends. DD was and still is famous for its comfortable seating outlets and very delicious croissants and hot cocoa. Some of the outlets are in fact so comfy that youngsters spend long hours chatting with friends while spending minimum on a glass of carbonated drink.

Many brands have come and gone competing with DD and not many have succeeded in maintaining their existence. Can’t really remember any brand that could quickly relate to doughnuts in an instant second like Dunkin Donuts. In present time countable doughnut shops emerged slowly and established a wide range of of selections either in flavors, topping, and textures. In Thailand we have Mister Donut, Daddy Dough (my favorite), and the latest Krispy Kreme.

Just a few days ago, T was commenting about the long queue at the only recently opened Krispy Kreme outlet at Siam Paragon. And we both reminiscing our good time having very soft and delicious doughtnuts at J.Co during our last holiday in Jakarta.
Well, to Lori of Butter Me Up... thanks so much for this wonderful challenge. Love this comfort food and have developed a few varieties from this marvelous Bomboloni Recipe..

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious. For detailed challenge recipes please click here.

BOMBOLONI
Yield: About 32 Bomboloni

Ingredients:
- Water, Lukewarm 1/3 cup + 1 Tablespoon
- Active Dry Yeast 3 ¼ teaspoon (1.5 pkgs.) / 16.25 ml / 10 gm / .35 oz
- Honey 1.5 Tablespoon / 22.5 ml
- All Purpose Flour 3 cup / 720 ml / 420 gm / 14 ¾ oz
- Milk 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml
- Egg Yolk, Large 6

- White Granulated Sugar 1/3 cup / 80 ml / 75 gm / 2 2/3 oz + more for rolling
- Kosher (Flaked) Salt 2 teaspoon / 10 ml / 6 gm / .2 oz
- Butter, Unsalted 3 Tablespoon / 45 ml / 42 gm / 1.5 oz
- Canola Oil 3 cup / 720 ml / (Or any other flavorless oil used for frying)
- Mixed berry jam, Seedless ¾ cup / 180 ml / 300 gm / 10.5 oz (or any flavor jam, preserves, jelly)

Directions:
- In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, mix the water, yeast, honey and 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (160 gm) of the flour. (Alternatively, whisk the ingredients by hand.) Cover with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 1 hour.
- Return the bowl to the mixer, fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining 1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons (260 gm) of flour, along with the milk, egg yolks, 1/3 cup of granulated sugar and the salt. Mix at low speed until blended, then add the butter and knead at medium speed until silky but sticky, about 5 minutes; the dough will not pull away from the side of the bowl.
- Using an oiled spatula, scrape the dough into an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

- In a large saucepan, heat the canola oil to 360°F/180°C. Line a rack with paper towels. Fill a shallow bowl with 1/2 inch (12 mm)of granulated sugar. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/2 inch (12 mm) thick. Using a 2-inch (50 mm) round biscuit cutter, stamp out rounds. The original recipe said to not re-roll the dough, but I did and found it to be fine. Fry the rounds, 4 to 5 at a time, until they are browned, about 4 minutes (mine only took about a minute each – try to go more by sight). Be sure to keep the oil between 360°F and 375°F 180°C and 190°C. Drain the bomboloni on paper towels.
- Roll them in the granulated sugar.

Filling Directions:
- Fit a pastry bag with a plain donut tip (or a 1/4-inch (6 mm) tip) and fill with the preserves (you can also use a squeeze bottle). Poke the tip three-fourths of the way into the bomboloni and squeeze in the preserves, pulling the tip out slightly as you squeeze to fill them as much as possible. Serve warm.

In the Neighborhood

2010-10-19T03:31:00.000-07:00

Another bazaar just took place in my neighborhood last Saturday. Regardless of my fear of the rain and no one would be available to assist me, my positive thinking fuelled my determination to participate. I regarded it as a good opportunity to improve my baking skills, meet face-to-face with my previous bazaar costumers and get to know new ones.

The experience of meeting customers always amazed me. From the second they came into my sight until the second they left my booth, I had learnt so much about them. It was interesting to notice that some came decisive - they basically dropped by spontaneously and instantly pointed their fingers to their desired cakes without even addressing any single question about the flavor of the cakes they chose. These were my best customers! (wished that all my customers would have such confidence in my cakes but unfortunately it was not always the case)... To the opposite extreme, they were those who walked away empty-handed after a long session of questioning every single detail about the cakes.

Nevertheless, I loved selling cakes in the bazaar. Despite the lack of sleep a few nights before had induced drowsiness while I was standing at my booth, I forced myself to stay alert and communicate with my customers. Obviously my neighborhood consists of people from all walks of like. Some bought without asking about the price while others left after presenting startled faces when told about the price of my cakes.

And of course the rain did pour as I had worried about, and I and T had to carry our cake boxes under the rain, plus other discomfort happened such as T had to leave to his seminar soon after helping me settling up my booth, but still the whole selling experience was fulfilling and satisfactory. 75% of my 7 cakes were sold out!

And yes, before I forgot.... in case you are curious... the 7 cakes were 1 Sacher Torte, 1 Coconut Cheese Cake with Butterscoth topping, 1 Coconut Cheese Cake with Chocolate Ganache and Almond Decoration, 1 Capuccino Cheese Cake, 1 Blueberry and Strawberry Cheese Cake, 1 Fresh Fruit Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake, and 1 Fresh Fruit Blueberry Whipped Cream Cake.

I did hope my customers enjoy what they bought... And I would definitely take part in this bazaar again next time!

Oia and My Dream

2010-10-08T01:04:00.000-07:00

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Santorini, Athens, Delphi…. I have been to these wonderful places…. in my dreams. The eternal dream that revives and keeps me anticipated of joy, beauty, and the excitement of traveling has always been about one same place…. Greece. As a teenager I had watched “Summer Lovers” in a theatre and being instantly introduced to one of the most beautiful place of the world: Oia, Santorini. The mesmerizing scenes of white washed houses, blue domed churches, steeples, bells overlooking the deep blue Mediterranean Sea have been staying in my mind ever since, and have never been replaceable or comparable to anywhere else in the world.

Well, I don’t mind waiting. In my dream, I want to go there when everything is right and I have my loved one to share this trip. I don’t mind working and saving money for years and yet wishing that one day I will eventually go to Greece. As I have set it as my utmost destination for so many years, the thrills have been greatly accumulated and in that way, I constantly look forward to it.

So when recently I stumbled into Kalofagas – Greek Food and Beyond blog. I spontaneously felt hooked. Peter, the blogger has described so much about Greece and its food and culture, and revealed that “while Athens is the capital city and heart of Greece, Thessaloniki is the belly, feeding Greece with its sophisticated and diverse cuisine…” (Source: http://kalofagas.ca/2010/09/19/koulouria-thessalonikis). So this piece of information put Thessaloniki as the Greek food exploration spot in my Greece itinenary.

Peter also included Koulouri and shared its recipe in his post. Apparently this very delicious- looking white-sesame-coated bread ring is the typical breakfast ritual of many Greeks who want a quick bite on the way to work in the morning. And appreciating the photos in his blog was not good enough, I had to bake these rings and tasted them on my own. At least I would have an idea how a Koulouri might taste like.

Meanwhile, I am delighted for winning DMBLGIT September 2010. Thanks to Harini of Tongue Ticklers for hosting this great event and many gratitudes to judges: Thorsten Kraska of My2Penn'orth, Veronica of Edes es Keseru, and Karen Low of Citrus and Candy.

So without any delay, I printed the recipe and baked with high enthusiasm. Well, if you understand the baking mood that I had in that moment, you would fully comprehend why on earth I had come out with a variety of coatings. For all of you who are into Greek food and culture, don’t miss Kalofagas!

KOULOURIA (Adapted from Kalofagas)
Makes 9 pieces

Ingredients:
- Dry yeast > 4 g
- Honey > ½ tablespoon
- Warm water > 135 ml
- Fine sea salt > 3 g
- Olive oil > 22 g
- All purpose flour > 245 g

- Extra water > for coating
Coating options:
- White sesame > 50 g
- Mixed dried fruits – cut into chunks > 50 g
- Dried cranberries – cut into chunks > 30 g
- Crystal sugar > 30 g
- Apricot gel > to brush on coating

Method:
- Combine honey, 45 ml of warm water, and yeast in a big bowl. Stir with a spoon and leave for 10 minutes to activate yeast.
- Add sea salt, olive oil, 90 ml of warm water, and 70 g of flour at a time whilst mixing the dough with your hands. Continue adding flour and mixing until the dough is no longer sticky.

- Knead dough for 10 minutes. Form into a ball and rub the surface with some olive oil. Place in a bowl and cover with cling film. Allow to rest in a warm place for an hour until dough becomes doubled in size.
- Preheat oven to 230 C.
- Punch the dough with your fist and turn the dough onto the working surface. Cut dough into 50 grams pieces. You will get about 9. Roll each into a shape of a 14 inch rope with your hands. Lift it up with two even ends hanging down. Now twist the bottom and top with your hands to form the braid. Repeat for the rest.

- Place water in one plate and sesame in another. Dip the braided dough into water and then sesame (or mixed dried fruits, or dried cranberries with crystal sugar). Place coated dough on baking sheet.
- As the oven reaches 230 C, place a tray of hot water on the lower rack and place the baking tray in the middle. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until just golden.
- Brush with apricot gel. Cool on wire rack.

Daring Bakers' Decorated Sugar Cookies

2010-09-27T22:19:00.000-07:00

This is not really my first decorated sugar cookie project (refer to my Croquembouche and Ginger Bread House). But I could say this is the first attempt of doing it correctly based on a proper recipe and sort of dedicating the entire time and attention to make it right. For some reasons, I took this meticulous decoration challenge rather seriously.

As we all have seen how beautiful and elaborate some of the decorated sugar cookies done by many of our dedicated expert food bloggers. Name a few, Sue Sparks of Munchkin Munchies whose creativity and style are the reflection of her warm personality and love for her family and Katie Yoon of Something Sweet who regularly blows my mind with her sense of beauty and high fashion, and of course many many more whom I haven't discovered. Having seen so many beautiful decorated cookies intrigued me into attempting to do the crafting on my own.

So thanks to Mandy of What the Fruitcake?! for picking up the perfect recipe for everyone to play and have decorating fun! The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

I was supposed to come up with a September theme for my decorated cookies. And my first thought was the person who was behind the drawing skill that has embarked me into a life of design and arts...... My father! The one man in this world who nourished my passion for drawing when I was young, bought me my first set of coloring pencils, introduced me to the beautiful world of Chinese water color art, and showed me the wonders of the art of Picasso.

My father passed away many years ago but he is always a part of me. He has instilled his passion for drawing into me, a passion that he had when he was young and just didn’t get developed due to his responsibility as the eldest son to support his parents and 10 siblings.

My flower decorations are taken from the book my dad once bought for me. A treasure that lasts forever. Flower was an important object in my years of drawing on paper, just as important as now ..... on cookies. “Dad, these are for you!”

DECORATED SUGAR COOKIES

1.Basic Sugar Cookies:

Makes Approximately 36x 10cm / 4" Cookies
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter, at room temperature > 200 grams
- All Purpose / Plain Flour> 400 grams
- Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar > 200 grams
- Large Egg - lightly beaten > 1
- Vanilla Extract > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape.
- Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms.
- Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.
- Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm
- Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins. Recipes commonly just wrap the whole ball of dough in clingwrap and then refrigerate it for an hour or overnight, but by rolling the dough between parchment, this shortens the chilling time and then it’s also been rolled out while still soft making it easier and quicker.

- Once chilled, peel off parchment and place dough on a lightly floured surface.
- Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife.
- Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour. It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking.
- Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.
- Preheat oven to 180°C.
- Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies. Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done. Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.
- Leave to cool on cooling racks.
- Once completely cooled, decorate as desired. If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.

2. Royal Icing:

- Icing Sugar – sift > 315g – 375g
- Large Egg Whites > 2
- Lemon Juice > 2 teaspoons
- Almond Extract > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Beat egg whites with lemon juice until combined. It’s important that the bowls/spoons/spatulas and beaters you use are thoroughly cleaned and grease free.
- Sift the icing sugar to remove lumps and add it to the egg whites.
- There are 2 amounts of icing sugar, the lesser amount is good for a flooding consistency, and the larger amount is for outlining, but you can add even more for a much thicker consistency good for writing. If you add too much icing sugar or would like to make a thinner consistency, add very small amounts of water, a few drops at a time, until you reach the consistency you need.
- Beat on low until combined and smooth.
- Use immediately or keep in an airtight container. Royal Icing starts to harden as soon as it’s in contact with air so make sure to cover containers with plastic wrap while not in use.

3. Decorating Your Cookies: Flooding
“Flooding” a cookie is a technique used when covering a cookie with Royal Icing.

Method:
- Outline the area you want to flood which helps create a dam
- Fill or flood inside the area you’ve outlined

4. Tips on Decorating Your Cookies: Royal Icing

The most important thing when it comes to decorating with Royal Icing is the consistency.There are two ways of flooding your cookies. Some like to do the outline with a thicker icing and then flood with a thinner icing. Some like to use the same icing to do both which saves time and you don’t have to have two different piping bags for each colour you’re using.

The Same Consistency Method
Consistency:
- Mix your royal icing according to the recipe/instructions
- Drag a knife through the surface of the Royal Icing and count to 10
- If the surface becomes smooth between 5 & 10 seconds, the icing is at the correct consistency
- If your icing is too thick, thin it by adding a few drops of water. Mix, do the 10 second test, then if it’s still too thick, add a few more drops of water, repeat, etc.
- To thicken your icing, add small amounts of icing sugar until thick enough for the 10 second test

Two Different Consistencies Methods
Consistency:
- Mix your royal icing according to the recipe/instructions.
- Separate into 2 different bowls, one lot of icing for outlining, the other for flooding.
- For the outlining icing, drag a knife through the surface of the Royal Icing.
- If the surface becomes smooth at around 10 seconds, the icing is at the correct consistency.
- If your icing is too thick, thin it by adding a few drops of water. Mix, count to 10 seconds, then if it’s still too thick, add a few more drops of water, repeat, etc.
- To thicken your icing, add small amounts of icing sugar until thick enough for the 10 second test.
- For the flooding/filling icing, drag a knife through the surface of the Royal Icing.
- If the surface becomes smooth at around 3-4 seconds, the icing is at the correct consistency.
- If your icing is too thick, thin it by adding a few drops of water. Mix, count to 3-4 seconds, then if it’s still too thick, add a few more drops of water, repeat, etc.
- To thicken your icing, add small amounts of icing sugar until thick enough for the 3-4 second test.

Colouring
- Separate Royal Icing into separate bowls for each colour you plan on using.
- Make sure to cover the bowls with cling film or a damp cloth to prevent the top from setting and then making lumps
- Using a toothpick, add gel or paste colouring to each bowl and mix thoroughly until desired colour is reached
- You can use liquid food colouring but you might not be able to get the desired strength of colour, liquid colouring will also thin out the icing so you’ll need to add more icing sugar to thicken it again.

Prepping and Filling Your Bag
- Attach your icing tips to the piping bags using couplers
- You don’t need to use a coupler but it makes it easier if you want to change tip sizes
- A size 1 tip is best for doing intricate details. A size 2 tip is good for some details and outlining. Fill or flood with sizes 2 – 5.
- You don’t need a piping bag, you can use a parchment cone or ziplock bag with a tiny bit snipped off the corner. I would however recommend getting a piping set if you don’t have one as it will be much easier and more precise.
- Stand the piping bags in glasses with the tops of the bags folded over the top of the glass.
- Fill your icing bags with each coloured icing.
- Tie the ends of the piping bags with elastic bands.

Decorating: Outlining
- Fit the piping bag with a size 2 or 3 tip.
- Or snip a very small bit of the corner off of a parchment cone or Ziploc bag
- Hold the piping bag at a 45 degree angle above the cookie where you want to start the outline.
- Gently squeeze the piping bag and start moving in the direction you want to outline the cookie.
- Start lifting the piping bag away from the cookie so that the flow of icing falls onto the cookie, making it an even and neater outline.
- As you start to reach the beginning of the outline, bring the piping tip closer to the surface of the cookie to meet the start of the icing outline.
- If you’re doing an intricate cookie, like a snow flake, you won’t be able to lift the tip as far away from the cookie.
- If you’re doing a different colour border, eg a black border, let the outline dry before flooding. If using the same colour for the outline as you’re flooding with, begin flooding after doing the outline.

Decorating: Flooding
- Fit the piping bag with a size 2-5 tip, the bigger the area being filled, the bigger the tip.
- Or cut slightly more off the corner of a Ziploc bag to create a slightly larger opening.
- Quickly zigzag back and forth over the area you want to fill.
- You need to be quick when flooding the cookie so don’t worry too much if it’s not filled in neatly.
- Using a toothpick or clean paintbrush, push the icing around into the gaps that are still remaining.
- Either pick up the cookie and tip it from side to side to even out the filling, or lightly bang the cookie down on your kitchen counter.

Decorating: Melding Colours
- If you would like to add lines or dots to the base colour that you flooded the cookie with so that they meld and dry as a smooth surface, you need to add the lines/dots/patterns as quickly as possible after flooding and smoothing the surface of the cookie.
- Make sure to have all the colours you’re planning on using ready and close by so that you can switch between colours quickly
- Simply pipe other colours onto the flooded surface in patterns or lines which you can either leave as that or then drag a toothpick through to make marbling patterns.

Decorating: On top of flooding
- If you’d like to do other patterns/outlines or writing on top of the flooded surface so that they are raised above the flooded background, simply allow the icing to dry, preferably over night.
- Fit the piping bag with tip sizes 1-3.
- Pipe patterns or write on top of the dry icing
- For writing, the consistency of your icing should be thicker rather than thinner, drag a knife through your icing and when the surface smoothes around 12-15 seconds, the consistency is correct.

Packaging and Storing
- Once fully decorated, allow cookies to dry for 24 hours in a cool and dry area.
- Stack cookies in an airtight container, from largest cookies at the bottom, to smallest and more intricate at the top, with parchment or wax free paper in between the layers.
- Store in a cool and dry area with the container’s lid firmly sealed.
- Will last for about a month if stored this way.

Luck

2010-09-19T01:36:00.000-07:00

This morning I met the luckiest person in Bangkok. As usual, my morning ritual includes taking a taxi to office, and as I was sitting in the cab, I couldn’t help but notice that the vehicle is truly brand new with that very particular out-of-car-assembly smell. So with my curiosity in tact, I started a conversation with the driver - a guy in his thirties, crew-cut, masculine with a fierce look that would normally stop other passengers to kick start a conversation. But I was just in my talkative mood, and that didn’t hold me back.

Basically I was asking him when he got this seemingly new cab. He answered with almost no-expression kind of face. “Just about two weeks ago, a first prize from a beer lucky draw!”. And from there he elaborated. Apparently one of the well-known Thai beer conducted an annual lucky draw and the first prize was a car. And this guy struck it out of his unforeseen luck.

I asked further how he felt upon the announcement. He said he was totally stunned and didn’t manage to compose correct sentences in that particular moment. Like there was a sudden mental jam. An overwhelming joy. An appreciation of goodness life has brought for him. An ecstacy!

That just reminded me of a special baking moment I encountered. The lucky moment applied to me and most probably many other food bloggers - yes that includes you there! It is that particular “There are feet! There are feet! My macaron is perfect!” moment. I experienced such a high level of joy whilst my first ever macaron baking came out with perfect feet or skirts. Although I didn’t have anyone around to share that particular moment, I was feeling extremely overwhelmed. I was a lucky man for once!

So when next time I am sad or down, this guy or my macaron baking episode will remind me that this moment will pass, better things are on their way.
For some of you who have been experiencing misfortune or feeling down for a while now, this taxi driver is the proof that life could not be bad all the time. In fact there are always ups and downs. And if you are currently in the lowest point in that life circle, that means things will quickly turn for the best in the future, soon or later.

PINK CARNATION MACARON
Makes 10 macarons

1. Pink Macarons
Prepare: 1 big baking tray lined with a Silpat or parchment paper

Ingredients :
- Egg white > 70 grams
- Sugar > 50 grams
- Icing sugar > 90 grams
- Ground almond > 45 grams
- Carnation essence > 1/2 teaspoon
- Pink coloring > 2 drops

Method :
- Combine icing sugar and ground almond. Sieve.
- Whip egg white until frothy. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
- Fold almond and icing mixture gradually into the egg white in 2 additions. In between the additions fold in carnation essence and pink coloring. Mix carefully with a spatula until batter is shiny and flowy like magma.
- Fill batter into piping bag tipped with a plain circular nozzle and pipe into a circle with a diameter of 3 cm. Piping makes 20 pieces.

- Leave to rest until surface of these pipings are flat and dry or when touched, it doesn't stick to our finger.
- Preheat oven at 150°C.
- Bake at 150°C for 8-10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 125°C, turn tray 180 degrees and continue baking for 8-10 minutes.
- Cool on the rack and detach from Silpat or parchment paper.

2. Orange Ganache

Ingredients :
- White chocolate > 90 grams
- Whipping cream > 40 grams
- Orange concentrate > 1 teaspoon
- Orange coloring > 1 drop
- Butter > 16 grams

Method :
- Place white chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat whipping cream until boiled. Pour into white chocolate. Leave for a while until white chocolate melts. Stir thoroughly.
- Add butter, orange concentrate, and orange coloring. Mix well.
- Leave to cool and thicken.

3. Assembly

- Fill orange ganache into piping bag and pipe on the macaron. Top with the other macaron to form like a sandwich.

Yolks... Yolks..

2010-09-07T04:31:00.000-07:00

In times of having too many egg yolks in storage, one has to think of a way out. Especially when egg yolks have been sitting in the air-tight container inside the fridge for more than 2 days. I have to do something about them or else they will be wasted... and I won't let it happen!

Well, many food bloggers have come out with an ice cream solution. That means after producing lots of cute macarons or an appealing pavlova or whatever that uses up the egg whites and abandons the egg yolks, one should quickly think of the ice cream to accompany his first baking. What if one refuses to do so, let's say he is bored of ice cream or in worse case, he doesn't have an ice cream maker to process the ice cream itself? What is he going to do?

There should be a recipe to run to.... quickly!

After churning out a lot of meringue in my last session of Pavlova, I was in the middle of this exact situation and I told myself I had to find a solution. Anything but not ice cream, I just had too much ice cream lately and I could see the grin in T's face everytime I offered him ice cream.

After flipping through baking books and browse the internet, I found my super duper recipe. It simply consumes my entire bowl of yolks in one go. Call it a miracle for someone who is in need!

MINI RAISIN AND CRANBERRY BREAD PUDDING
Makes 12-16 mini pudding
Prepare: one 8.5 inch square cake mould and one 2 inch cake ring.

Ingredients:
- Egg yolks > 6
- Granulated sugar > 100 grams
- Lime zest > 3 teaspoons
- Whipping cream > 450ml
- Whole milk > 150ml
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon
- Raisins > 100 grams
- Dried cranberries > 100 grams
- 4 inch square bread slices, thickness 1.5cm, crust in tact > 8 slices

Method:
- Combine raisins and dried cranberries in a bowl. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 170C.
- Grease and line the bottom and sides of a 7inch square cake mould.
- Beat egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Add lime zest and beat briefly. Set aside.
- Separately boil whipping cream and vanilla essence in a saucepan.
- Immediately pour the hot mixture into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Set aside.
- Scatter half of the dried fruits throughout the cake mould.
- Dip 4 bread slices, one at a time, into egg mixture and toss it gently to cover completely. Place these slices of coated bread on top of the scattered fruits. Press firmly.

- Spread the rest of dried fruits on bread layer.
- Dip other 4 slices of bread in the egg mixture and lay them on top of the fruits.
- Pour the remaining egg mixture into the cake mould.
- Bake at 170C for one hour or until the pudding is firm.
- Remove from oven and leavepudding to cool in the mould.
- Refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, invert cake mould on a baking tray. Remove the lining paper.
- Use 2 inch cake ring to cut out 12-16 pieces of mini puddings.
- Invert puddings and place on serving plate.

Take in Paris??

2010-09-01T09:43:00.000-07:00

I like to use this special moment to launch Take in Paris, a twin blog of Bake in Paris but with slightly different content. After crafting within Bake in Paris for 20 months - that is baking and taking food photographs, I realized there has been a need for an expression outside the food box and into more general still-life photography. Apparently there are many beautiful objects around me that are patiently waiting to be captured which happened to be non food.

Fruits and flowers are two major objects that have been part of my desire which have not been presented as much as I wanted. Posting flower or fruit photographs solely without any accompanying recipe seems incomplete for Bake in Paris as I believe readers are expecting to view something that they can cook or bake. There is where Take in Paris comes into picture.

Feel free to cross over and view my first post. Hope you enjoy it!

Happy Moment...

2010-09-01T09:03:00.000-07:00

I'd like to share my happy moment with you, my dear readers.... Just this morning I got an email telling me that my Mini Strawberry Financier photo has won the third prize of Leite's Culinaria Photo Contest! Wow!

It is really my honor to win such prestigious contest. Oh boy, my little dream of having my photo viewed by Aran of Canelle et Vanille came true with a prize. That is so cool!

Thanks to all of you who have voted People's Choice for my photo! My gratitudes to David Leite of Leite's Culinaria and the whole panel of judges: Aran Goyoaga of Cannelle et Vanille, Ben Fink, Erika Oliveira, former art director of Gourmet, and Karen Mordechai of Sunday Suppers.

Daring Bakers' Baked Alaska

2010-08-27T22:06:00.001-07:00

Baked Alaska? I have seen it featured in many different cooking books and magazines. And every single time I looked at the pictures I always told myself that I would love to bake this. However it never happened since somehow I always caught the impression that it was complicated, leave alone the raw meringue coating was another reason for hesitation.

Having mentioned that, this challenge is definitely a trigger to finally bring it to reality. I’d like to experience baking and freezing this cold cake, and finally face my fear of raw meringue.

And for this challenge, I was ready to take the distance of preparing various flavors for ice cream. I had imagined having the ice cream layer of vivid colors - either pink, purple, and red. Especially red! Therefore, I changed vanilla ice cream into lychee cranberry sorbet for pink, blueberry yoghurt ice cream for purple, and strawberry sorbet for red. Before taking any step into my kitchen, I visualized taking colorful and interesting pictures. The thought itself was so delightful... For that reason, I wished that this cake would be a success story.

And thanks to Elissa for bringing up this wonderful challenge. Totally enjoyable and delicious! The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Please check out more details about the challenge and recipe here and don't forget to view other Daring Bakers' takes on this challenge!

BAKED ALASKA

1. Vanilla Ice Cream (or you can go with other flavors)

Ingredients:
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (165g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2 litre) bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon [5ml] if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons [15ml] if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine.

2. Brown Butter Pound Cake

Ingredients:
19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

3. Meringue

Ingredients:
8 large egg whites
½ teaspoon (3g) cream of tartar
½ teaspoon (3g) salt
1 cup (220g) sugar

Method:
Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar gradually in a slow stream until stiff peaks form.

4. Assembly Instructions

Method:
1. Line four 4” (10cm) diameter tea cups with plastic wrap, so that plastic wrap covers all the sides and hangs over the edge. Fill to the top with ice cream. Cover the top with the overhanging plastic wrap and freeze for several hours, or until solid.
2. Level the top of the brown butter pound cake with a serrated knife or with a cake leveler. Cut out four 4” (10cm) diameter circles from the cake. Discard the scraps or use for another purpose.
3. Make the meringue (see above.)
4. Unwrap the ice cream “cups” and invert on top of a cake round. Trim any extra cake if necessary.
5. Pipe the meringue over the ice cream and cake, or smooth it over with a spatula, so that none of the ice cream or cake is exposed. Freeze for one hour or up to a day.
6. Burn the tips of the meringue with a cooking blow torch. Or, bake the meringue-topped Baked Alaskas on a rimmed baking sheet in a 500°F/260°C oven for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Serve immediately.

Daring Bakers' Petite Four

2010-08-27T22:02:00.001-07:00

In the other hand, I also like to bake Petite Four. I am a big fan of this petite delicacy, and how on earth would I ignore it for Baked Alaska? So I decided to aim for both and just wished for the best to happen.

It didn't take a lot of efforts since Petite Four shared the same components of pound cake and colorful ice cream (blueberry yogurt ice cream and strawberry sorbet), so this challenge is more like winning two prizes in one lucky draw. And by the way if you are thinking about doing both cakes make sure you double up the pound cake or else you will end up with too little cake to work with.

So here I go. Hope you enjoy the photos! I can't wait to grab these little ones and eat them like there is no tomorrow. Which one should I have first, the blueberry or strawberry? And again thanks to Elissa of 17 and Baking for bringing up this wonderful challenge!

PETITE FOUR

1. Vanilla Ice Cream (or you could go with other flavors)

Ingredients:
1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (165g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract
2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
5 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract

Method:
1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2 litre) bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon [5ml] if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons [15ml] if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine.

2. Brown Butter Pound Cake

Ingredients:
19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (See “Note” section for cake flour substitution)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

3. Chocolate Glaze

Ingredients:
9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Method:
Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

4. Assembly Instructions

Method:
1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.
2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.
3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.
4. Make the chocolate glaze (see above.)
5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).
6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.

First Anniversary

2010-08-22T23:13:00.000-07:00

This is the post I have been waiting to send out since last two weeks ago. It presents a simple recipe which I like very much due to its taste and the endless possibility of fruit decoration. And it expresses how special August is to me.

August is a pleasant month in Bangkok. The rainy season is back and the weather is cool and sometimes windy. After months of heat this is the month most of us here have been waiting for. Fruits are plentiful too, for one I can see starfruit, a particular fruit that is so appealing in sliced form and suitable for cake top decoration. And it just happened that we can also find abundant imported fruits like strawberries (I just love the weird longish shaped Australian strawberries, they are so peculiar and beautiful in their own way....), kiwi fruits and lots of cherries. Just love them all.

August also marks the first anniversary for me and T. It has been a remarkable year in a relationship that seems promising and feels so right. The chemistry is great between us and I could see myself cutting down on activities so I could go back home earlier and be with him. Deep down I just feel so grateful that somehow destiny has led me to him after a long and tiring search.

If you have noticed I also have changed the look of my blog. August is the start of the series of changes I am planning to do for myself. There would be more things featured in this blog and soon enough there would be an official bakeinparis site (I am excited about this, a lot!) and currently thinking about setting up a photography blog, a place where I could pour out my passion for still-life photography. Lots of photos that fall into a non-food category need a platform for display and comment.

And the "Order a Cake" thingy will work soon I am ready with the mechanism for ordering and delivery. So for now, it just sits there quietly and hope you don't mind about it. Cross my finger, it will be activated soon.... However, the cake order is only open to Bangkok customers in yet limited areas. But I guess I need to get started somewhere somehow and it seems fun to fill up my time with someone else's special celebration, don't you think?

FRUIT TART
Makes one 7 inch pie or five 3.5 inch mini pies

1. Crème Patissiere

Ingredients:
- Egg yolks > 3
- Granulated sugar > 60 grams
- All purpose flour > 20 grams
- Evaporated milk> 100ml
- Fresh milk > 150 ml
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Beat egg yolks and 20 grams of sugar until pale and fluffy.
- Gently fold in all purpose flour. Set aside.
- Mix evaporated milk, fresh milk, 40 grams of sugar and vanilla essence in a saucepan. Bring to boil.
- Once boiled, pour hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture while stirring vigorously with a whisk to avoid eggs from getting cooked.
- When the milk mixture is completely mixed with egg mixture, return the combined mixture into saucepan and bring to boil over medium heat. Whisk constantly. After boiled, continue cook for 10 minutes more.
- Pour custard into a heatproof bowl and cover with cling film. Leave to cool and refrigerate overnight.
- Beat with electric mixer until smooth before applying to pie.

2.Crust
Prepare: one pie 7 inch pie mould, height 1.5 inch or five 3.5 inch mini pie, height 1 inch

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour > 125 grams
- Salted butter – chop into cubes > 50 grams
- Egg > 1
- Salt > 1/8 teaspoon
- Icing sugar > 50 grams
- Fruits for decoration.

Method:
- Place all purpose flour on table top and make a well in the middle.
- Pour butter, egg, and salt into the well and quickly mix all together until just about lumpy.
- Add egg in the middle and mix to form dough that is holding together. Knead into smooth dough.
- Shape dough into a ball, cover with cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 200C.

- Roll out dough into a circle slightly bigger than 10 inch and with 3 mm thickness.
- Press into pie mould. Prick the base with fork. Line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove paper and beans. Bake for 10 minutes more. Let cool.
Fill with crème patissiere. Decorate with fruits.

A Guest Post, and Vegetarian

2010-08-18T22:46:00.000-07:00

Aparna of The Diverse Kitchen had asked me to do a guest post for her blog last month, but as I was so busy I initiated to send my slot for the month of August instead. Absolutely pleased that I had enough time to think about what kind of vegetarian food I would be posting (by the way, it is my very first vegetarian post so I need to get it right, don't I?). Finally settled with the idea of making the best out of sweet potatoes, rum and honey. It is simple and easy for all baked pudding lovers to follow...

So without any delay, do visit The Diverse Kitchen! And happy baking :-)

One Photo One Chance

2010-08-06T01:30:00.000-07:00

How does it feel like to be one of the finalists of Leites Culinaria Photo Contest? I hardly thought I would get to experience it. From the onset, I realized the participants most probably would have come from a higher level of photography expertice (I mean look at the list of contest jury, wow... in the little dream of mine I had wished that once in my blog lifetime my photo would ever been viewed by Aran of Canelle et Vanille). Mostly I imagined I wasn't qualified enough to take part.

Therefore I wasn't thinking about participating. And during that one last week into the deadline I was so swamped with work at the office, plus trying to wrap up my website, and then came the DB Challenge and T.... T was hinting to me that I had been spending too much time on my work and website. As much as he showed he understood the situation, I had to put him back into one of my priorities..

So yes, I tried to make free time for T last Friday by not doing anything and comfortably staying by his side the whole evening. Just when the next day it happened that T had to go to work and suddenly I had free time in hand. I thought why not giving the contest a shot, got a few hours... so tried to make good use of them. And at the end of the day, if I did not pass the final, it was still nothing to lose cause I could use the material for a new post in my blog, right?

I quickly whipped up 2 recipes and as practical as I tried to be, both required time for refrigeration. So cut the story short, I managed to bake Mini Muffin Strawberry Financiers at lunch time and decided to just focus on one recipe instead of two. Next I frantically took photos like crazy and managed to get one photo sent after midnight (that shows how much time I had spent to shoot the right angle and selected the most appropriate photo, from like hundreds of them). And as I got the reply email informing my successful entry, I was relieved that I was officially taking my chance in the contest! One photo one chance!

And yes, my little wish came true. I made it to the final among other 9 finalists. I was so thrilleddddd! I actually shouted and quickly broke the great news to T!

Thanks to Deeba of Passionate about Baking for being the very source of information about the photo contest! Share the excitement with me by viewing the finalist photos here and at the same time you could also vote one of the photos to win People's Choice Award. Have fun!

So what was I going to do with my second recipe?... The batter was sitting in the fridge and I had to make time to bake it the following day and that is what I am going to share with you here. It is the recipe that I churned out from Leites Culinaria's recipe box that somehow did not make it to the contest due to my limited time.

CHOCOLATE GINGER CRINKLE COOKIES
by Jennifer Lindner McGlinn
from Gingerbread: Timeless Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Desserts, Ice Cream and Candy (Chronicle Books, 2009)
Makes 40 cookies

Ingredients
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 7 1/2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
- Confectioners’ sugar for rolling

Method
1. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, ginger, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
2. Combine the butter and 3 ounces of the chocolate in a medium, heat-proof bowl. Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 1 1/2 inches of simmering water (being sure not to let the bottom of the bowl touch the water) and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter have melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and set aside to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. (You can also melt the mixture in the microwave, heating it at about 20-second intervals and stirring periodically until it is melted and smooth.)

3. Stir the granulated and brown sugars into the melted chocolate mixture, using a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. Drop in the eggs, one at a time, mixing briskly until smooth. Stir in the vanilla extract and gradually incorporate the flour mixture. Fold in the remaining 4 1/2 ounces of chocolate and the crystallized ginger. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and set in the refrigerator to chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
4. Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Shape the chilled dough into walnut-size balls, roll in confectioners’ sugar, and arrange them about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. (If your kitchen is quite warm and the dough becomes too soft, return it to the refrigerator until chilled and fairly firm.) Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the cookies have spread and the tops are cracked.
6. Cool the chocolate-ginger crinkle cookies on the baking sheets set on wire racks for about 2 minutes before removing them to the racks to cool completely. Store the crinkle cookies in an airtight container or in a zip-top bag for up to 4 days.

Daring Bakers' Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

2010-07-28T01:02:00.001-07:00

Gosh, this month's challenge hosted by Sunita of Sunita's world seemed so simple but in fact there were many factors necessary to make this cold cake successful. For one, patience had to be in place, in regards to freeze, refreeze, freeze, and refreeze the whipping cream to turn it into Vanilla and Chocolate Ice Cream. And not to mention freezing the Hot Fudge Sauce that create the boundary between the two ice cream flavors.

Another important factor was the freezer. I happened to have a not-so-powerful one that even leaving the ice cream to freeze for 5 hours did not make the texture firm and hard. It was just in between soft and firm. The fact of setting it into the maximum coldness didn't seem to make any difference. Time was luxurious then, and I did not have it sufficiently.

So the overnight freezing only resulted in a presentable Swiss roll ice cream cake, good enough to take photograph, but still not hard enough - or that I am not convinced enough - to risk cutting through it in order to show the ice cream layers. So I guess I need more time to leave it int the freezer and show the internal layers in my upcoming post. So this is what I can show for now...

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

SWISS ROLL ICE CREAM CAKE

1. Swiss Roll
Prepare: 2 baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches )

Ingredients:
- 6 medium sized eggs
- 1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling
- 6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
- 2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
- a little oil for brushing the pans

Method:
- Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
- Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
- Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
- Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
- Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
- Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
- Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
- Repeat the same for the next cake as well.

For the filling:
- 2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
- 1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- 5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

Method:
- Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
-In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
- Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
- Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
- Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

2. Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients:
- 2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
- 1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
- ½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar

Method:
- Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
- Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

3. Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients:
- 1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar
- 3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch
- 1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water
- 1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter
- 1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract

Method:
- In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
- Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
- Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

4. Chocolate Ice Cream

Ingredients:
- 2C/ 500 ml whipping cream
- 1 C/230gms/8 oz caster sugar
- 3 tblsp/ 24 gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:
- Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .
- In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
- Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
- Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.
- Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

5. Assembly

Method:
- Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).
- Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
- Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
- Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)
- Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour)
- Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
- Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
-Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

Singing In The Rain

2010-07-23T03:46:00.000-07:00

Many years back a closed friend invited me to see the musical "Singing in the Rain" staged at the newly completed Esplanade Theatre in Singapore. I was so amazed with the dancing, singing and especially the rain they managed to make pouring thoroughly on the stage while the actor was singing and dancing.

As mesmerized as I was to the stage musical, I went directly to look for the DVD and it was hard to find since it was a classic. After a long search I finally got it and enjoyed the movie very much. Replaying the movie a few times, I had grown to like Gene Kelly, the acrobatic dancer-singer-star-choreographer.

"Singing in the Rain" was directed by Gene Kelly himself and Stanley Donen and released in the year 1952 by MGM. This joyous film is very charming, up-beat, and a completely entertaining experience with great songs, lots of flashbacks, wonderful dances, casting and story. No wonder I didn't stop there and continued to get "An American in Paris", another Gene Kelly's movie.

As the rain season is back in Bangkok, and the rain is in fact pouring heavily as I am typing this post, flashbacks of "Singing in the Rain" scenes came back like an unexpected returning good friend and I suddenly long to see that movie again.

CHOUX SQUARES
Need 2 baking trays lined with baking paper.

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour - sift > 75 grams
- Salt > ½ teaspoon
- Granulated sugar > 8 grams
- Milk > 65 ml
- Water > 60 ml
- Salted butter > 50 grams
- Eggs – beat moderately > 1.5
- Fruit slices and balls > as desired
- Orange sauce or chocolate sauce > as desired
- Icing sugar > for dusting

Method:
- Combine sifted flour and sugar. Leave aside.
- Heat water, milk, and butter in a pan until butter is completely melted. Bring to boil.
- Remove from fire immediately. Pour flour and sugar mixture into the boiled milk mixture.
- Stir mixture until forming a paste that leaves the sides of the pan clean. Leave to cool for 15 minutes.
- Preheat oven at 200C.
- Fold eggs into paste in a few additions while beating in slow speed.

- When the whole eggs are added, change speed to high and beat until paste becomes smooth and glossy.
- Fill paste into the piping bag fitted with a small plain nozzle. Pipe a square outline with the length of 2.5 inch, then continue to pipe cris-cros diagonal lines inside the hollow square outline.
- Bake at 200C for 5 minutes. Reduce temperature to 180 degree Celsius and bake for another 5-10 minutes until choux is cooked and golden brown.
- Cool on wire rack.
- Dust choux squares with icing sugar.
- Serve with strawberries, mango balls, kiwis or other fruits. Drizzle with orange sauce or chocolate sauce.

Wednesday Special 11

2010-07-14T21:45:00.001-07:00

Congratulations to all the winners of June DMBLGIT! And thanks to Nidhi of Snacksgiving for appointing me to be the judge for the event. I would also like to express my gratitude to all participants who have submitted photos and helped save the contest. My special gratitude to many foodbloggers who have taken the step of submitting photos for the first time on behalf of good intention. Thank you all!

The contest managed to collect 95 submissions. Apparently there were many great photos to assess and it was hard to choose the winners when they were all good. Well, fortunately there were Meeta, Vero, and Tania... The final decision was drawn from the highest total points accumulated from all judges.

Meanwhile, the good news is I just got myself a new laptop that would give me 24 hour access to this blog. So pleased to finally get a full insight into what is going on with my blog and other's. Definitely will say "Hi" more often to everyone and no more reason to skip posting on a weekend. Now my blog update is just a few clicks away :-) Yes!

Just got to learn about the exciting photo contest from Deeba's Passionate About Baking. Check it out, you might be interested to join....

See you for more updates. For now hope you enjoy my non-food photo shoot. Have a great day!

Saint Honore

2010-07-10T08:41:00.000-07:00

I have been busy composing my website that I hardly have time to do anything leisure like watching DVDs or shopping or taking more photos. Well, you do understand how elaborate and meticulous a website project could turn out to be! Meanwhile, I missed baking and blogging so much.

So when there was a spare time this morning while T was at work, I quickly gathered the ingredients to churn out this creation. I mean I have done lots of eclairs and profiteroles, and last 2 DB Challenges we were creating Croquembouche, so it was about time for a Saint Honore. Hope you enjoy the recipe!

SAINT HONORE
Makes a 8 inch pate sucree topped with 12 profiteroles.

1. Pate Sucree

Ingredients:
Egg yolks > 2
Vanilla essence > ½ tsp
Butter > 100 g
Sifted all purpose flour > 200 g
Granulated sugar > 40 g

Method:
Moderately whisk egg yolks with vanilla essence. Set aside.
Rub butter into sifted all purpose flour. Add sugar.
Fold egg yolk mixture into flour mixture and mix into dough.
Press dough to form a disc and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Afterwards, remove from fridge and roll into an 8 inch circle.
Prick all over the surface with fork.
Place on baking tray and refrigerate for 30 minutes more.

2. Choux Paste

Ingredients:
Eggs > 2
Sifted all purpose flour > 75 g
Salt > ½ tsp
Granulated sugar > 7 g
For eggwash: 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water
Milk > 125 ml
Butter > 50 g

Method:
Moderately beat the eggs. Set aside.
Combine sifted all purpose flour, salt, and sugar. Set aside.
Mix 1 egg with 1 tablespoon of water to form egg wash. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 200C.
Heat milk and butter in a saucepan until butter is completely melted. Bring to boil.
Remove from heat and immediately fold in the flour mixture. Mix with wooden spoon to form smooth paste. Leave to just warm.
Fold in eggs and beat with electric mixer until batter is smooth and glossy.
Fill choux paste into piping bag tipped with big plain nozzle.
Remove pate sucree from refrigerator and pipe choux paste on it with a spiral formation.
Brush with eggwash and bake at 200C for 30minutes.
Pipe the rest of the choux paste into 12 profiteroles on a baking tray.
Bake at 200C for 15-20 minutes.
Remove from oven and cool.

3. Creme Patissiere

Ingredients:
- Milk > 350 ml
- Egg yolks > 4
- Granulated sugar > 90 grams
- All purpose flour > 18 grams
- Corn flour > 18 grams
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Boil milk in the saucepan. Remove from fire and leave to cool slightly.
- Whip egg yolks and sugar until pale and thick. Fold in all purpose flour, corn flour, and vanilla powder.
- Slowly pour milk into the egg yolk mixture and combine to form custard.
- Place custard back into saucepan and cook at low heat while stirring continuously until it is thick. Leave to boil for one minute. Keep stirring.
- Pour into shallow container and cover with cling film. Leave to cool.
- When it is cool, beat with electric mixer until smooth. Fill it into a piping bag.
- Poke a hole at the bottom of each profiterole and pipe in crème patissiere.

4. Caramel

Ingredients:
Granulated sugar > 200 g
Water > 180 ml

Method:
Grease a baking tray with vegetable oil. Set aside
Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to boil without stirring until it reaches the desired red amber color.
Remove from fire and place saucepan in a bowl of iced water to stop caramel for further cooking.
Dip profiteroles into caramel and immediately place them on greased baking tray and let them set.

5. Assembly

Ingredients:
Pistachio chunks > 20 g
Sliced strawberries > 2

Method:
Pipe the rest of crème patissiere on top of baked pate sucree inside the area of the baked outer circumference.
Place the circumference with caramel profiteroles. Press them to stick to crème patissiere.
Sprinkle top of crème patissiere with pistachio chunks.
Decorate the center with strawberry slices.

Daring Bakers' Chocolate Pavlova with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

2010-06-27T23:05:00.000-07:00

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

Pavlova topped with fruits is something that is so pretty to look at. And that is just something that I have been laying my eyes to in baking books and blogs. Always have the reservation that this dessert might be too too sweet for my taste buds. So obviously to bake it in real takes a push. Something only this challenge could do!

The irregular, sometimes organic shape of pavlova - most of what I have seen - has triggered me to think of my own in the opposite way. I prefer to have the look that is neat - a plain and flat disc would do. And I would definitely want to have the mousse of a plain layer that I could just stack on top of the pavlova disc. Sounds simple ha? For that I have to use cake rings for piping the meringue and forming the mousse layer. Gosh, baking Pavlova at 95 degree Celsius took four and a half hours instead of 2-3 hours mentioned in the challenge. That was a long wait!

As I had imagined, these 2 simplified layers provided an abundant creativity space to play around with fruits for the topping. As if the colourful and various shapes of strawberries, papayas, mangoes, green apples, and grapes were being liberated to take the mousse stage and do the pray-for-rain kind of ritual dance, these fruits were so playful on my finger tips. I just loved working with the irregular shapes of fruit cuts and pair them up with chocolate decorations.

Before too long, besides the 7 inch pavlova, I had created a smaller version of 6 inch one. Creating two different sizes made it possible for me to display them side by side and take more interesting pictures. So I hope you enjoy all these pictures..

Meanwhile someone has emailed me regarding placing an ad in my blog and asked how much I would charge for it. I replied back and requested more details regarding the scope of his business, the url of the banner link, and his ad requirements such as number of ads, the length of the ad period, number of ad updates, etc. Well, it seems that the time has come to monetize this blog, what do you think?

Last but not least, there are 96 entries into June's DMBLGIT!!! Thanks to all of you for participating (especially those first timers who participated with the kind intention of saving the event, thanks!!). I should get down to my judging quickly and have my greatest time!

CHOCOLATE PAVLOVA WITH CHOCOLATE MASCARPONE MOUSSE
Makes one 7 inch and one 6 inch cakes

1. Chocolate Pavlova/Meringue
Prepare one 7 inch and one 6 inch cake rings

Ingredients:
- Large egg whites > 3
- White granulated sugar > 110 grams
- Icing sugar > 30 grams
- Cocoa powder > 30 grams

Method:
- Line bottom and sides of cake rings with aluminium foil. Place them on a baking tray. Set aside.
- Preheat oven to 95 Celsius degrees.
- Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)
- Sift icing sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
- Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into the cake rings. Flatten the surface with a spoon.
- Bake for 4 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

2. Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse
Prepare one 5.5 inch and 4 inch cake rings

Ingredients:
- Whipping cream > 180 grams
- Grated zest of lime > 1/2 teaspoon
- Chopped chocolate > 128 grams
- Mascarpone cheese > 197 grams
- Ground nutmeg > 1/8 teaspoon
- Cointreau > 1 tablespoon
- Gelatine powder > 7 grams
- Boiling water > 1.5 tablespoons

Method:
- Line bottom and sides of cake rings with aluminium foil. Place them on a baking tray. Set aside.
- Put 60 grams of the whipping cream and the lime zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
- Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add Cointreau and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
- Mix gelatine powder with boiling water. Stir thoroughly and leave to just warm.
- Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated.
- Mix in gelatine and stir well. Fold mousse into 5.5 inch and 4 inch cake rings.
- Flatten surface with spatula. Refrigerate overnight.

3. Crème Anglaise
Makes 237 grams of cream

Ingredients:
- Whole milk > 120 ml
- Whipping cream > 120 ml
- Vanilla essence > 1/2 teaspoon
- Large egg yolks > 3
- Sugar > 39 grams

Method:
-In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.
- Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.
- Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.
- Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

4 Mascarpone Cream

Ingredients:
- Crème anglaise > 1 recipe
- Mascarpone cheese > 50 grams
- Whipping cream > 60 ml

Method:
- Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and let the mixture cool.
- Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

5. Assembly

Ingredients:
- Fruits - cut as desired
- Chocolate decoration - as desired
- Pavlova 7 inch for mousse 5.5 inch
- Pavlova 6 inch for mousse 4 inch
- Icing sugar - for dusting

Method:
- Remove mousse out from the cake ring by using torch. Stack mousse on top of the pavlova.
- Decorate with fruits and chocolate decoration.
- Dust with icing sugar and drizzle with Mascarpone cream.

Wednesday Special 10

2010-06-23T04:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks so much to you all for good wishes on my bazaar. I definitely have to do my best in showcasing what I baked for that event: Yellow and Green Kiwi Cheese Cake, Sacher Torte, Oreo Banana Cheese Cake, Butterscotch Almond, and Chocolate Mocha Cupcakes. Hope you enjoy the photos...

As I said in my last post that in the middle of a long-hour hectic baking, I wanted to quit. I couldn’t resist the urge because it was true and present, but as usual, once the work was done I always managed to sleep it off. I mean really slept it off and never took it seriously, although I seemed to realize that if I do pick up this baking thing as a major profession such as opening up a bakery, I do need to give it a second thought, a serious one!

The other fact is that at the end of the day when I got the passing-by customers in the bazaar to drop by my booth intuitively and see what were on the display, ask about the cakes and buy them, that just paid off everything – every drop of sweat, and every ache in my muscle. I was standing by my booth introducing my cakes with every bit of enthusiasm, with a wide smile on my face and of course deep in my heart. That showed the customer action meant so much to a baker :-)

It was a hot Saturday and despite the fact that T was supposed to work on that day, he decided to ask for half-day leave to be with me at the booth. For that I appreciated it so much. And this is another fact that I would not be quitting a commercial baking in another bazaar, if any. Thanks T, you are the best!

Recently I have watched “Julie and Julia” and got very inspired. I also got busy reading food styling books and taking a short trip with T and his colleagues. Yesterday I had lunch with them since T’s supervisor was leaving the company in the next couple of days and it was pretty much a farewell lunch. Despite my reluctance to be in the middle of such company gathering, T insisted that everyone would be glad to have me around. On little conversations with his colleagues, a few revealed a couple of things they had read from my blog. One of them asked me what I had been doing for my Wednesday break! Wow… they have been following silently!

And I loved a bit of free time to go around and try cakes. I got to say this was like a must exercise in order to catch up with the latest trend, preference, and pricing. And I was looking for an opportunity to set up a booth somewhere on each Wednesday. Still searching for the right location.

An interesting observation is that I have found a local Thai restaurant selling chocolate macarons, packed in a transparent cupcake size container – 5 medium sized pieces priced much lower than one Starbuck’s muffin. Couldn’t believe it or pretty much felt a bit annoyed by it! It was unpleasant to see macaron was brought into such low undignified level especially when the taste was not up to the standard.

T encouraged me to buy and taste them and it was just true enough they were entirely dry and crispy, no moisted softness in the middle as what they should be. And the filling was aweful and little. An obvious consequence for bringing down the price and ruining macaron’s reputation once and for all. For those customers who never tried macarons, this would create a bad perception about macarons. And that was just frustrating.

Practice... Practice...

2010-06-14T21:17:00.000-07:00

First of all, I like to thank Tanja of Tanja's Cupcakes for this beautiful Happy 101 - Sweet Friends award. Really appreciate it, thanks Tanja!

Let me pass it on to 10 good friends...
- Simone of Jungle Frog Cooking.
- Y of Lemon Pi
- Valerie of Chocolate Bunny.
- Anjelikuh of Anjelikuh.
- Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen.
- Chef D of Energetic Chef.
- Deeba of Passionate About Baking.
- Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yums.
- Jo of Sugar and Everything Nice.
- Vicky of Sweets at Vicky's.

Lately I have been busy dealing with the latest development in my life. Since my work was cut down to 4 days a week, I have been looking for extra things to distract myself and fill up the free day. Aren’t I lucky? My off day is Wednesday, right in the middle of the week. So I literally work 2 days, break 1 day, work 2 more days and weekend break 2 days. It is a great thing, but it is just that I am learning to get used to it. Well, apparently a distraction came handy - the organizer of my previous bazaar told me a week ago that there would be another bazaar at a new location. She was kind enough to book a booth on my behalf since she was familiar with the bazaar organizer. So participating in her bazaar 2 times in a row has made me somehow a familiar face to her.

So I went to visit the building where the bazaar would take place and get to know its residents in order to decide the suitable cakes for the occasion and the rate to price them. Next, I took the time to look into my recipes and books and determined what cakes I should be baking. From the onset, I had included my Chocolate Kiwi Cake ,Fresh Cream Fruit Cake, and Baked Cheese Cakes. However, I needed new cakes to inspire myself and of course allure my prospective customers. So I figured let’s put other types of cheese cakes and mouse cakes in place.

It was a tiring business. Since the bazaar was on a Saturday I had planned to start preparing since Wednesday. Most of the days, I came back tired from work and went straight to baking. Lucky me, T was always there preparing dinner and setting everything up on the dining table right in front of TV. Thanks dear! 2 nights in a row I baked until 3am and in between these long hours, I sometimes wanted to quit and just went to sleep. I just couldn’t keep T to assist me any later than midnight, no matter how much I needed a companion or a pair of extra hands, cause his natural clock rings at midnight sharp and he has to wake up early in the morning. I totally understood and wouldn't mind to do the rest on my own. I was fine, I had to be fine.

On those closed-to-quitting moments, I told myself that this was a practice – a valuable experience - that would help me familiarize each cake’s baking process and speed things up in the future. And compared to my previous two bazaars, I could see that I did improve in terms of speed. I finished on time on Saturday morning!

Okay, I will be right back with you about the bazaar. For now, I hope you are happy with a Saffron Macaron recipe! Enjoy…

SAFFRON MACARON
Makes 10 macarons
Prepare: 1 big baking tray lined with a Silpat or parchment paper

Ingredients :
- Egg white > 70 grams
- Sugar > 50 grams
- Icing sugar > 90 grams
- Ground almond > 45 grams
- Saffron > 2 teaspoons
- Orange coloring > 1 drop

Method :
- Ground 1 teaspoon of saffron. Set aside.
- Combine icing sugar and ground almond. Sieve.
- Whip egg white until frothy. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.

- Fold almond and icing mixture, and ground saffron gradually into the egg white in 2 additions. Mix carefully with a spatula until batter is shiny and flowy like magma.
- Fill batter into piping bag tipped with a plain circular nozzle and pipe into a circle with a diameter of 3 cm. Piping makes 20 pieces. Sprinkle the top with the rest of saffron.
- Leave to rest until surface of these pipings are flat and dry or when touched, it doesn't stick to our finger. Meanwhile, preheat oven at 150°C.
- Bake at 150°C for 8-10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 125°C, turn tray 180 degrees and continue baking for 8-10 minutes.
- Cool on the rack and detach from Silpat or parchment paper.

2. Orange Ganache

Ingredients :
- White chocolate > 90 grams
- Whipping cream > 40 grams
- Orange concentrate > 1 teaspoon
- Butter > 16 grams

Method :
- Place white chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat whipping cream until boiled. Pour into white chocolate. Leave for a while until white chocolate melts. Stir thoroughly.
- Add butter and orange concentrate. Mix well.
- Leave to cool and thicken.

3. Assembly

- Fill orange ganache into piping bag and pipe on the macaron. Top with the other macaron to form like a sandwich.

Is It Time To Judge?

2010-06-04T03:09:00.000-07:00

Nidhi from Snacksgiving wrote me an email just recently and asked me whether I would want to be the judge for June’s DMBLGIT. Being the host of this month’s event, Nidhi depicted that the number of entries to the photo contest has been continuously decreasing, to a point where if nothing improves, this month’s event could be the very last ever!

Wow, that is critical, isn’t it? I mean which one of us the food bloggers, who actually never heard of or felt eager to be part of DMBLGIT which has been running for 5 consecutive years? And could we imagine an event that has been inspiring us to cook and bake better so we can take a better food shot goes to an end?

So something needs to be done, dear friends ... to keep DMBLGIT going! Let’s show our support to Andrew of Spittoon and Spittoon Extra, the creator of DMBLGIT and Nidhi of this month’s host by sending your best food photo entry from your blog posts in May to June’s DMBLGIT. Besides the entry, you could also help spread the words for the event and its 5th anniversary by simply mentioning about it in your next post. To check out what Nidhi has to say click here.

I rememberred as a food blogger wannabe, I went into Bonbini and admired Thip's DMBLGIT winning photos and simply made a wish that someday soon I would become a food blogger and take nice photos myself. And hopefully if I was good enough I could win DMBLGIT myself someday. Truthfully, it is worthwhile having dreams and making wishes because they can come true.

My dream came true. And for those of you who share the same DMBLGIT dream, send your best photo and make your work seen. Help save this photography event and at the same time, keep other foodbloggers’ dreams alive.

So here come the judge :-)

As promised, I like to share the Strawberry Panacotta recipe which appeared to be the best seller in the bazaar! Enjoy!

STRAWBERRY PANACOTTA IN CUPS
Makes 10 cups

1. Vanilla Panacotta

Ingredients:
- Whipping cream > 300 ml
- Milk > 160 ml
- Granulated sugar > 55 grams
- Gelatine powder > 2 teaspoons
- Vanilla essence > 1 teaspoon

Method:
- Combine all ingredients in a saucepan. Cook at medium heat and keep stirring until sugar and gelatine dissolved but not boiled.
- Remove from fire and leave until the batter is just warm. Strain gently into the cups to avoid incurring any bubbles.
- Leave to cool and refrigerate for 2 hours.

2. Strawberry Jelly

Ingredients:
- Strawberry puree – strain > 400 ml
- Granulated sugar > 30 grams
- Gelatine powder > 15 grams

Method:
- Mix strained strawberry puree, sugar and gelatine in a saucepan. Cook at medium heat and keep stirring until both gelatine and sugar dissolved, but not boiled.
- Remove from fire and leave until the batter is just warm.
- Strain gently on top of vanilla panacotta and leave to cool.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Wednesday Special 09

2010-06-02T21:07:00.001-07:00

Sunday turned out to be another hot sunny day, and lucky enough we had prepared containers to put ice replicating emergency refrigerators. With T’s help I managed to bake 1 Cheese Cake, 1 Kiwi Chocolate Cake, 1 Vanilla Chocolate Cake, 1 Fresh Cream and Fruit Cake, 15 cups of Stawberry Panacottas, 10 cups of Orange Panacottas, and 36 Vanilla Cupcakes. Gosh, I was actually impressed with the range we produced within the available time. By the way, Panacotta was T’s idea since he liked it the last time I made Vanilla Panacotta from the previous post.

Arriving at the spot, we were pleased to find out that we got a space shaded under the building and with a nice table for setting up our cake stands. And the organizer actually gave us the first counter next to the entrance. There were about 20 counters selling various merchandise from clothes, books, shoes, to durian snacks. The latter belonged to the counter next to ours, taken care by a nice young lady who happened to be staying in the same building with us.

We finished setting up around 2:15pm and it was a bit quiet at the beginning. At one point I was actually cracking my head thinking what should we be doing if our cakes weren’t sold at all. The ideas varied from giving away to the orphanage, neighbors or the event organizer. Eventually people, I mean buyers did come, slowly but surely. Our first customer came for a cup of Strawberry Panacotta. It was a hot day and everybody needs a cold dessert. And the way we displayed these Panacotta cups in a transparant ice filled container did attract the eyes in such weather. A second buyer was a handsome guy came for a slice of Cheese Cake, a slice of Kiwi Cake and a Cupcake. What a generous purchase! And then more and more buyers were coming by.

T and I were busy slicing the cake, placing these slices in cake boxes, putting the boxes in plastic bags, giving to the customers, collecting money, and giving change. And of course having a little bit of chit chat with familiar faces. And T happened to be very good at having small talks with the customers or showing welcoming gestures to passers-by. Thanks to T we managed to sell 90% of the cakes within three and a half hours!

And yes, of course a post will not be complete without a recipe. So I will share my Strawberry Panacotta in the following post. See you!

Daring Bakers' Piece Montée

2010-05-27T03:30:00.000-07:00

My very first impression about this challenge was eagerness. I have seen too many beautiful Croquembouches on the net and magazines, all I can say is that I was waiting for the right event to trigger me into baking it. I needed that twitch to get it going, and this challenge has done just that.

Thanks to Cat for hosting this month’s challenge – Piece Montée. Piece Montée, which means literally “mounted piece” is even more well known as “Croquembouche”(crunch in the mouth). It has been a wonderful learning experience. Not to forget the burning experience whilst playing with caramel. Well, maybe one should get burnt before he or she could master the art of caramel thoroughly.

And thanks to Sue Sparks of Munchkin Munchies and Katie Yoon of Katie's Something Sweet who constantly amaze me with their decorated cookies. You guys should go and check out their blogs.... breathtaking! So for this challenge I tried to incorporate decorated butterfly cookies into my Croquembouche. I do hope the cookies will go well with the profiteroles.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a Piece Montée, or Croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Next weekend will be an exciting weekend with a bazaar taking place near my residence. As T had suggested, we took a booth to sell cakes, like what we did a few months ago. Learning from our previous experience in dealing with the heat, we are going to prepare big containers filled with ice cubes to function as a emergency refrigerator, in case there are melting cakes again. And I will definitely avoid any cakes that will involve buttercream. It is totally heat disasterous. Instead, I am thinking of chocolate ganache or something more heat friendly. Will start baking this Friday as it is an official public holiday. With 2 free days I hope to do the baking well this time.

Will be right back with the coverage about the bazaar… For now enjoy Croquembouche. It is actually not as complicated as everyone would imagine. Give this glamorous dessert a try and rest assured that you might want one for your next birthday!

PIECE MONTEE - CROQUEMBOUCHE

1. Vanilla Crème Patissiere

Ingredients:
For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Method:
- Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.
- Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
- Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.
- Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
- Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

2. Pate a Choux
Yield: About 28

Ingredients:
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Method:
- Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Preparing batter: Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
- Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
- Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.
- Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.
- As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.
- It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.
- Piping: Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.
- Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.

- Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).
- Baking: Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.
- Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.
- Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.
- Filling: When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

3. Hard Caramel Glaze

Ingredients:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Method:
- Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

4. Assembly of your Piece Montée

Method:
- You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.
- Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your -glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).
- When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Wednesday Special 08

2010-05-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Thanks to all of you who have sent your concerns regarding my and T’s safety. We are fine, spending a lot of time at home and continuously follow the news. In fact T has been resting at home since his employer felt it was safer for everyone to do so, don’t know until when - assumingly when there is a further notice. I myself have been working (and blogging) as normal.

Yesterday there was a curfew so all of us were allowed to leave the office at 4 pm. My Australian colleague who sat in the same room decided to leave straight away. And as he was walking out from the room I said "See you tomorrow!" as I always do. He replied "No, I will see you when I see you!" That is the true expression of the uncertainty we are facing these days. Curfew might go on until the next couple of days.

Meanwhile, I think both I and T need a little sanctuary to escape to in the midst of daily stress and disruptions. Especially now that we are mostly bound to be spending more time at home. Besides the fact that the political turmoil has further worsened and invaded into our used-to-be free and easy lifestyle and it is not safe to travel to areas that we used to go, we also deeply need a place that is natural, calm and peaceful for our eyes and mind in our own residence.

So we have purchased a rectangular cement receptable and transformed it into a mini artificial pond where fish can swim freely, lotus blooms to its fullest glory and the morning sunlight reflects on the the crystal clear water surface like a mirror. I and T can just sit at our balcony, in front of our pond enjoying the sanctuary and for that particular moment, the peace is back within us.

A Step Back or Forward?

2010-05-17T01:01:00.000-07:00

I had to bake something! Oh come on, think! It is a replacement for the Daring Cook's Challenge which I had called it off, most probably permanently... So how about something practical and yet sweet and buttery? Let's bake cupcakes, just love to decorate these mini cakes, one at a time.... So much fun, especially when it involves colored sugar...

Meanwhile, something surprising happened with my work at the office. For some budget reason (and of course the complain about the world economic crisis, oh come on..... I mean who doesn't make a fuss about it, right?) my employer had requested me to work either on a freelance basis or a 20% cut on my salary with one less working day per week. That happened last Friday so I told her I had to sleep on it and would talk to her again about it during this week.

I tried to understand the situation .... as most of the people in my situation would do, I bet. Is this a step back? Or a step forward (into unlimited possibilities)? Am I sad about it or relieved? Is it a misfortune or a blessing in disguise?

T showed his symphaty by saying that I should not be afraid because he would be my side on this. It was comforting and he surely had said it on the right time. So to get away from this matter (I couldn't really get away from it, frankly speaking, more like thinking lesser about options whenever the thoughts came to mind again and again), we picked up kararoke, or more like he picked it up and I listened to his singing.

VANILLA CUPCAKES
Makes 13

Ingredients:
- Cake flour > 250 grams
- Salt > 1 teaspoon
- Baking powder > 6 grams
- Salted butter – room temperature > 75 grams
- Granulated sugar > 270 grams
- Vanilla extract > 2 teaspoons
- Eggs > 3
- Evaporated milk > 265 ml
- Whipping cream > 250 ml
- Red colored sugar > 20 grams
- Grape - halve and deseed > 7

Method:
- Preheat oven to 180 C.
- Combine cake flour, salt and baking powder. Sift. Set aside.
- Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla extract with electric cake mixer at medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Add eggs, one at a time and beat thoroughly.
- Set to low speed, fold in sifted flour mixture and evaporated milk, alternately a little bit at a time. Beat until smooth.

- Pour batter into cupcake moulds, about 80% full.
- Bake for 25 minutes or whilst inserting toothpick into cupcake, it comes out clean.
- Leave to cool.
- Beat whipping cream at high speed until soft peak.
- Fill into the piping bag and pipe on top of cupcakes as desired.
- Sprinkle with red colored sugar.
- Decorate with grape.

A Dessert and The Dessert Magazine

2010-05-12T21:47:00.000-07:00

Finally my dream came true. One of my 2009 posts, "Lychee Mousse Cake" is featured in the latest Dessert Magazine issue 14. Do flip through to page 68-69! Happy reading!

And guys, I am only leaving Daring Cook Challenge but still remain a Daring Baker... Baking with all of you has been so much fun and inspiring. I will keep it up and so looking forward to the next Daring Baker Challenge already :-)

Wednesday Very Special 07

2010-05-12T04:17:00.000-07:00

I would like to share my happiness with you all today. Wow, so happened it is the "Wednesday Special" day! And the weather is pretty good today too! The news is one of my earlier posts "Lychee Mousse Cake" has appeared in Dessert Magazine issue 14 page 68-69! I have to admit that I knew about this like a month or so, but the news could not be shared not until the post has become a real article physically, right? So, here I am...

And the other thing is I am actually thinking about quitting Daring Cook Challenge (don't worry, I will remain a Daring Baker) and dedicate the time to do more baking or desserts. With a full-time job and a relationship, at first I think I could spare sufficient time for baking, cooking, styling, and photographing. But I realized I could only have a certain duration of time no matter how I wished I could have more... So if I must eliminate one less favorite activity of the four and concentrate more on the other three, maybe I will end up getting better baking results and at the same time become more productive. Don't you agree with me?

All in all, I have had a great one year of Daring Cook Challenge. I should thank all of you who have given me advice and guidance that have make it possible for me to survive the challenges. Kudos to all the DC Challenge hosts and Audax of Audax Artifex! To show my gratitudes, Let me share with you a small dessert that will complete your perfect dinner! Enjoy :-)

PEACH VANILLA PANACOTTA
Makes 6 glasses

1. Vanilla Panacotta

Ingredients:
- Hot water > 25 ml
- Gelatine powder > 6 grams
- Whipping cream > 525 ml
- Granulated sugar > 65 grams
- Vanilla essence > 1 tablespoon

Method:
- Dissolve gelatine powder in hot water. Set aside.
- Combine whipping cream, granulated sugar and vanilla essence in a saucepan. Heat moderately until sugar is fully melted. Add the dissolved gelatine and mix well.
- Remove saucepan from fire. Leave to just warm and strain cream mixture through a fine sieve into the prepared glasses. Chill for 2 hours or until just firm enough.

2. Peach Jelly

Ingredients:
- Peach puree > 170 ml
- Lime juice > 2 teaspoons
- Gelatine powder > 6 grams
- Gooseberry – halve > 6

Method:
- Mix peach puree, lime juice and gelatine powder in a saucepan. Heat moderately until gelatine is dissolved.
- Set aside to just warm. Strain it through a fine sieve into top of panacotta. Garnish with 2 pieces of gooseberry halves into each glass.
- Chill for an hour.

3. Peach Coulis

Ingredients:
- Peach puree > 120 ml
- Granulated sugar > 25 grams
- Gooseberries, kiwi fruits or other fruits > to decorate

Method:
- Heat peach puree and sugar in a saucepan until sugar is completely dissolved.
- Set aside to cool, strain into top of jelly layer, and chill.
- Decorate with fruits and serve.

Wednesday Special 06

2010-05-05T20:51:00.001-07:00

It has been a terrific week with so many public holidays here in Bangkok. Despite the political turmoil, we still could find peace and happiness by getting away to the countryside. Managed to travel with T and his friends to the floating market and a beautiful clay workshop in Chachoengsao. Just in those moments, we forgot about all the chaos and enjoyed the trip to the fullest.

Meanwhile, the April's DMBLGIT host - the beautiful and talented Julia of Melanger Baking had sent me the award for winning the contest. So excited! Thanks to Julia, the judges Dominique of De vous à moi, El of Fresh, Giao of Kiss My Spatula and Mowie of Mowielicious. And Andrew of Spittoon!

It is another Wednesday Special. I would like to share a simple dish that mostly served on my dining table. T and I loved this easy-to-cook rice accompaniment and we hope you will too. And feel free to substitute any ingredient if you have your prefererred vegetable or meat in mind!

FRIED PRAWNS WITH SWEET GREEN PEAS AND GINKGO NUTS
Serves 2

Ingredients:
- Olive oil > 2 tablespoons
- Garlic - slice > 2 cloves
- Big prawns - remove head and feet > 4
- Sweet green peas > 100 grams
- Bean sprouts > 100 grams
- Ginkgo nuts > 25 grams
- Tomato - slice > 1
- Salt > 1/4 teaspoon
- Granulated sugar > 1 teaspoon
- Worchestershire sauce > 2 teaspoons
- Coriander or mint leaves > to granish

Method:
- Saute garlic in olive oil until golden brown and fragrant.
- Fold in prawns and fry for a while.
- Add green peas, bean spouts, ginkgo nuts, and tomatoes, followed with the salt, sugar and worchestershire sauce. Stir occasionally until cooked.
- Place in the serving plate. Garnish with coriander or mint leaves.
- Serve.

Daring Bakers' Steamed Sponge Pudding

2010-04-27T03:42:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

I also made a fruit cake version of the steamed sponge pudding (for my steamed savoury pudding click here). Again I have used shortening as the substitute to suet. The steaming took 3 hours and 15 minutes. For this challenge I would like to thank Esther for hosting it and to Audax of Audax Artifex who has provided everyone with abundant information and tips on recipes and successful techniques of steaming pudding in DB Forum! Go and check out his elaborate post!

For serving, I have put in extra efforts to make passion fruit sauce. My consideration was that a tint of sourness could balance out the sweetness of fruit pudding. It was easy, practical, and just right for a colorful serving with mango balls and strawberries. I enjoyed putting them together and the presentation simply showed how colors have complimented one another.

A little note for the dried fruits, pick the ones that you like and carry strong flavor. It is not a mandatory to use dried kiwi fruit because it is green or mango because it is yellow. At the end of 3 hour steaming, apparently every hue of fruits would saturate and simply look dark like black raisins.

STEAMED FRUIT SPONGE PUDDING
Need a steamable 1 liter dome-shaped pudding bowl

1. Sponge Pudding

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour > 100 grams
- Salt > ½ teaspoon
- Baking powder > 1 ½ teaspoons
- Shortening > 125 grams
- Mixed spice powder > 1 ¼ teaspoons
- Dried mango – cut into small cubes > 50 grams
- Dried papaya – cut into small cubes > 50 grams
- Dried pineapple – cut into small cubes > 50 grams
- Black raisin – halve > 60 grams
- Cashew nut – chop > 25 grams
- Almond – chop > 25 grams
- Granulated sugar > 115 grams
- Dried breadcrumbs > 75 grams
- Egg > 2
- Brandy > 2 ½ tablespoons
- Evaporated milk > 6 tablespoons

Method:
- Mix all together .
- Grease enormously the pudding bowl.
- Pour pudding mixture into the greased bowl . Seal with 2 sheets of foil(grease the side of foil that is touching top of pudding), pleated in the center to allow room for expansion during steaming. Secure with string and place the bowl into the steamer over boiling water.
- Steam pudding for 3 hours and 15 minutes. Add hot boiled water whenever it is necessary.

2. Passion Fruit Sauce

Ingredients:
- Egg yolks > 3
- Granulated sugar > 45 grams
- Passion Fruit juice > 75 ml
- Sherry wine > 1.5 teaspoons

Method:
- Place egg yolks and granulated sugar in a heatproof bowl and beat over a double boiler until pale.
- Fold in passionfruit juice and continue beating until thick and light.
Lastly add sherry wine. Mix thoroughly and serve with steamed pudding.

3. Fruits and Gel for Serving
Ingredients:
- Big ripe mango > 2
- Strawberry > 10
- Apricot gel > as desired

Method:
- Peel mangoes. Scoop balls out of the thick section of mango flesh by using fruit baller. Dip into water mixed with salt to keep their fresh color.
- Halve strawberries.
- Brush sponge pudding with apricot gel.
- Serve sponge pudding with passion fruit sauce and fruits. Decorate as desired.

Daring Bakers' Steamed Savoury Pudding

2010-04-27T02:52:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

So what is suet? It is the hard but flaky fat found on the inside of a cow or sheep around the kidneys and that area of the body. Suet in its raw form crumbles easily into small chunks so much so that my butcher says it covers his floor in bits if he doesn't have it taken out as soon as possible. In fact unless he knows he has a customer for it he has the abattoir take it out and throw it away and when I want some he gives it to me for free! It also melts at quite a low temperature, which has an effect on how it works in cooking. In some places such as the UK it is sold processed which basically means it is grated and combined with flour to keep the individual pieces from clumping together, and it becomes a sort of dried out short strands, almost granular in texture.

My reaction towards suet was nothing but discomfort. I had to admit the only time I had used something like suet, .... the pork lard, was the time I learnt how to make Chinese mooncakes. I had enough of that. So I was glad that for this challenge suet was replaceable with other substitutes. Shortening was my choice even though initially I had my doubt about it. Apparently it didn't give me any problem at all, and my steamed pudding turned out quite pleasant to my sight after 5 hours of steaming. Despite the crust dough was just about 6mm when I rolled and pressed to the pudding bowl, it was strong enough to hold the dome-shaped pudding together. And for that, I was delighted.

I like the taste of the filling due to strong flavour of sherry wine combined with oyster and worchester sauce. And the crust is not hard, instead just nice for each bite. These 2 factors would be the good reasons why I would think of steaming this pudding again. For my steamed sponge pudding click here!

Thanks so much to Esther of The Lilac Kitchen! The challenge recipe was adapted for my own convenience, for the original version click here!

STEAMED SAVOURY PUDDING

1. Filling

Ingredients:
- Pork loin – cut into cubes > 360 grams
- All purpose flour > 4 teaspoons
- Salt > ¾ teaspoon
- Black pepper > ¾ teaspoon
- Potato – cut into cubes > 175 grams
- Carrots – cut into cubes > 125 grams
- Shitake mushroom – slice > 90 grams
- Onion – slice > 80 grams
- Worchester sauce > 2 teaspoons
- Oyster sauce > 4 tablespoons
- Sherry wine > 5 tablespoons

Method:
- Season pork cubes by tossing them in flour, salt and black pepper. Set aside.
- Mix potato, carrot cubes, and shitake mushroom. Set aside.
- Prepare onion slices separately in a bowl. Set aside.
- Combine oyster sauce and sherry wine together in a separate bowl. Set aside.

2. Crust
Need a steamable 1 liter dome-shaped pudding bowl

Ingredients:
- All purpose flour > 250 grams
- Baking powder > 2 teaspoons
- Shortening > 175 grams
- Salt > ¼ teaspoon
- Black pepper > ¼ teaspoon
- Evaporated milk > 210 ml

Method:
- Mix all ingredients together. Form a ball.
- Dust the working surface with flour and place the ball in the middle. Roll into a circle big enough to cover the pudding bowl (thickness approximately 5-6 mm). Slit from the center, slice out one quarter of the circle to make a lid later on. Set aside.
- Grease enormously the pudding bowl.
- Place this dough into the pudding bowl to cover the interior. Press with fingers to compact it.
- Add the filling by scattering a small amount of seasoned pork cubes, then the vegetable cubes, and onion slices. Repeat for a few layers until the height is about half the bowl. Sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Splash 1 teaspoon of Worchester sauce thoroughly.

- Repeat filling with pork, vegetable and onion again and again until it almost reaches the top of the crust dough. Sprinkle again with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ¼ teaspoon of black pepper. Finally plash 1 teaspoon of Worchester sauce thoroughly.
- Pour the oyster sauce and sherry wine mixture to the top of the meat and vegetables.
- Roll the set aside crust dough into a circle big enough to cover the top of the bowl. Dampen the edges and place it on the pudding. Pinch the edges with the surrounding crust dough.
- Seal with 2 sheets of foil(grease the side of foil that is touching top of pudding), pleated in the center to allow room for expansion during steaming. Secure with string and place the bowl into the steamer over boiling water.
- Steam pudding for 5 hours. Add hot boiled water whenever it is necessary.

Wednesday Special 05

2010-04-21T03:10:00.000-07:00

The passion to bake, cook, and shoot has kicked in soon I arrived in Bangkok. I have seen many things in Jakarta , rested and recharged my energy. It is funny how I and T missed Bangkok and our home so much , and whilst the end of holiday approached we couldn’t wait to reach home. A three-hour-and-fifteen-minute-flight felt like a long drag.

One good thing about this holiday is that we managed to escape the extreme heat in Bangkok for 10 days. The weather in Jakarta was great, nothing like the sizzling heat that causes headache everytime we get ourselves exposed to the sunlight. And now we are back in this “sauna room” and get to adapt ourselves to it again. Yesterday I had a headache since I dared myself to have lunch outside my office. I have learnt my lesson and decided to stay in for lunch today.

Well, despite the heat and all…… we are glad to be back. And I am so relieved to be able to blog again. For this Wednesday Special, I like to share Grapefruit and Orange Salad with you. I rarely made salad before, but now with T around, I am considering of doing it more often because I have the assurance that T will help me finish it since he is really into vegetables and salads.

GRAPEFRUIT AND ORANGE SALAD
Serves 2

Ingredients:
- Large grapefruit > 1
- Orange > 2
- Steamed red kidney beans > 2 tablespoons
- Pistachio boar terrine or other ham – thinly slice and coarsely shred > 100 grams
- Baby salad leaves > a few
- Cilantro > a few stems
- Chopped roasted almond > 1 tablespoon
- Italian salad dressing > 2 tablespoons

Method:
- Peel grapefruit and remove pith. Slice horizontally.
- Peel oranges and remove pith. Cut into clean segments.
- Mix grapefruit and oranges with red kidney beans, ham, baby leaf greens, and sald dressing.
- Garnish with cilantro and chopped almond.

Wednesday Special 04

2010-04-14T06:51:00.001-07:00

Gosh, I just remember it is again another Wednesday. Hope you guys enjoy these photos as much as I am enjoying my holiday. T and I wish you all the best from the tropical capital city of Indonesia, Jakarta.

By the way, I have found so many new background paper (Thanks to T for helping me carry them around under the heat). "So tired but can't refuse to do such chore!", said T who is sitting next to me right now. You will see these great backgrounds very soon in my near-future posts :-)

Daring Cook's Brunswick Stew

2010-04-14T06:02:00.000-07:00

Hi guys, I am still on holiday and just pop in to post my Daring Cook's challenge. Wish you are all well and thanks so much for your comments. Will get back right to normal communication with you on next Tuesday. Meanwhile, stay cool :-)

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

Thanks, Wolf! It has been an exciting challenge!

BRUNSWICK STEW
From “The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook: Stories and Recipes for Southerners and Would-Be Southerners” by Matt Lee and Ted Lee
Serves 10

Ingredients:
- Slab bacon - rough dice > 75 grams
- Thai dried red chiles - trim stems, slice, seed, flatten > 2
- Pork shoulder - cut into 1 inch dice > 800 grams
- Salt for seasoning > 1/2 tablespoon
- Pepper > enough for seasoning
- Clean water > 6 cups
- Chicken essence powder > 3 cubes
- Dried bay leaves > 2
- Fried shallots > for garnishing
- Chinese celery stalks - cut into 2 inch strips > 30 grams
- Potatoes, or other waxy type potatoes - peel, rough dice > 450 grams
- Carrots - rough cut > 225 grams
- Onion - chop > 400 grams
- Canned corn kernels - remove juice > 230 grams
- Steamed red kidney beans > 150 grams
- Peeled tomatoes - 500 grams
- Red wine vinegar > 30 grams

Method:
- In the largest stockpot, fry the bacon over medium-high heat until it just starts to crisp. Transfer to a large bowl, and set aside. Reserve most of the bacon fat in your pan, and with the pan on the burner, add in the chiles. Toast the chiles until they just start to smell good, or make your nose tingle, about a minute tops. Remove to bowl with the bacon.
- Season liberally both sides of the pork pieces with salt and pepper. Place the pork pieces in the pot and sear off all sides possible. You just want to brown them, not cook them completely. Put the pork in the bowl with the bacon, and chiles. Set it aside.

- Add 2 cups of water and 1 cube of chicken essence, if you prefer, to the pan and basically deglaze the4 pan, making sure to get all the goodness cooked onto the bottom. The stock will become a nice rich dark color and start smelling good. Bring it up to a boil and let it boil away until reduced by at least half. Add your remaining stock, the bay leaves, celery, potatoes, pork, bacon, chiles and any liquid that may have gathered at the bottom of the bowl they were resting in. Bring the pot back up to a low boil/high simmer, over medium/high heat. Reduce heat to low and cover, remember to stir every 15 minutes, give or take, to thoroughly meld the flavors. Simmer, on low, for approximately 1 ½ hours. Supposedly, the stock may become a yellow tinge with pieces of pork floating up, the celery will be very limp, as will the chiles. Taste the stock, according to the recipe, it “should taste like the best chicken soup you’ve ever had”.

- With a pair of tongs, remove the pork pieces to a colander over the bowl you used earlier. Be careful, as by this time, the meats will be very tender and may start falling apart. Remove the bay leaf, celery, chiles, bacon and discard.
- After you’ve allowed the meat to cool enough to handle, shred the pork. Return the meat to the pot, throwing away the bones. Add in your carrots, and stir gently, allowing it to come back to a slow simmer. Simmer gently, uncovered, for at least 25 minutes, or until the carrots have started to soften.

- Add in your onion, red kidney beans, corn and tomatoes. As you add the tomatoes, crush them up, be careful not to pull a me, and squirt juice straight up into the air, requiring cleaning of the entire stove. Simmer for another 30 minutes, stirring every so often until the stew has reduced slightly, and onions, corn and butterbeans are tender. Remove from heat and add in vinegar, lemon juice, stir to blend in well. Season to taste with sea salt, pepper, and Tabasco sauce if desired.
- You can either serve immediately or refrigerate for 24 hours, which makes the flavors meld more and makes the overall stew even better. Serve hot, either on its own, or with a side of corn bread, over steamed white rice, with any braised greens as a side.
- Garnish with fried shallots before serving.

Wednesday Special 03

2010-04-07T04:39:00.000-07:00

Two Fridays away, on the way back home I passed by Seven Eleven and there were 2 little kids – most probably 5-6 years old sitting at the side of the mini mart selling jasmine buds. One whole tray of these fragrant flowers. Despite I didn’t really know what I could do with them, I ordered one bag. They were so happy for successfully making some money. All I could think of was that I had to take photograph of these little cuties the following morning.

Storing them in fridge overnight, they were ready to pose for me the next morning. Snap snap snap…. I had so much fun. Since it was a Saturday and I was totally free (T works on alternate Saturdays) I could indulge myself in exploring shooting angles almost endlessly. No work, no time pressure, no appointment, it was just me and my jasmine buds.

Rose and Chives

2010-04-05T10:54:00.000-07:00

My chives flower shot just gave me a moment of bliss this week after getting a recognition in March DMBLGIT. Thanks to all of the judges for voting for my photo entry. I am so pleased to receive the award. Thank you!

Meanwhile I and T are planning for a 10-day holiday in Jakarta starting from 9th at the end of this week. Therefore there are many things I need to complete before the break. For one I need to carry out the next Daring Cooks' Challenge much earlier, prepare my Wednesday Special shots and whatever posts I might need to post from overseas. Now I do realize my life is not the same anymore, everything is connected with this blog and no matter where I go, this blog is always in my mind!

For now, I like to post something I have baked for a while now. It is one of my favorite bakings, and I believe it is one of most of yours too. Some might say that every food blogger must experience baking macarons. It could be universally true, could it?

Macaron is fun to bake, and for some it is a challenge. In moments of successful baking, the outcome is so pleasing and the feeling is overwhelmed with joy. The expression must go something like "There are feet!. There are feet!" Again, all of us have experienced that moment and will still react the same when encounter such occasion again and again. In that sense, macaron is always a special experience.

ROSE MACARON
Makes 10 macarons

1. Rose Macarons
Prepare: 1 big baking tray lined with a Silpat or parchment paper

Ingredients :
- Egg white > 70 grams
- Sugar > 50 grams
- Icing sugar > 90 grams
- Ground almond > 45 grams
- Dried rose > 2 teaspoons
- Pink coloring > 3 drops

Method :
- Combine icing sugar and ground almond. Sieve.
- Whip egg white until frothy. Add sugar and continue whipping until stiff peaks form.
- Fold almond and icing mixture, and 1 teaspoon of dried rose gradually into the egg white in 2 additions. Mix carefully with a spatula until batter is shiny and flowy like magma.
- Fill batter into piping bag tipped with a plain circular nozzle and pipe into a circle with a diameter of 3 cm. Piping makes 20 pieces. Sprinkle the top with the rest of dried rose.

- Leave to rest until surface of these pipings are flat and dry or when touched, it doesn't stick to our finger.
- Preheat oven at 150°C.
- Bake at 150°C for 8-10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 125°C, turn tray 180 degrees and continue baking for 8-10 minutes.
- Cool on the rack and detach from Silpat or parchment paper.

2. Rose Ganache

Ingredients :
- White chocolate > 90 grams
- Whipping cream > 40 grams
- Rose water > 1 teaspoon
- Butter > 16 grams

Method :
- Place white chocolate in a bowl.
- Heat whipping cream until boiled. Pour into white chocolate. Leave for a while until white chocolate melts. Stir thoroughly.
- Add butter and rose water. Mix well.
- Leave to cool and thicken.

3. Assembly

- Fill rose ganache into piping bag and pipe on the macaron. Top with the other macaron to form like a sandwich.

Wednesday Special 02

2010-03-31T10:37:00.000-07:00

Thank you all for your condolences. They meant a lot to me and T. Today is the day his dad was cremated. Took place at 5 pm but the whole ceremony started from 11am. For that I took leave from work. It was an opportunity to know everyone in T's family, his colleagues, friends, neighbors, old classmates and even exs. It was also a rare occasion where I could have a conversation with his sisters, aunts, and relatives.

This week has been a very hectic week with a lot of things to deal with. For T it is not over yet - tomorrow he has to wake up early to join his family in the temple to collect his dad's ashes and attend whatever ceremony following that. For me, I will go back to work as usual.

Don't worry I still remember my Wednesday Special. For that, I have kept these few shots I took last week and like to share 2 of them with you. T was too tired to have dinner and has fallen sleep while I was still finding time to send this post. Anyway, here you go.... Hope you all have a great Wednesday and enjoy these photos! Your suggestion and criticism are mostly welcome.

Daring Bakers' Orange Tian

2010-03-28T03:26:00.000-07:00

A shocking surprise came by yesterday while I was finishing up photo shoot for this challenge. T called and whilst sobbing told me that his dad just passed away. Despite his blindness and his reluctance to take any solid food in the last 2 weeks, his dad's health was completely fine. And T just brought him to see a doctor that morning to get some advice of how to boost up his dad's appetite. The doctor suggested a blood test and his dad passed clean. Arriving home, T was feeding his dad with some milk and a while after he finished this light lunch - appeared to be his last meal on earth, he was quitely gone for good. No last word whatsoever..... left peacefully in his sleep. "Good bye, Dad! Good bye Apache!"

In the middle of the temple ceremony, I managed to find some time to walk away and post this challenge update. Had to go back quickly for the chanting session. Rush rush...

This challenge is straight forward but time consuming. Therefore it is advisable to prepare various sections in separate days. Like perhaps baking pate sablee and making orange marmalade a few days earlier. Cutting orange segments could be done one day earlier, leaving only whipping cream preparation in the same day with the final cake assembly.

It was my first time cutting oranges into segments. Apparently oranges without their membranes were very refreshing. Every bite into them gave me a smile. It was also my first time making orange marmalade. The taste appeared to be the same as what I usually got from the supermarket.

As an overall, the orange tian is delicious. I would definitely do it again, with a lot of fruit variation. Definitely I would love to try kiwi fruit, mango, jack fruit, or plain strawberries. Pate sablee is crunchy and double delicious. Keeping it in an air tight container and refrigerating doesn't affect its crunchiness. Superb! This recipe is a real keeper!

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris. Thank you so much, Jennifer!

ORANGE TIAN
Makes one 7 inch and eight 2.5 inch cakes

1. Pate Sablee:
Makes one 7 inch and eight 2.5 inch crust circles

Ingredients:
- Egg yolks > 2
- Granulated sugar > 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
- Vanilla extract > ½ teaspoon
- Ice cold salted butter - cut into cubes > ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
- Salt > 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
- All-purpose flour > 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 grams
- Baking powder > 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Method:
- Put eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat until the mixture is pale.
- Put flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Mix moderately.
- In a separate bowl, pour the egg mixture in the food processor.
- Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 180C.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain around 4-5mm thick circle.
- Using one 6 inch and one 2 inch cake rings (they are supposed to be smaller than the actual crust circles because after baking, the dough circles will expand), cut out one 6 inch and eight 2 inch circles of dough and place them on a parchment (or silicone) lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until the circles of dough are just golden.

2. Orange Marmalade

Ingredients
- Freshly pressed orange juice > ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
- Large orange used to make orange slices > 1
- Cold water to cook the orange slices
- Pectin powder > 5 grams
- Granulated sugar > use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked
- Lime juice > 2 tablespoons

Method:
- Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.
- Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.
- Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and leave them just warm.
- Once they are not too hot to handle, mince them with a knife.
- Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar. If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.
- In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice, petin powder, and lime juice. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).
- Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

3. Orange Segments

Ingredients:
- 10 oranges.

Method:
- Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl. Squeeze the juice out of leftover membranes into the same bowl so the segments are covered with juice.
- Leave aside for later use or refrigerate.

4. Caramel

Ingredients:
- Ganulated sugar > 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
- Orange juice > 1.5 cups + 2 tablespoons; 14 oz; 400 grams (feel free to take from the orange juice covering the orange segment plus a little bit more from new oranges, or simply replace orange juice with plain clean water)

Method:
- Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it.
- Once the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice (or water). As soon as the mixture starts boiling, remove from the heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.
- Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.
[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

5. Whipped Cream

Ingredients:
- Heavy whipping cream > 2 cups; 14 oz; 400 grams
- Hot water > 6 tablespoons
- Gelatine powder > 2 teaspoons
- Confectioner's sugar > 2 tablespoons (if the whipping cream is sweet enough, skip this)
- orange marmalade (see recipe above) > 1 tablespoon

Method:
- In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream.
- Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously.
- Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks.
- Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade. Mix well.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

6. Assembly

Method:
- Cover base and side of a 7 inch and eight 2.5 inch cake rings with aluminium foil. Place them on a big tray (make sure you have some room in your refrigerator to chill the cake overnight until set or in case you need to speed up the process, spare some space in the freezer to freeze it for 10-20 minutes).
- Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked crust circles ready to use. If it is necessary, crop the crust circles to fit the cake rings.
- Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.
- Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of each cake ring. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snuggly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.
- Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of each cookie cutter, add a couple spoonfuls of whipped cream and gently spread it so that it fills the cookie cutter in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.
- Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on each circle of dough.
- Carefully place a circle of dough over each ring (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.
- Place the desserts to set in the freezer to set for 10-20 minutes or chill in the refrigerator overnight.
- Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the cookie cutter to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the crust cirle) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the cake ring, add a spoonful of caramel sauce and serve immediately.

Wednesday Special 01

2010-03-24T02:27:00.000-07:00

Today is Wednesday and seems like a perfect day - the middle of the week, to post something special. Something that is out of the routine, featuring photos of my interest, could be food related or something else.

This is all due to my decision to learn and practice more photography in the scope of food, still life and lifestyle. Haven’t done much enough and therefore, I have been restless and constantly triggered to make use of every second that I have to shoot something new. Have accumulated a number of photo shots and thought of sharing them with you.... on every Wednesday.

And that is how the “Wednesday Special” came about. So to all of you, my friends..... I hope you enjoy what you see and your criticism is mostly welcome!

Meanwhile, I like to thank Tanja of Tanja's Cupcakes who recently passed the Sunshine award to me. It has been a great pleasure and really a sunshine of my day. Thanks for considering me, Tanja :-)

And these are the 12 blogger friends I like to share the Sunshine with…
- Fitri of Mommy Nisa
- Sue Sparks of Munchkin Munchies
- Mandy of What The Fruitcake?
- Simone of Junglefrog Cooking
- Vicky of Sweets at Vicky’s
- Deeba of Passionate About Baking
- Anita of Leave Room for Dessert
- Barbara of Movable Feasts
- Valerie of The Chocolate Bunny
- Jennifer of Maple and Cornbread
- Katie of Something Sweet
- Wolf of Wolf’s Den

Satisfaction and Banana

2010-03-19T00:03:00.000-07:00

A surprise came knocking this morning… I just won the DMBLGIT award for the month of February and I was so delighted. I have been waiting for snacksgiving’s announcement and finally it came through like a desirable red velvet cake topped with cheese cream frosting. And before I knew it, Fitri of Mommy Nisa congratulated me. Thanks, Fit!

It was in deed a pleasant feeling knowing that people agreed with my artistic judgement of choosing the right photo to send for the competition. I remember the first time I joined this contest, it took me days to pick the right picture to enter it since each participant was only allowed to send one entry from the previous month’s posting. As time went by and I learnt more about photography and saw more photos shot by professional bloggers (that’s you, by the way! :-)), this decision could be made quite fast.

And at the end of the day, the award is worth the effort - the long preparation of the cake, props, and hours of photo shoot. Sort of like a hard work pays off, plus an overwhelming satisfaction.

For this special occasion, I like to share this recipe that I adapted from Sweet Paul's Blueberry Ice Cream. Apparently the man has a very good taste of ice cream. This banana ice cream is creamy and luscious, and most importantly goes well with almost anything. Try and see whether you like it…

BANANA ICE CREAM
Adapted from Sweet Paul’s Blueberry Ice Cream.
Serves 6

Ingredients:
- Egg > 1
- Egg yolks > 3
- Granulated sugar > 150 grams
- Corn starch > 2 teaspoons
- Milk > 250 ml
- Whipping cream > 2 cups
- Ripe big bananas – mash moderately > 2
- Strawberry jam > optional
- Chocolate sauce > optional
- Extra banana for decoration - slice > as desired
- Chocolate curl > optional
- Roasted almond chunks > optional

Method:
- Combine egg, egg yolks, and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat at high speed until pale and light.
- Heat milk in a saucepan until boiled. Immediately pour hot milk into the egg mixture while beating at medium speed. Add corn starch and mix thoroughly.
- Set stove to low heat, place egg mixture back into saucepan and cook until the mixture starts to curdle and thicken. Immediately remove from fire.
- Leave to cool. Add mashed banana and refrigerate overnight.
- Spin the cold mixture in ice cream maker until thick. Refrigerate overnight.
- Fill a serving glass with one thick layer of strawberry jam, scoop in some ice cream.
- Add a layer of chocolate sauce and a small amount of ice cream. Decorate with some banana slices. Top with a big ball of ice cream, a chocolate curl and some almond chunks.

Daring Cooks' Risotto

2010-03-15T01:37:00.000-07:00

It is officially my eleventh Daring Cooks’ challenge and a celebration of constant learning and exploring. So far DC is my best source of culinary know-how due to my limited time as a full-time worker. There are new things to learn each time. So insightful I should consider it a multi-cultural eye opener and I believe some of you agree with me on this. For all other DCs who started almost the same time as me, a toast of celebration, yeah!

This month challenge brought us to Italy where we were introduced to the most common way of cooking rice in Italy. Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish cooked with broth and flavored with parmesan cheese and other ingredients, which can include meat, fish or vegetables. The name means literally "little rice" and it is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy.Its origins are in northern Italy, specifically Eastern Piedmont, Western Lombardy, and the Veneto, where rice paddies are abundant. Risottos are made using short-grain rice, with the stock being added gradually while the rice is stirred constantly. The cooking technique leads the rice to release its starch, giving the finished dish a creamy texture (Source: wikipedia.com)

When I tasted Risotto after taking the photos, I had to say that it was really creamy and wonderful. T didn’t really like it. Well, in fact he didn’t really like anything Italian except Tiramisu. But I was in love with it. Every bite into this spoonful of creamy yet subtly grainy rice just made me want for more. And the combination of broth, sherry wine, pumpkin, thyme, and parmesan cheese simply made this dish so desirable. One spoon into another swiftly brings you to an empty plate....., that is just how good it is.

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

PRAWN AND PUMPKIN RISOTTO
Serves four

1. Chicken Broth
Makes 1.75 liters

Ingredients:
- Chicken carcasses > 1.5 kilograms
- Big onion - roughly dice > 1 or around 250 grams
- Medium leek - rougly dice white part only > 1 or about 60 grams
- Garlic - halve > 3 cloves
- Cinnamon stick > 1.5
- Dried white peppercorns > 1 teaspoon
- Dried bay leaves > 5
- Peel of lime - grate > 1 lime
- Dried cloves > 5

Method:
- Wash the chicken carcasses and place them in a big pot, add 2 liters of water and bring to a boil. Skim away any scum as it comes to the surface.
- Add the vegetables and bring back to a boil.
- Add the rest remaining ingredients and simmer very gently, uncovered for 1.5 hours
- Carefully lift out the bones. Continue simmering the stock gently for another hour.
- Carefully ladle the liquid into a fine sieve, the less the bones and vegetables are disturbed in this process the clearer the stock will be.  The stock is now ready for use or fridge overnight.

2. Risotto Base

Ingredients:
- Virgin olive oil > 60 ml
- Small onion - coarsely chop > 1 or approximately 50 grams
- Arborio risotto rice > 400 grams
- Sherry wine > 60 ml
- Chicken broth > 1 liter

Method:
- Heat oil in a pan and add onion. Fry for a few minutes to flavour the oil then discard.
- Add the rice and stir for a few minutes to coat each grain of rice with oil and toast slightly.
- Add the wine and let it bubble away until evaporated.
- Add enough stock to cover the rice by a finger’s width (about an inch or two). Don't actually stick your finger in, it will be hot. Just eye it off.
- Cook on medium heat, stirring with a wooden spoon from time to time, until most of the stock has been absorbed. Repeat this step until 1 liter of chicken broth is completely used.
- Once you are at this point, the base is made. Set aside. You now get to add your own variation.

3. Prawn and Pumpkin Risotto

Ingredients:
- Prawn > 300 grams
- Mushroom > 200 grams
- Small onion - corsely chop > 1 or approximately 50 grams
- Pumpkin - coarsely grate > 200 grams
- Fresh thyme - remove stem and chop the leaves > 1 tablespoon
- Salted butter - chill and cut into small cubes, divide into 2 portions > 100 gram
- Parmesan cheese - grate > 60 grams
- Chicken broth > 100 ml

Method:
- Saute chopped onion until fragrant in a saucepan.
- Add mushroom and prawn. Fry until mushroom softened and prawn become orange.
- Set aside.
- Immediately in another saucepan, melt one portion of the butter. Add pumpkin and cook until tender. Set aside (or blend for a smoother texture).
- Put the risotto base back on fire.
- Stir through the pumpkin mixture and thyme.
- Add the final 100ml of stock and hte remaining butter and stir until both are completely absorbed.
- Gently fold in mushroom and prawns. Stir moderately.
- Stir through the parmesan, stick the lid on and let it sit for a few minutes.
- Serve hot.