Puffing Away

My friend has been talking about putting almond and sugar on top of cream puff and she said very nice.

Curious back home, took out my books and do some reference and decided to do the recipe from Okashi book. It's looks simple and decide to give it a try. Don't know what is pastry flour, decide to use cake flour and so glad that it's workable.

Remember when the first time when I learn how to bake cream puff, is that after cooking the dough, have to use the mixer to beat till the cooked dough is slightly warm or cold before adding the eggs, but this recipe you don't have to and was so much easier.

After piping the dough, I give a spray of water and sprinkle chopped almonds and sugar, it's works, stick we4ll.



Was satisfied with the result and overall the taste is nice. I prefer to mix more custard ande less whipping cream.. next time, I will try some other flavours, now I was thinking about taiwanese polo puff

Change of Mind

In my mind, Actually I planned together with my niece to made a birthday cake for her elder sister, what I want to do is a fondant cake.

Yesterday, went to three shops to source for my supplies, manage to get what I want, and was too lazy to go the Sunlik for my Valhorna Chocolates, just need to do with the belgium chocolates that I have in hand...

Late in the evening, I baked two cakes, dark chocolate mudcaake and white chocolate mud cake.

Today assemble the 2 types of cakes together with ganache, don't know whether it's the effect of the weather, hot and warm, the ganache is hard to handle, keep on putting in the fridge to cool and harden. Seeing that the ganache is quick to be soften in room temperature today, decide not to do fondant, just in case, my nieces are not at home early. I just pipe the edge and put some chocolate pearls.



Delivered the cake to their house, as what I expect, they are not at home, wherelse, one of them suppose to help me, said that she's busy, just as I expected. Hope they like the cake :)

Planet cakes recipe

White Chocolate Mud Cake
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Size: 9" round cake or 8" square cake
Makes: 1
Serves: 50 people coffee portions


250g Unsalted Butter
70g Vegetable Oil
320g White Chocolate Buttons
280ml Water
400g Sugar
320g Plain Flour
190g Self-raising Flour
4 Eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp Vanilla Essence
1 tsp Salt

Preheat fan forced oven at 140°C
Greased the tin and lined with baking paper.
Place butter and water in a saucepan over medium heat until melted, turn off the heat and add chocolate, stir until the chocolate melted and well combined. Leave to cool slightly.
Sift plain flour and self-raising flour together into a bowl.
Add sugar and salt mix well.
Make a well in the centre.
Pour over the chocolate mixture in the centre, then add vanilla and egg.
Mix with a wooden spoon until well combined.
Pour over the mixture to the tin and bake until the cake is golden brown and skewer comes out clean when inserted in the middle.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before removing from tin.
Store in an air tight container in the fridge.

Nb Ingredients equal best result at room temperature.

PME 5

Today is my last lesson in PME Sugercraft, we learn to do wedding couples and most of us longer time to do the couple.

Tedious, a lot of details to be done, Was happy at least the couple that I made is presentable, needs a lot of practising to perfect it.

chiffon

Yesterday did have some time after last few days glue on to korean drama and long time did not do chiffon cakes, time for practise.

Take out the chiffon book that I bought last year and start flipping, saw yoghurt cranberry chiffon and it so happens that I have the ingredients, defrost the eggs, catch up korean drama, finished one episode and there's go starting on the chiffon cake.

Study the recipe in the book and noticed that the recipe is for 17cm and 20cm, now in dilemma, I have 25cm, whether to double the 17cm or do the 20cm by 1.5 times.
Tried to consult my friend, so happen she was inside the cinema. Well! made up my mind, double the recipe for 17cm. Luckily it's turns up fine... Heng Ah!

After baking, I realised that the recipe for this cake got no baking powder and cream of tarter... hmmm... well! it's good lor! no extra chemical....

Bring the whole chiffon cake this morning to office, my collegues says it's nice, texcture is soft.moist and not so sweet, but I feel that if I have added some lemon zest inside, it would be better in flavour, Overall, I liked the cake.




Below is the recipe from the book

Cranberry Yoghurt Chiffon Cake

Ingredients: (25cm tube pan) (recipe from Chiffon Book)
- 6 egg yolks
- 160g sugar
- 80ml oil
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 160g natural yogurt
- 160g HK flour + some extra flour to coat the cranberries
- 120g dried cranberry
- 8 egg whites
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC
- Hand whisk egg yolks and half portion of the sugar until smooth or sugar dissolve. Add in the oil, lemon juice and yogurt and continue to whisk until combined.
- Sift the flour into the yolk mixture, whisk until smooth.
- Beat the egg whites until foamy, Gradually add the other half portion of sugar in batches, beat until egg whites are shiny and stiff.
- Fold 1/2 egg whites into flour mixture, then pour the mixture into the remaining egg whites, mix until smooth.
- Coat the dried cranberries with flour and fold into the cake batter. Pour the batter into tube pan.
- Bake about 40-50 minutes until the surface is golden brown. Remove from the oven and invert the pan to cook the cake completely

PME 4

Last Sunday, we are learning how to do animal figurines, for this we need to have nimble fingers and a pair of good eyesight, this is what I am lacking..

With a clumsy hands, my animal figurines, keep on dropping eyes and ears, must have a lot of patient and all the time in the world. Best do before hand, when the sugarpaste is dry and the fixtures are set.



What I did that day, I baked a Chocolate Mud Cake, in which I retrieve the recipe from one of the websites. My daughter comments that the cake texture and constituency is not bad, but prefer the chocolate brownies that I have baked before, that was a long time ago..... Oh! I remember, BITC recipe. I have tasted the cake and it tasted almost like moist chocolate cake, what is the difference??? also got water added or is it just another name! I did not put in chocolate ganache, it could be the missing link to the Oomp Oomph taste. I have no confidence yet to cover the sugarpaste with chocolate ganache, I just brush the cake with apricot gel.



Attached is the link for the Chocolate Mud Cake and I have added some expresso coffee and chocolate liquer for a punch



Chocolate Mud Cake
350 grams dark chocolate pieces
225 grams butter
600 ml water
3 eggs
400 grams castor sugar
400 grams self raising flour
Grease and line a 23cm/9" round cake tin. Preheat oven to 170C/325F.
In a saucepan over low heat, heat chocolate, butter and water. Stir frequently until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
In a large bowl, lightly beat eggs. Gradually beat cooled chocolate mixture into eggs.
Whisk sugar and flour into chocolate mixture, continue beating until smooth and well blended.
Pour mixture into cake tin. Bake for 45 minutes or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.
Turn cake onto wire rack to cool.
*Please note: This mixture is quite runny, use a solid cake tin not a springform tin.

*Tip: Line tin with baking paper, this will make the cake easier to remove from the tin, no sticking to the sides.

Tunnels and Holes

I and Sharon might be competiting, but actually it is not, we are both curious people who like to try different methods and ways of making and experimenting...

We both try to bake in tube ring, just like the indonesian people do. The last time I did was in a square tin and I managed to get half the cakes with tunnel. This time round, I play with the oven temperature, I get holes all over but the cake is still QQ.

What I did was put at the bottom rack and bake for 20 mins and I grill for one hour, found that the cake was not baked, fastruated, turn to bake mode and bake the cake through. Maybe my batter was too full and the cake tube ring was small. Well, shall try again, it's one of my family favourite cake.

PME 3

Finally, remember to bring my camera to class, total class 8 persons and 2 absent today, only six cake.

In the picture is a dummy cake, can you guess which is mine, today theme is butterfly on the tier cake with a bow on top. One thing good about the class that you can play with colours and the things are free to use and no restrictions. Not like other place.

I was thinking whether to bake a real cake to class next week??????

Sio Bak

Trying on my hands on roast pork, having problem at first, tried to grill the pork with rack 3/4 down from the grill, check for half an hour, did'nt get the skin to crackle. shift the rack a level further up, crackle but not much, getting frustrated.

For me, I will try anything, just to get the things done to the way, I want, Try again, put up the rack one more layer up, yay! finally the skin started to crackle more, I was happy :)

See this link for recipe,

http://happyhomemaker88.com/2008/05/17/homemade-yummy-crispy-roast-pork-belly-siew-yoke-or-siao-bak/

The only thing that my roast pork, I did not add fermented beancurd. I gave a piece to my neighbour to try and she say it's ok and ask me how to get the skin to be crispy.