Hooked On

Really hooked on to Lao Po Bing, after favourable results from my previous batch and as well as my friend encouragement. It really spur me on.

As well on my curious side of me, and I have been surfing internet on Lao Po Bong, most of the recipes have ingredients of winter melon more than Kao Fen, wherelse, my previous batch of Lao Po Bing, have ingredients of Kao Fen more than winter melon.
I have to try in order to have a perfect one.

Someone gave me a BITC recipe and I tried, my husband and I prefer the previous one, but one of my collegues like the pastry, the pastry is good that I agreed. So far, I have tried various types of oil and water dough, use all vegetable oil, one dough oil, one dough shortening and both dough shortening. What I can conclude is that there's is a difference in texture. Talk as if I am a expert.. Nay!!!

cream cheese bread

First time, try Barcook's raisin cream bread, find that it's quite special, whenever, I was around the area, I would patronise the shop.

I,myself would like to do bread, still not a expertise on this, but have improved on my rounding skills, look up recipes and decide to raisin cream cheese bread, and after soaking the raisins, found that I didn't like the taste of the soaked raisins, I use cranberry instead.




I made sure to close the ends of the dough tight after wrapping the cream cheese mixture, but after baking, two of them, the fillings seep out. I have to be more careful the next time , when i decide to do this again.

Recipe:

400 gm Bread Flour
100 gm Cake Flour
100 gm Sugar
20 gm Milk Powder
10 gm Yeast
100 gm Butter
250 gm Water
1 Egg
5 gm Salt
60 gm Dried Cranberry

Put in 2 types of flour into the mixing bowl.
Add in sugar, milk powder, yeast.
Use dough hook and mix the dry ingredients.
Add in egg and water and beat till it becomes dough.
Add in butter and beat till smooth and elastic.
Add in salt and beat for a while.
Add in dried cranberries.
Let it proof till triple in size.
Cut and weight, round up each individual pieces. rest for 10 mins.
Flatten and put in the fillings and wrap tight and let it proof till double in size.
Bake at 190 ~ 200 deg.

Fillings:

250 gm cream cheese
100 gm icing sugar

Beat till soft and creamy, froze the mixture before use.

Lao Po Bing

Ages ago, wanted to do this, but never come around. After making fllaky mooncakes, confidence is back + mood + balance Kao Fen, pushed myself to do it.... yay! finally 51 pieces in 3 and a half hrs job.

My husband, family and friends loved itand am glad my effort was not wasted.

festive fever

Yesterday, today I made the last batches of mooncake, sambal flaky mooncake and pandan snowskin.

Made 5 types mooncake this year, traditional baked lotus and red bean mooncake with 2 egg yolks, flaky skin flaky mooncake, flaky sambal mooncake and pandan snow skin mooncake. Wow! maybe it's the fever of everyone that's motivate me to do so, glad I did. I myself don't eat so much of mooncake and I have receive some, took a long time to finish but most of it, I have given away.

My indian neighour has given me a box of mooncake, say that I always give her goodies, I told her that I will made sambal mooncake that I have learn't and in actual fact is for my practice, hee! hee! I made besides giving her, I pass some to my buddies, they like it. When I mentioned sambal mooncake, they have weird feelings about it, I happen to have this feelings too. When there is a workshop for this, I and my friend signed up, I told her, I wanted to taste it just out of curiosity. Surprising, when taste, the combination in taste is just right, a bit spicy, salty and sweet. I hape no regret in attending and in fact that I use same skin recipe to do flaky red bean mooncake, my family likes it. Yay... I am going make this for next year.



Left pandan lotus paste, I made some pandan snowskin mooncake for my daughter's boyfriend and some for my neighbour's children.

Not so Flaky

Have balance red bean paste in the frig, after making a batch of mooncakes last week, I have decided to try my hands on flaky skin mooncake.

Prepare the water and oil dough, using simple steps to roll the skin. Hardly do this and quite poor in wrapping up, it's looks presentable, but the inner dough after baking certain parts looks damp, taste is cooked.

I consider myself not bad to have this stage, my husband loved it and said taste like tau sar piah, bought some to office and to my mum. Hope they liked it.

Copy cat

Seeing so many bloggers have been doing cartoon rollcake. Today, have time, try my hands on it. No doubt, I have the book, but is in chinese, and I can't read it very well and I choose the simplest pattern to do.

The sponge cake turns out to be soft, but the only setback is that I have bubbles holes in the sponge. Glad that I try and I loved the outlook of the roll.


recipe adapted from the book

Preheat the oven to 175 degrees.

Egg Yolk Batter

3 egg yolks
35 gm sugar
40 gm oil
60 gm water
70 gm flour
10 gm cocoa powder
some vanilla essence

Beat egg yolks, vaniila essence and sugar till creamy and fluffy.
Add in water, mix well.
Add in oil, Mix well
Fold in the flour
Remove 1 tablesppon of batter into a small bowl for diagram.
Lastly fold in cocoa powder.

Egg White Batter

3 egg whites
30 gm sugar
1 tsp cornflour

Mix the sugar and cornflour together,
Beat the egg white till foamy and add in the sugar cornflour mixture.
Beat till it peak.
Fold in 1/3 into the egg yolk batter. Mix well.
Fold in the rest of white white batter.
Pour on top of baked pattern and bake for 15 to 20 mins.

For Diagram or Pattern (prepare this first)

I tbsp of egg yolk batter
1/8 tsp corn flour
1/2 tsp of flour
1 egg white

Add in 1/2 tsp of flour into the egg yolk batter, mix well.
Beat the egg white till foamy, sprinkle the corn flour and beat till peak.
Fold in the egg yolk batter.
Pipe patterns onto a tray lined with parchment paper and bake for 2 mins.

Chatilly Cream for Roll

200 gm Fresh Cream
20 gm Sugar

Beat together till soft peak.

Playing

My youngest niece, kendra, who is 6 years old, always wanted to come to my house to bake cakes, made arrangement with her last sunday, I invited Nicole (my first student) to come along too.

Together, we bake red velvet cakes and small butter cupcakes and I teach Nicole on the basic of making fondant cupcakes. As usual, they say they always help me to bake, but I am always the one to do the baking. Luckily, they like to mold the fondant paste and I leave it to their creatively. I just provide some pictures for them.

They have a fun day and they are always welcome anytime, so far, I have not refused any of their request, they always have my priority.