Friday 20 December 2013

Raspberry Tart





This Raspberry Tart was surprisingly delicious.  The sourness of raspberry goes extremely well with the sweet cream patisserie.  The vivid bright red colour of raspberry is perfect for Christmas desserts!

Ingredients:

Pastry

- 250g plain flour
- 100g unsalted butter
- pinch of salt
- 100 icing sugar
- 2 medium eggs (at room temperature)

Cream Patisserie

- 250ml full cream milk
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 100g caster sugar
- 1 medium egg
- 50g plain flour

Instructions:

Pastry

- Put the flour on a marble slab (if you don't have one, just do it on a clean kitchen bench) and make a well in the middle.
- Place the butter, icing sugar & salt in the middle of the well and use your fingertips to mix until they're well combined.
- Then draw the flour towards the center little by little and mix them until they become a coarse sand-like texture.
- Make a well in the center again and add the egg yolks in.
- Draw the mixture towards the center little by little to mix them into the egg yolks.
- When the dough is well amalgamated, knead it with your palm 4 to 5 times until it's smooth.
- Mould the dough into a the shape of a rectangle and wrap it with cling wrap, refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
- Take the dough out from the fridge.  Roll it between 2 sheets of baking paper to the thickness of about 2mm.  Put it back to the fridge for another 30 mins.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC (fan-forced).
- Line an 8 inch tart ring with the pastry, making sure to press it into the edges and leaving the pastry hanging  over the edge (not too much).
- Prick the pastry bottom with a fork all over the surface.
- Take a sheet of baking paper and scrunch it up several times to eliminate any sharp edges.
- Place the baking paper on top and fill it with enough dried beans (or rice).
- Put it into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 mins.
- After 10 mins, take the tart case out from the oven.  Take out the dried beans together with the baking paper, trim off the overhanging pastry using a knife. Stick a knife (not a sharp one) into the edge running along between the pastry and the side of the tart ring, making sure that the pastry is not sticking onto the side of the tart ring.
- Put the baking paper and the dried beans back on top of the pastry case. Then put the case back to the oven for another 20 mins of blind bake.
- When the time is up, take the pastry case out from oven and remove the dried beans & baking paper altogether.
- Brush the entire surface of the pastry case with the egg wash using a pastry brush.  Put it back to oven for 2 mins.  Repeat this process for 3 times.
- Remove the pastry case from oven and let it cool completely.

Cream Patisserie

- Place milk & vanilla bean paste into a wet saucepan and bring it to boil using medium heat.
- Meanwhile, cream the egg with sugar in a large bowl until it's pale yellow in colour, then stir in flour and mix well.
- When the milk begins to boil, take the saucepan out from heat and pour it into the the flour mixture.  Stir it quickly until it's well combined.
- Pour the mixture back to the saucepan and put it on low heat, using a balloon whisk, stir it until it becomes a thick mixture.
- Take it off from the heat and put the cream patisserie in a large bowl.  Allow it to cool down completely.

* When the cream patisserie cools down completely, stir it again using a spatula to break down any film that might form during cooling.

* Fill the pastry case with cream patisserie using a small spatula.  Then put the raspberries on top & dust with little bit of icing sugar.

Enjoy......


Lemon Tart

This lemon tart was made based on Heston Blumenthal's recipe.

For the pastry, I didn't follow his tips exactly.  Instead of trimming the overhanging pastry before serving, I trimmed it after blind baking the pastry for only 10 mins.  This is a very important step and it worked well for me.

I tried trimming the pastry at the very beginning before putting it into the oven, but the edge of the pastry shrank well below the height of the pastry ring, resulting in an uneven ugly-looking tart case.  I also once tried trimming the pastry towards the end of blind baking (the pastry case was pretty much cooked through), but it ended up a disaster because the overhanging pastry stick on the edge of the pastry ring and it was extremely difficult to trim even with a sharp knife.  Besides, as the bottom of the pastry case shrank while the overhanging pastry was sticking on the edge of the pastry ring, I ended up having a weird-looking shaped tart case.

I think Heston's tips is only applicable for pastry rings that have sharp edges.  Mine is not, as you can see from the photo, its edge is round.







As to the lemon filling, I followed Heston's tips of pouring the liquid filling into the tart case while it's in the oven.  That was a pretty clever tips!  Why didn't I think of that before.....

Another very useful tips from Heston is using a candy thermometer to check the temperature of the filling. When the filling reaches 70ºC, you know that the tart is done and needs to be removed from the oven immediately.



When the tart was done, it looked like as if the top of the tart was covered by a thin layer of white film. However, after a while, it will turn back to a very nice-looking yellow colour.  The filling looked so smooth.









Here's the recipe that I modified based on Heston Blumenthal's recipe to suit my personal taste and the size of the tart ring that I used.  For the pastry, I did it in a traditional way using my bare hands.

Ingredients:

Pastry

- 300g plain flour
- 150g unsalted butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 120 icing sugar
- 3 large egg yolks
- 1 egg (lightly whisked, for the egg wash)

Filling

- 3 large lemons, zest finely grated & juiced
- 150ml thickened cream
- 180g caster sugar
- 4 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk

Instructions:


Pastry

- Put the flour on a marble slab (if you don't have one, just do it on a clean kitchen bench) and make a well in the middle.
- Place the butter, icing sugar & salt in the middle of the well and use your fingertips to mix until they're well combined.
- Then draw the flour towards the center little by little and mix them until they become a coarse sand-like texture.
- Make a well in the center again and add the egg yolks in.
- Draw the mixture towards the center little by little to mix them into the egg yolks.
- When the dough is well amalgamated, knead it with your palm 4 to 5 times until it's smooth.
- Mould the dough into a the shape of a rectangle and wrap it with cling wrap, refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
- Take the dough out from the fridge.  Roll it between 2 sheets of baking paper to the thickness of about 2mm.  Put it back to the fridge for another 30 mins.
- Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC (fan-forced).
- Line an 8 inch tart ring with the pastry, making sure to press it into the edges and leaving the pastry hanging  over the edge (not too much).
- Prick the pastry bottom with a fork all over the surface.
- Take a sheet of baking paper and scrunch it up several times to eliminate any sharp edges.
- Place the baking paper on top and fill it with enough dried beans (or rice).
- Put it into the pre-heated oven and bake for 10 mins.
- After 10 mins, take the tart case out from the oven.  Take out the dried beans together with the baking paper, trim off the overhanging pastry using a knife. Stick a knife (not a sharp one) into the edge running along between the pastry and the side of the tart ring, making sure that the pastry is not sticking onto the side of the tart ring.
- Put the baking paper and the dried beans back on top of the pastry case. Then put the case back to the oven for another 20 mins of blind bake.
- When the time is up, take the pastry case out from oven and remove the dried beans & baking paper altogether.
- Brush the entire surface of the pastry case with the egg wash using a pastry brush.  Put it back to oven for 2 mins.  Repeat this process for 3 times.
- Remove the pastry case from oven and let it cool completely.
- Leave the oven on, reduce the temperature to 120ºC

Filling

- Place all the filling ingredients in a heat-proof bowl and mix together using a spatula.
- Put the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, continue stirring the mixture until the temperature reaches 60ºC.  Once it's reached 60ºC, remove the bowl from the simmering heat and strain the mixture through a fine sieve into a measuring cup or jug.
- When it's ready to bake, slide the baking tray out from the oven.  Place the pastry case on the baking tray and then pour in the mixture.  Slide the baking tray back in carefully.
- Bake the tart until the filling reaches 70ºC (takes about 8 mins).
- Allow to cool completely at room temperature.

You can find the original recipe of Heston Blumenthal's Lemon Tart in this website:
















Sunday 25 August 2013

Hazelnut & Coffee Madeleine



These hazelnut & coffee Madeleine are flavorsome.  They're perfect for afternoon tea!  The burnt butter adds an extra of nutty flavour, making them even more mouth-watering.....umm.... yum yum....

Ingredients:

- 120g plain flour
- 50g hazelnut meal (i.e. grounded hazelnut)
- 1tsp baking powder
- 60g caster sugar
- 3/4 tbsp hazelnut syrup
- 1 tbsp chicory coffee essence
- 2 medium size eggs
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1tsp vanilla bean paste

Direction:

1.  Preheat the oven to 190C.

2.  Sift the plain flour & baking powder together and mix them well into the hazelnut meal.  If the hazelnut meal is not fine enough, you'll need to sift it too.

3.  Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat it over the stove until the butter turns brown.  Take it off the heat and when it cools down, sift the melted butter in order to get rid of those burnt particles.  100g of butter should yield about 80g of burnt butter.

4.  Combine the eggs, vanilla bean paste and sugar in a medium bowl and beat them until a creamy texture is reached.

5.  Add 70g cooled burnt butter into the egg mixture and fold gently.

6.  Sprinkle the sifted flour mixture (as mentioned in step 2) over the egg mixture, gently mix until all is well folded.

7.  Rest the mixture in the refrigerator for about 15 to 20 mins.

8.  Grease well the Madeleine tin with the remaining 10g of burnt butter and fill them up with the prepared mixture.

9.  Bake in oven for about 10 to 12 mins (or until well risen and golden)



Traditional Madeleine



I came across with this recipe when I took a patisserie class in a French Cooking School few years ago. The original recipe calls for using hazelnut meal and melting the butter using microwave.  However, I modified it a bit by burning the butter on the stove so as to add a more unique flavour.  Since about 20% of the butter contains water and the water evaporates during the burning process, instead of using 100g of butter which the original recipe calls for, I used 150g, which in the end yielded about 120g.

Ingredients:

- 120g plain flour
- 50g almond meal (i.e. grounded almond)
- 1tsp baking powder
- 70g caster sugar
- 2 medium size eggs
- 150g unsalted butter
- 1tsp vanilla bean paste

Direction:

1.  Preheat the oven to 190C.

2.  Sift the plain flour & baking powder together and mix them well into the almond meal.  If the almond meal is not fine enough, you'll need to sift it too.

3.  Put the butter in a small saucepan and heat it over the stove until the butter turns brown.  Take it off the heat and when it cools down, sift the melted butter in order to get rid of those burnt particles.

4.  Combine the eggs, vanilla bean paste and sugar in a medium bowl and beat them until a creamy texture is reached.

5.  Add the cooled burnt butter into the egg mixture and fold gently.  *Remember to reserve some of the burnt butter for greasing the tin (step 8).

6.  Sprinkle the sifted flour mixture (as mentioned in step 2) over the egg mixture, gently mix until all is well folded.

7.  Rest the mixture in the refrigerator for about 15 to 20 mins.

8.  Grease well the Madeleine tin and fill them up with the prepared mixture.

9.  Bake in oven for about 10 to 12 mins (or until well risen and golden)



Monday 27 May 2013

2-year-old Birthday Cake




Happy Birthday, my dear Gabrielle...... I hope to make you a lovely birthday cake every year!


Monday 20 May 2013

Vegan Chocolate Cake


Recently my little one has been saying "chocolate cake, chocolate cake, yummy...". Honestly, I had never given her chocolate cakes before.  I think she must have had it in childcare center, sigh....

Anyway, this is an awesome recipe for chocolate cake lovers especially for vegans.  My very first time to try an "eggless" cake recipe and the cakes turned out really well, surprisingly moist, yummy!

Well, actually, I once made an eggless cake, not on purpose, but by mistake.  I remember there was a time I forgot to put eggs when making a cake and it turned out rather dense, but, it was still quite nice to eat.  My dad said "a cake cannot be called cake without eggs in it!" (well, if you speak Chinese, you'll know what he meant!).  I think he's wrong this time, haha!

Vegan Chocolate Cake

Dry Ingredients:
1.5 cups flour
3/4 cups caster sugar
4 tbs coco powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda
1/2 tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
1 cup water
1/3 olive or sunflower oil
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
1.  Preheat oven to 175 to 180C.
2.  Sift flour with bicarbonate soda together, then mix well with other dry ingredients.
3.  Combine all wet ingredients together.
4.  Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and fold to just combined.
5.  Pour the combined mixture into muffin / cup cake pan
6.  Bake for about 25 mins or until the skewer comes out clean.
7.  Enjoy!