Raspberry Souffle

Souffle is such a wonderful dessert.  It's so fluffy that it just melts into your mouth, leaving a trace of satisfaction in your stomach even hours after....

I usually make it on the spot in my kitchen  right after lunch or dinner gathering with friends or family.

It's so easy to make and you can surely impress your guests with this elegant French dessert fresh coming out of the oven!

Ingredients

Raspberry Puree

- 150g raspberries
- Juice of 1/2 small lemon
- 30g caster sugar
- 2 tsp cornflour

Souffle

- 3 large egg white
- 2 tbsp caster sugar
- pinch of salt

For preparing the ramekins

- a little bit of melted butter (or you can use canola oil for health reason)

Method

Pre-heat oven to 200C.

To make the Rasberry Souffle:

1.  In a small bowl mix the corn flour with lemon juice.
2.  Put the raspberries in a mixer & blend them into puree, then pour them out into a saucepan.
3.  Pour the cornflour mixture & caster sugar (30gram) in saucepan to boil with the raspberries.
4.  Bring to boil then cooking it for 30 seconds to allow the corn flour to cook, whisking constantly.
5.  Take the mixture out of the saucepan and place in a large bowl to cool down.

To prepare the ramekins:

- Using a good quality pastry brush, brush the inside of the ramekins with melted butter (or canola oil).  Use upward motion (from bottom to top) when brushing the sides (this helps the souffle to rise upward beautifully).

To make the souffle:

1.  Start whisking the egg whites in a medium bowl with an electric whisk (mixer).  Once reaching the soft peak stage stage, then add caster sugar (1 tablespoon at a time), keep on whisking until it reaches firm peak.
2.  Put 1/3 of the egg white mixture (i.e. merginue) into the raspberry mixture.
3.  Using a big balloon whisk to fold them gently together (using the "under-over" motion).
4.  Repeat steps 2 & 3 until all egg white mixture is folded into the raspberry mixture & there is no white showing.
5.  Using a spoon to gently transfer the mixture into each ramekin to the top. Smooth with spatula knife.


Bake at 200C for about 12 mins.  Lower your oven temperature half way through if required.

Dust with icing sugar on top, serve immediately and enjoy!

Viennese Fingers

These Viennese Fingers just melt into your mouth.... You can sandwich them using a thin layer of raspberry jam or just eat them as they are.  Absolutely yummy!  My little one loves them :-)

Ingredients:

Unsalted Butter (softened)           100g
2 large Egg Yolks                      
Caster Sugar                                 40g
Vanilla Bean Paste                       1 tbsp
Plain Flour                                    125g
Some good quality dark chocolate (for decorating purpose)

Method:

1.  Preheat oven to 180C.
2.  Put the softened butter in a medium bowl.  Use an electric mixer to beat it until light & fluffy.
3.  Add in caster sugar, continue beating.
4.  Add the egg yolks and vanilla bean paste into the mixture, continue beating until they're mixed well.
5.  Add flour and keep beating until smooth.
6.  Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a wavy piping nozzel.
7.  Pipe out the mixture into whatever shape you like on an oven tray with baking paper.
8   Bake for about 12 minutes.
9.  Set aside to cool down.
10.  Melt some good quality dark chocolate using double boiler.  Using a spoon, drizzle some of the chocolate onto the cookies.

Elephant Birthday Cake

This was my gorgeous little one's 3-year-old birthday cake.  

I was going to make a 3D sheep birthday cake for her.  However the only sheep cake tin in the shop wasn't available for hire anymore (as an irresponsible customer didn't return it and the shop owner couldn't contact her anymore...... so it's gone gone gone!).  

While I was going through the cake tin collection book in the shop to decide which one to hire, my little one saw this elephant cake picture and demanded to have it.  She was so happy and excited.  So I ended up hiring the elephant cake tin to make her birthday cake.  Since then, she's not into sheep anymore.... but elephants!  She even got a pink elephant security blanket from her dad as birthday present :-)

I was intended to make it purple, but got the wrong colour.  So I ended up using pink.

Happy Birthday my dear Gabrielle, mommy loves you so much...... ~3~

Mango Mousse Cake

Are you craving for cakes but at the same time worried about your waist line?  I always do!

If you pay attention on the ingredients used in this Mango Mousse Cake, you'll find that it is relatively pretty healthy compared to other types of cake.  It's packed with Vitamin A & fiber.  Most important of all, it's low in fat & sugar!

I made this for a friend of mine whose daughter had to spend her time in hospital during Christmas.  So glad that her whole family enjoyed it very much :-)

Ingredients:

For Mango Mousse

-  300g Fresh Mango Puree
-  1/2 small lime / lemon
-  15g Gelatin Sheets
-  120g to 130g Italian Meringue (to be made by 2 medium Egg White, 80g White Sugar & 80g Water)
-  150g thicken cream (softly beaten)

For Mango Mousse Cake Topping

-  200g to 250g Fresh Mango Puree
-  5g Gelatin Sheets

Method:

Mango Puree

1.  Use an electric hand mixer or a food processor to blend 500g to 550g fresh mango until it reaches the texture of smooth puree.

2.  Pour puree out into a bowl, add the juice of 1/2 small lime / lemon and mix well.

3.  Soak 15g gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water until they become soft.

4.  Put 300g of puree mixture into a small saucepan.  Reserve the rest for the cake topping.

4.  When the gelatin leaves are ready, squeeze out excess water and then put them into the puree.  Place the pan on the stove on very low heat.  Stir it gently until the gelatin is all melted.  Set aside to cool.

Italian Meringue

1.  Put 2 medium egg white into a large bowl, sprinkle with a little bit of salt (purpose is to make the meringue more stable).  Meanwhile, put the white sugar & water into a small pan, bring to boil.  Put a candy thermometer in to check the boiling temperature.

2.  When the temperature reaches about 110C, start beating the egg white using an electric mixer on medium speed.  Once the temperature reaches 118C, remove the pan from the stove and slowly pour the sugar syrup from the side of the bowl in a thin stream while beating the egg white.  Once it's all poured into the egg white, turn the mixer on high speed and continue beating until it reaches stiff peak.

Mango Mousse

Now the mixing part.....

1.  Put 120g to 130g of Italian Meringue into the bowl of mango puree. Use a large balloon whisk, fold the meringue in gently (repeating the "under-over" action) until it's well mixed.

2.  Gently stir in the lightly beaten cream into the meringue mixture and mix well.

3.  Pour the mousse into an 8" bottomless cake ring (lined with acetate sheet on the side and with a cake board on the bottom).

4.  Refrigerate for about 1 to 2 hours.

Mango Mousse Cake Topping

1.  Soak 5g gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water until they become soft.

2.  When the gelatin leaves are ready, squeeze out excess water and then put them into the reserved puree in a small saucepan.  Place pan on the stove on very low heat.  Stir it gently until the gelatin is all melted.  Set aside to cool.

3.  When the puree is cooled, take the cake out from the fridge and pour it evenly on top of the cake.

4.  Refrigerate for another 2 hours.

* You can add some passion fruit into the puree to enhance the topical flavor.

Green Tea & Red Bean Mousse Cake

Full of oriental flavor, this Green Tea & Red Bean Mousse Cake is packed with antioxidant, fiber & different vitamins.  I made this for my mother-in-law's birthday last year, everybody absolutely loved it!

Green Tea & Red Bean.....umm..... what a perfect combination!

Ingredients:

For Red Bean Mousse

-  330g Red Bean Paste (to be made by 100g dried red beans boiled in 2 cups of water)
-  12g Gelatin Sheets
-  100g Italian Meringue (to be made by 2 medium Egg White, 80g White Sugar & 80g Water)
-  150g thicken cream (softly beaten)

For Green Tea Mousse

-  8g Matcha Power (dissolved in 125g hot water)
-  12g Gelatin Sheets
-  100g Italian Meringue (to be made by 2 medium Egg White, 60g White Sugar & 80g Water)
-  150g thicken cream (softly beaten)

Method:

Red Bean Paste

1.  Put 100g dried red beans in a small sauce pan with 2 cups of water and boil until the beans become very soft.  Check if there's enough water every so often during the boiling process.  Add more water if necessary.

2.  When the beans are ready, use an electric hand mixer or a food processor to blend them together.  Add some water if the paste is too thick and difficult to blend.

3.  Soak the gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water until they become soft.

4.  When the paste is well-blended, put them in a small saucepan on the stove on very low heat.  Then, take the soften gelatin leaves out, squeeze out excess water and then mix it with the paste.  Stir it gently over the stove until the gelatin is all melted.  Set aside to cool.

Italian Meringue

1.  Put 2 medium egg white into a large bowl, sprinkle with a little bit of salt (purpose is to make the meringue more stable).  Meanwhile, put the white sugar & water into a small pan, bring to boil.  Put a candy thermometer in to check the boiling temperature.

2.  When the temperature reaches about 110C, start beating the egg white using an electric mixer on medium speed.  Once the temperature reaches 118C, remove the pan from the stove and slowly pour the sugar syrup from the side of the bowl in a thin stream while beating the egg white.  Once it's all poured into the egg while, turn the mixer on high speed and continue beating until it reaches stiff peak.

Red Bean Mousse

Now the mixing part.....

1.  Put 100g of Italian Meringue into the bowl of red bean paste. Use a large balloon whisk, fold the meringue in gently (repeating the "under-over" action) until it's completely mixed with the paste.

2.  Gently stir in the lightly beaten cream into the meringue mixture and mix well.

3.  Pour the mousse into an 8" bottomless cake ring (lined with acetate sheet on the side and with a cake board on the bottom).

4.  Refrigerate for about 1 or 2 hours.

Green Tea Mousse

1.  Soak the gelatin leaves in a bowl of cold water until they become soft.

2.  Dissolve the Matcha Powder with hot water in a large bowl.  Then put the bowl over a pan of steaming water on the stove.

3.  Take the soften gelatin leaves out, squeeze out excess water and then mix it with the dissolved Matcha mixture.  Stir it gently over the stove until the gelatin is all melted.  Set aside to cool.

4.  Make the Italian Mousse according to the instructions above.

5.  Put 100g of Italian Meringue into the bowl of Matcha mixture. Use a large balloon whisk, fold the meringue in gently (repeating the "under-over" action) until it's completely mixed.

6.  Then, gently stir in the lightly beaten cream into the meringue mixture and mix well.

7.  Take the Red Bean Mousse out from the fridge and pour the Green Tea Mousse on the top.

8.  Refrigerate for another 2 hours.

Decorate the top with strawberries and serve.  Enjoy......

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:

http://www.sbs.com.au/food/recipes/heston-blumenthals-lemon-tart

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)

2-year-old Birthday Cake

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

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!

Dark Chocolate Macarons

Recently, a friend of mine asked me to show her how to make macarons.  She came over to my place last week and we made chocolate macarons.  However, they came out pretty bad.  I felt embarrassed and disappointing.

The first tray was a complete failure.  I think that was because the oven temperature was too low.  I have a double oven; but since the light in the top oven was out of order, I had to used the bottom oven (which is conventional, not fan-forced) to do the baking.  I baked the first tray of macarons at 130C for 15 mins.  They were all cracked while they were still in the oven baking.  It was the first time that I've ever had this problem.  I then baked the other trays at around 145C, they came out "alright" (at least they were not cracked and the little "feet" came up).  Well, I think they were just "alright" because they were not up to my usual standard.  Since I haven't made macarons for almost one year due to my busy lifestyle, I seemed to forget the correct consistency of macaronage (i.e. the combining of meringue & the almond mixture).  They were way "under-fold".  The macaron shells didn't come out flat & smooth, but rather with some "pointy" shape on the top.  They were edible of course, but not very nice looking. 

When it comes to baking, I'm kind of a perfectionist.  Since I was still feeling embarrassed by the "bad macaron baking experience", I decided to give it a go again a few days later.

This time I made sure I fold the batter just enough.  They came out pretty good.  Look at the photo below.  You can see how they should look like when you get the batter just right - no under or over-fold.  When you pipe them on the baking sheet, they'll naturally spread to a perfect shape and they should look shiny.

This is how macarons should look like after baking.  See those lovely little "feet" came up?  They look so nice :-)

Aren't they look beautiful when they have some ganache put in the middle?  Umm... yummy.....

So here is the recipe for these lovely dark chocolate macarons.

Ingredients for Macarons:  
egg white, almond meal, pure icing sugar (sifted), coco powder, caster sugar, water

Quantity of Ingredients: 
1 part of egg white, 1.33 parts of almond meal, 1.33 parts of pure icing sugar, 0.15 parts of coco powder, 1.33 parts of caster sugar, 0.33 parts of water

This is the basic formula for making macarons.  It's difficult to tell you how many egg white you need as you really need to weigh them.  The exact quantity of other ingredients depends on the amount of egg white you use.  For example, if you use 150g of egg white, you'll have to use 200g of almond meal, etc.

Method:

Generally, there are 3 parts.

Part 1:  Preparing the Almond Meal mixture

Put the almond meal, sifted icing sugar & coco powder together into a large bowl, mix well.  Then add in HALF of the egg white (remember to weigh it to get the exact or close to exact half quantity), combine well.  The mixture should become very thick & sticky.

Part 2:  Making the Italian Meringue

Put the caster sugar & water into a small saucepan, boil them on high heat, put the candy thermometer in the pan to keep an eye on the temperature.  Meanwhile, put the rest of the egg white into a large clean bowl (make sure it's super clean, no grease at all), sprinkle with a little bit of salt.  When the sugar syrup reaches 115C, turn on the electric mixer to start whipping the egg white.  Once the sugar syrup reaches 118C, take it away from the heat and pour it very slowly (in a thin stream) into the whipping egg white (pour from the side of the bowl, be careful or you'll get burnt by the hot sugar syrup).  Continue the whipping until the meringue reaches stiff peak stage.

Part 3:  Making the Macaronage

Now it's time to combine the almond meal mixture & the Italian Meringue.  Take about 1/3 of the meringue and mix it into the almond meal mixture.  You'll need to "beat the hell out of it" to loosen the thick & sticky mixture.  Once it is loosen, take another 1/3 of the meringue and start folding them into the mixture until it's JUST combined.  Finally, take the rest of the meringue and fold into the mixture again.  Be very careful and watch the consistency.  Do NOT over-fold.  The right consistency should be flowing like lava and look shinny.

Once part 3 is done.  Fill the piping bag with the mixture and pipe them onto baking paper.  Let them sit for 10 to 15 mins before putting them into the oven.

Oven should be preheated to around 145C (fan forced).  Bake the macarons for about 19 mins.

Ingredients for Chocolate Ganache:  

1 part of premium quality dark cooking chocolate, 1 part of thickened cream (e.g. if you're using 200g of dark chocolate, you need to use 200g of thickened cream)

Method:

Break the chocolate into small pieces and put them in a medium bowl.

Put the cream into a small saucepan to boil.

When the cream is hot, take them out from the heat.  Pour 1/3 of the hot cream into the chocolate, mix well. Then pour another 1/3 of it into the chocolate mixture, mix well.  Finally pour the rest of the cream to the mixture and mix well.  Simple!

Put the ganache in the fridge for 1 hour to firm it up before pipping them onto the macarons.

Good luck & hope you enjoy the challenge!  Expect to have lots of wastage as you'll need to try a few times before you get it right.  It's not easy to get the right consistency of macaronage.  But it's worth trying though! As long as you've the passion to do it, you'll get it right eventually!  I tried a few times and did lots of research before I could get it right :-)

Happy Baking!

Paris Brest

As I had a jar of unopened fresh cream that was going to expire soon, I thought I’d better make use of it.  So I decided to make a Paris Brest last night.

I made a little experiment this time.  As whipped cream is not stable, it often can’t hold the shape nicely.  Hence, I thought I might try mixing it with some shortening.  I put the fresh cream and shortening together and then whipped them.  Unfortunately it was a complete failure….the mixture “weeps”.  Perhaps I should have whipped the shortening first, then add in the cream and whip.  Since I put them all together at one go and did the whipping, it’s very difficult to mix them well without over-whip.  Or.. it could be that the two can’t go well together… Anyhow, I’ll try it again next time.

Since the fresh cream filling was a failure, I had to use all shortening to do it.  I could have used half butter & half shortening (for better flavour), but I was in a rush to finish the whole thing as I was so tired by the time I got to this stage….  So in the end, I just took out a jar of Crisco shortening and whip it (much more expensive then butter… sigh… about $8 for 250g!)  Well, actually, this Crisco shortening seems to be healthier than butter as it’s 50% less saturated fat and it’s trans fat free.  There’s a similar product called “Crème Cup” which is made locally (you can buy it from some cake decoration / specialty shops) and is a lot cheaper than Crisco, but it’s certainly NOT trans fat free.  I only used it once, the texture is very smooth; but for health reason, I dare not to use it anymore.

Paris Brest

Ingredients 

For the Choux Pastry:

250ml water
60g unsalted butter (chopped into cubes)
1 tbsp sugar
125g plain flour
3 medium size eggs
some silvered almonds

For the filling:

200g Crisco shortening or softened butter
30g sifted icing sugar
3 tbsp Bushshells Coffee & Chicory Essence


Method

Preheat oven to 200C (Conventional).  Line a baking tray with non-stick paper

Place water, sugar & unsalted butter into a saucepan, bring to boil and then remove the pan immediately from the heat & immediately add in all the flour.  Mix rapidly with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Add the 1st egg into the pastry and mix completely (note that at the beginning, the pastry looks slimy but as you continue to mix, it will come together eventually).  Add the 2nd egg and mix completely.  Last, add the 3rd egg and mix completely.  When the pastry all comes together nicely, check the moisture content.  If it's a bit dry, add an extra 1/2 egg and mix well.

Put the pastry in a piping bag with decorative nozzle and pipe a 20cm diameter circle on the non-stick paper.  Brush some egg yolk on top of the pastry ring, decorate it with some silvered almond & sprinkle with some white sugar.  Bake in the pre-warmed oven until the pastry is cooked (about 40 mins).

When the pastry is cooked, remove it from the oven and let it cool down completely.

Split the pastry ring into half (sideways) using serrated knife.

Place the shortening or soften butter into a bowl, add the sifted icing sugar and coffee essence.  Mix with electric whisk until it's light & fluffy.

Pipe the cream onto the base of the pastry shell, then place the other half shell on top of the cream.  Sprinkle with icing sugar to serve.  

Healthy Savoury Muffins

This is such a healthy recipe for kids.  The muffins are packed with vitamin A & E, calcium & fibre.  I didn't add salt as I made these for my little girl.  She loves them! She was even trying to dance (moving her shoulders) while eating them, so funny... Next time I might also add some onions in to make them even more nutritious.

For adults, the taste is quite blend.  You'll need to add some extra ingredient like bacon in order to further enhance to flavour.

 
Healthy Savoury Muffins

Make 6 muffins

Ingredients:

75g wholemeal flour
37g wheat germ
2.5tsp baking powder
2 cups shredded carrots & zucchini 
60g shredded cheddar cheese
1 medium egg
80ml water (or milk)
80ml olive oil

Optional Ingredients:  bacon, salt & pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C (conventional, if fan-forced preheat to 165C).

Put wholemeal flour, wheatgerm & baking powder into a large bowl and mix well. then add in carrots & zucchini and cheese, mix until they are well combined.

Whisk egg, water & oil together in small bowl.  Add the egg mixture into the flour mixture, mix UNTIL THEY ARE JUST COMBINED (Do NOT overmix or they will become tough)

Put the mixture into the prepared muffin pan and bake for about 20 mins.

Best serve while they are still warm.  These muffins will turn hard when they are cold.  You can use microwave oven to warm them up again.

Orange & Almond Slices

My sister & brother-in-law made orange & almond cakes recently.  They were so moist & yummy.  So I decided to give it a go.  I like the fact that it's made of almond meal & it's FAT FREE :-)

The texture didn't come up as what I expected, perhaps they were a bit overbaked.  Anyway, I must try this again!

Orange & Almond Slices


Ingredients

450g to 500g orange puree (2 large or 4 small navel oranges)
5 medium eggs 
200g caster sugar
250g almond meal(i.e. ground almonds)
60ml Cointreau liqueur (optional)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate soda 

Method

Preheat oven to 170°C.  Grease & line a rectangular baking pan (or any shape you would like to use).

Place the whole oranges in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1 hour.  Drain and cool. Chop the oranges into chunks, discard any seeds, then place them into a blender and puree until smooth. 

Beat the eggs with the sugar until light & fluffy, then add the liqueur, orange puree, ground almonds and baking powder and mix well.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 45 mins to 1 hour (depending on the type of pan you use).

Leave the cake in the pan until it is cooled.  Cut into small slices & serve.

Raspberry Chocolate Brownies

I haven't done any decent baking since this winter as I've been sick and very busy with everything in my life.  Anyway, as I had a little time on Tuesday night and suddenly felt the itch to bake, I made Raspberry Chocolate Brownies. 

I brought them to the office the next day and surprisingly everyone loved it.  I thought they were overbaked as I left them in the oven for too long while I went to have my shower :-p

I forgot to take a picture after the brownies were cut into squares... what a shame...But I did take a picture of the mixture before it was baked.  I came out so sticky and I thought it would be a failure, but it wasn't, yeah!

It's very important to use good quality chocolate, don't ever attempt to use those cheap ones as they are just NOT the same! 

Here's the recipe.  Have a go and enjoy...... :-)

Raspberry Chocolate Brownies

INGREDIENTS:

150g butter

200g premium quality 70% cocoa dark cooking chocolate

100g premium quality white chocolate

165g caster sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 eggs, beaten lightly
150g plain flour
1tsp bicarbonate soda
150g frozen raspberries

METHOD:

Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). Grease & line a retangular baking pan (or any shape you with baking paper.

Chop the butter & dark chocolate into small pieces and put them in a medium heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.

In a large bowl, put the sugar, vanilla extract and eggs together, whisk until they become light in colour.

When the dark chocolate & butter mixture is melted and cooled down,  pour it into the sugar, vanilla & egg mixture and stir well.

Stir into sifted flour & bicarbonate soda , white chocolate (chopped into small pieces) and raspberries.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and bake about 35 minutes or until just firm (depending on the pan you use).

Cool in pan. Turn out & cut into squares.

One-Year-Old Birthday Cake

Last Saturday was my gorgeous daughter's one-year-old birthday. 

She loves animals. Whenever she watches the Baby Noah & the World Animals episodes of Baby Einstein, she gets very excited.  Lion (of course it's a little soft toy!) was her first friend since she came into the world.  Since she seems to like lion, I made her a lion birthday cake. 

During the process of decorating the cake, my husband took the following pictures showing the progess of different stages, aren't they look interesting? :-)

* It's winter time so that's why the lion's fur looks messy..... too windy.......

Madeleines

These gorgeous little cakes are called "Madeleines".  They are originated from France.  Their shell-like shape is acquired by baking in a special shell-shaped mould.  Traditional recipes use very fine ground almonds (known as almond meal).  However, I made these using only plain flour (well, you can call them the cheap version of Madeleins as almond meal is pretty expensive!).  Despite the absence of almond meal, they still taste pretty good.  They are a good afternoon treat.  Try it this weekend, sit back & enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee with your family or friends :-)

Ingredients:

40g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
100g plain flour
½ tsp baking powder
80g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (or you can use vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped)
1 egg
30ml milk (I used soy milk, but if you want the real flavor, use full cream milk instead)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 170°C. Grease the Madeleine tray with butter.

2.  Sift the flour & baking powder into a bowl. 

3.  In another bowl, beat the egg, sugar, vanilla bean paste and milk until they are light & fluffy. 

4.  Carefully fold in the sifted flour until they are just combined.

5.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan over high heat. When the butter turns brown, add to the mixture and combine well.  Do NOT overmix.

6.  Spoon the mixture into Madeleine moulds and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden.

7.  Dust with a little bit of icing sugar (optional) 

* Makes 10 Madeleines

Banana & Walnut Whole Wheat Muffin

These low fat & low sugar muffins are incredibly moist & soft.  I was so surprised by how good they turned out as I used chia seeds gel & apple sauce to replace the use of butter.  The use of whole wheat flour makes them even more healthy.  Anyway, these muffins are packed with fiber, potassium & omega 3, super healthy!

Here is the recipe, enjoy........

Banana & Walnut Whole Wheat Muffin

Makes about 12 muffins

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole wheat Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup caster sugar (about 66g)
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas (approx. 3 bananas)
A handfull of walnuts
1 to 2 tsp of ground cinnamon
1 medium size egg (i.e. approx. 60 - 65g)
1/4 cup chia seeds gel
1/4 cup apple sauce
2 tbsp olive oil (if you don't like the flavour of olive oil, you can use other oil such as canola oil)

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 175C
2.  Cream sugar & egg until the mixture becomes light & pale yellow in colour
3.  Add salt, ground cinnamon, chia seeds gel, apple sauce & olive oil, mix well
4.  Add mashed bananas & walnuts, mix well
5.  In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder & baking soda together
6.  Sift the flour mixture into the the wet ingredients
7.  Mix until they are JUST combined (Do NOT overmix, otherwise the muffins will turn out tough)
8.  Fill baking cups to 2/3 full
9.  Bake for about 20 minutes (depending on your oven)

* Apple Sauce :  If you use unsweetened apple sauce, you might need to use a bit more caster sugar like 1/3 cup instead of 1/4 cup.  It's all about experiment!

* Chia Seeds Gel:  To make chia seeds gel, just add 9 to 10 parts of water into 1 part of chia seeds, stir well to break up any lumps, then wait for 10 mins and stir again.  After that, gel should be form in about 5 to 10 mins.  It is better to make the gel in advance.  They can be stored in the fridge & kept up to about 2 weeks.

French Apple Tart ~ Feb 2012

Feb 2012.  I made this French Apple Tart for supper after bible study at our home last Friday.  My husband teased me saying that it looked like an Apple Pizza.....Anyhow, everybody loved it.

I didn't peel the apples as it would be such a waste if I did so, most of the nutrients are just under the skin.

The edges were a bit burnt, probably because of the butter slices that I put on top of the tart.  Next time I'll try not to put them on & see how it turns out.