Fluffy Pancakes

Who doesn't love pancakes?  These were the fluffiest pancakes that I've ever made.  Believe it or not, the secret ingredient is buttermilk!  It's the buttermilk that make the pancakes fluffy and tall.

If you don't have buttermilk at home, don't worry.  You can add 2 tbsp white vinegar to 3/4 cups of full cream milk and then set them aside for 5 mins. to "sour".

Another tips is using a non-stick pan to cook the pancakes and do NOT add any oil onto the pan, otherwise the pancake will be easily burnt especially on the sides.  See the above pancakes that I made, don't they look like those hot cakes in McDonald's? :-)

Ingredients (serves 4):

- 3/4 cup Buttermilk (or substitute by 3/4 cup full cream milk & 2 tbsp white vinegar, wait for 5 mins before use)
- 1 Medium Egg
- 2 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup White Flour
- 1 tbsp white sugar
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 1/2 tsp Baking Soda (Bicarbonate Soda)
- 1/2 tsp Salt

Directions:

1.  Combine all the dry ingredients (i.e. flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda & salt) in a large bowl.

2.  Whisk egg & melted butter into the buttermilk.

3.  Pour the wet ingredients (i.e. buttermilk mixture) into the dry ingredients.

4.  Using a large balloon whisk, gently mix all the ingredients together until all lumps are gone.  Do NOT overmix.

5.  Heat a non-stick small / medium pan over low heat.  Pour some batter onto the pan and cook until bubbles appear on the surface.  Flip with a spatula and cook the other side until slightly brown.

6.  Serve with pure maple syrup & butter, enjoy!

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)