Scones

Have you always wanted to wake up and find freshly baked scones waiting to fill your tummy? I've been making scones for an entire month! And only take me 20mins to make a batch of scones. It's extremely simple!

This recipe makes about 12 5cm diameter scones.

Ingredients
670 gm Self-Raising flour
15 gm Icing sugar
10 gm Salt
30 gm Milk
300 gm Whipping Cream
260 gm 100 plus soft drink

Method of Preparation
1. Mix at dry ingredients together.
2. Pour in wet ingredients with the dry.
3. Mix till it forms a dough.
4. Dust flour on table and roll it to about 15 mm thick.
5. Using a dough cutter, cut out to desired size and shape.
6. Rest it for 30 minutes.
7. Egg wash and bake for 10 minutes. Turn tray and bake for another 10 minutes at 200C.

There you have a pipping hot plate of freshly baked scones! You can sift snow powder on top and spread cream, butter, strawberry jam anything you like! Now you don't have to go high tea just to eat scones!

Never had real Black Forest Cake?!

Black forest cakes are super popular. Almost every cake shop sells black forest cakes! I remember going to the black forest in Germany and seeing their tall black forest cake! I was super eager to try out the original cake. I remember ny friend n I sitting at the cafe at Black Forest and not wanting to order the Black Forest cake because we wanted to wait till we were at Black Forest to order it! Biggest regret in Germany! Every time i bake a Black Forest cake i always think back of that epic moment!

However, just last month my friend went to Germany and revisited the Black Forest. She said the cake sucked. Phew~

Today I decorated many cakes, including the black forest cakes. There's lots of versions of it like instead of whipping cream, you can use choc mousse or add chopped maraschino cherries to the cream. But I'm Gona share the 1st version I learnt.

Black Forest Cake Recipe

Chocolate Sponge
4 no'.s Eggs
120 gm. Sugar
90 gm Cake flour
3 gm. Baking Powder
30 gm. Cocoa Powder
15 gm. Melted Butter

Method of Preparation
1. Beat eggs and sugar till light and fluffy.
2. Fold sifted flour and baking powder. Pour in half of e flour 1st. Do not take too long to fold the flour as the egg mixture will deflate.
3. Fold in melted butter.
4. Pour in an 8 inch cake tin and back for 25-30 minutes at 180c

Cream
200 gm Whipping Cream
200 gm. Topping Cream

1. Beat the topping cream till stiff peak then add the whipping cream.

Kirsch syrup
100 gm Water
70 gm Sugar
100 gm Dark cherry syrup
30 gm Kirsch liqueur (optional)

1. Boil water the add in sugar. Stir till sugar is completely melted
2. When sugar syrup is cool, add on dark cherry syrup and kirsch.

Assembly

1. Slice chocolate sponge to 3 layers. You may want to cut off the top crust.
2. Brush the Kirsch syrup on the sponge.
3. Pipe cream on top the 1st layer of sponge. Put dark cherries on the cream. Be generous with the dark cherries!
4. Spread a thin layer of cream to cover the cherries.
5. Put the 2nd layer of sponge on top and brush with syrup.
6. Pipe cream on top.
7. Put the last layer of sponge and coat the cake with cream.
8. Refrigerate the cake for at least an hour before decorating.

Mini choc tarts

I'm a chocolate addict so after making these tarts I keep shoving them in my mouth! Super yummy and easy to do. I had to do hundreds of them so the tart shells were pre-made. Just had to make the choc ganache.

Chocolate tart recipe
213 gm cream
213 gm 55% chocolate
30 gm Eggs
25 gm Egg Yolk
43 gm Butter

Method of Preparation
1. Melt the chocolate over a brine Marie(double boil).
2. Boil the cream.
3. Once cream is boiled, pour half into egg and yolk mixture. Whisk well.
4. Then pour the other half of the cream whiles whisking into the egg mixture. You must whisk fast so that the egg doesn't end up being scramble eggs!
5. Pour the cream and eggs mixture into the melted chocolate. Whisk well.
6. Once mixture is mixed well, add in the room temperature butter.
7. Pipe the choco mixture into the chocolate tart shells.
8. Bake at 160c for 5 minutes.
9. When it has cooled, put into the fridge before eating.

Oreo expressos~

First week in the kitchen and my arms are aching.. When they say they do mass production, they really mean MASS. Weighing ingredients changed from 2-3 digits to 4-5 digits! Just yesterday I had to do 8 trays of brownies which means 42kg of batter! Gosh.

Everyday I've got to do Oreo expresso custards. They use Instant vanilla flan which is a instant vanilla cream caramel custard. All you had to do is boil milk then add it in!

Oreo Expresso (8 cups)
810 gm Milk
3 gm Trablit Coffee Extract
7 gm. Nescafe Powder
67 gm. Vanilla Flan
40 gm. Oreo black biscuit (blended)

Trablit is a premium coffee extract. You could replace it with coffee essence. I've reduced the recipe so that it makes 8 dessert cups.

Method Of Preparation
1. Boil the milk and Trablit to above 85C.
2. Add in flan and Nescafe. Stir well till Nescafe has completely dissolved.
3. Using a scoop or funnel, pour to the cups filling it 3/4 full.
4. Chill.
5. Once custard has set, top with half tablespoon of Oreo crumbs. Oreo should just be the black biscuit without the cream as the cream might make the crumbs soggy.

You could try different flavors like just plain milk with vanilla flan and top with caramel sauce.

Mum's Coconut cake

It's my mum's birthday today and I've decided to bake her a coconut cake because the gardener just plucked 6 coconuts from my coconut tree. The tree's exactly the same age as me! To incorporate the coconut taste to the cake, I used the muffin sponge method. I extracted the coconut milk and shavings from the coconut's flesh.

Coconut sponge Recipe
80g Sugar
80g Brown Sugar
160g Butter
3 Eggs
Pinch of salt
250g Flour (sifted)
12g Baking Powder (sifted)
200ml Coconut Milk
250gm Shaved Coconut

Coconut Cream
150ml Topping Cream
150ml Whipping Cream
Dash of coconut essence (Option 1)
15g Instant coconut cream powder (Option 2)
30ml Malibu(Optional)

Method of Preparation
1. Whip butter and sugars till light and fluffy for about 6-10mins.
2. Slowly add in egg one at a time
3. Sift flour, baking powder and salt together.
4. Add in rest of the ingredients. Alternating 1/3 flour, 1/2 coconut milk.
5. Add in shaved coconut.
6. Bake at 170C for 45-55 minutes.

Coconut cream
1. Whip topping cream till stiff peak.
2. Add in whipping cream. Whip till stiff peak.
3. Change to low speed. Add in either coconut essence or powder. If you're adding the powder, mix it with a little unwhipped cream till it becomes a paste before adding in.

4. Add in malibu. This is optional.

Assemble
1. Slice into 3 layers.
2. Pipe coconut cream between each layer.
3. Coat cake with a layer of cream.
4. Cover with decimated coconut.
5. Pipe 8 rosettes around the cake and put a white chocolate on top each rosette.

Macaroon Madness!

Macaroons have been the most 'in' dessert/snack! It's now everywhere in Singapore! Most high tea buffets I've been to serve macaroons. Pastry chefs have been using these colorful shells to decorate their cakes. I've tasted quite a number of macaroons and the best is still France's laduree macaroons!

It's shell has a thin crispy crust whiles the inside in chewy! The shell itself has the flavour of the filling. The shop was so pretty! Full of delicious pastries! It was like walking into part of Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory.

I've made quite a number of macaroons but none as good as laduree's. Though I would say they are better than your average hotels which serve macaroons. My best friend said she usually doesn't eat macaroons because they are just sweet and after taking a bite you just wana put it back! But she said mine changed her perspective of macaroons! Haha. That's probably because she never tasted Laduree's macaroons!

Ok, now, the part that you guys probably just skip right to! The recipe! My recipe as you can guess, is extremely simple!

Macaroon shell Recipe
180g Egg White
73g Sugar
180g Ground Almond
375g Icing Sugar

Method of Preparation
1. Beat the egg whites till foamy
2. Slowing add in the sugar and beat till stiff stage. (the meringue should be able to hold it's shape)
3. Add in desired color to the meringue.
4. Sift icing and ground almonds together. If your almonds are not fine, you could use a Robo Coupe to grind them.
5. Fold in sifted icing and almonds into meringue. Fold in 1/3 by 1/3.
6. Fold till batter is smooth and shiny without lumps. DO NOT fold till it becomes runny! If not it will be difficult to pipe.
7. On a baking sheet, pipe out the macaroons using a round tip. If you are new to these, you could make a stencil and put it under a baking paper to use as your guideline.
8. Rest for 30 minutes till the top is harden/dry.
9. Bake at 150C for 20-30 minutes. Test by lifting the macaroons out of the sheet to see if it can come off cleanly. If the macaroons are browned, it means it's been over-baked.

Salted caramel filling recipe
60g Sugar
60g Water
50g Whipping cream
15g Butter
Pinch of Salt

Method of Preparation
1. Caramelise sugar with water.
2. After sugar reach caramel color, remove from stove and pour in cream. Be careful as it will spatter.
3. Add in butter and stir. Put it back to stove if caramel is not smooth.
4. Add in pinch of salt.

Chocolate Ganache filling
60g Chocolate
50g Whipping Cream

Method of Preparation
1. Put chocolate and cream in a bowl and microwave for 3-5 minutes till chocolate has melted.

Assembly
1. Match shell sizes into pairs.
2. Once filling and shells has cooled, pipe a dope into 1 side of each pair of shells.
3. Lightly put the top shell onto the one with the filling and twist gently.
4. Refrigerate overnight so shell has time to absorb the flavor of the filling.

A 2012 macaroon countdown clock I made for the new year!

Cookies

This is exam week and I've been munching on tidbits the entire two weeks! Probably gained a couple of pounds.. I kept munching till my house ran out of tidbits! So I decided to bake cookies!

Obviously, I didn't have much time to be baking because I need to study so I just played cheat by baking Betty crocker's cookies! It's delicious I took me just 10 minutes to get them on the baling tray! Just throw in an egg, 1/4 cup veg oil and 2 tablespoons water with the Betty crocker's flour mixture and you will get a cookie dough! Easy as ABC! The thing I love about Betty crocker's is that it's gives a generous amount of chocolate chips.

If you want crispy cookies, bake them for 15-20 minutes depending on your oven and cookie size. If you want chewy cookies, just bake them for 11-15 minutes.

Pancakes for breakfast..

Just had pancakes for breakfast! And yes, it's self-made! You don't need to go all the way to Macs to get pancakes! It's super easy to do.

Ingredients
240 gm Self Raising Flour
180 ml Milk
15 gm Sugar
1 no Egg

Method of Preparation
1. Just mix everything together till batter is smooth!
2. Using a paper towel, wipe oil on pan.
3. Using a ladle, pour a scope of batter to the pan.
4. Fry till golden brown!

Serve with maple syrup, butter or any jam of your choice!
You could add fruits like blueberries to the batter too!

Japanese Cheesecake

Just made a Japanese cheesecake for faith's birthday! A small heart cheesecake! I've been baking cheesecake for my friends' birthdays because it's super easy and most importantly, does not require CREAM! Every time I bake a cake, i have to buy a new packet of cream because it spoils within a week. Plus, cream cakes have to be kept refrigerated so I have to worry about it melting during its journey to the birthday venue.  Japanese cheesecake solves these problems! Just 5 ingredients and you get a light and moist cheesecake!

It's best eaten alone without cream or any glaze on top. So, it's not really meant for big parties because it doesn't look glamorous but for just a party within close friends or family, its great! If you really want to decorate it, just melted some chocolate and pipe the birthday girl/guy's name on top!

 

I baked this for a friend's birthday a couple of weeks ago. As you noticed, there's a crack in the middle! This cake is quite delicate so it cracked whiles I was moving the warm cheesecake to a cake board. I also tried decorating it with chocolate petals at the side! Epic FAILURE!

Ingredients
420 gm   Cream Cheese
40 gm     Sugar
4 nos      Yolks
50 gm     Cake Flour (sifted)
85 gm     Melted Butter

 4 nos      Egg Whites
100 gm    Sugar

Method of Preparation

1. Using a K-beater, beat cream cheese and sugar till fluffy.
2. Slowly add in yolks. Followed by sifted cake flour.
3. Slowly pour cooled down melted butter from the side.
4. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites and sugar till soft peak.
5. Fold in half portion of egg whites(meringue) into cheese mixture. Fold in the other half.
6. Pour into mould and bake in water bath at 150C for 50mins to an hour depending on the size of the cake. 

Red Bean Paste Pancake

This whole month I've been learning Asian sweets. Before this month, i was not really fond of Asian Sweets cause when i think of desserts, i would think of french pastries like chocolate cakes, eclairs, tarts, cream puff and such. But this module totally changed my conception of Asian desserts. They are much simpilier to make and taste equally delicious. For my exam, I decided to go with Chinese theme. I chose 1 of my favourite desserts which is Red Bean Paste Pancake! I don't really like Red Beans, however, after trying out the Red Bean Pancake at Crystal Jade, it changed my mind!

The pancake was very thin and the skin was cripsy yet the inside was chewy with just the right amount of red bean paste inside. Here's the Red Bean Paste Pancake recipe I used.

Ingredients

125 gm Plain Flour

Pinch of Salt

Dash of Vanilla Essence

1 no. Egg, lightly benten

70 gm Water

150 gm Azuki Red beans (mashed)

Method of Preparation

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and salt.
2. Mix in V. essence and egg.
3. Slowly add in water till batter flows down smoothly from spoon.
4. Wipe frying pan with oil with paper towel.
5. Over low heat, pour a tablespoon of batter, tilt pan to let batter run evenly, forming a thin layer.
6. Cook till batter becomes a crepe. MAKE SURE THERE IS NO BROWN SPOTS.
7. Spread 2 tablespoons of red bean paste across the middle third of each pancake.
8. Fold the top flap over the paste and side flaps inwards followed by the bottom flap, forming an envelop.
9. Seal with a litt batter.
10. Heat oil in wok and deep fry pancakes.
11. Remove pancake from oil and drain on paper towels/
12. Cut into strips and serve immediately!

This is my 1st attempt of frying the pancake. I did the red bean paste myself and it tasted horrible! It was very bland and had hardly any red bean taste. So i suggest buying the canned azuki beans instead. Taste fantastic!

Pastry Chef??

It's been almost a year since i last blogged. To be exact, i stopped blogging the month i entered Shatec. A drastic changed. People have asked me infinite number of times 'Why did i decide to change from fashion to baking?' I always reply jokingly, 'Because i want to make a dress outa cake!'

Honestly, it's because i was young and stubborn and like many, i chose the WRONG course. I love fashion. But being in fashion and loving fashion is completely 2 different things. To be in fashion, you not only got to love~ it.. i got to DIE for it!

Now, chefs are thinking, 'Isn't it the same for chefs?' Yes, it is. In the kitchen, you not only have to endure long hours of standing, constant scolding for senior chef, wrinkly hands from washing but LOW pay too! But despite all these, the end results(especially the tasting part) always satisfy me.

Through my almost 1 year in Shatec, I've learn to bake lots of delicious pastries. From cakes to macaroons and breads. Now is the last term in Shatec and i'm learning Asian Sweets. I shall start off with a simple dessert i made today. Simple yet yummy! Almond Longan Jelly.

 

Here's the recipe. Takes less than 20 minutes to do! 

Ingredients

300g    Milk

700g    Water

15g      Almond Flavor

180g    Sugar

5g        Agar-agar Powder

1/2       Can Longan

Method of Preparation

1. Bring milk, water and almond flavor to boil.

2. Mix sugar and agar-agar powder together.

3. Stir in sugar and jelly mixture.

4. Bring to boil.

5. Cool to set at room temperature. 

6. Serve with longans or any other fruits.