February 2012
1 post
4 tags
Strawberry Shortcake
Soft, moist, fine-textured sponge cake that dissipates with a tinge of graininess, a thin layer of rich chiboust cream, vanilla scented whipped cream, slightly tart strawberries and a sprinkling of crisp dried madeleine biscuit.
Chiboust Cream (from Beranbaum’s Rose’s Heavenly Cakes)
Scrape the seeds of half a vanilla bean into 131g of full cream milk. Heat the milk until boiling...
January 2012
2 posts
5 tags
strawberry souffle
dried madeleine biscuit, genoise, souffle cheesecake, fresh cream, strawberries
The various components are delicious alone but they just didn’t meld together as well as I imagined. I’ll probably add a little more cream cheese/sour cream/yogurt to the soufflé cheesecake the next time I make this; the subtle cheese flavor and aroma was completely overwhelmed by the other elements of...
2 tags
pineapple tarts
Pineapple tarts are probably the quintessential Chinese New Year snack. Pastry shops line their shelves with jars of these treats and each has their own take on the traditional cookie - open-faced ones, log-shaped ones, balls studded with little cloves and some come in esoteric flavours like charcoal powder, cheddar cheese etc.
The word tart is probably a misnomer since the shape plays no...
December 2011
1 post
4 tags
flourless chocolate souffle cake
why yes, yet another chocolate souffle cake (this time, it’s the flourless souffle cake from tartine).
Recipe
Line the bottom of an 8 inch springform pan with parchment paper. I used a flourless chocolate sponge and chopped toasted walnuts as the base for the souffle cake.
Stir 200g of melted dark chocolate (I used a 70% bar) and 92g of melted butter. Whisk 63g of egg yolks with 42g of...
November 2011
1 post
4 tags
fallen chocolate soufflé cake
Fallen chocolate soufflé cake (from alice medrich’s bittersweet)
Recipe
Grind 28g of almonds with 3 tbsp of all-purpose flour until very fine. Add 120g boiling water to 84g chocolate (70% cocoa solids), 40g cocoa powder and 150g castor sugar; whisk until completely smooth before adding 36g of egg yolks (or 2 egg yolks) and 1 tbsp of rum/brandy. Set the chocolate mixture aside.
Whisk...
October 2011
1 post
1 tag
September 2011
3 posts
3 tags
nibby walnut cookies
Call me crazy or mildly obsessive, but I think there’s a difference between being crispy and crunchy. Crispy is a light crackle and crunchy is a substantial thud; the former quickly disintegrates leaving little but a faint aroma or flavour while the latter has a pleasing heft that changes in both texture and taste with every bite.
The nibby walnut cookies (from alice medrich’s...
1 tag
"Each man kills the thing he loves"
hopei:
(from CL)
because once in a while, we all need a little reminder.
“In every interview I’m asked what’s the most important quality a...”
– Haruki Murakami in What I Talk About When I Talk About Running
August 2011
5 posts
5 tags
adaptation of pierre herme's bayadère
sable breton base, white chocolate mousse with lime zest, citrus biscuit soaked in passion fruit puree, poached peach puree, raspberry sauce
the sable breton base is extremely buttery with random hits of salt flakes and it crumbles with a vaguely reassuring crunch. it adds a pleasant heft to the otherwise silky and soft white chocolate mousse. The original recipe from ph10 calls for stewed...
4 tags
pierre herme's satine
almond tart base, ladyfingers soaked in passionfruit and mango juice, baked cheesecake, light cream cheese bavarian, poached oranges & marmalade glaze and white chocolate with river murray salt.
Most cheesecakes I’ve baked/had are relatively simple affairs - a digestive or graham cracker base, baked cheesecake batter and a sour cream or fruit spread. Satine, a Pierre Herme...
“It will need little lubrication. A light, mild olive oil will do. Any oil too...”
– Asparagus with melted butter from
Real Cooking by
Nigel Slater
4 tags
apple galette
galette shell, a thin layer of almond frangipane, homemade apple spread and thinly sliced apples.
Tartine’s recipe for galette, as mentioned in previous entries, is ridiculously flaky and buttery. The frangiepane layer is extremely moist and nutty and also acts as a waterproof layer which prevents the bottom of the galette from turning too soggy. The apple spread, which is made with...
July 2011
4 posts
3 tags
jasmine tea tuiles
jasmine tea tuiles from alice medrich’s pure desserts
they were very delicate and crunchy but a little too sweet. i think the jasmine tea leaves that i bought either lost their potency or they weren’t good to begin with because, as per the previous chocolate genoise, the jasmine flavour/smell was not strong enough.
i made these as a garnish and textural foil to some tofu cheese...
3 tags
raspberry chocolate genoise
chocolate genoise soaked in jasmine tea sugar syrup, whipped chocolate ganache, jasmine tea infused whipped cream and raspberries.
i need to find a way to inject more jasmine flavour.
also, handling any cream-based icing is hell when the room temperature is 32 degree celcius and you don’t have an air conditioner in the kitchen.
1 tag
ondeh-ondeh
my mum makes awesome ondeh-ondeh. ondeh-ondeh is south east asia’s answer to the mochi - soft, chewy exterior with a gula melaka filling tossed in freshly grated coconut flakes.
unlike the green variations, my mum makes hers with mashed sweet potato and coconut milk. she then steams freshly grated coconut flakes with pandan leaves for that faint hit of aroma.
each little ball is an...
chocolate chip cookies
after a six month hiatus from baking, i was afraid i’ve lost my baking mojo.
the day after i returned, i plunged into baking.
i think the texture of the chocolate chip cookies were not as good as my previous attempts; shall try again.
May 2011
1 post
“Recently I’m discovering that I have an appreciation for the bitter...”
– Dana Velden
http://www.thekitchn.com/thekitchn/weekend-meditation/weekend-meditation-bitter—134032
March 2011
1 post
February 2011
1 post
not quite the rubies i am looking for
chocolate genoise soaked with vanilla syrup, freshly whipped cream, pomegranate reduction, pomegranate seeds, chocolate meringue.
so, i remade the cake in the previous post. it was a lot better, but not good enough.
i figured a few things out - a little gelatin in the pomegranate reduction will give me the old school raspberry ripple effect desired; chocolate meringue will, without a doubt,...
January 2011
3 posts
chocolate cake
layers of chocolate genoise soaked in syrup laced with rum / freshly whipped cream with chocolate meringue and pomegranate seeds / topped with whipped chocolate ganache.
didn’t want to post this up initially - wasn’t very satisfied with the cake and the photos were hastily taken; but the family likes it and i think that if executed properly, i might actually like this cake …...
“A cliché of Hollywood romances, parodied innumerable times is the scene in which...”
–
on In The Mood for Love
Bernard Hemingway
“Wear sunscreen.
If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen...”
– Mary Schmich
October 2010
4 posts
mango tart
almond tart base, pastry cream, mango slices
i’ve made a similar tart before but methinks this iteration is far more superior - the rose looks tighter and the pastry cream is a lot smoother. the only let down are the mango slices. despite their heady fragrance, the taste is just insipid. also, i got lazy halfway/ran out of mangoes so the rose looks less tight towards the edges of the...
“Who has never killed an hour? Not casually or without thought, but carefully: a...”
–
House of Leaves
Mark Z. Danielewski
August 2010
2 posts
“There was a silence as we descended into the Vale of Oxford from the Chilterns,...”
– Enduring Love, Ian McEwan
cocoa nibs whole wheat sables
i’m not sure what took me so long to try cocoa nibs but better late than never. they look unpleasantly hard like they will be a mouthful of grits but their texture reminds me of good shortbread - the first bite is a delicate but substantial crunch; it then disintegrates into a sandy but flavourful mass.
cocoa nibs are like the crunchy equivalent of red wine - earthy, slightly bitter,...
June 2010
6 posts
a friend of mine graduated with first class honours and i decided that even though she’s a good 12-hours flight away, we had to celebrate. okkk fine, so maybe it’s just an excuse to bake. but either way…
boy, am i glad i made this.
i’ve always been a huge fan of chocolate tarts. there’s something about the contrast between the crunchy tart shell and smooth filling...
been pretty obsessed with baking eclairs the past 2 weeks - trying to get a perfectly hollow center, but the pate a choux gods seem to revel in my failures. i’ve used up more than half of the freezer space for the less-than-perfect eclairs and mum’s getting pretty annoyed.
so i re-crisp the frozen eclairs, whipped up tons of pastry cream and dark chocolate glaze and filled those...
He Wishes for the Cloths of Heaven
intoplace:
Had I the heavens’ embroidered cloths, Enwrought with golden and silver light, The blue and the dim and the dark cloths Of night and light and the half-light, I would spread the cloths under your feet: But I, being poor, have only my dreams; I have spread my dreams under your feet; Tread softly because you tread on my dreams.
W.B. Yeats
i do not approve of the sprinkles.
i made these cupcakes for my sister’s wedding solemnisation ceremony quite some time back.
with the crazy spells of hot weather here, i figured that using some fruits would be refreshing and interesting texturally. because i’m masochistic, i came up with 2 variations.
1. chiffon cupcakes flavoured with lemon zest, filled with lemon cream (from...
May 2010
7 posts
Your Touch by The Black Keys
1. Crank up your...
lemon meringue tart - pate sucree base, lemon curd lightened with whipped cream topped with meringue.
the pate sucree base (from paris sweets) is browner than usual; i like my pastry case slightly overbaked. they become crispier, develops a slightly more complex flavor and looks more rustic. the lemon cream (from tartine) is sublime. it is refreshingly tart, light and just melts in your mouth....
1 tag
1 tag
watch things on the vcr / with me and talk about...
1 tag
