baking ideas – Whatever it bakes

Cake decorating: Boat-shaped cake

November 15, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, boat, boat cake, boat party theme, cake, cake decorating, Cakes, decorating, Dessert, home baked, hong kong baking, orange cakeLeave a comment

Makes: 3 x 8inch squares which are constructed into 1 boat

Time required: 3 hours

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Recipe:

Using orange cake recipe, but this can be made from any type of cake

Constructing the boat:

Layer one square on top of another and cut two opposite edges at a slight angle
with the remaining square, cut out two triangles for the front of the boat to form the boat shape below

Cutting the square cakes into boat shape

3. use the leftovers of that third square to build the top of the boat

boat cake construction — Icing the boat cake

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Recipe: Lime Coconut Mousse

September 4, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, baking recipe, cake decorating, cake recipe, Cakes, chocolate, chocolate entremet, chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate mousse dome, chocolate velvet spray, coconut, coconut cake, coconut cream, coconut dacqouise, coconut dessert, coconut entremet, coconut mousse, coconut mousse cake, desserts, dome cake, dome cake recipe, dome entremet, entremet, half sphere cake, hk baking, HK cooking, HK desserts, home baked, Hong Kong, hong kong baking, lime panna cotta, lime panna cotta cake, Melbourne, Melbourne baking, mousse cake, mousse dessert, mousse dome, mousse half sphere, panna cotta, pastry, patisserie, recipeLeave a comment

Nutting to see here - loving my squirrel bookend

Makes: 1 dome/half-sphere (~8inch in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours in total over 4 sessions

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Reading through Olivier Dupon’s book “The New Patissiers” (my current favourite book) I came across one page which had a really interesting flavour combination – it was a recipe for a chocolate mousse entremet with a lime panna cotta, coconut dacqouise … coated in milk chocolate mousse. I wanted to give the elements of this recipe a try, liking the idea of the tangy-ness of the lime mixed with creaminess of the coconut and the sweetness of the chocolate.

Elements of this cake from centre to outside:

lime panna cotta
coconut cream
dark chocolate mousse
coconut dacquoise base
coated in dark chocolate velvet spray

Although every element of this cake is very easy and quick to make, it does require preparation to make and freeze each of the layers before moving onto the next

Ingredients:

Lime panna cotta:

juice of 2 limes
90ml milk
90ml cream
45g caster sugar
2 gelatin sheets

Coconut mousse:

100ml coconut milk
150ml milk
150ml cream, whipped
1 sheet gelatin

Coconut Dacqouise:

3 egg whites
60g caster sugar
30g coconut flakes
30g almond meal
60g pure icing sugar

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

94g caster sugar
94ml water
1 egg
3 egg yolks
150ml cream
3 gelatin sheets
250g dark chocolate
300ml cream, whipped

Chocolate Velvet spray (I used a pre-made can)

Lime coconut mousse cake 4 — Plastic moulds I used to create the dome shape

Instructions:

Lime Panna Cotta:

bring lime, cream and sugar to simmer for 10 minutes
remove from heat and mix in gelatin
pour into dome mould (~3inch in diameter) and freeze for several hours or overnight

Coconut Mousse:

bring coconut milk and milk to simmer
remove from heat and stir in the gelatin
once cool, gently fold in the whipped cream
pour into a dome mould (~3.5inch in diameter) and then push the lime panna cotta dome into the centre
place into the freezer for several hours or overnight

Coconut Dacquoise:

preheat oven to 180C and line a 8inch baking tin with baking paper
sift together coconut flakes, almond meal and icing sugar
in a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and caster sugar to firm peaks
gently fold the dry ingredients into the meringue
spread onto baking tin and bake for 15-20mins

Dark Chocolate Mousse:

whisk water, sugar, eggs and egg yolks together in a bain-marie
remove form heat and continue to whisk until airy
in a separate pot, bring cream (150ml portion) to boil and stir in the gelatin
pour hot cream over chocolate and stir to combine
gently fold the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture
whisk the 300ml portion of cream, then gently fold into the chocolate/egg mixture
pour the mousse into the 8inch dome to around two-thirds full and drop the panna cotta/coconut mousse into the centre
fill the rest of the dome to almost to top, leaving a little space to place the coconut dacquoise on top
place in freezer for several hours or overnight until the dome is frozen

Chocolate velvet coating:

once the dome is frozen, unmould and coat the cake in a chocolate velvet spray

Lime coconut mousse cake 2 — pre-made chocolate velvet spray

Lime coconut mousse cake — Nutting to see here – loving my squirrel bookend

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Recipe: Giant Ferrero Rocher Cakes

August 14, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged baking ideas, cake decorating, chocolate, chocolate dessert, chocolate entremet, chocolate hazelnut, decorating, Dessert, dessert recipes, desserts, dome cakes, dome entremet, entremet, entremet recipes, ferrero, ferrero cake, ferrero rocher, ferrero rocher cake, giant ferrero rocher, hazelnut cake, hazelnut dessert, hk baking, home baked, Hong Kong, Melbourne, nutella, nutella cake, nutella dessert, recipeLeave a comment

Makes: 6 spheres (~8cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours over 3 sessions (~1 hour at a time)

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Inspired by one of my favourite chocolates when I was young – the iconic Ferrero Rocher. It was something that would feature in almost every birthday party or Kris Kringle … a nicely packaged gift under $20. Since moving to Hong Kong, I’ve slowly been adjusting to the Hong Kong supermarkets, but I still get excited every time I see a product in the same packaging that we get back home in Australia – Ferrero Rocher chocolates being one of them!

Elements for the cake from centre to outside of the ball:

Inner dome: hazelnut vanilla mousse
Inner coating: Nutella and crushed wafer
Outer dome: chocolate mousse
coated in chocolate and hazelnuts

Although every element of this cake is very easy to make, it does require preparation to make and freeze each of the layers

Ingredients:

Hazelnut Vanilla centre:

150m cream, whipped
100ml milk
1tsp vanilla bean paste
100g hazelnuts, crushed
1 gelating leaf
2 egg yolks

Nutella and wafer coating:

100g nutella
100g wafers, crushed

Chocolate mousse:

400ml cream, whipped
100g dark chocolate, melted
100ml milk
2 gelatin leaves

Chocolate hazelnut shell:

400g milk chocolate
150g hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Instructions:

Hazelnut Vanilla centre:

whisk together egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale
bring milk and vanilla to a boil
pour half the milk into the egg mixture while whisking then return the egg and milk to the pot and bring to a simmer, while still whisking
remove from heat and stir in the gelatin
once cool, gently fold in the whipped cream and hazelnuts
pour mousse into 12 small dome moulds (~2.5cm in diameter) and set aside in freezer

Nutella and wafer coating:

once the hazelnut and vanilla mousse is frozen, unmould the domes
heat the nutella in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it
working quickly while the mousse is still frozen, spoon the nutella over each dome and dip it into the crushed wafers
immediately return the domes to the freezer

coating the inner domes with nutella and crushed wafer

Chocolate mousse:

bring milk to a boil and pour over dark chocolate to melt
stir in bloomed gelatin
when slightly cool, fold in the whipped cream
pour the chocolate mousse into large dome moulds (~8cm in diameter) around 3/4 full then place one of the smaller mousse domes in the centre of the larger dome
place the domes in the freezer to set for 5-10mins and when the mousse as slightly set, join the moulds together to create a sphere/ball. Use some leftover mousse to help stick the domes together if needed

place the frozen hazelnut vanilla domes in the centre

Chocolate hazelnut shell:

melt the chocolate over a double boiler and stir in the chopped hazelnuts
unmould the mousse balls and roll this in the melted chocolate, covering the whole sphere and return to the freezer immediately to harden the chocolate shell. After several minutes, take the balls out of the freezer and spoon more chocolate over any gaps in the shell
set aside in the fridge for the mousse to thaw before serving

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Recipe: Unicorn cupcakes

August 14, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CupcakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, birthday party ideas, cream cheese frosting, cupcake, cupcake decorating, cupcake recipe, Cupcakes, decorating, Dessert, hk baking, home baked, Hong Kong, hong kong baking, hong kong boat party, hong kong kids party, kids birthday party, kids party ideas, marzipan, marzipan unicorns, Melbourne, raspberry white chocolate cupcakes, recipe, unicorn, unicorn birthday party, unicorn cupcake recipe, unicorn cupcakes, unicorn horns, unicorn party, vanilla cupcakesLeave a comment

Makes: 20 cupcakes

Time required: 2 hours + 2 hours for unicorn decorations

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Inspiration:

Very excited to have baked my first cupcakes in Hong Kong, which was an order of 20 unicorn themed cupcakes for a 4th birthday party. As someone who has barely worked with fondant in the past … and especially not during the Hong Kong summer where the humidity impacts the texture of fondant, one of the challenges for these cupcakes was figuring out how to make the unicorn horns.

Elements I settled on for the cupcakes:

vanilla cupcakes with raspberries and white chocolate chips
cream cheese frosting – I chose light pink, bright pink, turquoise and purple as my unicorn colours … later also realising that the turquoise and purple I used are the same colours as Sully from Monsters Inc.
Marzipan and pocky sticks for the horns and ears. I chose marzipan over fondant for the horns and ears as it seems to hold up better in the Hong Kong humidity. I also used pocky sticks over toothpicks to hold together the horns – baking for a kids party I wanted to make sure everything within the cupcake was edible

Ingredients:

Cupcakes:

200g butter
200g caster sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
300g all purpose flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
300 ml milk
30g white chocolate chips
50g raspberries

Cream Cheese Frosting:

500g cream cheese
200g butter
300g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp lemon

Unicorn decorations:

200g marzipan
edible gold spray paint
1 pack pocky sticks
pink/pearl sprinkles

Instructions:

Cupcakes:

preheat oven to 190C (170C fan forced)
beat butter until smooth
add sugar and beat until light and fluffy
mix in the eggs one at a time and vanilla
add in the sifted flour mix (flour, baking powder, salt) and milk alternatively (around a third at a time) and mix until just combined
spoon the mixture into lined muffin tins with the cups around 2/3 full
top with raspberry pieces and white chocolate chips
bake for 20 minutes until golden and let cool before frosting

Cupcake batter with raspberry and white chocolate chips

Cream Cheese Frosting:

beat cream cheese and butter until smooth
slowly beat in the sugar until light and fluffy
mix in the vanilla and lemon
divide the frosting into several batches (uneven in volume) and colour each batch a different colour. I chose light pink, bright pink, turquoise and purple

Unicorn horns and ears:

cut the pocky sticks ~3cm in length (depending how tall you want the unicorn horns)
take a small amount of fondant and roll it into a cone shape over the pocky, leaving ~1cm of the pocky stick hanging out the bottom which you will later use to poke into the cupcake. To create the ‘horn’ look, gently run a toothpick spiral around the marzipan cone
spray over the horns with edible gold dust
for the ears: roll out the fondant and roughly cut small triangles
take two corners of the triangle and press them together to create the ears

Decorating:

place each colour of the cream cheese frosting into a separate piping bag fitted with different sized star tips
pipe one colour of frosting at a time onto the cupcakes. I started with the light pink frosting as I wanted light pink to be the dominant colour
finish the cupcakes by placing on the horns and ears. I also added pink and pearl sprinkles to add more texture and sparkle

Unicorn cupcakes packed and ready to go for the birthday party

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Recipe: Crepe Cake

August 10, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, birthday cake, birthday dessert, cake, cake decorating, cake recipe, Cakes, chocolate, chocolate ganache, crepe baking, crepe cake, crepe cake recipe, crepe dessert, crepe recipe, crepes, Custard, custard crepe, custard crepe cake, decorating, desserts, home baked, home cooking, Hong Kong, hong kong baking, instagram cakes, passion fruit, passion fruit and chocolate, passion fruit cake, passion fruit crepe cake, passion fruit custard, passionfruit, passionfruit cake, passionfruit crepe cake, passionfruit dessert, recipeLeave a comment

Makes: 8 inch cake (24 layers)

Time required: 3 hours

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

Having never made crepes or pancakes before (well … not cooking much in a pan at all), I was keen to try making a crepe cake. I’ve always loved the crepe cakes from the famous Lady M – stopping by the Lady M boutique on 40th street each time I’ve visited New York and I still remember how excited I was to stumble across a Lady M on a trip to Singapore where I got to introduce my sister (who is a huge fan of matcha) to the matcha crepe cake.

Initially, given it was my first time making crepes I wanted to keep the cake simple – like the Lady M ones – by just making it layers of crepe and cream. However, after exploring the nearby wet market in Hong Kong for fresh fruits I came home with a bunch of passionfruit and decided to incorporate those into the cake. I ended up with a crepe cake layered with passionfruit custard and chocolate ganache – as you could probably guess from my previous posts (passionfruit & chocolate eclairs, passionfruit & chocolate tart …) it is one of my favourite flavour combinations!

Elements of this cake:

24 crepes (~8 inch in diameter)
passionfruit custard
chocolate ganache

The Famous Lady M crepe cakes in New York

Ingredients:

Crepes (makes ~24 depending on the size of your pan)

600ml whole milk
1tsbp vanilla paste
2tsbp brandy
5 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
90g butter
300g all purpose flour

Passionfruit Custard:

700ml whole milk
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
200g caster sugar
65g cornstarch
1tsbp vanilla
85g butter
4 passionfruits, seeds removed

Chocolate Ganache:

100g dark chocolate
100ml cream

Instructions:

I’d recommend making the custard first, so it has time to cool in the fridge while you’re frying the crepes

Crepes:

place all the ingredients except flour into a blender and blend on med speed
add in the flour and blend again until well combined
refrigerate for 2 hours (or overnight)
lightly spray or grease a small pan (~8inch in diameter) and fry the crepe batter on medium heat. I used around 1/4 cup of batter for each crepe
allow the crepes to cool by spreading on parchment paper while making the rest of the crepes

Passionfruit custard:

place the whole eggs, egg yolks and cornstarch with 20g of the sugar in a bowl and whisk until smooth
in a large saucepan, combine milk, remaining sugar and vanilla and bring to a boil
remove from the heat and slowly pour in half the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking to avoid cooking the eggs
pour the milk and egg mixture back into the pot and heat until the mixture lightly bubbles
remove from heat and stir in the passionfruit and butter
pour the custard through a fine mesh and plastic wrap with the plastic touching the surface of the custard and store in the fridge to cool

Chocolate Ganache:

bring cream to boil
poor over chocolate and set aside for 2 mins. Stir together the melted chocolate and cream

Assembling the crepe cake:

take one crepe and place it on a 8 inch cake board
spread a thin layer of chocolate ganache over the crepe
follow with a thin layer of passionfruit custard
place the next crepe over the top and repeat until all the crepes are used up

You could also trim the edges of the crepes to a 8inch cake tin if you want cleaner edges, however I preferred the natural rough edges on my cake. I also coated the top of the cake in sugar and torched it for a bruleed finish

repeat until all layers of crepes have been assembled

experimenting with decorating the crepe cake

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Recipe: Mango Mousse Cheesecake Entremet

July 11, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, baking recipes, cake, cake decorating, Cakes, caramel, caramel biscuit, cheesecake, decorating, Dessert, desserts, dome cake, dome entremet, entremet, home baked, Hong Kong, hong kong baking, Koko Black, mango, mango caramel cake, mango dome, mango entremet, mango jam, mango mirror glaze, mango mousse, mango mousse cake, mango mousse dome, mango vanilla, mango vanilla cake, Melbourne, Melbourne baking, mirror glaze, mousse, recipe, vanilla cheesecakeLeave a comment

Mango mousse & vanilla cheesecake entremet on a crunchy caramel cookie

Makes: 12 mini dome cakes (6cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours in total, over 2 nights

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Inspiration:

Inspired by another one of my favourite chocolates – the Mango & Vanilla chocolate from Koko Black back home in Melbourne. Every time I used to visit Koko Black I would buy at least five of these Mango & Vanilla chocolates in addition to several of the Passion flavour (I have also baked a cake inspired by this chocolate with recipe here!) and then try a range of other truffles and chocolates.

Trying all the chocolates from Koko Black and Xocolatl in Melbourne

The elements of this cake include:

Vanilla cheesecake centre
Runny mango jam
Mango mousse dome
Mango mirror glaze
caramel biscuit base

Ingredients:

Vanilla Cheesecake centre:

225g cream cheese
200g caster sugar
1 egg
100ml thickened cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 lemon

Caramel Biscuit base:

1 pack caramel flavoured biscuits (can use other flavours, e.g. Arnott’s Nice biscuits are a good alternative)
150g melted butter

Mango jam:

200g mango puree
200g caster sugar
2 gelatin leaves

Mango Mousse:

200g mango puree
250ml cream, whipped
200g sugar
3 gelatin leaves

Mango glaze:

200g mango puree
200g sugar
4 gelatin leaves
200ml condensed milk
150g white chocolate

Instructions:

Vanilla Cheesecake centre:

Preheat over at 150C
beat the cream cheese with sugar until smooth
whisk in the egg until well combined
fold in cream, vanilla and lemon until just combined
pour into a 8 x 8 inch square tin (or any other baking tin of similar size)
bake for 20 minutes
once cool, cut out 12 circles, around 2-3cm in diameter

Caramel Biscuit base:

blend the biscuits in a food processor until there are not big lumps
stir in melted butter
spread over a large flat tin (ensure this is spread evenly enough to be able to cut out 12 x 6cm circles for the cake base) and bake at 150C for 10mins
while still warm, cut out the 12 circles and set aside to cool. The 12 circles will be used as the base of the mousse dome, however do not discard the rest of the cookie base as this can be used to decorate the dome

Mango jam:

heat mango puree and sugar over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens
while the mixture is still hot, stir in bloomed gelatin and set aside
once cool, place the mixture into a piping bag

Mango Mousse:

heat mango puree and sugar over low heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture thickens
stir in gelatin and set aside to cool
once the mixture is at room temperature, fold in the whipped cream to form the mousse

To Assemble:

gather 12 circle dome moulds, each around 6cm in diameter
fill half of each dome with the mango mousse mixture
carefully pipe around 2 teaspoons of the mango jam on top of the mango mousse (be gentle as we don’t want to jam to sink to the bottom of the mould)
push a piece of vanilla cheesecake into each of the domes on top of the mango jam. We want to push the cheesecake in just far enough that the edges of the cheesecake are surrounded by mango mousse. Add a bit more mousse into the dome if needed
lastly, place a disc of the caramel biscuit onto each of the domes, sitting the biscuit base on top of the mousse
set aside in the freeze for at least 3 hours, preferably overnight to harden

Glazing the cake:

Mango glaze: (make this the following day once the mousse domes are frozen)

un-mould each of the mousse domes and place back in the freezer
place mango and sugar over medium heat until the mixture thickens
remove from heat and add the bloomed gelatin
stir in the condensed milk
while still hot, pour over white chocolate and stir to melt and incorporate the chocolate
when the glaze cools to 35 degrees, pour over the mango mousse domes
crumble the off-cuts from the caramel cookie base and coat around the base of each of the cakes

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Recipe: Chocolate Banana drip cake

July 11, 2017April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, baking recipes, banana cake, banana dessert, banana drip cake, birthday cake, birthday dessert, birthday party, cake, cake decorating, Cakes, chocolate, chocolate banana, chocolate banana drip, chocolate banana drip cake, chocolate cake, chocolate drip cake, chocolate ganache, decorating, Dessert, desserts, drip cake, home baked, Hong Kong, Melbourne, meringue, pineapple flowers, recipe, torched meringueLeave a comment

Makes: 8 inch cake (4 layers)

Time required: 5 hours in total

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

After brainstorming ideas for an upcoming birthday cake, I decided to draw inspiration from one of my favourite snacks at work – banana & chocolate croissants from the amazing Joel Robuchon. The croissants are a great afternoon snack – deliciously flaky pastry, filled with light banana custard … lightly sweetened with chocolate.

The elements making up this cake are:

four layers of banana cake
Almond and hazelnut dacquoise to add some texture
chocolate ganache to sweeten the cake
meringue buttercream
Decorations: dried pineapple flowers, torched meringue, chocolate shards

Ingredients:

Banana Cake:

6 bananas
250g plain flour
100g almond meal
3 tsp baking powder
200g butter, softened
150g caster sugar
4 eggs
2tsp vanilla
300ml sour cream

Almond dacquoise:

90g almond meal
90g pure icing sugar
4 egg whites
90g caster sugar
20g cocoa powder
crushed hazelnuts. to sprinkle

Chocolate gananche:

150g dark chocolate
150ml cream

Meringue butterncream

4 egg whites
360g caster sugar
1/2 cup water
450g butter
1tsp vanilla
20g cocoa powder

Chocolate drip:

150g dark chocolate
200g butter

Decorations:

dried pineapple slices
chocolate shards
merginue

Instructions:

Banana Cake:

preheat oven to 180C. Butter two 8 inch round baking pans
mash ripe banana with a fork and set aside
whisk together the flour, almond meal and baking powder
in a separate bowl, beat butter until smooth. add sugar and beat until pale and fluffy
add eggs one at a time into the bowl and whisk to combine
add in vanilla and combine
mix in half the dry ingredients
mix in sour cream
fold in the remaining flour mixture
fold in the banana until just combined
divide the cake batter evenly into the two tins and bake for 25 minutes
place the baked cake on a wire rack to cook and then turn out after 10 minutes to cool completely

Almond Dacqouise:

preheat oven to 200C
sift almond meal with icing sugar and cocoa powder
in a separate bowl, whisk egg whites with caster sugar until stiff peaks form
gently fold in the almond mixture
sprinkle with crushed hazelnuts
pipe the mixture onto a baking sheet (make 3 x 8 inch discs to layer between the banana cakes) and bake for 24 minutes or until the dacquoise doesn’t sink when touched

Chocolate ganache:

bring the cream to boil over low-med heat
pour boiling cream over the chocolate and set aside for 2 minutes
mix together the chocolate and cream

Meringue buttercream:

bring the sugar to boil with 1/2 cup water
while whisking the egg whites on maximum speed, pour the sugar syrup in a slow steady stream
continue to mix on high until the meringue cools and forms stiff peaks
whisk in the butter until well combined
add vanilla and cocoa powder and whisk to combine

Chocolate drip:

melt chocolate over double boiler
stir in butter to melt

Assembling the cake:

layer the cake in the following order from bottom to top:

banana cake (cut each of the 8 inch cakes in half to create 4 layers of banana cake)
chocolate ganache
almond dacquoise
meringue buttercream
repeat until all layers of banana cake are used
coat the entire cake in the meringue buttercream – to create an ombre/rustic effect, split the buttercream into 3 batches and colour each batch a different shade of brown
pipe on the chocolate drip
top with decorations: dried pineapple flowers, torched meringue, chocolate triangles

different shades of brown buttercream to create a rustic effect

slicing the chocolate banana drip cake. Photo credit: IG lilaughs

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Christmas Baking: Croquembouche

December 29, 2016April 30, 2018Posted in Christmas BakingTagged baking ideas, baking recipes, Cakes, caramel, Choux Pastry, Christmas, Christmas Baking, christmas croquembouche, christmas tree, coconut, Croquembouche, Custard, decorating, Dessert, home baked, Melbourne, Melbourne baking, pastry, Profiteroles, recipe1 Comment

Having completed my practice croquembouche in Hong Kong several weeks ago, it was time to bake another croquembouche for family Christmas dinner. See earlier post for the full recipe and croquembouche made in Hong Kong.

For this croquembouche for Christmas day, I made several adjustments to the decorations – instead of randomly scattered profiteroles coated in coconut and crushed peanuts, this one contains layers of coconut and plain profiteroles.

My practice croquembouche also didn’t have any spun caramel as I wanted to keep the tower relatively neat. However, after several complaints about it not being a ‘real’ croquembouche without the spun caramel, I did manage to drape some caramel neatly around the profiterole tower. This caramel later melted due to the 35degree heat in Melbourne on Christmas day 😦

Overall, the family was very happy with Christmas dessert – from admiring the tower during dinner to eating the 80 leftover profiteroles several days after Christmas. The only bad feedback was from my sister-in-law who wasn’t too happy that I took the tower apart.

Now, to decide what to bake for Christmas next year …

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Recipe: Teddy bear macarons

December 21, 2016April 30, 2018Posted in MacaronsTagged baby shower, Baking, baking ideas, bear macarons, birthday party, caramel, caramel macarons, Dessert, home baked, Macarons, salted caramel, salted caramel macarons, teddy bear macarons, teddy macarons, white chocolateLeave a comment

Makes: 50 macarons

Time required: 3 hours

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Challenge:

When I was asked to bake macarons for a baby shower, my first question was “boy or girl?” I was trying to figure out if I should make blue blueberry macarons or raspberry red macarons … however turns out the sex of this baby was a surprise so I had to come up with something gender neutral. This is where the brown teddy bear macarons come in!

Ingredients:

Macaron shells:

4 egg whites
180g caster sugar
65ml water
180g almond meal
180g pure icing sugar
brown food colouring

Caramel buttercream:

300g sugar
300ml cream
260g butter
pinch of salt

Decorating:

100g white chocolate, tempered
50 mini chocolate chips
black candy write (or tempered dark chocolate)

Instructions:

Macaron shells:

Preheat the oven to 130ºC fan forced
place two egg whites into a stand mixer
heat the caster sugar and water over low heat to make a sugar syrup
once the sugar has all dissolved, turn on the stand mixer to medium speed to whisk the egg whites
when the sugar syrup reaches 120ºC remove from heat and pour in a slow steady stream down the side of the stand mixer, with the mixer still running at medium speed
increase the speed to high and whisk for 1 minute and then back to medium for another 5 minutes until the meringue forms stiff peaks
meanwhile, sift the pure icing sugar and almond meal into a clean bowl
pour the remaining two egg whites into the almond/sugar mixture. Add 4 drops of brown food colour gel and mix together with a spatula
fold in 1/3 of the meringue and mix thoroughly with the spatula
gently fold in the remainder of the meringue. Keep folding until the batter has the consistency of molten lava
place ~90% of the mixture into a piping bag fitted with a plain round tip and pipe circles around 3cm in diameter
place the remaining mixture into another piping bag fitted with a smaller round tip. Use this to pipe the bear ears on half the macaron shells
let the piped shells rest for 20 minutes until a skin forms over the macarons
bake one tray at a time for 13 minutes

caramel buttercream:

place the sugar into a saucepan and melt over low heat
meanwhile, place the cream in a separate saucepan over low heat
once the sugar has turned to a dark amber colour, remove from heat and melt 60g of butter into the sugar
At this stage the cream should have come to a boil. Pour the boiling cream into the sugar, stirring with a wooden spoon
return the saucepan to low heat and stir until it forms a smooth caramel
stir in a pinch of salt then set aside to cool
once the caramel has come to room temperature, whisk together with the remaining 200g of butter to form a buttercream

macaron shells just out of the oven – half have teddy bear ears which will be the top shell of the macarons

Decorating the macarons:

pair the macaron shells so that you can place one teddy bear shell over a plain round shell of similar size
on each of the teddy bear faces, spoon a small amount of tempered white chocolate to form the nose/mouth area of the bear
place a mini chocolate chip over the white chocolate to resemble a nose
draw two eyes on each teddy face with a black candy writer

pipe or spoon tempered white chocolate on the shells with ears

img_9589-1 — Buzzing bee and teddy macarons

Pink teddy bear macarons for a 1st birthday party

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Recipe: Passionfruit & Meringue Eclairs

December 21, 2016April 30, 2018Posted in pastryTagged Baking, baking ideas, chocolate, chocolate ganache, Choux Pastry, Custard, Dessert, eclairs, home baked, Hong Kong, hong kong baking, meringue, passion fruit, passionfruit, pastry, recipeLeave a comment

passionfruit chocolate meringue eclair recipe

Makes: 15 eclairs

Time required: 2 hours

Difficulty: ★★☆☆☆

Inspiration:

Since moving to Hong Kong in February this year, I have been baking using a portable oven (besides my trips back to Melbourne). For those of you who haven’t lived in Hong Kong before … the apartments are small and most apartments have tiny kitchens without ovens. Although this portable oven (around the size of an Australian microwave) is great for cooking and basic cakes, the temperature isn’t very even or reliable so I haven’t been brave enough to try baking macarons in Hong Kong. But I am dying to bake some sort of pastry … so I decided to try a choux pastry!

My favourite eclairs are the salted caramel ones from Chez Dre in Melbourne and the world-famous eclairs from Sadaharu Aoki in Tokyo. Having no prior concept of what makes choux pastry puff, I’ve always marvelled at how patisseries manage to fill the eclair with custard without cutting the eclair open. Turns out it’s quite simple! 🙂

My portable oven in Hong Kong – great for basic baking but I haven’t been brave enough to test macarons in this

Ingredients:

Passionfruit custard:

200g passionfruit, seeds removed
350ml milk
2tsp vanilla been paste
4 egg yolks
100g caster sugar
50g cornstarch
20g unsalted butter

Choux pastry:

125g bread flour, sifted
100ml milk
100ml water
10g sugar
1tsp salt
100g unsalted butter
4 eggs

Chocolate ganache:

200g chocolate
150ml cream

Meringue:

2 egg whites
180g caster sugar
65ml water

Instructions:

Passionfruit custard:

whisk sugar and egg yolks until pale.
whisk in the cornstarch
heat milk and passionfruit over low-med heat until simmering
pour 1/3 of the milk/passionfruit into the egg yolk mixture whilst whisking, then pour the entire mixture back into the rest of the milk/passionfruit
place back on low heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens
remove from heat and stir in the vanilla paste and butter
cover in glad wrap with the glad wrap touching the surface and set aside to chill in the fridge while making the eclair shells

Choux pastry

Preheat oven to 200°C
Place the water, milk, butter, sugar and salt into a saucepan over low heat
Once the mixture just comes to a boil, take off the heat, pour in all the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon (it should now look like mashed potato)
Place the mixture back on low heat and continue to mix for another 2-3mins until the dough forms a ball and comes away from the sides of the pan
Pour the dough into a bowl and mix with wooden spoon to cool slightly before adding the eggs
Add the eggs one at a time and ensure each egg is well incorporated before adding the next egg. This allows greater control over the amount of egg to ensure the mixture doesn’t become too runny from too much egg
The mixture is ready when you lift the wooden spoon and the dough slowly falls off the spoon
Place dough into a piping bag fitted with a 1cm star nozzle lines around 10-12cm long. Be sure to leave enough space between for the eclairs to expand in the oven
Bake for 10mins at 200°C and then reduce the temperature to 180°C and bake for another 20mins
once removed from the oven, use a toothpick to poke a whole through each meringue to let the steam out. This prevents the eclair shell from becoming soggy or sinking
set aside to completely cool before adding in the custard

Chocolate ganache:

Bring cream to boil and pour over dark chocolate. Set aside for 2 minutes
Mix in the melted chocolate with the cream
stir in the butter, and set aside to cool slightly

Assembling the eclairs:

once the shells have completely cooled, poked three holes evenly spaced along the top of the eclair
place the custard into a piping bag fitted with a long narrow tip and fill each eclair with custard through the three holes
coat the top of the eclair in chocolate ganache using a spatula

Many blogs tell you to poke the holes and fill the eclairs from the botton of the eclair shell however I prefer to pipe it through the top so I can cover up the holes with ganache.

Meringue:

whisk egg whites until foamy
heat sugar and water over low-med heat until the syrup reaches 120ºC
while whisking the eggs, pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream down the side of the whisking bowl
continue to whisk the eggs until it form stiff peaks
place the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a petal tip and pipe the meringue onto the eclairs. you could also use other piping tips to create other patterns

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Carefully piping the meringue onto the eclairs

To finish … torch the meringue and decorate the eclairs with raspberries and mint leaves 🙂

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Ideas: Christmas baking – macarons and cakes

December 20, 2016April 30, 2018Posted in Christmas BakingTagged Baking, baking ideas, Cakes, cheesecake, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Baking, christmas ideas, Christmas pudding, desserts, ideas, Macarons, mango, matcha, matcha mousse, opera cake, reindeers, tartLeave a comment

Christmas is always an exciting time of year … work is quieter … people are in ‘holiday mode’ … the weather in Melbourne is lovely … AND I have more excuses to bake (and plenty of time to bake since the footy isn’t on).

Leading up to Christmas the past two years, I’ve baked for family dinners as well as charity fundraisers which both present their own challenges. This post showcases the cakes I baked for Christmas dinner in 2015 and as well as the macarons baked for a fundraiser leading up to Christmas in 2014.

For Christmas 2016 … check out the posts on my Gingerbread House and Croquembouche journeys.

Christmas themed macarons:

I really enjoy baking macarons and will find an excuse to bake more macarons whether it’s for a wedding, Christmas, Easter or just any party. Here’s my selection of Christmas macarons for a Christmas charity fundraiser:

Christmas pudding macarons: decorated with tempered white chocolate
Christmas coloured macarons: raspberry and matcha flavoured
Reindeer macarons: red m&m’s for the nose and pretzel antlers

Christmas reindeer macarons

Christmas cakes:

Being in charge of dessert for my family’s Christmas dinner is always a challenge – trying to keep all 9 people happy which includes: my parents who don’t like anything too sweet, my sister who always requests something coffee flavoured and a brother-in-law who wants nothing but a tart (more specifically … the Strawberry and Berry Tart from Le Petit Gateau in Melbourne).

Given these requirements, I came up with the following desserts:

Opera cake: to meet the request of a coffee flavoured dessert
Matcha mousse cake: something not too sweet for the parents
Raspberry & passionfruit tart: not quite the same as the tart from Le Petit Gateau, but still a tart with berries
Mango Cheesecake: At this stage I may as well keep baking and use up everything I have in the fridge

All the cakes after four nights of baking

Opera cake:

A decadent cake made from layers of almond sponge soaked in coffee liquor syrup, chocolate ganache and coffee buttercream – this cake is always one of my favourites to bake (recipe to be posted soon).

Matcha Mousse cake:

Following the matcha trend – I decided to bake a matcha and white chocolate mousse cake for my ‘not too sweet’ dessert. Sitting on top of the matcha almond sponge is a layer of white chocolate mousse which adds a hint of sweetness to the bitter matcha cake.

Raspberry and Passionfruit tart:

Although the tarts from Le Petit Gateau look amazing, I opted for a more ‘traditional’ tart … baked in a tart pan with plenty of custard and topped with fruit. I made a passionfruit curd to add a bit more flavour to the custard and topped the tart with raspberries, raspberry jam and chopped pistachios. Not quite Le Petit Gateau standard … but still relatively happy with the finished product given it was my first tart or pastry crust attempt.

Mango Cheesecake:

I wasn’t joking earlier when I said that I was using up the ingredients in my fridge. We had several ripe mangos in the house and cream cheese in the fridge. The bright colour of the mango also looked great with the red/green/brown of the other cakes.

This was a very simple cheesecake to make, comprised of a Arnott’s Nice biscuit base, vanilla cheesecake (recipe to be posted soon) and a mango jelly.

I’m always looking for new ideas and challenges for Christmas themed baking, so if you have any great posts or recipes, please share below 🙂

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Recipe: Passionfruit & Chocolate Tart

December 20, 2016April 30, 2018Posted in CakesTagged Baking, baking ideas, baking recipes, cake, chocolate, cocktail, Dessert, dome cake, entremet, ganache, home baked, Hong Kong, Koko Black, Melbourne, meringue, meringue pie, mousse, passion fruit, passionfruit, Quinary, recipe, shortbread, tart1 Comment

passionfruit chocolate meringue tart cake recipe

Makes: 12 mini dome cakes (6cm in diameter)

Time required: 3 hours in total, over 2-3 nights

Difficulty: ★★★☆☆

Inspiration:

The flavours for this cake were inspired by Koko Black’s ‘Passion’ chocolate – bitter, sour and sweet all in one small chocolate. I first tried this passionfruit & chocolate blend four years ago in Melbourne and it is still my favourite flavour combination.

The inspiration for the meringue coating is from my favourite cocktail – the Lavendar Meringue pie from Hong Kong’s Quinary Bar. Although the cocktail itself is very lemon-y, the richness of the meringue with each sip of your cocktail provides a great balance of sweet & sour.

My favourite cocktail – the Lavender Meringue Pie from Quinary, Hong Kong

Ingredients:

Chocolate ganache:

150g dark chocolate
100ml cream
10g butter

Passionfruit dome:

200g passionfruit, seeds removed
100g sugar
1 gelatin leaf
175ml cream, whipped

Shortbread crust:

225g butter
100g sugar
350g flour

Meringue:

2 egg whites
180g caster sugar
60ml water

Instructions:

Chocolate ganache:

Bring cream to boil and pour over dark chocolate. Set aside for 2 minutes
Mix in the melted chocolate with the cream
stir in the butter, and set aside to cool while making the passionfruit dome

Passionfruit dome:

Place sugar and passionfruit over low-medium heat until all the sugar has dissolved and the passionfruit slightly thickens
stir in the bloomed gelatin sheet and set aside to cool
once the mixture is at room temperature, gently fold in whipped cream
pour the passionfruit mousse into dome moulds (around 6cm in diameter), leaving a little space for a the chocolate ganache
pipe in around 2tsbp of chocolate ganache. Alternatively, if you have more time to make these cakes you could freeze the chocolate ganache the night before and cut out circles to place into the passionfruit mousse
place the domes into a freezer for at least 3 hours (preferably overnight) to harden

Shortbread crust:

Preheat oven to 160ºC fan forced
cream the butter and sugar in a bowl
add in the flour and mix well with a wooden spoon until a dough has formed
roll out the dough and slice it into 8cm discs. We want the shortbread crust to be at least 1cm wider than the passionfruit dome to be able to hold the meringue
bake for 8 minutes until golden

Meringue:

whisk egg whites until foamy
heat sugar and water over low-med heat until the syrup reaches 120ºC
while whisking the eggs, pour the sugar syrup in a thin stream down the side of the whisking bowl
continue to whisk the eggs until it form stiff peaks

Assembling the cake:

remove the passionfruit mousse dome from the freezer and un-mould the domes
place one dome over each disc of shortbread crust
cover the dome in meringue using a spatula (you could also pipe the meringue in flowers or spikes) and torch until golden brown

I also topped off my cakes with mini candy flowers chocolate decorations

the finished cake – showing the passionfruit and chocolate encased in meringue

another photo of the finished passionfruit & chocolate tart

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