On White Peaches

I love white peaches. They are one of the things that I am going to miss about summer.

In Melbourne, white peaches typically start appearing in late Spring. However beware of those early pickings---they are either petrol guzzlers or early bloomers that could not get enough sun to turn their flesh into nectar. As a result, most of them will turn you off peaches for a long, long time. I pity the person whose first taste of peaches fall at that inopportune of times.

Peaches need the sun, and a bit of heat, to ripen. When I buy my tree ripened (yet still firm) peaches from the farmers' market, I normally leave the whole punnet out by the window for a couple of days. When I see their fuzzy skin start to wrinkle around the top, I know that they are ready for me.

My favourite, as I said, is the white freestone variety. This is the peach, with its white flesh and red pit, that created so much envy among other peaches. More subtle than the flavourful, and sometimes tart yellow variety, the white peach is like the that elegant cousin you see once a year at reunions, whose refined manners you secretly and desperately tried to mimic.

There are many ways to eat a peach. I for one will not be so bold as to instruct you on how to eat yours. However, I hope that you will allow me the indulgence of sharing mine. Dispensing with all cutlery or graceful manners, I eat mine right over the sink. There are few greater pleasures than eating a luscious, ripe peach, and letting its saccharine juices run down your arm to your elbow, catching the droplet with the tip of your finger, and then bringing it to your lips to savour every last bit of summer sunshine.

You can, of course, eat a peach in a more civilised manner, say, sliced and arranged on a plate, or with the skin off, but to me, there just can be no other way. And besides, if you don't tell and I say nothing, this can just stay between us, no?

The Tale of Avocado---or a Nanaimo Bar with a Twist

Avocado.

Grumpy and (sometimes) wrinkled on the outside, the green of spring within. There are several types available during the warmer months in Melbourne, but my favourite is the round, smooth-skinned Reed. Eating a Reed avocado is as close as you can get to total indulgence. Firmer in texture than the ubiquitous Hass, yet smooth and buttery at the same time, it is a luxury when you can find it.

Most people are surprised when they find out that I eat my avocados sweet. I think it's a South East Asian thing---avocado smoothie was one of the treats I had growing up. I would always order it whenever we sit down to lunch during our weekend expedition to the mall. My mom still makes it for me whenever they are in season when she comes over. 'Australian avocados are so much nicer to eat than the stringy ones we get back home', she said. I have to agree.

Avocado smoothie is essentially composed of condensed milk, avocado, and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Before you judge me, let me say that I still find the idea of eating avocado in a savoury dish very strange, the exception being a particular recipe for chicken, celery, avocado and mayo sandwich that I love. Even J, who was skeptical at first when I ordered an avocado smoothie at a local Thai restaurant, fell in love with it at the first sip.

But have you eaten an avocado on its own, without any distracting adornment? Tell me what it tastes like. For me, theres that distinctive nutty taste, followed by the smooth, buttery and creamy texture. But is it salty, or sweet, or sour, or bitter? Maybe I don't have a very refined palate, but it doesn't taste like any of those to me. But therein lies the true value of the avocado. It adds a very desirable texture and a subtle nutty taste without compromising on the harmony of flavours. It is an enhancer; you know that the avocado won't upstage the real star of the show, whatever he/she may be.

Besides, in a world where beets, pumpkin, zuchinni and carrots are made into cakes, and where mangoes, apples and even plums are incorporated into salads and sauces, who's there to judge how I use my avocados?

This preamble was meant as an introduction to my January DB Challenge. This month's challenge was a Canadian treat called the Nanaimo Bar, which is quite similar to the Australian confection called Caramel Slice. I decided to combine the two---creating the traditional Nanaimo Bar base using GF graham crackers (yum!), cocoa powder, and dessicated coconut. I had ran out of Golden Syrup so opted instead for honey. I also reduced the amount of brown sugar used in the recipe by a quarter, having been tipped off by Y about the sweetness of the biscuit.

The middle layer is a result of my love for avocados. I used a traditional caramel slice recipe, where you cook condensed milk to a golden brown, but with my own twist with the addition of avocado puree. I first made this filling about 4 months ago when avocados started coming into season, and even contemplated its inclusion into my summer range. It was good, and I knew that the flavours would work even before I made it because caramel slice contains the exact ingredients it took to make an avocado smoothie: condensed milk and chocolate. The verdict from my co-workers: Yum! Most of them didn't even know there was avocado in it. The green made them think 'pistachio', they said.

But in the end I decided against it because 1. it will most likely be a hard-sell, as people are used to eating avocados in a savoury dish; and 2. I'm very new to the baking business scene, and therefore want to avoid being remembered as 'the strange one who puts avocado in her caramel slice'.

But I think I'll hang on to the recipe, because it is too good to give up on it just yet. And one summer day, it may even make it to my product range.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Cherries at the Farmers' Market

I went to the Farmer's Market today, and look what I found. When the farmer's markets are full of cherries and apricots and peaches and nectarines, I know that summer is truly here. I think I'll go once more before Christmas, to the Slow Food Twilight Farmer's Market, held at this beautiful former convent.

Perhaps I'll see you there?


On a side note, this was what I had planned as the Treehouse Christmas Gift Box. I initially planned it to be a special-order thing which I will then mail out closer to Christmas. Unfortunately, I didn't get it out to the market in time to get orders. Ah, well, at least the idea will last me until next Christmas. And do you like the postcard? I LOVE it! Big thanks to my friend and graphic designer Tiffany who created and printed the design in a matter of 2 days---that on top of her already large workload of being a full-time graphic designer. Isn't she awesome?


And the cherries? Plump, juicy, and so fresh that their firm skins yield just slightly when you bite into them, before exploding into a sweet-tart medley of flavours in your mouth. My parents, whenever they come to Australia in the summer, would always bring a box back home to give to the relatives. Since these ones are the best I've had so far, my only wish was that they had stayed long enough to bring a box home, straight from the farmers who've grown them. They would've liked these ones.

November's Daring Bakers Challenge---Cannoli

So....if you happen to be a Daring Baker who happens to peruse the DB forum quite a bit, you would know that I completed my challenge early this month. Whaa..? Hang on, am I not the incorrigible procrastinator that you knew me to be? I am, actually. But not on Cannoli month.

I actually made, assmbled, and photographed my cannoli a few days before the deadline, and if you have access to the DB forum and take a look at the 'Share Completed Challenges' section for November, you can see my version of Cannoli right there, along with an explanation which states that I will be switching internet providers around the time of the posting date, and will therefore be posting late due to the interruption of internet connectivity.

The above is partly true. I was telling the truth when I said that I was switching providers, but no when I said that there was interruption. Because believe it or not, the transition was smoother than I expected, in spite of a few glitches along the way. Now that my internet speed is brought up to this century, I can hopefully take the time I used to spend twiddling my fingers in front of the computer waiting for the pages to load up, and turn it productive blogging hours. I don't even need to take a magazine with me anymore to the computer---this is great!!
I decided to bake my cannoli this month because baked cannoli = less time cleaning up. And I HATE oil stains. I mean, I can't suffer as little as a drop on anything in the kitchen. I'm sure deep frying them is the way to go, and as much as I love anything battered and deep-fried, I am not yet willing to subject my entire kitchen surface to a thin coating of cooking oil.

But moving on to the business at hand...the cannoli...I wanted something light and easy to eat to combat the November heatwave in Melbourne. As I did not have time to plan this dessert very well, I took a look inside my fridge and found, among other things, a half-tub of sheep's milk yogurt and some tinned peaches. Wait now, what? Ah, the shame. Yes, ladies and gentlemen readers of my blog, I eat tinned peaches. But please do not judge me. What are you to do when you are faced with an incessant and insistent craving for peaches, went to the market and bough a couple, only to find, hopes dashed and love lost, that the peaches are sour and tasteless. Blame it on the early season, or blame it on commercial growers who sacrificed taste for mass production, or even blame my local farmers' markets for not having it in stock yet.

But it was good. A hint of tangy sweetness from the yogurt mousse, the delectable taste of sweet peaches, and the crunch of the thin sheets of cannoli, layered into something resembling, but not quite, a millefeuille.

I enjoyed every last bit of it.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Finally, Some Results

Yes, it's that time of the month already. Where did my time go? Again??!! I feel as though someone is playing a trick on me, ripping the pages off the daily calendar (does anyone still use those anyway?) way ahead of the current date so that it somehow makes them feel that they are very close to Christmas. Because they are. Hell, we all are. It is already October. Less than 90 days to Christmas. Are you freaking out, because I am.

I know I'm not the only one having trouble adjusting my work life with my blogging life, and borrowing words from my friend Mallory, 'I blog because I want to, not because I have to'.

It's not very often that I'm at a lack for words or stories to embellish my posts with, but I'm going to make this one a short one, and let the photos tell you the rest of the story.



The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

This is what I've been busy with lately. Like it??

Oh, and see that table cloth that's actually a piece of fabric? I'm in love with it, and I intend to use it for the market stall. Coming soon, I promise!! I just need a clear 'yes' for the to-go date from the Council.

Daring Bakers May: Strudel!!

Okay. So here it goes.

I know I have been missing from my blog for quite some time. I also have not left as many comments on your blogs. For this, I apologise. I'm there, always, but these days time seem to be getting shorter for me, and before I knew it, it's already time for bed.

Now, I've kept the reason for this under wraps for a few months---except from a couple of fellow bloggers, mainly because I did not want to jinx my chances, and I did not know how things are going to pan out. A few months ago, I left the hospitality industry completely. The hours just do not agree with me anymore, and with restaurants closing down/cutting back on staff due to the economic recession, even if I had managed to get a job at a restaurant somewhere, it would mean that I would have to work longer hours for lower pay. Not that I am afraid of hard work, mind you, but I had to make a choice between a job in patisserie, and seeing J on a regular basis (we don't live together) and keeping the relationship together. I chose the latter.

Besides, working to recreate other people's visions and ideas has never been what I saw myself doing in my future. I have always wanted to do my own thing in patisserie, even right from the start. But I had no idea it was going to have to happen right now.

When a door closes, another one opens. I have no passion for my day job, and I don't see myself being at it for very long. So I toyed with the idea of having my own little venture, just as a daydream at first, and then evolving into something that I could almost see in front of me. And best of all, I could actually see myself very clearly in that dream.


And so, I did all the necessary research and came up with a decision. I am going to have my own business. It is only something that I will do on the side-- working from my home kitchen, selling once a week at the weekend markets, making small but high-quality batches using the best locally-sourced ingredients-- but which I hope to expand into something a lot more.

Now, I am far from being the most experienced pastry chef around, and some of you might start to think: who does she think she is, attempting something like this when she's only had a couple of years of experience in the food industry?

Well, you know what, I thought that too at first. But now I trust the feeling in my gut a lot more. And I believe that if you have an idea of what you want, if you could see how it would work, that maybe you don't get it right the first time, but you will get there eventually. Much like cooking and baking, no?

And so I spent a fair amount of time researching this and that, testing recipes, and getting my kitchen registered. Yes, you actually have to register your kitchen with your local council here in Australia if you want to operate from home, and get the health inspector to come check it. Among the requirements are 3 sinks (one for hand-washing, one for rinsing and one for sanitising, and I haven't even gotten to the food prep sink yet), which I passed with flying colours thanks to the Smeg dishwasher that came with the apartment; non-permeable surfaces (no wood), and separate equipment for home and business. I have never been more thankful of my contemporary kitchen, and instantly dismissed all former thoughts of having a rustic looking, cozy one instead.

And so she came on Wednesday, the same day of this month's DB challenge posting---which half explains why I couldn't post until now, and I'll explain the other half later, because I insist that no one uses the kitchen for the whole day for anything at all. J, who came to help me whip the apartment into shape, had to settle with microwave soup for lunch, girlfriend-of-the-year that I am.

And she passed it!! So $700 later ($500 of which I will pay tomorrow), my kitchen will be fully registered for a year. Yup, you read that one right, I have to do this every year. And I thought home-based businesses are supposed to cost nothing at all to set up.

So this would mean that from now on I would be eligible to sell my products at any markets across Victoria---after the application of a Temporary Events Permit to whatever council the market is under, of course, but that is another story---and that I can legally make stuff to sell from my home kitchen!! Woohoo!!

It may not sound like a big deal, but I really need to work from home in to make any minimal profits at all, and since renting a kitchen space would cost around $60/hour, let's just say that I am over the moon that my kitchen's been approved.


After the health inspector's visit, I had a 3kg order of biscotti to do for 6 people, my first 'big' one so far. I know it sounds like nothing compared to the quantities a commercial kitchen produce on a daily basis, but I had to do all 3kg of it on my little bench-top stand mixer, using only 2 oven trays (I have yet to purchase more equipment). Now since we all know that biscotti are baked twice, the whole thing took me quite some time to finish.

In the end I got to making the strudel on Sunday, and since we are approaching winter in the Southern Hemisphere, I wanted to make it rich, warm, and comforting. Like a good boyfriend.

One of the things I love about the cold weather is the variety of seasonal produce that results from it. Chestnuts, a rarity in the tropics, were going for a cheap $8/kg at the farmers' markets. I thought back to just a few weeks ago when they were twice that, and I just had to buy them. I bought a few varieties of apples too---Braeburn, Granny Smith and Red Splendour---since they were in season, and since I was very much mesmerised by Erica Bauermeister's addictive and wonderful book 'The School of Essential Ingredients'. If you haven't read it, please, run out and get a copy now, for I have never read anything better.

So, after much digression, I chose to make two fillings for my strudel: Apple and Chestnuts; and Apple, Sultanas and Almonds. But instead of putting the apple cubes in the dough raw, I decided to saute them in butter and brown sugar until caramelised but are still firm enough to keep their shapes during the 30 minute baking time.

I still cannot make up my mind which filling I like better, so I guess I'll just have to keep trying.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Fig and Blackberry Crostata....am I a sugar addict?

I made this crostata a few weeks ago with the last of the good blackberries, and at a time when figs were at their peak. No, it's not a pizza. It is, indeed, a crostata.

Being one to believe that more is more, I may have misread (ignored) the instructions to leave at least a 5cm wide border all around the sides. As a result, there was not enough to cover enough of the fruits to sufficiently transform what is meant to be a freeform pie into the work of art called a crostata.

J had a birthday last Tuesday. No, I did not make him anything special. In self defense though, I did ask if he wanted me to make anything for his birthday. His answered no. And being someone who never takes things at face value, I began to wonder if his lack of enthusiasm for my food is directly related to the fact that I only ever make sweet foods. While I am more than happy to munch on sweets all day--- which I do on a frequent basis, forgoing main, proper meals in place of sugary goodness---J has a (much) lower threshold for sweet things. He likes a few mouthfuls here and there, but on an average day, I'd say that three servings of anything sweet is his limit of sugar intake in one sitting. Which works for me, because I end up polishing off the rest of the food. Life is good.


Or so I thought. I have been pondering about this lately: do all the people in your lives enjoy most of the things that you make? Because here's a BIG revelation: the people in mine surely don't. With the exception of my siblings, who are borderline carnivorous, most of my friends don't eat or even buy sweets, which I find completely unimaginable. One of my friends confessed at a recent lunch meeting that he could not even remember when he last bought a candy bar/cookie/anything sweet from the supermarket. The horror!!

After observing how most of the ladies at work took 2 days to finish a small bag of 6 shortbread biscuits that I made and gave to them, I can't help but wonder if the problem has always been mine. I take on average 5 minutes flat to polish off 6 shortbread squares for breakfast with my morning tea. And no, this is not the embarrassing scenario where I am the only one who do not realise how bad her cooking/baking really is, so get that thought outta your head!



What I want to know is what you, my readers, consider to be your sweetness threshold. Whether it is something like mine (I can polish off ten 2cmx4cm pistachio nougat bars in half a day---ohhohoh I'm a patissier's and a dentist's dream!!), or somewhere along the lines of my friend, who thinks that sugar is just another type of food he does not need. I look forward to reading your comments!!

This crostata recipe is adapted from Chef Catherine Adams' recipe which was featured in the Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine. Please click on this link to get to the recipe page. I took the liberty of substituting the raspberries with the blackberries; feel free to use any other fruits that are in season.

Musings on Pomegranate, and THAT time of the month

It is that time of the month again. Regardless of how seldom I blog, we meet each month here in my sanctuary, where I unveil to you the Daring Bakers' Challenge of the given month. This month, the challenge is a very unique chocolate cake recipe, the less because it is completely gluten-free, and more because it contains no additional sugar.

This cake has a texture somewhere between a cake, a brownie, and a custard. There is intense chocolate, as dark and inexorable as night. But scattered amidst this landscape are ruby red globes which burst into sweet, and then sour; the fruit of the Underworld that bound Persephone to Hades for three months out of each mortal year.


Picking apart a pomegranate is a messy yet rewarding exercise. Amidst ruby-stained fingers and lips, any person is bound to moan in ecstasy when the white membranes of the fruit finally yield an undiscovered cavern of yet another cluster of seeds. Add to that the pleasure of feeling the tiny, plump globules pop and flood your tongue with their sweet liquor, a sensation so eminently satisfying it is almost forbidden. Little wonder Persephone gave in to its temptation.

I wanted to pair this decadent cake with a sorbet made from another ancient fruit: figs. Why? Because I couldn't resist the sight of their plump little figures at the market. And oh, they happen to taste out of this world, and they were apparently introduced to humans as the fruit of autumn by the goddess Demeter, who is also none other than Persephone's mother. Because the deadline for this challenge is in less than 3 hours' time, I think I'll make this post a short one. As my few previous posts have been long ones, and since someone said something about a picture is worth a thousand words sometime ago, I'll let my photographs do the talking this time. I hope they do not disappoint.



The February Challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad- Baker & Chef. 'We have chosen a chocolate valentino cake by Chef Wan; a vanilla ice cream recipe from Dharm and a vanilla ice cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.'


Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often. 2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment. 3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls. 4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry). 5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together. 6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate. 7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration} 8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C 9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet. 10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.


Fig Sorbetto

12 ripe figs, trimmed
200g caster sugar
juice of 1 lemon
200ml thick cream (35% fat)

Process the figs, sugar and lemon juice until combined. Add the thick cream and pulse until smooth. Churn in an ice cream machine according to manufacturer's instructions.

BON APPETIT!

From Melbourne, With Love

This was meant to be a Valentine's Day post. Apparently, I was too busy belting out the chorus from the famed Annie soundtrack to post on time, again. While putting this post together and snooping around some newly-discovered blogs--- most of which have made it to my regular blog-stalking circuit--- I experienced a revelation. Back in my days as a fashion design undergraduate, I felt a little more than confused about how I was meant to approach designing.

While the concept of creating a logo and brand presence was straightforward and simple enough for me to understand, other aspects of designing---creating mood boards, advertising boards, design development, layout concepts, typography etc. baffled me. It took a good 2 years after graduation for me to come upon this revelation, and finally everything that I learnt back then seemed to be making more and more sense.

I remembered one lecturer, a captivating lady who, in her early forties, is still one of the most unique, most awe-inspiring individual I have ever met. She is always impeccably dressed and made-up; and to my (and all the other students') fascination, always managed to look like a 40's pin-up girl, down to every single strand of blond, barrel-curled hair. She is also one harsh but fair lecturer. I remember more than one occasion when she asked why I did not do my design development in colour, even after I had determined both fabrics and colour range for the collection I was designing. Being a stubborn, hard-headed girl that I was (and still am, mind you), I never listened to her because 1. doing sketches in colours take up time that I did not have; 2. the colours on the fabrics never exactly match my colour pencil-rendered designs anyway.


But now I finally understand. It's funny how we can always find parallels in whatever we do, regardless of how far-off those things may seem to be.

This is my version of the Black Forest cake, which I had dissected and reconstructed. Although I used fresh garnet cherries instead of griottes, I find that it works well with the recipe. On the other hand, you are welcome to substitute Morello cherries or other varieties of sour cherries.

I obviously need to tweak my recipes a little before I am satisfied, mainly because I want the milk chocolate chantilly to turn out a few shades paler than the dark chocolate mousse. But otherwise, I'm pretty happy with this attempt.


Black Forest, Reconstructed
makes 5x 10-cm rings

Chocolate Joconde

240g yolks
200g caster sugar
140g almond meal
360g egg white
120g caster sugar
60g butter, melted
120g flour, sifted
40g cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 180 degree C. Place egg whites and 60g caster sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk at high speed to form stiff peaks. In the meantime, whisk egg yolks, 100g caster sugar and almond meal until pale and thick. Fold melted butter into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in 1/3 of the stiffly-beaten egg whites into the egg yolk mixture. Fold in the rest of the egg whites. Sift the cocoa powder and flour into the bowl, and fod in to combine. Spread on a greased and lined baking tray and bake for 5-8 minutes. Cool, and cut circles slightly larger than the size of your intended pans. You will need 2 circles for each pan.


Cherry Compote

125g caster sugar
5 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
250g cherries, pitted and halved

Place catser sugar and balsamic vinegar in a saucepan and heat on high heat for 1-2 minutes. Add cherries and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until mixture is syrupy. Cool cherries in syrup.

Milk Chocolate Chantilly

600g double cream
420g milk chocolate, chopped

Boil cream in a saucepan, and pour over chopped chocolate, stir until combined in a homogenous mixture. Clingfilm the surface of the ganache and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Whip to firm peaks. In the case where the ganache hardened too much and is impossible to whip, or where it splits after whipping, you can place the bowl on top of a saucepan of simmering water to bring it back together. Just melt about 1/3 of the ganache, and then remove from the heat, and whisk by hand to attain the same results.


Cherry Jelly

150g fresh or frozen cherries. pitted
1 Tablespoon water
1/8 cup sugar
2 teaspoon kirsch
1 titanium-strength gelatine leaf

Process cherries in a food precessor/blender, and strain. Reserve the pulp. Boil sugar with water and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Add kirsch and cherry juice to the sugar syrup and heat gently to about 40-50 degree Celsius. In the meantime, soak gelatine leaf in water to soften. Add gelatine, along with 2 Tablespoon of reserved cherry pulp into the cherry syrup. Stir to combine.


Dark Chocolate Mousse

100 g caster sugar
80ml water
100g eggs
100g yolks
200g dark chocolate, melted and cooled (I used 70% dark chocolate)
300g cream, softly whipped

Make a pate a bombe: Heat caster sugar and water in a saucepan until the temperature of the sugar thermometer reads 120 degree C (soft ball stage). Whisk eggs and yolks in a stand mixer until thick and pale. In a steady stream, and with the motor running pour the sugar syrup down the side of the mixing bowl. Whisk on medium-high speed until cool. Fold softly whipped cream into the mixture.

To Assemble

Line moulds with tall acetate strips, making sure it is at least 5 cm taller than the height of the ring. Place the first joconde circle at the base. Drain cherries from syrup and dry with a paper towel. Press halves side by side, cut-side out, into the acetate strip, until they line the entire circumference of the ring. Pipe the milk chocolate chantilly over the cherries, covering them. Place the other circle of chocolate joconde on top and lightly press down. Leave to set in the fridge for a few hours. Next, pour warm cherry jelly into pan, and again leave to set in the fridge. Lastly, pipe the dark chocolate mousse on top of the set cherry jelly, and leave to set in the fridge.

Happy (Belated) Valentine's Day!

New Year's Resolutions, and some seasonal surprise

The new year is here, and I finally came up with a few resolutions I would like to achieve this year.

1. Blog more regularly. Actually, just blog more. Yes, I know, I know.
2. Attempt making more intricate gateaux/desserts at home. I am usually very lazy when it comes to making multi-component desserts at home because firstly I would have to do all the dishes, and secondly, I usually crave comfort food when I am at home, thus instant gratification were the words of the day last year.
3.Get a step closer to my dream of opening a contemporary patisserie.
4.Bake more seasonally, creatively, and sustainably.
5. Frequent the farmers' market more, well, frequently.


On another note, my friend Mallory at The Salty Cod has rallied me to participate in Jugalbandi's Click! The Photo Event, and this month's theme is RED. So what more appropriate than featuring the spoils of summer produce in Australia?

But after splurging on these fruits (and some luscious mangoes too), I have to justify their purchase by making something with them. I decided to start with an old nemesis: strawberry daifuku, or Japansese rice cake with bean paste and strawberry filling. I have always been mesmerised and obsessed with Japanese wagashi (traditional sweets), because not only are they hand-crafted with utmost meticulous care; their shape, colour and appearance reflect both simplicty and seasonality to the highest order. I have always wanted to learn the skills to make these little beauties, but for the longest time, I could not find any books which deliver its instructions in English.

Well, I still could not actually. But my persistence finally paid off. On my last vacation home to Jakarta, Indonesia, I met the executive chef of the newly opened Ritz Carlton Jakarta, who happened to be Japanese, and who coincidentally also runs a newly opened cooking school which offer short courses in traditional Japanese sweets---aka wagashi!!

So I immediately signed up for two items: strawberry daifuku and a spring wagashi called kiku. So far I have stored what I learnt in the recesses of my brain, but last week, in the face of a punnet of rapidly ripening strawberries and the prospect of having to make a light, easy-to-eat summer dessert for a picnic slash movie at Moonlight Cinema at the Royal Botanical Gardens, I decided to make these old favourites of mine. I have modified the recipe and method to make the sticky dough easier to handle, and replaced the red bean paste with white bean paste, which I think complements the strawberries better. Not only is this sweet light, healthy, completely gluten-free (here's to you, Mallory!!), it is so delicious I could not stop eating them!! You can also adjust the sugar to your own liking, or omit them from the dough. I would, however, recommend not to completely remove them from the bean paste, just for that bit of sweetness that makes life so much sweeter!!


Strawberry Daifuku
(makes 13)


For the skin

125g dango-ko (a mixture of glutinous and non-glitunous rice flour. In general, shiratama-ko is the preferred flour to make daifuku, but I discovered that the skin made out of dango-ko is easier to handle, with minimal sacrifice to the glutinous texture)

170g water
125g confectioners' or icing sugar
Potato starch, to dust


For the filling

300g lima beans, soaked for 6-8 hours in cold water, skin stripped off
100g caster sugar
50g water
13 small strawberies, stemmed and hulled


Place lima beans and soaking water in a stock pot and boil. After boiling point, add more water (about 250-300g), and continue heating. Bring up to boil again, then strain off liquid and immediately refresh beans in cold water. Soak the beans in cold water for about 5 minutes. Return the beans to the stock pot, fill with plenty more water, and simmer at low heat until beans are tender and crumble easily. If you are unsure, it is better to simmer the beans a little bit longer to ensure a smooth paste. Strain off the water and place beans into a large bowl. Add some cold water into the bowl, stir and wait a minute or two until bean paste settles at the bottom. Skim off any floating impurities off the surface of the water. Repeat three to four times until the the top layer is free of impurities. Place a large, clean tea towel over a bowl, and pour the bean paste. Squeeze hard to ensure all the water is removed from the bean paste. Make sugar syrup by combining water and caster sugar in a saucepan until boiling. Add half of the raw bean paste into the boiling sugar syrup, stir to combine, and boil again while stirring continuously. Add the rest of the raw bean paste into the mix and continue to mix at low heat. Continue cooking until most of the liquid has evaporated. A good way of telling is to bear in mind that the paste has to be moulded around the strawberries---thus you don't want it to be too wet or too dry and crumbly. Cool down, and divide paste into 13 equal portions. Roll into balls, and flatten slightly. Set strawberries on top of disks, and mould bean paste around strawberries, leaving a portion of the tip uncovered. Refrigerate while you get the skin ready.


Combine all ingredients in a bowl, mix well, and place in a steamer. Depending on your flour, you might need more or less water. If unsure, it is better to add more water, as this will only affect the steaming time required, and not have any effect on the texture of the skin. Steam for 20 minutes, checking and stirring every 5 minutes to ensure that skin is steaming evenly. In the meantime, wet a large tea towel and dust work surface with potato starch. Transfer dough into the center of the wet tea towel. Be very careful as dough will be very hot and sticky. Fold the tea towel into two, with the dough encased inside, and roll the dough into a log. Cut this log into 13 equal portions. Work with a little at a time, and keep the rest of the dough covered. Taking a piece, flatten into a round disc and set onto the dusted surface (roll it into a ball first if you need to---if dough is too sticky, encase it in the wet cloth and use it to help you roll it into a ball.) Stretch the dough out a little, and set the tip of the strawberry down on the surface of the disc. Pull up the sides so that they join together, and turn the dough around and dust the bottom with a little potato starch to seal.


And the cherries, you say? Well, I just have to wait a little longer until I settle down in my new job to start baking again. I just hope by then it will not be too late to buy more cherries.

On Turning 24 and the ensuing chaos

Last Christmas, I turned 24.

Yes, you read right. My birthday falls on the most joyful day of the year. But I do not know if receiving only one present per year instead of two is so joyful after all. J is the only one who gives me a mid-year present to compensate for it. (Does it take that many guesses to find out why I stay with him?)

But seriously. Because I had more than my fair share of baking to do this Christmas---mostly for the party at J's parents house on Boxing Day---I decided that the French buche de noel, the December Challenge for Daring Bakers, can multi-task as my birthday cake.

I was really looking forward to this challenge, and decided on the following component to complement the warm Australian Christmas:

-Coconut dacquoise
-Mango mousse
-Cinnamon and vanilla creme brulee
-Coconut crisp insert
-Cinnamon-milk ganache insert
-White chocolate icing

Everything went well until the day I took the log out of the mold to glaze. First, the icing quantity specified in the recipe proved too little to sufficiently cover the log. So, being a smartass, I made another batch and though: It should be fine if I cover it with another layer. Well, guess not.


My icing got too heavy and slipped down the sides of the cake. So in the end I had to trim off the icing on the sides with a palette knife and cover the whole thing in dessicated coconut to mask its ugliness. Oh, but wait, there's more.

While I was defrosting my log, I noticed that the mango mousse started to resemble a very runny mango custard, and was behaving in the same way. When I lifted it up, the upper half started to slide around a bit, and right then I knew that I should have gone out to buy some gold-strength gelatin leaves instead of being so cocksure that titanium-strength ones would do the same job. So, long story short: I ended up serving mango goo to people at Christmas. Thank God family (and boyfriend) do not judge.


This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

A Cameo Appearance by...

To be honest, I was a little scared when I read what the challenge for this month was. Just a little.

Well, I mean, I've made pizza dough before, but have never used the 'toss' method. This method is a nightmare for a control freak like me. Thankfully, I have help on hand. A veteran pizza maker who also happens to be yours truly's boyfriend. Isn't that convenient? The challenge suddenly turned from something daunting to something I was looking forward to.


I just hope Rosa doesn't mind the help I was getting. Not that I didn't try, but the photos of him tossing the dough turned out much, much better. Seriously. The photos he took of me tossing the dough turned out so tragic I would have to implore you to spare me from putting it up on a public domain such as this.

So, moving on to the more important topic of toppings and sauces. I decided on a sweet pizza, despite J's protests. I decided that since we are going into summer (actually today feels more like early, early spring), I might as well do something light and easy. Fruits immediately came to mind. But not just any fruits. I specifically wanted tropical fruits. Blame it on my recent trip back home. I wanted to recapture all the flavours of the tropics in this pizza.


So I decided on a pineapple 'carpaccio' pizza topped with rockmelon, mango and watermelon brunoise, with a drizzle of pine nuts-mint herb oil and a garnish of mint julienne. You don't have to tell me that it sounded doubtful; believe me, I know. But despite all, I decided to go along with this combination.

It actually did not taste bad at all. But there is definitely room for improvement. Like not overbaking the pizza crust, resulting in a hard shell with a slight bitter taste. Or adding more pine nuts-mint herb oil. Or caramelising the pineapple 'carpaccio' before putting them on the crust. Or using a fruit compote rather than herb oil to impart more sweetness to the pizza.

But overall, I'm pretty happy with this first attempt. All that's left is to play around with the component to get the best possible result. After all, that's what being a DB is all about, no?

A big thank you to Rosa for choosing this month's theme and recipe; J thought it made a really, really good pizza dough, and even asked if I could print him a copy to take home!

Revealed: My Other New Toy

Remember in my last post I said that I was going to introduce you to my other new toy? I have been waiting a long time to write this up. I got the machine before I got my Canon DSLR, but have resisted the urge to post anything because I was waiting for the new camera to arrive. And when it finally did, these were the first photos I took. But then I was getting busy completing my first Daring Bakers Challenge, and since that had a deadline, it took precedence over my regular blogging.

But here we are finally. As much as I want to exclaim "And the new toy is....." while whisking away a red velvet shroud covering the surprise, the more impatient of you (yes, I'm looking at you Oakley), would've scrolled further down first thing to discover what my new gadget is. So yes, it's an automatic ice cream maker. Which I got at approximately half the retail price.

The machine is a factory second that was selling for $159 at the Preston Market. I was skeptical at first, but turns out that there was no major damage or anything that would affect the normal operation; the only reason it was sold so cheaply was due to a minor scratch on the wall of the cannister. And it came with a 6-months warranty. So yes, the bargain shopper in me could not resist. To tell you the truth, I've had my eyes on it since a few months ago, when I first saw the machine. But it was priced at $200 then. It was a good $100 cheaper than the retail ones, but I still had to consider it.


And then J and I celebrated our first full year of being together (it may not seem like a lot of time together, but trust me, it is my longest and best yet). He asked me what I wanted for a present, and a few days plus a few hours of heavy lifting (mostly done by him) later, my glossy new machine was well set up and roaring to go.

The first recipe that came to mind was Claire Clark's Quick Strawberry Ice Cream, from her book Indulge:100 Perfect Desserts. Most ice cream recipes you find will contain either eggs or egg yolks, as their addition makes the ice cream taste richer and creamier. This one, however, uses only double cream. In her book, Claire explained that the first time she saw her friend Matthew Hardy---who was also her fellow lecturer at Le Cordon Bleu--- prepared it for an ice cream demonstration class, she was shocked and convinced that it wouldn't be as good as the egg-based ones. But to her surprise, the resulting ice cream was just as rich and creamy as the ones she had made in the past.

I did two variations on this recipe---one using frozen forest berry mix, and another using bananas. I also played around with the recipes for a bit, after J insisted that I was puree-ing way too much berries for the mix, and because I find that brown sugar goes much better with bananas.


Forest Berries Ice Cream

300g frozen forest berries (you can substitute any kind of berries)
320g caster sugar
500ml double cream

Method:
Puree berries in a blender and then pass through a fine sieve. Mix half the sugar with the cream and bring to the boil. Pour this over the berry puree and mix well, then stir in the rest of the sugar. Leave to cool completely. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions (it took 15-20 min for mine to be ready).


Banana Ice Cream

300g bananas
180g brown sugar*
60g caster sugar
250ml double cream

Puree the bananas in a blender. Be sure to choose very ripe bananas for best results. Mix 120g of brown sugar with the double cream, and bring to boil. Pour this over the banana puree and mix well, then stir in the remaining 60g brown sugar and 60g caster sugar. Leave to cool completely. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions (it took 15-20 min for mine to be ready).

*Although I find that brown sugar goes better with bananas, I noticed that it alters the texture of the ice cream. The end result is a softer and stretchier ice cream. I am not sure about the chemical explanation to this, but I can guess that it has to do with the molasses contained in brown sugar. The recipe recommends the use of caster sugar, but feel free to experiment with the proportions o brown sugar if you like.

Enjoy!!

Remembrance of Things Past, or a Mistake Revisited

No, this post is not about madeleines, as the title so suggestively implied. This is about the first time I made French macarons.

It was December last year, when I finally got my bum off my seat and decided to make some of those wonderful little confections so many food bloggers are blogging about. They are the daintiest, prettiest things , and they are called macarons.

In those photos they looked so tame, so innocent that I thought I'd make them for a family christmas gathering at my J's parents' house. Three days to go, and I thought I would start with the shell, just in case things did not work out. I made the macarons in two ways, one batch of lemon macarons using the Italian meringue method, and another batch of pistachio using the French meringue method, borrowing the recipes that I found on Tartelette's blog.

The Italian meringue lemon macarons turned out just perfect. I was contented and pleased with myself. And then the horror began. My tray of pistachio macarons emerged from the oven as the ugliest things I have ever seen. Lopsided, cracked, and uneven. Not just one or two, but almost all of them. I consoled myself with soothing thoughts; perhaps I had misread the recipe, perhaps it is the humidity in the air (December is summer in Australia), perhaps I have forgotten to add a vital ingredient to the batter. With these uneasy thoughts in my head, I headed to bed.

The next night (I had to work from 9am-8pm that day, almost a double shift but not quite), I went on to make another batch of pistachio macarons. I made sure to add all the ingredients, follow the recipe down to every letter, switch on the air-conditioner in my apartment and let the piped batter stand for a good hour. I waited with my eyes closed my my hands clasped in a prayer.


I could not remember what I said or did when the first tray came out of the oven, looking exactly like their predecessors from the previous night. I must have gone through a shock, because I could not remember stomping or kicking or screaming or cursing, and I am a drama queen with a very hot temper.

What followed afterwards when I regained my memory was a frantically typed email at 1 am in the morning to Helen of Tartelette, whom I see as one of the authorities in macaron making. I was desperate and sent a plea for her to shine light on the art of macaron making. She replied promptly with suggestions in such generous details that I felt instantly reassured. But I have never since tried making French macarons again. Until now.

About two weeks ago J went for a visit to his nonna's house. He brought from there a citrus fruit which looks innocently enough like an orange. But peel the skin away and what greets your tongue is a flavour that has the unmistakable acidity of a lemon. This fruit grew on a tree in his nonna's backyard. It seems that she has grafted an orange tree into a lemon tree and married the pair (I am sure this is not the proper explanation, but it will have to suffice), resulting in this hybrid fruit.


I thought about what I wanted to make with this lem-orange, and decided to revisit my old fears of making macarons, mainly because I think that the sweetness of the macaron shell will foil the tartness of the fruit. This time, though, I made sure to take a few extra precautions (and read Helen's tutorial on the online Dessert Magazine).

When my first batch spread too much and became lopsided and uneven, I gritted my teeth and set my mind on making another one, and another one, and another one still, until I can get it perfect. It seemed that my determination managed to win over the macaron god, because I had the idea to cover my oven fan with a flat baking tray. And so my second batch, though a tad under-folded, yielded beautiful round macarons with perfectly even feet. And we live happily ever after.

I borrowed Helen's recipe for the macarons (Thank you Helen, and if you ever want anything from Australia, just let me know and I'll mail it to you!). The ganache I made, though, was a little too white chocolate-y for my taste, so I'll update the recipe after I develop one that I'm completely happy with. I already have something in mind, so stay tuned!

So fluffy and light, you'd think it's a cloud!

I was in the mood to make something simple this week. Something that does not require a massive amount of concentration or dexterity. Something I know that I can pull together without any difficulty or dramas. But even then, I am too idealistic to regurgitate items I have made successfully in the past. Where's the fun in that?

I encountered these little darlings among the delicious pages of the Australian Women's Weekly Sweets book, looking so innocently out of their confining prison of glossy paper. I knew I had some rescuing to do, and immediately set to business.

These powder puffs (yes, that's what they call them; I would have preferred to call them 'Little Clouds', but no matter) are idiot-proof and super fast to make. I could've baked off the entire batch of 36 and cleaned up my mess in less than an hour, if not for the fact that I only had one 12-hole patty pan.

On a side note, I have been reading a lot on how to customize my layout and my header, with lots of help from the generous and kind Basma of Bakerette. (Thank you for pointing me towards the right direction!) So I hope you will forgive me if I seem less inclined to post anything new over the next few days. I will be simultaneously trying to work out the blogger system, create a new header, read up food photography techniques on Still Life With (thank you Lara for sparing a great deal of time and effort to share your knowledge with millions others; it is very much appreciated), get my life together while attempting to sneak in precious few baking time.


I decided to put in my little twist on these little treats, by way of adding maple syrup into one batch of cream and balsamic vinegar and black pepper into another. They both work really well, but my preference lies with the maple syrup variety; the maple syrup helps imparts the right amount of sweetness and depth, in my opinion. But the balsamic vinegar-black pepper variety, too, has its unique appeal---the result has none of the pungency of balsamic vinegar nor the obtrusive kick of black pepper---just a lingering subtle taste on your tongue that makes you wonder about its origins.


Strawberry Powder Puffs

makes 36 individual cakes, and 18 sandwiches
(adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly Sweets)

2 eggs
1/3 cup caster sugar
2 Tablespoons corn flour
2 Tablespoons plain flour
2 Tablespoons self-raising flour

Preheat oven to 180C (or 160C fan forced). Grease and flour two 12-hole shallow round-based patty pans. Beat eggs and sugar in a small bowl with electric mixer for about 4 min., or until mixture is thick and pale. Triple-sift flours, and fold into egg mixture. Place mixture in a piping bag and fill holes to about 2/3 full (or you can spoon the mixture into the holes). Bake about 10 min., turn immediately to cool. Wash, grease and flour pans again and repeat with the remaining mixture.


Strawberry Cream

1/2 cup thickened cream (35% fat)
1 Tablespoon icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
1/2 cup finely chopped strawberries, plus extra for garnish

Beat cream and the sifted icing sugar until it forms firm peaks. Fold in strawberries.

For maple syrup variation: Beat cream and sifted icing sugar with 1 Tablespoon of maple syrup until it forms firm peaks. Fold in strawberries.

For balsamic vinegar-black pepper variation: Beat cream and sifted icing sugar with 1 Teaspoon of balsamic vinegar until it forms firm peaks. Combine chopped strawberries with 1/4 Teaspoon freshly ground black pepper and fold into cream mixture.

Note: You can increase/decrease the amount of black pepper/balsamic vinegar/maple syrup to suit your liking. Just be careful of not adding too much liquid as the whipped cream will not hold its shape.


To assemble: Sandwich puffs with strawberry cream just prior to serving. Dust with sifted icing sugar.