Tag Archives: reflections

Why stop now?!

Posted in Cakes by

Hi hi hi!

I am in high spirits right now!! Why you may ask?!

That’s because I baked 2 successful treats! One was delicious, light and fluffy cream puffs and the other, a chocolate chip cake(2nd attempt)!!

In my previous update, I mentioned that something went wrong with my chocolate chip cake and I’ll let you readers know why. Simply because I used the WRONG flour. Now you must be saying, what a careless mistake..I know! UNFORGIVABLE!! Ah, totallyy blamed myself. At least I knew what went wrong. The batter and everything was fine until the baking stage. During the first 20 mins or so, it did rise to an acceptable height but after that, it started ‘erupting‘ like a volcano!!! Thankfully I was alert and saw this ‘erosion’. Yes..I did panic a little but also knew I had to think on my feet. If the batter kept spilling on the bottom of the oven, there won’t be any nice buttery cake smell but a burnt one instead.

So to prevent that, I placed a baking tray below. That would ease the cleaning up better. Phew okay that was solved. The cake tasted quite good actually. However, the shape of the cake was ruined due to the ‘eruption’. I should’ve taken some ruined pictures to show you guys but I didn’t. Anyway, what I will share today is my 2nd attempt at this cake including the recipe. I used Nigella’s choc-chip orange sour cream cake recipe and did some modifications to it. The cake originally is a butter cake but I changed it to a pure chocolate flavoured one. I think an addition of walnuts would give the cake a good crunch too but you could leave it out it you prefer your cake to be solely chocolate! I omitted the orange syrup because I didn’t want the cake to be overly sweet.

Okay, let the pictures do the talking!

So what do you think of my cake? I personally feel this has got to be one of my chocolate cakes made that I am most proud of!! (not boasting, just really really pleased with myself!!) *confidence boost* My family loves it. My dad said “spot on!” Yay. I think the sour cream plays a major role in allowing the cake to stay moist thus making this cake so so yummeh. When I took my first bite, it really was moist, not too heavy going, didn’t crack and crumble so I guess I did a good job 😀 I usually do not eat/indulge most of the things I bake. I only eat and taste when I have to but this time round, I wouldn’t mind having a slice to myself! hoho (it’s not like I don’t like to eat stuff I bake but I rather leave it for others to try) *share good food*

Anyway, same goes for my 1st attempt at choux pastry. Yup! I made cream puffs last week!! And they turned out superbbbbbb! Beyond my expectations!! I was surprised at myself actually. My family and I gobbled them instantly. I am considering making them for X’mas this year. (: Okay without digressing into my cream puffs, here is the recipe for my choc-chip cake!

Ingredients:

180g butter, unsalted and softened

175g caster sugar

2 tsp grated orange zest

4 eggs

1/2 cup choc chips

188ml light sour cream

1 and 1/3 cups plain flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

75g walnuts,chopped (optional)

Method:

1) Preheat your oven to 175 deg and grease a 20cm/ 8 inch round pan.

2) Combine the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and sift into a bowl and set aside.

3) Cream butter, sugar and orange zest till light and fluffy.

4) Beat in 1 egg at a time at low speed.

5) Fold in the sour cream and choc chips.

6) Fold in the sifted flour one third at a time.

7) Add in the walnuts(optional) and stir to combine.

8) Pour mixture into the pan and bake for 55 mins or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted in the center of the cake.

9) Allow cake to stand for 10 mins before turning onto a wire rack.

*notes

– All ingredients to be at room temperature.

– I used ‘Bulla’ light sour cream.

– Do not omit the orange zest as it is flavourful.

– Be careful not to over beat the eggs as it may curdle and cause the cake to sink or air pockets in the cake

– Gently fold in all the flour to prevent over-mixing.

– Cake can be stored in an air-tight container for 3 days or a week in the refrigerator.

Alrighty!! Get some baking therapy! It sure does help me! I hope you readers would try this recipe at home soon! Nothing beats a delicious home-made moist warm choc chip cake right?? Stay tuned to my next post on my cream puffs adventure!!(:

thanks for your time all! Feel free to follow and comment!

Love, D

Cupcake not icecream cone

Posted in Trials and experiments by

Hi dear readers, I know in my previous post I said I would be trying out a chocolate walnut cake but I did something different.

I did cupcake cones!! What inspired me? Well I happened to watch this episode of ‘cupcake girls‘ on one of my favourite TV channels TLC and one of their stores needed a boost in their sales! So that’s when the cupcake cones were sold!

Okay here’s a few shots I took. Decided to go with 2 colours, pink and cream for my buttercream. Pink to represent my support for breast cancer awareness!! I was reminded of it this month as I saw this lady dressed in hot pink from head to toe!! Not kidding! Anyway, yup so I did a trial of my first batch of cupcake cones! Take a look at these!

I was afraid the cones would burn in the oven but they didn’t! (shouldn’t burn because it didn’t burn when cupcake girls were testing too) Taste wise, I think it tasted a little too sweet? Maybe because of the buttercream? I always try not to overload with the sugar but I can’t reduce it as much too, considering the proportions to other essential ingredients. I think the texture of my cupcake was light, not crumbly(yay). My family thought it would be better to have it without the cone. But that would defeat the purpose right?

Maybe because my cone turned kinda soft(probably left it out in the open too long). Anyway, I had fun trying to ‘invent’/create my own cupcakes like filling them with whatever came to my mind.. I filled some with jam, melted choc. You see the halved cupcake cone above?

That had some melted choc and I stuck a biscuit stick which I coated with more choc and rainbow sprinkles for colour! Just playing around=messy kitchen indeed!! I obviously had to clean up which I dread..we all dread that. I gotta get used to it soon, all this cleaning up and mess because I’ll be facing the kitchen almost everyday starting from end of this month.

Why you may ask?! Becauseeeeeeeee I GOT INTO ‘AT-SUNRICE GLOBAL CHEF ACADEMY’ OCT 2013 INTAKE!!! Ah, yes no more waiting/ what ifs/ and false hopes whatsoever. Now it is confirmed! I’m definitely elated, excited yet nervous as to what’s coming up for me. One thing for sure, I most probably wouldn’t be as this free to update but but but! I will try to find the time to update you readers about my new experiences and stories. I know I’ll have loads to share. You can also hop over to my personal blog(found under ‘about’ link) for more updates. This blog is more for my baking creations and experiements and reflections/thoughts about them.

With that said, halloween is around the corner too!! I have something in mind already, more experimenting and play! These cones were baked beginning of this month so this is quite a delayed post. I baked the chocolate chip orange cake today and hmmm lets just say, it didn’t go that well? Careless me!! Nonetheless, it’s still a cake and edible. So stay tuned dear readers/followers to find out what went wrong!!

Thanks for your time!

Love, D

‘Macaron’ rollercoaster

Posted in Macarons by

Hello TGIF!! How quickly the week has passed by. Hello to my new followers as well. Thanks for stopping by to read my fairly new blog.

So the first thing that came to my mind this morning was ‘choc macarons’ and yes I was absolutely determined to correct the error/errors I made in my previous 2 attempts. The error/errors? I might have over/underbeat my meringue. I even timed my whisking. I took about 5mins till it formed stiff peaks. Another error I could have made was over or under mixing. I did my research. I asked around, I watched videos, I read blogs. And even after all that effort put in, today’s trial #3= failed yet again!! Quite annoyed at myself. It rained today so probably the humidity, moisture affected the outcome.

I initially was preparing to update a successful macaron post but looks like I’m gonna show you readers some pictures of failed macarons instead of perfect pretty filled ones. If you have been following, I did bake a successful batch before in May. They were my first attempt at strawberries & cream macarons. I was jumping for joy when I saw feet meaning they had risen!! I made them after my first attempt at choc macarons which obviously failed since I’m at my 3rd one. I should compare recipes to see the difference but first, I need to get it back from my neighbour!

I guess my only successful outcome was my choc ganache! After realising the same failed outcome of my first batch, I decided to make notes and do some experimenting!! Okay, so here are shots I took during my prep and my baking adventure experimenting  with different batches.

So next is my 3rd attempt.

Two different batches for my 3rd attempt. I let them rest at different time periods. These were my notes taken.

1st batch: 30 mins drying time. Least bubbles appeared on the surface thus a smoother finish. It was crisp, chewy, a little soft, cracked easily when pressed. Risen slightly compared to my 1st attempt.

2nd batch: 20 mins drying time. More bubbles appeared but slightly harder than 1st batch so it didn’t crack that easily. It was crisp, chewy as well. This batch rose higher.

Below are some pics I took during my experimenting..

Okay so the first row are my different batches and the differences in each result.

The flat one really wasn’t good and had a sticky bottom, too chewy for my liking. Even though these ‘macarons’ aren’t what I expected, they’re still edible so I got my dad to taste. It tastes much better with my silky choc ganache. Thank goodness for that, it did the ‘macaron some justice’ So I added more choc. Hah. He preferred the 3rd attempt, 2nd batch where it was crisp, chewy, slightly harder than the other batch. Well in my opinion, I went for the other. It had a smoother finish and least bubbles on the surface. A few of my friends are coming over later, so I’m gonna ask them to be my taste testers! Hopefully I can take the criticisms. Heh 😀

Oh btw, the final batch was sucha disaster, expected because I wanted to see how bad it would be without leaving them to dry before baking. True enough, the texture was real sticky, worse than my 2nd attempt. Terrible terrible!! Threw them away. yup there was lots of wastage today. Oops.Can’t expect myself to sample all anyway!!

I will take a break from macarons for now. Maybe it really is the unpredicatble weather here in SG. Humid max!! I will continue my research of course. Oh here’s something I read from Ms Humble’s blog. She’s like queen of macarons!!

Even the professionals struggle with macaroons, says Meike Beck, chief home economist at the Good Housekeeping Institute. “Three seconds of overbeating and they’re ruined.” The institute spent a month making hundreds of batches of macaroons, trying to perfect a recipe. In the end it gave up. “They’re best left to the professionals. Macaroon recipes do work. But they are not consistent.” — Times Online

I’m no macaron pro but I did it before and I will probably find another recipe to try out and if it is a success, I will share in this space!

Alright, with that said..time’s running out! Gonna fill my ‘macarons’ for my friends before they come.

Thanks for your time dear readers!! Stay tuned for more baking adventures from the aspiring pastry chef(:

Love, D

Have a pavlova!

Posted in Pavlova by

Hi again, the above (mini pavlovas) are one of the latest prettiest things I’ve ever baked!! So I think it deserves a post by itself 😀

What do you think? I think maybe it’s the colour that enhanced the picture. By the way, this was my first attempt and I must say, they turned out quite well? I’m 70% contented. Points lost because my fruits were soggy no matter how much I tried to dry them on kitchen towels. Another point was a few of my pavlova shells weren’t big enough for the fruits to fit in. Lastly, a mint leaf would have made presentation much better!!

Since it was my first time making them, I watched videos on how to pipe them as well as remembering some tips from the demo I went to at ‘Recipes’ by Shatec. I compared other online recipes with the one I had too.

This is also the first time I’ve used so many egg whites at one shot! I used 9!!! I thought macarons required more than enough egg whites, what more pavlova!! Come to think of it, this ultra sweet treat requires very few ingredients, mainly egg whites and sugar! Then it depends on your technical skills, how well you whisk them etc. Time also plays a critical part. If you mix too much or too little, the outcome would be definitely wrong. With that said, it reminds me of my first attempt at making chocolate macarons. It turned out completely FLAT!!! I was obviously disheartened, disappointed and all kinds of sadness. But that didn’t stop me from trying again. This time I tried another recipe and SUCCESS!! I have a picture of my strawberries and cream macarons in my first post.

Okay I digressed a bit. So back to pavlova…I overcame the whisking challenge. Yay. I still need to buck up on my piping skills. Some of my shells were good, some bad so consistency has to be better. Besides that, I now must remember to remind myself to only fill the pavlova shells just before serving if not..=soggy!!

Eventually, I realised I overestimated the quantity and underestimated my time. I had more than 40 pavlova shells?! The shells that were filled with fruits can’t be stored so I ended up giving away to my neighbours and received good feedback which I did not expect so it totally made my day!! (: With all these positive comments from both my family, friends and neighbours, it takes away the negativity or the stress or whatever negative emotions you’re feeling. Yes I know, I’m someone who needs a lot of encouragement and social support. Who doesn’t? Anyway bottom line is baking to me in a way is therapeutic?! Instead of shopping, try baking! It just gives me that sense of accomplishment like ‘I’m capable of doing/creating this’. Never knew what ‘art’ my hands could do till I started baking! Maybe one day I’ll share about how my interest in baking grew! (:

So if you’re in the mood to bake and time is on your side, try this mini pavlova recipe!!

Pavlova shell 
 
– 9 Egg Whites
– 250g Caster sugar
– 375 Icing sugar (sifted)
– 1 tbsp Vanilla Essence
– 2 drops Pink Colouring
Method:
1) Preheat your oven to 100 deg C.
2) Whisk egg whites at medium to high speed and reduce once soft peaks form.
3) Add in the sugar and increase the speed till stiff peaks are formed.
4) Divide the mixture into half.
5) Add in the pink colouring and fold in using a spatula.
6) Transfer the mixture into each piping bag and pipe about 5cm in diameter.
7) Bake the piped shells in the oven at 100 deg C for 1 hr and let them dry.
Custard cream
 
– 250ml Cold Water
– 170g Instant Custard Mix
– 200ml Whipped Topping Cream
Method:
1) With the custard mix in a bowl, pour the cold water into the bowl while whisking till a soft paste is formed.
2) Whip the topping cream till it droops slightly from the ends of the beater.
3) Carefully fold in the whipped cream into the custard cream.
4) Then transfer into a piping bag.
Fruits
– 250g Strawberries (chopped)
– 2 medium mangoes (chopped)
– 4 kiwis (chopped)
To assemble:
1) Take each empty shell and fill it up with prepared custard cream.
2) Add in the fruits.
3) Serve immediately.
Notes:
– Ensure egg whites are at room temperature.
– Ensure no egg yolk bits.
– Add in sugar when the egg whites are foamy and still watery.
– Egg whites have to be used immediately in order not to lose air bubbles.
– When piping shells, pipe from center then down. Avoid slanting the piping bag.
– Ensure your whipping cream and water are cold.
– Heavy whipping cream is used best.
– If instant custard powder can’t be found in NTUC, try Phoon Huat outlets.

Feel free to leave a comment!! Happy baking!! Hope yours turns out superb!

Love, D