Making of the mini mango mousse cake border.

My mini mango mousse cake is completed and this is how I made the chocolate border. 

I've prepared a mini mango mousse cake and chilled overnight in the fridge.

It's ready to take out of the tin for some more decorating. 

 

White chocolate mirror glaze

 

This glaze has a pearly shimmer to it, it's so versatile & you can add food colour to it.

If you don't want to add food colouring then put a tablespoon of your favourite jam.

You can keep this refrigerated in an air tight container for up to 2 weeks. 

Ingredients:

85g cream

20g water 

15g corn syrup

130g good quality white chocolate (melted)

2g gelatine dissolve in 1. Tbsp water

12g oil 

Few drops of food gel colouring 

Method:

Bring to boil the cream, water & corn syrup.

Pour over slowly to the melted white chocolates. 

Using a ballon whisk constantly whisk to combine, it will look curdle as soon as you add the liquid to the chocolate, but keep stirring and it will come together like thick syrup.

Once this is all combined add the soften gelatine and whisk until it has all dissolved then gradually the oil. This gives it a lovely shimmer and loosen it up. 

Add food colour to the colour you wish to achieve or jam. 

This glaze is ready to coat on a chilled cake when it is really thick, it should look like glucose syrup.

Tastes really good and so easy to make. 

You can use on mousse cakes and buttercream cakes. 

 

Decorate with mini orange macarons, recipe can be found here.

I also used chocolate lacquer glaze, recipe is here

Coconut & Strawberry Jam slices

I was given freshly grated coconut by my sister in law, I've never eaten fresh grated ones before and was surprised how soft and creamy it taste. I've always used desiccated coconuts from a packet in supermarkets to bake with, I've been looking at some recipes that uses grated coconut so I decide to make a tray bake with this.

These slices of coconut cakes are great for picnics or tea parties.

Tastes really good with the jam in the middle and the biscuit base is crumbly.

Very satisfying results. Another bake ticked off my list. 

Ingredients:

Base:

200g self raising flour

100g butter, diced 

50g sugar 

2 egg yolks 

Topping:

200g freshly grated coconuts

100g sugar

3 egg whites

5. Tbsp of jam 

Flaked almonds to decorate.

Method:

Rub the butter and flour together until you form bread crumb texture, add in the egg yolks & sugar and work with your hands to make a dough

Add 1. Tbsp of cold water and mix until you get a moist dough 

Press the moist dough into a lined baking tray and smooth out the top, bake in a preheated oven at

180c for 15 minutes

Sugar cut out cookies

 

Here's a recipe for Sugar cookies, its very simple to make and tastes really good. 

I have used Christmas cookie cutters to make Christmas cookies with my children. 

But you can use these as normal cookies or we would call these biscuits in England.  

 

 

We decorated it with royal icing and edible decorations.

Making of the French Macarons

 

French Macarons, is this one of the hardest cookies to bake? 

 

Well, I would say yes as I have failed a few times when I first made them. 

When I have finally made my first successful batch, I stuck to the same method all the time and now I can say 'I can make them!'

 

But at times I still get one or two imperfect ones out the oven.

But hey, it is one of the hardest cookies to bake after all!

 

I have created a step by step guide of how I made mines, I hope my method is made simple for you to follow. I still follow it closely as it has worked for me all the time now.

Just want to share with you what to look out for and what you must do! 

 

So here it is, my guide to the French Macarons. 

Recipe is here so good luck and have fun! 

Mexican Coffee Buns (Roti Boy)

Mexican coffee bun or as known as the Rotiboy made famous by the bakery called Rotiboy in  Penang, Malaysia.  Now it is popular all over Asia. 

This bun is best eaten hot, the buttery centre and the sweet coffee flavoured topping is irresistibly tasty.  I made these a few times now, I can't help by adding a little extra toppings on them like hazelnuts & shredded coconut. Hmmm..... think next time I try using a different filling.

 

 

 

Mini Coconut tarts

 

After adjusting this recipe twice, I am really happy with it.

The flavours and texture of these mini coconut tarts are like the ones you get in Chinese bakeries. 

The most time consuming part is moulding the pastry into the tart tins. 

But they are really delicious so its all worth it. 

I use packets of dried desiccated coconut but you can buy fresh and grate it yourself. 

 

It's Christmas! Ho Ho Ho !

Christmas 2013, my blogs first Christmas.

In a few weeks it will the be the new year, I can't believe how quick this year have flown by. 

I hope to bake more exciting things to share with you all.

I have made some wonderful friends along the way and what an amazing journey it's been already. 

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas & a prosperous new year. 

 

Chocolate lacquer glaze (mirror glaze)

 

This glaze should be shiny & silky smooth. 

Do not whip or mix to quickly as this will create tiny trapped bubbles and you won't have a smooth finish. Follow the method carefully then you will get this result. 

The better quality the cocoa powder the darker your lacquer glaze will be. 

This recipe requires patience and you can make this a day ahead and chill in the fridge. 

 

 

 Recipe for the chocolate lacquer glaze aka mirror glaze.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cold water

2 tsp gelatine

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup water

1 tbsp + 1 tsp corn syrup

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp cocoa powder 

1/3 cup double cream

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mango & Pomelo dessert (杨枝甘露)

 

This is one of my favourite desserts and one of the easiest one to make.

I think everyone likes a mango dessert and this is popular to all ages. 

Hope you like this recipe. 

 

 

 

Ingredients:

80g uncooked Tapioca

600ml of Mango juice, carton or fresh

1 large Mango

Half a Pomelo

Small tin of evaporated milk (170g size)

Sugar syrup: 

you can reduce the amount if the fruits are really sweet. 

2. Tbsp of sugar

40g of boiling water 

40g cold water

Simply add boiling water to the sugar in a jug and once the sugar have dissolve, add the remaining cold water to cool the syrup down. 

 

Gingerbread Man

Gingerbread Man, gingerbread trees and gingerbread house, oh it's Christmas and will you be making some too? 

This year my children will be making some as gifts to go with the presents. 

This makes it a little special for family & friends as its all made by them. 

I like this simple gingerbread recipe, as it doesn't use all the mixed spices like nutmeg, clove & cinnamon.  I'm not too keen on all the strong spices with shop bought gingerbread biscuits but this recipe simple & nice. And children are less likely to eat it if there's too much spices. 

But you can add a little of each if you prefer. 

This is a great way to get your children involved in baking. 

Baking biscuits makes less mess and they get excited eating their own made bakes. 

Hokkaido chiffon cupcakes with vanilla custard cream

北海道蛋糕

I suppose I don't really need to introduce the Hokkaido chiffon cupcake.
It's like almost every baker new or experienced have attempted this already.

But what I like about this cupcake is that I can eat it almost immediately after baking.
To me, this is a baby version of the chiffon cake but in a cupcake case.
I've tried a few recipes and find that this one suits me more.
It's soft, fluffy & very delicious.

My family's top favourite cupcakes.

Ingredients:

(A)
3 egg yolks
30g sugar
45g oil
65g plain flour
60ml milk
1/2. Tsp vanilla extract

(B)
3 egg whites
45g sugar
1/4. Tsp cream of tartar

Method:

Whisk egg yolks with sugar until pale & fluffy.
Add oil and whisk well.
Add in the milk and vanilla extract & whisk to combine.
Fold in the sifted flour gently.

In a seperate bowl, whisk egg whites until frothy then add the cream of tartar.
Whisk to soft peak and add sugar gradually til you reach stiff peak.

Fold in the meringue to the yolk batter, fold in carefully not to deflate the batter.
Spoon into paper cases and bake in a preheated oven at 160c for 25 mins.

Once baked take out the oven and cool on a cooling rack.

You can pipe in cream and decorate with fruits & dust with icing sugar.

I made vanilla custard cream by adding a pot of ready made custard to freshly whipped cream.

Orange Chiffon cake

 

 

Oh my love for chiffon cakes, I've been making so many I've lost count. 

I still remember how my first failed miserably! 

I couldn't figure out what went wrong? It collapsed and the sponge was too heavy. 

 I blamed the recipe and moved on to another yet failing again! I've tried so many different recipes from the Internet to baking books not one gave me the perfect chiffon!  

I didn't want to give up so I started comparing different recipes on the internet. 

There were hundreds of variations and all the pictures looked so good with big fluffy cakes but none really gave me satisfiying results.

Fed up searching, I started to experiment with the last recipe which was quite close to a successful chiffon that I've baked.

I made 3 adjustments to it and I made my first "Perfect" chiffon cake! 

I'm sharing this recipe hoping you will never fail on a chiffon cake! 

Ever! 

But having said that, if you do fail it's not my recipe. 

It's probably your oven! 

I've given this recipe to a few friends and they all have different results! One from being under baked and the other over baked. I bake mines at 180c for an hour and it is perfect every time.

My recipe is for a large chiffon cake. I couldn't buy a smaller tube pan as they never have them in stock. So this is why I've created this recipe to fit into my huge 10 inch tube pan. 

So you'll need a 10 inch chiffon tube pan or you could split it into two smaller tube pans. 

But cooking time will be less. You need to work that out as I haven't baked anything smaller. 

This recipes is for an Orange chiffon cake, you can replace the orange juice with other liquids to make different flavours.

 

Quick Blueberry sauce

Simple Blueberry sauce

 

I had a handful of very ripe blueberries left over from baking and I simply made some blueberry sauce for my children's breakfast. 

They had it with their porridge & pancakes. 

If you want to make more just double up the recipe. 

Ingredients 

100 g blueberries 

15g lemon juice 

1. Tbsp sugar

1. Tbsp of water

1/2. Tsp of corn starch

Simply heat up everything in a saucepan and simmer for few minutes until the blueberries are soft enough to mush up with your wooden spoon. 

Transfer into a clean bowl and cool to serve. 

Works a treat! 

 

 

You can use this for ice cream, waffles or rice pudding. 

Just my Pink Pink cakes.

I didn't plan what I was going to make that day, in fact I bake cakes so I can decorate it. 

 I just let everyone else eat it. 

Can you resist? 

I find the classic strawberry gateau a bit plain, so I jazzed up the cream to make it pink.

Don't you think it looks pretty? 

Lots of roasted hazelnuts around the cake and fresh strawberries. 

I really enjoyed making these cakes. 

Adding a few drops of red food gel into freshly whipped cream gives this cake a pretty pink colour. 

Piped rosettes around the cake as the border and finished with mini marshmallows, ripe strawberries & drizzle with melted chocolate sauce.  

I decided to cut this cake into half so there's more sponge and less cream to eat. 

Chinese turnip cake 蘿蔔糕

My first post for Chinese food! Oh yes! 

 I thought I give baking a break & post this delicious recipe.

Chinese Turnip cake  蘿蔔糕 

I love ordering turnip cake when we go to have Dim Sum. I think it's everyone's all time favourite. 

We used to go to 'yum char' with my parents, brother & sisters every Sunday.

I've got a recipe from my cousin in Germany. 

She posted a picture of her home made Turnip cake on Facebook and I got to have it. 

She was trying to give me her recipe over Skype! The trouble was she didn't know how much seasoning she puts in. So she just told me a little salt, a little soya sauce, some pepper.

Just this conversation alone took 20 mins. But it was hilarious as she was in her kitchen showing me the equipments she used. 

As with typical Chinese cooks, they never  measure out their seasoning. 

Anyway, the first time I made it, it was too salty. I guess the flavours gets more intense after chilling  overnight.  So the second batch I reduced the seasoning and it turned out too bland. 

 My sister-in-law also advise me to add wheat starch to it to make it more cakey texture otherwise it would be too wet & soft. So I add wheat starch to it. 

 After my 3rd attempt, I got it right! Hooray! 

Here's my version.