Eclair Meets East

Have been missing in action for some time now - for catch up's, meet up's, updates in the blogosphere and the past Daring Baker's challenges. Our bad.

Even fur-cut or better known as a grooming session scheduled for our monstrous-looking precious pea; Rufus, wasn't running on the right time. Planned but things meant to go out of our plan. Consequently, Rufus had outgrew his pure roots; from a white miniature Schnauzer to a white furry Poodle. That's not too bad, we have ventured into a new breed though. Of pom-poms and poodles.


No, we aren't guilt-free yet. Explanations are necessarily needed to diminish our guiltiness - be it lame or logic. We have been tied up with uncountable college's brain-straining workload, final exams and multiple errands for the past months. Past month. Past months sounds better, it signifies us in a word - diligent!


Last but not least, an event to work with; the Arts & Culture @ The Podium, solely organized by the Multicultural Arts Malaysia. Arts & Culture @ The Podium opens during the weekends, every Saturday and Sunday, from 11am - 6pm at Menara Hap Seng, Kuala Lumpur. It is located in Jalan P.Ramlee, opposite Shangri-La Hotel, which is a 10 minutes walk from the nearest monorail station of Raja Chulan. There are various spread of talented artist with their work-of-art, ranging from paintings, sketches, handicrafts, custom-made jeweleries, patch works and independent T-shirt label designers. These vendors are listed as below:

Penny Yuen - Eco Products
Pei Chee - Handmade Cards
Sue - Soft Toys
Agnes - Handmade Accessories
Sarah - Handmade bags
Zou - Handmade scarf and broaches
Ahmad Fauzi, Azhar, Amir - Acrylics Painting
Gajah Gajah Gallery - Native Arts
Fatass Michelle - Cupcakes (Oh, how rude! Nah, just kidding)
Azria - Chocolate Roses
Shermaine Ng - Costume jeweleries
Angkatan Baju Malaya - Independent t-shirt label
Oh Boxes Enterprise - Gift boxes
Heavenly Beauty Enterprise - Wax products
Patches of Love - Patch works
Karen Tan - Handmade earrings
Jennifer - T-shirt printed design
The Kraft Store - craft designer's products
Hermes - Batik Art

Of arts, some may say. We will then labelled our cupcake bakesale as the art in edible form. Edible arts; the cupcakes! We are working it by being adventurous and generous. Generous, ahem.

We are having a bakesale at the podium and will be selling various exotic flavors and old time favourites of cupcakes. In the meantime, here's a few good schweets to be showcased, and yet, more flavors to come:

1. Moist Chocolate




2. Cookie Monster (Flavored Cookies and Cream)




3. Lavande' (Flavored Lavender with Chantilly Cream Filling)




4. Elmo (Flavored Raisin And Rum)




5. The Zombie (Chocolate Brownie With Cookie Crumbs)

6. Ispahan (Flavored Rose Cupcake With Whole Lychee & Raspberry Cream)

7. Green Tea (Flavored Green Tea With Chantilly Cream Filling)

8. Red Velvet (Flavored Red Velvet Cake With Chocolate Filling And Cream Cheese Frosting)

9. Chickadee (Flavored Moist Chocolate Cake with Banana Frosting)

10. Chocolato (Flavored Moist Chocolate Cupcake With Chocolate Cream Filling)

Speaking of which, these cupcakes are priced at RM3.90 each and you can get it from The Podium @ Menara Hup Seng for only:

BAKESALE : 3 LARGE CUPCAKES FOR RM10
on every weekends!

Moving onto the next topic, we have been fiddling with puff's batter lately; with the aid of Pierre Herme's eclair recipe from his book collection; a cookbook written by Dorie Greenspan: Chocolate Desserts By Pierre Hermé . After finding out that Daring Bakers Challenge for the month of August was the eclairs, we crossed our fingers tightly as to walk our plan in order. We planned to post. And this was it, our Daring Bakers Challenge #3.

By proceeding to our third challenge of Daring Bakers, we are too happy for words when we knew that Pierre Herme's book can now put into good use. The very 1st challenge that we have participated were Cheesecake Pops, followed by the 2nd challenge; the Opera Cake. Daring Bakers challenge has always been fun and oh well, challenging. The 3rd challenge was experimental, and was hosted by Tony Tahhan and MeetaK. The challenge was made known that the eclairs must include at least one portion of the chocolate family, whereby we were given the option to choose whether to fill the eclairs with chocolate pastry cream or topped with a chocolate glaze with the recipe given, or both.

We have taken a rather exotic route where mix-and-match happens. We opted for something more "Asian" and came up with the Chocolate and Green Tea Eclairs. Alterations were made. The original recipe calls for a chocolate pastry cream instead of the one below; which is the green tea and white chocolate pastry cream.

The beautifully puffed up eclair is paired up with a smooth and fluffy portion of Green Tea pastry cream with a hint of white chocolate sweetness, and then glazed with dark chocolate glazing. The eclairs became iresistible and sinful when green tea were matched up with the whites (white chocolate). Like they say, that is to spice things up.

The eclairs consist of three vital parts; the puffs, the pastry cream and the glaze. Whipping up the eclairs was easy as D-O-G, baking them was tougher than we thought. The last time we tried our hands on the puffs; which was many years ago, we ended up with pretty puffed up cream puffs, but not this time. The first batch was a failed attempt. The dough puffs puffed up (or shall we say, inflate?) prettily and it does looked thrice bigger during the baking session. But good things come to an end when we started to poke our nose and fiddle with the oven door. The puffs deflated, our hearts crushed onto the baking trays and we did shook our heads while checking out on our flat puffs. Flattened puffs were used as disguise for an elongated oval shaped pancake.

By googling back and forth, we were overjoyed and glad to know the problem incurred which made our puffs deflate and deform into something weirder than how the actual pancake would look like. That's what most of our gramps would say, success comes from multiple failures. That proves the point. As for the situation for deflated cream puffs, this is due to the fact that the babies are somewhat premature. Premature babies is a no-no for cream puffs. Thus, it is clearly unambiguous that underbaked is the case. Though the cream puffs may have exceeded the baking time, believe your poochie-instinct that the puffs aren't ready yet unless the puffs are baked until golden brown, firm and has freaky cracks on its surface. The recipe is followed below. We divided it into 5 parts, ranging from part A to part E; which dwells in between of Pierre Herme's Cream Puff Dough, Green Tea and White Chocolate Pastry Cream, Chocolate Glaze, Chocolate Sauce and Ways to Assemble The Perfect Eclairs.

Pierre Hermé’s Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 20-24 Éclairs)

A.) Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil.
2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth.
3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.
4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above. Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately. You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.
5) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper.
6) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.
7) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking time should be approximately 20 minutes. The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

B.) Green Tea And White Chocolate Pastry Cream
• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 2 tablespoons green tea powder
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) white chocolate, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. Mix in green tea powder into boiled milk and stir till combined. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.
2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture. Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.
3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat). Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.
4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.
5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge. The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator. In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

C.) Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.
2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce. If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water. It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

D.) Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé (makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.
2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

E.) Assembling the éclairs:
• Chocolate glaze
• Green Tea And White Chocolate Pastry Cream
• Cream Puff Dough or Eclairs

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.
2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream.
3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them. If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles.
4) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Here's a sneak peek of what will prevail the up-coming post (shot below)...


And we will be counting days, just to get our darling Arisa's butt back to Malaysia - 125 days that is. Last but not least, Happy Merdeka peeps.

P/S: Season greetings Holy Molly. Amen. :-)

Wallpapers : Kuala Lumpur Bird Park

Photographed by: Steven Wong
Edited by : Mcwhisky
Location: Kuala Lumpur Bird Park
Sources: http://herworldhisworld.blogspot.com/




The original shots are superb. We can't deny that Steven's photos are prettily taken- with right angles, shutter speed, lighting etcetera. Photos were taken by Steven Wong, hailed from a wonderful photoblog: Fragz&Feebz's - which is accompanied by descriptive comments and personal reviews, last but not least, gorgeous crystal clear shots, taken with a camera model of Panasonic DMC-FZ7.

Click on images (or right-click to open link in new tab) to preview the full-scaled shots. These smaller version shots below were too blur, which is an eye-sore. (*pun intended*)

To set these wallpapers on desktop, right-click on the image of your choice and choose "Set As Desktop Background" (or "Set as Background" in Internet Explorer). If the image appears stretched across your desktop background, go to Desktop (on Windows: Control Panel > Display > Desktop), and choose Center as the display mode of the background image.

Comments and reviews about the shots taken by Steven are highly welcomed and very much appreciated. Happy downloading.

Do You Know The Donutman?

"Do you know Ginger?", an adorable yet a chubby girl in her kindergarten pinafore asked in a polite manner, while assuring us that she knew Ginger in her life with her convincing expressions.

"Oh well, Ginger... The ale Ginger, my dead Sharpei named Ginger or the human Ginger?", we questioned back sarcastically as response.

"Oh goodness gracious, you know, Ginger! Don't you know who Ginger is?", she fumes while stomping her feet profusely.

"Okay, wait a minute young girl. Let's play this. Knock, knock", we said cheekily.

"Duh, who's there?", she rolled her eyes and that was real sarcastic, so wanna pinch her fat cheeks.

"No! You lead us! You'll start of with that knock knock thingy", we exclaimed impatiently.

"KNOCK KNOCK!", said the chubby lady in a loud voice.

"Who's there?", we questioned back.

"GINGER!", she scowled.

"Ahhh~ Ginger who?", we said in a melancholy tone.

"GINGER THE BREAD MAN!", she backfires in a fierce and high-toned voice, with that annoying glare that she used to give us.


Yes, that glare, like the prosperous owl above (The very tame and photogenic owl was found somewhere near a park, and we were so lucky to get some shots out of this gorgeous fat bird). Boy, that hits us hard to the rock-bottom of our self-esteems. That was a very good one indeed. We have never know kids nowadays are that good at riddles, jokes and knock-knock's. We were embarrassed by how the knock-knock riddle turned out, and ginger the bread man? Oh gosh. That hits us real hard. We should not have suggested knock-knock's at first.

We were not satisfied by how the kid managed to come up with a rather sarcastic answer, which made us in awe, made her stand out within, outshining other kindie kids. But, it was so unethical to run us down publicly with spoken words, just in seconds. In seconds! We wouldn't even mind if it was in the period of an hour or so. Killing our dignity within seconds is just too overrated and so untrue. ;P


Enough of ginger, the bread man. The word kept popping and wandering in our hollowed minds while we were prepping for a doughnut dough. Mixed feelings and highly possible; the feelings of anger and being embarrassed gradually faded after letting go by releasing our anger on the doughnut dough. Light punches and blows, followed by quick and consistent jabs were thrown onto the poor and innocent doughnut dough. It worked! The tension were released. The dough was doing just fine - no bruises but partly deformed. We then let the dough rise by proofing. After the dough doubles up in size, we proceed to dough-cutting, using a doughnut cutter.

As we were rushing and in a hurry, gingerbread man cookie cutter (pardon us, did we just heard ginger?) was simply used to hasten things up. We managed to come up with a doughnut shaped gingerbread man. As weird as it sounds, let's put it this way - donutbread man; gingerbread man's blood-related cousin.


The doughnuts taste just like how doughnuts ought to be. The sticky dough produce a lighter and fluffier bread texture, which is perfect for tea breaks. The dough that was ready to be dipped into a pool of hot oil will be handled gently before it gets into the oil. After frying, the golden brown and tanned donutbread man will be powdered by sifted powdered sugar, and best eaten while it's hot - Ouch!

Donutbread Man

500g plain flour
1-1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
50g softened margarine
40g sugar
1 medium egg

1. Place all the stated ingredients in a big bowl. Knead till soft dough are formed. Roll dough into a large gigantic ball.
2. Leave the dough in the bowl and cover it with a piece of plastic sheet. Scrutinize the dough, let it rise for about an hour, where you'll see a double sized dough by then.
3. Next, roll dough into the size of +/-1cm thick.
4. Cut the dough with a small gingerbread man cookie cutter and place them onto greased tray. Cover with a plastic sheet.
5. Scrutinize them closely for about 40 minutes. As long as these uncooked doughnuts rise again, they can be cooked just in no time!
6. Heat oil in a deep pan. Fry the doughnuts in the preheated oil till golden brown.
7. Dip the hot doughnuts into a plate of sugar (granulated or caster will do, brown sugar perhaps?). If you prefer coating the doughnuts with royal icing, chocolate or buttercream, or even icing sugar, coat them after cooling them for a few minutes.

Knock, knock,
Who's there?
Donut,
Donut who?
Donut, the bread man.

Creme Brulee : The Westernized Egg Tart

In most Asian countries, egg tarts rules when Creme' Brulee tries to invade. However, it goes sideways when it comes to the Western countries, be it urban or sub-urban areas. The chinese egg tart; with flaky and crispy puff pastry, always remain as one of the best egg dessert among the Asians. Moreover, it is commonly served during breakfast; which is during the chinese Dim Sum session. Best eaten while it's hot, and accompanied by a freshly brewed chinese tea.

This may applied on the Westerners as well. A Creme' Brulee would be the one of the hundreds of egg desserts which would score high points and win the hearts of the Westerners. As Creme Brulee has an absolute advantage on showcasing the wonderful color of egg yolks in custard form, overlooking the texture and even the taste of the pastry crust-tart might not be a daunting sight after all.


The scores are in, egg custard work wonders. Just take a look at the evil-looking yet sinful baked cheesecakes which very much resembles the picture and texture of a egg custard with an aroma of full-fat cheese. Eggs play a vital role by adding fats, moisture and also binding the half-set cheesecake by setting up a protein matrix. It is sometimes surprising to find out how eggs consistently and successfully work its magic to the world of baking.

We have always been loyal consumers of chinese egg tarts as we love egg custard pretty much. Thus, not making a Creme' Brulee sounded villainous and silly; of bird brains and pea-sized brains, that is so Homer Simpson. We prepared the Creme' Brulee in 2 sizes, one into medium-sized flan dish and the remaining was as cute as mini cupcake-size.


The medium-sized Creme' Brulee inherits its forefathers' features, which has a slightly burnt top (of burnt and caramelized sugar) while the mini Creme' Brulee replicates the features of the normal sweet-crusted egg tart with no burnt top. We will have the time of our lives downing the egg-bakes one by one, savoring the true delight of Western egg tarts; the Creme' Brulee.

To some, Creme' Brulee might be tad plain to be devoured, but simplicity and the velvety and smooth egg custard filling is the key to a perfect Creme' Brulee. Nevermind the pastry crust first because the egg custard IS the sublime of the entire Brulee tart. It is best eaten while it's slightly cooled to room temperature. While the crust is prepared as thinly as possible, the egg custard on the other hand calls for one who bakes his/her way to generosity. Be generous with the filling. We filled the crust until the egg filling itself leveled with the sides of the crust. Goodness and very luscious brulee we've ever had (Isn't this the first time we had Brulee's?). The full-fat dairy whipping cream and vanilla extract lends a great help, aiding to a very vanilla-ish and silky Creme' Brulee.

The burnt top, made out of burnt sugar or caramelized sugar brought in the extra ummph, which makes the Creme' Brulee tasted pretty good though it's partly cold. The caramelized top can be done by pointing the blow torch towards a pool of brown sugar sprinkled onto the Creme' Brulee's surface. Otherwise, you can caramelized the top by sprinkling a layer of brown sugar on its surface and then, bake the Creme' Brulee in the oven (set at 180"C, lay the Creme' Brulee on the highest rack possible). The mini Brulee's or shall we just name these babies as Creme' Brulee Tartlets, make it to the dinner table while it's half-cooled. Nothing much in comparison except for the caramelized sugar, these Creme' Brulees rocked the dinner tables for good.

Creme' Brulee (Yields: Two 6-inch Creme' Brulees)

For the Tart Crust:
100g butter
50g icing sugar, sieved
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 egg, beaten lightly (for the remaining beaten egg mixture, add into the filling later to avoid wastage)
200g all-purpose flour, sieved

1. With an electric mixer, beat butter, icing sugar and vanilla extract until creamy.
2. Add in the egg and mix until smooth. Add in flour and mix until well-blended.
3. Gather dough and wrap with a cling film. Set aside at a cool area while making the filling.

For the Filling:
4 large egg yolks
50g caster sugar
1/2 tablespoon custard powder, sieved
375g dairy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. With a hand whisk, whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until pale yellow. Add in custard powder and mix until combined. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan, boil whipping cream over low heat. When it starts to boil, remove from heat. Gradually add in whipping cream into the egg mixture in a slow stream, while continuously whisking the mixture. Keep stirring until well blended.
3. Strain mixture into a clean saucepan. Stir with a wooden spoon over low heat until the mixture thickens. Remove pan from heat. Add in vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Let cool. This will be the filling for the Creme' Brulee.

To assemble:
Portion of tart crust
Portion of fillings
1/4 cup brown sugar
Baking beans (Red beans or green beans can even be used; for blind-bake)

1. Preheat oven to 190"C. Grease the 6-inch flan or pie moulds with melted butter.
2. Divide the pastry dough into two portion as you will need to lay the pastry dough onto 2 of 6-inch flan or pie moulds. Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin to about 2-3mm thick and line onto the pie moulds.
3. Prick the pastry with fork to release air bubbles. Line the pastry moulds with greaseproof paper and baking beans. Bake at preheated oven of 190"C for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and bake for another 5 minutes. Set on wire rack and let cool.
4. Spoon the filling into the already baked pastry crust until the filling is leveled with the top sides of the pastry crust.
5. Refrigerate the tarts into the refrigerator for at least 5 hours, best for overnight.
6. Remove tart from from refrigerator. Sprinkle the brown sugar on th surface of the tart. Using a blowtorch, caramelize the sugar.
7. Refrigerate for extra 2 to 3 hours. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream and strawberry sauce to enjoy the euphoric moment.

Tattooed

An Idea To Art
By R.L. Danner

As I walked my path through life
My body being my temple of ideas



I wanted to express myself, my own way

Walking into the shop that day

I found my expression waiting for me
Custom drawn just for me in black line art


I made my way into the studio in the back
My nerves dancing in my skin and mind


As I sat down in the chair I knew this was it
Forever in my skin it would lay


As the artist prepared the machines
I watched in awe of his precision and care


The time had come and that buzz and click began
My flesh was prepared to receive its gift
As the razor slid down my back I closed my eyes


It was time to lay the idea into my skin
With artist vision the hands and steel became one


Flowing over my back in defined motion
A picture became a living portrait of life
As the minutes passed I felt the ink be laid
Into my skin like a humming bird kisses a rose



When all was said and done I stood once more
This time to see my idea frozen in time



As a portrait of vision in my skin
Laid in brilliant color for the first time


Now I understand the meaning of a Tattoo

Model: Arisa
:)

Easy Breezy Chilled Lemon Cheesecake

After rounds of bake sale which is mostly baked cheesecakes, we managed to steal time and came up with a chilled cheesecake (no baking/oven involved). As for the bake sales, we are now planning to venture into online bake sales, which is something we have planned months ago. To jump start the venture, we are now happily baking cakes, cheesecakes and tortes for try-outs besides than prep-ing the ready-made baked goods for a cheap photoshoot. May things go well, considering that we're great procrastinators.

As of the chilled cheesecake, we went back to the basics. How about a chilled lemon cheesecake, something simple and flavorful, we reckon? Speaking of the truth, we have always been alienating chilled cheesecakes especially the plain ones, as we find it rather disgusting due to the uninviting aroma of gelatine - think of liquid glue. Things are different when there are more flavorsome and appealing aroma that will overcome the gelatinous smell or best yet, empower the entire chilled cheesecake.


Since our helpers and the kids can be categorized as ardent lemon lovers, why not a chilled cheesecake flavored lemon? Though we would love to have a green tea infused chilled cheesecake at first. At least, the chilled lemon cheesecake will be wiped off clean from the serving plate just in 2 days compared to the green tea, thanks to the natural citrus flavor in lemons. Like how democratic countries worked, the majority wins. Green tea cheesecake will only cost us more leftovers and extra pounds as the intensified ones tasted rather bitter and smelt grassy.


The chilled lemon cheesecake tasted not as jelly-ish and gooey as we have already stereotyped on most chilled cheesecakes. The lemon flavor was just right, identifiable flavor which is not intensified. One of my helper, which is an even straight arrow person, claimed that it was a creamy cheesecake, and ended with a but. But. Here goes the usual but from her, which sometimes prickle us off. And that is what we wanted to hear, because there is always a room for improvement.


Pleased, and at the same time, confused, she mumbles as she was spooning the chilled cheesecake away from her serving bowl. Standing still impatiently as we waited for her to finish half of the serving slice, we stared foolishly at the sliced-up cheesecake. What is wrong with the chilled baby? Minds pondered. It's either the gelatine cum glue-ish aroma, or it might be the coarsely chopped lemon zests, we thought for awhile. We soon stared strangely back at her; one of our helper and asked for unravel reviews that she had planned to give us. "The lemon aroma was there, but I can hardly taste it".

That's it! The lack of lemon juice. Which brings us to a more subtle lemony cheesecake. It was quenchable and creamy, just like how texture of mousses are, with a hint of cream cheese. We doubled the digestive crust for the extra crunch, as to blend in with the mousse-like cheesecake. The topping were made out of lemon juice, water, gelatine, a tiny bit of sugar and yellow coloring - a jellified layer which looked pleasant and tempting on the chilled cheesecake.

Before the jellified layer was set, the arrangement of sliced lemon were aligned decoratively onto the surface of the cheesecake. The sliced lemon were somehow too sour and hard for human consumption. If there's another quickie to be done the next time, we will definitely forgo the lemon slices though the chilled lemon cheesecake looked simply divine with it.


Chilled Lemon Cheesecake

For the cheesecake:
300g digestive biscuit (we used McVities)
150g butter, melted
250g Philadelphia cream cheese, thawed at room temperature
1 egg yolk
1 egg white
80g caster sugar
1-1/2 tablespoon gelatine powder
3 tablespoon water
3 tablespoon lemon juice (we used 2-1/2 tablespoons of lemon juice, and thus the subtle cheesecake)
1 tablespoon lemon zest, finely grated
225g whipping cream (measured at 225g before whipping, whipped until firm peaks, let chilled)

1. Finely crushed biscuits - either with a rolling pin or a blender with sharp blades. Combine finely crushed biscuits with melted butter. Press into the base of a 8 inch round springform cake pan.
2. Using electric mixer, in a bowl, beat cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add in egg yolk and sugar. Beat until well combined. Set aside.
3. Mix gelatine with water in a small bowl. Stand the bowl in hot water until gelatine has dissolved (the mixture will look ooey gooey and sticky!)
4. Add the gelatine mixture into the cheese mixture. Mix well. Add in lemon juice and lemon zest. Mix until well combined.
5. Mix in whipped cream with a rubber spatula.
6. Beat egg whites until firm peaks formed. Fold gently into cheese mixture with a rubber spatula until well combined.
7. Pour mixture into prepared pan. Chill for about 2 hours before proceeding to the topping.


For the jelly topping:
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 teaspoon caster sugar
250g water
2 teaspoon gelatine powder

1. Mix all the ingredients above. Boil on a saucepan over low heat till sugar and gelatine powder dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool until slightly warm.
2. Pour onto cheesecake. Put into fridge and let to set. Happy baking!


Some blur poochie shots (dated months back) to indulged in. There's a huge difference in photo editing, which is pretty bad. Bear with us. ;)

A grown-up and untrimmed Miniature Schnauzer, with pepper coat.


Months-old young Miniature Schnauzer, yawning continuously during a cat nap.


A young Beagle posing macholy.


Beagle Pose.


Last shot of the young Beagle.
Enjoy! ;)

Banana + Toffee + Pie = Go Figure ;)

Lo' and behold, our most unforgettable yet favorable sum of all; banana + toffee. You need to add, and please, do not subtract for the sake of the quote 'live to eat' in order to get the exact jargon that is implied in here. Now, do the math. Tell us, what can you conclude with the unresolved stated sum? A rather positive answer which we all would mostly agree and love to have during sugar high weekends? Or was it a negative account? You be the judge. It was decades ago since this combo flavor was invented; the bananas and the toffees. Partly dumb, we have always mistaken caramel for toffee and toffee for butterscotch, vice versa. Ever since we laid our eyes on the Toffee Sundae from McDonalds which has a blend of bananas and toffee sauce, we knew that there's no point of return. We need TOFFEE and BANANAS for brunch! And something tarty too!

So, let's settle down with the very delish mathematic equation;

• Banana + toffee = Ban(offee) = Banoffi
• Banana + toffee + pie = Banoffi Pie

That does make real sense. Banana and toffee, which will be called as one; Banoffi, when merging occurs. In case, one may wonder, who is the mastermind behind this particular heavenly creation with the luscious perfect combo? It is absolutely a bullseye, really did hit the nail on the head. The humble and generous man who has nailed the divine-looking Banoffi Pie was Ian Dowding, the man who we have no doubts that he's in the D.T.E category. D.T.E; which ambiguously stands for down to earth.


It was known that the the very first Banoffi Pie was served at The Hungry Monk in Jevington, East Sussex during the year 1972, and that was baby Banoffi's birthplace. From other sources that we found in the world wide web, it stated that the banoffi pie recipe was devised by Ian Dowding and Nigel MacKenzie.


From the article titled "I invented Banoffi Pie" by Ian Dowding, from July 2007's Reader's Digest, he said it is her sister who told him over the phone on the steps to making soft toffee by boiling a can of unopened condensed milk in water for several hours. From there, he resurrects Rusell's; Blum's Coffee Toffee Pie. With Nigel MacKenzie, they were on the hunt for a newer dimension of the toffee pie, trying out from apples to mandarins. They knew they had cracked the secret code when bananas were used. Thus, the invention and the crown.


We boiled around 3 cans of condensed milk for the toffees too, with the aid of Ian Dowding's Banoffi Pie recipe. The first can didn't make it (shot above). It was just too watery and light in presence, thanks to the young minds involved; who can't wait too much longer and claimed that they should go on with the can opener. The verdict; that is just so not the toffee that we wanted because the recipe has assured us that the consistency of the toffee will be something spreadable. We boiled for the extra 2 hours and things flowed smoothly thereafter. Lumpy and spreadable toffee in cans! Here's the way how the boiling method works, hailed from Ian Dowding's website.


Toffee (by Ian Dowding, from http://www.iandowding.co.uk/)
Ian Dowding: "Over the years I have become increasingly concerned about the danger of boiling cans of condensed milk. There is no danger of them exploding unless the water in the saucepan boils dry. If this does happen the result is terrifying and can scald anyone close to it. It has happened to me once and that was enough. Because I now teach and demonstrate a lot I like to make sure my instructions are safe so I have devised this method."

1. Find a deep saucepan or casserole that will go in the oven.
2. Put into it as many tins as will fit. (THE TINS MUST BE UNOPENED). It worth doing several at a time to save on power.
3. Cover the tins with water and bring to the boil.
4. Cover with a lid and transfer to the oven set to gas mark 1 / 140 C (less for fan assisted).
5. Cook for 3 ½ hours.
6. This way there is no danger of the water boiling dry and being in a more controlled temperature you get a more consistent result.
7. Lift the cans from the water, cool and store.
8. An unusual bonus comes from storing these tins over a period. After some months sugar crystals begin to form in the toffee and you get crunchy banoffi - mmmmm.

Banoffi Pie (by Ian Dowding, from http://www.iandowding.co.uk/)
You will need a 10 x 1½ inch (deep) loose bottomed flan tin
Oven temp: 180 C / gas mark 4

For the pastry:
250g / 9 oz plain flour
25g / 1 oz icing sugar
125g / 4½ oz butter
1 egg and 1 egg yolk

1. Place the flour and sugar in a bowl, cut the butter into cubes and then rub it in to the flour / sugar until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Work in the egg to form a paste.
2. Chill for half an hour then roll out to the thickness of a pound coin and line the flan tin.

3. Prick the base, line with parchment paper and weigh down with dry beans (we go full force with grains of rice)
4. Cook for fifteen minutes then remove the beans and paper.
5. Put the pastry case back into the oven and cook until it is evenly golden.
6. Remove from the oven and cool.

To assemble:
1 ½ tins of banoffi toffee (see note below on boiling the tins or click here)
5-6 ripe bananas
425 ml / ¾ pint of double cream
1 teaspoon of instant coffee
1 dessertspoon of caster sugar
A pinch of ground coffee

1. Carefully spread the toffee over the pastry base.
2. Peel and split the bananas lengthways and arrange them on top of the toffee, (see how they fit the curve of the pastry - that’s why God made bananas curved).
3. Whip the cream with the instant coffee (if they are granules they will dissolve as you whip the cream) and the sugar until it just holds its shape - take care not to over whip it.
4. Spread the cream over the bananas right up to the pastry edge then sprinkle sparingly with the ground coffee.
5. If you are not serving it immediately cover first with some baking parchment or greaseproof paper directly onto the cream and trim the edges then wrap in cling film.
6. It does not lend itself to being frozen.

The final outcome was a blast. Bananas will never (ever) go wrong with toffees. Speaking of the tart which is also known as the pastry itself, it remains its tartness though left overnight in the ice-cold refrigerator. It was slightly crunchy and dry, which blends in well with the fluffy yet pillowy coffee cream. The toffee was the sublime of the grand pie. This is definitely a keeper, the only thing that bugs us out is toffee-making, which takes time. But it was worth the time-consumption, as we are all toffee's die-hard fans. Divine and delicious, enough said. =)

The very last month, we hooked up with The Loaf's public favourites; U Hu! Hu! Cheesecakes. The cheesecakes were the latest sensation from Japan, and these lovely babies are now our latest BFFs. Ehem, doughnuts, cupcakes, anyone?!

It was worth buying, since we don't really go for wholesome cheesecakes. Light ones will just do more than enough. Each costs us RM5, and by purchasing 6 cheesecakes, you will only be paying for the price of RM25. Let's just put it this way, buy 5 free 1.

It was not as cheesy as we've expected, it tasted more like a light and fluffy cheese souffle which melts in your mouth. Something people would go for as refreshments, okay, maybe it's just us. We wanted more, but our bulging belly stopped us spiritually. We ordered 3 of the wide-range cheesecakes.

The cheesecakes on the display area were distracting, we can't stop drooling over the cash-counter. Gosh. We had a lemon cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake and the delished longan cheesecake.


Longan cheesecake (or was it lychee) was flavorsome and fluffy. The toasted almond flakes lend a great help by creating an addictive crunchy top for the pillowy soft cheesecake. The biscuit base was annoying as it kept falling onto the ground after one bite. Overall, we've gone u hu hu after downing the cheesecakes. Yum!

The Loaf (Pavilion Kuala Lumpur)
Lot 3.13.00 & 4.12.02,
Level 3 & 4 Pavilion,
Kuala Lumpur,
168 Jalan Bukit Bintang,
55100 Kuala Lumpur.

Plumped Plum Marries A Big Fat Tart

Recently, we have been occupying most of our time collecting good reads, streaming the very talented and charming David Archuleta's performance cum shows and experimenting tarty bakes. Lives get busy and healthy (think of going for walks and jogs every other morning for 2 hours straight with the girls, and more trekking to come on weekends), updating blogs came off pretty infrequent, which is something bad, we reckon. Well, speaking of good reads, let's just forget about Danielle Steel, J.K Rowling, J.R.R Tolkien and Dan Brown this time, and hop onto the other genre which is very much related to the world of pastry and baking. For the record, we're still craving for Kim Young Mo's hard-to-get cookbook, after hustling all over the town's bookstore for a wider huntdown. Not getting Kim's winning cookbook was not as devastating as we would have predicted though, since other cookbooks came along at the very right time.

Most of our profit made from the sales of our cakes and cupcakes were happily exchanged with few other good reads - be it a local cookbook or one that's distributed internationally. And yes, we spent on one which we found it to be quite pricey (RM188), as we thought it was a steal since it was left alone in one piece, with no clones left; Pierre Herme's Chocolate Desserts. As we stroll along the aisle of the bookstores's bookshelves, we bumped into Daniel Tay's new book; Just Desserts and Other Baked Treats for the price of RM 88.80. Without hesitation, we grabbed along the 2 reads - what we would love to have in our personal bookshelves. We haven't had the time to lay our hands on any of Pierre Herme's recipes, unlike what we have already done on Daniel Tay's book. We must say that Daniel Tay's recipes came off pretty delicious. We've altered one of its tart by substituting apples with juicy red plums as we would love to have plum tart for brunch.


The original sable dough, which weighs in at 1.2kg was supposed to be the base for two 11-12 inches wide flan pan. We halved the dough recipe to spare extra cup of flour for the apple and plum cake. We have not heard of sable dough when it comes to tart-making, and efforts for spending on a bar of pure french butter didn't hurt much either as we totally agree that these are the best flavorsome melt-in-your-mouth tart that we've tasted. Unlike the very usual shortcrust tart, this has made a cut - think of melt-in-your-mouth butter shortbread which has a light crisp texture on the outside, fully engrossed with the aroma of pure unsalted butter. If you're eyeing for crusty and hard in texture tarts, Daniel Tay's sable dough tarts will not fulfill your request, but it will definitely made it into your baking wish list.


Wait! There's more plus point if we speak of the sable dough. We, basically don't fancy making pies and tarts as we find the sides of the tarts were usually messily trimmed and we were obviously disturbed by it; which looked unprofessionally done - or shall we say; unimpressive. It used to be an excuse to dodge request for tarts, but this ain't going to happen no more. The sable dough was perfect and less time consuming; no gentle hands were needed to smoothen out or trim the sides of the dough when it has been laid onto a tart or flan pan. It is easily handled since it is pliable and smooth, thus, small cracks can be hardly noticeable after side-trimming was done with a pastry cutter or even a knife.

The verdict of the tart; we would say the overall tart was indeed tasty. The fillings; which is known as almond cream in the book blends in well with the sable dough tart. Almonds and butter will come into our mind when this grand tart runs into our taste buds; which we find that is the two main flavor that plays a distinctive role in this tart itself.

The baked-in fruit toppings vary from pear to peaches, and not to be left out; plums! As for other options like strawberries, blueberries and raspberries; it will be laid onto the tart once the tart is fully baked - bake the tart with its fillings, let cool and topped with your choice of berries, brush with apricot glaze and serve.

Almond Plum Tart (Adapted from Daniel Tay's Just Desserts And Other Baked Treats)

Tart:
175g unsalted butter, barely thawed for about 10 minutes in room temperature
250g all-purpose flour, sifted
A tiny pinch of salt
100g icing sugar
35g finely grounded blanched almond
1 egg, medium-sized, lightly beaten

1. Cut butter into small cubes and place in a mixing bowl. Add flour, salt, icing sugar and almonds and mix with an electric mixer at medium speed to form a smooth dough.
2. Beat in eggs and mix on low speed until smooth.
3. Cover dough with cling film and refrigerate for 2-3 hours before using.

Almond cream:
125ml single (light) cream, leave to thaw at room temperature for 10 minutes before use
180g grounded almonds, finely grounded
30g corn flour, sifted
150g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
200g icing sugar, sifted
2 eggs, medium-sized
2 tablespoon rum liquor

1. Place almond, corn flour, butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and beat for about 8 minutes until batter is free from lumps.
2. Add in eggs one at a time to avoid batter being curdled. Beat until smooth. Add cream and rum and stir until smooth.

Assembly:
1 portion of tart (recipe above)
1 portion of almond cream (recipe above)
5 large plums, cored and thinly sliced into wedges form
Apricot glaze, for glazing

1. Preheat oven to 170"C
2. On a lightly floured surface, roll out sable dough into a 0.5 cm thick sheet, large enough to cover the base and sides of 12 inch tart pan. Line pan and trim edges to neaten.
3. Spoon in almond cream and spread cream out evenly with an angle palette knife.
4. Arrange wedged plums on top of the cream. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until the tart has turned golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside on wire rack to cool.
5. Brush the top surface with apricot glaze. Serve warm, best with a cup of freshly brewed unsweetened tea.



Just in case there are abundance of red juicy plums on the kitchen counter, fret not. Get down and dirty for the next baking session; which may sound like baking from scratch. A loaf of tea cake; which may sounded similarly to a plum cake.


We have stumbled upon Nigel Slater's plum cake recipe, from The Kitchen Diaries, and it was undoubtedly good, moist and refreshing. We altered the recipe a little by adding slices of apples on the top of the cake (that is how the lonely green apple ended its life, how sweet) and decrease the number of plums to 5.

Fresh Plum And Apple Cake (adapted from Nigel Slater's Fresh Plum Cake, The Kitchen Diaries)

75g butter
75g caster sugar
1 egg
35g all purpose flour, sifted
3/4 teaspoon baking powder, sifted
90g almongs, finely grounded
5 plums, stoned and cut into 1 inch cube
1 green apple, Granny Smith's, cored and cut into thin wedge slices

1. Preheat the oven to 180"C.
2. Line a loaf tin with baking paper. We used a loaf tin, which measures at 16cm x 6cm.
3. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in egg. Fold in flour, baking powder and grounded almonds with a spatula. Fold in the plum pieces into the batter with the spatula.


4. Pour the batter into the loaf tin and arrange the sliced apples on top of the batter.
5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until skewer inserted into the middle of the cake comes out clean. Remove from heat and cool slightly in the tin. When the cake is warm to touch, remove the cake from the tin and cool on wire rack. Serve warm with tea. Yield 6 slices.

Well, we now love brunch and tea-times.

Tr'opera: Tropical Opera Cake

Our Daring Bakers Challenge #2


From the reference above, it seems that we have now proceeded to our second challenge of Daring Bakers. We are too happy for words and greatly satisfied with our 2nd challenge. The very 1st challenge that we have participated were Cheesecake Pops, and as of this month's challenge, it was our most fearful cake of all time, the Opera Cake. An Opera Cake, consisting of the main jaconde sponge, intensified flavorful syrup, buttercream, mousse, ganache and also glaze, with the usual rectangular shape as part of its identifiable features. We have always been keen to make perfect buttercream with only butter itself, and not buttercream which need to be folded with stiff egg whites. Speaking of the grand Opera cake, which involves jaconde, our unskilled physiques on whipping up a fluffy jaconde wasn't that good either. The last time we tried our hands on jaconde sheets, we ended up feasting on hard tuiles. Over baked, that might be the answer. Wait a minute, it might as well be over whipped egg whites since the batter had sunk quarterly after a few rounds of fold-cum-mix sessions with the rubber spatula. To bake or not to bake, that will be the question this time round.

The 2nd challenge was hosted by Lis and Ivonne, together with the other two newer members of DB; Fran and Shea. Baking an Opera Cake (which is originally made with chocolate, almond and coffee, with coffee buttercream) is kind of challenging, but baking an Opera Cake with light flavors and light colors (white chocolate, vanilla, lemon etc) is way upon challenging - which made this DB Challenge truly a challenge. On the same week itself, which is most probably the first week of the month of May, we sat and brainstormed the availability of flavors to be used to re-create the new Opera Cake quietly, right in front of our computer desk. Matching and pairing up the flavors was neither easy, the unsuitability of two distinctive and individual flavors might lead to bad repercussions; which spells opera cake disaster. We gathered resources and feedbacks from the kids. One suggested that the question should be served to Mom. And why Mom, we wondered for a while. Mother's Day's on the 12th of May, we were too old to be blamed - forgetfulness. That's it! Mom will then decides the flavor of this Opera Cake, specially created for her, with flavors quoted by herself.


Mom hinted that she would love to have a Mother's Day Cake which consists of real chunky hazelnuts to bite on, uber green kiwis to chowed on, white chocolate mousse to licked on and a refreshing cake which will take in passion fruit puree as well. That sounds interesting, think of bright colored fruits, well - think tropical! Thoughts of a soul which undoubtedly belongs to a novice baker whispered softly; that is a very daring move when it comes to a whole new creation of an opera cake. Daring, and our minds are mentally challenged.

The original opera cake recipe was based on Dorie Greenspan's Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty's Chocolate Passion. Alterations were made, starting off with the jaconde itself. The original jaconde calls for almond meal, but we go otherwise - hazelnut meal, since Mom does not favor almonds. We have made our very own hazelnut meal to substitute the almond meal.


Hazelnut meal in our local bakery store (Malaysia) was known as grounded hazelnuts and it is blended not as fine as what most hazelnut meal was.


For homemade hazelnut meal; blend a pack of hazelnuts by an electric blender while gradually adding teaspoonfuls of flour to avoid oily paste, and last but not least, sieved the finely blended hazelnuts by spoon-pressure through a flour sifter. Voila, hazelnut meal! Next up, the buttercream were infused with kiwi puree and passion fruit puree. On the other hand, the syrup was made out of honey with a hint of Australian wine.


As we were afraid that the tropical opera cake might taste too bland, the search for another tropical fruit as the cake's fillings were held. Ripened Alphonso mangoes goes in perfectly! We omitted the white chocolate mousse as there were excess of buttercream left in the refrigerator. The glaze was made out of white chocolate, and the temptation to brush on a thin layer of light green colored apricot glaze were done as well. As to finalize the Tropical Opera Cake as a product, slices of kiwis and halved mangoes were arranged on the surface of the cake. The recipe below will bring about 6 parts; hazelnut jaconde, honey syrup, kiwi and passionfruit buttercream, white chocolate glaze, mango cubes, and the way the cake being assembled.


Part One: Hazelnut Jaconde

(Note: The joconde can be made up to 1 day in advance and kept wrapped at room temperature)

6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched hazelnuts
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.
2. Preheat the oven to 425◦F. (220◦C).
3. Line two 12½ x 15½- inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. If you do not have another mixer bowl, gently scrape the meringue into another bowl and set aside.
5. If you only have one bowl, wash it after removing the egg whites or if you have a second bowl, use that one. Attach the paddle attachment to the stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer again) and beat the hazelnuts, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes.
6. Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to over mix batter)
7. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.
8. Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 5 to 9 minutes depending on your oven. Place one jelly-roll pan in the middle of the oven and the second jelly-roll pan in the bottom third of the oven.
9. Put the pans on a heatproof counter and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmould.
10. Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.


Part Two: Honey Syrup
(Note: The syrup can be made up to 1 week in advance and kept covered in the refrigerator.)

½ cup (125 grams) water
⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons Australian wine

1. Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.


Part Three: Kiwi & Passionfruit Buttercream
(Note: The buttercream can be made up to 1 month in advance and packed in an airtight container. If made way in advance, you can freeze the buttercream. Alternatively you can refrigerate it for up to 4 days after making it. To use the buttercream simply bring it to room temperature and then beat it briefly to restore its consistency.)

1 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60 grams) water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ sticks (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter, softened
2 kiwis, pureed and strained through sift (juice wanted)
2 passionfruit, medium-sized, pureed ( juice wanted)

1. Combine the sugar, water and vanilla extract in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves.
2. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225◦F (107◦C) on a candy or instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches that temperature, remove the syrup from the heat.
3. While the syrup is heating, begin whisking the egg and egg yolk at high speed in the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment. Whisk them until they are pale and foamy.
4. When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin slowly (very slowly) pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment. Some of the syrup will spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to stir it into the mixture as it will harden!
5. Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).
6. While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.
7. With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.
8. At this point add in your kiwi juice and passionfruit puree. Beat for an additional minute or so.
9. Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).


Part Four: White Chocolate Glaze
(Note: It’s best to make the glaze right when you’re ready to finish assembling the cake.)

14 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream (35% cream)

1. Melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream. Whisk the mixture gently until smooth.
2. Let cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the chilled cake. Using a long metal cake spatula, smooth out into an even layer.
3. Place the cake into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set.


Part Five: Mango Cubes
(Note: It’s best to cubed the mangoes before assembling started.)

5 large Alphonso mangoes

1. Peel the skin of the mangoes with a vegetable peeler.
2. Cut the mangoes with a knife in the size of 1 inch cubes.
3. Set aside.


Assembling the Opera Cake
(Note: The finished cake should be served slightly chilled. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 day).

• Jaconde
• Honey syrup
• Kiwi and Passionfruit buttercream
• Mango cubes
• White chocolate glaze
• Some light green colored apricot glaze (optional)
• 1 large Alphonso mango for decoration (optional)
• 2 large kiwis for decoration (optional)
  

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
2. Working with one sheet of cake at a time, cut and trim each sheet so that you have two pieces (from each cake so you’ll have four pieces in total): one 10-inch (25-cm) square and one 10 x 5-inch (25 x 12½-cm) rectangle.
3. Place one square of cake on the baking sheet and moisten it gently with the honey syrup.
4. Spread about one-third of the kiwi and passionfruit buttercream over this layer.
5. Place half of mango cubes onto the buttercream.
6. Top with the two rectangular pieces of cake, placing them side by side to form a square. Moisten these pieces with the honey syrup.
7. Spread another third of the buttercream on the cake and spread remaining mango cubes on the cake.
8. Then top with the third square of jaconde. Use the remaining honey syrup to wet the jaconde. Spread the remaining buttercream on top of the final layer of jaconde and then refrigerate until very firm (at least half an hour).
9. Make the white chocolate glaze and after it has cooled, pour/spread it over the top of the chilled cake. Refrigerate the cake again to set the glaze.
10. Once set, lightly brush top of the glaze with the green colored apricot glaze. Topped the cake with sliced mangoes and sliced kiwis.
11. Serve the cake slightly chilled. This recipe will yield approximately 20 servings.

As for the leftover jaconde, we assemble 4 layers of jaconde brushed with honey syrup, with slices of kiwis in between of the kiwi and passsionfruit buttercream, and topped off with the white chocolate glaze. The other opera cake to date; a Kiwi Opera Cake! We feasted on this baby and was fully satisfied with the result. The buttercream was creamy and not overly sweet, and we recommend that the Opera Cake should be eaten at room temperature. Or maybe slightly cold.

After a bite out of the Tr'opera Cake (Tropical Opera Cake), we make comparisons and came to a verdict that the Tr'opera Cake tasted way better than the Kiwi Opera Cake. The very sweet and juicy Alphonso mangoes were addictive, which turns out to be the main attraction of the cake. After combining the three tropical fruits; mango, kiwi and passion fruit (which is also Mom's favorite), there was no doubt that the thirst-quencher cake tasted refreshingly luscious, best eaten in hot and humid weather. However, we will definitely increase the amount of whipping cream in the white chocolate glaze as many had told us that the glaze is too sweet. Oh, here goes the meassage; Happy Belated Mom's Day, Mom! And to all mommies out there!

Going Bananas Over Bananas

Our evil eyes stare coldly at the almost-ripened bananas on the kitchen counter. We don't fancy almost-ripened ones when it comes to making banana bread or even banana cake, thus, we dump them into the refrigerator to further ripen the bunch of bananas that we have. Fully overripe; that's what we love to have our hands on. The darker and the browner the bananas are, the better the cake turned out to be. Cakes or breads baked using awfully dark brown (the best one were all blacks) and mushy bananas appear to be more good-looking, in terms of more refined banana strands can be seen, which we find it beautiful.


One do still wonder be it banana bread OR banana cake, both were almost the same. Almost, what say you? We can't even differentiate what's the difference and the unlikeliness between these two bakes; the refreshingly sexy and fancy banana cake and its handsome cum down to earth twin brother; the banana bread. Now, that's one shallow and ambiguous comparison to date. Simply, banana bread which is baked in a loaf pan, is in the middle of a bread and a cake texture with a low intensity of pure banana flavor. On the other hand, the banana cake is more to the crumbly side, most of the cakes were pretty-looking and sweet, which kids would love. We love to have both as they were great accompaniments to a hot cuppa.


As for the past week, we rendered into dozens of Cavendish bananas to enjoy the very well-defined banana week. Packed with extra calories and a few extra pounds, we wouldn't mind either since we were then crazy over bananas - especially caramelized bananas and banana milk shakes.

We were thinking, since it was a balmy banana week, participating NQN's Banana Bread Bakeoff Event will be fun and definitely motivating. It can keep track of where all the black bananas have gone to, while sparing us extra reasons to bake more banana breads and even cakes. After the banana week were all over, our bleary red eyes paid off as we were about to post three adapted recipes, hailing from various sources; banana bread with caramelized walnuts and caramel icing from Ma, up-side down banana cake from Women's Weekly, and last but not least, a loaf of simple yet refreshing banana and coconut bread adapted from a local cookbook; which is Delicious Cakes by Amy Heng.

The outcome was a blast-off. We totally had fallen for Ma's not too sweet caramelized walnuts and the moist banana cake itself, and also the upside-down banana cake. As for Ma's banana cake, we were very lucky to stumble upon her very own piece of cookbook - full of comprehensive written notes and recipes that were meant to be the family's favorite. As the bread was moist, soft in texture and pleasant-tasting, it was a definite keeper. As for the not-too-sweet caramel icing, it blended well with the bread as it was a softer icing. The caramelized walnut lends a big help of crunchiness to the entire bread. The banana bread can go with or without the icing and caramelized walnuts, but be sure to take a sip of a just-brewed hot cuppa for the extra umphh.

Ma's Banana Bread with Caramelized Walnuts and Caramel Icing

For the banana bread:

• 125g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
• 280g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs, lightly beaten with a fork
• 2 cups of mashed overripe bananas
• 1/3 cup fresh milk (mix with 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar and set aside for 10 minutes)
• 2 cups of all-purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
• pinch of salt

1. Prepare all the ingredients at room temperature. Preheat oven at 175"C or 350"F.
2. Grease and lined parchment paper into a loaf pan; 9x5 inches.
3. In a medium bowl with electric mixer of a whisk attachment, beat butter and sugar for about 3 minutes till light and creamy. While the mixer is still creaming the butter mixture, gradually add in the eggs and continue mixing to avoid curdling. Add in the mashed bananas and mix till incorporated.
4. In another small bowl, mix sifted flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. This will be the flour mixture.
5. Fold in the half of the flour mixture into the batter, followed by half of the milk, until combined. Scrape the bowl. Fold in the remaining flour mixture and the remaining milk into the batter. Fold until the batter is smooth.
6. Pour mixture into prepared pan and bring into the preheated oven. Bake for about 30 minutes where the surface of the bread will be golden brown or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the bread.
7. Cool bread in tin for about 5 minutes before turning it onto a wire rack. While cooling, proceed to the icing and caramelized walnuts, which is optional. (recipe below)


For the caramelized walnuts:

• 1/3 cup water
• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

1. Combine the sugar and water in a medium, heavy based saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Stop stirring and let the mixture come to boil. Boil for 10 minutes, occasionally swirling the liquid around the saucepan. When the caramel mixture has turned dark brown, remove from the heat.
2. Quickly mix in the walnuts into the caramel and toss the walnuts until coated evenly. Spoon the caramelized walnuts onto the surface of the cooled banana bread.


For the caramel icing:

• 1/4 cup whipping cream
• 1/3 cup brown sugar

1. Combine the sugar and whipping cream in a medium, heavy based saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Stop stirring and let the mixture come to boil. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Keep stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture had turned golden brown. The mixture will be soft and slightly thick. Remove from heat and stir the icing continuously until warm to touch.
2. Pour the icing onto the bread. Allow to cool.

Caramel and now what? The other banana baked goods winner was the upside-down TOFFEE banana cake from Women's Weekly. Toffee is sure to made us all go happy, as we are caramel and toffee fanatics. With slices of bananas and soft toffee as toppings, it was indeed sinful. Not very rich but still, sinfully tasty.


The cake was not as sweet as we have expected and our helpers convinced us that this upside-down cake is better than any upside-down cake that we have approached. It was very light and fluffy. Slices of bananas were laid onto the surface to enhance the distinctive banana flavor. After the cake was left for days, the top becomes pudding-like texture. So, gobble down everything as it is best eaten on the day it was baked. In this cake, vegetable oil was used instead of cubes of unsalted butter.

Upside-Down Toffee Banana Cake (adapted from Women's Weekly; Best Food Desserts)

• 1 cup (220g) caster sugar
• 1 cup (250ml) water
• 2 medium bananas (400g), sliced thinly
• 2/3 cup (160ml) vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup (165g) brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup (100g) plain flour
• 1/3 cup (50g) self-raising flour
• 2 teaspoons mixed spice (we substituted with 2 teaspoons of cinnamon powder)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup overripe mashed bananas

1. Preheat oven to 180"C. Grease deep 22cm round cake pan; line base with baking paper.
2. Stir caster sugar and the water in a medium saucepan over heat, without boiling, until sugar dissolves; bring to a boil. Boil, uncovered, without stirring, about 10 minutes or until caramel in color. Pour toffee into prepared pan; top with sliced bananas.
3. Combine eggs, oil, brown sugar and extract in a medium bowl. Stir in sifted dry ingredients, then mashed bananas; pour mixture into prepared pan. Bake, uncovered, in preheated oven about 40 minutes. Turn onto wire rack, peel off baking paper; turn cake top-side up. Serve cake warm or at room temperature with thick cream, if desired.



The last banana baked good was the Banana and Coconut Bread, for the ones who like it plain. The bread was not as moist as Ma's Banana Bread. This might be the pure banana bread; drier, less crumbs and denser; a basic recipe from Amy Heng's Delicious Cakes. It was plain and we would like to stress on the importance for a hot cuppa to go along with this bread. Besides, this bread itself calls for corn oil, banana essence and ovalette or emulsifier; a thick light orange gel.


However, alterations were made by adding 1/2 cup of dessicated coconut and 1 cup of 1/2 inch cubed bananas. Cubed bananas were incurred to moisten the bread as we prefer moister ones. Besides, these chunky cubed bananas made good surprises in a loaf. Omit the cubed bananas if you prefer having a simple yet light banana bread. The original recipe do also call for evaporated milk, which lends a pleasant aroma to the bread. We also stick to the original recipe by not substituting the ripe bananas with the overripe ones. It will yield 2 loaves of banana bread though.

Banana and Coconut Bread (adapted from the original recipe of Amy Heng's Banana Bread)

• 5 eggs
• 15g ovalette or emulsifier
• 230g caster sugar
• 170ml corn oil
• 230g cake flour, sifted
  
• 1 teaspoon double-action baking powder, sifted
  
• 250g ripen bananas, mashed
• 60g evaporated milk
• 1 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
  
• 1 teaspoon banana essence
• 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
• 1 cup of 1/2 inch cubed bananas

1. Line and grease two 9 inches rectangular pans.
2. Preheat oven at 180"C.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs, ovalette and sugar at a high speed until light and fluffy.
4. Gradually beat in the oil, flour and baking powder at low speed until just incorporated.
5. Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in mashed bananas, evaporated milk, baking soda and banana essence. Mix until combined.
6. Fold dessicated coconut and cubed bananas with a wooden spoon or spatula. Pour into two prepared pans. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the middle of the bread. Cool cake on wire rack before turning onto serving tray.

Happy baking and Happy Ma's Day!