Hyper-Realistic Cherry Luk Chup

 I was fascinated with Luk Chup since a few years ago but didn't have the motivation to try it out as I didn't manage to find a subject or purpose for it. With my dad's birthday coming up, I decided to give it a try because there were very good and cheap Turkish cherries on sale.

Can you tell which two cherries in the picture below are the real ones? 

A close up view of the cut cross-section!

I happened to have some homemade frozen lotus seed puree at home, in preparation for my Mooncaron class. Luk Chup is traditionally made from mung beans but other substitutes are possible too, such as lotus seeds which I had on hand. My recipe is adapted from Catherine Zhang's Luk Chup recipe. Feel free to upsize it as it's a small batch.

Ingredients:

(makes about 12-14)

Dough:

100g lotus seed puree*

50g cherry juice*

40g heavy cream/ coconut cream*

1/16 tsp salt

35g sugar*

1 tsp tapioca starch 

Coating:

125g water (room temperature)

1/2 tsp agar (1.6g)

1 tsp sugar (6g)

1/32 tsp salt (pinch)

Finishing:

Red, blue & dark brown colouring + some water

Fresh cherry stems 

* NOTES ON INGREDIENTS

🔸Lotus seed puree: I prepared this by first washing & soaking dried lotus seeds. The green shoots are removed. Rinse & boil soaked seeds until soft & easily mashed between fingers. Press boiled lotus seeds through fine mesh strainer. You may store the puree in the freezer double wrapped until it's needed. You may use the traditional mung beans instead of lotus seeds. I happen to have lotus seed puree in my freezer so I used it. You may use red beans (azuki beans), cannellini beans, or possibly chestnuts, sweet potato/taro as well. Basically anything that can form a smooth paste that's used in pastries all over the world. Just take note that you may need to tweak the sugar content &/or liquid used to form a final dough that tastes good & works well but the technique should work

🔸Cherry juice: I used freshly squeezed cherry juice but you may substitute with other juices or use coconut milk instead

🔸Heavy cream/coconut cream: I used coconut cream for this one and heavy cream for my first attempt. Both are great! If you are omitting the use of juice, replace this with coconut milk which has a lower fat content

🔸 Sugar: It's not only a sweetener but also a binder. Too little & your shaped dough will crack easily. I already reduced sugar from the traditional/original recipe by about half

Watch the reel for the video tutorial of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dc4oBGgykXa/?stkn=MXg0Znpyc3I2Y21weA==

Steps:

1. Blend all ingredients except tapioca starch

2. Pour into non-stick saucepan. Add tapioca starch

3. Cook on med-low heat until a soft pliable dough forms. Make sure it's able to hold its shape when you try to mold it. If not cooked till firm enough, the shaped fruit will slide down the skewer & not hold its shape well. Cool completely 

4. Portion out 10-11g of dough for each cherry. Shape using lightly oiled clean hands & ball tool. You may use gloves but I find it causes creases in my shaped cherries😅, much like how bakers who work with fondant prefer to work with bare hands for intricate shaping

5. Paint shaped cherries using a brush. You may use a dish of paint for dipping but I wanted to create subtle shading that real cherries have by making dark red & black cherry colored paints

6. Mount on skewers using an upside down colander to hold them in place to dry. About 15-30 min 

7. Meantime, prepare agar coating. Whisk all ingredients together in a tiny saucepan. Let agar bloom for 5 min. Bring to a boil while gently whisking. Continue boiling for 1 min. Remove from heat & cool to about 65C while stirring gently

8. Dip cherries in agar as shown in reel, waiting for about a few minutes between 1st & 2nd coating. Reheat & stir agar if it starts to thicken/set

9. Attach cherry stem after applying the 2nd coating. Let the coating set fully, about 10 min

10. Remove Luk Chup from skewers. Cut off excess agar at the base & reshape to round out. Store airtight in fridge for up to 5 days

Looks so real you can't tell that they aren't!

Stay tuned for the cake that these cherry wannabes were used to decorate!

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Clodsire Chocolate Vanilla Marshmallows

 I used to be unable to make fluffy, delicious chocolate character marshmallows due to the unavailability of defatted (ultra low fat at less than 1% fat) cocoa powder. Not anymore with Callebaut's low fat cocoa powder available at Redman now!

These Clodsires are 100% naturally coloured and flavoured. I used to need to add a lot more gel food colouring to get deeper shades of brown or a mix of chocolate paste (artificial chocolate flavour which isn't too yummy) and charcoal powder or black gel colouring. For this creation, only low fat cocoa powder and charcoal powder were used for colouring 

Piped marshmallows before dusting

The recipe below is just for the lighter shade of greyish brown for the main body of Clodsire so for a more intense chocolate flavour, you have to tweak the ingredients & process which I can't share here as it's in my class material.

Ingredients:
10g meringue powder*
10g sugar
36g warm water*

100g sugar
3g low fat cocoa powder
0.1g charcoal powder (or a pinch)
1/8 tsp salt
25g light corn syrup
35g water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

7g gelatin powder (bovine or porcine)
28g cold water to bloom gelatin

Cornstarch or a mix of cornstarch and icing sugar for dusting

* May replace with fresh egg whites

See the process of piping in the reel:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcfQmHsydvb/?igsi=MWo2cGFlZjAzNmZ2

Method:
1. Whisk together first 3 ingredients in standmixer. Beat till soft peak

2. Make chocolate sugar syrup by mixing the next 7 ingredients in a small saucepan, whisking frequently. Heat till 116-118C. Remove from heat. Add bloomed gelatin. Mix well till gelatin is fully melted.

3. Pour 2. in a thin stream into 1. with mixer running at medium high speed. Continue whipping till peak shown in reel.

with love,
Phay Shing

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Low-Sugar Black Sesame Cookies

 I was experimenting with creating cookies that have as little sugar as possible without resorting to sugar replacements and without compromising texture and taste. After some less than satisfactory attempts, I have finally come up with something that I am pleased with!

Having fun with cat shaped cookie cutters!

The reference point for the recipe development is from the standard shortbread recipe which has a 1:2:3 ratio of sugar:butter:flour by weight. The dry ingredients is in the ratio of 1:2 for butter:dry ingredients. I tried to keep this ratio to maintain structural integrity while reducing the sugar proportion to the minimum. 

This low-sugar cookie recipe is simple & can be adapted for other seeds, nuts or plain vanilla. Although it contains less than 5% sugar without any sugar replacements added, it's still bold in flavour with a tender, crumbly melt-in-your-mouth texture but firm enough to hold cutout shapes.

Ingredients:
(makes about 24 cat cookies in my case)
45g plain flour
5g rice flour*
5g full cream milk powder*
5g icing sugar
1/16 tsp salt
10g black sesame powder*
35g unsalted butter

See the reel for the process of making the cookies:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DcPbRvkyOqW/?igsi=MXFsOXVnZ2Fnb3YyYQ==

Steps:
1. Sift together all dry ingredients

2. Using only fingertips, rub butter into 1. Squish the crumbs together to form a ball of dough

3. Divide dough into 2 so at any time, there is always dough that is chilled firm & ready for cutting out shapes

 
4. Roll dough to 4-5mm thickness between acetate or OPP sheets. Freeze until firm. Rolling the cookie dough between two acetate or OPP (oriented polypropylene) sheets is an easy way to roll out dough without creasing it or sticking to any surfaces. This makes the task a lot easier and less messy! I used OPP sheets which I have on hand to make my piping cones. They are actually cookie bags for gifting usually sold in bulk at baking supplies stores so they are food-safe. Using guides for rolling out the dough helps you to keep the dough thickness consistent.

5. Cutout shapes as desired & place on tray lined with parchment paper. Freeze cutouts while preheating oven to 150C fan/170C

6. Transfer frozen cutouts onto tray lined with perforated mat if you have as it helps with shape retention during baking. You may stick with parchment paper/Teflon sheets/silicone mats too if you wish

7. Bake for 10-13 min or until lightly browned at the base & edges. Rotate the tray halfway through if your oven heat isn't even. Do not overbake as cookies can become dry in the absence of more sugar, but still aim for some browning for flavour. Adjust baking temperature & time according to what works for your oven as each oven is different. Cool completely before storing in airtight container. Best consumed a day later when flavours have become more balanced.

*NOTES ON INGREDIENTS:

- Rice flour: Helps to reduce overall gluten content for a tender cookie, increase crispiness. Adding too much will make the cookie drier & more crumbly. May replace with plain flour if you prefer a sturdier cookie

- Full cream milk powder: The secret ingredient that imparts flavour without adding sugar. Helps to prevent cookies from becoming too dry

- Black sesame powder: This is actually ground black sesame so you may replace 1:1 for any ground seed or nuts of your choice such as white sesame, pumpkin seed, almond, hazelnut, pistachio etc. You may also replace with plain flour & milk powder as plain flour alone would be too dry without the oils that seeds & nuts have. Feel free to add a little vanilla extract for substitutions that are mildly flavoured

with love,
Phay Shing

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Yuzu Honey Long-Tailed Hokkaido Tit Marshmallows

 While preparing for my "cat in ice-cream cone" marshmallow class, I couldn't resist making these adorable birds because I can use the exact same batter for the brown and white parts of the birds.

Long-tailed Hokkaido tit marshmallows modeled after the figurine version which is also in this picture. Can you identify the figurine amongst the marshmallows?

Here's a video of the piping tutorial:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Db_-gJgSE2S/?igsh=aGJsOW0wbmpod3M1

Here's a works-in-progress shot of the piped marshmallows...

I am so glad that I can colour marshmallows brown naturally with low fat cocoa powder from Callebaut ever since it became available from Redman! 

Low fat cocoa powder (<1%) is excellent for meringue-based bakes like macarons, meringue cookies, chiffon sponges and of course piped character marshmallows because most easily available cocoa powder have much higher fat content of 20-25% which deflates the meringue quickly, resulting in dense bakes.

Fluffy chocolate marshmallows are now possible! stay tuned for an upcoming chocolate marshmallow character in a future post!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Lychee & Rose Iced Gems Biscuits

 This was quite an impromptu bake because I was suddenly inspired by another baker to incorporate the flavours of lychee and rose into a Singapore National Day bake. Presenting my lychee and rose iced gems!

The biscuit is light and crisp!

Those of you who have followed our blog long enough will know that my attempts at old school iced gems began more than a decade ago. I shared the improved version and used egg whites for the royal icing instead of meringue powder in a post 2 years ago over here. You may refer to it for the detailed recipe and important baker's notes for the vanilla flavoured ones. I will share the ingredient list and baker's notes for the lychee and rose flavoured gems in this post.

(Makes about 100-110 biscuits)
Biscuit base:
140g plain flour 
1 tbs (10g) full cream milk powder
2 tsp baking powder
20g icing sugar 
1/8 tsp salt
50g vegetable shortening
50-60g milk or as much as needed to form dough
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

White lychee royal icing*:
15g egg whites
1/16 tsp cream of tartar
70g icing sugar
2-3g lychee powder*
2 drops lychee flavouring* (optional)

Red rose royal icing*:
16g egg whites
1/16 tsp cream of tartar
1/16 tsp red powder colouring
75g icing sugar
3g rose syrup or 1/8 tsp rose water*

You may refer to the reel below for the method and visuals of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dbsi9lmJ33a/?igsh=MWoycnQzcXJyZGNvdw==

The key to making the biscuits really light and crisp is to make sure that the biscuits have absolutely no moisture by the time they are done, including after drying out the royal icing. So some patience is needed to make these really yummy. Take your time to dry them out using the oven. Once the biscuits become less crisp during storage, you can pop them back into low temperature oven at 70-80C to recrisp again

*Notes on ingredients:

🔸Royal icing: I shared how to use fresh egg whites to make royal icing here. While it's great for home bakers who don't want to buy a tub of meringue powder just to make these biscuits, using meringue powder to make royal icing makes it easier to incorporate lychee and rose flavours without affecting the icing consistency too much. If using meringue powder, instead of adding water, you can use lychee syrup or puree to make lychee royal icing, and more rose syrup can be used to impart a stronger rose flavour if meringue powder is used instead of egg whites. See alternative recipe for royal icing using meringue powder below.

🔸Lychee powder: Imparts strong lychee flavour without adding more fluids and it doesn't have a chemical aftertaste that lychee flavouring tends to have. If you don't have access to it, you may add 1/8 tsp lychee flavouring. If you have access to freeze-dried lychee, you may grind and sift it with icing sugar to impart lychee flavour to the icing too

🔸 Red powder colouring: I used Ng Chee Lee brand of powder coloring, the same one that's used to colour Ang Ku Kueh. A little goes a long way and it doesn't leave a chemical aftertaste

🔸Rose syrup: It's the same syrup used to make a popular drink, Bandung, in Singapore. You may replace it with 1/8 tsp rose water if you wish. I prefer using rose syrup to rose water for imparting rose flavours because there is less chemical aftertaste but this is a personal preference so your opinion may differ from mine. The rose flavour is subtle in the recipe I shared with fresh egg whites as adding too much rose syrup will make it harder for the meringue to reach stiff peak. If you prefer stronger rose flavour, use rose water or switch to meringue powder instead of egg whites

Alternate royal icing recipe using meringue powder:

125g icing sugar

9g meringue powder 

18g drinking safe water**

2g light corn syrup

1. Whisk together icing sugar and meringue powder

2. Add water and light corn syrup and beat using electric mixer until stiff peaks. 

** For flavoured royal icing, replace all or part of the water with puree or syrup. Adjust consistency of icing accordingly. Adding a drop of water at a time if it's too dry, adding a little icing sugar (not too much or the icing will turn hard to bite) if too wet.

Happy Birthday Singapore! I am really thankful to be a Singaporean!

with love,
Phay Shing

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Bulldog and Poodle Dark Chocolate Pistachio Macarons

 My friend requested for bulldog macarons again for her dad's birthday after 10 years. This time round there are poodles joining them!

 

I filled the macarons with dairy-free tropical weather stable dark chocolate ganache and homemade pistachio butter lightened with some Swiss meringue buttercream. You may see this post to see the version I made 10 years ago.

This may seem like a routine character macaron bake for me but it's only the second time I am using a single oven to oven dry and bake complex character macarons at home because I had been super scared of cracking the shells after spending a long time piping! So glad to have figured out the drying and baking temperature settings to make it work with my new oven that I bought end of last year!

I used my default Swiss meringue method recipe. Here's a picture of all the macaron shells with the dogs partially decorated finish with edible marker and paint for the shadows.

The round shells made from leftover batter were oven dried then baked too! Such a time saver!

Fully decorated macaron shells. I used a sprinkle for the medallion and a little royal icing for the collar and tongue

Close up views of the filled macarons...

The reel for the process of making these dog macarons:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DbWxv69SpVy/?igsh=bzA2OHpwZnp0ejVj

Thank God they were very well received!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Dubai Chewy Cookie (for CAM)

Here's the recipe for Dubai Chewy Cookie for upcoming Culinary Arts Ministry class. In addition to the classic flavour, I've added another flavour variation for the young-at-heart!

Dubai Chewy Cookie Recipe 
Makes 12

Classic pistachio kunafa filling
28g toasted kataifi pastry
47g pistachio cream (35%)
3g tahini
Pinch of salt (1/12 tsp)

Biscoff kunafa filling
22g toasted kataifi pastry
41g Biscoff crunchy spread
15g pistachio cream (35%)
Pinch of salt (1/12 tsp)

Chewy chocolate skin
25g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
72g marshmallows (~13)
10g cocoa powder (natural), sifted
5g milk powder
Extra cocoa powder for coating, sifted (7g)
Oil for lightly greasing gloves (12g)


1. Make the filling. Add the toasted kataifi pastry to the pistachio cream, tahini and salt, and mix well with a spatula. Do likewise for the Biscoff version.

2. Divide each filling mixture into 6 balls (~12g). *Chilling helps to harden but is optional.

3. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the marshmallows and unsalted butter. Microwave for about 20-25 secs until the marshmallows are half melted.

4. Remove from the microwave and mix with a spatula. Add the cocoa powder and milk powder and mix until fully combined.

5. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Lightly oil your gloves and spatula.

6. Divide the chocolate marshmallow mixture into 12 portions (~9g).

7. Flatten one portion in your palm, place a pistachio kunafa ball in the center, and wrap the marshmallow mixture around it. Do this for all 12 balls.

8. Roll the entire cookie in cocoa powder to coat the outside.

9. Let the cookies sit at room temperature (30 mins) until the exterior sets slightly and becomes chewy.

Here is a video tutorial, bear version =).

God bless! With love,

Susanne

  

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Reduced-Sugar 3D Hedgehog Macarons with Pistachio and Strawberry

 I made 3D hedgehog macarons years ago as one of my early experiments creating 3D macaron shells in 2017, for a client in 2018 and as an entry in my Macaron Basics book in 2018. I decided to give it a makeover and this was what I came up with!

This was a personal project that I did to satisfy my curiosity on a number of things:

1. Using ultra low fat cocoa powder (<1%) for making macaron shells

2. Revisiting my hedgehog macaron design with the following tweaks to the design-- 1) giving the hedgehogs little stubby feet. 2) Changing the quills to textured macaron batter from barely macaronaged batter. 3) Trying to see if I can create the snout out of "gravity-defying" macaron batter to make the little upturned noses more endearing 

3. Challenging myself to see if it can all work with a reduced-sugar recipe (I was questioning the wisdom of this halfway through working it as I could tell the meringue is less stable and batter was deflating with time. It also resulted in a tray of exploded shells during baking but with more careful management of subsequent trays from the same batch of batter, it's all good!)

I filled the macaron shells with pistachio Swiss meringue buttercream and strawberry jelly. I made the pistachio butter and strawberry jam (reduced sugar) from scratch.

The hemispherical shape of the top shell was created by piping on silicone hemispherical mold.

See the reel of the process and recipe over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Da9B2mAS2-K/?igsh=MXYweXJzZXcyaHhjNg==

with love,

Phay Shing

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Tea Time Sugar-Free Bakes

 Someone requested that I teach a baking class featuring simple bakes without sugar, one sweet treat and one savoury treat. This was what I came up with!

The savoury treat is Gougeres, a cheese-based Choux pastry that can be enjoyed with or without a filling/dip. 

I use a combination of Gruyere and mature Cheddar with a sprinkling of Parmesan as well as some seasonings to impart flavour to the pastry without adding table salt.

Thee this reel for a better look at the pastries along with the ASMR of how crunchy they are!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Dal2r59S3cj/?igsh=MTl2ZTd0bTdqamN0dA==

The sweet treat is a sugar-free lychee blueberry cake with blue china butterfly pattern as the design as requested. The cake composition includes:

- Sugar-free lychee chiffon sponge

- Blueberry compote made without any sugar added

- Blueberry mascarpone whipped cream without sugar added

- Wafer paper butterflies as optional decorations

You may watch this reel for a peek at the process of making the mini cakes!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DatlC2YyEQS/?igsh=cDBidHlnbjBtbnJm

I have both studio and online class for this. Studio class participants will have access to online class material for free. The online class doesn't have expiry date.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Chiikawa, Usagi and Hachiware Brown Sugar Cookies

 Besides macarons, my friend requested some brown sugar cookies of Chiikawa and friends too!

Here's a peek at the cookies without the facial details added in:

Can you spot which ones are cookies and which ones are macarons?

I tried my best to match the shade of colors between the two different types of bakes!

I use my default brown sugar cookie recipe to make these as she loves them and request for them every year without fail since early 2015!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Sugar-Free Vanilla Chiffon Bees

 I made some chiffon cake bees and used one of them as a cake topper for a sugar-free gender reveal cake!

The bee means something special to the couple that's why it's included as part of the decoration. I made it sugar-free as requested by my friend but you can make it with white sugar.

BEE MAIN BODY
Egg yolk batter:
16g milk
12g oil
Pinch of salt
1/8 tsp vanilla
20g cake flour, sifted
1 egg yolk
1-2 drops yellow gel colouring (optional)

Meringue:
1 egg white (36-40g)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar 
15-20g sugar of choice*

WHITE WINGS & EYE HIGHLIGHTS
See my previous post for the pandan vanilla chiffon cake recipe that I used.

BLACK EYES
5g butter/oil
5g cake flour
5g icing sugar
5g egg whites
1/16 tsp charcoal powder/black cocoa powder

FEELERS
Angel hair pasta
Black batter for making the eyes

OTHERS
- Pink lustre dust for rosy cheeks
- Black edible marker for mouth & stripe outlines
- Bloomed & melted gelatin used as glue for the wings & eyes. I used a ratio of 1:6 for gelatin:water
- Charcoal powder + water as black paint. I didn't measure as I just added drinking safe water to charcoal powder until it was a good painting consistency. Allow the paint to dry on the chiffon sponge before direct handling to prevent accidental smudges

* I used a blend of sugar replacements & prebiotic soluble fibers instead of white sugar. Unable to disclose type & ratio at the moment.

See the reel for the process of making the bees and the method in the pinned comments of the reel:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaOrloUyu-Y/?igsh=MW9uYTR5dmQwM25oNg==

with love,
Phay Shing

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Sugar-Free Gender Reveal Mango Pandan Coconut Sponge & Pudding Cake

 My friend requested for a sugar-free gender reveal cake and this was what I came up with!

Most gender reveal cakes involve cutting the cake and revealing either coloured sponges, buttercream or confetti sprinkles in the colour of the baby's gender. The content creator part of me wanted to film the reveal without having to destroy the cake so that I don't have to repair the cake/make another one after filming the reveal 🤭.

 That's why I came up with a simple reveal mechanism made of food-safe materials that I already have at home. I am surprised that this isn't the standard way reveal is done because it's so fun, dramatic, so simple to make, AND it doesn't destroy the cake!

The recipe I share can be made with regular white sugar although my friend requested for the use of sugar replacements omitting sugar altogether where possible. I made use of natural food sources as colouring where possible too! Such as the use of fresh red dragonfruit puree for making the hidden pink cake bites.

Pink cake bites in the shape of mini croissants and mini macarons

Cake composition:

- Red dragonfruit sugar-free chiffon cake bites with a little strawberry jelly

- Vanilla sugar-free chiffon cake bee

- Vanilla.pandan sugar-free chiffon cake sponge layers and white bubbles

- No-sugar-added mango pandan coconut pudding

- Fresh blueberries and red cherries as decorations

Here's a peek of the cake and hidden surprise before the cake topper is in place 

You may refer to my earlier blog post for the no-sugar-added mango pandan coconut pudding recipe. Here's the rest of the recipe for the various chiffon sponges. 

PINK/WHITE CHIFFON:
18g cake flour 
Pinch of salt
10g oil
20g liquid*

1 egg white (36-40g)
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
16g sugar of choice*

STRAWBERRY JELLY GLUE:
5g strawberry jam 
1 toothpick dip of strawberry emulsion
14g water
2g gelatin

VANILLA PANDAN CHIFFON LAYERS:
(makes two 9" cakes):
8 egg yolks
96g oil
60g pandan water**
60g milk
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract 
164g cake flour

8 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
140g sugar of choice*

* Liquid:
Pink: 20g sieved red dragonfruit puree. Replace 1/4-1/2 with water if prefer lighter pink. Add a tiny dip of strawberry emulsion for a hint of berry fragrance 

White: 10g pandan water** + 10g milk+ a few drops of vanilla extract+ a few drops white colouring

* Sugar of choice:
I used a blend of sugar replacements & prebiotic soluble fibres to replace white sugar. Not able to disclose type & ratios as it's class material

**Boil a few pandan leaves in 500g of water. Simmer for 10 min. Discard leaves 
I used bloomed & melted gelatin as glue for the fresh fruit & chiffon parts in a ratio of 1:6 for gelatin : water

Please see this reel for the process and method:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZ_O2RbSric/?igsh=eGdiZXh4MG5lNWJt

I will share the recipe for the bee, including a video tutorial for it in another post.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Chiikawa, Usagi and Hachiware Strawberry and Biscoff Macarons

 My friend requested for Chiikawa and friends macarons again for her daughter but this time round, I made the heads-only version.

Check out the full body version over here.

I filled the macarons with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and crunchy Biscoff.

To keep the macaron shells white/pastel, I added white powder colouring to the sifted dry ingredients and a tiny drop of purple to the egg whites for making the meringue. You may refer to this post for my default Swiss meringue method recipe.

Freshly baked shells!

With each passing year, decorating my bakes with fine facial details and multiple pieces gets more arduous due to inevitable ageing 😅. I usually make extras in case of accidental uglification.

See if you can spot the ones that look a little weird 🤭

See the process of making these macarons over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZlezvtSLZj/?igsh=MTd2NDE3aTc1dzZzbg==

I made brown sugar cookie version of these too which I will share in another post!

with love,

Phay Shing

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No-Sugar-Added Mango Pandan Coconut Pudding

 This is so refreshing, delicious and simple I felt it had to be a blog post on its own instead of being part of my upcoming mango sponge and pudding cake!

Father's Day is just around the corner and I thought this is perfect for dads who like a sweet (but not too sweet) refreshing treat that isn't harmful for health. Of course sugar can be added for dads who love it really sweet. But my family finds it unnecessary to add sugar when you choose really sweet and ripe mangoes.

This recipe is an adaptation of the pudding layer in pandan kaya cakes so the texture is like a soft steamed kueh which is different from the usual gelatin-based mango puddings. This recipe is suitable for vegans too as it doesn't contain gelatin or eggs. 

Feel free to scale the recipe up or down according to the portion size you want.

Ingredients:

A) 
80g coconut milk
180g mango puree (blended without sieving)
50g pandan water*
2g agar powder (about 3/4 tsp)
A pinch of salt (optional)

B)
18g corn starch
100g pandan water*

* Put 3 pandan leaves cut into shorter strips in about 500g water. Bring to a boil & simmer for 10 min. Discard the leaves. Cool to room temperature before using

Method:
1. Bloom agar in water in A) for 5 min in a saucepan. Add the rest of the ingredients in A) into saucepan

2. Mix ingredients in B) in a jug. Set aside 

3. Bring 1. to boil, whisking constantly

4. Stir 2. until cornstarch is suspended again. Slowly pour in a thin stream into 3 while whisking constantly 

5. Keep cooking & whisking until pudding starts to boil again. Continue whisking & cooking for another minute before removing from heat. 

6. Sieve through a fine sieve before layering with sponge or pouring into molds. This is optional if you don't want the pudding to cool & set too quickly while you work. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before unmolding or serving

Go and look for some really ripe mangoes and whip up this treat for your dad!

Here's the video of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZvyDIWSpVv/?igsh=MTd0eTR4OXZzOTRpYw==

Pardon the lack of photos because the video and photo of the pudding was taken in a hurry as I worked concurrently on the main bake/ videos for the main bake.

With love,

Phay Shing

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Matcha Strawberry Wedding Macarons

 I was tasked to make 80 wedding macarons with a very specific design and shade of green. This was what I made!

Matcha macarons filled with strawberry and matcha ganaches. The shells were decorated with royal icing and edible paint made from gold and silver dust. As these were meant to be gifts for guests to bring home, I made the fillings dairy-free and temperature stable without compromising the flavour.

A closer view from the side!

 Check out the feedback I got for the taste!

It has taken me many years and iterations to find a filling base that can accommodate different flavours and yet be practical enough for gifting in tropical Singapore. 

I made the macaron shells using my Swiss method recipe but with premium Matcha powder added.

Please see the reel for the process of making these macarons and for the recipe:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DZdwe0ASXmK/?igsh=bmpwdGhkb2hrNnpy

with love,

Phay Shing 

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