Giant Strawberry Milkshake Chiffon Cake

 

Do you dream of a Giant Strawberry Milk Shake? 🍓🥰 This was inspired by a giant plushie, and I thought it was super adorable with strawberries in it!

This is a caffeine-free, level up version of the Giant Boba Milk Tea Cake! 😛 Instead of "pearls", we have "strawberries" inside the drink =).

Which one do you like more? Strawberry or tea? =) I am already feeling thirsty looking at them!

And here is another cute shot of the Strawberry cake!

There are many fun techniques to pattern the sides of the chiffon cakes, shared in my Deco Chiffon Cake Basics cookbook! This uses the patterning and pre-baking method.

Hope this made you smile too! Have a wonderful week! 💗😘

With lots of love,

Susanne

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Depressed Dave Lavender Macarons

Hubby's book on depression is finally launching! He wrote a book based on his Depressed Dave comics about depression. This is not just another self help book for mental health wellness full of platitudes or toxic positivity. It is written by a depression sufferer and rooted in real life. Despite its seemingly heavy content, there is humour in there. It covers what a person with depression feels like, treatment options, how friends and family can help to support the sufferer, as well as what are some of the unhelpful things that people do to mental health sufferers. Hubby wrote the book in the hope that it will help those who are suffering to understand their condition better, to seek help and get the support they need, as well as for people in general to have a better understanding of depression. Here is my macaron version of the book cover but done in reversed colours! 

A closer look at the macaron version! 

You may checkout @depdavecomics (Instagram account) for a glimpse of what the comic is like. Hubby's focus has always been about the message and not so much about the art. So he used stick figures for his comic. While these are easier to draw, it is a challenge to create in macaron form 🤣. All the stick thin limbs and floating heads! I had to ponder how to make it work. 

So glad I managed it! 

I had lots of leftover white batter from premaking some macaron shells for class so I made the macarons. You may refer to this post for my Swiss meringue method recipe that I used for the white based macaron shells. 

I filled the macarons with lavender white chocolate ganache because lavender is known for its calming properties. Apt for helping to lift the mood although it is not a cure for depression hehe. Water based ganache are great for tea flavours as you extract the flavour from tea leaves or flowers better than using milk or cream. 

Water-based Lavender white chocolate ganache

Ingredients:

72g white chocolate couverture or finely chopped 

12g cocoa butter (may substitute with white chocolate) 

15g unsalted butter 

1/8 tsp salt

40g boiling water

10g dried lavender flowers

Steps :

1. Steep lavender flowers in boiling water for 10 min. Strain out the flowers and squeeze as much liquid out of the flowers. Don't need to top up with more water. Set aside the lavender tea. 

2. Combine white chocolate, cocoa butter, butter and salt in a microwave safe or heatproof bowl. Melt everything and stir until melted. Be careful not to overheat. Set aside to firm up at room temperature if you live in a temperate climate. You may want to chill the melted chocolate mix in the fridge for 15 min or until toothpaste consistency. 

3. Use an electric mixer to briefly whip the chocolate mix until light and fluffy like buttercream. 

4. Add lavender tea into the chocolate mix one tsp at a time and whip until combined. Transfer into piping bag and fill the shells. 

Filling up the crossing. 

I decorated the macarons using black royal icing. 

You may refer to this blog post about the book and the related events which are happening via zoom. Registration is free! I will be involved in one of the sessions as part of the panel which includes the caregiver (me), a psychologist (his ex-therapist) and a friend who has been supporting him in his journey. 

With lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Animal Crossing Tom Nook Chiffon Cake

 

Can you tell which character is this from Animal crossing: New Horizons?? 💖😍

Yes it's Tom Nook! I promised someone before that I would try it 🥰. Was really busy so took a long time to get to it. I am very excited to finally make it!

Tip to bakers: Always remember to flip your templates! 😘 The clothes was the most challenging part.

Hope you liked this labour of love!

With lots of love, 

Susanne

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Cute Chocolate Bunny Choux Pastry Class

This is one class that was full before I even had a chance to advertise for it! 

Chocolate bunny choux pastries! 

Fret not if you are interested. There will be a rerun of this class on 3rd April 2021 with ArtZ Baking and Culinary Studio. 

You will learn the basics of choux au craquelin, how to assemble and decorate this bunny design, and how to make chocolate diplomat cream. 

I found some really cute backdrops at Popular bookshop I could use for photography and I couldn't resist having fun with them! 

It looks almost like a storyboard of sorts! 

Do contact Sharon from ArtZ Baking and Culinary if you are interested to join the class in April 2021. 

With love, 

Phay Shing

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No-Churn Salted Caramel Biscoff Ice-cream

I seem to have many macaron classes these days so I am generating too many egg yolks, more than I can comfortably incorporate in cooking for the family. So I decided to make some ice-cream 😊. Salted caramel biscoff flavoured! 

My younger kid's favourite flavour! 

I found out by accident some time back that the frozen diplomat cream I make for choux pastry fillings make excellent ice-creams when frozen. I did some research recently and found that one of the versions of no-churn old fashioned ice-cream is precisely frozen diplomat cream! 

Why use egg yolks in ice-cream making? Because egg yolks are natural emulsifiers! Many cheap commercial ice-creams sold in tubs contain artificial emulsifiers to keep the ice-cream creamy and scoopable. Many no-churn ice-cream recipes are condensed milk based. While the condensed milk version is simple as it contains few ingredients, you can't control the amount of sugar in your ice-cream and it does tend to be rather sweet. You can have total control over how much sugar goes into cooked custard based ice-creams, like this one that I am sharing. 

I make my own salted caramel and usually keep some in the freezer, so making this ice-cream wasn't too troublesome. If you don't have salted caramel on hand, you may refer to this recipe to make some before you make the ice-cream. I make and store my salted caramel in quite a firm state. For incorporating it into ice-cream, you have to thin it a little with milk or the salted caramel bits will be really hard when frozen. Prepare some salted caramel with consistency thin enough to flow off a spoon easily. You may choose to fold the caramel into the ice-cream or drizzle over each scoop. The great thing about homemade ice-cream is there's so many things you can adjust according to taste 😊 so feel free to adjust the ingredient quantity based on your preference. 

Salted caramel that is thinned with milk and some biscoff biscuits in the process of being crushed. I do the old fashioned way of using a pestle to grind the biscuits. 

Ingredients :

4 or 5 egg yolks
20g cornflour 
50g brown sugar (use white sugar for other flavours that don't go well with brown sugar. This level of sugar is already quite low but you may increase or reduce according to taste. ) 
2 tsp vanilla extract /beanpaste
1/8 tsp salt
240g fresh milk
240g heavy cream
2 gelatin sheets, bloomed in ice water
1/4 cup homemade salted caramel, thinned with milk
100g biscoff biscuits, coarsely crushed

Steps:

1. Heat heavy cream in saucepan until steaming (not boiling or bubbling), about 70°C. Remove from heat. Combine bloomed gelatin sheets (squeeze out excess water) and hot cream in a bowl. Whisk until gelatin is melted. Press a cling wrap on the surface and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight. 

2. Heat milk and vanilla in saucepan until steaming (not boiling). In the meantime, whisk egg yolks, brown sugar, cornflour and salt together in a glass measuring jug or heavy mixing bowl. 

3. When milk is hot enough, remove from heat and pour in a thin stream into the egg yolk mixture, whisking the egg yolk mixture continuously. Pour everything back into saucepan. 

4. Cook the custard over medium low heat while whisking continuously. Once the mixture starts to thicken, remove from heat and continue to whisk until mixture is smooth again. Return the saucepan back to heat and keep whisking and cooking until thickened, about 2 minutes more. Be careful not to use too high heat or you get scrambled eggs. 

5. Sieve custard into a bowl and press cling wrap on the surface. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1h or overnight. 

6. Take out set heavy cream from fridge. Consistency is like panna cotta. 

Use an electric mixer to beat until stiff peaks. 

7. Take out set custard/pastry cream from fridge and whip briefly with a spatula to loosen it up 

8. Fold whipped cream into custard in a few additions.

9. Fold in crushed biscoff biscuits. 

10. Fold in salted caramel (optional if you are serving ice-cream with salted caramel drizzled over) . 

11. Spread the mixture in a thin layer in a container or lined baking tray. As thin a layer as possible as it helps the diplomat cream to freeze quickly. Ice-cream that is quickly frozen is easier to scoop too because any ice crystals that form will not have chance to grow too big. Freeze for 1.5-2h for a softer-serve, overnight for a firmer ice-cream. 

You may serve the ice-cream with more crushed biscoff biscuits and/or salted caramel! 

Enjoy! 

With love, 

Phay Shing 

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Share Bear Chiffon Cake (Care Bears)

Very honored and excited to be commissioned to make a Share Bear cake by Carebears!! 💜💖

Really thank God for providing! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw their email! 

I've been a super big fan of Carebears since young so its a dream come true for me! Hope this cute cake makes you smile too!! 🥰💕

Which is plush and which is cake?? Hehe =)

With lots of love,

Susanne

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'Kirby and Super Mario at the Beach' Strawberry and Dark Chocolate Macarons

I had fun creating this scene for a fan of Nintendo games 😊.

Kirby and Mario at the beach with some sea creatures! The rocks, sand and sea are all edible and not made out of fondant! 

I used the Swiss meringue method to make this batch of macarons along with another request. It was a whooping 12 colours from one batch of macaron batter! I worked till past midnight for this one, which isn't usual for me. You may refer to this post for the macaron shell recipe. Just to share some pictures of the process... 

Piping the coconut trees. It was a foolish move to make the trunk so long and thin 😅. But I found a way around working with such fragile structure. Not thinking straight when I was designing this 

Piping Super Mario. This was actually piped last so I was pretty tired by then 😴

Piping the sea creatures and Kirby in a float! 

Freshly baked shells along with the other set! 

Decorated macaron shells! I used black edible marker, some royal icing and white sprinkles with black royal icing in tbe middle (for some of the eyes). 

The macarons were filled with firm strawberry ganache or dark chocolate ganache. You may refer to this post for the dark chocolate ganache recipe. I was hard pressed for time so I didn't make the strawberry ganache by using homemade compote. I used freeze-dried strawberry powder instead, which still tastes great! But more costly. Using freeze-dried strawberry isnt what I usually do so I will share the recipe in this post. You may refer to the version using homemade jam/compote in this post.

Firm strawberry ganache (using freeze-dried strawberry powder) 

Ingredients:

66g White chocolate, chopped or chips or courveture

12g Unsalted butter 

18g Heavy cream

1/8 tsp Salt

8g Freeze-dried strawberry powder 

1/8 tsp Strawberry paste (optional) 

Steps:

1. Place white chocolate, butter, cream and salt into a microwave-safe or heatproof bowl, depending on how you are melting the mix. Use medium-low power at 10 sec bursts to melt or set heatproof bowl over pot of freshly boiled water without water touching the base of the bowl. Be careful not to overheat white chocolate. 

2. Add freeze-dried strawberry powder and mix well. Add strawberry paste and mix well. 

3. Chill in freezer for 1 to 2min and use spatula to mix well. Repeat freezing and whipping until buttercream-like. Transfer to piping bag to fill the macaron shells. 

Strawberry and dark chocolate ganache

Filling the macaron shells! 

If you google for how to make edible rocks, you probably come across recipes that call for white chocolate/candy melts, condensed milk and crushed oreo cookies. My version uses either 2 or 3 ingredients, depending on whether you are doing the conventional way or my short-cut method. 

I made some rocks by kneading in crushed oreo crumbs into white modelling chocolate but realised that you can do a shortcut of simply kneading white compound chocolate chips together using heat from your fingers, and then kneading in the crushed oreo. If you are interested in the firm white modelling chocolate recipe, you may refer to this post. I reduced the amount of corn syrup by 1 gram as I wanted it firm and easy enough to work with. Always use cling wrap as a barrier between your fingers and the chocolate, to make it easier to work with. 

Ta-dah! It looks so real but you can make this in less than a minute!
I made the pearl in a similar way. Just roll 2 white chocolate chips together to form a ball then brush on some silvery lustre dust.
I used lighly toasted ground almond for the sand and stiff royal icing for the sea.
I hope this creation brought a smile on your face as it did mine 😊.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Tomato, Cheese and Herb Cakelets

I have made a savoury chiffon years ago in the form of tomato chiffon cake "tomatoes". You can read about it in this blog post. I decided to revisit it again but adding another savoury element between layers of the savoury chiffon sponge this time round in the form of tomato aspic (tomato gelatin)!

I have to admit that you need to be mentally prepared that you are eating a savoury cake because if you are expecting something sweet, this may come as a shock 🤣. Think of this as a savoury cold dish, like an appetizer, and as hubby said, it is yummy because he was prepared for the flavours! 

I modified the recipe I used years ago slightly by adding in more sugar in the meringue for more stability and I used canned tomato paste (no salt or seasoning added) so some dilution was needed. You may refer to my original recipe and post over here. 

I will share the updated recipe for the chiffon sponge and the tomato aspic in this post. I baked the sponge as a flat sheet cake which can be cut into circles to assemble as cakelets in moulds or in cupcake cases as a savoury cupcake. 

Tomato, cheese and herb chiffon recipe

Ingredients (makes one 10x12" sheet cake):

Egg yolk batter

2 egg yolks

11g canned tomato paste  (mine is not seasoned) 

24g water

22g olive oil

10g finely grated Parmesan cheese

1/4-1/2 tsp salt (according to taste. I used 1/2 tsp but a recipient said it could do with less salt) 

1/16tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

40g cake flour

Meringue

3 egg whites 

1/5 tsp cream of tartar

20g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cornflour (optional, mix with caster sugar) 

Steps:

1. Line baking tray with parchment paper or teflon sheet. Preheat oven to 170°C. Position oven rack in the middle. 

2. Make egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks until thick and pale. Add olive oil and whisk until well combined. Add tomato paste, water, salt and seasoning and whisk until well combined. Gradually sift in flour and whisk until no trace of flour is seen. 

3. Prepare meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until stiff peaks form, gradually adding in sugar once egg whites are foamy. 

4. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in three additions. Pour batter into prepared tray. 

5. Bake for 12-14 min or until skewer comes out clean. Immediately flip the cake onto a fresh sheet of parchment paper and cool completely with another parchment paper over it. 

6. Use round cookie cutter to cut out pieces of cake for assembly with tomato aspic according to size of your cupcake cases/moulds. Store cutouts in airtight container. 

Freshly baked and cut chiffon sponges! 

Recipe for tomato aspic
Ingredients:

100g canned tomato paste

350g hot water (doesn't have to be roiling boil) 

10 gelatin sheets bloomed in ice water 

1/4 - 3/4 tsp himalayan pink salt (or salt of your choice. Adjust according to taste) 

1 tsp honey (or to taste) 

1/8 tsp Tabasco sauce (optional) 

Steps:

1. Squeeze excess ice water out of bloomed gelatin. Place bloomed gelatin in a microwave safe bowl (or heatproof bowl if you don't have a microwave). Melt the gelatin in using low power in 10 second bursts, or place heatproof bowl in a pot of hot water to gently melt the gelatin. 

2. Mix tomato paste, hot water, salt honey and tabasco sauce until well combined. 

3. Add melted gelatin to tomato mixture and whisk until gelatin is dissolved. 

4. Strain the mixture if you prefer to remove the tomato fibres out. You may use the tomato mixture as it is if you prefer to leave the fibres in. 

To assemble, alternate layering sponge and tomato aspic. Chill in fridge overnight or at least 2h before unmoulding if you are using silicone moulds. 

This is the cupcake version. 

If you are adventurous enough to try making a savoury cupcake, give this a try 😊! 

With love, 

Phay Shing

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Watermelon and Cute Animals Snowskin Mooncakes

 

Which do you like? Watermelon or cute animals? =)

Snowskin lotus paste mooncakes with a cute modern twist! ❤ 

I will be sharing how to make the cute animals mooncakes on FB live this Friday 730pm on Sun plaza FB page. Do join us if you are free! =)

My "watermelon" family snowkin mooncakes!

And here's how the inside of the watermelon looks like!

With lots of love,

Susanne

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Lychee Raspberry Rose Snowskin Mooncake

 I didn't plan to make mooncakes this year because I am really swamped by too many things. But a friend had leftover ingredients from making lychee snowskin mooncakes so she passed it to me. The reduced sugar lychee lotus paste, snowskin flour premix and cooked glutinous rice flour (kou fien) are all bought from Redman. She also passed me a set of mooncake moulds and I used it to make these 😊.

Lychee raspberry rose snowskin mooncakes with a little chopped walnuts, almonds, dried cranberries and freeze-dried raspberry powder added to the lychee paste for a little variation in texture and taste. 

I have decided to blog about this so that I have a proper record of this recipe, in case I want to try it again. 

The mooncake mould I used is for approximately 50g dough + filling. I adapted this recipe from my favourite default snowskin recipe that I use when I made snowskin mooncakes to sell because it had the softest texture and able to stay soft and moist the longest. You may read about it in this post. 

Recipe for filling

Ingredients (makes 12 small mooncakes) :

280g lychee reduced sugar lotus paste

1.5 tsp freeze-dried raspberry powder*

1tbs chopped walnuts*

1/2 tbs chopped almonds*

1/2 tbs chopped dried cranberries*

* you may adjust quantity or omit according to taste. 

Steps:

1. Add raspberry powder to paste and knead until evenly distributed. 

2. Knead the chopped ingredients into the lotus paste until evenly distributed. 

3. Divide into 12 balls, about 24g each. You may prepare this a day ahead of time if you are busy. Store in airtight container at room temperature. 

Lychee lotus paste with goodies added in

Recipe for raspberry rose lychee snowskin

Ingredients:

26g kou fien + extra for dusting 

26g icing sugar

104g snowskin premix (replace with 52g icing sugar and 52g kou fien if not available) 

26g vegetable shortening

90g boiled water

10g rose syrup (the type for making bandung) 

35g raspberry puree, strain out the pips

2 drops lychee flavouring (optional) 

Pink, white and purple gel food colouring (optional if you are not making the flower pattern in different colour ) 

Steps:

1. Sift together icing sugar, kou fien and snowskin premix into a mixing bowl. Set aside. 

2. Place vegetable shortening and the rest of the ingredients in a small saucepan and heat while stirring until shortening is totally melted. 

3. Pour heated liquid into sifted flour mix and use spatula to mix until a dough forms. Cover with cling wrap and let it rest until cool enough to handle with your hands, about 15 minutes. The dough appears rough at this stage and it is ok. 

4. Portion out a little dough (1-2g) and colour it white for the flower center. Portion out 22-24g dough and colour it dark purple. Keep the coloured dough covered to prevent drying out. 

5. Portion the rest of the dough to 22-23g balls. Keep covered to prevent drying out. 

Assembly

1. Knead the 23g ball of dough until smooth between parchment paper, dusting with kou fien as necessary. Flatten into a circle and wrap a ball of filling with it. You may put this in the mould to press it out if you aren't making the coloured flower pattern. 

2. To make the flower, very lightly dust the insides of the mould with kou fien. Put a little white dough in the center and press it in with a finger wrapped with cling wrap. Cover the petal portions with dark purple dough and press in the same way. 

This is how it should look like. The wrapped filling on the left and the mooncake mould with flower pattern on the right. 

3. Brush the flower pattern with a little water so that the main dough with filling will stick to it. Lightly dust the sides of the wrapped filling and carefully insert into the mould. Press it firmly to make the pattern.

 4. Refrigerate in airtight container for at least a day before consuming. The snowskin texture is mochi-like for the first day or two before settling down to the familiar snowskin texture. 

You can flavour your snowskin mooncakes any way you like and have fun with the wide variety of fillings Redman offers! 

With love,

Phay Shing 

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Hello Kitty Donut Tower Chiffon

 

Knock knock!! It’s HERE! One of our all-time favorite Sanrio characters is here!

Introducing the Hello Kitty Donut Tower Chiffon Online Baking Class and Kit! 💖💖

Very thankful for the opportunity to collaborate with Sanrio on official licensed Sanrio baking classes.

In the online class, you will learn how to make a special two-tier pinata wavy pattern chiffon cake with a 3D Hello Kitty chiffon and a super delightful surprise! In addition, a new flavour refreshing lemon chiffon is shared!🍋 Official Sanrio Hello Kitty templates and downloadable recipe are provided.

 

Sign up in link is here. 

 

The online class is available to everyone, and launching at special promo price now.

Baking kits with pans are also available for delivery to your doorstep (within Singapore region only). 

Hope the cute cake makes you smile!

With lots of love,

Susanne

Media features and more details of baking class:

Mothership

Girlstyle

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Around the world with Sanrio Chiffon Cake

This special creation "Around the world with Sanrio" chiffon cake is a special collaboration with Sanrio Singapore to celebrate International Peace day amidst these difficult times 💖.

Our lovable Sanrio characters, Hello Kitty, Little Twin Stars, Keroppi, My Melody, Pom pom purin, Bad batz maru, Cinamaroll, and Gudetama join forces to spread love, peace and unity during these hard times. 

The "Sanrio characters x Susanne Deco Chiffon" online classes were also borne during the difficult COVID times to spread love and family bonding during the stay-home period 💖.  We hope to encourage everyone.

Which Sanrio characters will you hope to see next in my online class? 

With lots of love,

Susanne

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