'Basket of strawberries' Lychee Rose Strawberry Chiffon Cake

 This was what I made for my mum's birthday this year! Chiffon cake strawberries in biscuit basket, on top of a lychee rose strawberry chiffon cake!

There's more to it than meets the eye. Each strawberry in the biscuit basket has cream and strawberry jelly inside. The cake below is made from lychee rose chiffon sponge and filled with lychee rose diplomat cream, lychee jelly, strawberry compote and chopped canned lychees. The sweet pink buffalo check mat is made from chiffon too!

This will be a super long blog post as this bake has so many components. I will break it down into two main parts: 1. Chiffon strawberries in biscuit basket and 2. Lychee rose strawberry chiffon cake.

1. CHIFFON STRAWBERRIES IN BISCUIT BASKET
Recipe and steps for this part includes biscuit basket, strawberry jelly and chiffon strawberries.

Biscuit Basket

Ingredients:

140g plain flour or cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

30g icing sugar (I used sugar-free option but can use regular ones)

1/8 tsp salt

1 tbs milk powder (optional, added to boost milky flavour)

3/8 tsp cocoa powder (optional, for colour)

48g vegetable shortening or unsalted butter

50g milk ( May not use all)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Sift together all dry ingredients. 

2. Rub in butter/ shortening until breadcrumb-like.

3. Mix vanilla into milk. Add milk a little at a time until cohesive dough forms.

4. Cling wrap and rest the dough overnight or at least 2hours at room temperature. This is to make the dough smoother and more pliable.

5. Roll dough, cut into thin strips and weave the basket.

6. Bake at 165C until lightly golden brown and cool completely. Remember to bake till really dry. If it is still a little soft, the basket may not hold its shape unless you do a tight weave. I prefer a looser weave revealing a little of the goodies that are inside. 

7. Assemble by gluing parts together with stiff royal icing. Dry completely before storing in airtight container. 

Please click on this link for the Youtube video tutorial of making the basket.

Strawberry Jelly

Ingredients:

70g strawberry compote*

70g water

2g agar powder

1/4 tsp strawberry emulco

*Strawberry compote

220g strawberries

15-30g sugar of choice (may use regular caster sugar or diabetic friendly options like erythritol, adjust amount according to taste and tartness of fruit.)

Pinches of salt

Note: Excess strawberry compote is reserved for assembling the lychee rose strawberry cake.

Steps:

1. Prepare strawberry compote by boiling all the ingredients with low heat in a saucepan until the fruit content is reduced to 60-70% of original weight. Mash the strawberries as it cooks with a potato masher or spatula. Sieve the compote if you prefer smoother compote. Cool completely before storing or using.

2. Make the jelly. Place all ingredients except agar in a small saucepan. Scatter agar powder on the surface of the mixture and let it bloom for a few minutes. 

3. Prepare moulds for setting the jelly. I used paper cones as my moulds but you may use other moulds if you wish. Bring mixture to a roiling boil while whisking continuously. Continue boiling for one minute more while whisking continuously. Add about 1/2-1 tsp of jelly mixture into each mould and let it cool slightly before refrigerating for at least 30 minutes. Unmould and store in fridge in airtight container until ready to assemble the strawberries.

Chiffon cake strawberries

Ingredients:

Egg yolk batter

2 egg yolks

25g vegetable oil

25g water

(1 tsp strawberry emulco + 1/4 tsp vanilla extract for strawberries)

OR

(1/2 tsp pandan paste + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract for leaves)

(40g cake flour +1/8 tsp cocoa powder for strawberries)

OR

(38g cake flour for leaves)

Pinch of salt

Any other gel colouring to get desired shade of red/green

Meringue

2 egg whites

32g caster sugar 

1/8-1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Steps:

1. line 10x12" tray with parchment or teflon sheet. Prep about 25-28 paper cones in suitable holders (you may use aluminium foil covered loaf pans with holes in the foil to make a stand for the cones). Preheat oven to 150C for red cones and 175C for green sheet cake.

2. Prep egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks until thick and pale. Add oil and whisk until combined. Add water and respective flavourings and whisk together. Gradually sift in respective flour and whisk until well combined. adjust colour if necessary.

3. Prep meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks or just reach stiff peaks, gradually adding in sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

4. Gently fold the meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 additions.

5. Pour/pipe batter into respective tray/cones. Spread the batter really thin for the leaves. You may not use up all the batter for that. Fill cones till about half full.

Paper cones filled with red batter

6. Bake green sheet cake for 9-10min. Bake red cones for 25-30 min. I reduced the temperature for the cones to 140C after first two minutes of baking. Note that temperature and time is oven dependent so adjust accordingly.

Assemble the strawberries as shown in this Youtube video (you may also watch the shortened version in my Instagram reel). You will need light corn syrup/cake glue/ melted marshmallows as glue. The cream I used is just store bought non-dairy whipping cream with a little more vanilla extract added. You may use dairy whipping cream that is stabilized but this entire bake is already so involved I felt like simplifying this part 😂. I whipped up about 40g of whipping cream for assembling the strawberries. Store assembled strawberries in the fridge in airtight container for at most a week. This is non-dairy if you use non-dairy cream so a week storage isn't an issue but it may dry out with longer storage.

Here's another view of the basket of "strawberries"! I love the cut view as well! The mat under the basket is actually homemade marzipan. I just used the marzipan for photography so not sharing the recipe.

2. LYCHEE ROSE STRAWBERRY CHIFFON CAKE

This part consists of a chiffon cake placemat with pink buffalo check pattern, lychee rose chiffon cake sponge, lychee rose diplomat cream, lychee jelly made from canned lychee syrup, fresh Korean strawberries, canned lychees and strawberry compote.

Lychee rose chiffon cake

Ingredients (makes one 17cm chiffon cake and one 7x7" chiffon sheet cake):

Egg yolk batter

6 egg yolks

75g canned lychee puree, sieved

75g vegetable oil

6g rose syrup (you may use rose water but I find rose syrup that is used to make Bandung has less tendency to taste chemical)

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

130g cake flour

Meringue

6 egg whites

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

90g caster sugar (I replaced half with erythritol)

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 150C. Place a tray of water at base of oven if you wish to create steam. Line 7x7" tray with teflon sheet or parchment paper. Set oven rack to second lower position.

2. Make egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks until thick and pale. Add oil and whisk until combined. Add lychee puree, rose syrup, salt and vanilla and whisk together. Gradually sift in flour and whisk until well combined. 

3. Prep meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks or just reach stiff peaks, gradually adding in sugar once the egg whites are foamy.

4. Gently fold the meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 additions.

5. Fill 7x7" pan till about one inch thick with batter. Pour the rest into 17cm chiffon tin. Run a chopstick in the batter to pop any trapped air bubbles. Place both into the oven

6. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the 7" tray and immediately flip the cake onto a fresh sheet of parchment paper. Continue baking the 17cm cake for another 40min at 130C (as read by oven thermometer) or until skewer comes out clean. Invert the chiffon cake immediately and cool completely before unmoulding by hand. Note that baking temperature and time will vary between different ovens so adjust accordingly. Store the cakes in airtight condition until ready to assemble.

Lychee jelly

Ingredients:

50g chilled lychee syrup from the can

12g gelatin powder or 6 gelatin sheets

100g lychee syrup from the can at room temperature

Steps:

1. Place chilled lychee syrup in a microwaveable bowl. Scatter gelatin powder or place gelatin sheets in it to bloom for 10 minutes. 

2. Microwave on low power for 20 seconds and stir. Repeat if necessary until melted fully. You may use double boiling method to melt the gelatin if you wish.

3. Add the rest of the lychee syrup. Whisk until well combined. Chill in fridge until set, at least one hour.

4. Cut the jelly into small cubes and store in the fridge until ready to assemble.

Lychee rose diplomat cream

Ingredients:

150g lychee puree from canned lychees, sieved

50g milk

20g cornflour

2 egg yolks

6g rose syrup

Pinches of salt

15g unsalted butter, softened (you can take it out from the fridge once you start work and it will soften)

80-120g whipping cream of choice (I used non-dairy for convenience which is already stabilized and sweetened. You may use dairy cream or a combination of both. If using dairy cream only, please stabilize it with gelatin or other means and add sugar to taste. Use less whipping cream for a richer cream and stronger lychee flavour.)

Note if you are opting to use less whipping cream, especially if you are using dairy cream, you may have to upsize the recipe to 3 egg yolks worth to ensure there is sufficient cream for cake assembly.

Steps:

1. Whisk together egg yolks, salt and cornflour in a heavy mixing bowl or heavy glass jug.

2. In a saucepan, heat milk, lychee puree and rose syrup until steaming hot, not boiling. Remove from heat and slowly pour in a thin stream into the egg yolk mixture while whisking the yolk mixture continuously. Pour everything back into saucepan and cook over medium low heat while whisking continuously. 

3. Keep whisking and cooking until custard starts to thicken. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Return back to heat and cook and whisk until custard is firm enough to hold a soft peak.

4. Remove from heat and add butter. Whisk until well combined. Transfer to a mixing bowl and press cling wrap on the surface immediately. Cool to room temperature before refrigerating for at least an hour. You may prepare this pastry cream a day in advance if you wish.

5. Remove pastry cream from fridge and loosen it with spatula. Whip up whipping cream and fold into pastry cream to make diplomat cream. Transfer into a large piping bag with a hole cut for cake assembly.

Cake assembly

-17cm chiffon cake cut horizontally into three pieces

-7x7" chiffon cake to cut out three circles to cover hole in middle of chiffon cake

-Strawberry compote (from previous section)

-Canned lychee syrup

-Lychee rose diplomat cream in large piping bag

-Korean strawberries cut to size and dried on paper towels

-Canned lychees cut to small pieces, remove woody parts

- 9" cakeboard

- guitar sheet or acetate sheet

Steps:

1. Pipe a little diplomat cream on cakeboard and place chiffon cake on it. Cover the hole with circle piece of cake cutout. 

2. Wrap acetate sheet around cake and secure with tape. Brush cake surface with lychee syrup. Carefully spoon some strawberry compote in the middle of the cake, leaving about 1inch border uncovered. Pipe a ring of diplomat cream around the strawberry compote and carefully thin it out all the way to the edge using a metal teaspoon. (see first picture in collage below)

3. Add strawberries around the circumference, taking care to press the fruit against the acetate sheet. (second picture in collage)

4. Pipe some diplomat cream in the middle. Add lychee jelly and chopped lychees in the middle. (third picture in collage)

5. Carefully pipe diplomat cream around the strawberries to fill the gaps, and over the jelly and lychees. Use the back of a spoon to smooth out the cream (fourth picture in collage).

6. Place another slice of sponge over the cream and cover the hole with a cut piece of sponge. Repeat above steps until the last piece of sponge is placed on top. Brush the tops of the top sponge with some lychee syrup. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least two hours until ready to assemble. I inserted jumbo straws into the middle of the cake as dowels to support the heavy basket of strawberries but you may omit if not needed.

Buffalo check patterned chiffon cake mat

Ingredients:

Egg yolk batter

2 egg yolks

20g oil

30g milk

45g cake flour

white gel colouring

strawberry emulco

Meringue

2 egg whites

1/4-1/2 tsp cream of tartar

40g caster sugar (I replaced half with erythritol)

Note that there will be excess batter. I just piped it out to make another sheet cake for mini swiss roll.

Steps:

1. Prepare 10 x 12" tray with buffalo check pattern template (I made my own according to size of squares I wanted) and teflon sheet (preferable)/ parchment paper (ok in a pinch but may result in wrinkled looking pattern). Preheat oven to 180C, set oven rack to middle position.

2. Prepare egg yolk batter as mentioned above (not gonna repeat myself 😂) but add some white gel colouring in. Divide yolk batter into 1:1:2 ratio for white:dark pink: light pink. But if you want things simpler for yourself since there is excess batter anyway, just divide into three equal portions, about 40g each. Add strawberry emulco until desired shade of pink is reached for light pink and dark pink.

3. Prepare meringue and divide into three equal portions or 1:1:2 ratio for white: dark pink : light pink. Fold into respective egg yolk batter. Transfer into piping bags with a small hole cut, about 2-3mm. I must stress the importance of a properly made meringue. If it is unstable, it will break down fast. I use a little more cream of tartar and sugar in the meringue than for my regular chiffons for the reason of stabilizing it a bit more.

4. Pipe the pattern following the template. Pipe as thick as possible while retaining the shape, at least 4-5mm thick

5. Place tray in oven, lower temperature to 170C and bake for 9 min or until you think it is done 😂. Unfortunately this one takes a bit of guess work and you have to know your oven well and have some experience working with chiffons, because the batter is so thin. I cannot prescribe exact baking time and temperature. Bake too long and it gets browned and dry. Bake too short and it will be very fragile. Temperature too high, it will brown. Temperature too low and it will also be fragile and the meringue may start deflating before it sets (pattern will not he pretty). A chiffon this thin can go from baking too short to too long within a minute. To give yourself a larger margin of error, start with the higher temperature for first few minutes to quickly set the meringue structure before it breaks down, and then lower the temperature to a level where it is unlikely to brown so quickly but sufficient to dry out your cake batter. It is ok to open the oven door to have a closer look at your cake to check after the first few minutes. If it still appears wet, continue baking another half to one minute.

6. Once baked, immediately flip it out onto a fresh sheet of parchment paper.

Ta-dah! Looks like an actual towel.

7. Use a knife or pizza cutter to cut the cake according to the size you want. 

8. Carefully place it on top of the lychee rose strawberry cake after removing the acetate sheet. Brush the surface with lychee syrup.

You may add some fresh strawberries or chiffon strawberries on top, or the whole basket of strawberries. Please remember to use dowels of putting something heavy on top because this is a delicate cake.

Actually, I didn't get to taste the big cake because mum and dad caught Covid a few days before the planned extended family get-together celebration. My aunt picked up the big cake and shared it with the rest of my extended family including grandma. My mum and dad had the basket of chiffon strawberries instead. According to aunt, the cake was so yummy and she kindly helped me take picture of a cut slice.

Pardon the messy interior because I inserted jumbo straw dowels into the cake for photography of what the entire bake should look like.

In my slightly distracted state of mind while making this bake, I forgot all about the chiffon cake daisies I made as little pops of colour to add on the bake when I took the photos. I think they deserve a mention and feature in the blog post because they are so dainty and cute!

My parents are better now so it is a relief! Thank God for vaccines and good medical care in Singapore!

This project was really a labour of love that took many many hours. Glad it turned out yummy and pretty! Please acknowledge me if you use any of my material that I shared in this post (and other posts) because it has taken me a lot of time to develop it. For more timely view of my work, please follow me on Instagram at phay_shing as I may not share everything in the blog.

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

Unicorn Plushiemallow Class

 I am excited to announce that I will be conducting my first plushiemallow class that had both online and studio versions in June!

These unicorns are modelled after actual plush toys that usually come in three postures:

1. Lying on front

2. Lying on back

3. Sitting upright.

You will learn how to make the basic marshmallow base, colour it into different colours, pipe the various unicorns and how to add on details like nostrils, rosy cheeks and small facial features like the eyes. There will be bonus demo on how to pipe the rainbow cloud and what to do with the extra marshmallows.

For more details of this class and if you are interested to sign up for the studio/online class, please click on this link.

with love,

Phay Shing

My Melody Watermelon Chiffon Cake

 

My favourite fruit is watermelon! What's yours? 

Another watermelon-inspired bake, here's my My Melody masquerading as a watermelon! 

Wishing you a blessed week! 

Love, 
Susanne 

Macaron Bear in Ondeh-ondeh Choux Pastry

 I discovered a baking studio near home and decided to give it a try. For my debut, I will be sharing how to make two genres of bakes in simple but cute form: macaron bears in ondeh-ondeh choux au craquelin!

Just in time for dinner dessert on Father's Day too!

If you don't look too closely, you may mistake the choux pastries for actual ondeh-ondeh balls!

Perhaps what may be different about this studio as compared to others I have worked with is the number and range of facilities they have. Baker's Gym where I will be teaching this, has the most number of ovens available, has a blast freezer and their teaching principle is to let everyone do individual work. This teaching principle happens to be my preferred way as well because you learn more when you have hands-on practice by yourself from start to finish.

Please refer to this link for more details of class content and to register.

with love,

Phay Shing

Rainbow Unicorn Macaron Carousel

 I made this rainbow unicorn macaron carousel a couple of months ago and finally posting it!

I always preferred bakes without age and name for social media posts so I used the above as the cover picture. But actually the completed bake looks like this:

I used swiss meringue method to make the macaron shells.

Sharing a collage of the piped macaron batter. Please excuse the difference in colours of the carousel frame as it was due to camera auto white balance correction. I was running low on teal coloured batter so I used a little white batter on the large base shells. If you are interested to know how to pipe the swirl macarons, you may refer to my Macaron Basics book.The video tutorial linked to the book can be found in this post.

I used black edible marker and peach coloured lustre dust to decorate the unicorns.

I filled the carousel with vanilla ganache and dark chocolate ganache.

I have made many unicorn macaron carousels over the years but I think this set is the most elegant 😊

Follow me on Instagram at phay_shing if you would like to see more up-to-date bakes from me as I may not post everything in the blog in a timely manner.

with love,

Phay Shing

Chocolate Milo Banana Ondeh-ondeh Bear Swiss Roll

 After making three patterned swiss rolls based on Keem Ooi's method and recipe for the sponge, I decided to have another go at it based on another one of my creations. Macaron bear in Ondeh-ondeh choux pastry!

I realised that I forgot to post my original ondeh-ondeh bear bake in the blog! Will share that soon as it is actually a class material with a new baking studio that I am trying out. I already shared the class in my Instagram and Facebook. 

Here's another look at the top view of the roll to see the pattern more clearly.

The chiffon sponge is mildly chocolate flavoured, not too strong as I didn't want the brown colour to be too deep. I replaced about 3g of cake flour with cocoa powder for the brown sponge layer. The pattern is also naturally coloured as far as possible with the brown bear coloured with a little cocoa powder and the green is from pandan paste. I am not able to share the recipe and method for the pattern as I bought the video tutorial from Keem. Please check her Instagram at keempossible_2 and DM her for the recipe.

But what I can share here is the filling! The jelly bear insert is a milk based agar jelly with cocoa powder and Milo powder added. The cream is a caramelized banana diplomat cream, which pairs really well with the jelly! 

This bake begins with preparation of the jelly, followed by caramelized banana pastry cream, the chiffon sponge, and then finally adding in whipping cream to the pastry cream to make it a diplomat cream. Assemble the roll, chill overnight or at least 2 hours, slice the ends off and then paint in the details on the sponge. I added desiccated coconut to the Ondeh-ondeh portions to make it look like the choux pastry version.

Milo chocolate milk agar jelly

Note that you may use chocolate milk instead of adding cocoa powder like I did but I didn't have it on hand at home. Feel free to add more cocoa or Milo if you want a stronger taste. I was concerned about aesthetics as well because I didn't want it to appear too dark.

Ingredients (makes on 7x7"tray worth of jelly):

500g fresh milk

6g agar powder

20g sugar (or according to taste)

1 tbs Milo kosong powder (or regular milo powder if you wish, or omit it)

2 tsp cocoa powder (omit if using chocolate milk)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Steps:

1. Line tray with teflon sheet if you have, if not, oil the base and sides.

2. Whisk together agar powder, Milo powder, cocoa powder and sugar in a small bowl. This is to disperse the agar powder and prevent clumping. Place milk and vanilla extract in saucepan. Scatter powdered contents in and let it sit for a few minutes for agar to bloom.

3. Bring contents of saucepan to a boil while whisking continuously. Continue whisking as it simmers for 2 more minutes. 

4. Pour into prepared tray and let it cool down for a while. If a skin forms due to the fat from the milk, you may skim it off before the agar starts to set. Leave it once the agar starts to set. Refrigerate the jelly for an hour or overnight once it cools to room temperature.

5. Cut out the bear heads and keep in container or tray in fridge until ready for assembly. I made the bear shaped cutter myself from a cookie cutter making kit.

Caramelized banana diplomat cream

Ingredients:

100g ripe banana (does not have to be over ripe)

20g dark brown sugar

5g + 10g unsalted butter

140g milk

20g cornflour

1/8 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

80-100g whipping cream (you may use non-dairy or dairy, or combination of both. Stabilize dairy cream if using and be careful not to overwhip)

Steps: 

1. Prepare the banana. Weigh the empty saucepan you will be cooking the banana in and take note of the weight. Place banana, dark brown sugar and 5g butter in saucepan. Cook the banana while mashing it until it boils, simmer on low heat for another 5 min or so and check the weight. Cook until weight of contents in the saucepan is about 80-90g. Remove from heat.

2. Add milk, vanilla and salt to the cooked banana. Mix well. Put it back to low heat and heat until steaming hot, not boiling. I like to put my hand over the saucepan and once I can feel the heat or see some steam appearing above the contents in the saucepan, it is hot enough.

3. While the milk and banana mixture is being heated, whisk together egg yolks and cornflour in a heavy mixing bowl or heavy glass jug. Once milk is hot, pour it in a thin stream into egg yolk mixture while whisking the egg yolk mixture constantly. 

4. Pour everything back into saucepan and cook over medium low heat while whisking constantly. Once the custard thickens, remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Put it back on medium low heat and whisk until custard thickens to a consistency where it is able to hold a soft peak.

5. Remove from heat and add in 10g butter. Whisk until well combined. If you prefer smooth cream instead of one with banana bits in there, sieve the pastry cream using a fine sieve into bowl. Immediately press cling wrap onto the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate at least an hour or until ready to assemble.

6. When ready to assemble with sponge cake, whip up whipping cream of choice to firm, nearly stiff peaks for dairy, and stiff peaks for non-dairy. Take pastry cream out from fridge and whip it briefly to loosen it. Fold whipped cream into pastry cream. Transfer into large piping bag with a hole cut.

Here as some more pictures of the process...

Piping first layer of pattern. This took me so long I was afraid it might fail but thank God it didn't!

Adding in the yellow batter to surround the pattern

Freshly baked sponge just before rolling!

I shared a short reel on Instagram for the reveal of the pattern. Pardon the "off" colour as I forgot to adjust the white balance when taking the video. I couldn't edit it until the original colour so I left it as that.

Here's a peek at the assembly!

The outlines were painted on using gel food colouring diluted with water. The desiccated coconut was glued onto the cake with a little light corn syrup, which also helps to moisten the cake a little.

If you spent a long time painting the cake, you may want to moisten it by lightly brushing with simple syrup of sugar and water in ratio of 1:1. Store in fridge in airtight condition. Best consumed within 3-5 days.

Please follow me on Instagram at phay_shing if you would like to see more up to date stuff of my bakes as the blog doesn't necessarily have my latest work and some bakes are not going to be posted in the blog.

with love,

Phay Shing

Pooh Chiffon Cake

 

I made this Pooh cake quite sometime back! It's been sitting in my phone and I just remembered it as Mother's day was around the corner. Hope this sweet cake makes you smile! 

With love, 
Susanne 

Unicorn and Mermaid Pusheen Cookies n Cream Macarons

This is another way overdue post. I made these unicorn and mermaid Pusheens together with the choux pastry version way back in way January this year!

Trying to create a cloudy beach scene here😆

I made these macarons using the swiss meringue method and decorated the macaron shells using edible marker and a mixture of edible marker and vodka wash (for the details on the unicorn horn).

Top view look at decorated macaron shells

Checkout the awesome feet on the shells!

I filled the macarons with cookies n cream swiss meringue buttercream as requested.

with love,

Phay Shing