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