Friday, 13 December 2024

Dubai Chocolate (Kunafa Chocolate) Inspired Log Cake

 Here's my take of the Dubai chocolate in the form of log cake!


Composition:
🌲 Chocolate chiffon sponge brushed with strawberry jam syrup
🌲 Crunchy pistachio kunafa
🌲 Pistachio diplomat cream
🌲 Dark chocolate ganache
🌲 Dubai chocolate Christmas tree decorations (see previous blog post for the recipe)
🌲 Penguin orange chocolate hazelnut macaron

Here's the video of the process:


Chocolate chiffon sponge (12x12")*:
3 yolks
15g Dutch cocoa powder
32g boiling water
35g cake flour
1/8 tsp baking soda
27g oil
1 tsp vanilla
Pinches of salt

3 egg whites
50g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1. Line 12x12" tray with teflon sheet/parchment. Preheat oven to 160C fan/170C
2. Make chocolate paste. Dissolve cocoa powder in hot water to make a paste. Add vanilla and salt. Mix well
3. Make egg yolk batter. Whish together egg yolks, oil and chocolate paste. Gradually add sifted flour and baking soda, whisk until no trace of flour is seen.
4. Make meringue. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks, gradually adding sugar once egg whites are foamy. 
5. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 additions. Pour into prepared tray.
6. Bake for 10-12 min or until done. Immediately flip the sponge out of the tray and roll it up to cool completely.

Crunchy pistachio kunafa
80g kataifi pastry
16g melted butter
75g white chocolate couverture, melted
85g pistachio paste*, warmed

1. Coat finely chopped kataifi pastry with melted butter. 
2. Fry pastry over low heat until browned and crisp
3. Add melted chocolate and warm pistachio paste. Mix well. You may fry the pastry ahead of time and add the chocolate and paste when you are about to assemble.

Pistachio diplomat cream
2 egg yolks
15g cornstarch
25g caster sugar
1/8 tsp salt
220g milk
15g unsalted butter, softened
45g pistachio paste*
1 tsp vanilla extract 
3g gelatin bloomed in 10g ice water 
100g whipping cream of choice*

1. Heat milk until hot but not boiling. In the meantime, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a heavy heatproof bowl/jug. 
2. When milk is hot, pour in a thin stream while whisking the egg mixture continuously. Pour everything back into saucepan
3. Whisk egg mixture while cooking over medium-low heat until it thickens. Remove from heat and whisk until smooth. Put it back on heat and keep whisking until it starts to bubble/boil. Continue whisking for an additional minute.
4. Remove from heat. Add butter, pistachio paste, vanilla and bloomed gelatin. Whisk until smooth. Press cling wrap onto surface of pastry cream and refrigerate overnight.
5. When you are ready to assemble, whip your whipping cream of choice until firm peaks. Loosen the pastry cream by whipping it briefly. Fold whipped cream into pastry cream in a few additions. Transfer into piping bag and keep refrigerated until ready to pipe.

Dark chocolate ganache
120g 55% dark chocolate couverture 
50g heavy cream/water
5g honey 
15g butter, softened

1. Melt chocolate. Add heated cream and honey, mix well 
2. Add softened butter and mix well. Press cling wrap onto surface of ganache and let it sit at cool room temperature for 2h. If it is too warm, refrigerate for 15-20 min before spreading on log cake.

*Notes:
- Please refer to my previous blog post for the pistachio paste recipe
- You may choose to use non dairy cream, heavy cream (35-38% fat) or double cream (45-50% fat) depending on preference and climate. You may add a little powdered sugar when whipping the cream if you wish.
- I made a really thin sponge on purpose to enjoy the log cake like an ice-cream cake when frozen. If you prefer to have more sponge to cream ratio and enjoy it chilled instead of frozen, upsize the recipe to 4 eggs and layer with less cream.


Assembly

1. Unroll chocolate sponge. Brush surface with strawberry jam syrup (I just diluted strawberry jam that was previously reduced for the Christmas cookies).

2. Layer a thin layer of crunchy pistachio kunafa 


3. Pipe a layer of diplomat cream and spread it evenly with spatula.


4. Roll it up tightly and freeze for 2h. Slice off both ends for the branches.

5. Attach the branches to main trunk with some ganache. Cover the surface of the sponge with ganache. Use the spatula to create bark patterns. You may use a fork instead if you wish.


6. Dust some snow powder and decorate as you wish

This was before I dusted with snow powder.

I hope to bless my family and friends with this creation! I will be making two more of these but thought of sharing it earlier in case you want to give it a try!


with love,

Phay Shing

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Tuesday, 10 December 2024

Dubai Chocolate (Kunafa Chocolate) Inspired Christmas Trees

 What if the viral Dubai chocolate turned inside out and dressed up for Christmas🤔? You may get these!




Composition:
🌲 Crunchy kataifi pastry coloured with a little pandan paste
🌲 Pistachio ganache
🌲 Dark chocolate ganache 
🌲 Homemade pistachio paste
🌲 Dark/milk chocolate & a little toasted kataifi pastry* at the base
🌲 White chocolate star & tinsel, bauble sprinkles

I made these as log cake decorations. I am sure you can guess what flavour profile of log cakes I am making this year🤭! I will be sharing that in my next post.

You may refer to my reel for the visuals of the process:



Dubai Chocolate Christmas Trees
Ingredients (makes about twelve-fifteen 5-6cm tall trees):

Green Kataifi Pastry
70g kataifi pastry 
30g butter + 1-2 drops pandan paste (to colour. Feel free to use green colouring)
1-1.5 tbs caster sugar (as pastry binder during baking)

1. Chop kataifi pastry to shorter segments. Add melted butter with pandan paste and sugar a little at a time to pastry. Mix well after each addition to colour the pastry green evenly.

2. Spread the pastry out in small portions in a very thin layer between parchment paper. Press it flat. Freeze until very firm, at least 2h or overnight 

3. Cut paper cones to height of about 5-6cm. You may have trees with different heights for a nicer display contrast. For each size of tree, cut open the paper cone to be used as template.

4. Cut frozen pastry using template to trace. Let it soften slightly and carefully fit it into the prepared paper cone. Press the pastry firmly to the sides and bottom of the cone.

5. Bake at 140-150Cfan/160-170C for 9-12 min and turn it out from the cone. Crisp it up and brown it further by baking for another 5-10 min, checking every few minutes to ensure that the browning is controlled. 

Store in airtight condition until assembly.

Pistachio Paste*
50g pistachio kernels
10g honey
15g water (more if needed)

* Pistachio paste is typically made from blanched pistachios with skin removed. But because I wanted to increase the pistachio flavour, I reserved a portion of the blanched nuts with skin removed to bake in the oven. I used low temperature to bake for a longer time to avoid browning the nuts too much. If using more baked nuts, you may need to add a little more water when blending as baked nuts are harder and drier than blanched nuts. If using only blanched nuts, you need less water. The resulting paste with baked pistachios is grainier than if only blanched pistachios were used.

1. Bring a saucepan of water to boil. Turn the heat off and blanch pistachio kernels for 3 min. Drain and dry briefly on paper towels. Remove skins.

2. Portion 15g of skinned kernels. Bake in a single layer at 100C for 2h. 

3. Blend all ingredients together until smooth paste forms, gradually adding water only as needed. Use a powerful blender for a smoother paste. This may take several rounds of blending and scraping to get it smooth

Pistachio Ganache
15g pistachio paste
70g white chocolate couverture
15g hot water
Pinch of salt

1. Heat white chocolate until warm, soft and partially melted. 

2. Add the rest of the ingredients. Mix well until smooth. Using immersion blender helps.

3. Press cling wrap onto surface of ganache. Refrigerate 2h or overnight. Transfer into piping bag before using

Dark Chocolate Ganache
50g 55% dark chocolate couverture 
3g honey 
22g hot cream/water
Pinch of salt

1. Follow method for pistachio ganache

Assembly
1. Place baked kataifi pastry cone in mold to hold it in place. 

2. Pipe and spread a thin layer of pistachio ganache followed by dark chocolate ganache

3. Fill the cavity with pistachio paste



4. Cover base with melted chocolate of choice and sprinkle on some kataifi pastry fried with butter (optional pastry). Freeze for 5 min

* To toast kataifi pastry. Coat 15g finely chopped pastry with 4-5g melted butter. Fry over low heat until golden brown and crisp. I used coloured pastry so it appears a little green in the video.

5. Flip the trees upright. Decorate with melted white chocolate and sprinkles/additional decoration of your choice

Here's a look at the trees before the stars are added.



Here's a closer look at the insides!



Here's the log cake version of this flavour combination!


with love,

Phay Shing



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Monday, 2 December 2024

Pandan Chiffon Christmas Trees

 


Sharing an easy and creative way to make our favourite yummy Pandan Chiffon Cake into Christmas Trees🎄! Recipe video on my IG here. 

Pandan Chiffon Christmas Trees (makes 9)😋 
2 egg yolks 
16g caster sugar 
26g vegetable oil 
28g fresh/coconut milk 
65g cake flour, sifted 
1 tsp pandan paste 
½ tsp vanilla extract 

3 egg whites 
30g caster sugar 
¼ tsp cream of tartar 

Assembly 
Melted marshmallow 
Sprinkles 

1. Preheat oven to 140°C. Double wrap a baking tray with aluminum foil, make small holes and insert conical cups. 

2. Whisk egg yolks with sugar. Add oil, milk and vanilla extract and whisk well. Whisk in cake flour and mix until no lumps. 

3. Add pandan paste to egg yolk batter. This makes all green trees. 
Optional: For white stripes, transfer 30g egg yolk batter to a new bowl for plain batter, and mix pandan paste to remaining batter. 

4. Prepare meringue: whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Add in caster sugar in 3 additions and whisk till firm peaks. 

5. Gently fold meringue into the egg yolk batter. 
Optional: For white stripes, transfer 30g meringue to plain egg yolk batter and remaining meringue to green egg yolk better. Fold meringue into respective egg yolk batters. 

6. Fill each paper cone till 1.5-cm from brim. 
Optional: Pipe green and white layers till 1.5-cm from brim. 

7. Bake at 140°C for 35 mins or till bamboo skewer inserted into middle comes out dry. 

8. Unmold cakes when fully cool and trim off the base to level. 

9. Melt marshmallows with a sprinkle of water. Stick on sprinkles and star sprinkle using melted marshmallows. 

Keep in airtight container in fridge for up to 5 days. Enjoy! 🩷🥰 

The Redman pandan paste is one of my personal favourite as it is rich and flavourful. Item code of the ingredients above at redmanshop.com: pandan paste (67762), caster sugar (1417), cake flour (1208). 

Thankful to be the new brand ambassador for RedMan by Phoon Huat during this festive season. Use my exclusive code SUS05 to get a 5% discount on all @Phoonhuat products! 

Enjoy baking!
Love,
Susanne

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Sunday, 1 December 2024

Meringue Powder-Based Macarons

 I made some Christmasy small macarons for our church's creche helpers this year! It may look like ordinary macarons but I am so excited to share it because these were made using meringue powder instead of fresh egg whites! 


Look at how full the insides are! 

The split open shell was piped 8 hours after I made the batter! What's more, with the use of meringue powder, having to deal with extra egg yolks will be a thing of the past for bakers who choose this method!

Here's a closer look at some of the macarons.


Why make the macarons small when I can make them bigger? Because I wanted them to fit into jars like these as gifts.


Pardon the poor photo quality because I was taking the photo late at night under low lighting. The macarons had to be 3.5cm in diameter in order to fit into the jars in this arrangement.

This meringue powder experiment and mass bake came about because of the superb performance of meringue powder for my character marshmallows. Although I am a convert to using meringue powder for marshmallows, I can't say I will do this for macarons. I will explain in this blog post. Although meringue powder as fresh or carton egg white substitution works, it's not without some differences/challenges. Just as sugar-free marshmallows are possible, it's impossible for macarons due to the presence of almond flour which contains oils, and the necessary condition that nice feet formation should be present on the cookie before it can be called a macaron.

I used this mass bake to conduct an experiment for small and large batch. Both pass with flying colours. The recipe I come up with has easy to remember ratios.  The ratio for rehydration of meringue powder I use is 1:3 for meringue powder : water. The ratios of all the ingredients are 1:1:1:1 for "egg whites" : caster sugar : icing sugar : almond flour. Feel free to tweak it a little in terms of proportion but not by too much.

Ingredients:
15g meringue powder (I use Wilton brand)
45g water (room temperature or lukewarm)
60g caster sugar
60g icing sugar
60g almond flour

1. Sift together almond flour* & powdered sugar. Set aside
2. Whisk together caster sugar & meringue powder. Add water & whisk until well combined 
3. Continue whisking over double boiler until sugar is dissolved (use fingers to test) & temperature is about 45C
4. Whip meringue until very stiff peak*
5. Fold sifted dry ingredients into meringue gently* as shown in reel until batter is able to flow off spatula slowly in a continuous ribbon
6. Pipe as per usual. Rest piped batter until very dry to touch*. Bake* in preheated oven that's about 10C lower than your usual & longer by about 5-10min.

Meringue powder based meringues for macaron making tend to be less robust than fresh egg white based meringues. Although it tends to deflate more easily due slightly under whipping, oils, certain food colouring & rough handling during folding, it's able to produce a stable batter that stays stable for many hours provided you take note of the baker's notes below.

*Baker's notes:
🔸Make sure your almond flour is not oily or your batter will not remain stable for long. I have YouTube videos for proper drying of almond flour & sifting dry ingredients so as not to cause more oil in your batter

🔸Whip your meringue to as stiff as you can. It should ball up in the whisk & offers a lot of resistance when you run the whisk through. Just like vegan meringues, meringue powder based meringues may tend towards being less robust in the presence of oils (from almond) although stabilizers like cream of tartar has already been added in the ingredients. 

🔸Drying time for meringue powder macarons is longer than you think. The skin/membrane of piped batter may feel dry to touch already but it's not ready to bake yet if it's still soft, much like vegan macarons, as the meringue produced is less robust than using fresh egg whites. Insufficient drying time may produce feet that are large & protruding/exploding outwards more than usual. Feet may also be lopsided.

🔸Fold the batter with gentleness & care. It takes less number of folds to go from under to overfolded due to the less robust nature of the meringue 

🔸Baking time & temperature needs to be slightly longer & lower respectively, much like vegan macarons due to the meringue properties. Baking temperature that is too high will also tend to result in protruding/exploding feet more than egg white-based macarons. Longer baking time is also needed due to the lower baking temperature. I reduce by about 10C from my usual baking temperature & bake longer by 5-10min. Note that temperature & time adjustments are just suggestions as each oven works differently. Use the guiding principle I shared to tweak accordingly

🔸The appearance of wrinkled & patchy tops on baked shells is evidence of meringue that's not stiff enough, use of certain colouring, or oily almond. The crust tends to be thinner & more fragile than fresh egg white based macarons but with proper technique, this can be minimized

Here's the video tutorial for using meringue powder to make macaron batter:


Here's the video for piping tutorial of the wreath, candy cane and snowflake designs using the wet-on-wet batter technique borrowed from royal icing cookie decoration. You may apply this same piping technique on macarons made using fresh egg whites as well. 



For the lacey, more complex snowflake design, please refer to this post for the piping tutorial:

I filled the macarons with passionfruit spice ganache, matcha ganache with dried cranberries and dark chocolate orange ganache.


with love, 

Phay Shing

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Saturday, 23 November 2024

Christmas Macaron Gift Box

Instead of having an intensive two-day masterclass for bakes that require construction and lots of technical work, I decided to have a content that is practical for the season, full of things to learn but simple enough for beginners to handle. Presenting my macaron giftbox macaron masterclass!


The menu and designs for this class are carefully thought out to cover a range of flavours and techniques while keeping practicality in mind.


Menu:

❄️ Reindeer macarons. Cinnamon dark brown sugar macaron shells with gingerbread spice ganache

❄️ Penguin macarons. Dark brown sugar macaron shells with orange dark chocolate ganache and hazelnut butter

❄️ Christmas tree macarons. Textured matcha macaron shells with matcha ganache, dried cranberries and whole almond

❄️Snowman macarons. Plain macaron shells with peppermint white and dark chocolate ganache


🔸Fillings are all dairy-free and hold up well enough in the tropics to make gifting/transport more fuss-free. I keep them less sweet as well so they are flavourful without being too sweet

🔸Three ways of Swiss meringue method of making macarons will be taught. Why different ways? Because you may find one way more suitable than the other depending on application 

🔸Natural food sources are used to colour as well as flavour the macarons as far as possible

🔸Designs are kept as simple as possible while showcasing technique so it's suitable for beginners


Please click on this link for more information or to register:

https://www.palatesensations.com/cooking-class-singapore/christmas-gift-box-macaron-masterclass-46115


Here's the reel to have a closer look at the macarons!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DClwN63SENx/?igsh=MThjaTVpYTUxNXI=


with love,

Phay Shing

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Sunday, 17 November 2024

Christmas Bear with Present Marshmallow Class

 This marshmallow creation not only looks good. It tastes great and is suitable as a cute festive gift!



The bears are made of coffee cinnamon vanilla marshmallows with no additional colouring added for the bear. The present is cinnamon vanilla coated chocolate hazelnut cake.

I have online and studio class versions for this. All studio participants get to have access to online class material at no extra charge. This is my first online/studio class introducing meringue powder as egg white replacement for my marshmallow class so some of you may be interested to know. I show you how to adjust the consistency of the marshmallow batter for different applications as well as how to create marshmallow coated cake.

Here's the link for studio class:

https://www.bakersgym.com/service-page/christmas-bear-with-present-marshmallow?referral=service_list_widget&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaasNoqnb7muxdo7SII0nyvq7FKWohWeUlIGnUO1POjsO6Sqo5ZuDXZJw4Q_aem_RmLBV2aZMBS5o8RbELrZWQ

Here's the link for online class:

https://www.bakersgym.com/product-page/online-classes-christmas-bear-with-present-marshmallow-ready-by-7-dec?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaY8cDqa4116v-JtSiS2Kum3Pnjx5dULRJm_wgMQEPAnRsBwpjVrObJ04AA_aem_5pq0XX0BcHL7qWlwJ5h3sg

There's no expiry date for the online class version so you may refer to it at your own pace. The videos are in shorter segments to make it easier to follow.


with love,

Phay Shing

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Monday, 4 November 2024

Christmas Cookie Box

It's that time of the year to prepare for our annual Christmas cookie bake for giveaway! This year, the Culinary Arts Ministry team from Adam Road Presbyterian Church has decided to create cookies that are easy to make, tasty, healthier and makes use of Redman's Super biscuit premix. Why the premix? Because it tastes awesome and you only need good unsalted butter as the other essential ingredient. So here are the cookie flavours I have come up with using the premix!


What's on the menu?
🔸Brown butter chocolate chip cookies
🔸Strawberry jam sandwich cookies
🔸Dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate star
🔸Matcha cranberry Christmas tree cookies

Besides the recipe and additional baker's notes, I will be including a longer form video on my Youtube channel for a more detailed visual, and a shorter form video on my Instagram reels. 

Here's the YouTube video:

Here's the shorter video in my Instagram reels:

The cookies are so simple to make even non bakers and kids can make them! 

Redman has kindly agreed to sponsor the biscuit premix and unsalted butter for our mass bake. 




We are including Alchemy Fibre, which is a prebiotic fibre blend of inulin and edible gum beneficial for gut health, cholesterol and glycemic load, to make the cookies healthier this year.



You may choose to replace the prebiotic fibre mix with inulin (available from health food stores) or simply replace with the biscuit premix if health is not a concern for you. The addition of the fibre affects the dough texture slightly but has no noticeable effect on the final baked cookies in terms of taste and texture. Ratio for replacement is 1:1.

Important reminder
Remember to take oven baking time and temperature as a reference only as each oven is different. Just bake until lightly browned and crisp. You may have to bake extra pieces just to sacrifice some for taste testing and calibrating the recipe for your oven.


Brown butter chocolate chip cookies



Ingredients:
(makes about 14 cookies)
90g Biscuit premix
22g Alchemy fibre 
70g unsalted butter
40g mini chocolate chips

Steps:
1. Place butter in a light coloured saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat until butter is browned*. Set aside.

2. Whisk together premix and Alchemy fibre. Sift into a mixing bowl.

3. Add brown butter and mix well to form a dough. Cling wrap and refrigerate for 15-20min/freeze for 6-10min to cool down the dough and allow the butter to firm up slightly. Dough should remain pliable after chilling.

4. Add mini chocolate chips and mix well*. Refrigerate 10min while preheating the oven to 160C fan/170C.

5. Portion out 14g (13g if you reserved some chocolate chips) of dough and roll into a ball. Place the balls about 6cm apart on a baking tray lined with parchment paper/Teflon sheet/silicone mat/perforated mat.

6. Bake for 10-12 min or until browned at the edges, rotating the tray halfway through baking.

7. Cool for 5 min before transferring the cookies on a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

*Baker's notes:
🔸You know the butter is done browning when you see numerous specks of brown bits in the butter and the hue of the liquid changes from yellow to a more brownish hue. It also smells great! Swirl the pan as the butter is being heated up or you may stir with a spatula.

🔸If you want the cookies to appear more aesthetically pleasing, reserve about 10-15g worth of chips instead of adding everything into the dough. I was lazy and didn't bother! Press a few reserved chips into the tops of each ball of cookie dough just before baking.


Strawberry jam sandwich cookies


Ingredients:
(makes about 10-11 sandwich cookies, 20-22 pieces of cookies)
96g Biscuit premix
24g Alchemy fibre 
60g unsalted butter, softened
40g strawberry jam

Steps:
1. Heat strawberry jam in microwave oven or over stovetop until it is thicker or weight is reduced by 15-20%*. Set aside to cool uncovered 

2. Whisk together premix and Alchemy fibre. Sift into mixing bowl with softened butter.

3. Mix together to form a ball of dough. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper until about 3mm thick.*

4. Refrigerate 20min or freeze for 10min. In the meantime, preheat oven to 160C fan/170C.

5. Cut 5cm circles of dough out with a round cookie cutter. Place them at least 3cm apart on a lined baking tray*. Use a small heart cookie cutter to cut out a heart shape in the middle of half of the circle cutouts for the top cookie in each sandwich*. 

6. Bake for 9-11 min or until lightly browned, rotating the baking tray halfway through baking.

7. Cool on the baking tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely.

8. Spread about 1/4-1/3 tsp of cooled reduced jam on the bottom cookie.* Press the top cookie onto the bottom cookie. Store in airtight container.

* Baker's notes:
🔸If you are using store bought strawberry jams, they are usually too watery to use straight from the jar so it is necessary to reduce it to evaporate some moisture. If you try to spread wet jam onto the cookies, they will turn soggy very fast instead of remaining crispy. The consistency of the reduced jam should appear noticeably more viscous while hot, very firm and fairly dry when totally cooled. Use 10 second bursts at high power if using microwave oven to reduce the jam. Stir after each heating cycle and check the weight to see if sufficiently reduced. Use low heat and constant stirring if you are reducing the jam on stovetop.

🔸 If you are upsizing the recipe, it is advisable to divide the dough into multiple portions to roll and chill. This keeps each portion of dough in optimal working condition when you are cutting out the circles. The dough should not be so cold and hard that it tends to crumble when cut, but not so soft that it is tricky to transfer into baking tray. Dividing the dough also ensures that at any point in time, you always have at least a batch of dough that is being chilled, ready for cutting out once you are done with the current batch.

🔸 Line baking trays with perforated mat if possible. This ensures that each cookie has a very flat surface which can sandwich the jam perfectly.

🔸 When cutting out the small hearts, press the cutter vertically downwards firmly and then give it a little wiggle while applying pressure. This ensures a cleaner cut. In the event that the dough cutout has jagged edges, you may use the side of a wooden toothpick to file off the rough outline of the heart after the cookie is baked.

🔸When filling sandwich cookies, less is more. Keep the jam layer thin except for the middle where it can be slightly thicker, but not thicker than the cookie (3mm). Leave a border of about 2-3mm without jam around the circumference of the bottom cookie. This is to ensure jam doesn't spill or peek out from the sides.


Dark chocolate cookies with white chocolate star 


Ingredients:
(makes about 13 cookies)
90g Biscuit premix
12g Alchemy fibre 
18g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)
60g unsalted butter, softened
25g compound white chocolate chips

Steps:
1. Whisk together premix, Alchemy fibre and cocoa powder. Sift into mixing bowl with softened butter.

2. Mix well to form a ball of dough. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper until about 5-6mm thick.*

3. Refrigerate 20min or freeze for 10min. In the meantime, preheat oven to 160C fan/170C.

4. Cut 5cm scalloped circles of dough out with a scalloped circle cookie cutter. Place them at least 3cm apart on a lined baking tray. Use a small star cookie cutter to cut out a star shape in the middle of each dough cutout*. 

5. Bake for 8min. Reduce baking temperature to 150C fan/160C, rotate the tray and bake for another 7min or until crisp.

6. Cool on the baking tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely.

7. Place cooled cookies on a tray lined with a fresh sheet of parchment paper. Melt the white chocolate using microwave oven or double boiling method*. Transfer melted chocolate into piping bag, cut a small hole and fill the star cavities. Use a skewer to pull the melted chocolate such that it fills the cavity nicely if necessary

8. Freeze the tray of white chocolate filled cookies for 5min to set the chocolate. Carefully remove each cookie and store in airtight condition.

* Baker's notes:
🔸Please see 2nd and 4th notes under strawberry sandwich cookies for tips on portioning the dough and cutting out the small star cavity.

🔸If using microwave oven to melt white chocolate, use 10 second bursts at medium-high power, stirring to mix well after each heating cycle. The chocolate should be really runny and smooth before you transfer into piping bag. If using double boiling method, make sure the hot water doesn't touch the base of the bowl you are using to contain the chocolate. Be careful not to overheat chocolates or it will seize! 


Matcha cranberry Christmas tree cookies


Ingredients:
(makes about 18 trees)
90g Biscuit premix
24g Alchemy fibre 
6g Matcha powder*
60g unsalted butter, softened
24g dried cranberries, very finely chopped*
Compound white chocolate chips (optional)*

Steps:
1. Whisk together premix, Alchemy fibre and matcha powder. Sift into mixing bowl with softened butter.

2. Mix well to form a ball of dough. Add chopped dried cranberries and mix well until the berries are evenly distributed throughout the dough. Roll between two sheets of parchment paper until about 5-6mm thick.*

3. Refrigerate 20min or freeze for 10min. In the meantime, preheat oven to 160C fan/170C.

4. Cut out the Christmas trees with a 5-6cm Christmas tree cookie cutter*. Place them at least 3cm apart on a lined baking tray. 

5. Bake for 8min. Reduce baking temperature to 150C fan/160C, rotate the tray and bake for another 7min or until crisp.

6. Cool on the baking tray for 5min before transferring onto cooling rack to cool completely. 

7. Pipe melted white chocolate tinsel* and freeze for 5 min to set the chocolate if you wish (optional). Store in airtight container.

* Baker's notes:
🔸You may use ceremonial grade matcha powder if you can afford it as it would give the most intense matcha flavour and colour naturally. If not, you may use culinary grade matcha powder. Do note that matcha powder oxidizes when exposed to air so the green color will turn duller and more brownish with time. You may use Redman's bakeable matcha powder if you want the cookies to retain the vibrancy as it has some green colouring added.

🔸Please see 2nd note under strawberry sandwich cookies for tips on portioning the dough.

🔸Please see last note under dark chocolate cookie for tips on working with melted white chocolate.

🔸 Matcha cranberry cookies are traditionally made as ice box cookies which are sliced from a chilled log of dough because the presence of the cranberry bits make it trickier for cookie cutouts to have neat edges. While it's possible to create neat cookie cutouts, it takes some patience. Chopping the cranberries until they are really fine (1-2mm) helps a lot. In the event the cookie cutout edges are untidy due to cranberry bits, carefully nudge the dough back into place where the cranberry bits stick out or are gouged out from the dough in the process.


Time management tips
Many of us are busy people so anything that helps to make a massive bake manageable is always welcomed. The great thing about cookies is the work can be spread out over time with short bursts of work in between.

1. You can prepare the dough in advance and store it in the freezer. For sheeted dough like the sandwich cookies, dark chocolate cookies and matcha cookies, you may roll sheets of dough between parchment and freeze them as a stack. You may portion the brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough into 14g portions and store in containers in a single layer in the freezer. 

2. You can break the dough prep over time if you are preparing the dough for hundreds of cookies to make it more manageable. Just freeze the dough each time you make.

3. For cookies made from cutouts, you may freeze the cutouts in single layers separated by parchment. Make sure the base layer is chilled until firm before stacking.

4. Baked cookies can be frozen right after cooling down to room temperature and stored in airtight condition. Either pack them in their final packaging or store in single layers separated by parchment in airtight condition. Let the cookies thaw at cool room temperature before opening the container as exposure of cold cookies to warm moist air will cause condensation to form on the cookies, making them lose their crispiness. 

5. Remember to add a minute or two to your baking time if you are baking from frozen. Just bake until lightly browned and crisp.



Do give these a try and they are yummy but simple to make!


 with love,

Phay Shing

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Saturday, 2 November 2024

Sugar-Free Capybara Apple Pop Tarts

 I made these felt toy lookalike capybara pop tarts for hubby's birthday!



A peek at the insides!


I tried to make it as low a GI as possible without compromising taste and kept the use of artificial colouring minimal.

If this style of felt toy lookalike pop tarts seem familiar to you, it means you must have seen Melly's (Instagram: @mellyeatsworld) incredible pop tart creations a few years ago! I was truly inspired by her work and the pop tarts stood out because I have never seen anything like them before. I hope I did her style of work justice here to make the pop tarts good enough to fool you into thinking that they are handmade felt toys 🤭.

My hubby loves capybaras (actually everyone in my family does) and anything with apple pie filling so I took the chance to create these sugar-free pop tarts as his super early birthday bake. Hardly any sugar replacements are used because sugar is optional for this bake. Although sugar sweetens and helps with caramelization, it's not absolutely necessary for the structure. I relied on brown butter, cinnamon and caramelizing the apple to give this creation amazing flavours. It's naturally coloured too except for the 🍎 that the capybaras are holding.

Here's the template. Do tag me on social media if you create it!

Please resize the template till the height of the capybara is 10cm

I put a heart on the template instead of an apple for sizing purposes since I have an apple cookie cutter that's about 1".

Sugar-Free Capybara Apple Pop Tarts
(makes 4 pop tarts)

Apple filling*:
2 large Gala apples, peeled & finely diced 
A pinch of salt
1/8-1/4 tsp lemon juice (optional)
1/4-1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
1-2 tbs (8-16g) Alchemy fibre* (replace with sugar or omit)
25g unsalted butter 

1. Mix all ingredients except butter in a mixing bowl. Set aside
2. In a light coloured saucepan, brown butter over low heat 
3. Add 1. into brown butter. Cook until apple is translucent & slightly caramelized. Adding sugar helps with the caramelization but I want to keep the GI as low as possible
4. Cool completely before using or stored in the fridge until assembly

Tart dough:
180g plain flour
5-10g powdered Erythritol/icing sugar (optional)
Pinches of salt
1/2-3/4 tsp cinnamon powder
100g cold unsalted butter, cubed*
1 egg yolk
30g cold milk/ice water

Egg wash*:
1 egg yolk
15g water
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
5g boiling hot water

1. Whisk together flour, sugar, salt & cinnamon
2. Rub in cold butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs
3. Whisk egg yolk & cold milk together. Add to 2. Mix well until a ball of dough forms
4. Portion out dough & colour:
Red: 20g + red gel color
Dark brown: 25g + 1/16 tsp cocoa powder + a few drops of water
Green: 5g + green gel color 
Black: 3g + 1/16 tsp charcoal+ a few drops of water
5. Wrap & refrigerate for at least 30min
6. Roll to 3mm thick for base dough for capybara's body & 1mm thick for the rest. Freeze for 15 min 
7. Cut out dough using template. Join small parts to main body by brushing some water/egg wash. Press small cutouts firmly into body. Freeze if not assembling yet

I had leftover dough which I used to make some circles 

8. Assemble with apple filling by adding 1 tbs of filling to the base dough cutout. Brush perimeter with water/egg wash. Press top dough cutout down firmly. Crimp the edges & egg wash stitches*. Pierce holes for nostrils & mouth to vent. I used a combination of a cake tester and a small knife to create the vents.





9. Freeze assembled tart while preheating oven to 170C fan/185C

10. Bake 10-12min. Rotate tray & bake another 10-12min or until lightly browned. Adjust baking conditions to whatever works for your oven as each oven is different.


* Additional notes:

🔸Alchemy fibre: A prebiotic fibre mix of inulin & edible gum. Glycemic index is not zero but has beneficial effect on gut health, glycemic load and cholesterol. Tastes mildly sweet

🔸The portion of apple filling is more than enough for filling 4 capybara pop tarts. I recommend serving the pop tarts with extra filling on the side as overstuffing the tarts may risk them exploding during baking. Other types of fillings that are rich like S'mores (milk chocolate & toasted marshmallows), or really strong flavoured like jams that are sweet and tart at the same time need not have filling top-ups

🔸You may replace some of the butter with shortening if your environment is really warm like mine (30-31C kitchen these days 🥵) for better shape retention 

🔸 Egg wash: Mix egg yolk with 15g water for a regular egg wash or to glue pieces of dough together. For the brown stitch egg wash paint, dissolve cocoa powder in boiling hot water, then mix in 20g egg wash. I used fine tweezers instead of a fork to crimp the edges for a more realistic stitch pattern. Fork tinnes tend to be a little thicker so it won't appear too "stitch-like"

🔸 Tarts can be stored at room temperature for 2 days or in the fridge for a week tightly wrapped. Extra apple filling can be stored in the fridge for a week. Reheat by toasting tart for a few minutes until sizzling before consuming it piping hot with extra filling. If you aren't diabetic, you may pair it with a caramel drizzle and vanilla ice cream 😋


Here's the video of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DB4492cykUz/?igsh=MWc5aGl1OXYxenh0bg==


with lots of love,

Phay Shing






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Saturday, 26 October 2024

Capybara Strawberry Ice-Cream Roll Cake

 I made a capybara strawberry ice-cream roll cake for my younger kid's birthday, in time for this sudden hot spell! 




It was really delicious and full of berry flavour! I filled the middle with a strawberry-pandan-matcha chiffon cake surprise instead of using whole fresh strawberries as this cake is consumed frozen. Vanilla chiffon sponge is used for the patterned outer sponge.

Making patterned swiss rolls need not be a nightmare with this type of "cheat" roll when you have a U-shaped cake mold! Cracked sponges during rolling will be a thing of the past. You may purchase this mold from Qeleg at a discount over here:


You may also use my discount code: Phay_Shing to purchase any of the wide range of baking tools that Qeleg has in their store or browse their site using this link with all the discounts in-built:

https://qeleg.com/?ref=tan_phay_shing_&fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaYR-6wAY8qt16D1X5gQ-qumOFIeXXd4sFkdF2nxsWFzqE-nTAZfEUvKoVg_aem_6EgjYfSjZ49pcYU-Swv9cA

This is my second capybara themed patterned roll cake made using the U-shaped mold. You may refer to this post to see the orange themed one. I adapted both orange and strawberry designs from the ones on Qeleg's store so you may purchase the patterns from there too.

Strawberry ice cream
2 egg yolks
20-25g caster sugar
50g white chocolate
200g whipping cream of choice*
30g strawberry jam*
1 tsp freeze dried strawberry powder 
1/2-3/4 tsp strawberry emulsion 

*Strawberry jam: You may use store bought ones but I made my own from scratch without pectin added. I cooked down strawberry puree with 15% sugar until 60% original weight
*Whipping cream: Use dairy, non-dairy or a mix. I used a mixture to get a good balance of stability & taste

Steps:
1. Melt white chocolate, keep warm
2. Heat up jam with emulsion & freeze dried powder mixed together till warm to touch, set aside & keep warm. I keep both melted chocolate and warm jam mix in the oven with light on but heat off.
3. Whip whipping cream to soft peaks, set aside
4. Whisk sugar & yolks over double boiler until sugar is dissolved & 60C
5. Add chocolate, jam mix & 1-2tbs of whipped cream. Emulsify with blender
6. Gradually add 5. to remaining whipped cream. Transfer to a piping bag & refrigerate until ready to assemble. Freeze for 8h in serving cups if consuming as ice-cream straight away. You may prepare this a day or two ahead of time if making ice-cream cake.

Strawberry & Matcha Pandan Chiffon Sponge**
( Two 7x7" sheets)
2 yolks 
20g oil
30g milk/water
1/2 tsp strawberry emulsion
1/4 tsp matcha powder
1/8 tsp pandan paste
40g cake flour

2 egg whites 
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
30g caster sugar

Vanilla roll cake chiffon sponge**
(12x12" sheet)
3 yolks 
30g oil
45g milk/water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
54g cake flour

3 egg whites
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
45g caster sugar

** Steps for chiffon sponges: 
1. Line baking trays with teflon sheet. Preheat oven to 170C
2. Make egg yolk batter. Whisk yolks, oil, salt flour, milk/water together. Divide batter for making 🍓in half & add respective flavourings
3. Make meringue. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks, gradually adding sugar once egg whites are foamy.
4. Fold meringue into yolk batter. Pour into tray. Bake for 15 min or until done. 


Strawberry cutouts from red and green chiffon sheet cakes

Painted vanilla sponge 

I am not able to share my patterning method and recipe at the moment but what I share is enough for you to make a beautiful and delicious strawberry ice-cream swiss roll. You may watch this video tutorial for the process of making this cake:



Just some tips on managing a project like this as it can be pretty intensive. Store baked patterned sponge in U-shaped mold overnight & paint the next day if it's too intensive to finish everything in one day. Keep the sponge in mold wrapped overnight at cool room temperature to prevent drying out. Periodically brush the sponge with drinking safe water if you paint slowly like me to prevent it from drying out. Keep sections you are not painting covered to prevent excessive drying.


Everyone in my family is a capybara fan so stay tuned for more capybara birthday bake coming up!


with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Sunday, 20 October 2024

BT21 Marshmallow-Macaron Music Box

 My friend wanted to surprise his girlfriend again with a BT21 themed birthday creation so he requested for a music box with RJ as the standing figurine.




I also made a BT21 themed bake last year for her and you can see it over here.

This year's bake involves quite a bit of precision since I needed to make a box with a working mechanism that can rotate the figurine.


It's also my first attempt at making a tall marshmallow figurine that can be viewed from all angles. 


The smaller 3D seated figures were also rather challenging especially Mang whom I didn't really nail in terms of looks 🤭.





I replaced the water in the gelatin bloom, sugar syrup and for rehydrating meringue powder with cold brewed rose tea for a light floral scent. Check out my Deco Marshmallows book for the basic recipe and techniques. I also show you how to replace fresh egg whites with meringue powder in this reel.

See the process of making this epic project in my reel over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DBLk6U6yR3t/?igsh=cGRoYWd0eHdrenhi


with love,

Phay Shing

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Tuesday, 15 October 2024

Hotpot Chiffon Cake

 


Too cute to eat?

I made these cakes for my dear DG mates birthday celebrations. The soup was made from apple jelly. 

 Watch the reel video here for more details. Thank God the cake was well-received. I may try planning a class for this in future. Hope you liked it too! 

With love, 
Susanne 

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Saturday, 12 October 2024

Capybara in Orangeland Yuzu Orange Swiss Roll

 I have been eyeing the U-shaped cake mold from Qeleg for the longest time. I finally have the chance to try it out! 


I adapted the "Capybara in Orangeland" design from the orange template on Qeleg's store. I forgot to position all the important elements such that they are visible from one angle when rolled 😅. Here are more views from different angles so you have a better view.




I have been making patterned swiss rolls on and off for almost 11 years and finally settled on a recipe and method that I am satisfied with. I prefer using a pattern that has a similar texture to the base sponge, has fine pores and most importantly, stable enough because I work slowly 😅.

Using the U-shaped mold means that the roll cake is made of a U-shaped patterned piece and a flat rectangular piece for the base. Both pieces are cut from a 12x12" sponge:


I used cake paint from Sweet Sticks for painting in the details.


The U-shaped mold was really handy for assembling the yuzu whipped cream and fresh sweet mandarins! There's no worry about the sponge cracking since this is a "cheat" method of making roll cakes 🤭


Here's the video of the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DA0m442ylQS/?igsh=MXY4aW84eWpwd2lkcg==


Capybara in Orangeland roll cake recipe

Feel free to use any patterning method/ recipe you like. I developed my own for a more stable patterning batter that doesn't crack at the boundaries, produces sponge with fine pores suitable as a painting canvas & has a similar soft texture as the base sponge. I am not ready to share the method and recipe for the pattern I developed at the moment.

Sponge:
(Makes one 12x12" thin layer of sponge)
Egg yolk batter
3 egg yolks*
30g oil in
45g yuzu jam tea**
54g cake flour, sifted
Pinches of salt
1/16tsp orange emulsion (optional)

Meringue
3 egg whites*
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
45g sugar 
Cake Filling:
25g yuzu jam, blended
100g whipping cream of choice
4 small sweet mandarins, halved
Extra yuzu jam tea

* Large eggs at least 65g with shell on
** Blend 40g of yuzu jam with rind in 40g hot water. Sieve through fine sieve. Use the liquid for making sponge & brushing sponge before filling

Method: 
1. Preheat oven to 170C. Make cake pattern using your preferred method & recipe

2. Make egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks, orange emulsion, salt & oil together. Add flour & yuzu jam tea in alternating additions, whisking until well combined each time

3. Make meringue. Beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks, gradually add sugar once egg whites are foamy

4. Fold meringue into yolk batter. Pour over pattern. Bake for 15 min or until done

5. Cut the patterned U shaped piece & rectangular piece for the base. Paint the sponge as desired

6. Whip whipping cream until firm peaks, fold in blended yuzu jam. Transfer into piping bag

7. Place sponge pattern side down on parchment paper. Brush sponge with some yuzu jam tea. Put in U-shaped mold from Qeleg

8. Fill the sponge with cream & mandarins. Cover base with rectangular sponge. Freeze for 30-40min. Flip the cake over onto serving plate/cakeboard. Keep chilled in airtight condition. Consume within 3 days

Additional notes:
1. If it's too intensive to complete the whole project in a day, you may bake the sponge on day 1 & paint/assemble on day 2. To do so, store U shaped patterned sponge in the U shape mold lined with parchment paper overnight. Cling wrap the whole assembly & store at cool room temperature to prevent the cake from drying out

2. Keep sections of sponge that you are not painting covered with parchment or cling wrap to prevent drying out. You may also dab sections of sponge with drinking safe water if exposed for a long time as some designs may take a long time to decorate 

3. Use dairy, non-dairy or a combination of whipping creams according to your preference and serving ambient conditions. Be careful not to overwhip if using only dairy cream. Use stabilizers if using dairy and serving in a fairly warm place

4. Adjust baking temperature and time according to your oven 

You may use this link to browse Qeleg's website with the discounts already in-built or use my promo code: Phay_Shing. They have a wide range of silicone molds, metal trays, cookie cutters, fondant molds and more!

with love,

Phay Shing

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