Capybara Mint Chocolate Macarons (template included!)

 Chocolate macarons may be tricky to make. Let me share some important tips to show you how to make it work!

Featuring capybaras as the subject!

Check out the awesome feet!

Freshly baked shells!

You may use this template below to create the capybara macaron shells.

Recipe for mint chocolate macarons and video of the process can be found in the reel below:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJEQtCDptpb/?igsh=MWJvZG1taXpubXExcg==

When making chocolate macaron shells, choose the brand of cocoa powder that has the lowest fat content that you have access to. For me and many bakers, it's Hershey's with fat content at 10% compared to 20-25% for most other brands. If you would like your shells to have a deeper brown colour, choose the Dutch processed version. Make sure your almond flour is not too oily as well because it will cause the meringue to deflate prematurely.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Sea Otter Mocha Macaron Class

Do you love sea otters? Come and join me for this macaron class if you do!

The macaron shells are flavoured/coloured with coffee and cocoa powder, and the fillings are coffee vanilla white chocolate ganache, dark chocolate ganache and toasted chopped pecans. Here's a closer look at the fillings!

I will focus on techniques of achieving success in macaron making in Singapore's tropical climate so be assured that the tips that I share in this studio class are practical and useful. The fillings are all dairy-free and firm enough to hold up in non aircon conditions in Singapore so it's practical for gifting without worry about the fillings melting into a puddle or spoiling quickly due to the heat. I use decaf coffee so it's suitable for kids and non coffee drinkers too.

Not only are the macarons visually pleasing outside. The insides are beautifully full too!

A peek at the macaron shells before I added in the faces.

Please click on the link below to register for this studio class.

https://shop.redmanshop.com/collections/classes/products/sea-otter-mocha-macaron-class-phytsv00002?_pos=2&_fid=d5b32cb66&_ss=c

You get to enjoy a 15% discount for the sea otter marshmallow class if you sign up for both macaron and marshmallow classes. The link for the marshmallow class can be found in Redman's website above. Feel free to contact Redman directly if you have more queries about registration.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Pikachu Passionfruit Vanilla Marshmallows

 My friend requested for some Pokemon marshmallows for her nephews that aren't too sweet. I made Pikachu passionfruit vanilla marshmallows to satisfy the brief!

Upright versions of characters are always the most challenging to pipe because you have to work against gravity and it's largely freehand piping. I challenged myself further to create the entire marshmallow as a single piece instead of piping the gravity defying ears and tail as separate pieces and then gluing them onto the main body after dusting.

Recipe and techniques that you need to know can be found in my Deco Marshmallows book. Here's the piping tutorial:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DIqg1r1Jp6v/?igsh=ajZ0OXl3ajd1cGQy

Besides this Pikachu design, I also made another Pokemon character along with him. Keep a lookout for that!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Gula Melaka Pandan Kaya Painted Swiss Roll (new technique!)

 I am really excited to share a new game-changing technique that will make painted cakes much easier for beginners without much artistic or baking skills! This is a bake to test the proof of concept and I am very pleased with the results!

Some of you may recognise the style of artwork is Nagomi art. Why the choice of nagomi art style? It's because my mum took up a nagomi art class recently and I was inspired to turn one of her paintings into her birthday cake design. This tulip design is taken off the internet (FortuneArtDream from Pinterest) for my practice run. The choice of cake flavour is because Mum took up a Peranakan cooking course last year and has been practicing making kueh kosui on and off. I thought this flavour profile is reminiscent of the kueh.

Cake composition:

- Pandan gula melaka chiffon sponge cakes for the tulip centers and white sponge canvas for the painting

- Gula melaka pandan kaya pudding in green and brown colours as the roll cake filling

If you have followed me long enough and are familiar with patterned chiffon cakes and swiss rolls, you will know that the standard method is to use a patterning batter that is baked together with the base sponge batter as the cake designs or as guides to mark out areas where additional details are painted in post-baking. Working with patterned batter can result in many challenges where things can go wrong, such as:

1. Cracks along boundaries between pattern and base sponge

2. Pattern stuck to Teflon sheet/parchment paper instead of base sponge

3. Patterning batter turning runny/deflating before piping finish the pattern

4. Difficulty in optimizing oven settings to bake the cake

What I have done in this new technique is to do away with the patterning batter and we start with a blank canvas in the form of a solid coloured sponge (usually white). Baking a single-coloured sheet cake is way easier and faster!

How do we get the pattern on then? By tracing a mirror imaged picture onto parchment paper and printing it onto the cake! I was inspired to try this when I saw reels shared by qeleg_cake (Instagram account) on printing faint outlines onto sponge cake before painting. What I did differently was to use edible marker instead of cake paint, and parchment paper instead of transfer paper.

Here's some pictures of the painted cake halfway through and upon completion.

You may refer to the reel below for the recipe of the cake (see the captions and pinned comments of the reel) and printing technique. Do note that although I made this cake using prebiotic fibres, a sugar replacement and gula melaka, the recipe I shared only uses regular white sugar and gula melaka as the sugar-free version with prebiotics is class material.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DJRIsoGpLPN/?igsh=MWxkMWRoa3o3dWo4Ng==

with love,

Phay Shing

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