Osmanthus Honey Wolfberry Flower Box Cakes

 I wanted something elegant, floral and healthy for mothers when I was planning the class material for Mother's day. This was what I came up with!

Osmanthus honey wolfberry flower box cakes with the floral patterns painted using natural ingredients!

Composition:

- Honey milk vanilla chiffon sponges

- Osmanthus honey agar jelly with and without wolfberries

- Osmanthus honey custard cream 

The cake can be enjoyed either chilled as a cream cake, or frozen as an ice-cream cake. The latter is really refreshing and more-ish!

Here's a peek at the cake cross section!

Please click on this link for the studio class:

https://www.bakersgym.com/service-page/mother-s-day-special-flower-box-cake

Please click on this link for the online class:

https://www.bakersgym.com/product-page/mother-s-day-special-flower-box-class-ready-by-2nd-may-sgd-88-usd-68

Here's a peek at the process of making the cake!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DVR9r9SiZDP/?igsh=ZWNxOHRrY2owN2ti

with love, 

Phay Shing

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Horse Cashew Cookies

 This unplanned bake happened because my friend gave me a bag of raw cashews!

I made the cookies sugar-free to make it more diabetic-friendly but you may use regular sugar.

(Makes about 30-34 cookies)

Main dough:

125g toasted cashew flour*

125g plain flour

50g icing sugar*

1/4-1/2 tsp salt*

20g peanut or cashew oil*

45g neutral oil*

Egg wash:

1 yolk or 1/2 egg lightly beaten + 1/2 tsp water, sieved

Others:

1/16 tsp cocoa powder 

Cashew halves for decorating

Edible marker 

Please see the reel for the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUjnY9xCVQS/?igsh=MXdxMDQzZDA3Yjd2bA==

1. Whisk together cashew flour, plain flour, icing sugar & salt

2. Add peanut oil & mix well

3. Gradually add neutral oil until you are able to form a ball of dough that doesn't break apart when rolled between hands. This ensures that the texture of cookie is light & melts in your mouth while being cohesive enough that it doesn't crumble too easily. You may not need to use all the oil

4. Reserve 5g of dough & add cocoa powder. If the dough is too dry & crumbly, add a drop of oil to make it cohesive again. This step is optional if you aren't making horses

5. Divide main dough into 10-11g balls & place on lined baking tray. They can be placed really close together as they don't expand much in the oven

6. Press halved cashew on top of dough ball (for non-horsey cookies) or create horse design as shown

7. Apply egg wash

8. Bake in preheated oven at 170C fan/180C for 15 min or until golden brown. Rotate tray halfway

9. Cool on baking tray for 5 min before moving to cooling rack to cool completely. Store in airtight condition for up to a few weeks.

* NOTES FOR INGREDIENTS:

🔸Toasted cashew flour: 

I made my own flour by baking raw cashew nuts at 150C for about 10-15 min until aromatic & lightly browned before grinding into powder. You may purchase cashew flour if you don't want the hassle of processing your own nut flour which can be tricky if you are not careful as you may end up with nut butter instead. I strongly advise toasting the store bought flour to have a more nutty cookie! Just bake at 150C until aromatic & lightly browned

🔸Icing sugar:

I wanted to make the cookie more diabetic friendly so I replaced the icing sugar with 15g Lakanto (Erythritol with monk fruit extract), 10g Alchemy Fibre (a blend of inulin & edible gum) & 25g Maltitol. Taste isn't compromised (you can't tell it's sugar-free because there's no weird aftertaste!)

🔸 Salt: 

Adjust amount according to preference. My family prefers the higher end as salt really brings out the nutty flavour for a more savoury cookie

🔸Peanut/cashew oil: 

I used some peanut oil instead of neutral oil only to enhance the nuttyness of the cookie, but not all peanut oil as it would overpower the cashew flavour. If you have access to cashew nut oil, go ahead & use it 😊. I don't have it easily available. You may replace with neutral oil for simplicity 

🔸 Neutral oil: 

I used canola oil but you may use corn, soybean or sunflower oil too

with love,

Phay Shing

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Horse 马蹄酥 (Ma-Ti-Su)

 It's the Year of the Horse (马年) so of course I have to make some 马蹄酥 horses!

A closer look at the flaky pastry and gooey filling!

Recipe For 马蹄酥🐴 (horse shoe pastry horses)
(makes about 7 horse pastries)

A.k.a. Beh Teh Soh or Heong Piah in Hokkien dialect or Heong Paeng in Cantonese dialect.

Recipe is adapted from Yeo Min's Chinese Pastry School cookbook. 

For those of you not familiar with the pastry, it has a crisp, flaky crust and a gooey, fragrant, savoury and sweet filling with maltose, shallot oil and toasted white sesame seeds as the stars of the flavour profile.

Filling:
35g sugar (caster or light brown)
55g maltose
1/2 tbs toasted white sesame seeds
10g shallot oil
1g salt
15g cooked glutinous rice flour

Oil dough:
54g plain flour
27g vegetable shortening 
1/16 tsp cocoa powder

Water dough:
70g plain flour
10g caster sugar
8g neutral oil
4g shallot oil
35g warm water
5g maltose
1/16 tsp salt

Egg wash:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp hot water
1/8 tsp cocoa powder

Others:
Black edible marker
A little maltose or honey

Watch my reel to see the process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUhCmpGieCh/?igsh=MXR3YTVna2hhYXo2MQ==

METHOD:

1. Prepare filling. Warm maltose and sugar in microwave oven/double boiler. Mix in the rest of ingredients. Rest for 10min. Divide into 15g portions. Freeze for 10min before reshaping to horse face shape. Keep frozen till assembly.

2. Prepare water dough. Whisk all ingredients except flour together to emulsify oil & water. Pour at once into flour. Mix until dough forms. Cover and rest for 15min. Knead until elastic and passes windowpane test. Keep covered

3. Prepare oil dough while resting water dough. Rub shortening into flour and form a ball of dough.

4. Laminate 18g water dough and 9g oil dough as shown in reel. Keep laminated balls of dough covered to prevent drying out.

5. Add 1/16 tsp cocoa powder to 6g of oil dough. Roll to 3mm thick between parchment paper and cut out horse mane. You may use a template and knife. I made a homemade cookie cutter out of an empty can to make it easier. Bake at 150C for 10 min or till done. You may do this after the pastries are baked to have a better gauge of the size of the mane needed.

My homemade cookie cutter for the horse's mane

6. Use leftover oil dough for forming the ears.

7. Roll laminated dough flat, about 8-10cm. Place filling in the middle & enclose. Pinch seams together & place it seam side down. Make sure the seams are properly sealed or the filling will burst out during baking.

8. Prepare egg wash. Dissolve cocoa powder in hot water. Add to egg yolk & mix well. Sieve before using.

9. Brush the tops of the pastry for horse face pattern. Attach ears and egg wash as shown in reel. Make holes for nostrils using toothpick. Imprint the mouth using a straw cut as shown in reel. You may need to deepen the mouth by using the toothpick to indent the smile deeper or it may disappear after baking

10. Bake in preheated oven at 170C fan/180C for 30 min (or until lightly browned). Rotate the baking tray halfway through baking. 

Very helpful tip from Yeo Min: 

Bake pastries on preheated baking tray or hot stone to quickly set the pastries for reducing risk of leaks. That's why I placed each horse on parchment paper squares so that I can yeet them into the oven directly onto a hot surface, baking 3 horses at a time. This tip really works wonders! 

11. Cool slightly before drawing eyes with black edible marker. Attach the mane using a little warmed and softened maltose or honey. Best enjoyed freshly baked or retoasted until warm if stored in airtight container to enjoy the pastries with the filling in a gooey state.

with love,
Phay Shing

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Chili Crab Choux Pastry

 Decorative Choux pastries need not always be sweet. Here are some savoury, spicy and sweet cute choux pastries --- chili crab choux!

A closer look at the insides filled with chili crab diplomat cream that has real crab meat! This filling really works together with the crunchy pastry case! 

I will be sharing how to create these yummy treats which are inspired by one of Singapore's iconic dishes in an April class. Please click on the link below for more information or to register:

https://shop.redmanshop.com/products/chili-crab-choux-pastry-class-phytsv00006

with love,

Phay Shing

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