Koala Mum and Joey Matcha Black Sesame Macaron Class

 Some macaron designs require many layers of batter to create some definition on the subject. This means that it takes a long time to create everything out of macaron batter. In order to simplify the process, we can use royal icing for some details like the heart flowers in these 😊.

This creation also uses 3 macaron shells per macaron to create a more 3D effect.

This class is the first of two of my Mother's Day themed macaron classes . I chose matcha black sesame as the flavour for this creation as matcha and black sesame are great for mum's health.

This class that features the use of royal icing transfers is up for registration with Artz Baking and Culinary Studio. Please click on this link for more details and to register.

With love,

Phay Shing

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100% Naturally Coloured, Refined Sugar-Free 'Roses in a basket' Hojicha Cake

This was a bake that I had to make earlier because my mum decided to celebrate her birthday earlier to coincide with Mother's Day. Presenting my diabetic-friendly, 100% naturally coloured and flavoured basket of roses in the form of Hojicha chiffon cake! 

I made 4 different types of chiffon sponges :  hojicha for brown, black sesame and a little charcoal for grey, pink dragonfruit for pink and matcha for green. The hojicha sponges were alternated with hojicha diplomat cream and crunchy chocolate balls. Only monkfruit sugar was used as a sweetner in this whole bake so it is relatively diabetic friendly. 

This isn't tbe first time I am making a "basket of flowers" chiffon cake. I made my first one in 2015 and it appears in a similar form in our first chiffon cake book. Subsequently I made such cakes over the years with different flavours and fillings. 

As I had to reshuffle my schedule for this bake, I decided to prebake the flowers and leaves, and freeze them. So it was quite an experiment for me. I was fully prepared that fresh pink dragonfruit colour would fade from baking and freezing but it didn't do so noticeably! Just look at that lovely natural pink colours of the egg yolk batters! 

Baked and assembled roses that I froze in airtight condition. 

I made some vines as well but decided not to use them. 

Matcha and pink dragonfruit chiffon sheet cakes

Ingredients (makes 3 very thin 10 x 12" cakes):

Do note that the batter for this portion doesn't cover the entire surface of the lined baking tray. We just want to get as thin a layer as possible so you may use any tray size that is approximately what I used. 

Egg yolk batter

1 egg yolk

5g monkfruit sugar (or caster sugar) 

30g vegetable oil / canola oil

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

40g cake flour, sifted

10g pink dragonfruit puree, sieved

10g diluted pink dragonfruit puree, sieved ( I used 4g dragonfruit and 6g water) 

10g matcha paste (dissolve 1 tsp Matcha powder in 13g  boiling water, cool and sieve) 

Meringue (ingredients to be divided if oven cannot fit all 3 trays in at once) 

3 egg whites 

1/8 tsp cream of tartar (added to help stabilize meringue) 

36g monkfruit sugar (or caster sugar) 

1/2 tsp cornflour (added to help stabilize meringue) 

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 175C, top and bottom heat only. Set oven rack to middle or second lower position. Line baking trays with teflon sheet or parchment paper. 

2. Prepare egg yolk batter for dark pink, light pink and green batters. Whisk egg yolk and sugar together until pale. Add oil and whisk until combined. Add salt and vanilla and whisk until combined. Add sifted cake flour and whisk until no trace of flour is seen. 

3. Divide into 3 equal portions. Add pink dragonfruit puree for dark pink, diluted dragonfruit puree for light pink, and matcha paste for green. Whisk until well combined. 

4. Prepare meringue. I made 1 egg white portion worth each colour to bake separately. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually add sugar and cornflour and beat until firm peaks or just reach stiff peaks. Fold meringue into egg yolk batters quickly but gently in 2 additions. 

5. Spread the batter in a thin layer on limed baking tray. Bake until done. This may take around 7-9 minutes depending on your oven so keep a close watch or it will brown fast. 

6. Immediately flip it onto a fresh parchment paper and cool completely before cutting out the cake with cookie/fondant cutters and assembling

Method of assembly for the roses can be found in our very first book, Creative Baking: Chiffon Cakes. The leaves were made by using a fondant rose leaf cutter to cut out the shapes, as well as make the imprint of the veins. I used 3cm and 4cm diameter round cutters for the roses. 

I was in a hurry making and cutting out the hojicha and black sesame cakes so I didn't get to take photos of those. I bought the hojicha powder from Redman. 

Recipe for Hojicha chiffon cake

Ingredients (makes one 6" cake) :

Egg yolk batter

2 egg yolks

5g monkfruit sugar (or caster sugar) 

28g canola or vegetable oil

27g Hojicha paste (Dissolve 2-3 tsp of hojicha powder in 26g boiling hot water. Sieve when cooled. I used about 5g powder) 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

A pinch of salt

40g cake flour

Meringue 

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

45g monkfruit sugar (or caster sugar) 

1/2 tsp cornflour 

Steps:

Same as above except I alternated adding sifted flour and hojicha paste to the egg yolk batter. Preheat oven to 160C and reduce to 140C to bake for 50 min, reduce to 130C and bake for another 20 min. I placed a tray of water at the base of the oven and used the second lower rack for baking. I used a 6" round tin with removeable base but you may use a regular chiffon tin if you don't have one. 

Note that baking temperature and time is oven dependent and you may use your own temperature baking conditions that works for you. The temperatures I specify is as read by oven thermometer, not the temperature set on the oven. I use top and bottom heat only, no fan. 

Black sesame chiffon sheet cake (adapted from Nasilemak Lover) 

Ingredients (makes about two 10x12", or one 10x12" and two 7x7" sheet cakes) :

Do note that number or trays or tray sizes is dependent on what you have and how many rounds of baking you are willing to do. Like the flowers and leaves, you want to aim for really thin sheets if possible. 

Egg yolk batter

3 egg yolks

5g monkfruit sugar (or castor sugar) 

35g oil

35g milk or water (or mix of both) 

52g cake flour

20g black sesame powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

A pinch of salt

1/4 tsp charcoal powder (optional, for colouring) 

Meringue

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar 

45g monkfruit sugar (or castor sugar) 

1/2 tsp cornflour 

Steps: 

Same as pink and green sheet cakes. You may need to bake longer if the sheets here are slightly thicker, like what happened for mine. 

Cut into strips just before assembling the basket weave. Method of assembling the basket weave is similar to what you would do using fondant or buttercream for basket weave cakes. 

Hojicha diplomat cream 

I filled the hojicha cake with this in the hidden portions as this is a much darker brown colour and less firm. I wanted a lighter brown on the outside that is firmer. 

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

200g milk (I used 150g full fat milk and 50g water for a less rich cream) 

5g hojicha powder 

40g monkfruit sugar (or castor sugar) 

20g cornflour 

Pinches of salt

15g unsalted butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

120-140g stabilized whipped cream*

* Bloom a sheet of gelatin (or 2g powder gelatin) in ice water, add it to hot but not boiling heavy cream ( at least 35% fat) and whisk till dissolved. Press cling wrap onto surface of cream and refrigerate overnight or until firm. Whip until firm peaks when ready to add to pastry cream. 

Steps:

1. In a heavy glass measuring jug or bowl, whisk together cornflour, egg yolks, salt, sugar, hojicha powder. In the meantime, heat milk and vanilla in a saucepan until milk starts to steam (not boiling). 

2. Pour hot milk in a thin stream into egg yolk mixture while whisking the yolk mixture continuously. Pour everything back into saucepan. 

3. Heat egg yolk mixture over low heat while whisking continuously until it thickens. Remove from heat and continue whisking until smooth. Return to heat and switch to spatula and stir continuously, cooking until it thickens further to be able to hold a firm peak. Remove from heat. 

4. Add butter and mix until well combined. Transfer into a bowl and press cling wrap on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 1h or overnight until firm. 

5. When ready to assemble, loosen the pastry cream by whipping it briefly with a spatula. Add stabilized whipped cream by folding it in. Transfer to piping bag with a hole cut. 

Light hojicha diplomat cream

This cream is firmer and lighter in colour, but less flavourful. 

Ingredients :

30g hojicha diplomat cream

70g whip topping (non-dairy whipping cream) 

1 tsp hojicha powder

Steps :

1. Whip non-dairy whipping cream until stiff. You may use stabilized double cream but I chose something that is weather friendly for tropical Singapore. I envy those of you who don't have to work in 30C hot kitchens! 

2. Add hojicha powder into whipped cream and beat it briefly to mix well. 

3. Fold in diplomat cream into whipped cream. Transfer into piping bag with a hole cut.

 

Assembly

Items :

6"  hojicha chiffon cake

Hojicha diplomat creams (both light and dark) 

Crunchy chocolate toppings 

Acetate sheet

8" round cakeboard

Black sesame sheet chiffon cake

Pink dragonfruit roses

Matcha leaves

Cake glue or melted marshmellows

Long metal ruler 

Small fruit knife (for cutting out basket weave pieces) 

Cutting board

Long serrated knife / cake leveller

Steps:

1. Cut the hojicha cake horizontally into 3 slices using a long serrated knife or cake leveller. I used a ruler, toothpicks (to mark the height) and serrated knife to cut into 3 slices of equal thickness. 

2. Place a slice of hojicha cake on cakeboard, using a little diplomat cream to stick it down. Wrap it with acetate sheet and secure the acetate sheet with tape. 

3. Pipe a ring against acetate sheet using the light diplomat cream. Fill the middle with the dark diplomat cream and crunchy chocolate toppings like picture below. 

4. Carefully layer on another hojicha chiffon sponge. Repeat adding cream, crunchy chocolate toppings and the last hojicha sponge. 

5. Cover the top with cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2h or overnight. In the mean time you can make the roses and leaves if you haven't done so, or the black sesame basket weave pieces.

6. Carefully remove acetate sheet. Glue on the basket weave using cake glue or melted marshmellows. Glue on the roses and leaves. Store cake in fridge in airtight condition until ready to serve. 

Here is a top view of the cake! 

You may wish to make some of these components if you find the whole bake overwhelming. E. G. Just make the diplomat cream and bake the hojicha/ black sesame cake in the form of sheet cake and make a swiss roll. Just as delicious!! 

Here's a peek at a slice of the cake! 

Everyone took a bite of the cake and exclaimed that it is really good! My parents said I have to make this for subsequent family birthdays this year. My brother said the balance of flavours and textures is just right!  I have to thank hubby for suggesting adding the crunchy chocolate balls because it really made a difference. No one could tell that this whole cake (other than the crunchy chocolate balls) were made without using refined white sugar but so packed full of flavour that is well balanced. They couldn't tell that this was an experimental cake that I have never made before too so really thank God that it was very well received! 

With lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Black Sesame Koala Choux Pastry Class

If you are new to baking but would like to learn how to make a simple, cute and delicious treat, join me for this choux pastry class for making black sesame koalas!

The Choux pastries I make is not your soggy cream puffs that are bought from bakeri
es. I will teach you how to make the pastry cases light and crisp, such that it will be a delight to sink your teeth into when you pair it with cold, creamy and flavourful filling.

Please click on this link for registration and more details.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Black Sesame 'Koala in Distress' Choux pastry

Bushfires are a common thing in Australia during summer. But the one that razed Australia end of last year went on at an unprecedented scale and is still not over to this date. Many homes and lives were lost and countless wildlife affected. I am sure you have seen in the news so I shall spare you the details.

Many years ago, my family visited Australia and I had the chance to carry a koala. I was smitten by how cute they are and was surprised by how solidly heavy they are too. It is really heart wrenching to see them lose their habitat, get injured or even killed, along with other animals. I decided to make a choux pastry creation to reflect the sad state of affairs.

Injured koala in a barren landscape. It looks so sad it makes me want to cry too 

I chose black sesame as the filling flavour and worked with what I have at home at the moment. I have some 100% black sesame powder with no sugar added. As I wanted something lighter to compliment the richness of black sesame, I used whipped cream as the base instead of pastry cream.

Choux pastry filled with black sesame whipped cream

You may refer to this post for details on how to create the choux pastry and the craquelin that goes on top of the grey pastry cases. I piped 2.5cm diameter circles for the koala head and body, and used a 3cm diameter craquelin. I used a 1cm diameter open star tip to pipe some slanted éclairs for the tree trunks. As for baking conditions, I preheated the oven to 210°C and reduced the tenperature immediately to 190°C once the tray is in. I baked for 10 min before reducing temperature to 180°C and bake for 10 min. Reduce temperature to 170°C and bake for another 10 min. Reduce temperature to 140°C and bake for 20 min with fan mode on to thoroughly dry the pastry cases.

Piped batter and with craquelin on grey cases

I piped the pastry pieces for the branches and koala ears, limbs and tail. These were baked at 170°C for 10-18min depending on the size of the pieces.

I used royal icing to decorate as well as join the parts together.

Recipe for black sesame whipped cream
Feel free to adjust or substitute the ingredients. You may use all whip topping or all dairy cream. You may scale the recipe up or down too. You may use black sesame paste instead of ground black sesame if that is your preference.

Ingredients:
120g whip topping (non dairy whipping cream)
30g double cream
Pinches of salt
60g black sesame powder (or according to taste)

Steps:
1. Place chilled whip topping and double cream in a mixing bowl and whip until firm peaks with electric mixer.

2. Add pinches of salt and mix well. Add black sesame and mix well.

3. Transfer into piping bag and keep it chilled until ready to eat. Choux pastry tastes best when eaten freshly filled to enjoy the crisp pastry and cold and creamy filling inside.

Do donate to Koalas In Care Inc., which is run by volunteers over here. Praying for restoration to happen soon.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Koala Black Sesame Custard Cream Puffs

And the journey for Creative Choux pastries continues! I actually have a backlog of Choux pastry posts that I can't wait to share but will release slowly over time. Checkout my Instagram account if you would like a sneak peek of what other creative choux pastry designs I have come up with. For now, let me share this koala black sesame custard cream puffs!

Black sesame Choux pastry case with black sesame white chocolate on top and smooth black sesame custard in the middle!

I love the close up view of the cross section!

I was still trying out different recipes for Choux cases until I found this one. I think I am going to stick with it! It is the puffiest and nicest in texture so far. Please refer to this excellent blog post on making Choux pastry (eclairs) and the various tips for techniques. I didn't follow the ingredients exactly but followed the technique pretty much closely.

Many thanks to Susanne for gifting me with a packet of black sesame powder that I could use!

Recipe for black sesame pastry cream
Ingredients:
400g milk
70g sugar
36g cornflour
30g black sesame powder (use more, up to 20g more if you prefer stronger black sesame flavour as mine is quite mild. )
4 egg yolks
20g unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla bean paste/ extract

Steps:
1. Sift cornflour into a medium sized bowl and whisk in black sesame powder and sugar. Add in egg yolks and whisk until a paste forms. Set aside.

2. Heat milk with vanilla in a saucepan until it starts to bubble. Remove from heat and slowly pour into egg mixture while whisking constantly.

3. Pour mixture back into saucepan. Heat on medium low heat while whisking constantly. Once mixture starts to thicken, remove from heat and keep whisking until mixture is smooth. This is to prevent lumps from forming in the custard. Return the saucepan back to heat and keep whisking until custard has desired consistency of curd. Remove from heat and whisk as and when it is necessary and you see lumps starting to form.

4. Remove from heat. Add butter and mix well. Pour custard through a sieve into a bowl. Press a cling wrap over the surface to prevent skin from forming. Refrigerate until ready to fill the Choux cases. You may make this up to a few days ahead of time.

I made matcha custard as well!

Recipe for black sesame Choux pastry case
Ingredients (makes about 14 koalas):
75g water
75g milk
75g butter
5g sugar
5g salt
90g bread flour
10g plain flour
10g black sesame powder (omit for plain choux cases)
150g eggs (approximately 3, lightly beaten)

Note: you may replace all plain flour with bread flour, or some bread flour with plain flour. Plain flour gives the pastry a more tender bite whereas bread flour helps to give more strength to the structure and makes it more crispy

Steps:
1. Sift together plain and bread flour into a bowl. Preheat oven to 180℃ and set oven rack to middle position

2. Place water, milk, sugar, salt and butter into a saucepan. Bring to a boil while stirring. Remove from heat and pour the flour in all at once. Mix well to make sure all the flour absorb the liquid.

3. Return the dough to cook over medium low heat for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and continue to knead the dough with a spatula in a bowl to let it cool for a couple of minutes.

4. Gradually add beaten egg and mix well after each addition. The batter is ready when it appears shiny and yet leaves a trough that doesn't collapse when you run a finger across the batter surface.

5. Transfer into piping bag fitted with a Wilton #12 (or larger) tip. Pipe a circle for the head, and then two dollops at each side of the circle for the ears. Tap down any peaks with a wet finger to prevent it from burning in the oven.

I was working on another Matcha Choux at the same time so stay tuned!

6. Bake at 180℃ for 20 min. Reduce temperature to 160℃ and bake for another 20 min. Turn off the heat and let it cool for 10 min in the oven. You may sprinkle a little water around the piped batter before baking to help the pastry to rise more in the oven. Pierce the side with toothpick to release any steam. Cool completely on cooling rack. Note that baking temperature and time is dependent on individual ovens. Extend baking time if need be to thoroughly dry out the cases.

Freshly baked Choux case

Recipe for black sesame white chocolate
Ingredients:
160g white compound chocolate chips
10g vegetable shortening
10g black sesame powder
1/8 tsp salt

Steps:
1. Place chocolate and shortening in microwave safe bowl. Heat for 20sec on medium power. Stir with spatula. Repeat until melted.

2. Add black sesame and salt and mix well.

3. Transfer to piping bag and pipe on the Choux cases. Decorate as you wish with melted dark chocolate for the eyes and nose, and pink coloured white chocolate for rosy cheeks.

To fill the Choux cases, make a hole at the side or bottom such that a piping tip can fit into the hole. Fill piping bag fitted with piping tip with pastry cream. Fill the cases. Be careful not to overfill or the cream may burst out of the case, but fill enough so that it's yummy. Best to fill the cases just before consumption. Store any filled pastry into the fridge and finish eating the next day.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Christmas Wreath Pusheen Chiffon Cake

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me...

A Christmas Wreath Pusheen!! <3 =p


Aww.. just kidding =p.. But may this Christmas bring much joy, love and peace to you! =)


This is another Pusheen Cat Chiffon Cake. But instead of using black sesame paste, I tried using black sesame powder. The colour was not as even as using the paste, so I had to correct it with some charcoal paste. But I think the texture is lighter and the colour is also not so dark =). You can see my previous post on how I made the cake. This round I added a cute Christmas wreath chiffon cake around the neck. The Christmas wreath cake is in Deco Chiffon Cakes now, but you can use this pandan chiffon cake recipe in a bundt for it.


Let's not forget the true meaning of Christmas - to celebrate the birth of the Savior!

Blessed Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

With lots of love,
Susanne


*Some exciting updates!

Finally a simplified Chinese version of Deco Chiffon Cake Basics < 造型雪纺蛋糕 创作基础 > is coming!! It's the first Chinese book produced by Marshall Cavendish so I'm really honored. And it will be available in Singapore, Malaysia, and worldwide at major bookstores eg Popular, Kinokuniya from late Jan 2018!! It is a step-by-step picture guide in Chinese.

You can preorder from me at a special preorder price of $22 from now till 3rd Jan by filling up the form here.

Also very excited and thankful that Deco Chiffon Cake Basics' first print run sold out in 1.5 months! It was also in the Kinokuniya's bestsellers! Thanks everyone for your support!! <3

Merry Christmas!!!

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‘Pusheen Cat' Black Sesame Chiffon Cake

I love black sesame flavour but the colour isn’t the sweetest colour, so when I got this Pusheen request which is grey in colour, I was happy to try it again. I actually made Black sesame chiffon way back when I started baking. The original recipe I tried from Okashi few years back uses soy milk and brown sugar for the egg yolk batter, so feel free to substitute with these. Mine is a lighter version in terms of texture (as I use more meringue) with the same flavour intensity (if I remember the taste correctly).

Briefly I made the Pusheen by joining a 6-inch tube pan with a ball cake pan chiffon cake at the top. The same black sesame chiffon recipe is used for the 6-inch pan and ball pan, which I have shared below. The hands, feet and ears are from cake pops molds.

Black Sesame Chiffon Cake (6-inch tube pan or ball cake pan)
Egg yolk batter
3 egg yolks
6g caster sugar
38g vegetable/corn oil
20g black sesame paste
50g fresh milk
3g vanilla extract
60g Prima cake flour

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

1. Preheat oven to 160°C. *Optional: I used steam baking, i.e. I placed a pan of water under the lowest rack before preheating – to control oven temperature, prevent cracks and for moister texture.

2. Whisk egg yolks with sugar until light, fluffy and well-mixed.

3. Whisk in oil, black sesame paste, milk and vanilla extract in that order until well combined.

4. Whisk in sifted cake flour and mix till well-combined.

5. Prepare meringue:

In a grease-free, dry metal bowl, using electric mixer, whisk egg whites with cream of tartar till foamy. Gradually add in the castor sugar and whisk at high speed till firm peaks form, or just the point of stiff peak.

6. Gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter with a flexible spatula 1/3 at a time, till no streaks remain.

7. Pour the batter into a 6-inch tube pan.

*Same recipe is used for the ball cake pan with some excess for cake pop molds.

8. Baking conditions:

6-inch tube pan: Bake at 160°C for 15 min, 140°C for 25+ min, or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Ball pan: 160°C for 15 min, 140°C for 20+ min, or until skewer inserted into centre of cake comes out clean.

Cake pops (3-cm for limbs and 5-cm for ears): 160°C for 12-15 min.

**If you use steam baking, you may need to bake for a few more minutes. You may need to adjust the baking time, depending on your oven.

9. Invert tube pan to cool on a wire rack completely. No need to invert for ball pans and cake pop molds.

10. Unmould the chiffon cake by hand (see video tutorial ‘Hand unmoulding Chiffon cakes for a clean finishing’).

The whiskers are from licorice string candy. I cut the facial features from charcoal sheet cakes but you can also pipe on with melted chocolate. The scarf is cut out from plain chiffon sheet cake. I pinched the 5-cm cake pops at the tips for the ears. The hat is also made from rainbow chiffon cone pops (in Creative baking: Chiffon Cakes) - picture below from the book.

The 'cupcake' is also made from chiffon cake by baking chiffon cake in a cupcake liner and a 5-cm cake pop mold. I assembled the parts using melted marshmallows or chocolate as 'glue'.

Lots of work went behind this cake so it's a bit hard to describe everything =p. Hope you like this cute creation and yummy black sesame flavour! Thankful cake was very well-received too!

With lots of love,
Susanne

More picture tutorials here..

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Panda Liu Sha Bao -- My first bao making attempt

I was into bao making before Susanne and I started this Loving Creations for You blog. This post is to share my very first attempt at making bao and lessons I learnt from it now that I have a bit more experience. I am definitely not a "bao master" and still can't pleat baos like a pro. Just a little trip down memory lane into the recent past some time in October last year ;).

Pandas are about the easiest cute and fancy steamed bun that you can make so I couldn't resist making them even though it was my first try. My kids love liu sha baos so I thought of making salted egg custard filling for my first attempt. I have changed the recipe for both bao skin and filling since this first attempt. I have yet to master the perfect liu sha filling but the bao skin I have been using for my farm animals and guinea pig liu sha baos is the best I have come across so far. As part of my baking journal, I will type out the bao skin and filling recipes for my maiden attempt. The filling is still yummy and runny but doesn't taste quite like what you get at dim sum restaurants. The bao skin is nice enough but not as soft and fluffy as the one I am using currently.

Recipe for filling adapted from here and recipe for bao skin adapted from here.

Ingredients (makes 11 small buns):

Creamy salted egg and milk custard filling:

55g Salted egg yolks (4 salted egg yolks)

60g Condensed milk

10g Cake flour

200g Evaporated milk

30g Butter

Black bao skin:

10g Hong Kong Bao flour

1 tbsp black sesame seeds (makes about 5g of ground roasted black sesame)
A pinch of baking powder
1/8 tsp instant yeast  
3g icing sugar  
8ml water

White bao skin:

200g Hong Kong Bao flour  
2g baking powder  
2g instant yeast  
20g icing sugar  
107ml water
10g vegetable oil (I used canola oil)

Steps for making custard filling:

1. Boil the salted eggs for 10 minutes. Peel the eggs and separate the yolk from the white. Mash the egg yolks with the back of a metal spoon.

2. Whisk the condensed milk and cake flour into a paste.

3. Cook the evaporated milk in a pot until it boils then pour it into the condensed milk/cake flour paste. Whisk until everything is incorporated.

4. Pour the mixture back into the pot, add butter and keep cooking until it boils. Turn the heat off. The mixture needs to be stirred constantly so the bottom of the pot won’t burn.

5. Add the mashed salted egg yolks into the mixture and stir until everything is incorporated. Sieve the mixture to remove any big lumps of egg yolks. Pour the mixture into a bowl and let it cool. Refrigerate the mixture until it sets. I refrigerated it overnight.

6. Once the custard is set, divide into balls of 20 g each, cling wrap each ball tightly and freeze until ready to use. Note: The thickness of the salted egg custard can be changed by adjusting the amount of flour used in the filling.

Steps for making black bao dough:

1. Place the black sesame seeds in a pan and roast over medium low heat until the seeds start popping. Remove seeds from pan and cool in a bowl. Alternatively, you can toast it in the toaster oven until the seeds start to pop.

2. When the seeds have cooled, pour them into a ziplock bag and hammer the seeds until a powder forms. I used a hammer type of meat tenderizer to pound the seeds. Alternatively, you can use a food processor or mortar and pestle to grind the seeds. Sift the ground seeds and discard any big pieces that don't pass through the sieve.

3. Mix the ground black sesame, bao flour, baking powder, yeast and icing sugar together in a small bowl. Add the water gradually while stirring until a ball of dough forms.

4. Knead the small ball of dough on a non-stick mat or a lightly floured surface for about 10-15 minutes.

5. Roll dough into a smooth round, place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 1 hr or until it doubles in bulk.

6. Punch down the dough and give a few light kneading to release the trapped air bubbles. The dough can be cling wrapped and refrigerated until ready to use.

Steps for making white bao dough/panda bun:

1. Sift Hong Kong bao flour and baking powder into a mixing bowl. Add yeast, icing sugar and mix well.**(I dissolve baking powder in a bit of the water used in the dough and add in bit by bit as I knead now. This is to avoid unsightly yellow spots from forming on the surface of the bao skin.)

2. Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture, add in water and mix to form a dough. Transfer dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead dough until it becomes smooth (about 5 mins). Knead in the vegetable oil and continue to knead for another 10-15 mins or until the dough becomes smooth and elastic. **(I prefer using shortening now as I find the bao skin softer and more moist than using vegetable oil.) Take a piece of dough (about the size of a table tennis ball) and stretch it, you should be able to stretch it to a fairly thin membrane without tearing off easily, if not continue to knead for another 5 to 10mins.

3. Roll dough into a smooth round, place in a lightly greased mixing bowl, cover with cling wrap and let it proof for about 1 hr or until it doubles in bulk.

4. Punch down the dough and give a few light kneading to release the trapped air bubbles. Divide the dough into 11 portions (about 30g each). Roll each portion into a smooth round.

5. Flatten each dough into a small disc with your palm or a small rolling pin, make the edges thinner and the center portion thicker. Wrap each dough with the frozen balls of salted egg custard. Pinch and seal the seams. Place dough seam side down on a square piece of parchment paper.

6. Take bits of black dough to shape the ears, eye patches and nose of the pandas, and stick them onto the buns.  Cover loosely with cling wrap and leave buns to proof for 25 mins. **(Baos with room temperature fillings would benefit from being loosely covered with cling wrap to avoid drying out. Baos with frozen fillings in hot and humid Singapore would do better without the cling wrap as condensation forms on bao surface in no time. As the filling is frozen, it is better to proof the baos for more than 25 minutes as the yeast activity takes time to pick up. 25 minutes for second proof is fine for room temperature fillings but it's better to use 35-40 minutes for proofing baos with frozen fillings in order for the bao to be fluffier.)

**(You can tell that I assembled the bun at bottom right corner first and the one on the top left last. As soon as you finish assembling a bun, keep it in the fridge and proof the whole batch at room temperature to avoid getting baos with different proofing times in one batch. This rule applies for fancy bread bun shaping too.)

7. Place buns in a steamer and space them apart so that they do not touch one another. Steam at medium heat for 12mins (make sure the water is already boiling before steaming). **(12 minutes steaming time may be fine for other bao fillings at room temperature with 30g of bao skin dough. But for liu sha baos with frozen fillings this may risk the baos exploding. 8-9 minutes of steaming for liu sha baos would be better). When ready, remove the lid carefully to prevent water from dripping over the buns. Remove immediately and serve warm. Keep any leftovers in fridge (covered with cling wrap or store in airtight containers) and re-steam till hot before serving.**( Freezing the baos after they have completely cooled would be a better option).

 The panda bao that was proofed the shortest time is a little shy to show its face as its so small :P

Note: There is no need to add oil to the black sesame dough as it is already very oily. The dough has a slight bitter taste (but fragrant) so you may wish to double the amount of sugar used and increase the amount of flour to 15g. Increase the amount of water used in the right proportion. This is my first attempt at bao making!

I remember being so thrilled at seeing the cute panda faces. I fell in love with bao making after this :). Cute baos, that is ;). Subsequently, I have made other baos like chicken bao, char siew bao and dou sha (red bean) bao. Still learning and having fun!

Update: I have finally gotten the recipe for filling right!  Tastes like the ones you get at restaurants and super runny! Check out this post.

With love,
Phay Shing

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Rainbow Choux Pastry Roses

I had some leftover Choux pastry from my previous Choo-choo train bake and I decided to have fun with the filling. Here's my simple and colorful Choux pastry roses, all colored with natural ingredients!

It's a pity I didn't have orange sweet potato or pumpkin at the moment to make an orange colored rose, and the hot pink sweet potato turned a little more purple after mixing in with the pastry cream. But it's still a delectable plate of pastry with all the variety of flavors.

Refer to my previous post for the recipe for Choux pastry and pastry cream. For the roses, simply drop heaped teaspoonfuls of batter onto the baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes followed by 220 degrees Celsius for another 10-15 minutes. Pierce the sides of the puffs to release the steam when cooling on cooling rack.

To assemble the roses, carefully cut about one quarter of the top off and fill with filling. Cut the top into a spiral shape carefully with kitchen scissors and place it on top of the filling.

My platter has the following flavors:
Pale yellow: plain pastry cream
Bright yellow: pastry cream with lemon zest
Pinkish purple: purple sweet potato puree with lemon juice and pastry cream
Dark purple: purple sweet potato puree with a bit of pastry cream
Green: pastry cream with Matcha powder beaten in
Brown: pastry cream with cocoa powder beaten in (you may want to add more cocoa than I did for a darker brown shade and richer chocolate flavor. My family does not consume much chocolate.)
Black: pastry cream with black sesame paste beaten in.

I didn't measure the amount of flavorings added as I was doing this in a hurry (again!). Just add according to your taste :).

I almost forgot to take photo again! Yums!

With love,
Phay Shing

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Black Sesame Elephant Chiffon Cake

A little boy who likes elephants would like an elephant cake for his birthday and I have decided to take on this challenge. This is a trial bake as I have never baked an animal shaped cake that is bigger than cupcakes before. It's Susanne's and my preference to use as little food coloring, sugar and cream as possible for our bakes (unless it's requested, like my matcha azuki birthday cake). It's quite a challenge as most animal shaped cakes you can find are either covered with fondant (pretty but too sweet!) or buttercream. After some thought, I decided to adapt the technique for patterning cakes that we have been using for our bakes to create this cute fella :).

This is a two-layered cake with whip topping in between. I would prefer dairy cream but the boy has some dairy intolerance although he can take a bit of dairy.

Ingredients:
Egg yolk batter
5 egg yolks
10g caster sugar
55g canola oil
33g black sesame paste
90g fresh milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
1/3 tsp salt
100g cake flour

Meringue for main batter
7 egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
80g caster sugar

Meringue for pattern
1 egg white
Pinch of cream of tartar
15g caster sugar

Black pattern
2 tsp egg yolk batter
3/4 tsp cake flour
1/4 tsp charcoal powder
6-8 tbs meringue

White pattern
1 tsp egg yolk batter
1/2 tsp cake flour
White gel food coloring
3-4 tbs meringue

Pink pattern
1 tsp egg yolk batter
1/2 tsp cake flour
White and red/ pink gel food coloring
3-4 tbs meringue

Steps:
1. Preheat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.
2. Place elephant template under silicone sheet and place both in a 10 x 10" tray. Grease the silicone mat with oil to prevent pattern from sticking. Prepare another 6" round tin without greasing but line the bottom with baking sheet. Mine had a removable base so I didn't line it.
3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar until pale and creamy.
4. Whisk in oil, black sesame paste,  milk, vanilla essence and salt in that order until well combined.
5. Sift in cake flour gradually and whisk until no trace of flour is seen.
6. Prepare meringue for pattern. Beat egg white with electric mixer until foamy. Add cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.
7. Mix all the ingredients in respective colored pattern batter well. Transfer into piping bag fitted with wilton #3 tip for white and black and wilton #5 tip for pink. Pipe outlines with black batter and bake for 1 minute. Fill in white and pink for the eye, feet and ear of elephant and bake for 2 minutes.

8. Prepare the meringue for main batter in the same way as that of the pattern batter. Fold meringue into egg yolk batter in 3 additions, working quickly but gently. I used hand to fold in the meringue for such a large volume of batter.
9. Bang the bowl on the table to release air bubbles. Slowly pour batter into the two tins to pop anymore air bubbles that are trapped. Bake for 15 minutes then reduce temperature to 150 degrees Celsius and bake for another 10-15 minutes.
10. Cut the cake around edges of the pans and invert over wire rack to cool. Remove the silicone mat/ baking sheet gently to cool the cake.
11. Carve the shape of the elephant and elephant parts using a serrated knife at right angles to the cake. Stack the cake to align the body parts on a cake board. (Since this is a trial I didn't bother with using a board with the correct size so elephant looks like it's falling off the board :p).
12. Prepare whip topping by whipping it cold until firm peaks form. I chose to stabilize it with gelatin like my previous bake but without sugar added as whip topping is already sweetened. Refrigerate until cream is set.

I still have to fine tune the cake a bit, like finding the optimum baking time but overall quite pleased with how the cake looks. My family helped to sample it and they said it's nice :).

This post is linked to the event, Little Thumbs up organised by Bake For Happy Kids, and My Little Favourite DIY, hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House 

With love,
Phay Shing

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