Naturally Coloured Hedgehog Hojicha Chocolate Macarons

I am excited to share with you how to make these naturally coloured hedgehog hojicha chocolate macarons! 

It is not just the design that I am excited about, but also a technique that works! Besides teaching the basics of French method, how to make 3 colours of batter in a single batch, and how to pipe the hedgehog design, I will show you how to incorporate royal icing transfers onto macaron shells. There are various cute character macaron designs whereby the character is holding objects. It can be a challenge for the new baker to incorporate another layer of the object using macaron batter. The option of using transfers means that there is no need to freehand pipe the object or up the challenge by having to prepare additional coloured batter(s) for the object. 

A yummy and easy filling of hojicha chocolate ganache that is firm enough for Singapore weather will be taught. 

The registration link for this class is not up on Tottstore website yet but it should be some time in July. So keep a lookout for it! 

With love,

Phay Shing

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Chipmunk Chiffon Cake

 

My little chipmunk nibbling on a slice of watermelon!😆 Isn't she cute??😛


Hope this 🐿🍉cake made you smile!🥰 

Are you reading for school reopening? Have a Blessed weekend!💕

With love,

Susanne

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Anime Character Macarons (Edible marker technique)

My friend requested for some macarons in the likeness of her daughter's favourite Anime characters: Levi and Nezuko! 

In case you think that these aren't macarons, let me reveal the side view of these! 

Just a note here for macaron bakers, don't fret if you don't get nice even feet all around for intricate shapes where some parts are rather thin. You need to have sufficient batter volume at each spot to get nice feet so this would be extremely challenging to achieve for fine parts. I would rather have nice defined shape of the macaron when viewed from the front but have a little uneven feet, than to have even feet all around but undefined shape from the front. And honestly, recipients care more about how macarons look from the front than to be concerned about whether the shells have feet all around. We bakers are human too so don't aim for perfection. It will kill the joy of baking😉. Seek to continue learning and improving your skills instead. 

As anime characters tend to have a lot of details, some careful planning needs to be done. I try to use as few colours as possible for the base macaron batter to make the baking process more manageable. But it still turned out to be a whooping 10-colour batter bake! 

Piped macaron batter

Choose colours that are easy to overlay with edible marker so that you can minimize the number of colours of batter. E. G. Lighter shade of grey can be painted over with darker grey, the light brown sleeves of Levi and the details of the eyes can be added in on white macaron shell. I used the Swiss meringue method recipe but modified it slightly. I transferred about 5g of unwhipped egg whites from the almond paste portion to the meringue portion. This is to produce an overall more stable batter but still smooth and not overly dry, as I know the figures will need a long time to pipe. Instead of colouring individual almond pastes and then adding in the meringue, I prepared a single batch of underfolded batter and then split into the various coloured portions to continue macaronaging. The reason for this is due to the small portions of each colour needed. 

I added in the details on baked shells using edible marker, vodka and paint brush for all the colours except white where I used edible paint made by mixing white gel colouring with a little vodka. I didn't use royal icing at all as the features are too fine to work with icing as the medium. 

All the stuff needed for edible marker work! 

I have edible markers from Rainbow Dust and Americolor. I like Rainbow Dust as their edible markers have a super fine tip on one end and a thicker tip on the other. I like Americolor set for the range of colors in the pack although the tips are thicker and harder to control if you are using directly for fine work.

Where does the paper cupcake case come in then? You may use parchment paper if you wish but since I have these around and they don't require cutting, I might as well use it. I use the paper case as my palette for mixing colours. Sometimes I need a duller or browner hue I mix black or brown with say green to get the shade. I colour small patches of brown/black and green with marker adjacent to each other, then use the brush with a little vodka to mix the colours and apply it to the macaron shell. This method is a lot faster and uses less dishes compared to making edible paint for every single colour you need. I hand painted the popcorn that the cow was holding in my recent Star Wars macaron creation too.

I use the brush with some vodka to "erase" or lighten any shades too. For erasing, brush affected area with a little vodka and quickly dab with paper towel and repeat as necessary. This is how I create some eye shadow effect too except I don't use paper towel. 

As-baked shell and fully painted/drawn shell for Levi 

Dark chocolate ganache was requested for the filling flavour. 

I may do up a Youtube video for this edible marker technique since some have expressed interest for it but probably not so soon as I still have another choux pastry video to edit! Still really busy with classes, requests and life in general. 

With love,

Phay Shing

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Cony and Brown 'XO' Chiffon Cake

Hugs & Kisses! XOXO to you! 💕😘 

How is everyone doing this week? 

Cutest XO alphabet molds from @moldyfundotcom! 

I baked a Rainbow chiffon cake in the alphabet molds. 

Last week of school holidays! Stay safe and take care! 

With lots of love,
Susanne

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TV Room Macaron Scene

I made this for someone who is a fan of Star Wars and K drama, and who is born in the year of the Ox! 

Can you tell which drama they are so engrossed watching? 

I used Swiss meringue method to make the macaron shells. The couch pieces are flavoured and coloured with freeze-dried raspberry powder and the large base shell is coloured and flavoured with cocoa powder. 

These were made on 3 separate days due to my schedule! The large chocolate macaron shells are 15cm in diameter. 

I prefer to use Teflon sheets to line the baking tray for large macaron shells or shells that need straight edges as Teflon sheets do not wrinkle like parchment paper. I prefer to use parchment paper for macaron shells that need intricate designs as I can see through parchment better than Teflon. I hope this helps im explaining why I use different types of material to line my baking trays. 

Here are the freshly baked character macaron shells! 

Here are the decorated characters! I always make an extra set in case my butter fingers accidentally damage something.

I decorated the shells with royal icing, edible marker or edible paint made by washing edible marker with vodka. The technique of using edible marker and vodka is a quick way of decoration. I drew the popcorn and the TV scene using this technique. 

This TV scene is painted using edible marker and vodka to create a water colour effect. The canvas is royal icing transfer that has been thoroughly dried. This icing transfer is glued onto the black rectangle macaron shell with more royal icing to create the TV. 

I filled the base chocolate macaron with dark chocolate ganache, crunchy chocolate balls and a little raspberry white chocolate ganache. 

This isn't the first time I made the raspberry macaron couches. I made it a couple of years ago too in this scene. 

I added a little dark chocolate ganache to the raspberry ganache such that the shade matches the macaron shells. I also flavoured and coloured the royal icing that joins the pieces together with freeze-dried raspberry powder and a little cocoa powder to help the shade to match the shells. 

Couches on the giant base shell! 

This project took me almost a week, including a day to plan, conceptualise and make the templates. Although it did test my patience, it is really satisfying to see the finished product. Hope it puts a smile on your face as it did to mine😊. 

With love,

Phay Shing 

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Safari Themed Macaron-Choux Pastry Bake (Yuzu and vanilla flavours)

This was a last minute request that I took up although I hardly accept requests now as I find it hard to find time to work on Youtube videos. But because I was coming up with content for a mixed-genre class in December, I decided to take up this challenge. Presenting my take on safari theme using macarons and choux pastries! 

The filling for macarons is something new from me - - yuzu ganache that is complete with bits of yuzu rind. The choux pastries were to be filled with vanilla diplomat cream. Just before consuming. 

I used the Swiss meringue method for making the macaron shells. I baked the macarons concurrently with another mixed-genre creation, choux bunnies in macaron teacups. That's why you see the purple, blue and teal rounds here. 

I made some edible paint with gel colouring, vodka and a little royal icing, to add in the details on the tree and bushes. 

It's a pity half of it was obscured from view by the choux animals 🤣. 

You may refer to this post for the recipe for choux pastry and the craquelin. Here is a picture of the craquelin on the piped batter, just before baking. 

I decorated and assembled the choux animals using royal icing. 

You may refer to this post for the vanilla diplomat cream recipe. I will share the new yuzu ganache recipe here. I actually prepared 2 different types, one firmer but milder in flavour and another stronger flavoured but wetter. Some pieces like the macarom tree may do better with a firmer filling so it doesn't collapse. Other pieces like the large 15cm diameter base macaron can do with a softer, wetter filling in the middle. 

You can't really see clearly from this photo but the ganache in the middle contains specks of yuzu rind. 

Yuzu ganache recipe

Ingredients :

Firmer ganache

150g white chocolate chips or finely chopped

28g yuzu juice concentrate (no sugar added) 

12g whipping cream

10g unsalted butter

A pinch of salt

Softer ganache with yuzu rind

150g white chocolate chips or finely chopped 

30g yuzu juice concentrate

10g unsalted butter

30g pureed yuzu jam with rind (include as much rind as possible) 

A pinch of salt 

Steps:

1. For each of the type of ganache, place all ingredients (except jam) into microwave safe bowl. Heat on medium-low power for 10 seconds and mix well. Repeat heating and mixing until all the chocolate is melted. Do not overheat. 

2. Press cling wrap on surface of ganache and refrigerate overnight. When ready to fill the macaron shells, let the ganache sit at room temperature to soften a little before whipping it up with electric mixer or a spatula. 

3. Fold in jam if using. Transfer into piping bag and fill the macaron shells. Store in fridge in airtight condition for at least 24h before serving. Let the macarons come to room temperature before opening the airtight box. This is to prevent condensation from forming on the macaron shells. 

Here's a view of the assembled scene without the birthday girl's age on it! 

This scene somehow puts a smile on my face ☺️. I hope it brought you some joy too! 

With love,

Phay Shing 

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Sushi Chiffon Cake

Is this the cutest, squishiest Sushi cake ever?😛

Just sharing for those who may be keen to learn how to make the Sushi chiffon cakes =) I will be teaching this item with @howtocakeit finally after many requests!

I will be teaching live on July 16th 8pm EST (8am GMT+8), and you will also get lifetime access to the video tutorial, workbook and private FB group =)  

Sign up link is here.

Also there is a special promo this week - bundle up with my Galaxy Chiffon Truffles Class and get 25% off for 2 classes!

It's going to be super fun! 💕

Stay safe!

With lots of love,

Susanne

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We Bare Bears on Pulut Hitam (Black Glutinous Rice) Cake

My friend requested for a We Bare Bears themed birthday cake for her son's 10th birthday. She wanted the bears to be made out of chocolate macarons, but the cake with an Asian flavour of pulut hitam. So here's what I came up with! 

I used the Swiss meringue method for the macarons. Due to my busy schedule in May, I baked the macarons along with some naturally coloured dinosaur macarons. And froze the undecorated macaron shells. 

Sharing some photos of the process... 

Piped batter. I always prepare an extra set in case of butter fingers damaging the macarons. 

Baked shells are decorated with edible markers and royal icing

The macarons are filled with a ring of vanilla white chocolate buttercream and dark chocolate ganache in the middle. You may refer to this post for vanilla white chocolate buttercream. Just omit the fruit jam and add vanilla bean paste/extract. 

Here's the assembled product, looking very much like a goofy version of the Beatles' Abbey Road crosswalk 🤣. 

Quite a few people have expressed interest in my recipe for the cake. Although I have made pulut hitam chiffon sponge numerous times in the past, this is the first time I am pairing it with coconut diplomat cream and more generous helpings of bubur pulut hitam (black glutinous rice porridge). I must say this is the best pairing so far, compared with my plain chiffon sponge or sponge and pudding versions. I made the coconut diplomat cream less sweet and slightly savoury to complement the sweet black glutinous rice porridge. When all 3 elements (sponge , cream and porridge) are eaten in one bite, it is really heavenly with the burst of flavours and textures. This whole cake can be made totally dairy free too, which I have done. 

To begin, prepare bubur pulut hitam the way you like it according to your preference, but with less coconut milk/coconut cream than you would normally use. If you are clueless, you may refer to this post for how I make mine. I like to use gula melaka (coconut palm sugar) as the sweetener and some pandan leaves for added aroma. You may prepare this in advance, blend it and freeze in packets of 200 to 300g. Make sure it is thawed and at room temperature when using it to make the chiffon sponge. 

You may refer to this post for the chiffon sponge recipe. You may bake it in a chiffon tin, tin with removeable base or as a sheet cake to make swiss roll. Adjust baking temperature and time according to your oven and type /size of cake you are baking. For this request, I baked in a 17cm chiffon tin with another sheet cake to cut circles to cover the hole in the middle. I used caster sugar in the meringue of the chiffon cake batter instead of granulated coconut palm sugar as suggested in my reference recipe as I wanted the cake to be as black as possible without too much brownish tinge to match the zebra crossing macaron. 

Coconut diplomat cream

Ingredients :

220g coconut milk

20g cornflour 

5g Coconut cream powder (optional but I added for extra coconut flavour) 

1/8 tsp salt

25g caster sugar or gula melaka (omit, use less or more according to taste. I omitted because I pair with non dairy whipping cream which is presweetened. Use gula melaka if you want that added flavour and don't mind the brown colour). 

2 egg yolks 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract 

100g whip topping (or dairy whipping cream if you wish*) 

* dairy whipping cream needs to be sweetened and stabilized if you are using. To do so, heat dairy whipping cream with some sugar to dissolve the sugar. Don't bring to a boil. In the meantime, bloom 1 sheet (2g) gelatin in ice water. Melt the gelatin in warm cream and press cling wrap on surface. Chill until firm or overnight. Use electric heating mixer to whip until firm /stiff peak before using. For non-dairy whipping cream, simply whip until firm/stiff peak with electric mixer. 

Steps:

1. Place egg yolks, salt, cornflour, coconut cream powder (if using) and sugar (if using) in a heavy bowl or heavy glass measuring jug. Whisk until well combined. 

2. In the meantime, heat coconut milk with vanilla extract until steaming but not boiling. Pour warm milk in a thin stream into egg yolk mixture while whisking the egg yolk mixture continously. This is to temper the egg yolks. Pour everything back into saucepan. 

3. Heat the mixture over medium-low heat while whisking continuously. Be careful to watch the consistency. Once it starts to thicken, remove from heat and whisk continuously until smooth. Place saucepan back on heat and continue stirring and cooking until the custard is able to hold a firm peak. 

4. Transfer custard into a bowl and press cling wrap on the surface. Refrigerate overnight or at least 1 h. 

5. Prepare whipped cream of choice. Remove custard from fridge and use a spatula to whip it briefly to loosen it. Fold in the whipped cream. Transfer into piping bag for assembly. 

You may assemble it as a swiss roll by coating the sheet cake with diplomat cream and piping/spooning generous amount of porridge in the middle before rolling. Make sure you cook to porridge until quite thick if you are doing thia version. 

For the layered cake version like mine, slice your sponge into 3 layers with a serrated knife. You may assemble without an acetate sheet if you don't have one. Just pipe neat dollops of cream around the circumference of the sponge cakes for an equally aesthetically pleasing look. Fill the space between sponge layers with generous helping of the porridge and some cream. Here is a photo of how I did it. 

You may fold a little blended porridge into the diplomat cream if you wish to increase the black glutinous rice profile but I was going for aesthetics that matches the zebra crossing that the bears are on. 

I topped off the cake with more coconut diplomat cream and bubur pulut hitam. 

Notice that some of my instructions are vague and with many suggested variations in this recipe as I would encourage you to adjust according to your taste preference and presentation style preference. If you are a fan of bubur pulut hitam like I am, this is THE CAKE to eat! But make sure all 3 elements are in the right proportions and start off by making the best bubur pulut hitam. 

With love,

Phay Shing 

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Bunny Choux Pastries in Macaron Teacups

Here is my contribution to a mental health awareness collaboration hosted by 2 very talented bakers on Instagram @petite.meringue and @macanomnom!

Choux pastry bunnies in macaron teacups, filled with strawberry diplomat cream and with a message that says "You are enough"! 

I had the inspiration from wristbands with messages that hubby bought from Zox. I took part in this collab not as a mental health sufferer, but as a caregiver to hubby who has been suffering from depression for a few years. 

Most healthy people go through times of self-doubt, myself included. But depression sufferers are hammered with the feeling that they are not good enough all the time and they don't have the capacity to think otherwise without external help. Hubby discovered some wristbands from Zox with messages on them and found them helpful as concrete, visual reminders. Some of these messages are Christian based like "Have faith", funny ones like "Pobody's Nerfect" but there are also generic ones like "You are enough", which I have chosen as the message I want to share. By the way, I am not paid by Zox for advertising nor do we agree with all the messages on the range of wristbands they offer. Do look through their range if you are interested and pick those that are helpful for you 😊. 

From a caregiver's perspective, supporting a loved one with mental health condition requires me to firstly take care of myself. Baking is a creative outlet for me that has helped me a lot mentally and emotionally. That's why my bakes are mostly cute and whimsical or sweet and serene. 

I originally wanted to match the colours on the wristband with the bake but while preparing the macaron batter, I decided that I prefer pastel shades. So instead of galaxy themed looking, it became more mermaid themed looking😂. It didn't quite turn out the way I wanted, with the bake and wristband matching, but it did turn out quite me. I like cute stuff with a softer look. I also like "breaking the norm" when it comes to baking so I mixed 2 genres of bakes in this creation and presented them both in non traditional ways.

I used the Swiss meringue method to make the macaron teacups along with another project concurrently. The hemispherical shells are piped on an inverted silicone hemisphere mould. 

As you can see, I piped too much batter for some hemispheres and had to scrape away the excess. Well pobody's nerfect😆! 

You may refer to this post for the choux pastry recipe. I coloured the craquelin and choux pastry batter with some white powder colouring to create the cream colour. Royal icing was used to decorate the bunny. 

I love the endearing look on the bunny's face! 

The words were written with a fine tipped edible black marker and the teacup parts were decorated and assembled with royal icing. 

I filled the teacups with vanilla diplomat cream with some strawberry paste added for the pink colour and some strawberry flavour. 

Recipe for vanilla (with optional strawberry) diplomat cream

Ingredients:

2 egg yolks

25g caster sugar (adjust according to taste. This amount is already less sweet. Add more if you have a sweet tooth.) 

1/8 tsp salt 

20g cornflour

200g milk

1 tsp vanilla extract/ paste

15g unsalted butter

80-130g whip topping (non-dairy) or lightly sweetened and stabilized dairy whipped cream*

Strawberry paste/emulco (add a little at a time until desired pastel pink colour achieved) 

* bloom 1 sheet (2g) gelatin in ice water. In the meantime, heat dairy cream until steaming but not boiling, add sugar to taste and dissolve it. Melt bloomed gelatin in warmed dairy cream. Pour into a bowl, press cling wrap on the surface and chill overnight or until firm. Whip with electric mixer until firm or stiff peak before using. Non-dairy whipping creams are pre-sweetened and stabilized so no sugar and gelatin need to be added. Simply whip until stiff peak. 

Steps:

1. Whisk together egg yolks, cornflour, sugar and salt in a heavy bowl or heavy glass measuring jug. Set aside. 

2. Heat milk with vanilla until it starts to steam but not boiling. Remove from heat and pour into egg yolk mixture in a thin stream while whisking the egg yolk mixture continously. 

3. Pour the mixture back into saucepan and heat over medium-low heat while stirring continuously. Keep an eye on the mixture as it will thicken suddenly. Take it off the heat and whisk continously to prevent lumps from forming. Put the saucepan back on heat and continue whisking and cooking until desored consistency is reached. Cook longer if you prefer firmer, shorter if you prefer runnier custard. Note that if you want to be able to pipe swirls with the cream, cook until it is able to hold a firm peak (peak with a curl at the end) in the saucepan. 

4. Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Transfer into another bowl and press cling wrap onto the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for at least 1hour or overnight. 

5. Whip whipping cream according to whether you are using dairy or non dairy. Use less whipped cream if you prefer a richer tasting diplomat cream, more if you prefer a lighter texture of cream. 

6. Loosen the custard by whipping briefly with a spatula. Fold in whipped cream. This is vanilla diplomat cream. You may add strawberry paste a little at a time to achieve a mildly strawberry flavoured, sweet pastel pink cream. 

7. Transfer into piping bag and keep refrigerated until ready to fill the macarons/choux pastries. This cream can store in the fridge for up to a week at 3-4°C. I used a 1M piping tip to pipe the swirls of diplomat cream in the macaron teacups. 

A peek at what the cross-section of a teacup looks like! My kids got to eat this creation 😊. 

 

The phrase "you are enough" is applicable for everyone, regardless of whether you have depression or not. We would be a lot more mentally healthy if we are able to show compassion to ourselves. We are often our harshest critic, so be mindful of the criticisms in our head. Striving to be better or improve need not involve being harsh with ourselves. It is a fine balance. But once you achieve it, you can remain at peace with yourself, be passionate and joyful about what you pursue, excel to the best of your abilities, yet embracing any mistakes or imperfections in your journey. 

With lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Bear-in-a-Box Chiffon Cake

     

Here's my little Bear-in-a-box coming to give everyone a beary big HUG!❤❤ 

 Stay safe and take care! We can do it together 💪💪 

Sorry for the slow posts. Been a bit swamped with kids and home-based learning. Glad that it is a holiday tomorrow =p.
 
See the texture and box assembly here. 

Take care everyone! 

Love, Susanne

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Animal Choux Pastry Truck

It has been a while since I tackled a challenging choux pastry creation. Presenting my version of animal choux pastry truck where everything except the sand is made out of choux pastry! 

And because it was for a birthday boy, the name was included in choux pastry as well! 

The various animals were made out of mini choux au craquelin where the piped batter is around 2cm and the craquelin is around 2.5cm in diameter. 

Before baking

After baking. I was testing out a blue powder colouring and didn't use it for creating any animals. 

You may refer to this post for the basic choux batter and craquelin recipe. As these are small choux buns, they were baked at high temperature for a shorter time to prevent excess browning. The small animal parts were made with choux batter as far as possible, and the fine details were added on using royal icing. 

Looking at the squad of them makes me smile 😊. 

The truck was made using a similar technique that I used to make the choo choo choux train last year. You may refer to this post to see how I baked thin, flat choux pieces, box-shaped pieces and the wheels. 

Assembled choux truck! 

I prepared some chocolate diplomat cream to fill the truck and animals when it is time to serve. Feel free to adjust the amount of cocoa powder and chocolate couverture according to taste. What I suggested in the reference recipe is rather rich as I use valrhona cocoa powder so I actually reduced the amount of cocoa powder and couverture for this animal truck request. 

I hope this creation puts a smile on your face during this trying period! We are facing a lockdown of sorts in Singapore with schools closed and no dining out allowed. Stay safe everyone! 

With love,

Phay Shing

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