Did you know that just a few tweaks to your classic eclair can become something like this?
Please click on this link for more information or to register.
With love,
Phay Shing
Making character choux pastries sometimes involves making Choux au Craquelin that aren't your regular round, oblong or even donut shapes. I made a video tutorial on how you can make any shape you like! Triceratops is used as an example but the same principles can be applied to all shapes.
For the full video tutorial, please click on this link.
With love,
Phay Shing
Thank you for your love, friendship and support!❤
They are made from orange chiffon cake pops.
May you be safe, healthy and blessed!😘
With love,
Susanne
This was an unplanned bake that had to be made because it stuck in my head and I needed to get it out of my system😅. Last year I made an impromptu bake of "Rat welcoming the Year of the Ox" macarons. This year I thought of making something with similar theme but in 3D form. So here's my version of this year's "Ox welcoming the Year of the Tiger"!
A closer look at the Ox without the cart.
Of course I had to test out the cart to make sure it works...
What was really stuck in my head was this that I had to get out of my system...
I broke down the baking into 3 separate sessions since this was unplanned. The red macaron shells for the new year greeting was baked with batter for my teacup macaron class using Swiss meringue method. The cart was made using French method and the ox and tigers were made using swiss method. The cart and animal macaron shells are lightly mango flavoured and filled with a new flavour I was testing out: yuzu mango matcha! I was inspired by the full leaf yuzu green tea I drank and the mention of this flavour in one of the baking contest shows I watched.
The quantities of each component can be tweaked according to preference. I needed something firmer and not too intensely green so I went easy on the matcha and used less wet ingredients. You may use more yuzu juice or mango compote instead of brewed green tea like I did. I was trying to get more tea flavour without the colour. Feel free to up size the portion as this is a small portion.
Yuzu mango matcha ganache
Ingredients:
60g White chocolate, finely chopped or use chips
10g Concentrated brewed green tea (made from 35g hot water and 3 teabags steeped for 20min)
4g 100% yuzu juice concentrate
1/2 tsp freeze-dried mango powder
1/4 tsp matcha powder
6g unsalted butter
Steps:
1. Place everything in microwave safe bowl. Use medium-low power to heat for 10 seconds and stir. Repeat heating and stirring until mixture is homogeneous and melted. Alternatively you may use the double boiling method.
2. Leave it at aircon room temperature to set until toothpaste consistency. Whip it up to lighten texture if you wish.
3. Transfer to piping bag and fill the macarons. Let thr macarons mature at room temperature or in fridge for at least 24h before consuming.
With love,
Phay Shing
I don't usually follow trends but this idea in my head got me so excited I just had to try it out! Presenting my pandan kaya mini chiffon croissant cereal!
The mini croissant cereal is really delicious when paired with juicy blueberries that are slightly sweet and tart, not too sour or strong tasting so that it doesn't overpower the pandan kaya flavour but rather, complements it.
Store the cake in fridge and consume within 3 days.
Follow me on Instagram at phay_shing as I am more active there and post more stuff there than on Facebook and blog.
With love,
Phay Shing
Some of you had DM-ed me about the Recipe for making orange-chocolate Tiger chiffon cake. So here goes! Hope you will find this helpful!🤗
Orange Chocolate Tiger chiffon cake
4 egg yolks
20g castor sugar
40g vegetable oil
45g orange/mandarin orange juice
60g cake flour, sifted
Orange zest (1 orange)
1 tsp black cocoa powder in 1 tsp hot water (cocoa paste)
@suncorefoods vermillion annatto for the color (or orange food coloring)
4 egg whites
45g castor sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
Whisk egg yolks with sugar, followed by oil and juice. Add in sifted flour and whisk till well combined. Divide the batter into 1/3 and 2/3. To 1st part: add cocoa paste. To the 2nd part, add orange zest and vermillion annatto powder and mix well.
In another mixing bowl, whisk egg whites with sugar till firm peaks. Divide the meringue into 1/3 and 2/3 and fold into each colored batter. Pipe tiger stripes at the base and inside the cake using black batter, interspersed with orange batter.
*Tip: use a toothpick to drag the tips of your piped black stripes to make tiger stripes.
Bake in a 7” cake pan at 140C for 1hr, or until a bamboo skewer comes out dry.
Enjoy baking!! Tag me if you try it! See cross section of the stripes in the cake! ➡️🥰
Welcoming 2022 and the Year of the Tiger with these "旺旺虎” macarons!
With love,
Phay Shing
Welcoming the Year of the Tiger with three genres of bakes--- choux pastry tiger in macaron teacups with chiffon cake mandarin oranges on the side!
With love,
Phay Shing
"I would like a macaron carousel for my birthday"
"Ok! Just let me know what character you want."
That's why I made this dart monkey mini macaron carousel in my elder kid's favourite flavours --- hojicha and matcha! My elder kid is a gamer a Bloons is one of the games he plays.
The filling for macaron carousel has to be a firm one to prevent unwanted collapse during assembly and I am sharing the recipe in this post. You may replace some white chocolate with butter if you live in a colder climate.
Matcha/ Hojicha chocolate buttercream
This is a small portion so feel free to upsize it.
Ingredients:
55g white chocolate, finely chopped or use chips
5g 100% dark chocolate couverture (may substitute with white chocolate. I use this to temper the sweetness of white chocolate)
20g unsalted butter
3/4 tbs hojicha or matcha powder
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt
Steps:
1. Place everything into heatproof bowl and melt over hot water without the base of the bowl touching the water. Melt the chocolate and butter and stir to mix well. Do not overheat. Alternatively you may use microwave oven to melt in a few rounds at medium-low power in 10 second bursts.
2. Wait for it to firm up at cool room temperature. Whip it up a little using spatula to lighten texture.
3. Transfer into piping bag and fill the macaron shells.
Here's another look at the carousel!
Assembly of the structure is done using STIFF consistency royal icing. I get some people report that their carousel frame collapse during assembly but I found out that it is either because icing isn't firm enough or they didnt wait till the icing has set fully before letting the central pillar take the weight of the roof. It is important to make sure that icing has set firm before letting central pillar take the full weight of the roof or removing external supports for assembly especially if you use a soft filling. Sometimes this requires an overnight wait.
So glad that the birthday kid loved this!
With lots of love,
Phay Shing
I am gearing up for log cake marathon bake in a few days time for my extended family and a friend who have been very kind to support our family all these years. But hubby made some Milo kosong with freshly brewed drip coffee and let me have a sip of it. It is a beverage you have to engage your sense of taste and smell and take your time to let the different layers of flavours and aroma to wash over you. The malt, coffee, cocoa flavour in a creamy tasting base is such a delightful experience! So delightful that I decided to make this the flavour of the log cakes instead of the originally planned chocolate flavour alone.
Since this is a new flavour, I had to experiment so I made one log cake in advance. It is a little tricky not to let any one of the elements overpower the others so it is a careful balance. I used decaffeinated instant coffee granules instead of drip coffee so that it is a cake kids can eat too. It is also a little more diabetic friendly as I let the malt in Milo impart some sweetness and use some maltitol to replace caster sugar for making the sponge. There isn't any added sugar on my part for the cake filling and chocolate ganache.
Presenting my chocolate milo coffee log cake!
5. Attach any decorations as you wish!
This cake can be kept refrigerated for a week or longer in the freezer. If freezing, thaw it a day or two earlier in the fridge before serving.
Update:
You may assemble the log cake as a stump cake if you don't have a rectangular cakeboard. Glad to have finished all in time!
The rest are all in log form...
With love,
Phay Shing
This is the first time I am sharing a swiss meringue method class for character macarons using dark brown sugar and cinnamon to flavour and colour the macaron shells! Presenting my gingerbread man macarons!
The filling is of course gingerbread spice flavoured and I have chosen white chocolate ganache as the base in hot Singapore, but I temper the sweetness with a little 100% dark chocolate and a fruity acidity from freeze-dried passionfruit powder.
This class with Tottstore is already full that's why I didn't put up the ad here in the blog earlier. I thought this picture of the gingerbread man is pretty much kawaii and I had to share it!
I hope many of you are able to have a joyous Christmas despite Covid still going on with many restrictions still in place in many parts of the world. Stay safe and stay warm!
With love,
Phay Shing
This is one bake that took a lot of time and planning to create because of the many elements involved! An epic battle between Pokemon and dinosaurs in space!
I had trouble taking photos of this because something tends to be obscured no matter which angle I take it from 😅.
Here's a better view of the individual characters.
I used the swiss meringue method for making the characters, landscape and backdrop. I flavoured and coloured the large macaron pieces with freeze-dried raspberry powder and cocoa powder.
The cratered landscape is made by using silicone cupcake cases, and waiting for a sticky membrane to form before piping on more "bumps" on the surface and using toothpick to roughen up the surface.
The large backdrop is decorated using royal icing but I made the planets using royal icing transfers and painted in the details with edible marker and vodka wash.
I added some crunchy chocolate balls in the craters for some added difference in texture.
Putting the backdrop and landscape together.
This was an epic project for me as well! Thank God I managed it!
With love,
Phay Shing
