Sugar-free Rilakkuma Chocolate Swiss Roll

 In the midst of writing Deco Marshmallows, I couldn't resist taking a little time out to make this simple bake because we stumbled across an awesome source of chocolate that is 100% cacao with no sugar added BUT is so smooth! Once we tasted the chocolate chips which were suitable for use in baking and making hot chocolate, I knew I had to try it for my bakes. Most other 100% cacao chocolate we have tasted tend to be a little dry and gritty. Here's my rich chocolate swiss roll made without white sugar!

Even the decoration for Rilakkuma is made without white sugar!

The Swiss roll is made of sugar-free chocolate chiffon sponge and sugar-free dark chocolate cremeux. Those of you who aren't familiar with cremeux, it is a cross between ganache and custard.

Where is this awesome chocolate from you may ask? It is from Pascha. I used their unsweetened dark chocolate chips. The sugar replacements I used for the cremeux are a mix of Allulose and Maltitol, and for the chiffon sponge I used a mix of Alchemy fibre (which is a blend of Inulin and edible gum) and Allulose. Why these choices of sugar replacements? They are all soluble in water so you don't get any grittiness from them like you would from Erythritol. While Alchemy fibre is not sugar, it adds bulk to the bake, is a good meringue stabilizer and good for diabetes management and digestive system. I thought of using it when I saw Swee Heng, a bakery chain in Singapore, use it for their sugar-free chiffon cakes. While Maltitol is a sugar replacement, it contains carbohydrates and will raise the blood sugar levels a little (but much less than sucrose), unlike Allulose and Alchemy fibre. I used a little Maltitol instead of using all Allulose because I have it lying around at home and it needs to be used up 🙈. All the sugar replacements used here taste less sweet than white sugar (sucrose) so I used more than if white sugar were used. The chocolate doesn't contain sugar at all so that needs to be compensated as well. You may adjust the amount of sugar according to taste. We don't have a sweet tooth so if you prefer sweeter tasting cakes, please add more sugar replacement.

Sugar-free dark chocolate cremeux (with yuzu option)

Ingredients:

150g heavy cream (may replace with 40g butter and 110g full fat milk)

150g full fat milk

60g egg yolks (about 3-4)

55g Allulose (45g if not adding yuzu concentrate)

20g Maltitol (15g if not using yuzu concentrate, may replace with Allulose)

Pinches of salt

140-145g sugar-free 100% cacao dark chocolate (unsweetened)

3g gelatin bloomed in 20g 100% yuzu juice concentrate (optional)

1. If adding yuzu, bloom gelatin in chilled yuzu juice concentrate. Set aside. Omit gelatin if not adding juice concentrate.

2. Whisk together egg yolks, salt and sugar replacements in a heatproof bowl. 

3. In the meantime, heat milk and cream in a saucepan until steaming hot but not boiling. Pour into egg yolk mixture in a thin stream while whisking the egg yolk mixture to temper the egg yolks. Pour everything back into the saucepan.

4. Whisk the custard and cook until 82-84C. 

5. Place chocolate and bloomed gelatin in large mixing bowl. Pour hot custard over and let it sit for 2 minutes. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth.

6. Press cling wrap onto the cremeux and cool to room temperature before refrigerating overnight or at least 4 hours.

7. When ready to assemble with sponge, remove from fridge and let it sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Loosen the cremeux gently with a spatula before using.

I added a little yuzu to offset the richness of the chocolate. You may use orange juice concentrate and orange zest to add some citrusy notes too.

Sugar-free chocolate chiffon sponge

Ingredients (makes one 10x12" and one 7x7" sheet cakes):

Egg yolk batter

4 egg yolks

10g Allulose

20g sugar-free 100% cacao dark chocolate (unsweetened)

45g vegetable oil

45g boiling hot water 

10g cocoa powder (I used Valrhona)

65g cake flour

½ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1.5 tsp vanilla extract 

Meringue

4 egg whites

30g Alchemy fibre

70g Allulose

¼ tsp cream of tartar 

1. Line the trays with Teflon sheets or parchment paper. Preheat oven to 170C. 

2. In a heatproof or microwave safe bowl, bloom cocoa powder by whisking in boiling hot water. Let it sit for 1 minute. Add unsweetened chocolate and stir until melted and smooth. Microwave or double boil if necessary if the chocolate is not fully melted. Set aside.

3. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk together egg yolks, salt and Allulose until thick and pale. Add oil and whisk until combined. Add chocolate paste in 2. and whisk until well combined. Add vanilla and whisk until combined. Gradually sift in flour and baking powder and whisk until no trace of flour is seen.

4. Prepare meringue. In a small bowl, whisk together Alchemy fibre and Allulose. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks, gradually add sugar-replacement mix once the egg whites are foamy. 

You should also be able to flip the bowl upside down without the meringue sliding out or flopping around.

Meringue with firm peak

5. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in three additions. Divide the batter among the two trays in a ratio of approximately 5:2 by weight for larger: smaller tray.

6. Bake for 12 min or until skewer comes out clean. Immediately flip the cakes out onto fresh sheet of parchment paper and roll up the larger cake to cool. Note that each oven is different so adjust temperature and time accordingly.

Freshly baked 10x12" sheet cake

When you are ready to assemble, unroll the large sheet cake and pipe a generous amount of cremeux in the middle of the sponge. Use a small spatula to smooth out the cremeux as necessary. Roll it into a tight roll, cutting off the excess strip of sponge if necessary if you are making Rilakkuma's face for each slice of cake. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

In the meantime, you may cut out Rilakkuma's ears from the smaller sheet cake using 2-2.5cm round cookie cutters. Cut off a little cake along the circumference with the same cutter so the ears can sit nicely on the head. Keep the small cake cutouts in a container or covered until ready to assemble.

I used white strawberries for Rilakkuma's snout as it is in season now. You may use other fruits like banana if you wish but dip it in lemon juice to prevent oxidation. I used mango for Rilakkuma's inner ears. I used a smaller round cutter or you may use jumbo straw to cut it out. Leave the cut pieces of fruit on paper towel in the fridge to remove excess water.

When it is time to assemble, you may melt a little chocolate with charcoal powder (or use black chocolate) and added on the eyes, nose and mouth of a cut slice of swiss roll. Cut slices of swiss roll with a serrated knife and arrange the ears and facial features on the serving plate. 

Serve with extra fruits (highly recommended) as this is a very rich cake that serious chocoholics can appreciate. And by serious chocoholics I mean those who appreciate cacao without too much added sugar to offset the natural bitterness. My hubby is one such person and he's the type that likes his eating chocolate, chocolate drink and chocolate bakes with a touch of bitterness from the cacao. Needless to say, hubby gave a thumbs up for the cake! Best eaten chilled when the cremeux is firmer.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Sumikko Gurashi Chiffon Cake

 

Sumikko Gurashi Birthday chiffon cake for my daughter's birthday party. Thank God it was well-received!

With lots of love,
Susanne

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Sugar-Free Cinnamoroll Marshmallows

 This was my first attempt at sugar- free character marshmallows in December last year. I decided to give Cinnamoroll a try since my friend requested for some Cinnamoroll cookies and macarons at the same time. 

Ever since this first attempt, I have refined the recipe until I can safely say I am satisfied with the ingredient ratios for sugar-free character marshmallow making! Working with sugar replacements isn't as straightforward as they don't behave like sugar does when working with sugar syrups. So glad to find the formula to work with where hubby my taste tester can tell me "This is more like proper marshmallow!" 

I will share this formula in my upcoming Deco Marshmallows book but for now, you can take a sneak peek at how I piped these using the templating method in the video over here:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CoVyFGKSY2s/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

The templating method is much easier for those of us who are artistically challenged and uses so much less cornstarch! Here is a peek at the piped marshmallows before dusting!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Cinnamoroll Brown Sugar Cookies

 My friend who has been buying bakes from me for her daughter's birthday every year since 2015, requested for Cinnamoroll brown sugar cookies. She loves the taste of my cookies because they are really fragrant with caramel notes. 

I used my default brown sugar cookie recipe and royal icing. I made a template for cutting out the shape of the cookie dough.

Cookie dough cutouts on perforated mat lined baking tray before baking

As the details on this design are rather complex, I made royal icing transfers for the flowers and cupcake on Cinnamoroll.

I couldn't resist taking photos of the two bakes she requested: macarons and brown sugar cookies! See my previous post for the recipe for the macarons.

Stay tuned for a third Cinnamoroll creation that I made for her!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Couple Bear Chiffon Cake Mugs with a Hidden Message

 

Couple Bear Mugs with a Hidden Message! ❤️🥰  

Watch the Video tutorial reel here. 

Hope you had a blessed Valentine's with your loved ones. 

With lots of love, 

Susanne 

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Hot Cross S'mores

 Here's my marshmallowy twist to the classic hot-cross buns--- hot-cross S'mores!

I am in charge of coming up with the item for April's Culinary Arts event with the church and since it is scheduled near Good Friday and Easter, a theme that relates to Jesus' death and resurrection is appropriate. 

S'mores was the reason I fell in love with marshmallows when I don't have a sweet tooth. The complementary flavours and textures of the components are so delightful! Although Graham crackers are the classic cookie base for S'mores, I am using digestive biscuits for convenience because they come in rounds and the size is just nice. You could also make the Graham crackers from scratch but I am trying to keep things simple for the event and keep the marshmallow bit as the only technical part.

Hot-cross S'mores recipe

(Makes about 15-16)

Ingredients:

15-16 digestive biscuits*

Piping chocolate*
80g chocolate couverture (percentage of cocoa up to personal preference)
4g vegetable shortening

Marshmallow (to set in 15-16 44x35mm cupcake cases)
8g (3/4 tbs) gelatin powder (I used bovine 170bloom)
40g ice cold water
2 tsp vanilla extract
150g sugar
1/8 tsp salt 
60g light corn syrup
1/16-1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
40g water
canola oil spray

Cornstarch or tapioca starch for dusting

* If you want to simplify it further, use chocolate coated digestive biscuits and omit the extra step of melting and piping chocolate. You may also use Nutella but note that it is sweeter than dark chocolate but has that hazelnut flavour added.

Steps:
1. Bloom gelatin by scattering gelatin over cold water and whisk until well combined in large mixing bowl. Add vanilla over the gelatin bloom. Add cinnamon powder if you wish. Set aside.

2. Heat sugar, salt, water, corn syrup in saucepan till 115C without stirring. Gently swirl the saucepan. Use medium-low heat.

Monitoring syrup temperature with a candy thermometer.

3. Pour onto bloomed gelatin and stir with spatula until gelatin is melted.

4. Beat with electric mixer for 5-7 min, starting with low speed and gradually increase to high speed. Volume of mixture should increase by about 3x.

Marshmallow mixture should become fluffier and thicker as you whip.

5. Transfer into piping bag and pipe into greased cupcake cases until about 1 inch high or 15g. Tap down any peaks with damp finger. (Tip: Easiest way to quickly and effectively grease the cupcake cases is to spray with an oil spray from pressurized can but you may also wipe with paper towel dipped in oil or melted butter).

6. Leave to set overnight at cool room temperature or in the fridge for 30min. Note that gelatin in the marshmallow will continue to set with time for up to 24 hours.

7. Unmold the marshmallow onto a bed of cornstarch. Coat with cornstarch or tapioca starch and remove excess by tossing it around in a sieve. 

Put a teaspoon of corn/tapioca starch on top. Open up the sides of the cupcake case.

Invert the cupcake case and deposit the marshmallow on corn/tapioca starch. Coat it well.

Tossing coated marshmallows.

8. Let the marshmallows dry out in the open or loosely covered (preferably aircon environment as Singapore is very humid) for 2-4 days before using it as toasted marshmallows. Marshmallows will melt into a puddle easily if they are too moist when toasted.

9. Melt chocolate with shortening and pipe onto biscuits. You may pipe the chocolate decoratively if you wish!

10. Place dried out marshmallow on top and toast. Enjoy the S'mores freshly toasted! See the notes below on how to create the foil cross and how to toast.

Storage

Freshly made marshmallows may be stored in airtight container and kept at cool room temperature for two weeks if you are not toasting or consuming immediately. For longer storage, keep in the freezer.

Flavour variations

Although marshmallows can be easily bought from supermarkets, homemade ones taste better and are less sweet. You can also customize it with your own favourite flavour by replacing water with juices or purees (except highly acidic juices or juices that contain enzymes that break down gelatin), tea and coffee, or use different types of flavouring extracts. Just make sure you avoid using fresh fruits containing enzymes that will break down gelatin like kiwi, mango and pineapple. You may use them if you simmer for 20minutes before using as the prolonged heat will destroy the enzymes. Make sure all liquids used for blooming gelatin are chilled in the fridge before using.

You may replace light corn syrup with honey, glucose syrup or dark corn syrup if you wish.

You may also replace white sugar with brown sugar but keep in mind that the syrup will boil higher so you may have to use a taller saucepan or stir occassionally to prevent the syrup from boiling over. Stirring won't cause recrystallization of sugar if you have added an invert sugar like light corn syrup/honey/glucose syrup/dark corn syrup.

Aluminium Foil Cross 

In order to create the cross shaped marking on top of the marshmallows, you will need to make a mask.

1. I used a 5mm wide and 11cm long wooden stirrer available from SKP in Singapore to help with folding the foil. You may work without it if you wish. Just fold the foil with the help of a ruler and your fingers. Create a rectangular piece out of foil around 5mm x 8-9cm.

2. Repeat step 1 to make another rectangular piece.

3. Place the two foil pieces perpendicular to each other. Cut a slit that is as long as the width of the foil pieces (around 5mm) as shown in the picture below. Carefully slide one end of the perpendicular piece into the slit and pull it through. Flatten the pieces to form the cross.

Notes for toasting:
- Lightly coat the foil cross with a little oil before placing on top of marshmallow
- Make sure marshmallow is not too moist or it won't retain the shape well. Dry out for 2-4 days in aircon room.

This is what happens if you toast your marshmallows while they are too moist😆

- Place the digestive cookie with marshmallow close to top heating element, about 4-5 cm away. Avoid placing too close to bottom heat or the whole marshmallow will melt instead.
- Toast for 30 sec-2 min or until browned at the tops. Check every 30 sec in the beginning and every 10 seconds once it shows signs of browning to avoid burning.
- Carefully remove foil with tweezers or chopsticks.

Remember to eat the S'mores when they are freshly toasted as that's when it tastes the best!

Update:

Here's a lovely photo taken by someone at the event. I couldn't have taken a better photo!

with love,
Phay Shing

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Cartoon Cloud Chiffon Cake

 

CARTOON Cloud Chiffon Cake! ☁️😍 Is the toon version cuter? 
Video reel of the making here. 

Ingredients (7" angel cake pan) 
1 whole egg 
27 g castor sugar 
52 g oil 
52g milk 
7g vanilla extract 
80g cake flour, sifted 

Whisk all ingredients above till smooth. Add 1/2 tsp spirulina powder (or blue food color) to half the batter. 

5 egg whites 
1/4 tsp cream of tartar 
65 g castor sugar 

Whip egg whites till firm peaks. Fold half meringue into plain and blue batters respectively. Pipe clouds and fill with blue batter. Bake at 140C for 55 min. 💕' 

With lots of love, 

Susanne 

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Cinnamoroll Mixed Berries n Cream Macarons

 My friend requested for some Cinnamoroll macarons and brown sugar cookies (sharing in another post) for her daughter's birthday. I filled the macarons with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream and strawberry-raspberry compote.

This friend started off as a customer who bought macarons and brown sugar cookies from me during my early years of baking and she has been ordering from me every year for her daughter's birthday ever since! This is the 9th year I am baking for her! 

I used my default swiss meringue method recipe for the macarons. 

Piped batter

I added in the details using royal icing to decorate.

Mixed berry compote

Ingredients:

300g frozen or fresh strawberries/raspberries (sieve raspberries to remove pips if you prefer smoother compote)

30g sugar (or to taste)

Pinch of salt

1 tsp lemon juice

Steps:

Cook everything together in saucepan until reduced to 60% original weight on over low heat. 

Mixed berry Swiss meringue buttercream

Ingredients:

75g egg whites

50g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

135g unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened

50g mixed berry compote

Steps:

1. In a clean, grease-free mixing bowl, double-boil egg whites, caster sugar and salt while whisking constantly until the egg whites reach 71.1C. Remove from heat.

2. Beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until cooled to room temperature and stiff peaks.

3. Add softened butter one cube at a time, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding the next. Continue beating for another 2min.

4. Add compote a little at a time, mixing well with each addition. You may add a little strawberry paste if you wish to enhance the strawberry flavour further.

Fill the macarons by applying a thin layer of buttercream on the bottom shell before piping a ring of buttercream. Fill the middle with compote. Pipe a little buttercream over the compote before sandwiching with top shell.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Sugar-Free Apple Raspberry Marshmallow Bouquet

 I have finally gotten started at writing my marshmallow book! In the process of writing, I need to test out the recipes and of course make the items for photography for the professional photographer to shoot in due time. I made zephyrs before but wondered if sugar-free versions will work as well. Zephyrs are agar-based marshmallows so they are vegetarian-friendly. I am pleasantly surprised the use of sugar replacements was all right and the marshmallow batter remained in a workable consistency!

I tried to use natural food colouring as far as possible. I used matcha powder for the green leaves and raspberry puree for the pink. I did use a little strawberry paste from commercially sold source but most of the colouring is natural.

Here's a closer look at the tulips piped using  Russian tip.

And a closer look at the roses piped using a petal tip.

Using Granny Smith apples as the fruit base helps a lot as the pectin content is high. It's tartness also helps to temper the sweetness level of these marshmallows so they end up being only mildly sweet but full of fruity flavour!

I love the fact that besides looking pretty, these marshmallows are low in fat, high in fiber and the only contribution to glycemic index is from the fruit used!

See these marshmallows in squishy action and their cross sections over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cn6z4U0AOfJ/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

Detailed recipe will be shared in my upcoming book Deco Marshmallows.

with love,

Phay Shing

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Miffy Patterned Cake

This is another Miffy creation I made for PokkaxMiffy. Hope you like it! 

Watch the piping video tutorial here. 

I've also shared the recipe in my post. 

Piping batter 
1 egg, 50g flour, 50g icing sugar, 50g butter 
Divide into 3 colors: black, white and pink 

Chiffon cake (12" cake) 
Egg yolk batter 
4 egg yolks 
54g oil 
54g milk 
1.5 tsp vanilla 
80g cake flour 
Pink food color 

4 egg whites 
85g sugar 

Mix all ingredients in piping batter and pipe Miffy pattern. Chill in the fridge. 

Mix ingredients in egg yolk batter. Whip egg whites with sugar till firm peaks. Fold and pour over the Miffy pattern. Bake at 160C for 25 min. 

With love,

Susanne

 

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Mandarin Orange Marshmallows with Yuzu Mandarin Orange Filling

 This is the second Lunar New Year themed marshmallow creation that I wish I thought of making earlier. But it's ok, this will appear in my upcoming book Deco Marshmallows as well!

This is a rather nostalgic design because it looks so much like my chiffon cake mandarin oranges that I discovered 9 years ago. How time flies! I remember the excitement of discovering how I could make realistic looking mandarin oranges out of mandarin orange chiffon sponge so many years ago! What I did differently this time for the marshmallow version, is to add a filling to boost that citrusy kick! The filling is yuzu with mandarin orange zest and the marshmallow itself is made with mandarin orange juice.

Here's a video of it in squishy action! Perhaps you can fool your family and friends next Lunar New Year with these 😉

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoHktm0gWdk/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

with love,

Phay Shing

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Miffy Chiffon Cakes

 

Happy Year of the Rabbit!❤️ 
Chiffon Plushie Cakes inspired by Miffy rabbit, made for Pokka's #pokkaxmiffy 

Hope you liked them! Watch a reel of the assembly here. 

With love, 

Susanne 

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Pineapple Tart Marshmallows

 I have not only one but two awesome AND simple Lunar New Year themed marshmallows to share! The first one is pineapple tart marshmallows!

I made these marshmallows with reduced pineapple juice so the marshmallows are naturally pineapple flavoured and has a tartness to it which is always lovely in marshmallows. I apologize for sharing this so late into the new year because I just came up with it😅.

Please see my reel below for a sneak peek at how I piped these and how squishy they are!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CoEE5qIA3e6/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

Stay tuned for my other CNY marshmallow creation!

This pineapple tart creation will be in my upcoming Deco Marshmallows book!

with love,

Phay Shing

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Mixed Berry Angry Bird Hatchling Macarons on Checkerboard Butter Cake

 My elder kid requested for macaron form of all the Angry Bird hatchling plushies we have at home for his birthday end of last year. I know this is a way overdue post but Lunar New Year came hot on the heels of Christmas so festive bakes had priority. He wanted a butter cake too. Here's what I made!

Strawberry raspberry macarons on top of checkerboard butter cake based on kek lapis type of recipe

Why kek lapis? Because I had 30 egg yolks at home due to my macaron masterclass in early December last year. But when it was time to bake, I decided not to make the traditional kek lapis with its numerous layers as I was already tired out from two full-day classes. I suddenly remembered my kid likes to play chess so why not make a checkerboard cake!

I split the batter into two and added cocoa and coffee into one portion. All it took was one round of baking without having to eyeball the oven for two hours. I cut the cakes into blocks before gluing the pieces together with marmalade. Butter-based cakes like this freezes well so I made it a few weeks ahead of time, right after the masterclass.

Cutting into rectangular logs before cutting into cubes. I had to run out to meet a friend so I wrapped this up before continuing.

Egg-yolk rich butter cake

Note: You may halve the recipe as this is a big portion. I just wanted to use up my excess yolks at one go since the cake freezes nicely.

Ingredients (makes two 7x7" cakes):

460g unsalted butter, cubed (cool and firm)

60g condensed milk

380g caster sugar (split into 80g and 300g)

1/2 tsp salt

500g egg yolks (About 30 yolks. Room temperature. You may use whole eggs for less rich cake)

100g milk (room temperature)

1 tbs vanilla extract

460g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbs Instant coffee granules

2 tbs cocoa powder

2 tbs hot water

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 160C (fan)/ 180C (top and bottom heat). Grease base and sides of trays and line bottom with parchment paper.

2. Sift together cake flour and baking powder. Set aside.

3. Dissolve instant coffee and cocoa powder in hot water in a small bowl. Set aside.

4. Beat egg yolks and 80g with electric mixer until it is pale and thick. This should take about 15min. Set aside.

5. Beat butter, salt and 300g of sugar with paddle attachment in standmixer until pale and fluffy, scraping down the sides several times in between. If you kitchen is too hot like mine (27-31C all year round), don't take the butter out too early. Beat the yolks first before working on the butter. It takes 10 min or less to soften the butter.

4. Gradually add half the beaten egg yolks while continuing mixing with paddle attachment. Don't add the egg too quickly. Add a third of the sifted flour and mix until just combined at low speed, scraping down the sides.

5. Continue to add the egg yolks and continue mixing until just combined. Gradually add milk, condensed milk and vanilla extract until just combined. Continue beating for 1 min.

6. Gradually add sifted flour and beat at low speed. Stop to scrape down the sides as necessary. Once there is only a little trace of flour left, complete by folding with a spatula.

7. Divide batter into two and fold in chocolate coffee paste into one of them. Pour into prepared trays.

8. Bake for about 25 min (can range from 20-30min depending on individual ovens) or until tops are lightly browned and skewer comes out clean. Cool in tray for 5 min before removing from trays to cool on rack.

9. Cut to desired size (or not cut at all!) and assemble by using marmalade of choice of jam. Consume within three days if stored at room temperature. Cling wrap tightly before freezing for longer storage. You may store in fridge as well but it will dry out with storage time. You may spread a thin layer of condensed milk to moisten the cake before eating if you wish! It is delicious especially with the rich butter flavour and mocha parts! 

I used my default Swiss meringue method recipe for making the macarons. A little white colouring was added to keep the colours pastel.

I used royal icing to add in details for the eyes. It was really tedious!

Here's a look at the feet on the macaron shells!

I was really busy during that period as I had another request to deal with so I settled for filling that was the same as that for my other project: strawberry-raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream with the same berry mix compote.

Mixed berry compote

Ingredients:

300g frozen or fresh strawberries/raspberries (sieve raspberries to remove pips if you prefer smoother compote)

30g sugar (or to taste)

Pinch of salt

1 tsp lemon juice

Steps:

Cook everything together in saucepan until reduced to 60% original weight on over low heat. 

Mixed berry Swiss meringue buttercream

Ingredients:

75g egg whites

50g caster sugar

Pinch of salt

135g unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened

50g mixed berry compote

Steps:

1. In a clean, grease-free mixing bowl, double-boil egg whites, caster sugar and salt while whisking constantly until the egg whites reach 71.1C. Remove from heat.

2. Beat the egg whites at medium-high speed until cooled to room temperature and stiff peaks.

3. Add softened butter one cube at a time, waiting for each addition to be incorporated before adding the next. Continue beating for another 2min.

4. Add compote a little at a time, mixing well with each addition. You may add a little strawberry paste if you wish to enhance the strawberry flavour further.

Lovely cross-section view of the macarons!

I insulated the compote with buttercream to prevent the macaron shells from turning soggy.

Thank God the birthday kid loved it!

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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Rabbit Sugar-Free Tau Sar Piah

 One activity that people do around Chinese New Year is to declutter and clear out the old stuff. For bakers, that includes freezer as well. I had some frozen mung bean puree to clear from my Mooncaron class last year so I thought hy not bless my family with sugar-free Tau Sar Piah! 

It's the Year of the Rabbit so of course I had to cutesify it to match the Zodiac 🤭

A closer look at the cut cross-section...

For those of you who are not familiar with tau sar piah (豆沙饼) or mung bean biscuit, it originated from Penang (known as Tambun biscuits over there). It's a sweet and savoury pastry with thin flaky crust and mung bean filling bursting with fried shallot flavour. What I made is different from the original as I was working with a rather moist and extremely finely sieved mung bean puree, rather than from dried split mung beans. As a result, my paste is very smooth instead of grainy, and took longer to cook off the moisture, causing most of the fried shallots to disintegrate and dissolve into the paste at the end of cooking time. BUT the flavour is still very good and spot-on, according to hubby who was a Malaysian.

I didn't want to compromise the taste and wanted it to taste as authentic as possible despite using sugar replacements and frozen puree. Upon doing research, bakers suggest using butter for best taste but it doesn't hold the shape well, doesn't give you the best flaky texture and the dough is difficult to handle. While buttery pastry tastes and smells great, personally I feel it isn't authentic tasting as traditional Chinese pastries generally don't use butter as fat. 

Before I share the recipe and steps, let me give credit to my references and discuss the ingredients used. I based my recipe on this recipe and followed the filling and dough proportions from here. I also found interesting information from here and here.

FAT

Traditionally, pork lard is used as the fat for the pastry and vegetable oil is used for frying the shallots. But due to religious reasons or dietary preferences, other forms of fat such as vegetable shortening or ghee are common replacements for lard as they still produce the nice flaky texture. Coconut oil or butter can be used as well but as mentioned earlier, butter is difficult to handle so you may want to substitute only part of lard/shortening/ghee with butter. Oil is generally not recommended except for coconut oil which has a higher melting point than other oils. I rendered my own pork fat to get the lard. I used it for the pastry and mixed with some peanut oil for cooking the mung bean paste. Neutral tasting vegetable oil is usually the default oil for frying shallots but I wanted to use up the lard I made just for this bake 😆.

Homemade lard!

I used this recipe as my reference but used only about 400g of pork fat.

Use more oil if you prefer a moister filling, and less oil if you prefer a drier filling that crumbles upon bite.

SUGAR

Generally, fine white sugar is used for the filling and powdered sugar is used for the pastry. You may use brown sugar if you like. I used a mix of Erythritol and Allulose for the filling, and Sukrin (powdered form of Erythritol) for the pastry as the sugar replacements. You can't detect any artificial taste from them at all because the flavour of the other ingredients is strong! As with all alcohol sugars, consume in moderation as some people may have digestive sensitivities to them. But having said that, both Erythritol and Allulose are zero calories and does not raise the blood sugar levels at all.

FLOUR

Plain flour with moderate protein content is usually used as you want the pastry to hold the shape well. If you prefer a more tender bite, you may replace some of the plain flour with a low protein flour like cake flour.

MUNG BEAN

Dried split mung beans are used. The beans should be thoroughly washed and drained before steaming. You may choose to add water to the beans before steaming or omit it. Which ever the case, steam until the beans are soft and you can mush the beans easily between your fingers. The steamed mung beans are then blended before mixing with the other ingredients. There is no need to sieve the blended beans like I did. I was just using up old freezer stock meant for another bake.

Rabbit Sugar-Free Tau Sar Piah
(Makes about 24-25 rabbit pastries)

Mung Bean Filling

Ingredients:

200g dried split mung beans rinsed & drained*
300g water*

80-90g oil of choice (I used 30g peanut oil, 60g lard)

60-70g chopped shallots

135g sugar (I used 75g Erythritol, 60g Allulose)

1/2 heaping tsp salt

1/4-1/2 tsp white pepper

*I used 540g mung bean puree from my frozen stock.

Steps:

1. Steam mung beans in water for 20min or until soft enough to mush the beans between your fingers. Blend the steamed mung bean to make puree.

2. Fry shallots in oil until browned.

3. Place mung bean puree, fried shallots with the oil, salt, pepper and sugar into a saucepan or frying pan and cook on low heat until a dough forms. Enough moisture needs to be cooked off such that you are able to form a ball of dough that is able to hold its shape. Set aside to cool before dividing into balls of 20g each. You may prepare this a day ahead of time and store in airtight condition at cool room temperature.

This recipe yields about 500g filling.

Mung bean filling portioned into 20g balls

Water dough

Ingredients:

180g plain flour

70g icing sugar (I used Sukrin)

1 tsp salt

54g lard (cold from the fridge)

63g ice water

Steps:

1. Sift together flour, sugar & salt. 

2. Rub in lard until mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. 

3. Add ice water & mix until ball of dough forms.

4. Knead for 5 min, cover with cling wrap & let it rest for 30min. In the mean time, work on the oil dough.

5. Divide into 12g portions & cover with cling wrap until ready to combine with oil dough.

There may be a little excess dough. You may add more flour if the dough is very sticky. Different brands of flour have different absorption properties.

Oil dough

Ingredients:

128g plain flour, sifted

56g lard (cold from the fridge)

Steps:

1. Combine the ingredients until a ball of dough forms. 

2. Keep in fridge until water dough has rested fully.

There may be a little excess dough.

Assembly

Components:

1. Mung bean filling in 20g portions

2. Water dough in 12g portions

3. Oil dough in 7g portions

4. 1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

5. 1 tsp water

6. Black sesame seeds

7. Almond slices

8. Pine nuts (optional)

Steps:

1. Divide oil dough into 7g portions.

2. Flatten a portion of water dough to form a disc. Wrap a ball of oil dough with it. 

3. Roll the dough flat with rolling pin. Roll the flattened dough up like a Swiss roll. Rotate by 90° and roll the dough flat again. Roll it up like a Swiss roll the second time and set aside. Let the dough rest for 20min.

4. Preheat oven to 180C fan/190C. Line a baking tray with parchment paper/Teflon sheet/baking mat.

5. Lightly dust a portion of dough and the work surface with plain flour, or just light dust the work surface and cover a portion of dough with cling wrap (shown in video). Roll the dough into a disc about 10-12cm in diameter. Wrap a ball of filling. Pinch seal the base tightly. Dab with a little water to help with the seal if necessary. Gently roll one side of the ball of wrapped filling to make a slight taper for the rabbit body shape if you wish. Place on lined baking tray.

6. Mix egg yolk and 1 tsp of water. Sieve the mixture to make the egg wash. Brush the egg wash on the pastry tops with a brush.

7. Add on the pine nut tail (optional), almond slice ears and black sesame seed eyes. You may outline the almond ears with egg wash but that's optional.

8. Bake for 20 min or until golden and lightly browned. Cool completely before storing in airtight container at cool room temperature.

The amazing thing about this design is you can apply to other types of cookies and pastries like pineapple tarts, butter cookies, peanut cookies etc for the Year of the Rabbit!

You may find it helpful to watch my Instagram reel for the whole process:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnjX9tDgkk7/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

Happy Chinese New Year everyone! 


with lots of love, 
Phay Shing

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My Melody Burger Chiffon Cake

 

Food meets fun this CNY! My Melody-inspired burger chiffon cake coming fresh of the grill!
 I've shared the assembly video here on my IG. 

Some other updates in response to some messages. My new classes here: 

Valentine's day Beary Cute Duo Roll Cakes 

Baby Lamb Chiffon Cake 

Happy CNY in advance!! 

With love, 

Susanne 

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