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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Rabbit Pineapple Creampuff

 Lunar New Year is just around the corner and many bakers are baking pineapple tarts. I have decided to share a creampuff version of this well-loved pastry in cute bunny form to welcome the Year of the Rabbit!

I made the pineapple jam from scratch using the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System from Ninja Kitchen Singapore. I was amazed at how easy it was to get pineapple puree that is so evenly blended at the touch of a button! There wasn't a need to manually pause & scrape down the blender multiple times. See it for yourself in the video below! It was super easy to clean too as the blade is removable.

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

Please use my promo code: PSCB402 to enjoy $150 off original price of $499 for the blender! Visit Ninja Kitchen Singapore's website if you would like to make the purchase.

I used the pineapple jam on its own & added a sieved portion to whipped cream as filling for the creampuffs.

PINEAPPLE JAM
Ingredients:

1kg fresh pineapple flesh, cut into chunks (about 2 pineapples)
120g caster sugar
30g brown sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cinnamon stick

Steps:
1. Blend pineapple chunks
2. Cook pineapple puree with rest of ingredients over low heat till reduced to half (500g).
3. Discard cinnamon stick

4. Store in airtight glass jar in the fridge until ready to use.

Baker's Notes:
- Jam for pineapple tarts is reduced to 20% original weight of puree. But for choux pastry it's reduced to 50% for a softer & moist filling to complement the whipped cream & light, buttery pastry case. Taste isn't compromised! It tastes like a creampuff version of pineapple tarts!
- Adjust sugar according to taste & tartness of pineapples
- Add lemon juice if you like it really tart
- Add cloves/vanilla if you like
- Extra jam can be reduced further for making pineapple tarts 

CHOUX PASTRY

Please refer to chapters 7-9 on my YouTube channel on the basics of choux au craquelin for more details on the technique involved. Over here for chapter 7 on craquelin, over here for chapter 8 on basics of choux pastry batter, and over here for chapter 9 on piping and baking choux buns. I will just briefly describe the steps in this blog post.

Ingredients (makes about 18 mini choux buns):

Craquelin

21g unsalted butter, softened

18g sugar

21g plain flour, sifted

Choux batter

1 egg, lightly beaten (about 50g)

30g plain or bread flour, sifted 

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp sugar

55-60g water

20g butter 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract (optional)

Decoration

Toasted almond slices

Dark chocolate couverture/chips

A little shortening or oil

Steps:

1. Make craquelin. Briefly cream butter and sugar together. Fold in flour. Roll the dough to thickness of 2-3mm between parchment paper. Freeze until firm. Cut out 3cm circles and place on lined baking tray, and freeze the cutouts again until ready to use.

2. Preheat oven to 200C(fan)/220C. Line baking tray with perforated mat (preferable) and 2.3cm circle template. You may line with parchment paper if you don't have the mat. Perforated mat helps choux pastries to retain better shape and have a flat base.

3. Make choux batter. Place water, butter, salt, sugar and vanilla into small saucepan. Heat on low heat to melt butter while stirring. Once butter is melted, quickly bring to roiling boil, stirring occassionally. Remove from heat and pour all the flour in at once. Stir until a ball of dough forms. Make sure all lumps of flour are mixed in. Cook on medium-low heat until some water from the dough is cooked off for about 2-3min (about 10% reduction in weight of dough). Transfer to bowl to cool for 10min.

4. Add half of egg and mix well until batter is smooth. Add half of remaining egg. Mix until batter is smooth. Add the remaining egg a tsp at a time, mixing until smooth with each addition, until batter is able to fall off spatula in 3 seconds.

5. Transfer to piping bag fitted with a 8mm round tip (Wilton #12). Pipe batter onto prepared tray. Dab some water around the piped batter. Carefully place craquelin on top of piped batter.

6. Put tray in oven. Immediately reduce temperature to 180C (fan)/190C and bake for 20-25 min. Reduce temperature to 140-150C and bake for another 20-25min or until thoroughly crisp. We need it crisp all the way as we are adding decorative pieces on the choux case. Do note that baking temperature and time may vary as each oven is different so adjust accordingly.

7. Cool completely before decorating by cutting the top one-third off. Carefully pierce 2 slits on the top piece before inserting almond slices for the ears. Paint or pipe on the eyes and nose of the bunny cap using melted chocolate with a little oil or shortening. Addition of shortening or oil helps the chocolate stay in piping/painting consistency for a longer time. Store in airtight container while preparing the pineapple whipped cream.

PINEAPPLE WHIPPED CREAM

Honestly I would prefer using pineapple diplomat cream to pair with the pineapple jam in the middle for filling but it would be conflict of interest to share my class material here. I chose to share a simple filling that is much faster to make and uses less ingredients so that you may be encouraged to give this a try!

Ingredients*:

150g Whip Topping (non-dairy whipping cream)

50g heavy cream (35% fat dairy cream)

80g sieved pineapple jam

*You may choose your preferred choice of cream depending on climate and where you are serving the pastries. Full dairy cream tastes the best and you may use double cream (45% fat) if you wish. Use stabilizers like gelatin and add a little sugar if using dairy cream. Singapore is very warm so I use non-dairy whipping cream with some dairy cream mixed in. Non-dairy cream is very stable and is pre-sweetened but doesn't taste as good as pure dairy cream. Adjust amount of sieved jam according to taste too.

Steps:

1. Whip whipping cream of choice until firm/stiff peak. Be careful not to overwhip if using purely dairy cream. 

2. Whisk/fold in sieved jam a little at a time.

3. Transfer a little cream into small piping bag with a small hole cut or Wilton #7 tip attached. Transfer the remaining cream into a large piping bag fitted with a large round tip (e.g.  Wilton 1A which is around 13mm in diameter)

ASSEMBLY

1. Fill the choux pastry with whipped cream until about half to three-quarters full. Use the rounded base of a half teaspoon to push the cream against the base and sides of the pastry case to create a well.

2. Fill the well with a heap of pineapple jam.

3. Pipe a generous mound of whipped cream over the jam from large piping bag for the bunny head.

4. Use cream from small piping bag to pipe on the paws, snout and ears. 

5. Add eyes using melted chocolate. Add rosy cheeks if desired. I coloured a little whipped cream with pink gel colouring for the rosy cheeks but you may use natural sources of food colouring like beetroot or red yeast if you like.

I was in a hurry racing against the sunset as it was getting a little too dark to take good videos and photos! I was also multi-tasking by working on this and cooking dinner at the same time 😆😅.

6. Place top piece of pastry case on top of bunny head and you are done!

Keep refrigerated for up to 3 days, or in the freezer for a month in airtight condition. The frozen pastry tastes like ice-cream filled creampuffs, and the chilled version tastes like creampuff version of pineapple tarts!

I tried to keep the design simple and artificial colouring minimal so that you can give this a try!

Please see my second reel below for making of the choux pastry, pineapple whipped cream and assembly:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnUM3-_AEkm/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=


with love,
Phay Shing

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Rabbit Family Chiffon Cakes

 

My Little Rabbit Family hopping into the New Year and the Year of the Rabbit! Sincerely wish my dear friends here the best in 2023!❤️❤️ 

Some assembly scenes here.

With lots of love,

Susanne 

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Bunny Marshmallow with Mixed Berry Filling

 It's the Year of the Rabbit so of course I have to make bunny marshmallows!

A closer look at the cross-section with filling!

The strawberry-raspberry filling is delicious on its own and pairs really well with vanilla marshmallows too! My kids both gave a big thumbs up for these! 

The marshmallows are also coloured with flavourings instead of gel colours. The pink marshmallow parts are coloured with strawberry paste and the light brown marshmallow parts are coloured with chocolate paste. 

You will learn the basics of character marshmallows, how to make filled character marshmallows and how to use my new templating method to make them. I will share a little bonus of how to make the teeny marshmallow carrots too! 

Please refer to this link for online class and this link for studio class. All studio class participants will have access to online class material for free.

Please contact Sharon of Artz Baking and Culinary Studio via whatsapp at +65 96882777 for enquiries. 

Video link for these marshmallows in squishy action below!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CnCK8nMAM3e/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

with love,

Phay Shing

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Christmas Present Chiffon Entremet

Christmas Present Entremet!🎁❤️ 

Components: 
Mint Chiffon Cake 
Raspberry Compote 
Dark Chocolate Mousse 
Feuilletine Crunch 

Watch the assembly tutorial here. 

I love my new Kenwood Cooking Chef XL! I use it to weigh ingredients as I add them, cook the fruit compote, as well as melt chocolate with its auto programs! It was my best Christmas present ever! 😍

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!💕
 

With love,

Susanne

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Giraffe Macaron Swing on Fruits n Cream Cake

 I don't usually take requests in December as it is a busy month for me. At most I will accept one request. Someone wanted a giraffe swing with elephant and dog in it, on top of a fruits & cream cake. Here it is!

I used my default Swiss meringue method recipe with separated egg whites for the macaron pieces. As the swing is a structure that needed to bear weight, I made the fillings firm enough even at Singapore's indoor room temperature without air-conditioning. The macaron shells are filled with a stiff mango passionfruit ganache and dark chocolate-butter filling.

Mango passionfruit stiff ganache
80g white chocolate, finely chopped or use chips 
20g unsalted butter
1/8 tsp salt
30g warm water
20g freeze dried mango powder*
20g freeze dried passionfruit powder*

*You may use fresh fruit but you need to reduce it over low heat until thick.

Steps:

1. Mix freeze-dried fruit powders in warm water until you form a paste. Set aside.

2. Melt chocolate, butter and salt. Set aside to firm up. Use spatula or electric mixer if you wish, to whip until it looks like buttercream.

3. Add fruit paste into white chocolate mixture in a few additions.

Dark chocolate filling
You may use ganache but I wanted something really firm to support the weight plus movement of the swing.

100g dark chocolate
50g butter
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps:

1. Place everything in heatproof bowl and melt over double boiler. Alternatively you may use microwave.

2. Set aside to firm up. If your environment is very cold, I would suggest using ganache or this will become too hard to work with when set.

I used my default vanilla chiffon sponge recipe but baked in two 7"x1.5" round pans lined at the base and sliced each one horizontally into two to get four layers of sponges. Baking profile was 150C for 15 min, 140C for 15 min, followed by 130C for 20min with steam baking. Note that every oven is different so adjust accordingly.

Requester wanted the cake covered in cream so I prepared more cream for it. Feel free to use your favourite Chantilly cream recipe that can hold up in your climate. I live in hot and humid Singapore so stabilizers are needed. You may use gelatin as stabilizer but I go for what was easy, tastes good and it works!

Whipped cream
250g Whip topping (non-dairy whipping cream)
200g double cream (high fat dairy cream)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Note: Non-dairy creams are pre sweetened so there is no need to add sugar. Please add sugar if you are using dairy cream only.

Steps:

1. Whip whip topping until really stiff peaks with vanilla extract.

2. In another bowl, whisk double cream until it is just able to form a hint of soft peaks. Don't over whisk!

3. Fold Whip topping into double cream in a few additions.

Your resulting cream should be relatively smooth and able to hold its shape at aircon temperatures and briefly for 10min in hot kitchen.

I went for simple, slightly rustic and elegant design for the cake, with the exterior showing a hint of what's inside. The sponges were brushed with simple syrup (1:1 water:sugar)  before slathering on the cream.

Mango, Korean strawberries and green kiwi as fruits in the cake.

Watch the swing in action over here:

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmRCT-9AwGC/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

with love,

Phay Shing 

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Christmas Tree Surprise 'Log' Cake

 

Posting some of my backlogs as I was away in Dec. Here is a Christmas "log" cake with a Christmas tree surprise! Piping tutorial here.

With love,

Susanne

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Chocolate Hazelnut Praline Log Cake

 I am very excited to have my first partnership with Ninja Kitchen Singapore to introduce their Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System! It is really timely to be receiving their system near Christmas as I intend to make chocolate hazelnut praline log cakes for my family and friends!  

Bear with me as this will be a long post because the log cake consist of four different components, excluding my sugar-free snowman marshmallow decorations.

The four components of the log cake: chocolate hazelnut chiffon cake, hazelnut feuilletine crunch, hazelnut praline diplomat cream and dark chocolate ganache 

I used the blender system to make three items essential for the bake: hazelnut flour, finely chopped hazelnut and hazelnut praline paste. Toasted hazelnuts are used for all hazelnut related items in the cake as it is more aromatic.

Finely chopped hazelnut, hazelnut flour and hazelnut praline paste 

I love the fact that the blender is easy to use and clean! You may use my promo code: PSCB402 to enjoy $150 off original price of $499! Visit Ninja Kitchen Singapore's website if you would like to make the purchase.

Some items in the log cake can be prepared in advance to make the bake easier. Make sure you plan ahead of time the sequence of making the components as you want to make sure everything is ready when you assemble. I will be sharing the recipes in the order that you should be preparing. The portions suggested in this post is enough for two log cakes so scale ingredient portions accordingly.

The source of my inspiration and reference recipes for some components of the log cake are taken from here and here.

HAZELNUT FLOUR & FINELY CHOPPED HAZELNUT 

Ingredients:

150g blanched whole hazelnuts*

* Toast a total of 330-350g hazelnuts for the whole bake but you will only use a portion of it as flour and chopped nuts.

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 160C fan/175C top and bottom heat only. Line large baking tray with parchment paper/Teflon sheet/silicone mat.

2. Bake hazelnuts in a single layer for 10 min or until lightly browned and aromatic. Adjust temperature and time accordingly as each oven is different.

3. Cool completely before using coffee grinder or blender to pulse the toasted nuts (about 120-150g) a few times until you have a good mix of finely chopped pieces and flour. Do not run the blender for too long or it may become a paste. Split the batch of hazelnuts into two if your blender/grinder is small. I used the Coffee & Spice Grinder of the Ninja Foodi Power Blender Ultimate System for this.

4. Use a sieve to sift the flour from the chopped pieces. I didn't use my superfine sieve for this as I want my chopped nuts portion to contain only chopped bits without the flour. The flour portion may not be superfine here but it is OK as an addition in the log cake. You may use a fine sieve to sift the coarse flour if you want superfine flour.

Prepare the flour and chopped nuts ahead of time. Store airtight in cool dry place if using within a week. Store in fridge or freezer for longer storage.

HAZELNUT PRALINE PASTE

Ingredients:

180g toasted hazelnuts (see above for toasting)

120g sugar

25g water

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbs (12g) oil of choice (I used peanut)

Steps:

1. Make caramel by heating sugar and water in a light coloured, heavy bottomed saucepan. Do not stir the syrup. Gently swirl the saucepan to mix evenly if need be. The darker the caramel colour, the deeper the flavour but be careful not to burn it! Once you have achieved a deep amber colour, remove from heat and pour the caramel onto baking tray lined with Teflon sheet/silicone mat.

2. Let the caramel cool completely before breaking it up into shards. You may use your hands or use a knife to chop it up. 

3. Put the caramel shards, toasted hazelnuts, salt and oil into blender. Blend until you get a paste. I used the Power Smoothie Bowl to make the paste. It is up to your personal preference to blend until it is completely smooth or still retains some coarse bits. I prefer my praline paste to have a little bite so I didn't blend until it is completely smooth.

Hazelnut praline is typically made by stirring the caramel and toasted nuts together before pouring it out onto the tray. I skipped this step to simplify the process as it is not necessary here. You only need to coat the hazelnuts with caramel if you are making praline shards.

Prepare the praline paste ahead of time. Store the praline paste in an airtight container at a cool and dry place until use if you are using it within the next couple of days. Store in the fridge for two-three weeks or in the freezer for longer storage.

You may refer to my Instagram reel to see how I made the hazelnut flour, chopped hazelnut and hazelnut praline paste:

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

HAZELNUT PRALINE DIPLOMAT CREAM

Ingredients:

2 large egg yolks (62-65g eggs with shells on)

15-18g cornstarch/cornflour (use more if you prefer a thicker cream)

20g sugar*

Pinches of salt

240g milk

10g unsalted butter, softened

40g hazelnut praline paste 

1/2-1 tsp vanilla bean paste/extract

100g double cream/heavy cream/ non-dairy whipping cream (I used a combination of 25g double cream and 75g non-dairy whipping cream)**

* I used Allulose, a sugar replacement, so that the bake is slightly more diabetic friendly. You may use regular sugar and also adjust according to taste. I made the cream less sweet to suit the taste buds of my recipients.

** You may use your preferred choice of whipping cream. I used a combination to get the stability of non-dairy whipping cream in tropical climate like Singapore, and great milky taste of double cream. Be careful not to over whip dairy creams. You may want to add some sugar and stabilize with gelatin if using dairy cream only. I loosened cold double cream with a hand whisk before folding in non-dairy cream what was whipped until stiff. Non-dairy creams are pre-sweetened so I didn't add any sugar.

Steps:

1. Make the pastry cream. Heat milk in a saucepan until steaming hot but not boiling. In the meantime, whisk together egg yolks, sugar, salt and cornstarch in a heavy bowl until smooth.

2. Once milk is hot, pour in a thin stream into egg yolk mixture while whisking the egg yolk mix continuously. Pour everything back into saucepan and cook over medium-low heat while whisking continuously.  Pay attention to the custard as it will start to thicken suddenly. If it thickens up too fast, just remove from heat and keep whisking until smooth before putting it back on the stove. Continue cooking and whisking until mixture just starts to bubble. Cook for another 1 min while whisking continuously. 

3. Remove from heat. Add vanilla, praline paste and butter, one item at a time, whisking after each addition. 

4. Pour into a tray/bowl. Press cling wrap onto surface of pastry cream. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. You may prepare the pastry cream a day in advance.

5. When it is time to assemble the log cake before you make the hazelnut feuilletine crunch, make the diplomat cream. To do so, take the pastry cream from fridge and loosen it by briefly whisking until smooth. Prepare whipped cream of choice. Fold into loosened pastry cream in three additions. Keep bowl of diplomat cream covered and refrigerated while you make the hazelnut feuilletine crunch.

DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

Ingredients:

125g heavy/double cream (I used a combination)

150g 54% dark chocolate couverture

15g unsalted butter, room temperature and softened

Pinches of salt

10g light corn syrup (optional)

Steps:

1. Heat dark chocolate using double boiling or microwave oven until slightly softened (not necessarily melted). Set aside.

2. Heat cream, corn syrup and salt in a saucepan until it just starts to bubble. Pour over chocolate and let it sit for a minute. Gently stir in one direction with spatula until chocolate is melted and smooth.

3. Add butter and stir until well mixed. Set aside to firm up at cool room temperature. 

You may prepare this a day in advance or while waiting for the Swiss roll to firm up in the freezer. I prefer to make this a day in advance to avoid having too many things to do on the day of baking and assembling the log cake. It is safe to store the ganache overnight at cool room temperature in airtight condition. Store the ganache in fridge if you need longer storage but it has to come to room temperature and have a toothpaste consistency before you can use it to coat the log cake.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CHIFFON SPONGE 

This sponge is mild flavoured as the rest of the components are rich and strong flavoured. The hazelnut flour addition serves more to affect the texture rather than taste so you won't taste much of it, much like how a little almond flour is used to replace wheat flour in many cakes in traditional pastry making. Some hazelnut flour is generated in the process of getting finely chopped nuts out of the blender system so we might as well put it into good use!

Ingredients (makes two 10x12" sheet cakes):

Egg yolk batter

6 egg yolks (62-65g eggs with shells on)

20g Dutch processed cocoa powder *

64g boiling water

64g cake flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

16g hazelnut flour (replace with cake flour for regular cakes)

54 oil (I used canola)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp Kahlua coffee liqueur (may replace with vanilla)

Pinches of salt

Meringue**

6 egg whites

90g sugar***

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

* You may use regular cocoa powder. If so, increase baking soda to 1/2 tsp. Note that the chocolate flavour is mild for this cake as I did not want the chocolate (especially from the ganache) to overpower the hazelnut flavour. If you prefer it more chocolatey you may coat the sponge with a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache before layering on the hazelnut feuilletine crunch and diplomat cream.

** If your oven cannot fit two trays, divide the ingredients into two. Make the egg yolk batter for two trays worth but make the meringue for one tray portion only when you are about to bake it.

*** I used a combination of 10g caster sugar and 35g Allulose to make it a bit more diabetic friendly.

Steps:

1. Preheat oven to 165C fan/180C top and bottom heat only. Set oven rack to middle position. Line baking trays with parchment paper or Teflon sheet. 

2. Dissolve cocoa powder in boiling water to form a thin paste. Once cooled, add extract/coffee liqueur and salt. Mix well. Set aside.

3. Prepare egg yolk batter. Whisk egg yolks until pale and thick. Add oil and whisk until smooth. Add chocolate paste and whisk until combined. 

4. In a small bowl, sift cake flour and baking soda together with a fine sieve. Add hazelnut flour and whisk together. Sift flour mix into egg yolk batter using a coarse sieve and whisk until well combined. 

5. Make meringue. In a clean metal bowl, beat egg whites with cream of tartar until firm peaks or just reach stiff peaks, gradually adding in sugar once egg whites are foamy.

6. Quickly but gently fold meringue into egg yolk batter in three additions. Pour batter into prepared trays and smooth the batter using a bench scraper or spatula.

7. Bake for 12-14 min or until skewer comes out clean. Immediately flip the cake out onto fresh sheet of parchment paper/Teflon sheet and roll up to cool completely. You may use Teflon sheet if you prefer the sponge not to have wrinkle lines. The wrinkles won't be visible anyway because it is going to be covered by the ganache.

Prepare the hazelnut feuilletine crunch while waiting for the sponge to cool.

HAZELNUT FEUILLETINE CRUNCH

Ingredients:

75g double cream/heavy cream (I used a combination)

150g white chocolate couverture

150g hazelnut praline paste

60g feuilletine

60g finely chopped toasted hazelnuts

Steps:

Make sure you have the chocolate hazelnut sponge and hazelnut praline diplomat cream ready before you make the feuilletine crunch.

1. Melt white chocolate and cream over double boiler. Stir until smooth. Be careful not to overheat! Using a thick glass bowl over hot (not boiling) water helps to control the heat a little. Do not let the water touch the bottom of the bowl.

2. Warm up the hazelnut praline paste in microwave oven for 10 seconds at medium to medium-high powder. Add to melted chocolate. Stir until smooth.

3. Add feuilletine and chopped nuts. Stir until well mixed. If the mixture firms up too much at this point, reheat gently over double-boiler to spreadable consistency.

ASSEMBLY

Items to prepare:

6 x 9" cakeboards

Cake decorations/ornaments

Snow powder (optional)

Chocolate hazelnut chiffon sponges

Hazelnut feuilletine crunch

Hazelnut praline diplomat cream

Dark chocolate ganache

1. Unroll sponge. Spread a thin layer of dark chocolate ganache (optional and only if you prefer it more chocolatey. I didn't add this layer). Spread a thin layer of hazelnut feuilletine crunch, leaving about half an inch border around uncovered.

2. Spread a layer of hazelnut praline diplomat cream over the feuilletine crunch. Make sure the cream is thinner around the edges of the sponge.

3. Roll it up into a tight roll, using a bench scraper or long metal ruler to help you tighten the roll (see reel below). Freeze for 1 hour. You may prepare the dark chocolate ganache at this point if you haven't done so.

4. Remove Swiss roll from freezer and cut the ends off with a serrated knife. Reserve the cut-off pieces. 

5. Apply a small amount of ganache on a 6 x 9" cakeboard. I added a little diplomat cream as well but it's optional. Carefully place the Swiss roll on the cakeboard. Coat the Swiss roll surface with dark chocolate ganache using a small spatula.

6. Attach the cut-off pieces of Swiss roll onto the main roll cake and coat with ganache. Use the small spatula to make bark lines on the surface. You may use a fork if you wish, just like I did in the previous years.

7. Add any plastic cake ornaments, or in my case, snowman marshmallows as well. Finish off with a light dusting of snow powder if you wish. Store the cake in fridge for up to a week, in the freezer for longer storage. 

You may refer to this second reel to see the process of making the log cake out of the hazelnut items.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmY49RsArbF/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

Any leftover cream, ganache, praline and chopped nuts can be mixed together and frozen to make a delicious hazelnut praline chocolate ice-cream! But if you want this to happen, make sure you make double portion of diplomat cream! Add a little melted bloomed gelatin as well to keep it less icy in texture.

I made double portion of diplomat cream!

with lots of love,

Phay Shing

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MARIGOLD PEEL FRESH Yuzu Chiffon Cake

 Can you tell which is cake and which is real juice? 

Patterned Yuzu Chiffon Cake modelled after my favourite MARIGOLD PEEL FRESH Select Yuzu juice! 

Tutorial video here. 

Yuzu Chiffon cake batter 
64g MARIGOLD PEEL FRESH Select Yuzu juice 
5 egg yolks 
60g vegetable oil 
90g cake flour 

6 egg whites 
100g castor sugar 
½ tsp cream of tartar 

With love, 

Susanne 

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Diabetic-Friendly Snowman Marshmallows (Piping Video Tutorial)

 This was an experiment that I have been procrastinating. So glad I took time out to give it a try even though my schedule is really full. Presenting my diabetic-friendly snowman marshmallows that will register close to zero on the glycemic index! (If you don't count the cornstarch in the dusting, it is zero GI).

I used Allulose and no inverted sugar when making these. Allulose is a sugar replacement that has chemical properties similar to regular sugar in candy making as it goes through the different stages as it is heated up like regular sugar (e.g. soft ball, hard ball etc) , but does not spike blood sugar levels at all. It is a relatively new sugar replacement and not as widely available as Maltitol and Erythritol. It is also expensive, which is why I was hesitant to buy some to try.

How's the texture and taste as compared to marshmallows made using regular sugar? Texture wise is pretty much spot on although I still need to tweak the ingredient ratios when I try again. But as with all sugar replacements, Allulose has its own distinctive flavour that takes some getting used to. It will be good to use ingredients with strong flavours in bakes if using allulose to mask that taste. Working with sugar replacements is not as easy and straightforward as working with regular sugar too, that's why the need for me to experiment again.

I will be including the recipe in my upcoming Deco Marshmallows book so I can't share it here. But I have made a piping video tutorial so you may use it as a reference if you wish! You may also use the reference for piping meringue cookies!

https://www.instagram.com/reel/CmBrm7dgiW_/?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=

with love,

Phay Shing

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Gingerbread Cookies (Piping video tutorial)

 It's a privilege to be part of a team sharing Christmas joy through the form of cookie box giveaways! Each of us lovingly prepare different cookie flavours to put together something for the eyes and mouth to feast on. I chose to make gingerbread cookies 😊, something I am familiar with and used to make around the start of my baking journey.

As I had to make at least 300 individually wrapped pieces with limited time, I had to be careful to choose designs that are quick and easy to decorate, yet elegant and pretty. 

You may refer to this post for my gingerbread cookie recipe. I tweaked the royal icing recipe to include 2 tsp of light corn syrup but it's optional. The dough as well as baked cookies freeze very well so you can make ahead of time. Iced cookies can also store for a month or more at room temperature in airtight condition. Just look at how long gingerbread houses on display can last out in the open 😉.

Please see my Instagram post for the video tutorial. I make use of sprinkles to add some bling or cute details. 

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

with love,

Phay Shing

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