Christmas Log Cake

Happy Christmas to all my supportive readers! 

May this Christmas bring you LOVE, JOY and PEACE! 

Beside, I am submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #2: Christmas! Dec 2010 for Jane @ Passionate About Baking 

Recipe for Christmas log cake 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷

Plain sponge (size 36cm x 26cm) x 2 :

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter 40g

Egg yolk 100g

Caster sugar 20g

Egg white 160g

Caster Sugar 75g

Plain flour 55g

Recipe for the the swiss meringue butter cream, please refer to Baking Library. That's very good recipe indeed!

1. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. 
3. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
4. Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
5. Pour some mixture (4) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine.  Pour back into the mixture of (4) and mix gently until everything well combine.
6. Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. I put the mixture into a piping bag to pipe out the mixture. 
7. Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful  not to over bake it.
8. Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.
9. Cut sponges into 3 portions, you will get 6 portions by making 2 sheets of sponge.  
10. Whip 400ml whipping cream with 50g nutella. Spread some the nutella cream and roll up the first sheet. Let it stand upright then spread the others sponge with nutella cream then place another sheet of sponge around the first one. Continue the process and you will get about 8 to 9 inches round cake. 
11. Spread some meringue butter cream around the cake and decorate with snow man or Christmas trees. Happy Christmas!

Updated on 26th December 2010

This log cake was baked two days before Xmas and it served on a potluck party on 25th Dec Xmas evening. I'm so  glad that the outcome is really good with plenty of positive comments from my guests. The sponge cake stayed soft, light, fluffy and moist on the 3rd day and even the 4th days from it's made. I think the recipe of separated eggs sponge recipe from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷 is a winner. Beside, the fresh cream whipped with small amount of nutella for the filling makes the cake light and tasty which you won't feel greasy at all. The edges butter meringue cream is also well accepted by all my guests as it's light and not sugary sweet. All thanks to Baking Library for sharing the butter meringue cream. This log cake had given a happy ending for everyone in the potluck party. Here is a small piece of leftover log cake for my boxing day on 26 Dec. Look forward to the year 2011 and Happy New Year to all my supportive readers! Cheers!

Layers of blessing.....

Without much practice on baking recently, I find my baking skills become very lousy. When I recalled by those baking pictures that I took few years back I wonder where is my passion and skills had gone. Last week was the birthday of my hubby and I took that opportunity to practice a birthday cake.

So, I choose a recipe that I made few years ago, Praline Chocolate Cake, his forever favorite cake. This is the one I made four years ago for my customer (right picture) but this time I didn't manage to make each layer of sponge and cream evenly. 

My hubby is kind enough and appreciate whatever outcome it is and still very enjoy the taste and texture of the cake. I remember he only allowed to eat those cake edges that I cut out but not a nice piece of cake. Although the cake was not well assemble this time, we enjoyed the lightness of the cake. I'm quite satisfy with the soft sponge. So far, this is the best sponge cake recipe I found from 孟老师的美味蛋糕卷. For the praline, I use to make it with hazelnut but last week when I was making this cake in a rush and just notice that I don't have hazelnut so I replace it with almond. I must say hazelnut is still the best to go with. This might not be the perfect cake but the purpose to post this up is to share about the sponge cake recipe. It's really good indeed and why not share with everyone. Hope you like it too!

孟老师的美味蛋糕卷

Recipe for plain sponge (size 36cm x 26cm):

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter 40g

Egg yolk 100g

Caster sugar 20g

Egg white 160g

Caster Sugar 75g

Plain flour 55g

1. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool.
2. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. 
3. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam.
4. Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
5. Pour some mixture (4) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine.  Pour back into the mixture of (4) and mix gently until everything well combine.
6. Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. I put the mixture into a piping bag to pipe out the mixture as I need very thin sponge. It couldn't fill up the entire baking pan so I bake them in another cake tin as an assorted cake. 
7. Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful  not to over bake it.
8. Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

Recipe for cocoa sponge (size 36cm x 26cm):

Ingredients:

Unsalted butter 25g

Egg yolks 80g

Caster sugar 25g

Cocoa powder 20g

Cold water 20g

Egg whites 120g

Caster sugar 60g

Plain flour 45g

1. Prepare a baking tray lined with baking paper. Melt the butter than set a side to cool. 
2. Whisk the egg yolks with sugar in a double boiler until thicken and pale in color. Mix in cocoa powder and cold water until well combine.
3. In another bowl whisk the egg whites with caster sugar until peak foam
4. Fold the egg yolks into the egg whites then gently fold in the shifted flour.
5. Pour some mixture (4) into a clean bowl then mix in the melted butter until well combine.  Pour back into the mixture of (4) and mix gently until everything well combine.
6. Pour into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. I put the mixture into a piping bag to pipe out the mixture as I need very thin sponge. It couldn't fill up the entire baking pan so I bake them in another cake tin as an assorted cake.
7. Pour the batter into prepared baking tray and spread evenly. Bake at 190C for 10 - 12 minutes. Be careful  not to over bake it.
8. Remove the cake from the baking tray immediate when it out from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Tear out the side of the baking paper and let it completely cool down and ready to use.

For the praline paste:

Lightly toast 80g whole hazelnuts on a baking sheet.

In a stainless steel sauce pan, combine 100g caster sugar and 100g water. Do not stir. The mixture will reduce. Allow to caramelize and you will see the sides start to color first. Once the sugar reduction has caramelized, remove from heat. Add the lightly toasted hazelnut to the caramel then stir briskly, this should be done very quickly as the sugar reduction will start to harden. The heat from the caramel will warm the nuts and allow the hazelnuts essence to permeate. The nut caramel is then poured onto a greased marble slab. Allow the caramel to cool. Once cool use a spatula to spread and press the nut caramel in an even layer. Flip the cooling layer over. Allow to harden. Use a rolling pin or some other weighty tool to break up the hardened nut caramel. The pieces should be small enough to fit in your food processor. Pulse the food processor until the pieces begin to smooth until a paste. Continue to process until desired smoothness. Store in an airtight container. This paste is great to jazz up your pastry cream or adding to your cream puffs.

To assemble to the cake:

1. Divide the plain sponge and cocoa sponge into two sheets. Now you got four sheets of sponge cake.
2. Whip 300ml cream with one tablespoon vanilla extract. 
3. Whip 250ml cream with 100g praline paste
4. Melt 150ml cream with 50g dark chocolate and set aside.
5. Place a piece of cocoa sponge on a cake board, spread half of the vanilla cream on the cocoa sponge evenly. It's better to use the piping bag to pipe out the cream, that would be much evenly.
6. Place a plain sponge on the vanilla cream then pipe out the praline cream on top. 
7. Place another cocoa sponge on the praline cream and pipe out the vanilla cream.You could reserve some cream for decoration.
8. Place another plain sponge for the last layered. Spread the chocolate cream evenly on top. 
9. Place in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight.
10. Cut out the edges to get a nice layer of appearance. Decorate the cake as you like. Enjoy!

Ice Cream

If you've read my previous post about waffles, you would probably realized there are few ice cream recipes that I've not introduced to you which was my new discovering in ice cream making last month. So, here are three different ice cream I've made recently.

Chocolate Snickers Ice Cream

(This creamy dark chocolate ice cream, added with chocolate snickers give delicious texture and stay soft even after freezing)

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream
(Unique caramelized milk added with roasted almond is a decadent extravagance)

Cream Cheese Ice Cream
(Creamy and rich of cream cheese flavor is a heaven for cheesecake lovers)

There all turn out very nice for me. I was trying to figure out which one is the best to share with everyone but hardly rate which is the best. As for me, there all had very unique flavor and good taste! Check out the recipes if you like to give it a try. Cheers!

Chocolate Snickers Ice Cream
4 egg yolks

75g caster sugar

1 tsp cornflour

300ml milk

150g dark chocolate

300ml whipping cream

2 Snickers bars

Put the egg yolks, sugar and cornflour in a bowl and whisk until thick and foamy. Pour the milk into a heavy pan, bring just to the boil, then gradually pour the milk into a heavy pan, bring just to the boil, then gradually pour the milk on to the yolk mixture, whisking constantly.

Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens and is smooth. Pour back into the bowl and stir in the chocolate until melted. Cover the custard closely, leave to cool, then chill for 6 hours or overnight.

Whip the cream until it has thicken, but is still soft enough to fall from a spoon. Fold it into the chilled custard and pour into  an ice cream maker to churn for 20-25 minutes until thick.

Fold in chopped chocolate snickers transfer to a freezer container. Freeze for 5 - 6 hours until firm.

Cream Cheese Ice Cream

175ml milk

120g caster sugar

125g philadelphia cream cheese

half teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 egg

juice of half a lemon

350ml double cream

Heat the milk in a pan, and while it's getting warm, beat together the sugar, philadelphia, vanilla, and egg in a bowl. Still whisking, pour the bot milk into the cream cheese mixture and pour this back into the cleaned-out pan and make a custard in the regular way.

Pour into a bowl and let it cool, at which time add the lemon juice and then the double cream, lightly whipped.

Cover the custard closely, leave to cool, then chill for 6 hours or overnight.  pour into  an ice cream maker to churn for 20-25 minutes until thick. transfer to a freezer container. Freeze for 5 - 6 hours until firm.

Dulce De Leche Ice Cream

2 1/4 cups whole milk

1 1/4 cups dulce de leche

1/2 cup heavy cream

a splash of vanilla extract

a pinch of salt

In a heavy saucepan, heat the milk and dulce de leche just to a boil, stirring until the duce de leche is dissolved.Remove from the heat and add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt.

Cool completely at room temperature. Store in an airtight container and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.

Churn the mixture in a ice cream maker for 20 - 25 minutes until thicken. Store in an airtight freezer container and freeze until harden.

Playing with my new toy!

I received a x'mas present from my hubby quite early this year, a Waffle Maker! That's what I've dreamed for some times ago and every time I pass by the Mayer shop, I would stand there looking at it for a few minutes. My hubby always got headache when thinking what to buy for my x'mas present but this year he settled it quite fast haha... We can't wait to try out the waffle maker, so I quickly flipped through a Belgian waffle recipe from 西点学习大百科.  This recipe highlight that original Belgian waffle normally made by yeast instead of baking powder and soda bicarbonate that I found is quite different. Since this is a Belgian waffle maker, I think this recipe would goes well with it.

I like this waffle maker because it had a deep pocket of baking plates which will make the waffle much thicker and crispy too! The result wasn't disappoint me as the waffles had a crispy texture at the outside and remain a fluffy crumbs. As this is my first attempt, I've no experience  on its heating temperature, the color of the waffles is slightly dark, so I think I would turn the heat down to slightly lower next round. I served it with my homemade chocolate snicker ice cream and cream cheese ice cream, brilliant! 

Recipe to make 4 pieces to fit in a Cuisinart Belgium waffle maker:

150g plain flour

3g instant dry yeast

1 tablespoon caster sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

150ml fresh milk

50g sour cream

1 egg

30g unsalted butter (melted)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Mix plain flour, yeast, sugar and salt together. Gradually add in milk, then sour cream, eggs follow by the melted butter and vanilla extract.
2. Combine the mixture until a smooth batter then cover with cling film. Let the batter proof for 1 hour. 
3. After an hour, the batter will appear some bubbles on the surface and the batter is almost double up. Use a spatula to mix with a folding method until the bubbles disappear. 
4. Preheat the waffle maker then  pour in the batter until cook. (I followed the user menu instruction) 
5. Serve it with honey, maple syrup or ice cream. Enjoy!

PS: The waffles will turn soft once it cool down. Toast it in a preheated 160C oven for 1 or 2 minutes to get back its crispiness. It can be kept in an airtight container  at room temperature for 24 hours or keep in the freezer for 2 weeks according to the recipe. But, fresh one always the best! Cheers!

Beef Stew

Since I don't have any special baking activities recently, I decided to post up my daily cooking here to keep you remember me :) I've stew quite often at home but never think of taking any pictures of it until my hubby mention to me. 

As I don't have a proper casserole which can be used on the hob to the oven, my stew was cooked in a normal pan then transfer to a slow cooker for further cooking process. I love to make stew simply because it's a one dish meal as it's easy to prepare and serve. Furthermore, it could be turned into different type of pie dish, either bake it with mashed potato, sliced potato, pastry or just have it straight with rice, pasta or mash that would not make me bore about it. I find the stew always taste better after the day it's cooked, so I normally cook more to keep in the fridge or freezer. Some people like to cook stew with stout but it's not for me and my hubby. So I use homemade chicken or beef broth to replace it, we love  it so much! Bon Appetit!

Recipe from Jamie Oliver. (I've slightly amended the recipe to suit our appetite)

Trim the ends off 1 big stick of celery and roughly chop • Peel and roughly chop 1 onions • Peel 1 carrots, slice lengthways and roughly chop • Put a casserole pan on a medium heat, fry 2 slices of chopped streaky bacon until slightly golden brown • Put all the vegetables, 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary and thyme and the 2 dried bay leaves into the pan with 2 lugs of olive oil and fry for 10 minutes

 Add 300g beef  (cut into approximately 2cm cubes) and 1 tablespoon flour • Pour in 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup diced can tomatoes • Give it a good stir, then season with some sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper • Bring to the boil, put the lid on and either simmer slowly on your hob or cook in an 180C preheated oven for 3 hours • Remove the lid for the final half hour of simmering or cooking • When done, your meat should be tender and delicious • Remember to remove the bay leaves before serving, and taste it to see if it needs a bit more salt and pepper • You can eat your stew as it is with some mash potato and green peas at the side, or you can use it for pasta or even turn it into a beef pie. 

Homemade Pappardelle

I've been so slow for updating my blog recently and there is nothing else can help to cure my laziness. This pasta dish suppose to post on the last two weeks but I just couldn't help myself to move on uploading the pictures and click on the "new post". I still remember it's the time that Honey Bee Sweet also making homemade pasta and her spinach version is the real good one! My pasta machine had been on the sleep mode for about 3 years which I give the excuse of couldn't find any Tipo'00 flour in Singapore which I think is not true as I guess there must be somewhere selling it. It's just that I still haven't discover any places got this special flour for pasta. I insist to get this special flour otherwise I will not make it as I found it could produce a better texture. 

Last month, my friend bought me a pack of Tipo'00 flour from Europe and I really appreciate it and quickly took out my pasta machine to start on this Pappardelle. I've used to Jamie Oliver recipe so I try to recall to my previous attempt and hope it will success. The reason I choose to make Pappardelle because it's slightly expensive than normal dry pasta like angel hair, spaghetti, fettuccine. or linguine and the most important is, it's always my first choice in the pasta family just because I like the texture. But my pasta machine couldn't roll out to the width of Pappardelle. So what I can do is just fold it up and cut it with a knife. I'm quite happy with the result although it's slightly rustic but I really miss the real taste of fresh homemade pasta. 

I didn't make any fancy sauce to go with it but cook with the most simple and basic Italian cooking style like fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, basil, freshly grated Parmesan cheese and drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil right before serving. I like it very much and so much satisfaction on this fresh Pappardelle. It's real fun playing with the pasta machine again!

Sorry that I'm too lazy to post up the recipe but it can be easily get from Jamie Oliver's website as I followed exactly the same recipe of the fresh pasta and the classic tomato pasta. Cheers!

Fougasse 叶形烤饼

It has been quite a long time I didn't touch my mixer and oven. I do miss them and my hand do itchy but just can't help myself to get some energy to start with anything. Today, I feel a bit of strength to get into the kitchen. So, I decide to make something for breakfast and something savory that can suit my appetite. I flipped through 孟老师的100道面包 for reference and realized there is a Fougasse recipe which I haven't try before. As it's quite simple and I've all the ingredients on hand, without thinking much I quickly tuck into the kitchen and start making it.

Other than the herbs toppings recommended from the recipe, I would like to add some filling into the dough to make it much flavorful and tastier which is some fried back bacon, caramelized onion and cheddar cheese. I must say the result is so excellent! It taste really fantastic with the fragrant of herbs toppings. The crust is crisp and the fillings of back bacon, cheese and onion is a winner! This Fougasse do not need any companion as it taste good as it is. But it would be great to serve with soup, dippings or even half boil eggs for breakfast too. I will definitely bake this again. Very satisfy!

(A) 200g Bread flour / 50g plain flour / 10g caster sugar / 1/2 teaspoon salt / 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast / 150g water / 10g unsalted butter

(B) 1 red onion (finely chopped and stir fry with some salt until soften) / 2 slices back bacon (finely chopped and stir fry until crisp and golden) / 100g cheddar cheese (diced in small cubes about 1 cm)

(C) 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper / 1/4 teaspoon sea salt / 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves / 1/2 dried basil leaves / 2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1. Mix ingredients (A) except butter with a dough hook until everything form into a dough. Add in the butter and continue the kneading process until a smooth dough.
2. Let it proof for 60 minutes while you prepare ingredients (B) and (C). Fry the onion until soften and the bacon until crisp and golden brown then set aside to cool. Cut the cheddar cheese in small cubes about 1cm. Mix all the prepared ingredients (B) together and divide into 7 portions. Mix ingredients (C) in another small bowl except the extra virgin olive oil.
3. Divide the dough into seven portions and fill each dough with mixture (B) and shape them into small ball. Let them rest for 10 minutes.
4. Roll out each doughs into an oval shape and cut a few strips on the flatten doughs. Brush the dough with the extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle over some ingredient (C).
5. Proof for about 20 minutes and bake at 200C preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy!

PS: The crust of Fougasse will turn soft the next day. To get a crusty crust, reheat it in the oven at about 150C for less than 5 minutes.

Homemade Hamburger

I make this burger quite often so I thought it would be much easier for me to prepare some for a bloggers meet up last week. The bun and meat actually made ahead of time that sitting in the freezer until I need it. I'm so sorry to Edith as I didn't make extra for her family members. So I post up this recipe here for your reference and for any bloggers that you had tried and like it. Please feel free to make it and remember to make a big batch to freeze it so that you could have homemade hamburger in no time whenever you crave for it. Cheers!

Recipe for the patties:

250g minced pork 250g minced beef

1 big onion, peeled and finely chopped

Olive oil

1/4 teaspoon of cumin powder

1/4 teaspoon fennel powder

1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
pinch of dry rosemary or thyme or some freshly chopped herbs

some sea salt and ground black pepper

a handful of freshly grated parmesan cheese

a tablespoon Djon mustard

1/2 beaten egg

80g fresh wholemeal breadcrumbs

1. Fry the onion with some olive oil in a pan for few minutes until softened. When the onion completely cool down, mix it to the meat.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and half of the breadcrumbs and mix well. (if the mixture is too sticky, add a few more breadcrumbs)
3. Shape the meat into the size you like and place on a tray with greaseproof paper.
4. Sprinkle some bread crumbs on top of each burger and press down gently. Chilled in the fridge for 3-4 hours or in the freezer if not using it immediately.
5. Fry the burger in a little oil on medium high heat for few minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat.

To assemble the burger, spread some salted butter on the buns and grill it on a griller or pan fry for a few minutes until it slightly turn crisp.

Spread some djon mustard or mayonnaise on the bottom part of the buns and then top with some lettuce. Layer with the meat then follow by cheese kraft and freshly sliced tomato and finally the top part of the buns. Enjoy!

For big burgers, make it into 8 buns and 8 slices of meat or like the party mini burger 20 buns and 20 slices of patties. Some

above pictures shown are big burger in 4 inches diameter size whereas some pictures shown are small in 2 1/2 inches diameter size just like the mini burger sit on my hand. I normally make the buns first then the patties. So that the patties had got the same size with the bun and can be fixed nicely between the buns too as I hardly estimate what size of the dough will expand after proofing.

Recipe for 8 buns (approximately 60g for each dough or make more into small little buns):

210g bread flour / 56g plain flour / 20g milk powder / 42g

caster sugar / half teaspoon of salt / 6g yeast / 30g beaten eggs / 85g water / 84g water dough / 22g unsalted butter

Recipe for the water dough "water roux":

Cook 125g water with 25g bread flour at medium low heat, keep stirring until it become thicken and no lumps left. If you've a candy thermometer, measure it until the temperature turn to 65C then turn of the heat. I didn't measure it with thermometer, so I cook it until quite liquid consistency like the baby porridge. Transfer to a clean bowl to cool down.

Methods:

• Place all the ingredients for kneading except the butter until everything come together and become a smooth dough then add in the butter a little at a time.
• Let the dough slowly absorb the butter then turn to speed two if you are using kitchenaid mixer. Knead until the dough no more sticking at the side of the mixing bowl and the dough should be very smooth and elastic.
• Let it proof for 40 minutes in a clean bowl cover with cling warp.
• Divide the dough into even size of 8 portions or any size you like it to be then let it rest for 10 minutes.
• Shape the dough into smooth round shape. Prepare some water on a a clean plate and place a kitchen towel on the top. Damp the surface of each dough and run the damp surface around a bowl of sesame seeds. Place the dough on a baking tray and let the it proof for 40 minutes. Bake at 180C for 15 minutes.