Matcha Sorbet

I've been using a brand of matcha powder bought from "Shaw House" at Orchard. I love its fragrant as the flavor works well for cakes or desserts and the color is so refreshing. I made few cups of matcha sorbet followed the recipe from "点心达人轻松学". It's simple to made and low fat. I think sorbet is low fat than ice cream as its made by water or milk. I used MEIJI low fat milk for the sorbet and reduce some sugar from the original recipe. I like this recipe as it's really refreshing. Method:

1. Boil the milk and cream in a pan.
2. In another bowl, mix green tea and sugar until well combine. (I used about 40g sugar)
3. Gradually add ingredients (2) to (1) and mix until the sugar and green tea dissolve.
4. Filter the mixture and pour into a shallow dish.
5. Cling wrap the dish and store in the freezer for 4 hours or overnight.
6. Cut the freeze sorbet in cubes then blend in a food processor.
7. Scoop out the sorbet and it's ready to serve.

Vegetable Pizza

I followed a pizza dough and tomato sauce recipe from Jamie Oliver (Jamie's Dinner). Again, his recipe is wonderful! I've never failed by using his recipe. For the topping, I simply sliced some mushroom, red and green pepper and finally topped with some cheddar and mozzarella cheese. I would say, the tomato sauce makes the pizza smell very good and delicious. Recipe for quickest tomato sauce: I made 250ml (you might not need to use all) 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced a bunch of fresh basil leaves, picked an torn 600g tins of whole plum tomatoes sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 dry bay leave

1. Fry the garlic with some olive oil in a pan then add in basil and tomatoes. Using the back of the spoon, mush and squash the tomatoes as much as you can.Season the sauce with salt and pepper and add the bay leave.
2. Let it simmer at the medium low heat. The tomatoes will break into puree. Let it cook for 15 minutes until the mixture puree and dry. Leave to cool and ready to use.

Recipe for the dough: I made two pieces of 8 inches pizza

200g bread flour / 1/4 tbps fine sea salt / 3.5g yeast / 5g sugar / 163g water

1. Knead all the ingredients until smooth springy soft dough, cover it with clingfilm and let it rest for 1 hour until the dough has double in size.
2. Knocking back the dough by kneading and pushing the air out with your hands. Divide the dough up into 2 balls and rest for 15 minutes.
3. Roll the doughs into circles about 0.5cm thick and place on a flour-dusted tinfoil then proof for 40 minutes. Place the foil together with the dough on a pre-warmed flat baking tray or pizza stone. The dough will start to bubble and cook immediately.
4. Then quickly spoon 3 to 4 tablespoons of tomato sauce into the middle and spread it out evenly. Add all the ingredients like vege, ham etc. Then top with cheese and season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
5. Place the pizza in the 220'C preheated oven and cook for 10 minutes until the pizza base is golden, bubbly and crisp around the edges and the tomato and cheese topping is melted.

Apple Chiffon Cake

Here is my second attempt on apple chiffon cake. I've made a 17cm and a 22cm round chiffon. It took some time to made this cakes as the apple need to be cooked first before making the cake. I bought few apples that came with very red skin to produce a lovely pink color for the cooked apple. Most of the chiffon cake I've been making consist of corn flour. I followed a recipe book named "戚枫蛋糕秘法转授". I think it's the best chiffon recipe book I had so far. The book stated that adding some corn flour in the egg whites will absorb the liquid of the egg whites in order to stabilize the meringue and produce a special texture. I guess its chemical reaction is quite similar with cream of tartar or lemon juice. I like the recipe because it don't consist of chemical element such as baking powder or cream of tartar but just the ordinary ingredients like egg, water, oil, flour, sugar and natural color from fruits or vegetables. Recipe for 17cm round chiffon For the egg whites mixture: 110g egg whites 55g caster sugar 5g corn flour For the egg yolks mixture: 40g egg yolks 36g water 36g vegetable oil or olive oil 55g plain flour 150g cooked apple For decoration: 200ml Whipping cream 12g caster sugar some cooked apple few pieces of mint leaves How I made it:

1. For the cooked apple, peel 3 large apple and finely chop the skin or blend it in the blender. Cut the apple in small cubes. Mix the chopped skin with apple cubes. Weigh the mixture.
2. Mix 15% of caster sugar from the weight of mixture (1) and cook with 4 tablespoon of water until the juice absorb and the cooked apple appear soft pink color.
3. For the chiffon cake, mix all the egg yolks mixture except flour. When everything well combined then gradually add in sifted flour (I used electric mixer, its came very handy for this process). Mix everything well combine and no lumps left. The mixture would be very thick and and smooth. Gently mix in the cooked apple (make sure the cooked apple had completely cool down).
4. Beat the egg whites in a clean large bowl until peak foam. Gradually add in sugar, one tablespoon at a time. Then finally add in corn flour. Make sure the corn flour mix well in the egg mixture (Using an electric mixer would be great!). The egg whites mixture should be peak foam, smooth and shiny.
5. Gently fold in 1/3 of the egg whites mixture into the egg yolks mixture. When everything well combine then gently fold in the 1/2 of the remaining egg whites mixture. Lastly, fold in the remaining egg whites mixture. (Note: This stage took some times and patient and practice. Make sure all the egg whites mixture well combine with the egg yolks mixture without breaking the egg whites. Little egg whites left will cause a big hole in the cake during baking. And, over mixing will cause it hardly rise during the baking.)
6. Pour the well mix mixture into a 17cm chiffon cake tin and bake at a 160-170'C preheated oven for 40 minutes. After baked, let the baked cake turn upside down for cooling before unmold it. (Note: The recipe book stated that to cling wrap the entired cake tin and place in a big plastic bag once its completely cool down. Then, place in the fridge for over night to emit the fragrant of the cake and stabilize the cake for decoration).
7. Unmold the cake and whip the fresh cream with sugar. Decorate it like the picture shown above or decorate it with your creativity.
8. Keep the cake in the fridge it could last for 4 - 5 days. Best serve in 3 days.

Chiffon Cup Cakes 杯子蓝莓戚枫蛋糕

These is very light and tasty cup cakes with the combination of blueberry puree, whipped cream, custard and fresh strawberries. I followed a recipe book (不用模型做点心) which use a blueberry chiffon cake mixture to produce these cup cakes. As this cake is very light, you might need a slightly bigger cups to fill in the large amount of mixture to fulfill your appetite. It's great to have a cup of this after the dinner or as a refreshment in the afternoon. Recipe from (不用模型做点心) 4 egg yolks 30g sugar 2g salt 1 tsp vanilla extract 80ml milk 60ml oil 135g plain flour 4g baking powder 6 egg whites 70g sugar For the fillings: 40g blueberry puree, some fresh strawberries, 100ml whipping cream, custard and bluerry puree Method:

1. Whip the egg whites until peak form then slowly add in sugar continue whipping until a shiny and smooth consistency.
2. In another bowl, mix egg yolks, oil, milk, vanilla, flour and sugar until everything combine.
3. Add in 1/3 of the egg white mixture to egg yolks mixture(2) until combine. Then add half of the left over egg whites mixture. Then continue adding the remaining egg whites mixture. Slowly and gently combine everything.
4. Gently mix in the blueberry puree to get a marble effects. Pour the mixture into each baking cups and bake for 20 - 25 minutes at 180'C.
5. When the cake cool down, cut a hole at the center with a serrated knife and reserve the lids. Squeeze in some custard, whipped cream and blueberry puree. Finally, top with a strawberry and some blueberry puree then place back the lids.
6. Keep in the fridge. It's nice to served cool.

Napoleon Walnut Roll

Continue with the previous chapter - Mille Feuille, I made it into a Napoleon Roll by using a swiss roll sponge, custard, whipped cream, some chopped toasted walnut and the puff pastry. The texture was crisp from the inside and soft at the outside. The walnut had added a crunchy texture and the cream and custard had moisten up the entire roll. Ingredients for the sponge: 4 eggs / 80g sugar / 67g plain flour Method: Place the eggs and vanilla extract into a bowl. Gradually add in sugar and whisk until pale and thickened. Sift the flour into the bowl and fold together. Pour the sponge mixture into a baking tray with baking paper and bake for 10 minutes at 200'C preheated oven. Place the cooked sponge on a wire rack and place the sponge together with the wire rack into a plastic bag for cooling down. This is to keep the sponge moisture and much easier to roll up. Ingredients for the fresh custard: 2 egg yolks / 133ml milk / 40g sugar / 13g flour / 1 tsp vanilla extract / 6g butter / 2 tsp Rum (optional) Method: Mix the egg yolks with two teaspoon of milk in a bowl until well combined. Then, mix in the flour and make sure there is no lumps. Place the milk in a saucepan with vanilla extract and sugar, bring to the boil. Once the sugar dissolve in the milk, gradually pour onto the eggs mixture and stir then pour back into the pan. Return to the heat and using a whisk, lightly stir the mixture to thicken, do not boil. As the egg yolks warm, it will thicken to create custard. Keep stirring until it coats the back of the spoon. Remove from the heat and keep stirring and add in the butter. When the custard slightly warm add in rum. Pour the custard into a shallow bowl and cover with cling wrap. Place it into the fridge when it completely cool down and ready to use. To assemble the roll:

1. Spread the whipped cream onto the swiss roll sponge evenly. Divide the puff pastry into 3 longish shape portions (second picture).
2. Stack a piece of the pastry on the sponge. Spread some custard on the pastry and sprinkle some toasted walnut (chopped).
3. Stack another piece of pastry and continue like the step 2 until the last piece of pastry.
4. Roll up the sponge with cling wrap and chilled in the fridge.
5. Cut the roll with a serrated knife into 8 thick portions.