BLACK SESAME MACARONS

black sesame macarons with black sesame buttercream filling

Now that my battle with the various macaron recipes is over, I can relax and enjoy experimenting with the different flavour combinations one can achieve with these little sandwich cookies. I've got the "macaron bug" and I'm trying different flavours with my trusty basic macaron recipe. I'm starting to get the feel of making these cookies and it's getting easier with every batch I make. This is heartening because initially, they can seem quite aggravating and temperamental if you do not have a solid recipe from which to work. macarons waiting for the oven to heat up

I purchased a sesame seed grinder at Daiso for $2 (what else? everything's $2!) and used it to grind the black sesame seeds. It was a cinch. The recipe went together smoothly and quickly and I didn't even have to wait hours for a skin to form. In fact, I threw caution to the wind and I put the macarons in with a tacky skin! Daredevil, eh?

macarons, straight from the oven

After dickering with a whole bunch of different techniques, I was able to finally arrive at a combination of techniques which allowed me to make macarons at ease and as quickly as possible. This was so great because I didn't have to "age" my egg whites, I used commercially ground almonds, I didn't use a sugar syrup, and I didn't wait for skins to form on the macarons. I'm now able to get macarons, with "feet", smooth tops with no cracks and a delicate shell exterior and tender and every-so-slightly chewy interior. They taste fantastic and I'm getting consistent results. I mean, why wait hours for egg whites to age? I used them at room temperature, but that's the only concession I made. I even cheated a bit by heating the whites over a bowl of warm water. The egg-whites couldn't tell that I didn't take them out hours ahead of time. Geesh!

the macarons created feet! (without even having to wait hours for a skin to form: bonus!)

I would say that the macarons, complete with the buttercream, were a tad too sweet for my liking. I generally don't like things as sweet as this. That being said, they were still addictive and I couldn't stop myself from wanting to pop more of them in my mouth. They kind of just melt in your mouth so quickly. Next time, I will doctor the buttercream by reducing the sugar. The shells themselves were not too sweet. They were just right.

My next experiment will be raspberry and white chocolate macarons

please see here for my recipe

More about → BLACK SESAME MACARONS

BAKED FRESH OYSTERS WITH TARO

my new favourite recipe book for chinese food focusses on the use of the oven

I purchased an interesting recipe book the other day and have been very happy with the first few dishes that I've tried out of it. The recipes are not complicated and they usually call for only a few ingredients. More importantly, they have been tailored for oven use and this makes me happy. It allows me to set a timer and forget about it while I tend to the kids.

I was particularly impressed with a delicious and creative Baked Oyster Dish. Instead of oysters in the shell (which I hate to pry open), I opted for oysters in a little plastic bucket from the local fish market. I used a gratin dish and did everything else that the recipe called for and must exclaim that it was quite fast to prepare.

the trusty taro root

deep-fried taro cubes. nothing wrong with that!
add the sauted minced ginger, onion, green onion and garlic to the fried taro

The only tricky part of the recipe was deep-frying the taro. Since the taro was cut in little cubes, it cooked relatively quickly. It didn't spatter because taro tends to be dry. I used a little saucepan with oil in it just to cover the taro cubes and it worked out fine. The taro doesn't absorb much oil at all.

You mix the taro and onion mixture with salt and pepper. In another bowl, you mix a couple tablespoons of mayonnaise with a small pat of butter. You combine both mixtures together and then spread it on the oysters. Pop in a 400F oven for 10 minutes. Then broil for another 3-5 minutes, until golden brown. Yum!

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CHOCOLATE MACARONS: A TRUCE

I call for a truce. Hey, I'm not waiving no white flag in this macaron war! To be honest, I'm not liking the eating part of the macaron battle. Initially, they're delicious...but after the third tray, I'm kind of sick of them. I love chocolate, but the chocolate macarons I made just don't ring my bell. I much prefer the pistachio macarons or even the matcha macarons I made previously in other battles.

I used the Chocolate Macaron recipe from Veronica's Test Kitchen. I thought everything looked a bit "runny" compared to the sugar syrup method I used in the matcha macarons previously and even runnier than the pistachio macaron recipe too. I had followed the recipe exactly and even left my egg whites to age as recommended. Despite the ominous texture of the batter, I just plugged along and piped the macarons and waited the allotted 2 to 4 hours...after which they still seemed too tacky. The weather wasn't even humid that day, so we couldn't blame the usual rainy Vancouver weather. The macarons did have a skin but I was skeptical that they would hold up in the oven.

After a few minutes of baking, I noticed the tops starting to crack open (the skin was indeed too thin) and this first batch failed to grow the frilly "feet" properly. It was late in the evening and I decided to give up for the night. I left the two remaining sheets of piped macarons on the kitchen counter uncovered and thought that I had nothing to lose if I just left them overnight and baked them the next morning. If they didn't have a thick skin by morning, then I'd be surprised!

The next morning, the macarons had dry skins that I could touch without any tackiness. They looked adequately strong and I popped them in the oven and voila! Smooth flat tops, frilly feet and slightly chewy interior. Perfect. It figures.

I still find leaving raw egg whites out kind of icky, regardless of what they say about the antibacterial quality of egg whites...but it worked. I guess for this recipe that's what you have to do. This is why I'm apt to go with the sugar syrup method or the pistachio macaron recipe. There isn't this huge amount of time you have to invest in making these suckers. When it comes to baking, I'm kind of a last minute kind of, spur-of-the-moment kind of gal.

My advice to anyone attempting macarons is this: there's only one thing you have to check before popping macarons in the oven and that is that their skins have to be thick and strong enough to withstand the heat. If you deem the skins too thin when you touch them, or if your first sheet of macarons didn't create feet, don't despair. You have a chance to salvage the other macarons. If the skins are too thin, the macaron batter will heat up, and bubble up through the top and crack the surface, resulting in a flat cookie without feet and instead with cracks on the top.

Some options to wasting hours of time waiting for macarons to dry:

1. (my preference--find a good recipe) Use a recipe that doesn't require one to wait around for hours before baking your macarons. That way you don't have to invest a huge amount of time waiting for them. I am loathe to leave egg whites out and even more adamant that one shouldn't have to waste hours of one's time waiting around for things to dry. In the case that you have a troublesome recipe, you can still make your macarons do what you want them to do. Take action by using your oven to dry the macarons (all the trays in the oven) with the oven door open. I usually heat up the oven a bit and then turn the oven off. You must leave the oven door open; not allowing moisture to be trapped inside. You don't want to bake them, you just want the tops to dry out. Then check the skins to ensure they are strong enough to bake.

2.Another option for some people is what I accidentally did which is make the macarons in the evening and let them sit out to dry on the counter overnight. Then bake them in the morning. When you do this intentionally it just seems smarter, doesn't it?

Macaron tips:

-bake them one sheet at a time

-watch the first sheet like a hawk so you can adjust things for your subsequent sheets

-stated oven temperatures are a guide. they're not set in stone. adjust the temperature (usually lowering it) to ensure that your macarons don't brown too quickly. in fact, they're not supposed to brown at all

-eat the failures (or give them away and call them "cookies") because they taste good too

Macarons aren't that tough to make after all. Just use your noodle.

More about → CHOCOLATE MACARONS: A TRUCE

Strawberry Crumble Cake

I bought a punnet of strawberries yesterday, as usual, they were too sour to eat on it's own. I looked through some recipes and decided to use them to make a crumble cake. I have been wanting to try this blueberry crumble cake recipe which I came across from a book, Cooking Desserts. I was really captivated by the beautiful photo of the cake and I've meant to try it once I get hold of some blueberries. Since I have yet to get any blueberries, I thought I should experiment it with strawberries instead. Hence, I got myself busy this afternoon and baked this Strawberry Crumble Cake.


Although I have whole-wheat (or wholemeal) flour on hand, I replaced it with almond meal as I am starting to like the taste of ground almonds in cakes. The original recipe uses chopped pecans for the toppings, but I used some left over walnuts instead. I also cut down the sugar a little, as I thought a full cup of sugar would be too sweet. This cake requires some extra effort as you will need to spend some time to dice the strawberries, chop-up the walnuts (I break them into pieces), and zest the lemon. Once the initial preparations were done, the mixing of the batter was rather straight forward. All that was required was mixing the dry ingredients together, whisk the wet ingredients separately, then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and gave a few stir to combine. The toppings was also very easy, just combine everything together, sprinkle over the batter and finally drizzle some oil over and very soon it was ready for baking.



Since I wasn't sure whether the cake was thoroughly cooked through, I gave it another extra 5 to 10 mins in the oven. As a result, some of the walnuts were a little burnt although it didn't really affect the taste too much. The cake itself has got the texture which is almost similar to the strawberry yoghurt cake I did earlier. The difference lies on the toppings. It really gave the cake a very nice, sweet and nutty touch to it. The cake tasted delicious despite the tangy strawberries :)



Ingredients:

140g plain flour
70g almond meal
150g caster sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup strawberries, diced
1 egg at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1/3 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon

Topping:
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
60g light brown sugar
35g plain flour
1 cup strawberries, diced
2 tablespoons oil

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 190 degC. Grease the sides and line bottom of a 20cm round pan with parchment paper.
2. Sift flour, almond meal, sugar, baking powder into a large bowl. Toss the diced strawberries through the flour mixture.
3. In a separate bowl, with a manual whisk, whisk together the egg, milk, oil, vanilla and lemon zest. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir with a spatula to combine.
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
5. To make the topping, combine the walnuts, brown sugar, flour and strawberries in a bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the cake. Drizzle the oil over the topping.
6. Bake for 50~55 mins or until a skewer comes out clean when inserted into the cake.
7. Let the cake cool in the pan for 20mins before unmolding. Serve the cake warm.

Recipe source: adapted from Cooking Desserts, Katy Holder

More about → Strawberry Crumble Cake

Inspiration

For the past year and a half, I have had the opportunity to work with Gerry Laybourne. She is my hero. She inspires me as a developer, creator and woman. Today, she gave a speech at the Microsoft Women's Conference. I wasn't able to go, but was able to read a copy. Her words are strong, truthful and inspiring. She harnesses everything I love about technology and why being a woman in this field is challenging and special.

Gerry is leaving Oxygen at the end of the year. The idea of creating software at Oxygen without Gerry seems unimaginable. But like any change, sometimes you don't think you're ready until you take the next step.

I hope to one day inspire someone the way Gerry has inspired me.

More about → Inspiration

CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE BUTTERCREAM

chocolate cupcake with chocolate buttercream & home-made royal icing violet

We were craving some chocolate here and seeing as I had leftover ganache in the freezer from the Macaron War, I thought I'd throw together some chocolate cupcakes to go with a chocolate buttercream.

chocolate cupcakes, eagerly awaiting decorations

The cupcake recipe I used has vegetable oil instead of butter in it and this makes for a moist cupcake that keeps well in the fridge. It stays moist for a few days and upon taking it out of the fridge to warm to room temperature for serving, it still tastes fresh and not dry and hard like a butter cupcake.

silky smooth chocolate ganache buttercream

The buttercream I made was kind of spur of the moment and I didn't measure too accurately. It turned out fabulous. The chocolate flavour pronounced was not too rich (like the ganache was) and the buttercream was smooth, silky and not cloyingly sweet.

the moist, tender chocolate cupcake's innards...perfect ratio of buttercream to cupcake

CAKEBRAIN'S CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

100 grams all purpose flour

225 grams granulated sugar

45 grams good quality cocoa powder

1 t baking soda

1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t pink himalayan salt

1 egg

1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil

1/2 cup (118 ml) buttermilk

1 t pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup (118 ml) hot coffee

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Prepare cupcake pans by lining with large paper liners. For this recipe you will need 18.
• Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
• In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry.
• With the mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour batter into cupcake liners only half-way full.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
• Cool for 10 minutes and removes to cool completely on a rack.

CAKEBRAIN'S CHOCOLATE GANACHE BUTTERCREAM

6 oz (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups (220 grams) confectioners' sugar
2 t milk
1/2 cup (118 ml) ganache

• In a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy
• Sift the confectioners' sugar a couple of tablespoons at a time over the butter and continue beating until the mixture is light and fluffy
• Add 2 teaspoons of milk and continue beating to lighten the mixture
• Add the ganache to the buttercream and mix until thoroughly combined and smooth

More about → CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES WITH CHOCOLATE GANACHE BUTTERCREAM

BASIL CHICKEN

cakebrain's basil chicken

Remember that cool hydroponic garden I have sitting on my kitchen counter? Well, it's yielding quite a crop of basil. I have both Italian and Purple Basil. I was wondering how to use up all the basil and this dish was perfect. This chicken dish is so easy to prepare and was scrumptious! It would make a great dish for parties too. The basil and garlic flavours are nicely married with the chicken wings and it's all finger-licking good. I served my wings with rice as there's a nice little pool of sauce to pour over your rice.


CAKEBRAIN'S BASIL CHICKEN
2 lbs chicken wings
1/4 cup soy sauce
3 cloves garlic, chopped
3 T basil, roughly chopped
1 T sugar

• Combine all the ingredients in a covered bowl (or ziploc bag) and marinate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 375F
• Place the chicken wings in a baking dish and place on the middle rack of the oven.
• Turn wings and baste with the marinade halfway through the cooking process.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and glaze is slightly thickened.

More about → BASIL CHICKEN

Fairfield/Westchester code camp

I will be at presenting a session on Testing with Mocks at the the Westchester/Fairfield code camp on November 11.

Register here

The session is a shortened version of the tutorial Oksana and I are giving at the Agile Development Practices conference in December.

Hope to see you there!

More about → Fairfield/Westchester code camp

I've been tagged

Baking Fiends United has tagged me with this Hi-5 or 5-thing meme:

5 things found in your room
5 things found in your bag
5 things found in your purse/wallet
5 things you’ve always wanted to do
5 thins you are currently into
5 people you want to tag

This is the first time I have been tagged to do a meme. Well, I guess no one on earth would really be interested to know what I have in my bag or wallet, furthermore I am really not a bag person, I am 'hands free' most of the time. I rather tweak the meme a little just so to make it suit the theme of my blog...I hope I won't get hantam for making the changes ;)

ok, here's my version of the 5-things meme:

5 things found in my kitchen:

• a dinning table
• a display cupboard filled with bottled and canned Coca Cola (collected over the years)
• a fridge, studded with fridge magnets
• a useless cooker hood
• a fan (I need to turn it on during very hot weather so that my kids will not get drenched all over in their own sweat.)

5 unusual things found in my fridge:

• vitagen drinking straws
• an assortment of candies (given generously to my younger boy's friends in pre-school)
• a bottle of ling yang (antelope horn, a kind of Chinese medicine)
• a packet of quick barley (pearl barley that has been steamed and dried)
• empty styrofoam trays

5 things found in my 'baking equipment' cupboard:

• a 20yr old handheld mixer
• three 20 yr old aluminum baking trays
• a diet scale for measuring baking ingredients
• one brand new Daiso-bought 18cm tart pan
• disposable pans of various shapes and sizes

5 things I’ve always wanted to do

• to work in McDonald's (this has been on the list since I was a teen) so that I can learn how to make scramble eggs and those breakfast biscuits (I have recently found an online recipe, so I will probably drop this from the list soon!)
• to start my own business or to be my own boss (this has been on my list since the very first day I started working in the corporate world.)
• to work in Starbucks so that I can make a perfect cup of latte.
• to re-visit all the places me and my husband have been to, this time round with my kids.
• to pick up jogging, so that I can join my husband on his weekend jogging session.

5 things I am currently into

• enjoying every single moments of my life
• baking, baking and more baking
• trying very hard to improve my cooking skills!!!
• blogging and taking food photos
• planning a series of outdoor and indoor activities for the kids during the coming school holidays.

5 people I want to tag

• will not tag anyone, as I didn't following the exact meme closely ;p

More about → I've been tagged

COMFORT FOODS: COOL THINGS WITH CHEESE!

broccoli & cheese casserole

When fall is in full swing in Vancouver and it's drippy wet outside I find myself wanting comfort foods. For some reason I associate cheese with comfort foods...especially ooey gooey melted cheese. I personally love an authentic fondue but only Bebe loves cheese. But I digress...I tried out a quick recipe I found in a magazine advertising Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup.

BROCCOLI & CHEESE CASSEROLE
1 16 oz bag broccoli florets
1 can Campbell's Condensed Mushroom Soup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
2 T butter, melted

Dump the whole bag of broccoli in a baking dish, add the mushroom soup, milk and cheese and stir the whole mixture. Mix the breadcrumbs and melted butter together and sprinkle that on top of the whole thing and bake it in a moderate oven (350F) for 30-35 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

It was a cheesy & yummy way to eat broccoli!

Now, on another cheesy note...

macaroni & cheese with caramelized onions

I made this mac & cheese with a cheese sauce from scratch. I must admit I didn't follow any recipe but just kind of made a bechamel and then tossed in however much cheese looked good to me. I caramelized onions and garlic and mixed that in with the cheese sauce and finally topped the whole casserole with fried onions. I covered it with foil and baked it until it was bubbling hot, about 20-30 minutes.

Here's a rough approximation of the recipe as I recall it:

Cakebrain's Macaroni & Cheese with Caramelized Onions
1 box macaroni, cooked al dente
3 T flour
3 T butter
salt & pepper to taste
3 cups milk
2 cups grated old cheddar cheese
1 small onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 T olive oil
4 T fried onions

• Make a bechamel sauce: in a large saucepan, melt the butter and add the flour, creating a roux. Cook the roux until golden brown and fragrant. Add salt & pepper. Add nutmeg if you like it. Slowly add the milk, stirring constantly to prevent lumps and burning. When the sauce is thickened, add the cheddar cheese and mix thoroughly. Allow the sauce to rest, covered and off the burner.
• In a saute pan, heat the olive oil on med.-high heat and then add the onion. Saute the onions until they are translucent. Then add the garlic and continue cooking until the onions are caramelized. If you like some zing in your macaroni, you can add a couple of tablespoons of balsamic vinegar or hot sauce here. Season with salt & pepper.
• Mix the onion mixture with the cheese sauce.
• In a large casserole dish combine the cooked macaroni and the cheese sauce. Mix thoroughly. The cheese sauce should look slightly runny because as it bakes it will be absorbed in the pasta. If you like your macaroni really moist, you can add more milk to the casserole if it looks too dry for your liking.
• Sprinkle the fried onions over the whole casserole; cover with foil and bake in a moderate oven for 20-30 minutes, or until bubbly

those aren't breadcrumbs, they're fried onions! yum!

More about → COMFORT FOODS: COOL THINGS WITH CHEESE!

Banana Chiffon Cake

I wanted to make a banana chiffon cake as I had a few very ripened bananas hanging in my kitchen. However, after looking through the recipe I have on hand, it is meant for a bigger pan size. I was about to give up the idea, when I happened to visit Lousy Baker's blog. She has baked the same banana chiffon cake that I had in mind, and, she managed to reduce the quantity to fit a 16cm pan. How nice! After seeing her beautiful cake, I set off to make this cake right away!


I used 3 eggs instead of 2 eggs as I halved the portion exactly. I believe 2 eggs is just nice for a 16cm pan. As a result, the batter almost filled up the entire pan. Fearing that the batter may spill over while baking, I lined the base of the oven with a foil, just before baking! Luckily, the batter was quite 'obedient'...it stayed on in the pan, and the cake climbed over the brim! I was so happy to see the cake "blooming" away! However, this also meant that the top got burnt a little, as it almost hit the roof of the oven where the heating elements are located :(

I didn't manage to do a good job while unmoulding the cake. A few sides almost got torn and peeled off.

I made this cake with the help of my little assistant. He was responsible for the mashing of the bananas...the mashed bananas was quite lumpy and I was a little worried whether it would affect the texture of the cake. I got him to whisk the yolk batter while I gather the items ready to whisk the egg whites. I must say he did quite a pretty good job.

This banana version has got more flavour than the milo version I made earlier. The lumpy mashed bananas didn't effect the texture at all. When I offered the cake for my little one to try, he told me he didn't like it! "It's not a pandan cake! It's a banana cake! I don't like!". Well, I wasn't upset at all, as he's only used to pandan cake...and I guess, all along, he was thinking that he was helping me to make a pandan cake! lolz!!!

Well, it seems to me that making a chiffon cake is really not as difficult as what I used to think. In fact, next time, I will get the boy to handle the yolk batter on his own, while I whisk the egg whites...this will definitely cut down on the preparation time. Hmmm, I already have in mind to try the orange version soon.

Ingredients
(make one 16 ~ 18 cm cake)

3 egg yolks
25g caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
30ml cooking oil (I used olive oil)
85g banana puree (about 2 medium size bananas)
1/4 teaspoon banana essence (I used vanilla extract)
55g plain flour
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
50g caster sugar

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 170 degC. Sieve together flour and baking soda, set aside. Mash banana, set aside.
2. Separate egg yolks/whites and bring to room temperature.
3. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a mixing bowl until sugar just dissolved. Add in salt, oil, essence and mashed banana. Whisk till combined. Sieve over the flour mixture and fold gently with a spatula until flour is fully incorporated into the batter.
4. In a clean, dry mixing bowl, whisk egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric mixer until mixture becomes frothy and foamy. Add in the sugar in 3 separate additions while beating at high speed till just before stiff peaks form* (after note: after several attempts at baking chiffon cakes, I learned that the whites should be beaten until just before stiff peaks form).
5. Add the egg white foam into the egg yolk batter in 3 separate additions, each time folding gently with a spatula until just blended.
6. Pour batter into a 16cm or 18cm (6 inch or 7 inch) tube pan (do not grease the pan). Spread and smooth the batter evenly with a spatula. Bang the pan gently on a work surface several times to release the air bubbles trapped in the batter.
7. Bake for 25 ~ 30mins or until the cake surface turns golden brown, and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
8. Remove from the oven and invert the pan immediately. Let cool completely before unmould.

Recipe source: adapted from Chiffon Cake is Done by Kevin Chai

More about → Banana Chiffon Cake

HALLOWE'EN CUPCAKES: FONDANT PUMPKINS

fondant pumpkin on a white chocolate cupcake

Bebe wanted cupcakes (Bebe always wants cupcakes) and she always ends up eating all the frosting first; leaving the cupcake behind. The other day I was making FIMO food with Bebe to stock her empty larder in her dollhouse's kitchen. We made carrots, hotdogs, hamburgers, apples, pears and bananas out of the polymer clay. I didn't realize how easy it was and all you need are toothpicks and a little knife. Afterwards you bake them, following the instructions, and you have sturdy hardened little pieces of food with which to play "house." I was thinking I could transfer my food-modelling skills to real food in the form of fondant or marzipan.

I went to open my huge tub of fondant which I keep in a plastic-lidded popcorn container. To my dismay the entire piece of fondant was rock hard. I chucked it out and consulted my Wilton manual for a recipe and decided I only needed to make little pumpkins and leaves--not cover a whole cake. I quartered the recipe with good success. The recipe for rolled fondant from Wilton was easy but required a lot of kneading. I didn't have orange food colouring in my stash of gel pastes so I just mixed in some red and yellow gel paste food colouring until it looked pumpkin-coloured enough for me. After a ton of kneading, the fondant finally looked evenly coloured and ready for modelling. The pumpkins are just little rolled balls etched with a knife. I used a toothpick to poke a hole down the centre where the stem would be. Then I inserted the tiny stem and a little leaf, using the toothpick to manoeuvre the fondant and attach it.

I made the White Chocolate Cupcakes and frosted with a simple buttercream. My white chocolate mousseline buttercream would have been especially delicious on this cupcake. We decorated with some sugar crystals and popped the little pumpkins on top and they looked so cute! Bebe said the pumpkins were the best part and proceeded to eat all the frosting afterwards. As usual, after licking off all of the frosting, she was too full to eat the cupcake part!

Bebe's philosophy of cupcake decorating is that you can't have enough stars and you can't have enough sprinkles.

a star-studded, sprinkle-laden cupcake being decorated by Bebe

More about → HALLOWE'EN CUPCAKES: FONDANT PUMPKINS

Let the machine do it!

My bread machine came out with this loaf yesterday :)

It did most of the job, while my elder boy and I only took care of the measuring and adding in the ingredients in the right sequence. After 3 hours, out came this beautiful loaf!


It's a Crunchy Peanut Butter Bread recipe which I have taken from this book, The Complete Bread Machine Cookbook by Sonia Allison. The ingredients are very basic, just water, oil (I used olive oil), bread flour, salt, sugar, some milk power, yeast and the only additional flavouring is three tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter. There's no eggs or butter involved.



I wasn't expecting anything fantastic from this loaf...as I have tried enough bread recipes to have came to the conclusion that the texture of the bread made from the bread machine, somehow will not be as soft, compared to those made by hand. Indeed, I was very surprised how soft, light and airy this bread turned out to be! You can gauge the texture, just by looking at the number of holes on the bread. I should have suspected it, as the bread rose all most to the brim of my bread machine when it was baking away. It tasted very much like a plain loaf, not sweet at all, as the amount of sugar is really minimal. However, I could taste the bits of peanuts and there was even a hint of the peanut butter. It remained soft and fluffy the next morning, and after lightly toasted, it tasted very delicious when spreaded with peanut butter.

I must say, this bread fits in very well to the description given in the book:
"What can one say about a high-rise loaf flavoured with peanut butter? It's a stunner, predictably succulent when it's buttered and spread with Marmite. Or use it as a base for cheese on toast. All sound stuff with child appeal."

This is one recipe that I can really leave it to the machine to do the job!


Ingredients:

300ml(1 & 3/8 cups) water
3 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter
1 tablespoon oil
450g (3 cups) bread flour
1 & 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons caster sugar
2 tablespoon dried skimmed milk powder
1 & 1/4 teaspoons instant or fast-acting dried yeast


Method:

1. Pour the water into the breadmaker bucket. Add in the peanut butter, oil and half the flour.
2. Sprinkle with the salt, sugar and dried milk powder. Cover with the remaining flour.
3. With a finger, make a small indent in the centre of the flour, and place the yeast in the indent.
4. Fit the bucket into the breadmaker, and set to Basic white or No. 1. Select the desired colour of the crust. (The recipe did not state the loaf size, I set it as 2 lb, and selected light for the crust).
5. When the cycle completes, carefully shake the loaf out of the bucket and let it stand the right way up. If desired, brush with glaze (I usually omit this). Leave the loaf to cool for at least an hour before cutting and remove the blade/paddle if necessary.

More about → Let the machine do it!

Fun with Toast

During our recent trip to Tokyo in June, we had breakfast at one of the western cafe chains, Pronto. The cafe was just one block away from the hotel we stayed. My nephew ordered one such egg toast:


I didn't have a chance to try it, as we were all busy with the individual sets that we ordered for ourselves. After returning from the trip, I have been wanting to try to replicate this...however, I wasn't sure how the egg could set nicely on the bread toast. It remained a mystery to me until I came across a cookbook on the various ways to eat a bread toast. Although there is no specific recipe in that cookbook that teaches you how to make this egg toast, somehow, I got the idea and came up with my own version below:



I am not sure about the taste, but it did look quite close to the original version. If you are interested, here's how I went about it:

Place a thick toast (I used Breadtalk's thick loaf) on a baking tray, cut the four sides (but don't cut through) to get a square in the middle. With fingers or the back of a spoon, press and flatten the bread in the middle. Place a slice of cheese, press it down a little, and place an egg on it. Bake in a toaster or an oven, until the egg is set...depending on how cooked you like your egg to be. Sprinkle with some pepper and dried parsley's and serve. (To prevent the sides of the toast from getting browned faster than the egg, I spreaded some butter on the sides...it helps.)


My younger boy doesn't really like sunny-side-up, so I lightly beaten an egg and poured it over. The beaten egg became watery, unlike the sunny-side up since egg white is thicker. As such, I had to be extra careful when transfering the baking tray to the toaster, making sure the egg didn't spill over the sides.


Here's how the scrambled egg version looked like.


Too bad, my boy didn't like this scramble egg version either...he finds it too eggy and cheesy.


As for me, I prefer the sunny-side-up version better :)

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