Taste of Chocolate - Macarons

 

It is rather late for me to say that these chocolate macarons were my Valentine's gift to my wife. I made them only after 14th February. I made them a week later and I am now posting this blog. How late can one be. But it is the thought that counts.

Well, 'thoughts' as it remains. After making them, I did not present her the macarons but simply left them in the refrigerator - own time own target - help yourself to them, so to speak. Isn't it terrible? Dying romance, one would say? At least it is not dead!

No, I have to qualify. It was mutual and I mean me and my wife understood the situation back then on the14th. Let's hope history will not repeat itself. By the way, for those keen in learning to make macarons, I suggest you surf the net. You'll get lots of recipes and advice. The thing is - keep working on it. I am doing just that.

Sugee Cake

I have been thinking of what to bake this Chinese New Year. Macarons came to mind. What if I made macarons with mandarin orange buttercream fillings? Would that not be appropriate for New Year, albeit a touch of French? But I had wanted something to represent gold; celebration; something I have not done before...a sugee cake!

I trawled the net while ignoring the few recipes that were printed in the books I had. I came across a recipe from a blog post in http://www.thelittleteochew.com/2010/01/sugee-cake.html. Looks easy, sounds easy and so little fuss. I gave it a shot.

I followed the recipe closely and I took up the tips of using less sugar (well not much, 240g) and replaced the buttercream essence with rum - 2 tbsp and let it soak, baby!

Pretty pleased with the final product. Moist and butter-ry. I guess the evaporated milk helps to make it more moist. Feedback from family members was that while it tasted great, there were not enough of the semolina. So totally agree. Point taken and I may increase the amount of semolina or perhaps go for a different brand the next time. No matter. I am glad I attempted making a sugee cake. So thanks, Ju, for the recipe.