A Pistachio MacArt

A piece of Pistachio Art

I just had to make Pistachios macarons. The recipe is again from Jill's book which I had mentioned in my previous blog.

Macarons left aside to 'set'

What you see here are the macarons from the third batch. The first batch, was to me, not perfect. When I piped them, they were a little too liquid. Into the bin they went. But the next two batches were successful. Noticed I sprinkled some coarsely crushed pistachio on a couple of macarons only? I was not sure if they would turn out right.

To attain the pistachio-green, I mixed yellow paste with dark green. I would recommend the above food colors which I had purchased online from the UK - Squire's Kitchen. I personally found them to be slightly thicker and richer in color than Wilton's. 

Pistachio macarons with dark chocolate ganache

I have included below the packet of baked pistachios which I bought from the local store. The nuts were great. I had some crushed into the ganache as well. I guess I should have been more adventurous to mix more in the ganache.

These are the plain ones and their pistachio-ness are found in the ganache only. They look and tasted great. If only my wife and boys would pop them into their mouths...

Chocolate Macarons au cafe-creme

Perfect shot of my two perfect macarons

It has been a while. I decided over the weekend to try my luck on making Macarons again. By now, we all know how 'difficult' it is to make them. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail.

Given the many macaron recipes I have, I zoomed into Jill Colonna's recipe in Mad About Macarons. I am still fascinated by the macarons one can make from her recipes. So far, they have worked for me.

Drizzled with Valhorna White Chocolate

I referred to the Dark Chocolate Macarons recipe to make the shells but used the recipe from Coffee Macarons to make the cafe-creme. In fact, I adapted the cafe-creme by leaving out the butter. It still tasted heavenly. However, I learned that the next time I do a cafe-creme, I should follow her recipe and stick to two tablespoons of coffee powder. I had added close to three tablespoons with the intent of creating a more flavorful and stronger coffee taste. It was bitter. But I want to believe that the sweetness in the shells balanced the taste.

To make the macarons less boring, I drizzled melted Valhorna white chocolate over the smooth brown tops.

I must admit that I am pretty pleased with my macarons. They looked and tasted good. And yes, I will attempt to make macarons in the next couple of weeks.

Martha Stewart's Orange Chiffon Cake

I had decided to bake another Orange Chiffon cake but this time, without the cranberries (see my post on Orange Chiffon). I was basically inspired to try out the recipes from my new book - Martha's American Food. It is Stewart's latest book and my very thoughtful wife bought it and presented it to me as a birthday gift. Imagine how thrilled I was and by the way, this is not the first cook/baking book she had bought for me. 

The photos of the chiffon cake was another push factor that made me want to try out the recipe. But as usual, I adapt recipes for reasons like availability of ingredients or to use up the remaining flour or oil in this case. So I conveniently replaced the plain flour with cake flour and the safflower oil with vegetable oil. 

I do not intend to post the recipe here for copyright issues but if you would like to have it, do drop me a comment. But at this juncture, I should say I was a little apprehensive when the recipe calls for cold water to be added. The result was:

Orange Chiffon Cake with powdered sugar

The cake was fabulous as seen above. Height wise, it was perfect. I dusted powdered sugar to add a little sweetness to the cake. To replicate the cakes shown in book, I served my slices with the recommended whipped cream and candied orange zest. 

With whipped cream, candied zest and mini choco chips

I decided to add color too by placing some Hersey's mini chocolate chips at the sides. Honestly (I mentioned about adapting recipes above), I had forgotten to throw in the mini chips into the batter before baking. I would then be able to call it my Orange Choco Chip Chiffon Cake. But viola, I had the perfect Orange Chiffon cake! 

Soya Bean Chiffon Cake

Yes, I finally found the time and purpose to post something on my blog (which I had neglected for quite some time). I have been baking and this time it is back to making that perfect chiffon. I believe I have mastered the art of making that soft and fluffy cake. As such, I am venturing into different 'flavours' of chiffon. 

I have heard, seen, read and been introduced to Okashi Treats by Keiko Ishida before. However, what made me an instant fan of Keiko was when my aunt gave us a cake she had baked using one of the recipes from the book.

I instantly took to the Matcha and Soya Bean Chiffon cake recipes. I did the former and it turned out excellent. Baked two more times and each time, the perfect matcha cake was produced! I proudly showed my family how my chiffon was uncannily similar in color and texture to the photo in the book. I will post that matcha chiffon one of these days...

The chiffon above is the soya bean version ie before putting on the whipped cream. I was pretty excited to try something different and goggled to find out how I am able to get the soya bean powder. Having returned from a holiday (again) in the Land of The Rising Sun - this time Osaka, Nara and Kyoto, I was interested in all things Japanese. So I visited Meidiya at Liang Court and I must say I was extremely pleased to find kinako or soya bean powder.

I always face the issue of creaming my cakes. I attempted a few times and each time, I am dissatisfied with how they turned out. What the heck! But taste wise, I should say, it is an acquired one. The fragrance of the soya bean powder is just right and any diabetic patient will appreciate and be able to enjoy a slice. I must say, it was a success and I would bake it again since I have a packet and a half of soya bean powder left in my pantry.

I was fortunate to get Keiko's book from the library. But the recipe can be obtained from another blogger's post here - My Baking Cottage, I chanced upon Aimei's blog and thus must acknowledge her here.

So good luck to all those who wish to attempt the Soya Bean Chiffon. By the way, if someone could tell me how I can make my whipped cream stiffer and last longer when it is out of the fridge, please let me know...

Good Friday & Hot Cross Buns

I have been baking breads lately. Yes, never thought of venturing into this realm of yeast and dough. I had attended a couple of bread making classes before and that was like 8 years ago or so. Never understood the kneading and proving concepts. I had always thought it was hard work. The easy way out was to just go to a bakery and buy off the shelves - pork floss buns, raisin buns and sugar buns. Why bother with the 'hard work'?

Until I signed up for a bread making class at a community center. The instructor was excellent in convincing me that bread was amazingly easy to do. Tried out a couple of recipes of buns (mentioned above). First few were a liitle hard or too flour-ly as my wife had put it.

I did not give up. It was easy to do and yet I have not reached that perfect bun which is soft and fluffy. I pushed on and one day, viola!  I just got it! Now each time I make bread, or rather simple buns, I get them right. The texture, the softness and the lightness of fresh buns you get at the common bakery. Having mastered the skills and developed the confidence, I decided to do my own version of the hot cross bun. I threw in raisins and left out the cinnamon and other spices. I know that my boys have yet to acquire the taste for those spices. So my version is simply a raisin bun with a cross on top. 

To add variety to it, I checked out Martha Stewart hot cross buns recipes. I was lucky to come across an old video, made in the year 2000, that featured Martha's mum, Mrs Kostyra, on her show and she was demonstrating how to make her delicious and traditional hot cross buns. Here is the link - Hot Cross Buns. I followed the video, step by step, and the outcome were the buns as seen above. The cross is made up of icing powder and milk. I had left out the lemon juice as required in the original recipe. 

I believe I will be baking breads for breakfast for my family from now on. Perhaps I better say that I meant at least once a week.

Cranberry-Orange Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon with dried cranberries

I have been baking different types of chiffon cakes for the past week or so. No, not the pandan ones which is so common, but coffee, earl grey, lemon and orange. In particular, orange chiffon with bits of dried cranberries thrown in. 

I came across many recipes for orange chiffon cakes and decided on one from a blogger who goes by the name of Florence in Do What I Like. Check out the link here for the recipe - orange chiffon .

The cake turned put exactly what she had been raving about. It was fluffy, moist and simply delicious. However, I tweaked the recipe a little. I did not use warm orange juice but freshly squeezed juice,  about 87ml to 90ml. I used rum as the alternative to vanilla extract but I reckoned I should have used either Cointreau or Grand Marnier to enhance that orangey flavour. 

When I saw that the batter was rather plain I wanted to add something to it. What goes well with orange ...And since I had a packet of cranberries in the pantry, I decided to throw some bits in. Well, the amount of cranberries, I guess, is really up to you. Truth be told,  I regretted not folding in more cranberries.

So thanks to Florence for sharing her recipe. Oh yes, I covered my chiffon with snow powder to balance the 'sour' cranberries. 

Retrolicious Valentine's Day

A retrolicious cake - that was what I called it as I baked this wonderfully moist and light sponge cake on Valentine's Day. To be more precise, I named it, "Old Flame". It is a chocolate sponge cake, with a dash of Cointreau, topped with rich vanilla buttercream and wafer roses. The sides are covered with bittersweet chocolate flakes. 

For those who live in this sunny island, these wafer roses used to be common sight and popular toppers for light sponge cakes sold at bakeries. 

My sons and their friends who happened to be in the house on the day I creamed the cake were fascinated with those roses. They tasted the wafers after much persuasion and politely turned down when I offered them more. 

To make it more nostalgic, I placed a slice of the cake over the famed "Good Morning" hand towel. I believe these towels are still being used as hand towels in some homes and in some beauty salons. They are cheap and absorbent. They bring back memories - I am sure - for the initiated.

Although I was pleased with the cake (it tasted better the next day), I think I should have used only one heart-shaped pan instead of two for layering. The cake was rather high but the taste made up for it. So Happy Belated VD, everyone!