Coffee Macarons and Salted caramel Filling( with no feet)

Chocolate and Raspberry Macarons

These chocolate and raspberry macarons were made a long time ago. I didn't make macarons for a long time... it should be more than a year already. As I have very little experience of making macarons, making it perfect is really hard. The macarons I made today was unsuccessful it has no feet and I have no clue why it happened......:(. I did it the same way just like the older patch.  The only reason I can think off was the drying process, may be the macaron was not dry properly before baking, or it could be the baking temperature .....etc. Anyway, I need more practice and I'll make this post for future reference.

The failed coffee macarons with salted caramel filling below have no feet, but still tastes delicious :D.

The coffee macarons and salted caramel filling recipes. I referred to Sue's blogs.

Coffee macarons shell ingredients

• 125 g pure icing sugar
• 125 g almond meal (almond flour or ground almond)
• 100 g egg whites (i separated 24 -48 hours in advance and keep in the fridge.)
• 125 g caster sugar (super fine sugar)
• 30 ml water (2 tablespoons)
• 7 g intant coffee( ground)

                                                                         Pic 1&2

                                                           Pic 3&4

Making macaroons shell
Method:

• Sift almond meal and icing sugar together through fine sieve and set aside.
• Divide egg whites into two equal portions (50 g each portion).  Pour the first portion of egg white (50 g)and coffee into the almond meal/icing sugar mixture (pic 1).  Mix and combine well, just set it aside (pic 4).
• Put the water and caster sugar in a heavy-base saucepan over medium-high heat(pic 2). When the syrup start to boil. Place the rest of egg white (50 g) into a mixing bowl, using the whip attachment, whip egg white to the soft peak. When the syrup reaches 118°C (on a thermometer), take if off the heat and let it cool down to 115°C.
• While the mixer is still running, slowly pour the sugar syrup down the side of the bowl. Be careful not to pour syrup onto the whip as it might spatter (pic 3).
• Continue mixing until the meringue cool down to slightly above body temperature (50°C) or when the side of the mixing bowl is warm to touch. The whipped egg white would be stiff and glossy (pic 5).

                                                          Pic 5 &6

                                                           Pic 7&8

• Mix a third of whipped egg white into the almond meal mixture and combine them well( pic 6). At this step, you can work the mixture very vigorously to blend the egg white with almond meal mixture. Fold the rest of whipped egg white into the mixture(pic 7) and mix well, yet gently, until the batter is smooth(pic 8). The batter will be thick. It resembles a very thick cake batter, or as many web sites describe it as a magma-like consistency ( it means the thick batter would flow slowly like a magma).

Pic 9&10

Pic 11&12

• Put the mixture into a piping bag fitted with 1-cm plain tip (pic 9). Pipe the staggering rows of 1-inch rounds onto baking papers or baking sheets (pic 10).
•  Let the piped shells stand at room temperature for 30 – 60 minutes to let the crust forms. This depends on the room temperature and humidity. When the piped shells are dry to touch without it sticking to your fingers. They are good to go into the oven.
• Preheat the oven to 160°C (fan-force or convection oven, increase the temperature by 20°C if you’re using conventional oven) for at least 15 minutes. Just before baking, turn the temperature down to 150°C and bake the macarons for 15 minutes.
• Lift the baking papers/sheets off the baking tray to the cooling rack and let it completely cool down before removing macarons (it is easier to remove cool macarons off the sheet. They are also less likely to stick to the paper).

• Sandwich cool macarons shell with chilled salted caramel.
• Store macarons in airtight container in the fridge. Macaron will taste better after it is chilled overnight.

Salted caramel filling recipe:

Salted caramel ingredients:

Pic 13&14



Pic 15&16
• 100 g caster sugar
• 165 g thickened cream (minimum 35% fat content)( I used milk and added 30g of butter)
• 15 g salted butter
• 70 g soften salted butter

Making salted caramel filling

• This caramel is done using dry-caramel method where sugar are melted on the medium high heat without any water (pic 14).
• Add 30 g of caster sugar to a heavy-based small saucepan over medium-high heat. Let the sugar melt and shake the pan every now and then to help sugar to melt. When the sugar is 
• melted (pic 15), put another 35 g of sugar into the pan and let it melt. Repeat with the rest of sugar. 
• Leave the sugar caramelised until it turns dark amber(pic 16). Remove the pan from the heat and add 15 g of butter. 
• Add warm thickened cream to the sugar mixture(pic 17). Be careful as the mixture might spatter. Quickly shake the pan to help blending cream and caramelized sugar.
• Put the saucepan back to medium-heat and let it boil until it reaches 108°C(pic 18 &19).
• Remove from heat and pour the mixture into a bowl (pic 20). Cover the mixture surface with cling wrap to prevent the skin forming. Set aside to cool down and won't melt butter in the next stage.

                                                                                                   

   Pic 17&18    

Pic 19&20

• When the sugar mixture is cool, beat butter on medium-high speed until it is light and fluffy (approx. 8 – 10 minutes). Mix the sugar mixture into the butter in two batches.
• Chill the mixture until ready to use to fill macarons.

Macaron with no feet

Chocolate & raspberry macarons

Yam Cake

As you can see this is not a chinese steamed yam cake. It is a layered sponge cake filled with yam. I found this recipe from Carol's book and her blogs and she made this into a swiss roll instead.

I added some yam puree into this sponge cake and as a result the cake is soft and moist and it gives a light aroma after baking.

If you can read chinese, you can also refer to Carol's blogs for her recipe.

My yam cake recipe:

Yam filling ingredient:

• 300g yam steamed and puree
• 40g fine sugar
• 15g butter
• 50g fresh cream(milk)

Method:

1) Peel and cut yam into smaller pieces, place it into the steamer and steam yam till cooked and puree it.

2) Add in the sugar, butter and cream or milk. Mix well.

Yam sponge cake ingredient:

Yolk mixture:

• 5 yolks
• 30g fine suger
• 40g olive oil or vegetable oil
• 100g yam steamed and puree
• a pinch of salt
• 90g cake flour
• 25g milk

Egg white mixture:

• 5 egg whites
• 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
• 60g fine sugar

For cake decoration : Whipped cream.

Method:

• 1) Beat egg yolks and sugar till creamy and sugar dissolved. 
• 2) Mix in the olive oil, yam puree and salt , mix well. 
• 3) Add in and mix well the half portion of the sieved flour first, then follow by a half portion of the milk to mixture. 
• 4) Add in and mix well the last portion of the flour and milk to the mixture. Set aside.
• 5) Whisk egg whites till foamy first, then add in cream of tarter and fine sugar and continue whisking until soft firm peak. 
• 6) Fold in 1/4 of the egg white mixture to the yolk mixture first, folding it till well combine. Mix and fold the rest of the yolk mixture to the egg white mixture until well combine. Do not over mixing the batter.
• 7) Pour the batter on to a 43x30 cm baking tray lined with baking paper.
• 8) Bake at preheated oven at 170°C for 12-15mins.
• 9) Removed the cake from the tray immediately when it is out of the oven, place it on the cooling rack. Removed paper at the side of the cake so as to avoid drying out the cake. 

To assemble cake:

• 1) When the cake is cooled cut it into equal parts, top it with the yam filling. 
• 2) Place the 2nd layer sponge cake on the filling, then top it with the filling again. 
• 3) Place the last piece of cake with the baked side downward,  please refer to my photo below. 
• 4) Final decoration, I covered the whole cake with some whipped cream.

Wild Yeast Bread

Update photo on wild yeast bread

Update photo on wild yeast bread

I've been trying out wild yeast bread making for many years but will always give up after a few try, not because the bread didn't rise properly but somehow it taste sour and my children don't like it.  You might think that wild yeast bread should taste sour since it is also known as sourdough bread but it is not suppose to be so.

I recently happen to come across an article about wild yeast bread baking and realized that the duration of the proofing of the dough will determine the sourness of the bread. If I feed my starter in the morning and complete my baking on the same day, my bread will not taste sour at all.  In other words, the shorter the fermentation period the less sour the finished product will be. Bread made within a single day using wild yeast starter will produce a loaf that is not noticeably sour. Overnight fermentation will give a slightly more pronounced sour taste.

Wild yeast starter

Fluid starter ingredient:

• 100g wild yeast starter( from Carol recipe)
• 100g water
• 100g bread flour

Method:

• 1)Mix all the ingredient together in a big mixing bowl.
• 2) Cover it and set aside to cultivate in the room temperature for 4 to 6 hours

fluid starter

Main dough ingredient:

• 300g fluid starter from above
• 300g bread flour
• 125ml milk
• 2 Tbsp of brown sugar
• 80g yam cooked and pureed
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

yam puree

• 1) Using a standing mixer, Put all the ingredients except 10% of the milk ( for adjustment in case the dough is too wet) and salt  into the mixer and mix on low speed until just combine. Let the dough rest for 30mins.  Add in the salt and continue mixing on low speed until  the dough reaches a medium level of gluten development.
• 2)Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled container. Cover and let  dough rises until doubled in size it takes about 3 hours.
• Cut and shape the dough and place it into a bread pan lined with baking paper  and let dough proof for another about 2 to 3 hours.  
• When dough with 1/2 inch of the top of the pan, bake it in  a preheated 200°C oven for about 30mins or till it is done.
• Remove the bread from the baking pan. Transfer onto a wire rack and let cool completely.

Tiramisu Mousse Cake

Hi Everyone,
It's been a long time since my last post. I'm Sorry!
Anyway, Today I'm going to post the recipe for my daughter's 16 y.o. birthday cake.
Well as you can see my skill of frosting is still bad, but this cake tastes really nice, and I will try making it again.

For the savoyardis biscuit(lady finger biscuit) and chocolate coffee sponge recipe,
I referred to Carol's book "The First Book of Baking for Beginner's" and her blogs.

For the tiramisu mousse and coffee syrup recipes,  I referred to Aunty Yochana blogs.

My Tiramisu Mousse Cake Recipe

Ingredient for savoyardi biscuit ( lady finger biscuit) :

Yolk mixture

•  4 yolks
•  20g fine sugar

Egg white mixture

•  4 egg whites 
• 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar
• 60g fine sugar 

100g cake flour
some icing sugar, for dusting.

Method:

• 1)Whisk egg yolks and sugar till fluffy. 
• 2)Whisk egg whites till foamy first, add cream of tartar and fine sugar continue whisking until soft peak. 
• 3)Fold egg white mixture into the yolk mixture, then add in the 100g cake flour. Mix and folding the flour slowly until well combine. Do not over mix the batter. 
• 4)Fill the batter into a piping bag fitted with 1 cm or smaller plain nozzle. Pipe finger biscuit onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Dust with icing sugar and bake at preheated oven at 170°C for 12-15 mins. For crispier finger biscuit, continue baking at 120°C for another 15 mins or until the finger biscuit is dry. 

You can see how Carol makes the lady finger biscuit with photo here.

Ingredient for chocolate coffee sponge cake:- 

Yolk Mixture

• 3 yolks 
• 30g fine sugar 
• 40g vegetable oil
•  1Tbsp instant coffee
•  50cc hot water
• 20g cocoa powder
• 95g cake flour
• 1Tbsp kahlua

Egg White Mixture

• 3 egg whites
• A pinch of cream of tartar
• 30g fine sugar

Method:

• 1)Dissolve instant coffee in the hot water, leave to cool.
• 2)Beat egg yolks and sugar until  creamy and sugar dissolved. Mix in the vegetable oil, coffee mixture, the cake flour and kahlua, and combine well.
• 3)Whisk egg whites till foamy first, then add cream of tartar and fine sugar continue whisking until soft peak. 
• 4)Fold in 1/4 of the egg white mixture into the yolk mixture first, folding it till well combine. Mix and folding the rest of the yolk mixture to the egg white mixture until well combine. Do not over mix the batter. 
• 5) Pour the batter on to a 43cm x 30cm  baking tray lined with baking paper.
• 6) Baked at preheated oven at 170°C for 12-15 mins or till done.
• 7) Remove the cake from the tray immediately when it is out off the oven, to avoid drying out the cake. Leave to cool before cutting out two 7inch cakes .

You can see how Carol makes the chocolate coffee sponge cake here.



Ingredient for tiramisu mousse:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1whole egg
• 60g fine sugar
• 8g gelatine powder(soak in 2 Tbsp of cold water)
• 250g mascarpone cheese
• 200g whipped cream( whipped)
• 2 Tbsp kahlua 

Ingredient for coffee syrup:

• 15g instant coffee powder
• 200g warm water
• 2 Tbsp kahlua

Topping with some chocolate ganache and grated chocolate for final decoration.

Method:-

For tiramisu mousse:

• 1)Beat egg yolks, whole egg and sugar over a pot of simmering water. Make sure that pot is not sitting directly on the  hot water. Whisk till egg yolk is lemony in color. Leave cool to room temperature.
• 2)Soak gelatine powder with water and microwave for about 20-25 secs. Add to the egg mixture.
• 3)Add in mascarpone cheese and mix lightly. Don't over mix otherwise the cheese will be coarse.
• 4)Fold in the whipped cream and kahlua. Combine and set aside.

For coffee syrup:-

• 1) Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Mix well and set a side.

You can see how Aunty Yochana makes the tiramisu mousse and coffee syrup here.

To assemble the cake (8 inches tiramisu mousse cake):

• 1) Line the cake pan with aluminum foil. Lay lady finger biscuits around the perimeter of the 8 inch pan, and place a piece of 7 inches chocolate coffee sponge cake at the bottom of the pan.  Brush coffee syrup onto the biscuit and sponge cake. Spoon 1/4 of the tiramisu mousse on top of the sponge cake. 
• 2)Place 2nd layer with finger biscuits and brushed finger biscuit with coffee syrup, and top with mousse filling. 
• 3)Third layer, do the same as 2nd layer.
• 4)Place the 4th layer with chocolate coffee sponge and brush with coffee syrup. Top with remaining tiramisu mousse filling and sprinkle the top with grated chocolate. Cover cake with plastic wrap and refrigerate for few hours or overnight.
• 5)Remove cake from the pan, place it onto a plate and decorate with chocolate ganache.

Cotton Soft Cheesecake

Looking for a cotton soft cheesecake!!!Yes! yes! here is the recipe from Carol.
I really love all her recipes, she is so details..

I'm making a 7 inches cake, so here is the recipe.


(A) Cheese batter:
70g milk
30g fresh cream
100g cream cheese
10g caster sugar
2tsp lemon juice
2 egg yolks
30g cake flour
5g cornflour


Method:
Put milk and fresh cream into a double-boiler, with a low heat. Add in the soften cream cheese, using a hand whisk and mixing it into a smooth batter. Remove it from the heat and add sugar and lemon juice. Mix well. Add in egg yolk slowly once at a time. Then add the sifted flour and mix well.


(B) egg white mixture:
2 cold egg white
1/2 tsp lemon juice
30g caster sugar

Method:
Put egg white into a clean and dry bowl, using an electric beater, start beating egg white first, slowly add in the sugar then the lemon juice 1/2 tsp. continue beating until it form a stiff peak.


Combine A and B

Take 1/3 of the egg white mixture(B), fold it into the batter(A) with a spatula. Mix well and pour this batter mixture into the (B). Folding it lightly until it form a smooth batter, pour it into a 7 inches tin lined with the baking paper. Prepare another bigger cake tin filled with 1cm of hot water, place the cake on it and bake at preheated oven 180C for 15minutes, after that lower the temperature to 110C and bake until the cake is set about 35minutes.


C Topping:
1/2 tbsp gelatine powder
1/2 tsp cold water.

When the cake is cooled, brush the topping onto the cake.

Coffee Wholemeal Rice Bun

Coffee Topping are piped on top of the bun before baking.


This is my second post in a day, I'm in love with all the different kinds of bread made by Carol and 孟老师。Happy to know that there are so many method of achieving soft bread.

For the past few posts on bread making, I have been using the tangzhong method, and this is my first experiment adding rice paste. The bread came out equally soft, just like the tangzhong method. Next time I can use leftover cooked rice to make these type of bread.

The bun I made today was a modified version of Carol's Wholemeal Custard Bun Recipe. If you are interested to know how carol did it please see below.

Carol's Custard Wholemeal Rice Bun


My Recipe is here:

To make rice paste ingredients:
100g Cooked rice
200g water

Method:
Mix cooked rice and water together in a sauce pan, bring it to a boil for a few minutes and let to cool. Blend it to a fine rice paste.




To make the coffee topping ingredients:
50g butter
40g icing sugar
1 whole egg beaten
2 teaspoon granulated coffee dissolve with 1 teaspoon water
50g plain flour


Method:
Beat the softened butter with icing sugar until everything well combine.
Gradually add in beaten eggs then the coffee mixture. Add the flour and beat until everything well incorporate. Place the mixture into a piping bag and keep in the fridge until ready to use.

To make custard filling ingredient:
1 egg
20g caster sugar
130g milk
10g flour
1 tsp unsalted butter
1/2 tsp brandy



Method:
Mix egg and sugar well with a whisk in a bowl.
Add the sifted flour, then very slowy pour in the boiling milk.
Return to the pan and cook over a low heat, stirring continuously with a whisk, until it begin to boil and thicken.
Remove from the heat and add the butter and brandy.
to avoid a skin forming while the cream is cooling, cover with a cling wrap.
Keep in the fridge until ready to use.


For the dough

To make the bun ingredients:

Main dough
230g Rice paste
200g Bread flour
100g Wholemeal flour
1 tsp Instant yeast
A pinch of salt
30g Sugar
40g Unsalted butter


Method:
Knead all the ingredients together except butter.
When the dough become a smooth dough, add in butter and continue kneading until the dough become smooth and elastic but not sticky.
First, prove dough for 45-60 minutes.
Punch down dough and divide into 12 pieces. Roll them into round balls .
Let it rest for 15 minutes before add in the custard filling.
Roll out each doughs to a flat disc and add the custard filling. Seal it tightly. Make sure you seal it tightly otherwise it will split out during baking.

Place each doughs on a baking tray, make sure they sit a part from each other because they might stick to each other during the baking. Cover the doughs with cling film and proof for 50 - 60 minutes.

Top the bun with the coffee topping before baking

Bake at 180C-190C for 15-18 minutes.

Serve.

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake

Dulce De Leche!!! What is this??? I have never seen this before and I can't pronounce it, but I'm very curous about it. After reading so much about it, I used the slow cooker method to make my first can of Dulce De Leche. It was quite easy. I submerged the whole can of unopened condense milk into the slow cooker and left to cooked it overnight. It came out perfectly.Haha...
Do you know what "dulce de leche" means? It means sweet milk and it is a traditional milk product from the country of Argentina. It is used as a topping for ice cream or fresh fruit, like bananas, as a filling for cakes, cheesecakes and cookies, or as a simply decadent spread for toast. Thick and intensely flavored, it should be slightly warmed to make it pourable.

I made some changes and did not follow the recipe that I found from Bakericious's Blog to make this cheesecake. Dulce de leche is used to give the cheesecake a delicious caramel flavor.

Ingredients:


Biscuit Base:
12pieces of oreo cookies
(used roller to crush the oreo)



Filling :
250g cream cheese
4 tbsp sour cream
4 tbsp of sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp of lemon zest
4 tbsp of milk
2 tbsp of dulce de leche

Method :
1. Prepare a spring form pan and greased it with some butter. Pre-heat oven to 160 degree.

2.Crush the oreo biscuits with a rolling pin. Press firmly to the baking pan and baked it for 10 minutes and set aside.

3. Mix all the filling ingredients and blend until smooth. Pour 2/3 of the filling on top of the crust. Add 2 tbsp of dulce de leche to the balance 1/3 of the filing and mix well.

4. Drizzle dulce de leche filing over the cheesecake filling then use a skewer to swirl it around.

5. Bake in the oven for 50-60 minutes or until the center of the filling set.

6. Let cool 20-25 minutes before covering and placing in the refrigerator. Refrigerate 4 to 6 hours or overnight before serving.