Happy Merdeka

Selamat Merdeka!!!!

Read about the cake I baked 2 years back *click here*....nvm that its stripes were wrong, coz it was so impromptu and was changed thanks to pressure from my good friend Mee Mee...... Kakakaka. Enjoy and Happy baking there.

2014 Resolutions Project: Flourless Sugarless Chocolate Cheese Souffle Cake

Happy New Year :)))) and Monkey will continue on her journey with her lil baking project. Hence it has been renamed 2014 Resolutions Project. This one is really simple easy and lazy...perfect for someone like ME

hehehehehe *big grin*

All u need are:
120g of chocolates
120g of cream cheese
3 eggs *yolks separated*
1 tsp of lemon juice

yeah only 4 ingredients. It's a lazy cake isn't it? No sugar and not even a pinch of flour. As usual preheat your oven at 170*C

Then bain-marie your chocolates and cream cheese. Meaning u heat them indirectly on top of a pot of boiling water without touching the water itself. Since this recipe does not require sugar, it would be advisable to use chocolates that are around 52%.

Once all the ingredients have melted to a consistency, remove from heat and add the 3 egg yolks and combine them.

Next whip the 3 egg whites with 1tsp of lemon juice until medium peak.....
Slowly add the whipped egg whites in 3 batches onto the chocolate mixture...u'll need to be gentle as you fold. This is to maintain the "air" that's inside the egg whites.

Line a 6 inches tin with parchment paper and grease it. Try to purchase a butter spray or something, it's so easy to use :))

Then pour the mixture in. I wrapped the bottom of my spring can with foil bcoz this needs to be baked with 2cm of water bath. Do add in boiling water for this water bath.

Bake at 170*C for 15 minutes
Then reduce temperature to 160*C for another 15 minutes
and finally switch off your oven and keep the door closed for another 15 minutes.

Remove from oven and cool completely. It is perfectly normal for the cake to shrink as it cools. Then chill in the fridge for 2 hours before consumption.

The staggered baking time means I had to be watching it, so that gave me enuff time to do all the washing and packing up. Once the cake was out....it's time to HIT THE SWIMMING POOL!!!

woohooo~~~~

yah I pretty much did a lot on 1st January 2014 :))))
baking and working out
*plus working out my stomach by eating a lot!!!*

After dinner.....there's dessert!!! Yeah we have this habit of taking something bittersweet after dinner every single day. Be it a cup of espresso with chocolates, pastries or cakes.

Serve with watever u like :) A dollop of ice creams or for lazy person like me....strawberries :P Nice soft light texture with the bittersweetness from the dark chocolates.

It's a very tiny cake so if u need to bake more, do attempt 2x portions of this recipe.
Happy Baking folks!!!!

Easy Peasy Oatmeal Raisin cookies

my super chunky cookies!!!! coz I was too lazy the other day and scoop everything with a 2 inches ice cream scoop. :P so the cookies were chunkier and bigger...but not that big till it can't fit into my cookie jar.

it's really easy to make but would be better if u can rest the cookie dough for at least a few hours would be good...if u have time, it would be better to rest it over night...

actually for me, it's more of NO TIME so I alwiz rest it for a nite...after work, I don't have the time to make the dough and bake at the same time...plus waiting for them to be cool so the cookies can be store neatly in a jar. I must be in bed by 11pm!!!! coz I go to work at 6.30am :)))))))))

So here u go the recipe *click here*
will attempt chocolate chip cookies by Thomas Keller this weekend....yeah I know...it's only chocolate chip cookies...but I've never bake one b4 :P

Happy Merdeka!!!

Remember this cake that Monkey made last year?
:P
yeah the stripes were incorrect...hahahaha...but the cake can't fit no more.

Good opportunity to bake this cake again but I have too many things to bake in the pipeline....to begin with --> Chocolate Devil's Food
but if you would like to make the Malaysia Flag Cake *click here*

Happy Merdeka!!!

2013 Resolutions: Thomas Keller's Chocolate Financiers

Nope these are not cupcakes
they are Financiers, baked in mini cupcakes mould. Such cute lil sinful bite-size financiers :))) Not too difficult to eat nor bake..but it did require some preparation and my very first attempt at making Brown Butter.

Thomas Keller the famous and top American chef in the states has plenty of books. JS bought almost all of them. It started with "Cooking under Pressure" a really technical book explaining the A-Z of sous-vide cooking. Yeah sous-vide is all about cooking ur food under the water bath of controlled temperature.

JS also attempted this amazing Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Thomas Keller's book
*read about it here*
since a few of his recipes were attempted by JS and proved to be GREAT,

Monkey finally picked up her book by Thomas Keller --> Bouchon. A gift from Munchy and Si Fu Lawrence.

It was just yesterday and Monkey just woke up, sprawled on the sofa, flipping pages from his book Bouchon...choosing wat to bake. :P And I found a really really simple recipe with ingredients that are accessible, tools and appliances that I have at home.

so the recipe started off with:
120gm granulated sugar
20gm of all purpose flour
60gm almond flour/meal
20gm unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder *use Valrhona Cocoa Powder, else just get a good quality ones*

if possible please sieve the above separately...and I was too lazy. This proved to be a lot of more work later....


to the Dry ingredients, add 100gm of Egg Whites
yeah too much of work becoz I had to mix them nicely and break up any lumps of flour/cocoa powder/almond meal.
-_-"
moral of the story, follow instruction!!!
Mix thoroughly the above.

Next, the Brown Butter.....it was my first time...When I saw it on the recipe, neither one of us know wat the heck is Brown Butter....Thankfully the book Bouchon has every explanation in different section on methodology, ingredients, tools, technique and so on....

Basically it literally means wat it is...brown the butter
but it was as simple as it is...bcoz u don't want to burn them

So to brown the butter, just drop the entire chunk of butter onto ur sauce pan over medium fire and let it melt. U will need to whisk it all the time to prevent the base from sticking/burning. There will be a lot of bubble as it evaporates. Keep on stirring until the bubble has subsided and u need to check the color of the butter with a spoon. Once it has reached the "Caramel" color with a toffee nose....it's done!!!

Immediately transfer it over to the muslin cloth/sieve to remove any sediments.

and this is wat u got at the end.....clear caramel toffee nose of brown butter....
Thomas Keller used a lot of these in his cooking and baking for its rich aroma.

So gather about 100gm of Brown Butter and add 30gm of chopped 70% chocolate.
The recipe requires 20gm of 70% Valrhona chocolate and 10gm of 100% Pure chocolate....since I don't have 100% really bitter really pure chocolate....I just make it up to 30gm of 70%

Heat up lightly the Brown Butter with the chopped chocolate. Chopped ones are easier to melt and faster but I was lucky coz my Valrhona came in pallet form. Each pallet is about 3g.

Once the chocolate has melted in the Brown Butter, add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. It will become like the above.

Spray ur mini cupcakes tin with non-stick spray. I used butter spray. You can obtain this from the vegetable oil section in any supermarket. Transfer these mixture into the pipping bag and fill each mould with the mixture until it's slightly under the rim. My mini cupcakes tray can accommodate about 12.

Ur oven must be heated by now. Rule no. 1 in baking is to reheat your oven even before you start anything. The temperature used in this recipe is 175*C Bake each tray individually for 12 minutes or until your skewer comes out clean.

and Ta-DA!!!!
enjoy them on the same day...but I like them warm :)))
perfect as petit four and a cup of espresso
Life is good :))))))))

I know....I should have attempted the original rectangular Butter Financier instead of this modern chocolate version but I just didn't have the mold. Gotta get them soon :))))

If you wanna view more beautiful pics from Thomas Keller's bakery, log on here:
www.bouchonbakery.com

2013 Resolutions: JS's mom sponge cake

I'm so Sponged now.....still trying to perfect it.
even JS didn't want me to give up....he passed on Her Royal Highness sponge cake recipe to Monkey...so with even greater pressure and determination, Monkey tried again >.<

This recipe is slightly different from my previous attempt. First of all preheat your oven to 175*C. Then separate 8 yolks from its whites. Hey look at the pic above, all the 8 eggs formed an infinity eight in the middle :P

Whisk the 8 whites until fluffy, then add the yolks one at a time and whisk for a few minutes.


Next slowly add in 225g of castor sugar and continue to whisk until creamy like the above. Think this process should take less than 5 minutes.

Detach your bowl off the KitchenAid and fold in gradually into the whisked egg + sugar mixture with 170g sifted flour. Finally add in 113g of melted butter. Remember your melted butter must be at room temperature and not hot but cool enough. This step is crucial to ensure no lumps in your batter.

Do everything gently bcoz this is a sponge cake :)))))))


Bake for about 30 minutes
I used 2 smaller cake tins bcoz Monkey wanted to create a mini cake...well it's not those cute mini Mini Cake but at least it's smaller than the usual 8 inches cake.


Once it has cool, you may decorate and assemble it
Monkey got this frosting spatula for quite a while and was so excited to use it for the very first time!!!! Oh well it's just a spatula but I do get excited over things like this :P


Stack ur fruits on top this way....u can use any kind of berries u like. Here I've got some really yummy Korean strawberries which were so so sweet.

Judging from the size of the berries and the cake, I am sure have an idea how mini this cake was. Told ya good things come in small packages...and mini is cute!!!


Finally frost the top.
It looked so thick and high -_-"


White is boring so Monkey just dusted some cocoa powder over the top
Looked so much better eh?

Finally with some leftover strawberries at the very very top!!!!

Time to EAT!!!!
the taste test

hmmm the texture isn't fine at all
there's air bubble inside....so I need to fold in more evenly next time. *if there's a next time*

JS confirmed that it failed...........
T_T
not good
not fine
texture is wrong
fluffiness is not there
definitely nothing like his mother's

T_T

"But I followed exactly like her recipe!!!!"
JS: "Well sometimes u need to think and not follow exactly like it."

I don't understand this at all??? Think and not follow?
so to follow or not to?? hmmm

okie nvm, I will not give up. So Monkey told JS she's gonna bake another one immediately.

he went O.O

Hehehehe just joking....thank you for eating all my experiments and creations which were beyond your palate.

To console myself, I did what I'm good at......Messing around
nyek nyek nyek

With the leftover of batter which couldn't fit into the cake tin, I took out my spanking new never used before heart shaped pie tin!!!! and baked somemore....

JS was pleading No more No More Cakes!!!
oh don't worry, u don't have to eat these....I might as well bake them and play around with the leftover batter and Buttercream icing!!!!

I am really really good at playing Masak Masak since young
instead of using sand and leaves like other kids do....I stole ingredients off my grandma/mom's pantry. Wuahahahahaha...and yeah I get to do frosting again :))))))))))

with leftover strawberries, cocoa powder and more buttercream frosting

I now conclude....that I really enjoy baking.
though sometimes I dunno wat came outta my oven. Hehehehehehe.

Dear readers,
I will Not.not.NOT give up...am gonna bake sponge again until I perfect it. Yeah it's just a damn sponge cake and I can't even get it right. I'm doomed. Baking is really fun, go try it. :))))

Read about my first sponge cake *here*

2013 Resolutions: Basic Sponge Cake

Sponge Cake.....:))))))))))
who doesn't like sponge cakes?? It should be simple and easy to bake right?
JS alwiz boast about his mother's aka HRH aka Her Royal Highness's sponge cake -_- so Monkey took up the challenge and did some reading about it. There's so many different types of sponge cake...an US and a UK one could be different...well let's not even go anywhere near to Italian and French sponge cake...

GAH!!! why so complicated?
Too much of analysis leads to brain paralysis...
soon Monkey's paralyzed brain just did the simplest thing......went to my book racks and retrieved past copies of my favourite gourmet magazine....and found a basic sponge cake recipe :))))))))

Rule number 1 *do I still need to mention it everytime?* is to preheat your oven to 180*C
then brush your pans with melted butter and dust them with flour. Line the base with baking paper.


Melt 80gm of butter and the most important rule here for sponge cake is not to use hot nor warm butter. You need to melt them in advance and leave it to cool. Else your sponge cake will be lumpy. So if possible this should be the first step.

Measure 240gm of Plain Flour and 3x sift it
It says that the flour has to be so fine....u need to sift it not one not two but freaking 3 times...
but I am happy to have all these gadgets and utensils for lazy ppl like me....dunk into the sifter, press the lever.....*sift sift sift*.....then transfer the sifted flour back to the lazy sifter and *sift sift sift*
again and again until I was yawning.......

Crack 8 eggs directly into your whisking bowl...
see I am freaking lazy so utilizing the most minimum tools and utensils is part of my goals here.

Add 220gm of caster sugar into the whisking bowl and scrap out the beans outta the Vanilla. I have mastered the art of scraping hahahaha...been using a lot of vanilla lately and JS's inventory of Madagascar Vanilla is getting lesser by the weeks in his pantry. He has yet to do a stock count :D
*oopsss*

Use your KitchenAid to whisk the mixture of eggs, sugar and vanilla beans for a few minutes until it turns pale, thick and tripled in volume like the above.
Easy eh??? :))))))))

Slowly sift in your plain flour into this mixture in batches. You want to introduce a lot of air into your cake mixture so that it will be light and fluffy so do everything with patience and calmness....no shortcut no hurry and no laziness to be executed here. Even if you can't add in air nor aerate your cake mixture, at least don't destroy the aeration created by your KitchenAid at the beginning.

Just slowly.....more yawns~~~~~~


Then bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until light golden....
the centre should springs back when u press it lightly....
I was thinking how am I gonna stick my fingers into the oven to test if my cakes are ready or not...

No no no......I'm not gonna take the risk....so it's based on "feel"

Once these babies popped outta the oven, Monkey removed them outta the spring can, transferred them to the wire rack immediately, peeled off the baking sheets at the bottom, and inverted it back to the original position - top and bottom.

Eating a basic sponge cake would be so boring....
so I deviated >.< heeeeeeeeeeeee heeeeeeeeee

Melt about 150gm dark chocolates.....then dunk in 250ml pouring cream and the melted chocolate...whisk them together. If you like u an add in about 20ml of liquer....Monkey added in Cognac...wuahahahahaha. U just need to whisk them till it soft peaks. Finally add in 70gm of raspberry and keep this mixture in the fridge until it's firm.

Then assemble your cake once it has cool down
It looked so ugly -_-"
JS stared at it in horror O.O"

NVM I can do better next time in cake decorating and assembly.
Can anyone share with me recipe of cakes that need not decorating, easy to make, less washing to do, and looked pretty instantly??? I know.....drive out to WonderMilk and buy a cake!!!!! it probably cost less :P

Your sponge cake should be really really light and fluffy
the raspberry gives it the occasional texture and bite as u sink ur teeth into your piece of cake

 

JS had a slice and concurred his mother's sponge cake is still the best in the world
Monkey -_-"
when he finally retrieved HRH's recipe from her Recipe Bank which was locked in her vault......Monkey found out her's is a Genoise Sponge Cake.
Hey Mr. JS!!!! it's a different sponge cake ok!!!!
Genoise Sponge Cake involves hell lot of work....with bain marie...sabayon etc etc etc

This one was a Victoria Sponge, named of the Queen Victoria.
Very "Atas" one OK???

but nvm....I will take up your challenge again to attempt your mother's Genoise Sponge Cake.
Watch this space u ppl!!! grrrRRRrrrrrr

For a full and professional recipe of this Basic Sponge Cake, *click here*

2013 Resolutions: Eton Mess

yup another easy peasy dessert which can be prepared in advance. I had the meringue done a day in advance, and everything was assembled on the spot before serving :)))))

The name Eton Mess is really its original one, hailed from UK at Eton College. Surprised? Eton Mess was a traditional English dessert served in schools and colleges since the 19th century.

but the key is....it's so simple to prepare, pretty on the eyes and yummy on the palate.
just my typical kinda dessert.......nyek nyek nyek :))))


Rule no. 1 in baking...
alwiz preheat ur oven first and in this case at 120*C

To begin.....gather 100gm of egg whites, from about 3 eggs
and whisk it with a pinch of salt until peak form....then reduce speed and continue whisking while adding 100gm of caster sugar. Once all are well combined it will be thick and glossy like the above.

then slowly sieve in another 100gm of icing sugar and 15gm of corn flour slowly until well combine with a spatula. You don't want all the air to escape.


looked like shaving foam eh? hehehehehehe
then dunk them on a tray with baking sheet.....bake at 120*C for 45-50 minutes. Just take a peek by the 45th minute and check....as for mine...I was too lazy so it was set all the way till 50 minutes.

Once the alarm rang, shut the oven and let the meringue cool inside the oven. I guess it took one hour? or was it a few hours??? coz Monkey was too lazy and busy....I just loaded everything into the dishwasher...lalalalala and went out :P


Congratulations!!! you have made the very basic meringue which can be used for many other things...or even eaten on its own :):):)

U can also dunk fruits and other things on top and serve like this but I have to remind myself this is for Eton Mess >.<

your meringue should be easily separated from the baking paper...it should not stick at all....just lift up as easy as air...and I was surprised that it's so light :)))))

Then u stack and layer everything up
the broken chunks of meringue, the creme, the sweetened strawberries, more fresh strawberries and raspberries...
Easy eh???

Since we lurve berries so much....there's more redness than the white creme :P
hehhehehehe

I am too lazy to post the rest of the recipe....namely the whipped creme of creme fraiche, vanilla beans, thickened cream and more sugar....
So u can visit *this link here* to have the full professional recipe from one of my favourite website :)

Good luck with it!!!!!

2013 Resolutions: Cream Tarts

Fancy some really easy no brainer pretty looking homemade desserts????
don't believe me??? really...it's easy peasy u can do it with ur eyes closed or get lil ones at home involved :)))))

These pretty looking cream tarts were made by Monkey a few weeks ago under my 2013 Resolutions Project. Good and easy recipe by Anna Olson, plus not much cleaning to do........wuahahahahaha


The recipe begins with melting 1/2 cup of unsalted butter
Monkey used really low heat at number 2 bcoz I didn't have the patience to stand and STARE at it....so Heat no. 2 is just nice while I busied myself with other things....

In the mean time, Rule number is alwiz to preheat your oven before u start anything....
so heat it up at 350*F or about 175/180*C


whack the shit outta some graham crackers...or whichever crackers u can find at the supermarket. Throw everything into the ziplock bag and wham-baam-wham-baam all u want....
collect about 1 Cup of these graham crackers

Add these to 1 Cup of sieved all purpose flour
4 tsp of sugar
1/4 tsp of salt
and mix all till well combined

please please please get ur measurement right
tsp = teaspoon
TBSP = tablespoon
TBS = THE BIG SALE hahahahahha my favourite word :))))

by this time, ur slow melting butter should have melted...so pour everything in and mix till it turned crumbly like this


Then scoop some of the mixture into a mini muffin pan like the above...
it's not ur standard size muffin pan but of smaller ones....u don't want your beautiful petite delectable tarts turned into chunky masculine looking giants don't ya???

so press them down and on its sides until compact like the above
to me, this was the toughest step bcoz it consumed some time being inexperienced me...making this for the first time.

This recipes makes about 30 mini tarts....so it's best to have more than 1 mini muffin pan...

Bake them for only 10 minutes!!!! woohoooo
yeah I know they looked horrible but trust me, these ugly ducklings will soon turned into beautiful golden swan....hehehehehehe

After they have cool down, just use a toothpick, poke at its sides, move it a bit and mini tarts will turned itself 360 degrees around the pan and off u lift them outta the pan. Thanks to the butter in the mixture, it's quite "slippery" and slides out easily.

U can keep them in airtight container until u are ready to use them. The recipe didn't says how long u can keep them...and I didn't have the chance to experiment with its shelf life bcoz it was gone....all gone....

To prepare the basic vanilla cream....it's even easier!!!!!
Heat 1 Cup of low fat milk *it must must be low fat ok*
add 1/2 vanilla bean but bcoz I lurve them so much, I dunk in one whole bean :D:D:D
plus Monkey stole JS's precious Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla from his pantry...huhuhuhuhuhu
the nose...the smell...aaaahhh!!!!!

okie u just wanna heat them...so it must just be below simmer and not bubbly...
when u see it simmer on its side..then it's ready. So again...use very very low heat.

Meanwhile crack 3 egg yolks...u need really fresh good quality eggs like the above...lurve its color :))))). Add 3 TBSP of sugar and 2 TBSP of cornstarch
whisk this mixture well and place a strainer on top of this glass bowl
Slowly and gradually mix your simmered vanilla milk into this over the strainer to remove the chunky huge piece of vanilla bean.

then return the mixture into the pot and cook over medium heat for about 2 minutes, constantly stirring with a spatula - esp on its sides
U will know its ready once the mixture has thickened and turned glossy


Once again pour it all into the glass bowl and add in 2 TBSP of butter
bcoz the mixture is hot...the butter will melt effortlessly.....

Voila!!! so smooth and creamie!!!
and Congratulations bcoz u have just prepared the ultimate basic vanilla cream which can be used for so many other things!!!!

What I did was another short cut...once this mixture has cool down a bit...Monkey dunk it all into a plastic disposable pipping bag and store in the fridge until it's ready to be used. This recipe makes 1 1/2 Cups of vanilla cream.

and whenever u are ready to consume them....u just need to assemble it easily...

Remove all the cute tiny popsie tarts from its air tight container....with your vanilla cream inside ur pipping bag...this should be effortless...then top them with fruits of ur choice :))))

but the easiest step was popping them into ur mouth continuously...
so yummy...

Easy isn't it?? esp when u have parties at home...everything is pre-prepared...just need assembling. And it uses the most basic ingredients...nothing too fancy...If u can't find vanilla bean just replace with vanilla extract :))

For a proper professional recipe visit the website *here*
Happy Baking!!!!