A pudding that will change your mind about puddings

I have to admit, I used to be a snob about pudding. I love chocolate mousse, creme brulee and pots de creme, but pudding to me always sounded like the kind of dessert that you make out of a box. Like a creamy jello of sorts.

This week's TWD pick, Dorie's chocolate pudding, has made me change my mind. Homemade pudding is different from anything that you'll ever get out of any box. This pudding, although made only with milk, is as creamy as any chocolate mousse you'll ever taste. And the texture, is so incredibly smooth.

I read on the TWD comments section about this recipe that one of the TWD member's son said that if you could put a dress on pudding and marry it, he would. That just made me laugh, not because its an exaggeration, but because that's how I feel too. Although in my case, it would have to wear a suit. Try it and see for yourself.

For the recipe, click here.

An unmissable TWD

While I already normally look forward to every Tuesday with Dorie, the recipe this week, The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart, was even more special for me. Why? Because the centerpiece of this recipe, the exquisitely smooth and delicious lemon cream, originates from the Picasso of pastry - Pierre Hermé. 

For those of you who don't know him, Pierre Hermé is a pastry chef extraordinaire. He is responsible for creations such as the Isaphan, a rose flavoured macaron with litchis and raspberries), and Plasir Sucré. For me, no visit to Paris is complete without a mandatory stop at his boutique on Rue Bonaparte. If you're going there for the first time, there's no missing it. Its the little store with the line of people snaking out its door.

 

Knowing what I know about Pierre Hermé, I was sure that this recipe would indeed live up to its name. Sure enough, I was not disappointed. Although the lemon cream is marginally more of a hassle to make than regular lemon curd, if you have a blender or a food processor handy, it really is a snap. I did find the crust a little more difficult to handle - its not one that you can roll easily (which Dorie did warn about) - but by pressing it into the pan as Dorie suggests, the crust turned out beautifully.

I served this for tea on Sunday and again for dinner. M, who is usually a chocolate fanatic, raved about it as well. I think this recipe is definitely a keeper!

The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart

From Baking: From My Home to Yours

1 cup sugar

Grated zest of 3 lemons

4 large eggs

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 4-5 lemons)

2 sticks plus 5 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces, at room temperature

1 9-inch tart shell

Getting ready:

Have an instant-read thermometer, a strainer and a blender or food processor at hand. Bring a few inches of water to a simmer in a saucepan.

Put the sugar and zest in a large heatproof bowl that can be set over the pan of simmering water. Off the heat, rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice.

Set the bowl over the pan and start stirring with the whisk as soon as the mixture feels tepid to the touch. Cook the lemon cream until it reaches 180 degrees F. As you whisk - you must whisk constantly to keep the eggs from scrambling - you'll see that the cream will start out light and foamy, then the bubbles will get bigger, and then, as it gets closer to 180 degrees F, it will start to thicken and the whisk will leave tracks. Heads up at this point - the tracks mean the cream is almost ready. Don't stop whisking or checking the temperature, and have patience - depending on how much heat you're giving the cream, getting to temp can take as long as 10 minutes.

As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, remove the cream from the heat and strain it into the container of the blender (or food processor); discard the zest. Let the cream stand, stirring occasionally, until it cools to 140 degrees F, about 10 minutes.

Turn the blender to high (or turn on the processor) and, with the machine going, add the butter about 5 pieces at a time. Scrape down the sides of the container as needed as you incorporate the butter. Once the butter is in, keep the machine going - to get the perfect light, airy texture of lemon-cream dreams, you must continue to blend the cream for another 3 minutes. If your machine protests and gets a bit too hot, work in 1-minute intervals, giving the machine a little rest between beats. 

Pour the cream into a container, press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface to create an airtight seal and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. The cream will keep in the fridge for 4 days or, tightly sealed, in the freezer for up to 2 months; thaw it overnight in the refrigerator). 

When you are ready to assemble the tart, just whisk the cream to loosen it and spoon it into the tart shell. Serve the tart, or refrigerate until needed.

Makes 8 servings

TWD: Gooey Chocolate Cakes

Once again, its time for TWD! I've found that its the perfect solution to Monday blues since every Monday night (if I've procrastinated, which is usually the case), I have a Dorie baking session to look forward to! This week, the chosen recipe was Dorie's Gooey Chocolate Cake aka molten chocolate cake or chocolate fondant.

While I've made this type of cake many times, I've actually never tried Dorie's recipe so I was definitely looking forward to giving it a go. Molten chocolate cake is one of those cakes that is almost universally loved - you can find it on just about every restaurant's dessert menu - but is so quick and easy to whip up.

After having read the problems and questions post on the TWD blog, I decided to reduce the cooking time in order to ensure that I had a gooey inside. As such, instead of 13 minutes, I decided to bake mine for 11. I must have an oven that runs cold though because I think I could have easily left it in for at least another minute. No matter though - the cake was still absolutely delicious, if a little more gooey than normal! Next time you have unexpected dinner guests, this is your go to recipe because you can have it on the table in under 30 minutes tops.

Gooey Chocolate Cake
From Baking: From My Home to Yours

1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate,
4 ounces coarsely chopped,
1 ounce very finely chopped
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
6 tablespoons of sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. butter (or spray – it’s easier) 6 cups of a regular-size muffin pan, preferably a disposable aluminum foil pan, dust the insides with flour and tap out the excess. Put the muffin pan on a baking sheet.

Sift the flour, cocoa and salt together.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water, put the coarsely chopped chocolate and the butter in the bowl and stir occasionally over the simmering water just until they are melted – you don’t want them to get so hot that the butter separates. Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and yolk until homogenous. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended, about 2 minutes. Add the dry ingredients and, still using the whisk, stir (don’t beat) them into the eggs. Little by little, and using a light hand, stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and sprinkle the finely chopped chocolate over the batter.

Bake the cakes for 13 minutes. Transfer them, still on the baking sheet, to a rack to cool for 3 minutes. (There is no way to test that these cakes are properly baked, because the inside remains liquid.)

Line a cutting board with a silicone baking mat or parchment or wax paper, and, after the 3-minute rest, unmold the cakes onto the board. Use a wide metal spatula to lift the cakes onto dessert plates.

Makes 6 servings

Back to Tuesdays with Dorie!

After missing the last 2 TWDs, I was determined not to let another week go by without making this important appointment. So as soon as I got a chance , which turned out to be Wednesday night the week before, I got started on my Caramel-Topped Flan, this week’s recipe chosen by Steph of A Whisk and A Spoon.

Now I’ve never made Crème Caramel before, even though I do enjoy it, and was amazed by just how quick it was to make. The caramel, given the 1/3 quantity I was making, was done in 5-7 minutes tops. The custard itself took only about 5 minutes to heat up and mix together. The only slight hassle is having to set up the baking tray with hot water to bake the custard, but honestly speaking, as long as you can read and follow instructions, its really not a big deal.

After 35 minutes in the oven, my caramel has puffed up slightly, as the book said it would so I slid it out, ran my knife around the edge to loosen it and let it cool. I unmolded mine the next day after a night in the fridge and it slid out very easily with the caramel oozing out to coat the custard. The taste, needless to say, was divine – as all Dorie’s recipes are.

To see the rest of the TWD's efforts, please check out the blogroll here.

Caramel-Topped Flan

For the Caramel

1/3 cup sugar

3 tbsp water

squirt of fresh lemon juice

For the Flan

1-1/2 cups heavy cream

1-1/4 cups whole milk

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a roasting pan or a 9-x-13-inch baking pan with a double thickness of paper towels. Fill a teakettle with water and put it on to boil; when the water boils, turn off the heat.Put a metal 8-x-2-inch round cake pan-not a nonstick one-in the oven to heat while you prepare the caramel.

To Make the Caramel:

Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice together in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Put the pan over medium-high heat and cook until the sugar becomes an amber-colored caramel, about 5 minutes-remove the pan from the heat at the first whiff of smoke.Remove the cake pan from the oven and, working with oven mitts, pour the caramel into the pan and immediately tilt the pan to spread the caramel evenly over the bottom; set the pan aside.

To Make the Flan:

Bring the cream and milk just to a boil.Meanwhile, in a 2-quart glass measuring cup or in a bowl, whisk together the eggs, yolks and sugar. Whisk vigorously for a minute or two, and then stir in the vanilla. Still whisking, drizzle in about one quarter of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm, the eggs so they won't curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the hot cream and milk. Using a large spoon, skim off the bubbles and foam that you worked up.Put the caramel-lined cake pan in the roasting pan. Pour the custard into the cake pan and slide the setup into the oven. Very carefully pour enough hot water from the kettle into the roasting pan to come halfway up the sides of the cake pan. (Don't worry if this sets the cake pan afloat.)

Bake the flan for about 35 minutes, or until the top puffs a bit and is golden here and there. A knife inserted into the center of the flan should come out clean.Remove the roasting pan from the oven, transfer the cake pan to a cooking rack and run a knife between the flan and the sides of the pan to loosen it. Let the flan cool to room temperature on the rack, then loosely cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

When ready to serve, once more, run a knife between the flan and the pan. Choose a rimmed serving platter, place the platter over the cake pan, quickly flip the platter and pan over and remove the cake pan-the flan will shimmy out and the caramel sauce will coat the custard.

Makes 6 to 8 Servings

Healthier cookies... or so I tell myself

I'm a big fan of Alice Medrich's Bittersweet so when her new book, Pure Dessert, came out several months ago, I knew I had to get myself a copy. Even though I was drooling while eagerly flipping through it upon its release, it wasn't until this past week that I finally got around to trying one of the recipes.

Given the number of must-try recipes in this book I was hard pressed to pick just one. Ultimately, however, I settled on what I think are healthier cookies - whole wheat sables. In truth they are just as laden with butter as any other cookie but the dough is half made of whole wheat flour and whole wheat is good for you, isn't it?

Instead of just making plain sables, I chose to use one of the suggested variations and added cacao nibs to my cookies to add a delightful crunch. Even as the cookies were baking in the oven I could tell from the buttery aroma that permeated the air that these were going to be good. In her book, Alice Medrich describes them as "meltingly tender, butter cookies with the nutty flavor of whole wheat" and they were exactly as advertised. Fresh from the oven my cookies were, thin, crispy, crumbly and mind-blowingly buttery. They are supposed to be even better the next day but the cookies almost didn't last till then. Thankfully I managed to restrain M and myself from eating them all so that we had enough to serve as a welcome treat for M's brother and his wife who were visiting from New York the next day.

Nibby Whole Wheat Sables
From Pure Dessert

1 cup all-purpose flour
Scant 1 cup whole wheat flour
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the all-purpose and whole wheat flours together. Set aside. In a medium bowl, with the back of a large spoon or with an electric mixer, beat the butter with the sugar, salt and vanilla for about 1 minute, until smooth and creamy but not fluffy. Mix 1/4 cup cacao nibs into the creamed butter. Add the flour and mix just until incorporated. Scrape the dough into a mass and, if necessary, knead it with your hands a few times, just until smooth.

Form the dough into a 12 by 2-inch log. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or, preferably, overnight.

Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Use a sharp knife to cut the cold dough log into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Place the cookies at least 1 1/2 inches apart on the lined baking sheets.

Bake until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and fron to back halfway through the baking. Let the cookies firm up on the pans for about 1 minute, then transfer them to a rack with a metal pancake turner and let cool completely.

The cookies are delicious fresh but are even better the next day. They can be stored in an airtight container for at least 1 month.

Makes about 48 2-inch cookies

Childhood pleasures

Back in Singapore, I used to make ice cream a lot as the equatorial climate meant any day was a perfect day for ice cream. Since moving to London, however, I can count the number of times I've churned ice cream on one hand. To me, save for a few days a year, its just never quite warm enough to eat ice-cream in London. M, on the other hand, begs to differ. Ice cream is his hands-down favourite treat and if its sitting around in the refrigerator, its almost guaranteed never to live to see another day.

Since M has been working really hard again, I decided to surprise him with some homemade ice cream, in his favourite flavour no less - Mint-Chocolate Chip. We also purchased the UK equivalent of Magic Shell and some dark chocolate mint flavoured Cadbury fingers as toppings for the ice cream. Apparently, the combination of Magic Shell on ice cream was THE special treat in M's household growing up and though it was slightly disconcerting to see a grown man so excited by a bottle of chocolate sauce, its nice to know that some things never change.



Mint-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma's Ice Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 tsp peppermint extract
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
Pinch of salt
90g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 tsp canola oil

In a heavy 2-qt saucepan, combined the mik, 1 cup of the cream, and the peppermint extract. Cook over medium heat until bubbles form around the edges of the pan, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and let stand for 20 minutes to steep.

Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup cream in a bowl. Whisk until smooth. Gradually whisk about 1/2 cup of the warm milk mixture into the egg mixture until smooth. Pour the egg mixture into the pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon and keeping the custard at a low simmer, until it is thick enough to coat the back of the spoon and leaves a clear trail when a finger is drawn through it, 4-6 minutes. Do not let the custard boil. Strain through a fine -mesh sieve into a bowl.

Place the bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice cubes and water. Stir occasionally until cool. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on the surface of the custard to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate until chilled, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours.

About 1 hour before freezing the ice cream, melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over barely simmering water. Stir the chocolate until it is melted, then stir in the oil. Transfer to a small pitcher. Let cool to room temperature.

Pour the custard into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions. When nearly frozen and the consistency of thick whipped cream, add the chocolate while the machine is churning or stop the machine temporarily, add the chocolate, and restart to mix. Transfer the ice cream to a freezer-safe container. Cover and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours or up to 3 days, before serving.

Makes about 1 quart

Cupcake treats

Cupcakes, in my opinion, make a perfect treat. First, they're small and dainty, which lets you believe you're not eating too much, even if they generally come laden with frosting. Second, because they come in individually sized portions, they're so much easier to share with friends. Thus, when thinking of what to make for my colleagues at work this week, I settled on coconut flavoured cupcakes with a marshmallow pink frosting.

The problem with cupcakes, however, is that they're a bit tricky to transport. If you live in the US, then you can easily get your hand on Oneida's cupcake carrier which not only makes it easy to transport 24 cupcakes without ruining their perfect frosting but the bottom layer of the carrier is also a muffin pan which you can use to bake directly in. Sadly, this nifty little gadget is not available in London although I have seen poor imitations in the market. Since I refuse to settle for anything but the best, I am to this day, cupcake carrier-less.

Still, my cupcakes survived the extra-crowded tube journey to work with decidedly little damage and just like I thought, provided the perfect little pick-me-up for those universal Monday blues.


Coconut Marshmallow Clouds
From Crabapple Bakery Cupcake Cookbook

For the coconut cakes:
3/4 cup shredded coconut
2 1/3 cups plain flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
3 eggs
3 egg whites, extra
200g softened unsalted buter
1 3/4 cups castor sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup coconut milk

Preheat oven to 170C. Line two 12-hole muffin tins with cupcake papers.

Using an electric food processor, process the coconut until very fine - about 3 or 4 minutes. Add coconut to a bowl with sifted flour, salt and baking powder. Mix until evenly combined.

In a separate bowl combine eggs and egg whites. Do not beat.

In another bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the castor sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition, beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and the sugar has almost dissolved.

Add the eggs a quarter at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

Add a third of the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half other coconut milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over-beat as this will toughen the mixture.

Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake for 18 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before frosting.

For the marshmallow frosting:
3 egg whites
480g white sugar
3 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
150 ml water
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
Pink food colouring

In a metal bowl combine the egg whites, sugar, corn syrup, cream of tartar and water. Place the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water) and beat continuously with a hand-held electric mixer until the mixture is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Take the bowl off the heat and add the vanilla and a few drops of pink food colouring. Whisk the mixture until it forms stiff peaks.

To assemble:

Pipe the frosting in a circular motion, starting around the edge of the cupcake, to form a soft-serve ice-cream effect. Top each cupcake with edible sprinkles.

Makes 24 cupcakes

Pretty pumpkin patch cakes

Happy Halloween! In celebration of this candy laden holiday, I've ventured into the unknown and made something, for the first time ever, with pumpkin. Yes, I lived 10 years in the US but have never eaten, much less made, a pumpkin pie or anything like that. So, in the spirit of crossing yet another item off my culinary to-do list, I decided to bake little pumpkin patch cakes.

Truth be told, the choice of what to make was made much much easier by the acquisition of a beautiful baking pan by Nordicware in the shape of little pumpkin halves. I bought this at Williams-Sonoma, a store which I absolutely adore. I lament everyday the fact that I did not take more advantage of it when I was living in the US but if I ever move back to America, it will be because of this store. No kidding. In fact, whenever I travel to the States now, I always return with a suitcase full of things that I have picked up from Wiliams-Sonoma. This pan was one of those things that I lugged back to London at the risk of overweight baggage and all.

Since the pan bakes up the pumpkins in halves, one can choose to assemble the cakes into whole pumpkins with a layer of frosting in between (as shown above) or simply serve them as is as little tea cakes of sorts. As the assembled pumpkin turns out to be fairly large, I decided to assemble half of them and leave the rest as is. For those who don't have a special pumpkin shaped pan, don't let that deter you. I used some of the excess batter in a regular muffin pan and it turned out really well. The frosting can then be used to frost the muffin, like a cupcake.

I was pressed for time while making these but I think the pumpkins would do well with some icing decorations such as little leaves or tendrils. Despite the plainer look though, the cake was absolutely delish. A little big to hand out to trick-or-treaters, perhaps, but they'd definitely work well at a Halloween or Thanksgiving party.

Pumpkin Patch Cakes
From Williams-Sonoma

530g all-purpose flour
2 3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 tsp salt
5 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1 3/4 tsp freshly grarted nutmeg
1 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
220g unsalted butter
375g firmly packed light brown sugar
410g granulated sugar
4 eggs
250ml milk
395g pumpkin puree

For the frosting:
250g cream cheese
125g unsalted butter
125g confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Food colouring as desired

Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

Position a rack in the lower third of an oven and preheat to 350F. Generously grease and flour the wells of the pumpkin patch (or muffin) pan; tap out excess flour.

To make the cakes, over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, allspice and cloves; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy and smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the brown and granulated sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture in three additions, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with te flour. Beat each addition just until incorporated, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the pumpkin puree and beat until incorporated. Remove the bowl from the mixer.

Divide half of the batter between the wells of the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake until a toothpick inserted near the center of a cake half comes out clean, 18 to 22 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cake halves cool upright in the pan for 15 minutes.

Gently tap the pan on a work surface to loosen the cakes. Invert the pan onto the rack and lift off the pan. Let the cakes cool completely before decorating. Wash and thoroughly dry the pan, grease and flour the wells and repeat with the remaining batter.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the cream cheese on medium speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the butter and beat until combined, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the confectioners' sugar and vanilla and beat until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in food coloring as desired.

To assemble the cakes, using a bread knife, cut off any portion of each cake that rose above the rim of the pan. Place a cake half, flat side up, on a cake stand or plate and spread the frosting on top. Place its matching cake half, flat side down, on top. Repeat with the remaining cakes. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, then decorate as desired.

For unassembled cake halves, decorate the exterior of each half as desired.

Makes 24 cake halves or 12 assembled cakes

Happy Birthday Dad!

Its my dad's birthday together and since I can't spend it with him personally, I'm taking the opportunity to wish him "Happy Birthday" with this cake that I made for him. Like me, my dad has a sweet tooth. (Unlike me, though, my dad has, for most of his life, been blessed with an amazing metabolism which means that it takes a quite a lot for him to put on any weight.) As such, I'm sure he would love this cake which is made of dark chocolate cake layers, a decadent white chocolate filling and then glazed with a generous layer of thinned dark chocolate ganache. Appropriately, the cake is called Blanc et Noir.

Although the cake has quite a few components to it, it is a relatively easy cake to make. The trickiest parts are handling the cake layers as they tend to be very moist and delicate, and getting the glaze to go on smoothly. Unfortunately, although I managed to cover the whole cake, I had a few small air bubbles on the surface of my glaze which though not fatal, does slightly mar the appearance of the cake. This is somewhat made up for by the marbling effect that is created with the white chocolate on the dark glaze - an easy technique that produces impressive looking results.

Since I can't share the cake with you, Dad, in person today, I'll make this for you another time. Hopefully, it'll turn out perfect. In the meantime, M and I have been enjoying this incredibly rich cake all of today.

Happy birthday again, Dad! I hope you're having a great day.


Blanc et Noir
From Pure Chocolate

White-chocolate ganache filling:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz white chocolate, finely chopped

Noir cake layers:
8 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
5 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
Dark-chocolate ganache glaze

White chocolate for writing:
2 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped
2 tsp vegetable oil

to make the filling
In a saucepan, heat the cream over medium-high heat just until it begins to boil. Remove from the heat and add the white chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is smooth and melted. Pour into a small bowl and cover with plastic wrap touching the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Let the ganache set up at least 12 hours or overnight at room temperature.

to make the cake
Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 300F.

Lightly butter a 9-by-13-inch quarter sheet pan and line with parchment paper. Then lightly butter the parchment paper.

In a double boiler melt the chocolate over low heat. Remove the boiler top when the chocolate is nearly melted and continue stirring until completely smooth. Add the softened butter in 3 parts, stirring until no visible traces of butter remain. (If the butter begins to melt and separate, stop and allow the chocolate more time to cool.) The finished mixture should be glossy and smooth. Set aside to cool until the mixture is the consistency of softened butter. Briefly return to the double boiler if it begins to thicken too much.

In a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg yolks with half the sugar at medium-high speed, increasing to high speed until pale yellow and tripled in volume, 5 to 6 minutes.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. With a rubber spatula fold in the melted chocolate mixture. The mixture should be smooth and glossy.

Clean the whisk and in another clean bowl begin whipping the egg whites on medium-high speed, increasing the speed and allowing them to become quite frothy. Slowly add the remaining sugar and continue whipping until the peaks are stiff and creamy.

Lighten the chocolate mixture by quickly folding in a quarter of the whites until smooth and no traces of white remain. Then gently fold in the remaining whites in 3 parts, trying not to overmix and lose the volume. Evenly spread the batter into the prepared pan. The pan will be two-thirds full.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The cake will rise above the edges of the pan, and a light crust will form on top. A cake tester inserted in the center will have a few moist crumbs.

Let the cake cool in the pan at room temperature for 10 minutes. Then chill until thoroughly cold, 4 hours or overnight. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap if chilling for longer than 4 hours. (The layer can be wrapped in plastic once cooled and placed in freezer up to a week prior to assembly.)

to assemble the cake
Have ready the white-chocolate ganache filling.

To remove the well-chilled cake from the pan, run a thin-bladed knife around the edges. Place the bottom of a baking sheet over the cake and invert. Remove the parchment paper.

Place the filling in a mixing bowl. It should be the consistency of softened butter. (If not thick enough, stir and let sit longer to thicken.) With a whisk attachment or using a hand-mixer, mix on high speed until the ganache is lighter in colour and texture and soft peaks form, 2 to 4 minutes. Stop several times and scrape down the side of the bowl.

Using a ruler and the tip of a paring knife, mark the cake in thirds across its width. Cut the cake with a serrated blade into 3 approximately 4-inch-wide sections.

Place one chilled layer of the cake on the serving plate or on a 4-by-8-inch cardboard cake board. With a metal spatula, spread half of the white ganache filling on the layer. Top with the second chilled cake layer and spread with the remaining filling. Top with the last chilled cake layer.

Using a thin-bladed knife, trim the sides of the cake. Let set in the refrigerator at least 1 hour.

to finish the cake
Make the dark-chocolate ganache glaze.

Pour about 1/4 cup of the glaze into a small bowl and place in the refrigerator to chill for approximately 25 minutes. Set aside the remaining ganache to cool about 30 minutes, gently stirring occasionally until it thickens and ribbons off the end of the spatula, 80-85F.

Meanwhile, make white chocolate for writing.

to make writing chocolate
In a small bowl over simmering water, melt the chocolate. Remove from the heat, add the vegetable oil, and stir with a spatula until smooth. Set aside.

With an offset spatula, thinly coat the top and sides of the finished cake with the 1/4 cup chilled ganache glaze. Transfer to a cooling or pouring rack positioned over a rimmed baking sheet.

Slowly and evenly pour the rest of the glaze around the sides of the cake, being careful to cover all the corners. Then pour the remaining glaze down the center using a metal spatula to spread the glaze evenly over the top, letting the excess run down the sides. Before glaze sets, decorate.

Pour the writing chocolate into a small parchment paper cone. Pipe 3 thin white parallel lines, 1/4 inch apart, lengthwise, down the center of the cake over the soft glaze. Working quickly, with a toothpick draw small figure eights crosswise through the ganache and white stripes all along the cake's length.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours to set. Remove half an hour before serving. Can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

serves 12 to 18

Fondants aux Pommes

Its time again for Sugar High Fridays, and this time, SHF #36 is hosted by Spittoon Extra with a theme of Drunken Apples. As you may surmise then, in order to participate, one needs to find a recipe that pairs apples with alcohol.

When I first read the theme, my mind instinctively thought to make something French since I often come across French recipes that combine apples with Calvados, an apple brandy from Lower Normandy. So I reached into my bookshelf for my copy of Paris Sweets and started searching for a recipe. It wasn't long before I found the recipe for Soft Apple Cakes, or Fondants aux Pommes - doesn't it sound so much more poetic in French? The alcohol used for this recipe, however, is rum not Calvados as it is the raisins, which also go into the apple cakes, that are soaked in the alcohol.

As Dorie Greenspan promises in her introduction to these treats, which originate from the famed Boulangerie Kayser, the cake in this recipe is incredibly soft and creamy. Not at all like the texture of a muffin even though this is the type of tray in which they are baked in. Combined with the sweetness of the apples and the slight kick from the rum, it makes for an irresistible snack. Bet you can't stop at just one!

PS: Special credit goes to M for helping me with flambe-ing the raisins. Something I didn't dare do on my own!


Fondants aux Pommes

From Paris Sweets

60g moist, plump raisins
30g dark rum
Juice of 1/2 lemon
3 to 4 large apples, peeled and cored
105g all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp double-acting baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 large eggs, at room temperature
100g sugar
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
60g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Soak the raisins in hot water for about 4 minutes, until they are puffed. Drain, drop them into a small saucepan, and, stirring constantly, warm them over low heat until they are very hot. Remove the pan from the heat, pour the rum over the raisins, and, standing back, ignite the rum with a match. Swirl the pan until the flame goes out.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325F. Line 20 muffin molds with cupcake liners.

Put the lemon juice in a large bowl. Cut each apple in half from top to bottom, cut each half into 1/4 inch slices, and then cut the slices crosswise in half. Toss the slices in the bowl with the lemon juice.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Put the eggs and sugar in a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium-high speed until the eggs are pale and voluminous, about 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. Switch to a large rubber spatula and stir a couple of spoonfuls of the batter into the melted butter. Working gently, fold the flour into the remaining batter, followed by the melted butter, apples and raisins.

Spoon the batter into the lined muffin tins, filling each mold just about to the top, and slip the tins into the oven. Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, rotating the tins top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking; the cakes are done when a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the tins to a rack and wait for 5 minutes before gently lifting the cakes, in their papers, from them. Allow the cakes to cool to tepid or room temperature before serving.

Makes 20 little cakes

Dressing up cupcakes

As previously mentioned, while in Toronto, I managed to squeeze in a class on decorating cupcakes at Bonnie Gordon Cakes. For those of you who haven't heard of Bonnie Gordon, she is the genius behind all the wonderful creations featured on the Heather Locklear movie, The Perfect Man. (You can check out pictures of her creations by clicking on the link above)

Having thoroughly enjoyed the Designer Cookie class that I took with several days prior, I was very much looking forward to this particular class. In addition, since I had scheduled a private session, I was relishing the chance to ask all the stupid questions that I had about decorating that I didn't quite want to voice in front of other people.

My teacher this time was a lovely lady named Sarah who spent about 7 years as a pastry chef at a restaurant before deciding to move into cake decorating and chocolate making. She is the person responsible for all the lovely creations featured in the photo at the beginning of this post and below. (Sorry to disappoint those of you who thought I might have been the one who made these lovely cupcakes!)

During our two and a half hour class we covered the basics of decorating cupcakes such as the right buttercream consistency for cupcakes (used to create even mounds on top of cupcakes before layering on the fondant), creating thumb roses and ribbon roses from 50/50 (a 50-50 mix of fondant and gum paste), using cutters, embossers and veiners to create decorations for cupcakes, etc. We also spent time talking about the endless possibilities for coloring the decorations such as using gel pastes, lustre dusts and petal dusts. Before this session, I had no idea the sheer amount of tools that existed to aid in making baked goods look pretty. One can easily spend thousands, and I really mean thousands, on this equipment. Don't believe me? Just go to Yahoo or Google and search for cake decorating or sugarcraft equipment to see for yourself.

In the short time allocated for the class, it was hard to complete many of the more intricate designs that Sarah had done in advance since many of the decorations you see take about 24 hours to fully dry. Still, I was able to create some simple roses, bows and butterflies to make my own cupcakes. (see smaller pictures directly below) I know I've got a long way to go, but hey, you have to start somewhere! In any case, for those of you who are interested in cupcake decorating, I've reproduced the perfect buttercream recipe below. Enjoy!

Perfect Buttercream

1 cup sugar
5 pasteurized egg whites
2 cups butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla

Warm egg whites and sugar, whisking continuously over a pot of simmering water. When sugar has dissolved and egg whites are hot, whip meringue in a bowl of an electric mixer until cooled, thick and tripled in volume. Add butter in chunks mixing continuously. When butter if fully incorporated and the buttercream has a smooth silky look, whisk in any desired flavourings.

Fill a piping bag fitted with a round tip and pipe buttercream on tops of cooled cupcakes.

Celebration cupcakes

I just returned from a whirlwind trip back to Asia. All in all I was away from London for less than 6 days but managed to visit both Singapore and Bali. As you can imagine, I'm extremely tired but not too tired to update my blog. I feel guilty for having been less regular with my blog this weekend so I thought tonight I'd make something to celebrate being back.

Actually, I've had my eye on this recipe since first reading about it months ago. Those of you who frequent food blogs will no doubt be familiar with Anita from Dessert First whose blog and photos literally have me salivating at times. Those of you who aren't, I highly recommend checking out her site. In any case, being a big fan of chocolate and hazelnuts, these cupcakes were just the thing to celebrate a homecoming.

As it turns out, perhaps making a 3 part cupcake at 7 pm in the evening was too ambitious given that I only landed at 7 am this morning and had to head straight to work. Part way through the recipe I started to feel the effects of jet lag so I made the decision to skip the hazelnut mousseline filling. I briefly contemplated substituting it with Nutella but decided that a chocolate cupcake with a coffee buttercream would be decadent enough, especially given the inordinate amount of eating that I did back home in Singapore. Since I left out the filling, I topped my cupcakes with some Valrhona chocolate pearls. The crunchiness of the chocolate provided a nice contrast against the velvety smoothness of the buttercream.

Next time, I'll endeavour to be true to the recipe and add in the hazelnut mousseline. For now, I'm off to catch some z's as there's more celebrating to be done tomorrow when yours truly turns another year older.

A refreshing summer dessert

As I referenced in an earlier post, summer is almost over and we've got to make the most of it. At least for now though, succulent, juicy berries are still available in the stores. So, to kick off the start of the weekend, I made a light dessert for dinner last night.

Reminiscent of the ice cream floats that I'm sure we all loved from childhood, I made a sparkling lemonade float that was topped with strawberries and mascarpone ice cream. (Credit for this combination and the recipe go to Emily Luchetti, one of my favourite dessert cookbook authors.) The mascarpone ice cream, being perfumed with a vanilla pod, was essentially a creamier, more luxurious version of vanilla ice cream and provided the perfect contrast to the slightly tart and tangy taste of the lemonade. Refreshing, yet indulgent at the same time.

Mascarpone ice cream
From this book

4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 tsp kosher salt
2 cups mik
1 1/2 cups heavy (whipping) cream
1/2 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise with seeds scraped out
1 cup mascarpone cheese

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1/4 cup of the sugar, and the salt. Cook the millk, cream, vanilla bean, and the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until almost simmering. Slowly pour the liquid into the egg-and-sugar mixture, whisking as your pour. Return the cream-and-milk mixture to the saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a heat-resistant plastic or wooden spatula, until the custard reaches 175F and lightly coats the spatula.

Strain the custard into a clean bowl, discarding the vanilla bean, and cool over an ice bath until room temperature. Whisk in the mascarpone. Refrigerate the custard for at least 4 hours or up to overnight. If necessary, whisk the ice cream base to combine. Churn in an ice cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions. Freeze until scoopable, about 4 hours, depending on your freezer.

Green tea delight

M is a big ice cream fan and truth be told, so am I. As such, our ice cream maker is probably one of the best investments I ever made. Besides, ice cream is one of those desserts that really doesn't take that much work to make but that never fails to impress guests. Maximum reward for minimum effort, what more could you want?

One of my favourite flavours which I have never been able to get quite right is green tea ice cream. Until today, that is, thanks to a recipe that I first saw on Kuiadore, a food blog written by the enormously talented Joycelyn. I think the addition of white chocolate in this recipe adds depth and richness to the green tea, making this an incredibly luxurious way to finish off any dinner.

For us, it was a perfect way to end a perfect weekend.

The fleeting days of summer

Summer is almost over. Or, if like me, you live in London, it never really came. In any case, there's not much time left to savour the sunshine, warmth and produce that summer usually brings. One of my favourites is berries - something I did not grow up eating in Singapore but which I have come to love. Just last weekend, I came across some blackberries and lingonberries growing in the wild while walking through a trail in Gothenburg and I must say they were the best, juiciest berries I've ever had.

In an attempt to recreate that sensation and to savour the fleeting days of summer, for dessert tonight I made rhubarb consommé with summer berries. While berries are perfectly great on their own, I find that a simple rhubarb soup dresses it up just enough to make it a dessert that you can serve when you have friends over. Yet the soup is still light enough to not overpower the dish leaving you with a fresh, light taste of fruit. Perfect for serving after a summer BBQ!