ABC Blueberry Cheese Bread

ABC Cooking Studio 

Blueberry Cheese Bread 

My first lesson! I was told that when this bread was refrigerated, it would taste like cheesecake. I was excited already to begin! 👏👏

The poke test, if the dough doesn't bounce back, it's ready. You could poke anywhere and of course I poked right smack centre. 

Almost done! It looks poofy, but it's going in for a second proofing before baking. 

Glazed with egg wash, sprinkled with "shiny" sugar, straight out of the oven. 

Can't wait to sink my teeth in but first to let it cool and refrigerate it. 

Suki Leong 

🍰 7 June 2015 

ABC Cooking Studio Trial Lesson - Gateau Chocolat Recipe

ABC Cooking Studio Trial Lesson - (Cake making) Gateau Chocolat Recipe

Well known Japanese cooking studio opened in Singapore on 28 April 2015 at Takashimaya, Ngee Ann City. 

We sign up for the trial lesson at $28 and I choose to attend the Gateau Chocolat class. 

I thought it was going to be a molten lava cake but it wasn't. Turns out, it was dense in the center with a meringue like  crispy-chewy crust. It will rise during baking but upon cooling, the centre sinks. It can be consumed straight out of the oven, but it also tastes yummy after a night of refrigeration. 

Admittedly, it's not a looker but it's yummy...... Totally addictive! 

Here's the recipe: 

GATEAU CHOCOLAT 

Total time: 60 mins (40 minutes baking time) 

15cm cake

Ingredients:

85g Milk chocolate (bar / buttons) 

65g unsalted butter 

25g Cocoa powder 

1 tbsp cake flour 

2 egg yolks 

1 tbsp caster sugar 

2 egg whites 

40g caster sugar 

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 160 deg Celcius 

2. Using a bain-marie, melt down the milk chocolate and butter. Alternatively, use a microwave, ensuring the chocolate does not overheat. 

3. Sieve the cocoa powder and cake flour, twice. 

4. Whisk the 2 egg yolks with the 1tbsp of sugar til frothy and white/ light cream in colour. 

5. Whisk the 2 egg whites til it looks like beer foam. Put in 1/2 of the sugar (20g) and whisk til soft peaks. Put in the rest of the sugar (20g) and whisk til stiff peaks. 

6. When the chocolate-butter mixture is slightly cool, fold in the cocoa-flour mix. 

7. Add the whisked egg yolks to the mixture by folding in gently. 

8. Add 1/3 of the whisked egg whites (meringue) to the mixture and fold in gently. Add another 1/3 and fold in gently. Finally add the last 1/3 and fold in gently, ensuring batter is well-mixed. 

9. Fill 15cm cake tin and bake for 40 minutes at 160deg Celcius. 

10. Set on a cooling rack to cool. Sprinkle / sieve icing sugar to decorate.  

It's meant to sink in the centre. 

The crust is the highlight:) enjoy!! 

🍰 28 April 2015 

Gateau au Thé Vert Recipe

Gateau Au Thé Vert / Matcha Cake Recipe

You might mistake this for a molten lava cake but it's actually a dense centre cake with crispy-chewy crust. Admittedly, it's not a looker but it's yummy...... Totally addictive! 

Here's the recipe: 

MATCHA CAKE 

60 mins (40 minutes baking time) 

15cm cake

Ingredients:

85g White chocolate (bar / buttons) 

65g unsalted butter 

25g matcha powder 

1 tbsp cake flour 

2 egg yolks 

1 tbsp caster sugar 

2 egg whites 

40g caster sugar 

1. Preheat the oven to 160 deg Celcius 

2. Using a bain-marie, melt down the white chocolate and butter. Alternatively, use a microwave, ensuring the chocolate does not overheat. 

3. Sieve the matcha powder and cake flour, twice. 

4. Whisk the 2 egg yolks with the 1tbsp of sugar til frothy and white/ light cream in colour. 

5. Whisk the 2 egg whites til it looks like beer foam. Put in 1/2 of the sugar (20g) and whisk til soft peaks. Put in the rest of the sugar (20g) and whisk til stiff peaks. 

6. When the chocolate-butter mixture is slightly cool, fold in the matcha-flour mix. 

7. Add the whisked egg yolks to the mixture by folding in gently. 

8. Add 1/3 of the whisked egg whites (meringue) to the mixture and fold in gently. Add another 1/3 and fold in gently. Finally add the last 1/3 and fold in gently, ensuring batter is well-mixed. 

9. Fill 15cm cake tin and bake for 40 minutes at 160deg Celcius. 

10. Enjoy fresh out of the oven or refrigerated overnight. 

🍰 6 June 2015 

RECIPE Heston’s Perfect Roast Chicken

Heston Blumenthal's perfectly roasted chicken. 

This recipe is the best roast chicken recipe I have ever tried, if you want juicy, succulent chicken straight out of the oven. When I followed the instructions on the recipe, I had a roast chicken that oozed juices when I sliced it. The secret is in brining the bird the night before and cutting it loose from the trussing. Roasting it at a low heat will ensure it remains succulent. 

Watch him make this recipe here: 

http://youtu.be/L_8gA4NHeCI

That link is broken - need to watch it on BBC now 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1Kq8k7yTr8Y

Heston's ultimate chicken is made extra juicy by brining the bird the day before

Heston: "A firm family favourite made extra juicy by brining the chicken before roasting it then cooking it for a long time at a gentle temperature. Brining is a fantastic technique for keeping moisture in food and it is incredibly simple to do. It involves a little forethought but minimum effort and it will guarantee a juicy and succulent bird every time."

Serves 4–6

Warning: Whilst Heston cooks his chicken to an internal temperature of 60°C, if you want to stick to safety guidelines your chicken should reach 75°C in the thickest part of the breast.

Ingredients

• 6% brine (300g salt dissolved in 5 litres of water)
• 1.5-2kg chicken
• 1 lemon
• 1 bunch of thyme
• 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for rubbing into the skin
• 30ml dry white wine

For the gravy (optional)

• 20ml dry white wine
• 250ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 sprig of tarragon
• 1 sprig of parsley

Method

1. Remove the trussing from the chicken then place it in a clean container. Pour over the brine ensuring that the chicken is submerged then cover the container with clingfilm and place in the fridge overnight.

2. Remove the chicken from the liquid and dry well with kitchen paper. Remove the wishbone and place on a cooling rack over a tray.

3. Preheat the oven to 90ºC (about fan 70°C, gas mark ¼ PLEASE NOTE ovens vary so use an oven thermometer to get an accurate temperature).

4. Roll and pierce the lemon then place it in the cavity of the bird with half the thyme. Rub some butter on top of the skin.

5. Place the chicken on the rack in a roasting tray and place in the oven. Roast the chicken until the internal temperature in the thickest part of the breast is 60ºC (this should take 3-4 hours).

6. Remove the chicken from the oven and allow to rest for 45 minutes. Turn the oven temperature as high as it will go.

7. In the meantime, melt the butter in a pan and add 30ml wine and a few sprigs of thyme. Bring to the boil then remove the pan from the heat and use the melted butter to baste the chicken before and during browning.

8. Once the resting time has elapsed, put the chicken back in the roasting tray and return it to the oven for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown, taking care that it doesn’t burn.

9. Once coloured, remove the chicken from the oven and place on a cooling rack.

10. To carve the chicken, remove the legs by slicing down where they meet the breast and splaying them outwards to expose the joint, which you can then sever.

11. Remove the breast by running a sharp knife deeply into the flesh along one side of the centre bone that extends the length of the bird, making a deep vertical cut. Then cut horizontally through the flesh at the bottom of the breast until the horizontal cut meets the vertical, separating the breast from the ribcage. Repeat the procedure on the other side of the centre bone. The breasts can then be laid cut-side down on the chopping board and sliced.

12. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper

If making the gravy...

13. When the chicken has been browned and removed from the roasting tray, place the tray containing the juices on the hob over a medium-high heat. Add the white wine and scrape and stir to deglaze the pan. Add the chicken stock and cook until reduced to a sauce. Strain into a small saucepan.

14. Before serving, stir in the mustard and warm through. Finish with freshly chopped tarragon and parsley and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Recipe from Heston Blumenthal at Home, Published by Bloomsbury

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/how-to-cook-like-heston/articles/all/roast-chicken-recipe

🍗 4 April 2015

RECIPE Rose Chiffon Cake

Rose Chiffon Cake 

Chiffon cakes are light and airy, they are delectable without feeling sinful. The process involves creaming up the egg yolk and whipping up the egg whites separately so that maximum amount of air can be introduced to the cake to allow it to rise to its full potential >.< 

Rose chiffon cakes are the most whimsical of the lot and here I found a perfect recipe. 

It's easier if you have two mixing bowls to start out with. One for the whites and one for the yolks. 

As with all meringues, make sure the bowl and mixers are clean and oil free. Once you get to the stuff peaks stage, carefully fold in to the yolk batter.  I've used pink food colouring here. 

I have here 2 recipes listed. In both my attempts, I used recipe #1, as seen in pictures. 

Recipe #1

http://www.keyingredient.com/recipes/13930064/rose-chiffon-cake/

70 ml rose water (mix rose syrup with water)

4 egg yolks

70 ml canola oil

1 tsp rose essence

20 g sugar

½ tsp double acting baking powder

100 g cake flour

4 egg whites

100 g sugar

If you wish, you could frost the cake with a rose creme chantilly. 

Rose Creme Chantilly :

100 ml dairy whipping cream

rose syrup and sifted icing sugar, to taste

Sift together baking powder and cake flour. set aside.

In a bowl whisk together rose water, essence, egg yolks, oil and 20g sugar until light and fluffy, then fold in the flour mixture until well combined.

In another bowl whisk egg whites until foamy, then gradually add in the 100g sugar and whisk until stiff glossy peaks.

Fold 1/4 of the egg whites into the yolk mixture to temper it, then followed by the rest of the egg whites.

Pour into an ungreased 22cm chiffon tin or tube pan and bake in a preheated oven of 170C for about 40 mins.

Immediately invert the pan and leave to cool completely before unmolding.

To make the rose creme chantilly, whisk together whipping cream, icing sugar and rose syrup until soft peaks, then use a palette knife to frost onto cooled cake.

Recipe #2

http://cakesbakesandcookies.com/2013/06/17/rose-chiffon-cake-recipe/

• 6 large eggs
• 225 plain flour (sieved)
• 300 g caster sugar (sieved)
• 1 tbsp baking powder (yes tablespoon!)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 120 ml sunflower oil
• 180 ml rose water (Measure 1 tablespoon of Rose essence and make up the rest of the volume with water)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• Icing sugar to decorate

Method:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 170ºC (150ºC Fan) Oil and line a 9” cake tin or a ring shaped tin. This cake rises very high so make sure that your baking paper is taller than the side of the tin.
2. Separate the egg whites and yolks.
3. Place all the dry ingredients in a bowl (keeping 50g sugar to one side)
4. Add the oil, egg yolks, rose water and vanilla essence to the flour and beat until combined.
5. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until you have soft peaks (that means that when you lift out the whisk the peak of egg whites just flops over and doesn’t stand to attention. Then whisk in the last 50g of sugar.
6. Using a metal spoon carefully fold the egg whites into the cake batter. Do this in three stages so that the cake will remain light and fluffy. Be careful not to over mix as you will bash out all the air in the eggs which is what makes the cake’s texture so yummy.
7. Pour the batter into your prepared tin and bake for 45-60 minutes or until the cake comes away from the side of the tin.
8. Remove from the oven and allow to cool whilst in the tin. The cake will be very puffy when it comes out and will deflate and wrinkle back into the tin as it cools. Don’t worry- it will still be light as a feather.
9. Remove from the tin and sprinkle with sieved icing sugar.
10. Enjoy with some fresh fruit and a drizzle of cream

TROUBLESHOOTING

Sometimes all doesn't go well with Chiffon Cakes- just like macarons, they are divas in their own rights too..... 

First they rose very nicely and all of a sudden, they just plopped and sunk in. I was horrified! In the end, they came out bottoms burnt and sunken in. They tasted lovely, a little wet but still light and fluffy. 

I found a website which was rather helpful in pin-pointing the faults. 

http://allthatmatters2rei.blogspot.sg/2008/07/chiffon-cake-tips-and-trouble-ii.html?m=1

According to the website, here's the math (formula) for success. 

"the amount of flour used is 120g. The amount of liquid used, including oil is 180g. Therefore, the flour over liquid ratio is 120 : 180. That is 2 parts to 3 parts or 66.67%, if you prefer. The higher percentage you have, will result in a more stable cake but it will have a drier texture. If the flour versus liquid ratio is lower then 60%, say, 50%, the chances of the cake collapsing is high. Reason being; there is too much liquid in the cake and the structure is not strong enough to hold it. In this case, usually after removing from the pan, or after slicing the cake, the cake will start to shrink. A good chiffon cake, as my mom taught me, should be able to hold its shape after cutting. The cake will spring back after you press it."

🍰 4 April 2015 

RECIPE Laksa cookies

When the regular cookies just don't cut it anymore, take out the rolling pin and make your own cookies. 

No more forking out $40++ to cookie museum for their laksa cookies. No more cookie-cutter cookies (excuse the pun) for Chinese New Year! Let's DIY something different this year:) 

-RECIPE-

Laksa butter cookies 

(Makes approx 70-90 pieces depending on size)

Ingredients: 

170g salted butter 

60g icing sugar 

70g laksa paste

20g egg white  

250g plain flour 

40g sambal hae bee (dried shrimp)

10pcs laksa leaves (shredded) 

Using a dough hook, mix the butter, icing sugar and laksa paste together. As it mixes, enjoy the aroma of the laksa paste being released. 

Add in the egg white (the amount is less than the amount in one egg white, please measure carefully or your dough will be too wet).

Now for the dry ingredients, add the flour, sambal hae bee and curry leaves. 

If you'd like to control how spicy your laksa cookies will turn out, I'd recommend making your own sambal hae bee. 

(Photo source and recipe found here: http://nasilemaklover.blogspot.sg/2010/12/chinese-style-of-nasi-lemak-with-hae.html?m=1) 

If you've never seen curry leaves,they look like above, and they would usually be sold in stalks. Pluck the prettiest curry leaves from the stalk. 

(Image source: http://www.theperfectpantry.com/2008/02/curry-leaves.html) 

Then slice them real thin. I like to use more than the recipe recommends because fragrance. 

(Image source:

http://crackingcurry.com/category/tip/)

Throw all these in and make a dough. 

Knead it up and make nice long log shaped rolls, about 1 inch in diameter. 

Place them up in baking / parchment paper, roll them up and set them in the freezer or fridge (if left overnight). 

When you are ready to bake them, take what you need out from the freezer and slice them into slivers of cookies about 1-2 cm thick. They will look a little like pieces of otah / spicy fish cake. Make sure they are approximately same height, so they will be evenly baked. 

You could also roll them out, and use cookie cutters to make fancy shaped cookies. 

Stick those in the oven at 160deg C and bake for 20-25 minutes. 

Voila! There you have your laksa cookies. But WAIT!! These babies aren't ready for consumption yet. Let the laksa oils seep overnight and the taste will develop stronger after 24 hours. Trust me, it pays to wait. :) 

These will keep for about 1 month at room temperature. If you make them now, you'll have them ready to give out for CNY!!:) 

-RECIPE-

Laksa butter cookies 

(Makes approx 70-90 pieces depending on size)

170g salted butter 

60g icing sugar 

70g laksa paste

20g egg white  

250g plain flour 

40g dried shrimp / sambal hae bee

10pcs laksa leaves (shredded) 

1. Mix butter, icing sugar, laksa paste to a creamy texture 

2. Add in egg white, incorporate well. 

3. Add in flour, laksa leaves and dried shrimp. 

4. Bring to a dough and shape log 1" round. 

5. Set dough in fridge 

6. Bake at 160deg C for approx 20-25 minutes 

7. Wait overnight before consumption. 

🍪 17 January 2015 

The mecca of Sweet: Adriano Zumbo's

Finally I went to Adriano's! It's my Mecca of sweet, delish goodness!! 

I felt like Charlie, walking into Willy Wonka's factory and most definitely, I would end up as Veruca Salt, the brat who wanted everything!! 

These were the Zumbarons that were available at that moment! They had toasted marshmallows, caramelised white chocolate, which were my favourites, and banana, mojito (which tasted of fresh mint leaves), Francesco Brownie (his father's name), fingerbun (which was coated in desiccated coconut), caramel au beurre sale, and hazelnut praline. They had other flavours which were not ready at that moment, which were red velvet, berry brûlée, SBC on Toast (salted butter caramel), popcorn, and a couple of others which I cannot remember! 

In the end, we chose just a few items, which included some macarons, a Cronut (which was what I was there for) a croissant and a I-forget-what-it's-called some Calamansi thingy. 

Here it is. The Calamansi thingy. 

Black Forest Cronut, it was actually very good! Having tried the mediocre one in Singapore, this one exceeded expectations. The lack of a queue made me think it wasn't that good. Perhaps it was the wrong criteria to judge it by!! 

The pastry was crisp and slightly crunchy, as if when you spread butter on croissant and toasted it, and the cherry was tart/citrusy enough to balance out the sweet, light cream, and the frosting was a little chewy/sticky to balance out the many flavours bursting in that one mouthful. Mmmm:) 

The Zumbarons- Zumbo's macarons. 

The brown one on top, Francesco Brownie, and the bottom row, from left to right, toasted marshmallow, mojito, caramelised white chocolate, and fingerbun. 

The Francesco one was chocolatey, taste n texture a lot like a fudgy brownie, but it didn't hit the spot. Maybe because I like my chocolate, chocolatey. The toasted marshmallow was a really interesting flavour, I cannot tell what went into the filling, but it was sweet gooey goodness, just like a toasted marshmallow would be. The mojito was a mint flavour one, but it was not the regular spearmint or eucalyptus mint, it tasted like mint leaves, as was described "like the mint leaves in the Vietnamese Pho". It was a refreshing taste (excuse the pun) and it wasn't too heavy on the palate. I could go for 2 at a time. The caramelised white chocolate was a really interesting twist on regular run of the mill caramel. There was the added dimension of milky chocolately goodness. But, just a hint of it. There wasn't the heaviness of regular gooey caramel macarons. I might just have been converted from a caramel lover to this caramelised white chocolate. Hah. 

🍭 23 March 2014