Sweet Decadenze

Cinnamon rolls used to be all the rage in Singapore in the late 90s, but like bubble tea, it was all but a fad destined to become part of our F&B history earlier rather than later.  Admittedly, I had forgotten all about how I used to be obsessed with cinnamon rolls and how I must stop by the Saint Cinnamon shop in town to get my weekly fix until a good friend E mentioned about how she and another friend missed this funky bread.

That was reason enough for me to start looking for a good recipe.  I’d come across many, but 9 out of 10 require a breadmaker for the process, and a breadmaker is a piece of equipment I am not ready to invest in.  By a stroke of luck, I found this recipe by a very humourous lady residing in the States.  Her blog is not only entertaining and enriching, she’s also living out a life that I could barely imagine, having lived in a metropolitan city all my life.

‘Nuff said.  Now let’s get down to the recipe, shall we?

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You know what?  I think Ree’s pictorial and step-by-step instructions can’t get any clearer.  So for the first time, I’m going to save the trouble of typing out the recipe all over again.  However, if you run into any problems while attempting to try out the recipe, you are more than welcome to ask me about it.

 I quartered the recipe and ended up with 2 pans of cinnamon rolls!  Since I’m intending to bring this over to a gal friend’s place tomorrow for a small gathering,  I felt compelled to try out one little piece to ascertain that it is indeed edible.

What can I say?!  That shot of sugary high sent me straight up to the skies and back!  This is definitely not for the faint-hearted but will be absolutely delightful for the sweet-tooths out there.

Take III, and I promise it’s the final take of strawberry sweethearts, for a while.  In a week, I’ve made it 5 times (and one more order to go on Monday).  I do think it’s quite enough.  As a matter of fact, I think I’m overdosed to the point of being indifferent to it now.

You know how people always have differing comments when you let them taste something new like “Oh, it’s too sweet” or “It can afford to be a litte sweeter” et cetera?  I always take such generic comments with a pinch of salt because, seriously, tell me how to tweak a recipe not to be so sweet, yet let it be slightly sweeter at the same time?  However, this is the first time everyone who gets to taste something I make and has nothing but praises for its taste.

Therefore, I conclude it must be good.  I casually did a quick survey with some friends and they were all quick to urge me to sell my bakes.  Within one day, I received 3 orders for my 9 x 9 inch strawberry sweethearts from friends and friends’ friends.  I am so grateful for the overwhelming response.

Slowly, I’ll make more of my stuff available for sale.  I need time to build up my confidence, so I’ll only pick the bakes I am confident in first.  If you’re interested in getting strawberry sweethearts from me, please email to cadenze[at]decadenze[dot]com for further discussion and I’ll try my utmost to work things around my own schedule.

Have a great weekend!

Didn’t I say I was going to make another attempt soon?

Well, I wanted to try it out again on Monday, but the NTUC I went to didn’t have strawberries!  And so, I was compelled to postpone my plans till today (after The Hubby kindly went out to get the strawberries for me).

Did some minor adjustments to the recipe because instead of making 2 of those 9.5 x 6.5 inch plastic containers, I wanted to try making it in a 9 x 9 inch square springform pan which a colleague got for me in Hong Kong last year.  The cake I made during the last attempt was really messy at the sides mainly due to my ineptitude at laying out the aluminium foil nicely and carelessness when removing the cake from the container.  Hence, to make life easier for myself, I thought of adopting the recipe on a springform pan instead.

What an ingenious idea!

Thank goodness the cake turned out ok.  Otherwise I would have to eat my words after praising myself for being ingenious haha!  But on a more serious note, this attempt yields a product much more presentable than the previous, and I can’t be more happy! 

On a sidenote… from my blog statistics, I can tell there are many of you out there who were directed to my blog in search for the Strawberry Hearts recipe but went away disappointed because I didn’t post up the recipe.  If you are located in Singapore, then the best way to learn how to make this simple yet delicious dessert is to learn from Ms Valerie Kong, who conducts baking classes at various CCs around the whole island (you could email me for her email address, I don’t wish to post it up here for fear of directing spams to her email inbox). 

Till my next post!

Ended up that my biscotti became such a hit with men!  The Hubby loved it (to my pleasant surprise) so much he had them for breakfast when I initially packed 5 slices for his supper at work, C’s husband loved it, and same goes for her colleague who was there for the movie night too.

Having received much positive feedback about the biscotti I baked, I decided to venture into more interesting flavours.  After some casual discussion with The Hubby (who, no doubt, will happily be the main taster for the new flavours), I decided to try two flavours:-

1. Hazelnut and dried Prunes
2. Hazelnut and coarsely grated Peanuts

I actually wanted to bake some lemon zest biscotti, but The Hubby snorted at my suggestion.  He isn’t really that keen on citrus fruits, quite unlike myself.  Since I’ve had quite enough of biscotti to last me for a while, I decided to go along with his palate fully expecting him to finish them up for me, which I’m sure will turn out to be an awfully easy task.

If you ask me, I prefer the the hazelnut and dried prunes flavour.  The prunes give the dry biscotti a very refreshing taste, and it works a lot better than dried raisins.  The biscotti with grated peanuts somewhat pales in comparison.  It tasted slightly better when I sprinked some icing sugar atop.

I wish I had more dried fruits or nuts at home to try out other flavours, but I’ve gotta make do with what I have at hand.  The next time I get other nuts or dried fruits for other recipes will be the time when I revisit this trust biscotti recipe.

It’s the end of the work week, and a bunch of gal friends and I decided to chill it out at C’s house, sort of a Girls’ Night Out but instead of that, we are having a Ladies’ Movie Night In (well, I can’t exactly use the word girls when most of us are either approaching or well into our 30s )!

This chill-out session was decided upon about a week ago, hence giving me enough time to think about what I would like to contribute to the mini-party for 6.  And, here’s my contribution…

- Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream -

- Strawberry Hearts, which I like to call as Strawberry Sweethearts -

My humble contribution consists of Hazelnut Cinnamon Biscotti, Vanilla Cupcakes with Raspberry Buttercream, Strawberry Sweethearts and a bottle of Inniskillin Eiswein.

‘Tis the first time I’m trying to make the Strawberry Hearts and the results aren’t exactly satisfactory.  I made two trays of 9.5 x 6.5 inch strawberry hearts, and let’s just say that I wish my mum’s colleagues would be consuming one of the trays tomorrow either in the darkness or with their eyes closed .  Yes, it is that bad.  I kid you not.

I came to one conclusion.  Strawberry Hearts is not something one should attempt when one is hard pressed for time.  Obviously I learnt it the hard way.  After making blunders one after another (which I ain’t going to elaborate here), I made the mother of all blunders by carelessly pouring the liquid jello onto the cheese layer.  Although Valerie had reminded us (at her class) that we should pour the jello on the strawberries instead of the cheese layer (lest the impact breaks up the cheese), I did exactly what she warned us not to do. 

And so, the result is one tray of extremely ugly Strawberry Hearts with some cheese particles on the jello layer.  Absolutely edible, and tasty too, I bet… but definitely an eye-sore to look at.

In the very least, I am still grateful I do have another tray which is slightly more presentable to bring to the gathering.  And yes, I will be making another attempt very soon!

Biscotti are traditionally dry and crisp Italian cookies, and when loosely translated, means “twice baked” owing to the fact that they are usually baked twice. Different regions in Italy have also developed their unique ways of flavouring or consuming these endearing cookies.

Finding good and value-for-money biscotti in Italy is not an issue at all, but once you step out of that quaint boot-like shaped country I’ve come to adore so, you’d better not set your expectations too high.  In this part of the world where I belong to, good biscotti are hard to come by.  They are almost always over-priced and more often than not, also faring poorly in the taste faculty. 

Quite honestly speaking, I’d never thought of baking biscotti in my own little kitchen at home.  But this has come to an end after attending Joycelyn Shu’s workshop.   I tasted samples of the biscotti she baked using her recipe, and I must say they are not bad at all!  In fact, good enough to rival those found in the country where it originates from , I should say!

- The sliced biscotti after their first bake, and waiting for the second go. -

Unlike many of my other countrymen who like to dunk their biscotti into their espresso shots, I like to have mine neat on its own, completing the experience with a cup of earl grey tea by the side.  And in a bid to reprise the wonderful experience we had in Italy, I was eager to try out the recipe at first opportunity.

 - My twice-baked Hazelnut Cinnamon Biscotti -

I have to say that my biscotti turned out just wonderful!  And I like the fact that I can bake it a few days in advance (it keeps for at least a week in an air-tight container) for a evening gathering over at a gal friend’s on Friday night.

While I do not have the liberty to share the recipe I obtained from attending Joycelyn’s workshop, I would like to share this recipe adapted by Ivonne of Cream Puff in Venice, an Italian lady residing in Canada.  Her biscotti looks equally impressive, and I can’t wait to try it out too!

Created a very simple strawberry cream cake from the remaining pieces of the sponge cake used for the mango mousse cake.  I ran out of creativity, so I just simply whip some cream, added some strawberry slices, and put two layers of the sponge together.

The recipe for the cream is really simple; for every 1 litre of whipping cream, add 100g of icing sugar.  Add in some vanilla extract (to taste), and whip till stiff peaks form.  So yup, that’s about it.  A really simple way to make use of the remaining sponge cake.

I do have a little more of the sponge cake left.  Shall see if I can come up with more creative ways to make use of it.

Attended yet another of Joycelyn Shu’s workshop at Shermay’s. If you have been visiting Joycelyn’s blog, you would have read about her laborious undertakings to perfect the ‘jewel-like confections’, which she confesses to have quite a fixation on.

I myself missed quite a few perfect opportunities to taste these legendary cookie sandwiches made by some of the world’s best acclaimed pâtisseries on my leisure trips to Paris and Tokyo.  While another trip to the other continent later this year is in the pipeline (and this time, I will visit the renown pâtisseries!), it does not stop me from wanting to taste a good macaron.

As luck would have it, I learnt of Joycelyn’s demo class on Macarons & Biscotti while attending one of her cupcake workshops.  It was the perfect opportunity to learn the trade of macarons-making from the guru herself, for I believe I will learn the most from a person who learnt how to make them by ‘making mistakes aplenty’.

- Gateaux Fabulous, a bespoke desserts concept business by Joycelyn -

It was a great class and I learnt aplenty from the guest chef who was not in the least stingy about imparting her knowledge and experience.  To top it off, I went home with 2 boxes of Gryphon Tea, 2 pieces of biscotti and 4 macarons of different flavours placed in a pretty box, compliments of Shermay and Joycelyn!

- Four different flavours of macarons in a pretty box! -

All in all, it was a rather inspiring class, to say the least.  And did I mention that the macarons were incredibly delicious?  I now have another item added to my seemingly endless to-do list.  Needless to say, making macarons is way up there in terms of priority.

And oh, I almost forgot about it.  Here’s wishing all mothers a

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

Recently, there has been sort of a mango mousse cake frenzy on a local baking forum (which I am fortunate to be a member of).  Because the mango mousse cake recipe created by Jo of Karlsfoodie was such a delectable-looking one, everyone else was trying to find the perfect opportunity to try baking one.

My perfect opportunity came in the form of Mother’s Day, simply because I have a mum who is crazy over fruits.  I asked her a couple of weeks back if she was alright with a mango cake for Mother’s Day, and her simple reply was, “Any cake with lots of fruits is fine with me.”

That was easier than I expected.  However, baking and assembling the cake was anything but.  The recipe in itself is simple enough, but it is time-consuming because there are 3 different layers of the cake to prepare:- sponge cake layer, mango mousse layer and the mango ‘mirror’ layer.

Many thanks to Jo, I am able to share the recipes of both the mango mousse and ‘mirror’ layers here.  The sponge cake layer recipe was one my instructor tweaked during one of my BITC Baking Principles classes.

- The cake as it was before I messed up with the decoration. -

Sponge Cake Layer
300g cake flour
5g baking powder
12g milk powder
1g salt
250g caster sugar
255g eggs
150g water
12g emulsified gel
vanille extract, to taste
75g vegetable oil

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Line a 12×16 inch baking sheet with baking paper.
3. Sift together the flour, baking powder, milk powder and salt.  Set aside.
4. Whisk together the sugar, eggs, water, emlusified gel and vanilla in a large mixing bowl for about 8 mins on medium speed.
5. Fold the sieved ingredients into the whisked batter in 3 portions till well-incorporated.
6. Fold the vegetable oil into the batter in 2 portions till well-incorporated.
7. Pour the batter onto the prepared sheet and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into a few spots comes out clean.
8. Lift the sponge cake by the baking paper onto the cooling rack to cool completely before working on it.

Mango Mousse Layer
20g gelatine powder
60ml hot water
360g whipping cream
330g mango pureé
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
mango cubes, optional

1. Soak the gelatine in water.  Dissolve over hot water bath.  Set aside. 
2. Whip the whipping cream till medium peaks form.
3. Fold in the mango pureé to the whipped cream gently .
4. Add in the gelatine mixture and lemon juice.
5. Add in the mango cube, if desired.

Mango ‘Mirror’
1 tbsp gelatine powder
50ml hot water
150g mango pureé
some mango slices, optional

1. (This layer should be made only when the basic cake has been sent to chill till almost set.  I doubled the recipe above because I prefer a thicker layer.  See Assembly Instructions.) 
2. Soak and dissolve the gelatine in hot water.  Set aside to cool.
3. Add the cooled gelatine mixture to the mango puree in a medium bowl and mix till well-incorporated.

Assembly Instructions:

1. Prepare 8×8 inch square cake ring with a 9×9 inch cake board below. 
2. Cut out two 8×8 inch sponge cakes (slightly smaller to fit into the cake ring).  Put one piece into the cake ring.
3. Pour in half the amount of mango mousse onto the cake layer.
4. Gently place the second piece of sponge cake onto the mousse layer.
5. Pour in the remaining half amount of mango mousse onto the cake layer.
6. Let the cake chill in the refrigerator until almost set.
7. Make the mango ‘mirror’ layer.
8. (optional) Lay the mango slices on the cake before pouring the mango ‘mirror’ gently on top.
9. Chill overnight till set.

This cake is by far the most complicated cake I’ve ever made at home.  And I almost went into cardiac arrest when I realised that I do not have a cooling rack as big as the 12×16 inch cake I’d baked.  Thank goodness two small-sized cooling racks placed side by side was sufficient for the cake.

I really did not do justice to the recipe.  A bad decision to make a second layer of ‘mirror’ just spoilt the glossy surface it was supposed to have.  But oh well, everyone has their good and bad days, including myself.  I contemplated not putting up any picture of the cake, but finally decided against it.  Doing so would be going against my principle of sharing both my baking joys and woes.  I have learnt from a bad decision, and I want to share this experience with those who will be trying out this cake.

On a side note, I’d forgotten how good the sponge cake which the recipe yields tasted (since my BITC class about a year ago).  After this cake, I think I will be looking into making some swiss rolls. :) 

Sugar Asterope, my elder golden retriever, will be celebrating her 3rd birthday tomorrow. Months before, I was already searching for the perfect birthday cake recipe, but to no avail.  Those I came across (which were far and few, by the way) were either boring or called for some exotic ingredient I’d never heard of.

Help came in the most unusual and unexpected manner, I should say.  During my recent visit to Taipei, I came across this book titled ‘Doggy Treat’s Recipes’ at one of the baking equipment stores where I bought all the lovely disney cookie cutters.  I was bracing myself for disappoinment as I took the book from the shelf and started flipping through, expecting only simple recipes of cookies and brownies.  To my pleasant surprise, the book actually covered quite a number of cake recipes!

I was over the hill.  Never mind that some of the instructions in chinese were somewhat lost in translation in English.  In times like this, I thank my family upbringing for insisting that, as a Singaporean Chinese, I should at least be effectively billingual, not monolingual.

Enough said.  Here’s the recipe I translated…

Mango Yoghurt Mousse Cake
50g disgestive biscuits, crushed
20g margarine, melted
13g gelatine powder
65g hot water
150g whipping cream
250g plain yoghurt
120g mango pureé

1. Prepare a 6-inch round mould and a cake board below.
2. Mix the melted butter and digestive biscuits in a mixing bowl till bonded.
3. Lay the mixture onto the cake board until it covers the entire mould, using the back of a spoon to press the mixture down, till about 1 cm thick.  Chill in the refrigerator while preparing the filling.
4. Sprinkle gelatin over the hot water in a bowl and set aside, stirring occasionally until it turns clear.
5. In another medium mixing bowl, whip the cream until stiff peaks form.  Set aside in a cool place.
6. In another large mixing bowl, whip the yoghurt until it is smooth.
7. Add in mango pureé and mix until well-incorporated.
8. Gently fold in the whipped cream till well-mixed.
9. Add in the cooled gelatine mixture.
10. Pour the batter onto the prepared crust and chill overnight until firm before serving.

Yield : 1 6-inch cake

Instead of a 6-inch cake mould, I used the 5-inch Pooh Bear mould I bought in Taipei.  I also used the some of the remaining unsweetened mango pureé I bought from Phoon Huat to make the facial features of Pooh on the cake surface.

Cute, isn’t it?  Well, as if my two golden retrievers could tell the difference if I’d used a simple mould instead.

I will admit it’s all for vanity and fun’s sake that I decided to try using the Pooh mousse mould.  And I quite like the way it turned out!