I feel utterly bad about having not given any time maintaining my blog for ages! It’s not that I haven’t been baking or cooking, it’s just that they’ve literally taken up all my time, time for myself all the sudden has become something luxurious…although I do miss taking my time styling my food and writing posts so badly. I truly think that people out there live a super busy life while still being able to write humble, thoughtful and long posts with hearts and soul are truly amazing!! I definitely have to work on that!

It’s not going to be a long post neither here, just a little pretty thing that I would love to share with you.

I’m never a big fan of pops. Yes I admit they are such of eye candies to look at, but usually not so much for the taste buds–loaded with buttercream and cake crumbs made of packaged mix inside, and another loads of sugar as the pretty coat. Of course, there’s always a reason for something got its place in the market–they are pretty, they are perfectly bite size, they are trendy — thus I’m planning my cooking class with them finally–yes, with something not too sweet in the center to counter balance the candy melt  which I’m not gonna mess with.

What would be better than putting something creamy and tangy underneath the vivid candy coat? Lemony cheesecake rolled with Digestive crumbs–simple, yet perfect in this case.

Can’t wait to share the fun with my students soon!!

I have to admit I’m not a big fan of fondant–heavily sweet and artificially tasted, I always just peel them off and leave them on the dessert place whenever a wedding is serving a fondant covered cake. But, yes, it’s a big but–there’s just something about this ivory blanket of velvety and lusciousness–it’s just simply irressistably beautiful and elegant when done right. Simple lines, dots, flowers and soft pastel colors just make the perfect wedding cake that will wow every guest in the special day.

Isn’t this miniwedding cake draped with soft white and embellished with flowers just such a little perfect pretty thing.

I always love pears, whether it’s poached, baked, or just as it is. And this one, is also part of the styling for South China Morning Post, so thanks to Susan for the frangipane recipe, though I’ve adjusted a bit in the amount of sugar to make it little less sweet.

I have some leftover dough from the chocolate truffle cake, thought it would be nice to go with the pear frangipane as opposed to plain sugar dough pastry.

French pear and frangipane tart, caramelized almonds, early grey cream

Recipe for the pear and frangipane tart:

For the chocolate sable tart shell, use the same recipe as for the chestnut-dark chocolate truffle cake:

http://www.katspatisserie.com/?p=903

For the poached pears:

4-5 ripe but firm pears, peeled, halved and cored neatly with a melonballer (William, Barlett, Bosc are the ones I prefer)

500 ml white wine (I used Gewürztraminer this time)

500 ml filtered water

150g sugar

1 vanilla bean pod, halved

peel from 1 orange

peel from 1 lemon

1 cinnamon stick, broken into couple pieces

Put all ingredients into a heavy bottom deep saucepan, fit the pear halves neatly into the pan, cut out a piece of parchment paper to fit the pan and cover the pears directly. You might want to poke a hole in the center of the parchment paper to let the steam out. And you may also need to place a plate on the parchment to ensure all the pears are submerged.  Brought the mixture to a simmer, simmer for another 20 minutes or until the pears are tender, but not too soft and mushy. They should still hold their shape perfectly. You can prepare this poached pears in advance, and leave them in the poaching liquid, but fishing out the citrus peels and cinnamon, other wise, the infused flavor could be too strong and the cinnamon could dye the pale color of the poached pear. I actually prefer to do this the night before making the tart, as I found leaving the pears over night in the poaching liquid would allow all the flavor and aroma penetrating into the pear flesh more beautifully.

For the frangipane filling:

150g sliced almond

150g softened unsalted butter

60g sugar

30g plain flour

1.5 large egg, or 2 small ones

2 tsp. good vanilla bean extract

couple drops of almond extract

little pinch of fine sea salt

Toasted the almond slices  (try to spread them out in a thin layer for even browning) at 180C for about 5-7 minutes, keep a close eye on them as they burn fast. Cool the toasted almonds, then use a small food processor to grind them into powders, use on and off mode, you don’t want your almonds turning into paste other than almond meal. If you happen not to have a food processor at home, it’s alright to use store bought almond meal, they’ll work as fine, just you’ll miss that fresh toasty almond aroma by doing it from scratch yourself.

Cream the room temperature butter with the sugar, and salt till pale and creamy, add the eggs, whisk till well combined, it might look a bit curdled at this point, but it’ll be in good shape again after adding the dry ingredients. Tip in the almond powder and sifted flour, mix well with the butter mixture, I like to use a rubber spatula to do the mixing at this point. Then, add the vanilla and almond extract, mix again. Use a offset spatula to spread the frangipane into the blind baked tart shell, smooth out the surface. The frangipane should fill only about less than two thirds of the tart shell capacity, you’ll want to leave room for arranging the pear on top, as well as room for the frangipane batter to puff up in the hot oven.

Now, get your poached pear halves out. Carefully wipe them dry using kitchen paper. One pear half at a time, thinly slice it, and fan it out on top of the prangipane, lightly press it down a bit into the batter. Prepare and arrange the other pear halves in the same manner. I like to arrange my pear halves snugly, and trim a nice one and fit in the center. But you can arrange the pears anyway you want, let be rustic or elegant.

Bake the tart at 190C for about 40-45 minutes, or until the prangipane is nicely puffed up and golden brown. Cool the tart on a cooling rack. Meanwhile, you can make a glaze to brush tart to give it a coat with a sheen. You can definitely make a quick glaze by warming up some apricot jam or apple jelly thinned with tiny bit of water, but why not utilizing the poaching liquid when it’s there already and packed with flavor. Simply reduce down the poaching liquid till it’s syrupy, use a pastry brush to give the baked tart a shiny wash. And that, is something beautiful and delicious.

I made some candied whole almonds, and whipped up some vanilla chantilly to serve the pear frangipane slice– gotta love it!

It’s already 30th of December, it’s a bit late, but still, bet everyone’s got a very merry Christmas with lots lots of fun with family and friends, and of course, with abundance of good food!

It almost has become a tradition that I would cook up a fancy Christmas dinner for the family instead of dining out. And this year, the menu’s getting even more elaborate, which almost drove me crazy for several days just getting all the menu components ready before the 24th. Along with cooking and baking, getting the table set up, getting the centerpiece done, getting candles, chinaware, and place cards ready…would just take up so much time and thought, yet I had so much fun! And after all, everything got paid off after the lovely smooth dinner service=) It was really a lovely night with great food.

Part 1: ingredients and the making–

Part 2: The menu and the scene–

Part three: The deliciousness on plates–

Dungeness crab salad. cucumber gelee. avocado

Cauliflower panna cotta. oyster gelee. Sturgeon caviar

glittering pickled Bing cherry to go with the foie gras torchon

Foie gras torchon. pickled Bing cherry-mango-pearl onion. Muscat grape jam. sweet wine gelee. toasted homemade brioche

seafood-crab meat mousse. Dungeness crab bisque reduction.  Sturgeon caviar

Seafood-crab meat mousse. sweet carrot emulsion. Dungeness crab essence foam. Sturgeon caviar

Roast organic French chicken. pumpkin cream. cornbread-chestnut-tart cherry stuffing. jus with cranberry jam

Roast Spanish Iberian pork loin rack. apples. sweet parsnip cream. beetroot emulsion

leafy salad. Iberian ham. figs. pomegranate. toasted hazelnuts, pecans. Parmesan. aged Balsamic

whipped ripe French brie. homemade Muscat grape jam. green figs. toasted homemade brioche

Yogurt charlotte. cream of blueberry soup

Christmas chocolate roulade

Seasonal fruits from Japan and France

Needless to say, everyone’s super stuffed and happy! And no one needed much food on the Christmas day…just some light sandwich with left over brioche and crab meat, some French oyster, some salad, cheese and proscuitto. Life’s good with good food and wine=)

And a little warmth in the chill from a cup of soothing aromatic Egyptian rose tea.

Time flies, a brand new year’s just around the corner, with just 2 days to go. Mom’s gonna cook the New Year’s Eve dinner, so I instead, just need to lay back and enjoy her cooking=)

Everyone, happy new year! And have a wonderful wonderful year to come!!

Dark chocolate & chestnut truffle cake encased in a chocolate pastry shell, bitter sweet chocolate ganache, chestnut glace, Earl Grey cream & cocoa dusted meringue sticks

If you’re a regular reader of my blog, I’m sure you’ve come across the same cake I posted quite a while ago. This one, is essentially the same thing, yet with bit of more elegant presentation. and instead of plain pastry, a chocolate sable crust was used this time. Oh, and it’s also topped with ganache.

I wouldn’t include a redundant recipe for the truffle cake here, but I would love to add a little note on the decorative meringue stick and the chocolate pastry here. The meringue’s so simple to make, yet with a little twist on the shape and tiny dust of cocoa powder, they definitely add a note of elegance to the cake, and little extra crunch too.

The chocolate pastry is not only good for any tart shell, but also good on it’s own. I baked off the scratches, they’re wonderful little snacks, and so you have something to munch on while making the cake=)

Recipe for meringue sticks:

50g egg whites

100g white sugar

Whip the egg white with 1/3 of the sugar until thick and foamy, add the second part of sugar, continue to whip, finally, add the rest of the sugar till stiff peak. Place the meringue into piping bag with a 4mm tip, pipe straight lines onto parchment lined baking sheet. Dust with sifted cocoa powder. Bake at preheated oven at 85C for 4 hours, the meringue sticks should retain their white color and dried thoroughly. And they’ll stay crisp for weeks in air tight container.

Recipe for chocolate tart pastry:

(makes about 300g, enough for a 10″ tart)

ingredients:

125g plain flour

60g unsalted butter, softened

60g caster sugar

30g dark chocolate, melted and cooled

3 Tbs. light cream

15g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. fine sea salt

1 free range egg yolk

extra flour for dusting while rolling

How to:

Sift the flour, cocoa powder and salt together.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter with sugar until pale and creamy, (but not fluffy, which would result in greasy pastry.) Then beat in the cooled melted chocolate.

Add the flour mixture, egg yolk and cream, and mix to a smooth soft dough. Shape into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap, let it rest in fridge for at least 30 minutes before rolling out to relax the gluten.

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Roll the dough into a 1/4″ round large enough to cover the bottom and sides of a 10″ tart pan, leave the extra dough overhang around the side. Prick the dough using a folk, line it with foil, and fill with baking weights, or, just use dried beans or rice like what I do. (and you can reuse them for many many times.)

Blind bake the shell for 15 minutes, remove the weights and foil, neatly trim the pastry edge level with the top of the tart pan, and continue to bake for another 10 minutes until it’s cooked all the way through and crisp. Cool the shell completely on a cooling rack before fill with the truffle cake batter.

Just click below to get the truffle cake recipe:

http://www.katspatisserie.com/?p=840

I like to serve the truffle cake with my favorite earl grey infused cream.

I know it’s only early November, there’s still a bit more wait till Christmas’ around the corner, but since we’re doing a photo shooting featuring a Christmas-y recipe for South China Morning Post, I thought it’s indeed a sweet thing to share this early festive spirit with you all!

The Christmas stollen was made by the former pastry chef, Susan, the food and wine editor of South China Morning Post, so I’m not including the recipe for the stollen here. As the food stylist, my job is to make the scene beautiful and festive, and I thought it would be great to make some vanilla marshmallow and mulled cider to complete the picture. And what could be better than marshmallow in pretty snowflake and little star shapes, and  hot cider infused with the warmth of cinnamon, start anise and clove accent.

Speaking of mulled cider and marshmallow, I was never a big fan of neither one of them, but I remember I was once doing my  Christmas shopping at Williams-Sonoma years ago, and sampled their hot cider–in a unique way–with a marshmallow floating on top the steamy cider creating a think layer of creamy, foamy marshmallow froth–and that, changed my perception of both! They’re just so meant together. And that was the first time I put a pack of marshmallow and can of mull spice and cider into my shopping basket. So this time, I want to recreate that little memory at home.

I heard making your own marshmallow could be daunting…oh, yes, everything seemed so easy until you’re ready to cut the set marshmallow into desired shapes–they’re just deadly sticky to work with! But your patience would certainly be rewarded as they just look absolutely beautiful at the end. Plus, during the making process, it’s truly amazing to see the transformation from the boiling sugar syrup to a thick glossy and fluffy white foam with the whisk running and whipping. I had great fun by just watching that color and texture change happening.

If homemade marshmallow sounds fancy to you, here’s the recipe you might want to try. But be warned: it’s sweet, it’s really sweet, and it’s just that sweet!

Recipe for Vanilla marshmallow snowflakes:

Ingredients:

A: 1 & 3/4 cup caster sugar (385 g)

2/3 cup light vanilla corn syrup

1/4 cup filtered water

1 & 1/2 Tbs. vanilla bean paste

B: 1 & 1/2 Tbs. powered gelatin

1/2 cup filtered water

C: confectioner’s sugar for dusting (you really need loads of it during cutting, shaping and dusting…as it’s super sticky!)

Special equipment:

*candy thermometer (it’s essential to use one for sweet-making, the corn syrup mixture needS to be boiled and reach the precise temperature (250F/120C) in order to have the right consistency of the final product)

How to:

Well grease a 20cm x 30cm cake pan with neutral flavor oil, such as vegetable oil. I used almond oil this time.

Place ingredient B, the gelatin and water in the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, set aside for at least 5 minutes for the gelatin to bloom.

Place ingredient A, the sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy saucepan over high heat and stir until sugar’s dissolved. Bring to a boil and continue to cook until the mixture reaches 250F (120C) on the candy thermometer. Keep an very close eye on the temperature as you want to turn off the heat precisely at that temperature. Remove from the heat, carefully stir in the vanilla bean paste. With the motor running at low speed, gradually (little by little) pour the cooked syrup into the gelatin mixture. Then turn up the speed to high, whisk for about 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy and beginning to cool. Immediately pour the marshmallow into the greased pan, cover with plastic wrap or foil, and leave it to set, which takes about 8-12 hours.

When it’s all set, turn it out, and use snowflake and star shaped cookie cutters to cut out the marshmallow. Dust with confectioner’s sugar to serve. Oh, and make sure you dip the cookie cutters in hot water and wipe dry before cutting the marshmallow, to prevent it from sticking to the cutters! Dip and wipe between each cut!

Have fun in marshmallow making to get the festive spirit beginning!!

Fresh banana cream cheesecake with caramelized banana bavarian & soft whipped vanilla cream

I’ve been longing for the fresh banana cream cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory for quite awhile…or should I say I’ve been missing it ever since I left California. I guess there’s some kind of sentimental reasons behind the cheesecake itself, but still, I do love their fresh banana cream, absolutely, to the point that we’d drive 50 miles to SF and spend another hour in that insanely long line just for that slice of cake, quite big of a slice though. Funny thing is that when they opened another shop in Valley Fair, where we could get to in no time, we rarely go to get the same thing…funny, isn’t it. Maybe that’s our nature that things are always more precious when they’re not that easy to get.

So now, I’m like thousand miles away from the fresh banana cream cheesecake, and I really really miss it. Although yes I know, the slice from the Cheesecake Factory is often times not that good–previously frozen, with a soggy, sometimes even freaking looking crust and icy topping…I still like it! I could imagine its original taste when it’s just freshly done. But, at the end of day, it is a mass production, what can we ask for?

I’ve been crazy about cheesecake lately again, have been thinking about making all different kinds of them all day long…and of course, I have to make my comfort food–fresh banana cream cheesecake! I couldn’t really figure out what exactly that top layer is on their baked banana cheesecake, so I thought I’ll just make some banana bavarian cream to top it off, and no bavarian cream beats the Gorgon Ramsey one! And my version of banana cheesecake is here: fresh banana cream cheesecake with caramelized banana bavarian and soft whipped vanilla cream.

The recipe: for a 7″ round cake

Ingredients:

Crust:

70g graham crackers (I used milk chocolate covered ones this time)

35g unsalted butter

Cream cheese filling:

250g cream cheese (I use Organic Valley)

45g granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large ripe banana

3 Tbs. heavy cream

2 tsp. corn flour

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Caramelized banana bavarian:

50 ml cream

50 ml whole milk

1/4 vanilla pod

2 egg yolk (preferably organic, or Japanese free range)

25g granulated sugar

1 gelatin sheet

1 medium ripe banana

25g granulated sugar (to coat the banana)

50 ml heavy cream, very cold

vanilla whipped cream:

1/2 cup heavy vream

1 pump vanilla paste

3/4 tsp. granulated sugar

How to:

For the crust:

Place crackers in a zip lock bag, crush into fine powder with a rolling pin, add the melted butter to evenly moisten all the crumbs. Press the mixture into the bottom of the loose bottom spring pan. Bake at 350F for about 8 minutes, cool and set aside.

For the filling:

Use a spatula or whisk, stir the cream cheese till light and creamy, add in the sugar, mix well. Followed by corn flour, egg, mashed banana, cream and vanilla extract, mix well at each addition. Now, you should have a creamy, smooth mixture. Fill the cooled crust with the filling. Bake at 350F for 10 mins, then reduce the temperature to 100F, and bake for another hour. Cool completely before transferring to fridge.

While baking, prepare the bavarian:

1: make the pate bombe:

Bloom the gelatin sheet in cold water.

Heat the milk and cream to just under a boil with the vanilla pod (and it’s seed) in a small sauce pan, remove from heat. Meanwhile, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until creamy and pale in color,  carefully add 1/3 of the hot cream mixture to temper the egg mixture, pour it back to the pan with the remaining hot liquid, cook over low heat while stirring constantly until thickened, thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon. Add the soaked gelatin sheet, mix well and set aside to cool.

2: make caramelized banana puree:

quarter one ripe banana lengthwise, coat with sugar. Heat a dry heavy pan over medium-high heat, when you can feel heat rise from the bottom of the pan, place the sugar coated banana in, they should start to caramelize right away. Once one side is nicely caramelized, flip the banana over, and caramelize the other side. Off heat, puree the caramelized bananas and let it cool.

Mix the banana puree into the cooled pate bombe.

When the pate bombe mixture starts to set around the edge, whip the cold cream to soft peak, and gently fold into the banana-pate bombe.

To assemble, spread the banana bavarian on top of the cooled cheesecake, then soft whip the 50ml cold cream with vanilla paste and sugar, spread on top of the bavarian. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.

This is indeed heavenly good, if you are a fan of cheesecake, you probably won’t go back to Cheesecake factory anymore, unless there’re sentimental reasons=) or even for those cheesecake is not your thing, this might just change your mind=)