Oh so cute

So I finally got down to using the macaron templates.  I used my mathematics instinct to ratio the batter so I get enough green and non coloured ones. Not too bad. Here's the cutie keroppi.

And because of the Star Wars craze, tried storm troopers too, only thing is, the black colour became grey, guess I really have to find charcoal powder. Grey's fine for now. And miffy too! Since I have some non coloured batter left. So so fun!

Hello Kitty Passion Fruit SMBC Macarons

I've seen so many cute macarons and was really tempted to give them a try. Didn't have time to make the template and doing it freehand would likely be a fail. Since I have some time now, I made many many templates, but for a beginner, I decided to do Hello Kitty since it's only one main colour and the rest can be drawn using edible colour markers.

Trust me when I say I drew using a template, though my Hello Kitty looked a bit cross eyed, not really very artistically inclined. I'll try harder next time.

I made passionfruit swiss meringue buttercream to fill the macarons. They're so cute, I think it's worth the effort. Am dying to try either Christmas tree or keroppi next. 

Here's my a little bit cross eyed kitties. I used a template, I really did. 

This is the template I made for making the macarons, basically, I found the image and used word to make the template. Pipe the macarons over the template placed under the baking paper.

For the macaron shells

I used the same recipe for the red Velvet macarons but I omitted the colouring. 

The temperature I set to make the macarons was also much lower, at 130 degrees for about 18-20 minutes. 

I made the buttercream after I was sure the macarons were successful. This was rather quick, a swiss meringue passion fruit buttercream. 

For the passion fruit SMBC 

150g unsalted butter at room temperature

110g caster sugar

100g egg white

4 tbsp passion fruit curd

1. Whisk the egg white and sugar in a metal bowl and over a pot of simmering water. 

2. When all the sugar has dissolved or when the egg white mixture reaches 70 degrees, transfer to a mixer and whisk till stiff peak and the mixture is cooled.

3. Add cubed butter a bit at a time until all the butter has been incorporated.

5. Fold in the passion fruit curd.

If the SMBC is too soft, chill for about 20 minute before use.

There, the passion fruit is really fragrant. 

There, all the templates I managed to make. Hope I use them soon. 

Oh yea...

My first fondant cake! Quite a challenge... The fondant 'sweat', but thank God it was salvaged after placing in aircon room. Hope it survives the humidity...

It's a 2 tiered cake, the lower tier is a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting and covered in white fondant. The upper tier is a Christmas fruit cake with baileys swiss meringue buttercream, covered in golden yellow fondant. The 'beer foam' is plain swiss meringue buttercream. I love the baileys SMBC, it's smooth and fragrant. I'll probably use the leftover for macarons or cupcakes soon. :)

I think it looks okay...

Wrapped like a mummy.. Bye cake... Please survive the journey, good luck...

Blessed Christmas

It's been a fruitful Christmas, I went on 2 holidays, did 8 fruit cakes in 2 days, wrapped Presents in an hour, had 2 Christmas parties, attended Christmas Day service and did a cake order.

I'm not complaining though because all are things I enjoy.

Here's some bakes, 

Yeah!!!

I did my first cartoon macarons! Hello Kitty macarons with passion fruit swiss meringue buttercream.

Tis the Season to be Jolly...

Oh yes, it is Christmas again. It seems that it wasn't too long ago that I was soaking dried fruits to make the annual Christmas cake. This year, I was determined not to waste the dried fruits like last year and did my calculations properly before I purchase anything. It was great because everything bought is now soaking in the alcohol goodness in the fridge. I went overboard again though and the fruits soaking in the fridge measures a whooping 4.75 kg! I think there is enough to bake at least 5 cakes. I'll give them away because this is a season of giving!

Other than fruit cakes, I also made Pate Sablee in preparation of tarts that I may need to bake for Christmas because you never know when you will be needing to do those last minute bakes and a few more preparation can always come in handy.

Plus! I also prepared frozen cookie dough so that I can bake some quick treats in case I have some young friends coming around. There, I hope this is enough preparation.

So far, nothing above particularly excites me because I've done those before, so.... I've made cute macaron templates and am dying to try them soon. Soon.... maybe tomorrow! :)

Checkerboard Cookies

I've been missing for a while because I've been on holiday and it was a good trip with an old friend of about 18 years and this was our first trip together to Hong Kong. Though I think Hong Kong is really congested, I enjoyed the food and most of all the company. We had 3 other people who were coincidentally in Hong Kong at the same time and we ended up travelling together. I must say that they added a lot of fun to the trip and I was a little surprise because even friends may not be able to travel together and this group was an accidental success. We got along really well and I think this is because we are all compromising and just took things easy even if we got lost, walked too much or ate too full. Thank God for this trip and these people who made us laugh so hard.

This was baked long time ago, but I did not the energy to update.

I've always wondered how these are made and so when I saw the episode covering these cookies on 'Bake with Anna Olson', I had to give these a try. 

(Makes about 40 cookies)

For the vanilla dough
315g all purpose flour
115g icing sugar
100g caster sugar
227g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.5 tsp salt

For the chocolate dough
250g all purpose flour
115g icing sugar
100g caster sugar
45g cocoa powder
227g unsalted butter at room temperature
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
0.5 tsp salt

To make the vanilla dough

1. Beat the butter, caster and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. I used the paddle attachment.

2. Add the vanilla extract, eggs and egg yolk and beat till combined.

3. Add the flour and salt and mix till the dough comes together.

4. Shape into 2 discs and wrap with cling wrap and chill till firm.

To make the chocolate dough

5. Beat the butter, caster and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. I used the paddle attachment. 

6. Add the vanilla extract, eggs and egg yolk and beat till combined.

7. Add the flour, cocoa powder and salt and mix till the dough comes together. 

8. Shape into 2 discs and wrap with cling wrap and chill till firm. 

To assemble

9. You'll use one vanilla and one chocolate dough to make the checkerboard patterns and reserve the other set of vanilla and chocolate dough for the outer wrap. Cut one of the chilled vanilla and one of the chocolate dough in 2 and roll to a rough rectangle of 20cm by 12cm. You'll end up with 2 vanilla and 2 chocolate rectangular doughs. The other set of vanilla and chocolate will still be resting in the fridge. 

10. Brush the surface of a chocolate dough with water and place a vanilla one on top of it and alternate the colours for the other 2 doughs, brushing the surface with water to make sure the surface stick. 

11. Trim the edges of the assembled dough to make a rectangle. Chill the dough for about 15 min so it's easier to handle.

12. Cut strips of about 1.2cm thick lengthwise, you'll need about 8 strips to make 2 checkered doughs of 4 strips each put together. 

13. Brush the surface of one of the chocolate dough with water and place a vanilla one on top, alternating the colours, repeating 2 more strips. You'll have 2 rectangular checkerboard doughs (see below). Chill the dough for about 15 minutes.

14. Use the reserved vanilla dough, roll out into rectangle and wrap the dough around one of the checkerboard rectangle. Chill the dough for about 2 hours. When ready to bake, slice the dough into cookies of about 0.5 cm. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees for about 12 minutes and you'll see the checkerboard patterns as shown below at the lower end of the tray. 

15. Use the reserved chocolate dough, roll out into rectangle and wrap the dough around one of the checkerboard rectangle. Chill the dough for about 2 hours. When ready to bake, slice the dough into cookies of about 0.5cm. Bake in preheated oven of 180 degrees for about 12 minutes and you'll see the checkerboard patterns as shown above at the upper end of the tray. 

I froze the cookie dough and baked them on 2 occasions and I this is a great dough to keep handy in the fridge, to be sliced and baked with you need a quick treat last minute. 

Passion Fruit Chiffon Cake

I made a mess out of a birthday cake I was supposed to bake and the Genoise sponge turned out very off, so I decided to bake a simple passion fruit chiffon cake to redeem myself. I have not cut the cake, so here's only the preview. Loving the fragrance already. Recipe soon.

So here's the hideous one.

Lesson learnt, don't attempt a new bake for an important occasion, the only saving grace? The really lovely passion fruit cheese frosting.