Apple Raisin Bread Pudding

Had a craving for both tiramisu and bread pudding, and so wanted to make tiramisu bread pudding, but Marsala wine was all out of stock. So I made apple and raisins bread pudding instead.

This was what I made my Brioche for and turns out to be pretty good. The top was a little crusty, but the inside was still moist and soft.

Sweetness was just nice, and you can taste the hint of cinnamon coupled with the apple, raisins and custard flavours.

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Recipe

Brioche Bread (stale)
Apples 2 (Royal Gala)
Raisins as desired
Eggs 4
Sugar 3/4cup
Vanilla essence 1tsp
Cinnamon powder 1tsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Milk 3cups

1. Remove the crust from the Brioche and cut into cubes. If your bread is not stale, bake in the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees C.
2. Skin and core the apples and slice cross-sectionally.
3. Put the raisins in a bowl and soak in hot water.
4. In a bowl, mix all the other ingredients together.
5. Lay your cubed brioche in a pan and pour the egg mixture in. Soak for about 30 minutes.
6. I use 5cm wide aluminum molds for easy eating. Lightly butter the molds. The brioche will be mushy, so just grab an amount enough to line the bottom.
7. Lay some raisins and apple slices, before topping with another later of brioche.
8. Bake at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes.

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Brioche

Have never actually eaten Brioche bread before, but attempted to make one as I wanted to use it to make something else.

The whole process involved proofing the dough overnight. Since I have not actually eaten one before, I had no point of reference. However, mine did look very much like the photos I saw. It was quite soft and crumbly, but I would personally prefer the tangzhong method.

Click here for the recipe.

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Opera Cake

Wanted to make an opera cake for a long time, but always ended up making other stuff.

3 layers of almond sponge cake sandwiched with coffee buttercream and chocolate ganache.

The sponge turned out to be pretty good. However, I think if I ever make this again, I can drip more coffee onto it for a stronger flavour.

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Recipe

Cake
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
30g granulated sugar
225g ground blanched almonds
225g confectioners' sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
70g all-purpose flour
45g unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy.
2. In another bowl, beat the almonds, confectioners' sugar and whole eggs until light and voluminous.
3. Add the flour and beat on low speed only until it disappears.
4. Gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture, then fold in the melted butter.
5. Pour into 3 10-inch pans and bake at 220 degrees C for 7 minutes.

Coffee Buttercream
10g instant coffee
15g hot water
100g sugar
30g water
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
1 egg
1 egg yolk
200g unsalted butter

1. Make the coffee extract by dissolving the instant espresso in the boiling water; set aside.
2. Boil the sugar, water and vanilla essence in a small pot.
3. Beat the egg and the yolk in a bowl until the eggs are pale and foamy.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly pour in the boiling syrup. Beat until the eggs are thick, satiny and room temperature.
5. In another bowl, beat the butter until it is soft and creamy.
6. With the mixer on medium speed, steadily add the butter in 2-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been added, raise the speed and beat until thickened and satiny.
7. Beat in the coffee extract.
8. Chill the buttercream until it is firm enough to be spread.

Chocolate Ganache
240 grams bittersweet chocolate
125g whole milk
30g heavy cream
60g unsalted butter at room temperature

1. Bring the milk and cream to a full boil, pour it over the chocolate, wait 1 minute, then stir gently until the ganache is smooth and glossy.
2. Beat the butter until it is smooth and creamy, then stir it into the ganache in 2 to 3 additions.
3. Refrigerate the ganache until thickened and spreadable.

Chocolate Glaze
150g bittersweet chocolate
115g unsalted butter

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.
3. Melt the butter and mix well into the chocolate.


Assembly
1. On one layer of sponger, spread 3/4 of buttercream.
2. Place second layer of sponge on top and spread all the chocolate ganache.
3. Place the last layer of cake on top and spread the remaining buttercream.
4. Freeze the cake for 20 minutes.
5. Pour the glaze over the cake and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Slice the edges to clean up any uneven edges.

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Beef & Cornbread Casserole

Attempted this recipe which turned out to go pretty well with each other.

Minced beef with corn, capsicum, onions in BBQ sauce and topped with corn bread.

I actually forgot to buy cheese, otherwise it might taste even better. And perhaps I should add some corn starch next time to make the sauce thicker, which I think would be better.

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Recipe

Minced Beef 550g
Capsicum 1 medium
Onion 1 medium
Corn 1 can
Coriander 1tsp
Mixed Herbs 1tsp
Tomato ketchup 2tbsp
BBQ sauce to taste
1 box of cornbread mix

1. Oil your pan lightly, and add in the coriander, herbs, onions and capsicum, cooking until soft.
2. Add in corn and cook for a while more. Transfer to bowl.
3. Brown the minced beef in the pan, and add the onions and capsicum back into pan.
4. Remove from heat, and in ketchup and BBQ sauce to taste. Leave to cool.
5. Prepare the cornbread mix as per instructions.
6. Place the beef in your baking container, and top with the cornbread mix.
7. Bake as per instructions for cornbread mix.

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Cinnamon Rolls

Another attempt at cinnamon rolls, and this time it is better...

This time, I did not over bake it and it came out soft enough. However, I think I did not put enough butter and cinnamon sugar, so although I can taste the cinnamon, it was not gooey enough.

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Recipe

Dough
Bread Flour 540g
Sugar 86g
Salt 8g
Yeast 11g
Fresh Cream 100g
Unsalted Butter 50g
Eggs 2

Proof for 1hr.

Cinnamon Sugar
Brown Sugar 1cup
Cinnamon powder 5tbsp
Raisins as desired

1. After proofing dough, roll out into a rectangular shape to desired thickness.
2. Spread 3tbsp of butter on the dough, before spreading the cinnamon sugar.
3. Bake at 180 degrees C for 16-20 minutes.

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Manjyuu..or at least intended to be

Wanted to make Japanese manjyuu; guess I failed and came out tasting like a biscuit, but it was not that bad after all.

Added a mochi in between out of my own imagination. I think it would have been better if my skin had succeeded. Well, another one to add to my "to master" list.

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Green Tea Mousse & Red Bean Cake

As much as I like chocolate, it was time to attempt something else apart from the usual chocolate and cheese related stuff.

Covered with green tea chocolate ganache. Ganache's was a little too sweet in my opinion. I had a problem, though. Whenever making a souffle kind of sponge cake, it will always shrink at the top end as it cooled, leaving somewhat of a trapezium cross section. In the end, I had to trim off the sides, resulting in a smaller cake.

Three layers of souffle sponge with green tea mousse in between, as well as adzuki or japanese red bean.

I like the end result. The cake was soft, and the combination of green tea and red bean went well together. I did think the green tea taste could have been stronger. And I still need to improve my skills at stacking a layered cake and applying the ganache.

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Recipe
Printable Recipe


Sponge Cake
Eggs 4
Castor Sugar 90g
Water 30g
Vegetable Oil 50g
Flour 90g
Green Tea powder 1 1/2tsp

1. Separate the yolks from the whites.
2. In a bowl, mix the yolks, water, oil and half of the sugar together.
3. Add in the green tea powder and flour, and mix well till no longer lumpy. You will have a thick batter.
4. In a clean bowl, whisk the eggs into a meringue, adding the remaining sugar as you go along.
5. Fold the meringue into the batter.
6. Bake at 170 degrees C for 30 minutes.

Green Tea Mousse
Castor Sugar 70g
Fresh Milk 150g
Green Tea Powder 2tsp
Whipping Cream 300g
Gelatine Powder 10g
Water 50ml

1. Dissolve the gelatine powder in the water.
2. Heat the milk and dissolve the sugar and green tea powder in.
3. Remove from heat, add in the gelatine and leave to cool.
4. Whip the cream until fold into the cooled milk mixture.

Green Tea Ganache
White Chocolate 200g
Cream 200g
Green Tea Powder 2tsp

1. Melt the white chocolate in a microwave at High for a minute.
2. Heat the cream over your stove and mix in the green tea powder.
3. Pour the hot cream into the chocolate and mix well, ensuring all the chocolate had melted and mixed well with the cream. Leave to cool, or put into your freezer for a while until it become thick and more easily spreadable.

Assembly
You will need a can of adzuki beans which is already cooked and sugared.

1. Slice the cake into your preferred number of layers. Or you can even bake and extra round of the sponge cake to create thicker layers.
2. Alternate the mousse and sponge cake layers, adding in your desired amount of red beans within each mousse layer. It's easier if you have a cake ring you can use. I didn't, so I refrigerated the mousse until it is thick and spreadable.
3. Once all the layers are completed, spread a little of your cooled ganache all around cake pop into the fridge until it is a little solidified. This helps in sealing the crumbs of the cake and avoid a grainy texture on the ganache.
4. Spread the ganache over the cake until the whole cake is well covered.

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Spinach Quiche

I always did like quiche, and I did try to make one long, long time ago. Decided to go meatless this time round and make something a little healthier - quiche with spinach, tomatoes and brie cheese.

The problem with my baking is that I am using the convection function of the microwave oven. The heat source emanates from one side, which usually results in the center of my cake/pie taking longer to cook, and when it does the sides may be a little over-done. A conventional oven would probably fare better since its heat source is either from the top or bottom.

I think this turned out to be pretty alright; just that I did not put enough salt, so it was slightly bland. You can taste the spinach and on the whole, it was not over-baked. However, I think I can actually bake it on lesser time so that it comes out a little more moist and soft.

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Recipe
Printable Recipe

Pastry Base
Flour 250g
Unsalted Butter 150g
Salt 1tsp
Milk 1tbsp
Egg 1

1. In a bowl, mix the flour and salt together.
2. Cut the butter into cubes and rub the flour into the butter cubes until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and milk together.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the flour/butter mixture, and mix well until you form a dough.
5. Roll the dough into a ball or disc shape and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.
6. Roll onto your pie tin. Using a fork, make a couple of holes at the base of the crust and bake at 180 degrees C for about 20 minutes.

Filling
Onion 1
Olive oil 1tsp
Spinach 280g
Tomato 1
Eggs 3
Heavy cream 1cup
Milk 1/2cup
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheese of your choice

1. Dice the onions and sauteed it.
2. In a bowl, mix the eggs, cream, milk, salt and pepper and whisk lightly.
3. Dice the tomato, then add it together with the spinach (squeezed dry of water) and sauteed onions into the egg mixture.

Assembly
1. After baking the pie crust, allow it to cool.
2. Place cheese of your choice at the base of the crust.
3. Pour your filling in, and bake at 180 degrees C for about 30-35 minutes.

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Chocolate Eclairs

Realised it's been a long time since I ate eclairs, so I decided to make some. It was also time for a change to some sweet baking as well.

Made all chocolate, then realised I should have made some as normal cream. Anyway, I think they were quite successful - pastry cream was full of chocolate flavour but not too sweet. I hate eclairs which are simply filled with whipped cream that are sometimes sold in our local bakeries, so this came up to my expectations.

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Recipe (makes about 20 7-cm long eclairs)

Choux Pastry
Whole milk 1/2cup
Water 1/2cup
Unsalted butter 100g
Sugar 1tsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Flour 1 1/4cup
Eggs 4

1. Mix the milk, water, sugar and butter in a pot. Heat until all the butter has melted.
2. Lower the heat and pour all the flour in.

You will get a paste-y looking dough at first. Continue stirring over low heat for another 2 mins or so until you get a smooth looking texture similar to the pic on the right.

3. Beat the eggs together in a separate bowl.
4. Remove the pot from heat. Using a hand-mixer, mix the dough for about 1 min.
5. Slowly add the egg in in batches while whisking at the same time.

The end result would be a glossy, thick, stretchy dough that stretches a little before breaking when you lift it. If it does not stretch, add a little more egg white bit by bit.

6. Pipe onto the tray of about 1 cm wide and 4-5 cm long.
(The pastry will expand a lot while baking, hence there is no need to pipe it too large if you want small to medium sized eclairs. 1 row of piped dough should be enough. More importantly, pipe it such that it fairly high in height, or it will come out pretty flat. Use the back of a teaspoon dipped in cold water to smooth the piped dough)

7. Bake at 200 degrees C for 20-25 mins or until brown and slightly hard on the top.


Chocolate Pastry Cream
Whole Milk 2cups
Egg yolks 4
Sugar 6tbsp
Cornstarch 3tbsp
Salt 1/4tsp
70% Dark Chocolate 190g

1. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at high for about 1 minute.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the yolks, sugar and corn starch together.
3. In a pot, heat the milk and salt together until boiling.
4. Pour half of the milk into the yolk mixture in a small stream to temper the yolks, while whisking all the time.
5. Pour the yolk mixture back into the pot of remaining milk and return to the stove.
6. Heat while whisking until the mixture thickens a little and starts to bubble.
7. Pour into the melted chocolate and mix well.
8. Press cling wrap directly onto the surface to prevent skin from forming. Allow to cool or refrigerate if not using on same day.


Chocolate Glaze
Semi-sweet chocolate 150g
Unsalted Butter 30g

1. Place chocolate and butter in a bowl and microwave until melted. Mix well and allow to cool.


Assembly:
1. Slice off the top third of the choux pastry.
2. Dip the upper piece in the chocolate glaze and allow it set. Freeze it for faster setting.
3. Using a spoon, fill the bottom piece with desired amount of pastry cream.
4. Cover with the top piece and enjoy!

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Fruit Cake

This is a healthy fruit cake as I did not add sugar. The sweetness is all from the dried fruits alone.

Maybe because I did not add enough oil as well, so the cake turned out to be pretty solid in texture. I think it would taste better if it was a little more crumbly. I should try adding a little milk in next time.

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Recipe

Flour 1.5 cups
Dried Fruit 1.5 cups (black raisins, golden raisins, prunes, cranberries)
Walnuts 0.5 cups
Baking powder 1tsp
Salt 1/2tsp
Cinnamon powder 1tsp
3 eggs
Vegetable Oil 9tbsp
1 medium apple

1. Soak the dried fruits in hot water for about 10 minutes or until plump.
2. Mix the flour, cinnamon powder, baking powder and salt together.
3. In a seperate bowl, whisk the eggs and oil together.
4. Dice the apples and chop the walnuts into pieces.
5. Add the flour mixture into the eggs. If too dry, add some milk in to get a thick batter.
6. Add in the walnuts, apple and dried fruits, leaving about 6tbsp of the dried fruits for sprinkling on the top later.
7. Pour the batter into your tin and sprinkle the remaining dried fruits on top.
8. Bake at 180 degrees C for about 20-30 minutes.

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Egg Tart

Attempted egg tarts which was a failure by my standards.

Instructions called for baking at 300 degrees C, so that the pastry will be cooked but the custard will not curdle too much. But my oven could only reach 250.

As it turns out, the custard was a little too sweet for my liking as well. I have never had much success with pastries, so the recipe is not worth chronicling here. I think I should just stick to my cakes.

Egg Tarts

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Chocolate Gateau

When I was in Hokkaido, LeTao was selling this chocolate thing which looked absolutely heavenly but I did not try it. Recently, I was watching TV and saw this supposedly famous place in Tokyo making something similar, so I found the Japanese recipe.

In the TV programme, they seem to have only mixed egg and chocolate, although since it was not a cooking show, I have no idea if that was truly the complete recipe. The recipe I found online had flour mixed in, so I decide to follow the online recipe.

As it turns out, it seems more like a souffle cake, whereas what I saw on TV seemed more like eating a paste-like chocolate texture, as opposed to a cake-like texture.

Nonetheless, this was pretty fluffy and soft when eaten warm. When refrigerated, it was a little harder and tasted more like a brownie. I think I shall try this again next time without the flour and see if it's turns out closer to what I saw.

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Recipe

Semi-sweet Chocolate 45g
Cream 35g
Unsalted butter 40g
Flour 15g
Caster Sugar 70g
Caster Sugar (for meringue) 40g
Eggs 2

1. Put the butter, chocolate and cream in a bowl, and microwave for 1 minute on high. Mix well after taking out from oven.
2. Separate the egg yolks from the whites.
3. Add the caster sugar (70g) and egg yolks into the chocolate mixture, followed by the flour.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites into a meringue, while adding the caster sugar (40g) in two separate batches.
5. Fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture in 2 batches.
6. Bake at 170 degrees C for 30 minutes.

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Japanese Souffle Cheesecake

I remember years back when there were many shops in Singapore selling this. Actually attempted this some time back, but it was a failed attempt by my standards then. This time, I did it!

It turned out to be very soft, moist and light in texture, although the cheese taste was still pretty strong. Will probably taste better when refrigerated.

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Recipe

Cream Cheese 225g
Caster Sugar 30g
Caster Sugar (for meringue) 50g
Unsalted Butter 30g
Cream 100ml
Flour 40g
Juice of 1/3 lemon
Eggs 3

1. Separate the egg yolks from the whites.
2. Mix the cream cheese, caster sugar (30g), butter, cream and egg yolks together.
3. Add in the flour and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites into a meringue, adding the 50g of sugar in 2 batches until soft peaks form.
5. Fold half of the meringue into the batter, then mix in the remaining half.
6. Bake at 150 degrees C for 30-35 minutes.

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Matcha Chiffon Bread

 

Time to bake something less sweet after all the CNY goodies.

 

Since I still have some matcha powder leftover, I decided to give this a go. Essentially, it is vanilla sponge cake, wrapped on the outside with matcha bread.

However, the matcha taste did not come through even though I added more than what was called for.

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Recipe:

Sponge Cake
Caster Sugar 100g
Flour 100g
Milk 60g
Vegetable Oil 40g
Baking powder 1tsp
Eggs 4
Vanilla essence 1tsp

1. Separate the yolks from the whites.
2. Beat 25g of sugar into the yolks.
3. Add in the milk, oil and vanilla essence and mix well.
4. Mix in the flour and baking powder in batches.
5. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add in the remaining 75g of sugar in batches while beating until you get a stiff meringue.
6. Add the meringue into the batter and mix well.
7. Pour into tray and bake at 180 degrees C for 15 minutes.


Bread
Bread flour 350g
Matcha powder 2tbsp
Caster sugar 55g
Salt 1/2tsp
Yeast 6g
Unsalted butter 50g
Cream 120g
tangzhong 110g
Egg 1

1. Prepare the bread dough and allow it to proof.
2. Roll out the dough into a size that is slightly larger than the spongecake.
3. Place the sponge cake on top, and roll it. Seal edges tightly.
4. Proof for another 40 minutes.
5. Bake at 180 degrees C for 25 minutes.

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Apple Charlotte

Did an Apple Charlotte over CNY...

Filled with custard cream inside. However, the taste did not impress me. Guess it was largely due to the taste of vanilla bean, which I think is not suitable for cooking through heat.

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Cinnamon Raisin Rolls

Not my first attempt at cinnamon rolls, but wanted to improve on it.

 

Still not the way I wanted it to be. I think i rolled the dough too thin, which resulted in me over-baking it and ending with a drier outsides, although the center if it is still relatively soft.

The sugars did not melt that well either, and there's still some crystals. I used brown sugar; maybe I should just used caster sugar next time.

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Recipe

Water Starter:
1 part bread flour
5 parts water

1. Mix and boil till thick and paste-like. Leave to cool.

Dough Ingredients:
Bread flour 475g
Salt 7g
Yeast 7g
Sugar 90g
Cream 135g
Egg 50g
Unsalted butter 50g

1. Mix the dry ingredients together first, then add in the liquids.
2. Knead the dough and leave to proof for 1-2 hours.

Cinnamon Sugar:
Caster Sugar 1cup
Cinnamon powder 3tbsp
Raisins as desired

1. Roll out the dough on a floured surface.
2. Spread the cinnamon sugar and press into the dough, leaving about an inch untouched on one end.
3. Lightly butter the one inch space and roll the dough tightly starting from the other end.
4. Cut into desired thickness and bake at 180 degrees C for 20-30 minutes.

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Chocolate Lava Cake/Green Tea Lava Cake

Taiwan's in a craze over this now; they call it 火山巧克力. You can watch it on 28 Nov 2009 of 我猜我猜我猜猜猜.

I did overcook it a little, and turned out a little more cooked on the inside than I would like it to be. I also did not have any vanilla ice cream available, otherwise it would have been a perfect combination.

Out of my own ingenuity, I concocted and successfully came out with a green tea version. This, on the other hand, was a little under-cooked, hence the moist looking outsides. But I think the green tea tasted pretty well, and I did not get as quickly sick of it as I did with the chocolate version.

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Recipe

Ingredients:
60% Dark Chocolate 120g
Unsalted Butter 240g
Flour 60g
Caster Sugar 60g
2 Eggs

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave and mix well. Leave to cool.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk and eggs and sugar until light and frothy.
3. Pour the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs.
4. Add in the sifted flour and mix well.
5. Pour into your containers till about 3/4 full. Bake at 170 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes depending on how cooked you like it to be.

Green Tea version
1. Replace the dark chocolate with white chocolate.
2. Add in 40g of green tea powder.
3. Proceed with other ingredients and steps as above.

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