Saturday 21 May 2011

Egg Tarts

I'm going to meet up with my friend for lunch tomorrow, and she mentioned before that she had never eaten an egg tart. Egg tarts are one of the most simple yet irresistibly scrumptious dessert/snack out there, so for her not to have tasted one... Hence I've decided to surprise her with some!


I wanted to make Portuguese egg tarts for her, but I couldn't get my hands on frozen puff pastry here and I didn't really have time to make puff pastry from scratch. So to make my tarts as close to Portuguese egg tarts, I used pate brisee, which gave my tarts the flaky and buttery feel. As for the filling, I'm really really delighted by it! I managed to get the silky creamy custard feel of a Portuguese egg tart.


I know I made these tarts for my friend, but I had to have a bite to make sure it's of good quality!

Components used for this dessert treat:

Bisou bisou,
Charlotte

Tuesday 17 May 2011

Fondant Cake - Spiced Apple Cake with Maple Buttercream Filling and Toasted Walnuts

I always enjoy making fondant cakes; it challenges my artistic side, assuming I have that gift... This fondant cake though is extra special as it's my birthday cake! I was quick to decide what flavour profile I wanted for my cake, but it took me quite some time to design my cake. I wanted a cake that reflects my personality. So after many sketches, I ended up with this beauty.


My birthday cake is a sassy topsy turvy cake that has an elegant black cornelli lace made of royal icing gliding up and down the lusciously red bottom and top tier. The center tier is then whirled with bold yet classic stripes of two shades of purple, black and white. The finishing touch to my cake is a pair of very simple black peep-toe sandals made out of gum paste. Isn't it just so me?


Oh, a little detail on my shoes, something I'm not concealing... My age!


As for the cake itself, I made an apple cake that was spiced up with cinnamon and ginger. The apple cake was then filled with maple buttercream and toasted walnuts. I was a little worried that the cake would come out too sweet, but I'm glad I went on with my instinct to just go ahead and make the cake because the sweetness of the cake turned out just right. The flavour of the apple, maple and walnuts merrily complimented each other.


My cake was the 'icing on the cake' for my already fantabulous escargot-filled birthday celebration!

Components used for this dessert treat:
Bisou bisou, 
Charlotte

Saturday 14 May 2011

Kit Kat Cake

I told my H about the Maltesers cake I made for my sister N’s birthday, and he was salivating over the cake as I was describing it to him. He wanted me to make him the same cake, but unfortunately I wasn’t able to buy Maltesers while I was in Manila. You see, Maltesers chocolates are not easily available here in Korea. Instead, I bargained and sold him the idea of a Kit Kat cake.

 

The components of this Kit Kat cake were similar to the Maltesers cake – mousse and brownies. Although for the Kit Kat cake, I made chocolate mousse instead of malt chocolate mousse and vanilla crème chantilly in place of the ganache that was used for the Maltesers cake. All went according to my plan and vision; I wanted clean layers of the Kit Kat base and brownies sandwiched with chocolate mousse; the combination of vanilla crème chantilly, chocolate mousse, brownies and Kit Kat was indeed a very scrumptious delight. There was however some room for improvement for this dessert. Getting a bite through the cream, mousse and brownies were heavenly, but when it came to the Kit Kat base, the cutlery had a difficulty slicing through. So even though the flavour profile was good, I conclude this Kit Kat cake is still under product development!


Next post would be about my birthday cake. I’m currently in the process of hopefully creating a work of art... Wish me luck! So until then…

Components used for this dessert treat:
Bisou bisou,
Charlotte

Monday 2 May 2011

Hibernation Over

Three months of idleness... I feel bad for abandoning my blog for so long, and I've missed three Daring Bakers' Challenges. I have good reasons though; I went back to Philippines, but not for a holiday. Majority of the time I was on duty at the hospital taking care of my dad. No worries though, my papa is doing well now! Ugh, but those precious months taught me so much. If you were to ask people close to me, they'll tell you how low nil my medical knowledge was. After this whole medical episode of my life, I may well be a doctor. Kidding! 

Despite having such crazy 'toxic' schedules, I did manage to squeeze in some treats.


First treat: I bought this ready mix here in Korea, but my H doesn't like cinnamon, so I took it to Manila as I know my family would love it. It's called hoddeok (호 떡); hoddeok is a popular street food snack here in Korea. It's a sweet pancake made of sweet yeast dough that is stuffed with cinnamon, sugar and nuts (usually peanuts) that are then flattened while it is being pan-fried. This is one of my favourite food here in Korea; I'm glad I was able to share this with my family. Next time, I'll try making hoddeok from scratch!


Next, I made red velvet cake. My sister J had been bugging me for a red velvet cake for a long time, so I gave in. Given the limited time, I was thinking of a cake design that would be easy to assemble and fuss free. Then I remembered Donna Hay's 'Four Tier Chocolate Layer Cake'; it's as simple as it gets - four layers of chocolate cake sandwiched with chocolate cream cheese frosting. Very simple cake design, but absolutely seductive. Easy? Not! There's no further explaining to do; simply look at my cake! Hot mess... Note to self: never underestimate.


Then it was my sister J's birthday. She absolutely adores rose flavour, so I planned to make her some Marie Antoinette worthy rose macarons. I don't know why I thought I would be able to pull this off considering my macaron history... Alas, my zillionth attempt was... surprise surprise, a bust! Although, the last shell that I piped came out perfect! Thus, I got a shot focusing on it... Yes, I'm lame! Oh, it's not actually a complete fail because the taste was impeccable; it was, in the end, still a wonderful birthday treat.

Lastly, another birthday treat; this time, for my sister N. She had a special request for her cake that I took as a challenge. She wanted Maltesers cake. I've been looking for inspirations over the internet for the cake; unfortunately, most of the cakes are simply chocolate cakes then decorated with Maltesers. I wanted something that would highlight Maltesers, so I came out with my own. The cake I came out with was a dome shaped chocolate malt mousse with Maltesers disc center and brownie base that is covered with chocolate ganache then garnished with a swirl of Maltesers. I was really happy with how everything turned out, but more importantly, the birthday girl absolutely loved her cake!


It was so nice to be able to bake a little while I was back home. Now, since my medical mission has finished, I will resume baking and blogging. I already have a couple of things in mind that I want to make. Plus this month is my birth month, so expect a fondant cake. Glad to be back.

Bisou bisou,
Charlotte

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