Panic Farewell Baking: Vanilla Cake with Orange Blossom Buttercream Plus Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies

As you know, I'm leaving Korea soon, and I have been looking for a new home for my baking things. I was starting to feel hopeless in finding a new place for my stuffs, but just as I was researching for a second hand shop, heaven sent a potential buyer. After a couple of negotiations, my baking things were sold; the new owner was scheduled to pick-up my baking stuffs the following day. 

 "Tomorrow?!?!" My heart dropped. I was obviously aware of the reality that I will be saying goodbye to my things at some point, but the reality just hit me when an official new home has finally been arranged. There is nothing better for me to do, but to bake one last time. It was night time already, so the baking shop I frequent was already closed. Good thing my cupboards were stocked with ingredients that could create a couple of treats. I decided to bake two things: cookies and cakes.

I made a classic chocolate chip walnut cookie as well as a vanilla cake iced and filled with orange blossom buttercream and walnuts. Both treats were such comfort treats. I shared them with a couple of friends of course.

I am really going to miss baking in my tiny kitchen here in Korea. Baking has always been a hobby since I was a teen, but it was here in Korea where I really got into it. It was also here where ambitiousbubble was born; hence, Korea would always be a big part of my baking and blogging journey. It was certainly a nice way to end my baking session, Korean edition, with a totally scrumptious cake and cookies!

Components used for these dessert treats:

• Chcolate Chip Walnut Cookies
• Vanilla Cake
• Orange Blossom Buttercream
• Walnuts

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Phyllo Pastry Money Bag Filled with Orange Blossom Pastry Cream

Phyllo dough. The word phyllo is the Greek word for leaf or sheet; this explains why this particular dough is called phyllo dough. Phyllo dough is a very thin sheet of dough usually used by piling a few sheets of dough with melted butter brushed in-between the layers of sheets. The alternate layers of butter and phyllo dough is what makes the baked pastry its distinctive thin flaky layers. Phyllo pastry is a popular pastry used in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern cuisines.  

Making phyllo dough from scratch is quite intimidating for most people. In fact, most home cooks and bakers, even food establishments use store-bought phyllo dough. There is nothing wrong with that because to tell you frankly, rolling phyllo dough as thin as possible is an art that involves technique and plenty of time which makes store-bought phyllo dough a very convenient commodity.

I have, for a number of times, contemplated on making phyllo dough from scratch, but time and time again, I have pushed that idea aside. Too scared perhaps... Last month's Daring Bakers' Challenge was to make phyllo dough from scratch and utilize it to make the Greek and Turkish classic, baklava. When I read the challenge last month, I was so enthused to join, but for varies of reasons I wasn't able to participate.



shots of how I made my phyllo pastry money bag



Fortunately, I managed to find time in the kitchen again, so my baking cap was on for phyllo dough project. I scrapped the idea of making baklava with my phyllo dough because I am not really a fan of baklava, too sweet for my liking. So instead I decided to use my phyllo dough to make parcels or what I would like to call money bags! What's in the money bag? I thought long and hard for my filling of choice, and ended up with a simple pastry cream because I think the phyllo dough is yummy enough already that it doesn't need a complex filling to be devoured. Although to give my pastry cream a taste of Greece, I infused the pastry cream with a nice fragrance of orange blossom water.

My experience with the phyllo dough was pleasant. It was a bit tricky when I rolled out my first phyllo dough, but managed to get the hang of it. I'm not too sure though if I rolled it out thin enough because the end result didn't look like the phyllo pastry you would get if you used store-bought phyllo dough. The taste however is more superior to store-bought phyllo dough. So will I start making phyllo dough from scratch after this phyllo dough project? 50/50. Making the phyllo dough is time consuming, so using store-bought phyllo dough is really convenient. Maybe if I have a lot of time to spare, then I'll make it from scratch.

I shared my orange blossom filled phyllo pastry money bags with a couple of friends, and they absolutely loved it! I loved it too!

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Phyllo Dough
• Pastry Cream Infused with Orange Blossom Water

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

What's New / What's Changed?

I have been working hard lately trying to update and organize the recipes I have used for my blog. Hopefully you would have a more delightful experience reading through my blog.

What's New / What's Changed?

• More recipes added on my recipe compilation blog http://recipepieces.blogspot.com/
• All recipes found at RecipePieces are now labelled according to categories for ease of browsing (hopefully^^).
• The "Recipes for Grabs" page of this blog is also now sorted out by categories; again for ease of browsing.
• A search bar is now at place at both my blogs, RecipePieces and AmbitiousBubble, to hopefully help find the post you are looking for.
• I have updated most of the posts here at AmbitiousBubble by adding "Components used for this dessert treat:" at the end of most posts to enchain the association of both my blogs, RecipePieces and AmbitiousBubble. It basically contains a list of links of dessert elements utilized on the specific post you are reading which is linked to the corresponding recipe at RecipePieces.

I hope these changes would make my blogs be more reader/user friendly... If you have any suggestions or comments to help improve my blogs, feel free to leave a comment. I would be glad to hear of what you think. :)

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Letting Go... Moving Forward...

H and I are leaving Korea pretty soon, so I have been busy this past couple of weeks doing a little bit here and there in preparation for our big move. One of the things I have to do is find my baking soldiers a new home. It is certainly not easy to let go of the things you are used to working with, but life goes on. I will miss the baking things that I have invested here, but at the same time, I will be looking forward to start building a new army of baking utensils in my new kitchen.

 

Saying goodbye is not easy; people react differently towards farewells. Some people would make the most out of the time that's left and enjoy every minute, while some people would act tough and give a cold shoulder to what's about to come. I have had a fair share of goodbye experiences, and I can say I am one that would act tough, to the point that I look like I don't care. In a way, I try to hide away from reality, and let what's about to happen fade away with less fuss as possible. With that being said, I do have many desserts I want to bake, but because I know I'm going to leave soon and let go of my baking things, I don't feel like using my baking stuffs anymore. It's like I feel distant and disengaged from them. Procrastination has been my defense mechanism towards spending quality time with my baking things.

It's been a pleasure baking with you

I have yet to find new owners for my beloved baking soldiers, but hopefully I would find one soon that would have as much fun as I did with them. I feel like I'm in a Toy Story 3-esque movie with this drama... No joke though, I already went through all my baking things, and chosen which ones I would be bringing with me and which ones I'll be giving away. It was a difficult and emotional moment.. haha!

With goodbyes there are hellos; I will be visiting UK this coming July, and one thing I am really excited for is my Kitchen Aid mixer. I miss my Kitchen Aid so much, two years of not seeing and using it is extremely strenuous. There are tons of occasions where I reminisce about my mixer in the middle of whipping up something; most of the time is when I am making an Italian meringue wherein using a stand mixer would be a lot more convenient than a hand-held mixer. Mmm, can't wait to see my mixer!

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Recipe Clutter

Having a recipe with very descriptive and detailed instructions is not my thing when I’m actually in the process of baking (it confuses me). What I would normally do when I’m going to bake is read different recipes that are somehow related to what I want to make; then, I would get a sheet of paper and write down my own recipe. My recipes are not the most baker friendly recipe that exist because my recipes just normally consist of a list of ingredients with random brackets and lines plus a word or two.  Thus, if you notice my recipes page is not the most updated; I have a bit of difficulty expressing my instructions into sentences that I think would be clear and understandable for readers. Forgive me if I have neglected my recipes page, but I swear I have intentions of giving my extension blog, recipepieces, a massive update. Massive… yes!

Since I have been writing my recipes on random sheets of papers (A4 papers, tissue papers, back of receipts, post it notes, last month’s calendar, etc.), I have managed to build up a pile of unsorted recipes. These recipes are starting to become such a clutter on my table, so I promised myself to sort them out by the end of this month – nicely compiled at my recipepieces blog. I always tell myself to be more productive and efficient with my recipe compilation; hopefully, this time around I would stick with my plan.

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Mystery Fruit... Help!

Ok, same story with the mulberries; I was on my way to yoga when I saw these lovely red fruits. I've never seen fresh red gooseberries or red currants before, so I assumed those fruits would most definitely be one of my guesses. I was wrong. The fruits I bought have pits, and it tasted very similar to grapes. In fact, if you have your eyes closed, you would think they were grapes.

Currants.. Gooseberries.. No? What are they?

Inside the Mystery Fruit

 I took the fruits to my H's workplace to ask his colleagues what they were. Yes, my H has very helpful colleagues, but none of them could tell me what they were. The only answer they could give me was wild grapes. So did I buy a bag of wild grapes? I'm not so convinced. I've been also doing some research over the internet as well as books, but no answer. Can anyone tell me what these fruits are?

Update: Thank you to all my readers who were trying to help me figure out this mystery fruit. I got different responses as what this mystery fruit might be (red choke berry, goji berry, jujube, aratilis, dwarf burford holly, etc.), but in the end my Korean friend confirmed that this fruit is simply a Korean type cherry. Mystery solved!

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Mulberry Project - Layers of Vanilla Mousse, Pastry Cream, Fresh Mulberries, Toasted Walnuts, Homemade Mulberry Jam and Banana Cake

I was walking my way up to the yoga studio as I saw a street vendor selling what seemed to be blackberries. My heart was beating really fast, "OMG this is the inspiration I need - fresh lovely ingredients to work with!" I swiftly bought a bag from the vendor, and as I was paying I noticed that the berries were oblong shaped. "What the heck did I buy?" No way those were blackberries. I was already getting changed for my class, but I was so curious of what I bought, so I opened the bag and got a berry out to taste. One of my classmates saw me, and asked what was in the bag. I told her I have no clue. She peeked into the bag and said, "ah, 오디 (odi)!" Alright, I have a bag of odi on my hands, but still got no clue on what it was. I got my phone out; thank goodness for kor-eng dictionary, so that's when I figured I had a bag of mulberries.

 Oh, forgive me for my ignorance, but I honestly didn't know a berry called mulberry existed. All along I thought Mulberry was just a made-up berry to name a British high end luxury brand like Burberry! haha! Umm, or is there a berry called burberry? Please enlighten me if there really is a burberry berry.

Mulberries

The mulberries tasted similar to grapes, a subtle version of grapes in my opinion. I was searching cyberspace to find what people normally do with mulberries. Disappointed with the information available, I just decided to follow my instinct with my mulberry project.

Berries are often times turned into tarts or jam. Grape jelly is perfect with peanut butter; PB&J with bananas are yummy. A simple cake sandwiched with jam goes a long way; it is also one of the key components of an English trifle. Am I making any sense? Probably not, but those are the things rambling in my mind when I was thinking of what dessert to make out of my mulberries. So with those mash of things in my mind, my mulberry project is a dessert carrying layers of vanilla mousse, pastry cream, fresh mulberries, toasted walnuts, homemade mulberry jam and banana cake.

How I assembled the cake using a loaf pan. Top left corner: Pastry cream layer embedded with mulberries and walnuts; top right corner: banana cake covered with mulberry jam; bottom left corner: last layer of banana cake; bottom right corner: the cake inverted out from the loaf pan (I used a torch to slightly warm up the pan to loosen up the mousse, so the cake would slide out easily).

The verdict: it's an ok dessert. Since the mulberry has a very subtle flavour, the two layers of banana cake were overpowering. I tried eating it with just one layer of banana cake, and it tasted better. Although I think a more lighter flavoured cake would work better, something like a lemon sponge cake would be a really nice alternative to the banana cake. Nevertheless, I'm happy with what I came up with.

Thanks to these mulberries, my chemistry with baking is back; it's sizzling and sparks are flying. Until my next baking affair!

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Vanilla Mousse
• Pastry Cream
• Fresh Mulberries and Walnuts
• Mulberry Jam
• Banana Cake

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte