A Hole In My Doughnut

Time passes so quickly, I thought I had just finished the traditional Sussex pudding when the next challenge was upon us!

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I first got to know about the croquembouche when the first round of Master Chef contestants had to make it for one of their pressure cooker test. Then suddenly croquembouche was all the rage for weddings, birthday parties and dessert. Such is the power of television. Anyhow, I was intrigued about how they would stick the cream puffs onto the insides of a cone with toffee and then twist it out at the end. But obviously since I’m a poor student who has no other use for a metal cone I thought I would just embark on this challenge doing simple stacking of my cream puffs.

I left my challenge to the last week as I was planning to bring my croquembouche in for ABMT or Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea, a fund raising activity for the cancer foundation in Australia. I thought that would solve the problem of having to scoff down my creation this time since you couldn’t really call a stack of 5 cream puffs a croquembouche, this was a big scale challenge! I set out to finish part of the croquembouche by Sunday, in time for the ABMT on Wednesday. I chose to finish the vanilla crème patissiere first because that was the component that you could finish beforehand and vanilla in particular because I had recently acquired a bag of vanilla beans from the Sunday markets at a really good price. They smell really good and sweet. The beans are fat and a tad oily, which is a good sign since that meant that the beans were not overly old, but…when I scrap out the seeds, it tends to flick everywhere since it is rather dry? I’m a newbie at this scrapping vanilla pod thing since my last encounter with vanilla beans from Phoon Huat left a really bad experience. Those first pods were dried, skinny and I had a hard time scraping the seeds out without shredding the pod into pieces. This time round, the slitting of the pod was a breeze but the flecks of seeds seem to fly off everywhere except then knife blade. In all the times that I have watched pastry chefs on tv doing this routine, their vanilla beans seems to come off the pod cleanly and somehow I get a feeling that their vanilla beans seems a little wet/oily when they get scraped out of the pod? So how is it that mine resembles dry paint flecks going everywhere? Did I just buy myself some crap vanilla pods??

Anyhow, I digress. So I made the crème patissiere quite quickly, it reminded my of the Bavarian custard we had to make in school. That was left to cool and since there was time left I thought I would go on to make some cream puffs on the same day for the fun of it. I remembered these cute Totoro cream puffs that Anna at Annathered’s Bento Factory generously showed on her blog. I wanted to do a stack of Totoros, like ranging from giant Totoros at the bottom tier to small ones right at the top. Since I was well ahead of schedule, I was thinking of even adding coloured chocolate umbrella pieces to cover up the holes when stacking the cream puffs. So I set to work piping Totoro shaped cream puffs onto my silpat since my baking trays were not available. Bad mistake. The silpat was a little on the thin side and the batch closer to the heat element was cooked rather well underneath but the top remained unpuffed. The batch closer to the top of the oven puffed a little but the bottom remained soggy ☹ Needless to say, those were some ugly cream puffs, the worst I have ever made since I learnt about making éclairs and cream puffs, and thus they went into the bin.

Because I am a poor student who is dependent on the kindness of the Graduate Research School for fortnight stipends (as the people at the GRS remind me everytime without fail when my research milestones draw near…) I decided I would just stick to the normal rosette style cream puffs on my second attempt at choux pastry on Tuesday evening. Less wastage = more money saved. Anyhow, I re-did the whole choux batter and had finished piping all my beautiful rosettes onto baking paper. This time round I even reminded myself that I needed a sturdy baking tray to prevent puffs from getting scorched so I used the tray from the grill which is thick and wouldn’t warp. I reigned in on my impatience and decided to bake the cream puffs in two separate batches; I even squirted water over the puffs to ensure MAXIMUM volume. Alas, shit happens as always.

While I was pre-heating the oven (sufficient oven heat is important to maximize the volume of the cream puffs) my housemate noticed that there was a glow on the heating element and before we knew it, the thing seemed to have caught a little spark and after that the heating element just didn’t heat up anymore. No choux pastry as you can guess ☹

Sorry guys. I only have pictures of my crème patissiere and my uncooked cream puffs, no majestic croquembouche ☹ I need to resurrect my oven sometime soon. Sigh….

Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, Hell’s Kitchen etc etc…Seems like everyone wants to be a chef nowadays :) I was just watching Masterchef yesterday and I can actually feel the participants’ adrenalin rush, somewhat similar to the rush I got while I was trying to ensure that I didn’t screw up my pastry exams, but I think theirs are a gazillion folds higher.

I love to make beautiful things from food and I love to feed people good food :) But I’m not sure if I have what it takes. When I look at the beautiful creations when I visit other people’s baking/cooking blogs I often wonder why I don’t have the same creativity? Besides creativity, I don’t seem to be able to exercise the same precision like they do. Their cookies are always perfectly shaped and fantabulously golden, their swiss rolls are immaculately rolled with an even layer of cream sandwiched in between, their fruit decorations on their cakes/tartlets looks so mouth-wateringly good that you can understand why the grape or the apple slice is placed there. Mine just looks urgh, like urgh.

There’s still so much to learn and master. From yesterday’s small dose of Masterchef, I realised that if someone asked me to skin a chicken, I would have absolutely no idea how? Looking and actually carrying out the deed are two very different things, I would know from my pastry classes. Your hands seem to be in the way of everything when you’re doing things by yourself but when you look at the professionals, it just seems so effortless!

I don’t really have big dreams to run some Michelin star restaurant. I just hope some time in the future it would be possible to have my own little pastry café. I imagine it to have white walls, with pretty baroque-esque wall papers, warm cozy lights, ironed baby blue curtains framing big glass windows that allow plenty of sunlight in :) If the café could be nestled somewhere in a pretty little garden, quiet and away from the hustle and bustle. In the background, some Jazz music or some Putumayo like music will be playing softly. Everyone is given a comfy chair and some privacy to take a breather and have a sip of tea to just relax and be where he/she is for the moment. On the little tables, there would be a nice little vase containing flowers like peonies, tuberoses or camellias. All you smell is the lush greenery outside and the occasional wafts of buttery cakes, burst of citrus zest and melted molten chocolate…something very much like the now closed pastry café at Rochester. That little café is the inspiration for my little café. I don’t have a name for the place as yet though, have to think of a really good one :)

Maybe I will serve things like rich little tea cakes, buttery and flaky croissants , beautiful little fruit tartlets, complete with hot chocolate, relaxing teas or good strong coffees. Little orangettes coated with dark chocolate complimentary for guests. I think it would be nice to be able to present each guest with an individual complimentary dessert, to introduce them to foods that would not have thought of trying and hopefully entice them to come back for more…

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Unfortunately the 22nd March storm wreaked havoc earlier and I ended up shelving the idea of participating in the March 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge. I was so looking forward to using some exotic citrus for that Tian dessert :( Anyhow, when the hiccups from the storm were ironed out I went back to the Daring Kitchen to have a peek at the April challenge and was surprised that it was a savoury baking challenge. Somehow my brain just connects baking with sweet stuff :) Hehehe. I scrolled through the recipe and realised that Esther offered a sweet version - Sussex pond pudding, with sugar, butter and a whole lemon as the filling.

Not having tried steaming a pudding before, I went onto Google and found out that the Sussex pond pudding actually has a long history. It is a very traditional British pudding and perfect for cold winters. Because the pudding is a very rich and heavy dessert, it has gone out of fashion over the years due to health and diet consciousness :( The pudding is called “Sussex Pond” because the melted butter and sugar flow out to form a “pond” when the pudding crust is cut opened. Esther even describes the last two steps of the recipe as “7. To serve, turn the pudding into a dish with a deep rim, when you slice into it the rich lemon sauce will gush out. 8. Make sure each person is served some of the suet crust, lemon and tangy luscious sauce.”

HOW CAN I NOT BAKE THIS??! ;)

My British pudding making experience:

Honestly, I’ve never known of British puddings so I really didn’t know how it was supposed to turn out. The tip was to use a pudding bowl, which is deeper than wide. I was contemplating using small individual ramekins instead but didn’t know what to do with the lemon if I used smaller containers. So in the end I ended up choosing the deepest bowl I had from my limited kitchenware.

Suet:
Ok I know nothing of suet and I have never rendered fat before. The last time I read about rendering fat was from Joe Pastry and his little muffin tray shaped solid fat reminded me very much of my much-loved chwee kueh…Unfortunately I have no idea where to get good, clean, high quality fat from (which reminds me I should visit my neighbourhood butcher more often) so I replaced the animal fat with vegetable shortening. The vegetable shortening I buy from the supermarkets here is a brand called “Copha” and it always reminds me of paraffin and white candle wax. Totally didn’t like this product :(

Dough making:
To make the suet pudding dough, basically you would have to rub the fat into the flour and baking powder, then add in milk to make a dough. I had trouble trying to rub the stubborn vegetable fat into the flour because unlike butter, the vegetable fat does not really melt at body temperature. I used milk instead of water to give a richer pastry :) Because the pudding I was making was sweet, I flavoured the dough with cinnamon and nutmeg. The dough was quite easy to work with and rolled out without shrinking :) Until I realised that I had to use self-raising flour…and I had used plain flour…so I had to remove my already lined pudding bowl and knead in my baking powder. MAJOR ERGH. Don’t know if this would have any bearings on my end product??!!

Filling:
The Sussex pond pudding consists of very basic ingredients - whole lemon, butter and sugar. I didn’t have cane sugar and hence substituted it with brown sugar. The filling part was the easiest. First you put in half the butter and sugar, followed by the whole lemon. Lastly, cover the lemon with the remaining butter and sugar, easy peasy but yummy!

Sealing the pudding:
To seal the pudding, a quarter of the suet dough was used and then the two dough layers were pressed together to seal it shut.

Steaming:
Unfortunately I do not have a professional steamer so I used a wok and filled it with hot water, very much like how Mom will steam fish back home. The first part of steaming I was totally clueless and forgot to cover the top of the pudding with foil. I realised my mistake when I peeked at it 15 minutes later when the top of the pudding had already deformed due to expansion and was now covered in a layer of water from the condensation of steam. ARGH. So 15 minutes into my baking experience, I already had screw up number 2. Grrr…covered the pudding with foil and crossed my fingers and continued steaming for the next 3.5 hours. Now obviously, me being me, I couldn’t just twiddle my thumbs and wait patiently for that 3.5 hours. On the pretext of checking the water levels in the wok, I kept undoing the foil to check on the pudding. At first it was just white and pasty, not really palatable looking. After a good 2 hours, the pastry became slightly golden brown and now it was wafting this delicious cinnamon, lemony smell…only thing, the pastry still looked soggy, which I think may be because I didn’t cover the pudding in the beginning!! Boo hoo hoo :(

Anyhow, after 3.5 agonising hours I peeled back to see a really lumpy pudding. Hohoho. Serves me right for not doing it properly in the beginning. Anyway, I overturned the bowl onto a dinner plate and the pudding slips out but it collapses! HAHAHAHA. Serves me right for not using a proper pudding bowl :( On hindsight, maybe the ramekins would have been a better idea…

The pudding doesn’t look pretty but I had to try it because it smelt so good. A mixture of sugar, butter and lemony goodness. And yes Esther got it right when she say the luscious lemony goodness will all ooze out when you cut open the crust…

This is my Sussex pond pudding. As you can see I’ve spared you the horrors that is my pudding and only showed you the bits that I have greedily put onto my plate. Oh man, it’s ugly but it is so good!! I would do this again, but next time round I will use ramekins!!

Okok, so the last post was to haggle you guys into joining me for the Christmas feast but that was waaaaay back in 2005. How time flies!! ;) Anyhow, I did seriously have a huge christmas feast last year (2009, can’t remember how it was like in 2005 though :P).

Let’s see…shall we do a brief recap for the years we’ve missed? :)

1) Still currently in Australia studying, it never ends, but then I think I would much rather study than work, so I’m grateful for that!

2) I’ve also managed to attend pastry courses, finally! Learnt how to do some things properly, but of course I still get lazy every now and then…those were the best times of my life! :D

3) I did some serious feasting in the last 4 years, hee hee, so the doughnut round my waist is still present, no worries!

4) Lastly, the main reason why I have resurrected this blog is because I’ve finally put my foot down and decided to join the Daring Kitchen. Was toying with the idea for some time already. Time to of do something interesting and seeing how others post up their adventures have made me throw caution to the wind and jump in! :) Afterall, I have been consistently churning food out from my kitchen, just haven’t had the motivation to actually take pictures and post about them. A pity though, since there have been very spectacular falls and small successes. It would have been fun to look back, like how I’m looking back at the horrible plate of mango with disastrous chocolate drizzle. Yikes!

Hehe :) I’m back!! :D

Tis the season to get jolly and not forgetting roly poly!!!

Christmas is just around the corner and unabashedly I must admit that it’s the season to eat, eat, eat and feast, feast and feast.

Candy canes, roast turkeys, glazed ham, christmas cookies, log cakes, fruit cakes, chocolates and more and more and more!!!

Just leaving a short post to say that I would be trying my hand at some christmas-sy food during this last stretch till the day itself!

Stay tuned and join me in the feast! :D

Fudgey brownies!!!!!!

I loooooooooveeeeeeee fudgey brownies!!! :)

This post is dedicated to a didi of mine. Enjoy all the chocolates, tiramisu and brownies in the world!!! :D

Toasted almonds, sprinkles of icing and scrapes of dark chocolate tossed around the plate. Not forgetting a generous dribble of Bailey’s Irish Creme over the sinful main star attraction! Best served warm in my honest opinion!!!

Even better?

Serve it warm with Ben and Jerry’s ice cream AND a generous dollop of whipped cream!!! (I didn’t do that in this case because I had to remind myself that this creation would have to go down my stomach once we were done with the photo taking. :D)

I don’t need the extra kilos, right now, not when Chinese New Year cheek-pinching-auntie scenarios are just round the corner, thank you very much. But I AM suggesting to you that you should, or you must, eat warmed brownies with sinful ice cream.

Please do.

I would!!!

After Chinese New Year, that is. :P

PS: I am suppose to put a note here saying that I stole the fruits from my brother’s birthday cake. Happy birthday Brother!!! Sorry the Shampagne cake turned out to be such a sham! Argh!

PPS: If anyone can identify the fruit down at the bottom left hand corner, please let me know! I really want to find out what it’s called. I recall seeing it in one of the cooking shows but it’s name has escaped my memory! Thanks :)

They say in Rome, do as Romans do. The first time I went Down Under, the thing I learnt from the Aussies were that they were really into BBQ and sausage sizzles. The welcoming lunch included a sausage sizzle, the farewell lunch for exchange students was also a sizzle. Raising funds for the clubs were also by sizzles and outside every Bunnings there is always a sizzle.
Hence it would be fitting if my last post on Aussie food was on the dish that has captivated most of the Aussie population.

This sausage here is the yummilicious cheese franks that I have been searching high and low for the past 2 semesters. I finally found it hiding behind the glass showcase at Coles. It would do the sausage no justice if there wasn’t any caramelised onions, Djionnaise and ketchup to share the limelight!

Meanwhile, we bid farewell to Aussie fare for the time being and return to Singapore for more fattening, santan filled, ghee filled, perspiration inducing spicy food!

Till then! :)

It’s been a long time since I had hauled my ass out for a good workout.

For being able to get up and complete the flabber-gasting (flubber-gasping more likely) jogging I’ve been doing for the past few days, I rewarded myself with the Sunday Breakfast Rumble, which consisted of scrambled eggs with sauteed fresh mushrooms and sauce, baked beans out of the can, cheesy butter toast and a whole glass of milk.

You need not point out the irony that exist here - me hauling my ass to the park and stuffing myself silly simultaneously.

I already know it!!!

Been in a grilled calamari and salad phase recently.

Veggies and fruits are GOOD FOR YOU! You know who you are. :P

The calamari was grilled with some peri peri salt, chilli powder and heaps of black peppercorn (this thing really does wonders to add flavour to meat and all).

I grilled it in the oven for a while and then placed over a bed of lettuce which had been mixed with some olive oil and honey mustard.

Lastly, a squeeze of lemon juice to add that extra kick!

Enjoy! :)