プロジェクトスイーツ2012

here goes my to-bake/create sweets & desserts list for 2012:

桜抹茶ケーキ
スフレチーズケーキ
ロールケーキ
チフォンケーキ
マカロン
モンブラン
豆腐ティラミス
抹茶ティラミス
Colin's 100th Day Celebration Cake (抹茶と黒ごま)
パンダロールケーキ
豚ケーキ
marshmallows
苺大福もち
ispahan
Austrian coffee cake
baumkuchen
frasier
black forest cake
charlotte

Keiko Cakes

i found something really wonderful last night! it's hard to explain how i feel...there's a lot of mix'd feelings, but it's ultimately good news!!! whenever i'm in "obsession mode", i tend to obsess excessively with many weird ups & downs. ups as in joy & excitement, downs as in expectations whether in the subject or in myself, follow'd by disappointment. i'm lost myself as to what i'm try'n to explain. =P anyways, while watch'n on youtube how to make a croquembouche & macarons, i came across a video for Keiko Cakes. the video captivated me immensely!!! more than want'n to devour every piece of her works of art, i yearn to re-create them!!! i'm really happy to have found Keiko, a Japanese master pâtissier who shares her skills online for a monthly subscription fee of $8 ($19 for 1st month). i can't wait to drool over & be inspired by the amazing photos, to learn & develop professional skills, to finally get motivated & become confident enough to follow my dreams of becoming a professional patissier & entrepreneur!!! long way to go, but i just have to stop dream'n, stop talk'n & start baking! =D

here are some of Keiko's fabulous creations! do u need a bib?

My First Cheesecake

Post from January 18, 2011 (original blog deleted).

I was never huge fan of cheesecake, cream cheese or sour cream, but months after I failed @ making souffle cheesecake (スフレチーズケーキ) a.k.a Japanese Cotton Cheesecake (very light & cheesy-ish spongecake), I bought more cream cheese in hope of a 2nd attempt. The 2 blocks of Philadephia cream cheese sat in the fridge for many more days, until I came upon Hibiki-an's (響庵) Matcha Cheesecake (抹茶チーズケーキ) recipe here. I. LOVE. MATCHA!!!! 抹茶 大好き!!! Also love that Hibiki-an provided a whole lot of other matcha & houjicha recipes too. Can't wait to try all of the recipes! =D

I halved the recipe to make a 12 cm mini marbled vanilla & matcha cheesecake with an Oreo crust. P.S. I. LOVE. OREOS!!!

The cheesecake's texture was very creamy, but the sweetness wasn't enough for me. Next time, I will add more sugar. =D The Oreo crust somewhat overpowered the cheesecake, but still not bad being eaten together bite by bite, if you're not huge on matcha. I LOVE matcha, so I ate the cake & the crust separately after 2 or 3 bites.

The cake baked for 50 minutes in a water bath and the sides & top were brown-less...BUT I burnt the top a bit when I turn'd the oven to 400°F for a few minutes hoping to get a "crunchy" caketop...=*( i ruined my picture-perfect cake. Then I turn'd out the cake in less than 15 minutes & a fifth of it crumbled (reason why the entire cake is not being shown).

Lessons learned:

1. do not walk away from an oven set to 400°F

2. let the cake cool completely before inverting

3. use more sheets of foil & cover higher when using a springform pan

4. use parchment paper to ensure all-around photo-perfect sides of the cake
5. add a little more sugar to the matcha batter

Here's the recipe (adapted from here):

Matcha Cheesecake (12 cm)

Ingredients:

Crust:
50 g crushed Oreos (6-7 sandwiches)
25 g of Oreo icing & butter (melted together)
1 t milk

Filling:
125 g cream cheese
100 g sour cream
50 g sugar
1 egg
1 T all-purpose flour
100 ml heavy cream
2 T matcha
2 T hot water

1 t vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Mix the matcha green tea powder with the hot water. Set aside.

3. Line the bottom & sides of a 12 cm pan with parchment paper.

4. Boil some water for the water bath.

5. If using springform pan, wrap 3 sheets of aluminum foil around the outside up past the rim to prevent water from getting in.

6. Prepare the crust. Crush the Oreos in a plastic sandwich or ziplock bag. Microwave the Oreo icing & butter together in bowl for 15-20 seconds. Stir. Mix the crushed Oreo, icing/butter & milk together. Press onto bottom of pan lined with parchment paper.

7. Mix the cheesecake filling. In a large bowl, beat together cream cheese & sugar until smooth. Add sour cream. Beat to combine. Add egg. Beat to combine. Sift the flour into the mix. Beat to combine. Add heavy cream. Beat to combine.

8. Pour half of the batter into another bowl. Stir vanilla into one bowl of batter, and matcha into the other. 

9. Strain the matcha batter to get rid of matcha clumps.

10. Alternately, spoon the 2 different batters into the center of the pan to create the marbled/zebra effect. (I topped off the cake with a thicker layer of vanilla batter).

11. Set the cheesecake in a bigger pan, fill half-way up with boiling water.

12. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes.

13. Turn oven down to 320°F. Bake an additional 25 minutes.

14. Take the cheesecake out of the oven & cool completely.

15. Chill in the refrigerator overnight, or a few hours until completely cold. (I left mines cool in the porch since it was freezing out).

ENJOY!!!

here's a picture of my pre-cool'd cake being push'd up outta the pan like a push-pop:

「バナナロールケーキ」Banana Rollcake

here's the post on one of my rollcakes made yesterday from Japanese hotcake mix. it was way easy! instead of add'n 100 ml water to make regular pancakes aka "hotcakes," the package recipe advised that with 200 ml water, you can make rollcakes.

so with 150 g hotcake mix, 1 egg & 200 ml water, i made 2 rollcakes - one banana with mascarpone cream & one with chestnut cream.

these hotcake rollcakes taste yummy in their own chewy & pancakey kinda way, but can not satisfy a craving for a real rollcake. still, they take less than 10 minutes from cook'n to cool'n to fill'n to roll'n to enjoy'n! =D

the chestnut one crack'd from being too thick, so no photos...=(

here's the banana mascarpone cream one:

and here's a shot of my batter cook'n stovetop in the tamagoyaki pan.

Hotcake Mix Rollcake

150 g hotcake mix

1 egg

200 ml water

1. mix all ingredients & heat on stove @ medium heat for 3 minutes.

2. flip the cake & press down the center, heat another 2 minutes.

3. let cake cool, fill, roll & enjoy!

Mascarpone Cream - mix equal portions of mascarpone cheese, whip'd cream & half portion of powder'd sugar, so 2:2:1 cheese:cream:sugar.

ENJOY!



「アンドーナッツ」Old Fashion'd Redbean Donuts

i ♥ ホットケーキミックス!!!!

Hot Cake Mix rocks!!! i just made 2 rollcakes & 8 donuts with it!!!

i made 2 mini roll cakes on the stovetop with the tamagoyaki (rectangular egg omelette) pan - one fill'd with mascarpone cream & banana, the other one fill'd with chestnut cream (if i'm not lazy, these will be in my next post).

then i was plan'n to make steam'd cakes with the hotcake mix, but didn't have any milk, so i made something else that the "pancake" mix can magically turn out in minutes - old fashion'd donuts!

  

 

i love these donuts! UBER easy to make! they're a tad salty, a tad sweet, but all so satisfying! i didn't coat them in sugar, but ate them dip'd in a pile of sugar. HaHaHa.

this is only my first-ever bag of Hotcake mix & i've only used half. i wonder how many bags i'll go through before i get bored of it. =D

Old Fashioned "Hotcake Mix" Donuts Fill'd with Red Bean Jam

Recipe yields 8 donuts

150 g Hotcake Mix

1 egg

20 g melt'd butter

Red bean jam (didn't measure, 2 teaspoons?)

1. mix hotcake mix, egg & butter with your hands

2. split dough in half, then in quarters, then in eighths

3. roll each ball of dough into a circle & flatten with hands

4. dab some redbean jam into center of dough & enclose it inside the dough
5. fry donuts in vegetable oil heat'd to about 350F (170C)
6. when donuts float to the top & become golden, they're done - 2-3 minutes

ENJOY!!!

「ピンクのケーキ」pretty in pink

had leftover chestnut cream from yesterday, so i baked another cake to use up the "marrons" cream. baked a 7" square cos it was too late to use big oven, had to use small conventional oven, had no idea what to do with it, so i cut into 4 pieces.

this yummy stuff import'd from France is a tad too sweet on its own, but would be perfect if match'd with whip'd cream (MONT BLANC!!! i will make u soon! tomorrow?...hehe)

stack'd & ready to be frost'd/pretty'd up!

DONE! YAY! =D

time for a quick photoshoot! =D

Souffle Roll SpongeCake Recipe

from Okashi Treats: Sweet Treats Made With Love by Keiko Ishida

1 egg

3 egg yolks

1 t vanilla extract

35 g unsalted butter

60 g pastry flour (i used cake flour)

60 g whole milk

3 egg whites

85 g castor (superfine) sugar (i used 60 g powder'd sugar)

1. preheat oven to 180 C (356 F). Line a 28 cm by 28 cm (11" x 11") flat square pan with parchment paper.

2. combine 1 egg, egg yolks & vanilla in a bowl, beat lightly & set aside.

3. in a small saucepan, melt butter & add flour, cook through. Transfer to a bowl & add the egg yolk mixture a little bit at a time & mix with a spatula. Add milk. Mix well. Strain batter & set aside.

4. make meringue. Beat egg whites until foamy, add half of the sugar. Beat a few more minutes and add the remaining sugar. Beat until glossy & stiff peaks form.

5. add 1/3 of the meringue to the batter. fold in gently. add remaining meringue & fold until incorporated. pour batter into pan & bake for 20 minutes.

6. cool the cake in a clean plastic bag so that it retains moisture.

Buttercream Recipe

from Okashi Treats: Sweet Treats Made With Love by Keiko Ishida

400 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

140 g egg whites (about 2 large eggs)

140 g icing (confectioner's) sugar

1 T flavor/liqueur (vanilla, orange, cherry, etc.)

1. beat butter until pale & creamy

2. beat egg whites until foamy, add half of the sugar. beat until meringue has some volume, add the rest of the sugar. beat until glossy & stiff peaks form.

3. add meringue to butter and mix thoroughly. add flavoring/color & fold well.

And of course, you can buy almost anything from amazon with free S&H including the yummylicious Sabaton France (Chestnuts) Marrons Spread used in this cake =D

「母の日」Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all the lovely, beautiful, caring, courageous, selfless & wonderful Mommies Everywhere!!! MOMMY - THANK YOU MUCH & I LOVE YOU VERY MUCH!!!!

Celebrated Mommies' Day with my Mommy with a home-cook'd dinner & a homemade chestnut & buttercream swiss roll cake.

the cake is frost'd with vanilla buttercream & fill'd with SABATON chestnut cream. i got the idea of making a vertical swiss roll cake from Okashi by Keiko Ishida. i had want'd this book for the longest time after read'n about it from many bloggers' posts, but it took a while for amazon to stock up & when they did, i was ecstatic! it definitely didn't disappoint =D i follow'd the souffle swiss roll cake recipe from this book, the roll was definitely more moist & more foregiving to roll'n than my previous attempts @ roll'n a genoise or other "roll cake" recipes which broke apart as i roll'd. can't wait to try other recipes.

three of us shared the mini cake & still have 1/4 leftover due to the BIG dinner =D