Evan's Kitchen Ramblings

Macarons 2019

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Thu, 14 Feb 2019 13:29:00 +0000

happy new year, lunar new year and valentines day as well! yet another 8 months have passed, no idea if anyone still reads this blog but my new year resolution is actually to come back to blogging, and to do it more often. and nothing beats starting a new year with a macaron post, something that i've been making for 12 years now. the only difference is i now use a built in oven to bake my macarons. it was finicky in the beginning since it took alllllot of figuring out the temperament of my oven. turns out that the temperature display isn't that all accurate. i had to attempt lots of trial & error as well as using two oven thermometers to help figure things out. my ovens are way too hot so i'm now baking my macarons about 20-30 degrees lower than shown on the display.

i've taken a couple of macaron orders as well, its heartwarming to know people still remember my macarons.

matcha and rose macarons, with homemade rose petal jelly

sea salt chocolate macarons with fleur de sel guerande dark chocolate ganache

mango, chocolate sea salt caramel, pistachio, raspberry lychee macarons

packed in a pretty marble print box, marble greeting card and silver ribbon

earl grey chocolate, raspberry, creme brulee macarons with vanilla caramel center

super adore these white drawer boxes with see through covers and gold trimmed details

strawberry, chocolate and salted caramel macarons packed in cellophane bags, "thank you" stickers and silver ribbon

black & white series - hojicha macarons with hojicha tea ganache, bamboo charcoal macarons with matcha milk jam ganache

packed in clear acetate macaron boxes and an elegantly simple black label

coeur ispahan 2019 - large heart shaped macaron entremet with fresh raspberries, rose buttercream and a lychee center, embellished with red rose petals.

i will be doing up my catalog menu on dessert couture and it will be up real soon. i forsee i will also be making more macarons this year, so stay tuned!

Cranberry rose teacakes

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Sun, 10 Jun 2018 10:20:00 +0000

i bought these rose shaped silicone molds and was so eager to use them so i made these cranberry rose teacakes. i was never a fan of silicone molds since they give baked goods a weird sheen. luckily these did not! i added dried rose petals, nielsen massey's rosewater extract, rose syrup, vanilla bean paste and a touch of pink food coloring. paired them with my favorite TWG's bain de roses tea and they were so good!

this is essentially a pound cake, and also my first time use a pound cake recipe to make them into other shapes. apart from some weird air bubbles at the bottom (or top, after turning over), they turned out really well. you could also use your favorite pound cake or sponge cake recipe.

rose shaped silicone mold, pretty versatile and very essential for afternoon tea! can also be used for puddings, jellies, even non edibles like soaps and candles.

i used the same recipe for the tri colored pound cake two entries back and did some tweaks. makes exactly 6 teacakes.

ingredients :

100g butter, softened
60g sugar
2 eggs
100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp each of rosewater extract, rose syrup, vanilla bean paste
5 dried rose buds, ground
handful of dried cranberries or craisins, chopped
pink or red food coloring

method :

1. preheat oven to 170C.
2. in a bowl cream together butter and sugar until pale.
3. add in eggs one at a time and whisk until combined. add in rosewater, rose syrup, vanilla and food coloring.
4. sift together cake flour & baking powder and add into the above.
5. fold in dried roses and cranberries and mix well.
6. pipe or spoon batter into the rose shaped mold. i find that piping is less messy, you could also use an ice cream scoop.
7. bake for 18-20 mins until cooked. let cool.

Matcha ombré cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Fri, 30 Mar 2018 00:38:00 +0000

made something really interesting today. a matcha ombre rare cheesecake with a matcha chiffon sponge base. i think this is so pretty seriously. how is it i've never seen such a design made using matcha? i think the zebra/bullseye design is pretty common, especially the rainbow one but not this, so i'm pretty impressed!

recipe is taken from xiachufang, a chinese recipe community. think of it like cookpad, but chinese. in there you can submit your own recipe, post creations that you tried using other people's recipes, subscribe to paid lessons or shop for groceries. its become my frequent haunt these days because the recipes are aplenty and they're all pretty good. i've tried a couple of them such as the lemon earl grey madeleines and earl grey cookies and they were sooo good.

this is very simple to make and yields spectacular results. slightly more work and more bowls to wash but well worth the effort. you can also make different versions of it using coffee, chocolate, raspberry or strawberry. i think a bamboo charcoal version will be pretty awesome as well if you're into that monotonous black grey or marble look.

recipe source : amanda @ xiachufang

(makes one 6 inch cake)

ingredients :

for the matcha chiffon sponge :
3 eggs, separated
60g caster sugar
1 tbsp matcha powder
pinch of salt
25ml salad or neutral tasting oil
60ml milk
60g cake flour

for the cheesecake filling :
125ml milk, heated
100g cream cheese or mascarpone cheese, room temp
175g whipping cream, whipped until soft peaks and chilled for use later
70g sugar
6 gelatine sheets, softened in ice water
1 tbsp matcha powder

method :

1. preheat oven to 180C. to make the matcha chiffon sponge, whisk together egg yolks and half the caster sugar until combined. add in oil and mix well.
2. add the matcha powder into the milk and whisk well. make sure there are no lumps.
3. add the matcha milk mixture into the yolk mixture then sift over cake flour & salt.
4. make meringue with egg whites and the rest of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks. fold whites into the yolk mixture and pour it into a 20x30cm rectangular tray or jelly roll pan.
5. bake for 15 mins, let cool then cut into 6 inch round.
6. to make the cheesecake filling, add the softened gelatine into the hot milk, whisk well to combine.
7. lightly whisk the cream cheese or mascarpone in a bowl then add the above milk & gelatine mixture in. stir in caster sugar and mix well until sugar is fully dissolved. fold in whipped cream.
8. prepare 5 small bowls. in each bowl add in 1 tsp, 3/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp & 1/4 tsp matcha powder respectively then add in a few drops of water to dissolve. the final bowl will be the white mixture hence there is no need to add matcha.
9. in the bowl with the 1 tsp matcha, add in 60g cheesecake mixture, to the 3/4 tsp matcha add in 80g cheesecake mixture, 1/2 tsp matcha to 100g mixture and finally 1/4 tsp to 100g mixture. the final white mixture will be 125g.
10. place the sponge cake into the bottom of a 6 inch cake tin with removable base or a mousse ring. pour the white filling onto the sponge followed by the lightest green mixture directly on top. the sequence is lightest to darkest so keep pouring one filling directly on top of the other to create a zebra or bullseye pattern.
11. chill cake for at least 4 hours in the fridge then use a blowtorch, hairdryer or hot dishcloth to loosen the sides of the cake tin.

New year, new home and a tri colored pound cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Tue, 27 Feb 2018 10:03:00 +0000

not sure if anyone still reads my blog but i took an (almost) 2 year hiatus and i've settled into my new home, finally! so i've decided to come back to blogging at least for now and will be sharing recipes once again. so if any of my followers are still here, a big HELLO to you all!

as always spring is my favorite season at least when it comes to sweets making, so i've decided to start my series of hinamatsuri/girls day/hanami spring sweets with a tri colored pound cake! this turned out beautifully with a split down the center top. i used raspberry powder for the pink layer and it has a nice tangy taste to it not unlike yogurt. the 3 colors from bottom symbolize grass, snow followed by flowers, very apt for spring.

i've stopped using my DSLR & pc for awhile now. they're still in storage so im now using my phone solely to blog. hopefully my photos still look fine. the web version for blogger is not exactly user friendly but this will have to do, for now.

recipe is from cookpad

(makes 1 loaf)

ingredients :

100g cake flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp matcha powder
1 tsp strawberry powder (i used raspberry powder)
100g butter, softened
80g caster sugar (i reduced to 60g)
2 eggs, room temp

method :

1. preheat oven to 170C.
2. sift together cake flour & baking powder.
3. whisk together butter and sugar until pale, then add in eggs one at a time. whisk until combined.
4. fold in flour mixture.
5. separate mixture into 3 equal portions then add in matcha powder & strawberry powder into the 2 portions respectively..
6. put batter into piping bags and pipe the matcha batter in the bottom of the loaf tin followed by the original then the strawberry batter.
7. smooth mixture with a spatula with the two ends taller than the center, like a concave shape. this is to ensure that the cake rises evenly with a crack exactly in the center. that way you dont have to draw a line down the middle like some recipes do.
8. bake for 40-50 mins, remove cake from tin and leave to cool.

and bonus pics! a preview of my kitchen :

my kitchen is relatively small this time round, but i do have dedicated prep areas for baking (two, to be exact) which is great. they're not in the pic because i didnt take pics of them yet.

sink area. totally digging the black granite sink and champagne gold faucet.

i also have two built in ovens now since i make lots of macarons. have got a couple of orders since i moved in and the ovens really made a helluva difference! makes me life so much easier.

Sakura Rare Cheese

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Thu, 17 Mar 2016 09:35:00 +0000

no matter where i'm at or how busy i've gotten, i always make it a point to make spring desserts. i love desserts associated with spring because of the beautiful colors and combinations. here i revisit a recipe that i made 4 years ago, the sakura white chocolate rare cheese dessert, with some slight tweaks. i remember this one being really popular with my readers and i got tons of people telling me how good it was. i wanted to go big initially ie. make an 8 inch one, or go real small. decided on the latter as i really wanted to use these cute square cups i bought recently. i think they look better than the round ones to be honest!

i also need to mention how much i love shopping at the dollar store recently. they've got tons of confections, snacks and chocolates not available at the mainstream grocery stores. in there i found tons of stuff, such as the bounty coconut chocolate, creme brulee and purple sweet potato kit kat, mint m&ms as well as these cheesecake flavored digestive/graham biscuits. i'm not usually a fan of grocery store cookies (i hate oreos), and the only kind i would eat are the lotus biscoff/speculoos, stroopwafels or the high end ones from marks & spencer, harrods or crabtree & evelyn so i was surprised i really liked these. the strawberry cheesecake flavored ones were pretty good, and i thought it would be great if i made the crust using these, cream and all. best decision i made so far. these were amazing! if you're familiar with japanese desserts rolled out during spring time, strawberry and sakura seem to be one of the more popular pairings - such as the sakura strawberry mont blanc so i'm not surprised it worked beautifully.

the dessert itself is as good as i remembered. even though this is a non-baked cheesecake, the use of egg yolk and white chocolate made it denser than the usual non-baked versions. some can be rather light on the palate, like the tofu cheesecake, but this is as close as you can get to a baked cheesecake, without the hassle of baking. the strawberry flavor from the crust is also quite prominent. and since i added the cream filling from the cookie as well, i only used half the butter. i also added slightly less sugar overall. since these cookies are smaller than the usual digestives, they're also easier to break apart so its win win situation all around.

for the recipe, head over to my entry from 2012, i linked it to the original recipe from cookpad.

Strawberry Eclairs

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 17:17:00 +0000

i've been very inspired by all the beautiful eclairs i'm seeing on instagram, namely the ones at maitre choux by joakim prat as well as l'eclair de genie's by christophe adam. of course, how could i forget sadaharu aoki's? his are amazing as well. i don't think i've ever blogged much about eclairs coz i usually shy away from making them. like frosted cakes, they're not my forte. but i think i'm definitely getting better at this.

for this attempt, i used strawberry creme diplomat for the filling. i added strawberry puree into the creme patissiere, then folded in creme chantilly. so basically, creme diplomat is pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. and for the glaze, it was strawberry flavored white chocolate ganache. i don't fancy pouring fondant that much, so white chocolate glaze is the way to go. i also decorated some with a sprinkling of raspberry powder and fresh raspberries. they were soooo good.

in the past, i've always used dorie greenspan/pierre herme's pate a choux recipe. this time i decided to use chez shibata's recipe, i've had chef takeshi shibata's book for the longest time and it was only now that i'm beginning to look at it. chef shibata has pastry shops in japan as well as in places like shanghai and bangkok, and his salted caramel eclairs adorned with cubes of butter is one of the best sellers. i think his eclair recipe is far better compared to the others because it uses bread flour as well as baking them on low heat (150C for 55 mins). as opposed to those baked on high heat from the start, baking them on low heat for a long time ensures they're baked thoroughly so you get really crisp and hollow shells. whenever i try the other methods in the past, my choux would brown too quickly and i get soggy centers. not anymore! i also used a fluted piping tip (wilton 8B) for piping these. using tips like these ensure even baking. if you don't have such tip, you could get one, or use a fork to score lines after piping. i also like his creme patissiere recipe, it uses cake flour to thicken instead of corn starch. i think the texture is way better, not thick and gluey but smooth and glossy.

recipe is from a book, so i won't be posting it, as usual. the book シェ・シバタスイーツのエスプリ can be found on amazon.co.jp.

Christmas Buttercream Wreath Cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Tue, 01 Dec 2015 01:57:00 +0000

christmas is just around the corner. whats more apt than a christmas wreath cake? before making this, i did my research looking at pictures of christmas wreaths, not the kind with fake decorations like baubles but those made with real flowers so i came up with this. i adorned my wreath cake with twine, red roses, raspberries, holly berries, pine cones and noble fir (or something along that line). i feel that among all the flower cakes i've made, this one is the most true to life because of the colors.

my favorite part would have to be the raspberries. they're so lifelike i'm surprised myself!

for the cake itself, i made a four layer red and white genoise sponge cake. i need to talk about this cake because i learned a new method in torting/cutting it into layers and it was pretty easy. maybe not new, but for me, it is. previously i tried methods like using the wilton layer tool (the kind that looks like a hanger), placing two wooden board strips by each side of the cake, or even the cake cutting "thingies" where you clip at both ends of the knife, i even tried using a dental floss! but i find that using a ruler to mark around the cake and then cutting along the markings with a very large and heavy knife does the trick. i bought a huge serrated cake knife and its very heavy so the knife does not slant when you slice with it.

i had fun making this cake and its really simple to put together, unlike one adorned with flowers. for the genoise sponge, i used the recipe from here. its a pretty good recipe though it didn't rise much for me. i did do the hot water bath thing and whisked the batter til ribbon stage so i have no idea! i only managed to obtain 2 slices so i would suggest making the 18cm one and doubling the quantity if you intend to do a 4 layer cake like mine.

Buttercream Flower Cupcakes

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Wed, 25 Nov 2015 03:02:00 +0000

over the past few days i learned to pipe a ton of new flowers. it was really fun so i'm here to spam some pictures! i actually had plan to make a round cake but i thought cupcakes would be more interesting since i've never tried making flower cupcake before. they all turned out very romantic shabby chic, it reminds me of an english rose garden! the pic above shows ranunculus buds and english/david austin rose.

to be honest i have no idea what this flower is but the koreans do it, ALOT. it might be another type of ranunculus or ribbon rose. i also did baby's breath as a filler, for the first time. previously i did larger buds but i think the smaller ones are way prettier.

my favorite - open rose, hydrangea and apple blossom.

pink and white (actually very light minty green but it doesn't really show) hydrangeas. i love hydrangeas and these have become my favorite flower to pipe now.

full shot of all the cupcakes

packed in a kraft cupcake box. i think some of the flowers were too huge to use on a cupcake. thats because i originally made them to be placed on a cake. definitely needs some scaling down.

i'm not really adventurous when it comes to the color combination, choosing to be in the safe zone still, such as using pink, white and green shades. i did experiment with different tone so i think the flowers look more life-like now. i've seen the dark red, blue and turquoise flower cake on instagram and they look amazing. can't wait to try experimenting with more flowers!

Buttercream Flower Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 08:52:00 +0000

i had a couple of orders for these buttercream flower cakes for the month of nov, and because this is not something i do on a regular basis nor did i openly say i'm taking orders for them, i'm surprised people would ask. i also felt the need to tell my customers i have very limited knowledge on piping flowers so i'll not be very good at it. heck, i'm not even good at frosting whole cakes but my customers were really nice about it, so i went ahead. it must be a good 6 months since i practiced piping any flowers, and i was a little apprehensive to be honest.

for this bouquet cake i did roses, ranunculus and some buds/berries. having gone overboard with the leaves for my first attempt on my wedding anniversary cake, i learned that "less is more".

for this wreath cake, its several styles of roses plus chrysanthemums and buds. not being very satisfied with the previous leaf color, i simply added matcha powder to the buttercream this time, its a lot lighter in color but also more natural.

another perspective.

and finally, a buttercream tulip cake. this is the first time i'm using such strong colors in cake decorating but i think it turned out pretty well.

if anything for these couple of attempts, its that i'm really getting better at piping roses (i think). i also realized that piping flowers is really more about the technique, variety and color combination than "which tip to use". its a challenging thing for me since i don't attend any classes for these, not even the wilton method. not 100% happy with my attempts of course, but with constant practice, i know i can be better.

Yuzu Chiffon Cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Sat, 14 Nov 2015 08:50:00 +0000

a new japanese grocer/live seafood place called "emporium shokuhin" opened in town and i was there a couple of days ago. basically its a high end japanese supermarket with a huge live seafood section that houses crustaceans like the alaskan king crab (it was humongous and probably costs $400 each), blue abalone, brown crab etc. theres also a very cool aged beef facility, plus restaurants/bakery littered along the perimeter of the place. friends who've been there said it was "nothing much" and that there "wasn't much to buy". on the contrary, i bought lots of stuff like octopus leg for takoyaki, king crab legs, mentaiko, hokkaido milk, beni shoga, yuzu yokan, ume plum somen and even macarons. i also bought these fresh yuzus. i find it less expensive compared to isetan's which is $9.90 a pop. these go for 2 at $7.80 which i think is pretty reasonably priced.

the first time i made yuzu chiffon i did it with a friend at her place so i didn't take a photo of the fruit. its a japanese citrus that is yellow skinned and very perfumy. the smell is like a cross between a pomelo and tangerine but the taste is extremely sour, like lemon. there is also a ridiculous number of seeds. i counted like 20-25 seeds in one small yuzu. i like that the recipe uses both the zest and juice and also utilizes the korean yuzu marmalade called citron tea. the marmalade i used is more expensive (gold grade) as there aren't any seeds or membrane in it, plus the peel is finely sliced. appreciate that there are no seeds, but not the thinly sliced peel as i prefer mine with more of a bite.

since i was meeting a friend, i made two cakes and one of it was for her. i used two different chiffon tins and mine (the taller slimmer one) turned out horribly. the sides were charred and due to the height/thinness of the cake, it was hard to slice and it kinda threatened to collapse. i have no idea why since the tortoise shell chiffon i made before actually turned out quite nicely. maybe that cake was drier and this is more moist. luckily the one i made for my friend turned out pretty ok as you can see from the first pic.

for my friend. happy she enjoyed it! the recipe is taken from junko's chiffon cake book. since its from a book, i won't be posting it, as usual.

Matcha Milk Jam

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 02:06:00 +0000

i made matcha milk jam yesterday and wow, this is probably one of the best things i've made in a while! milk jam is something like a dulce de leche or confiture de lait where milk and sugar is cooked to a caramel-ish consistency. i was wondering if it would turn out like matcha flavored condensed milk but heck no, it was so much better. japanese milk jam don't come cheap and its probably around 10-15 bucks a 200g bottle. with something so easy to make, there's no reason to buy at all.

left : freshly made and right, where it has been refrigerated overnight and spread on toast. it was soooo good! the jam firmed up substantially and it became somewhat like a paste and is less runny. the taste is amazing, its like matcha caramel, very creamy. with so much sugar and so little matcha (i only used 1/2 tsp), it was suprisingly not as sweet as i expected it to be.

making this requires some patience, since you need to stir it constantly on low heat for 15-20 mins until the mixture thickens but its so easy to do. basically you add hot water to the matcha to dissolve it, then add cream, sugar and milk and bring it to a boil. you can have it on toast, scones, or add it to milk to make matcha latte. you can even use it as a macaron filling so its pretty versatile. the recipe makes way too little by the way, it barely fills half a jar so feel free to double it.

Caramel Poire

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Thu, 08 Oct 2015 07:35:00 +0000

caramel pear entremet

i was supposed to make this entremet together with my friend A but due to conflicting schedules we were never able to make it. as you can probably tell, i hardly make entremets these days. everything seemed like a "been there, done that" for me. i mean, do i wanna make YET another berry entremet? nope. matcha, chocolate, hazelnut, pistachio? meh. right now, if i ever make one, i want to work with flavor combinations i've not tried before. this one is a good example. i have had pretty good results working with caramel (bergamote and hidemi sugino's bresilienne) so pear caramel seemed like a good flavor combination.

layers from bottom are hazelnut almond joconde sponge, caramel mousse, pear mousse, caramel liquid soaked pear compote. this one was really good, very light despite it has so much egg yolk in it. i always have tons of egg yolks left after macaron orders so this recipe is good for getting rid the leftovers.

this entremet is good because it doesn't require any seasonal ingredients. it uses canned pears so you can make it anytime. it also contains pear liqueur which i believe most of us will not have, so for the imbibage i just used the syrup from the can. this is also the 3rd recipe from chef koji yamamoto of patisserie planetes. i've tried making the fraise exotique and vanille rouge and they were awesome! recipe from cake chef.

Macarons + Roll Cakes

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 15:43:00 +0000

just to showcase some of the things i did for the past two weeks.

yuzu, rose, maldon sea salt choc macarons & matcha roll cake, an order from my regular customer from australia. he never fails to order from me everytime he's in town. thanks, T!

a feeble attempt to go black - bamboo charcoal macarons with black sesame ganache. i don't think its black enough so back to the drawing board!

rainbow roll cake. amidst all that striped roll cakes i did, this one is my fav!

an order from my best girlfriend, E, for her mom in law's birthday.

the haze has been really bad these few weeks, sometimes even dipping into hazardous levels. friends in singapore/malaysia/indonesia who're affected by it, please take care!

Matcha Kakigori

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:04:00 +0000

matcha kakigori (抹茶かき氷), also known as ujikintoki (宇治金時) is a japanese shaved ice dessert with matcha syrup, anko and dango

i bought a kakigori (かき氷) shaved ice machine last week and have been using it almost everyday. in where i live where its summer all year round, this is more of a necessity than a luxury. i think its really fun because the combinations you can come up with are virtually endless.

this is the machine i got, its also the same model that cooking with dog is using. it looks pretty old school doesn't it? it has a plastic body though i would very much prefer it to be metal. it's automatic and comes with a knob at the bottom where you can adjust the size of the ice flakes. it also comes with 2 plastic containers to freeze your ice in. i have tried freezing not just water but milk and juice as well and the results were very good. the only drawback is the noise. its pretty loud to be honest, definitely louder than a blender. for those interested, you can buy it from amazon.co.jp.

recipe for the matcha kakigori is from here. the matcha syrup is very good! in fact the combination itself is fantastic, lots of interesting textures here. you could also have it with a scoop of matcha ice cream on top or drizzle condensed milk over. i'm really happy because we can finally eat bingsu/kakigori/shaved ice/snow cone whenever we want!

Tortoise Shell Patterned Chiffon Cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 24 Aug 2015 06:43:00 +0000

animal print on desserts seem to be the rage these days (tokyo banana, anyone?) and i love incorporating these prints into my cakes as well! do you remember me making cow patterned cookies and leopard print roll cake awhile ago? even though these were basically just chocolate/vanilla marbled desserts in general, it adds a new dimension to the end product. as for this chiffon cake, it was inspired by the tortoise shell patterned coat found on cats.

i was doing my usual rounds on youtube watching cooking with dog and this particular video by "cook kafemaru" appeared on my recommended list. i clicked on it and was sold! this channel is owned by a japanese lady and she makes the most amazing stuff! there are so many interesting japanese recipes you don't need to own a japanese cookbook, ever. theres this fishbowl jelly with swimming goldfish which looks awesome. there are also several bento making videos where she made and brought them to her husband at work. really sweet! you guys should check her videos out if you haven't already.

as for this chiffon cake, its made using two different types of cocoa powder, the normal kind as well as the black cocoa powder. things like oreo are made using this dutch processed cocoa and yes, its absolutely black. i got it from iherb and it has a really nice flavor. the cake itself is wonderful. its soft and moist with a hint of cocoa and it kinda tasted lighter than the usual chiffon cakes i've made. i would definitely make it again.

this photo is taken using my phone and i think it portrays a more accurate color (the irony). somehow i cannot seem to get the correct tone on my DSLR and this one comes much closer to the original cake. you can see how dark the black cocoa is. you can also substitute black cocoa with charcoal powder or black sesame would do just fine as well.

this is the video where the recipe is from. in here, the lady does the 3 colors separately by mixing one egg yolk at a time, then add water, oil, etc. i think its too troublesome to have to repeat the process 3 times so i did it altogether by mixing the ingredients for the 3 yolks and then separated the batter into 3 portions. easy peasy. except that mine turned out rather messy because i was using a new chiffon tin which is narrower and taller (the kind that japanese use) and i've been on the lookout for the longest time. had problem putting the batter in so i would probably use piping bags next time.

Banana, Peach & Strawberry Smoothie

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Sat, 18 Jul 2015 18:08:00 +0000

had some leftover peaches from making the panna cotta and not sure what to do with them, so they went into a smoothie! previously we tried juicing for over a year and the benefits were great. issue was mainly with the leftover pulp. we would be really enthusiastic about using the leftover pulp in vegetable soup and muffins initially but theres only so much soup and muffin one could make, so we ended up not juicing as often because we really didn't want to throw anything away. imagine lugging a whole lot of fruit and veggies home only to have to throw them out after juicing. so we decided to invest in a blender. i wouldn't say its an "investment" since its not that expensive. i chose the cheapest model at only 50 bucks but i really like it. the most important thing is that the body itself is glass (instead of plastic) and the blade is actually removable so it makes for easy cleaning! of course i like that nothing is wasted.

i've had the blender for 3 weeks now and tried different combinations. the "meh" one was a smoothie of dragonfruit, blueberries and dates. i was expecting it to be good but it wasnt. too much skin on the dates. my favorites would have to be avocado-anything, banana peanut butter with coconut milk as well as this! making this smoothie is a breeze. no cutting, peeling nor dicing. many recipes use yogurt but i find it too sour for my liking. using yogurt don't really add to anything except maybe for the probiotic factor but it makes the smoothie tangy and you'll end up having to add more sweetener.

one tip - when you're working with fruit that oxidize easily like banana and avocado, use the pulsing function instead of blending so you don't create a vortex which in turns creates more oxygen. the fruit will not turn brown, and won't taste metallic. also, chew your smoothie, don't just gulp it down. feel free to adjust the amount of liquid to suit your palate. you could also freeze the fruit prior to making this to eliminate the need to add ice cubes in the drink.

ingredients (makes one smoothie) :

1/4 cup water or milk
1 banana, chopped
1 peach, halved & pitted
a handful of strawberries (probably 6 or 7), calyxes removed

method : just blend and enjoy!

Peach Panna Cotta

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 06 Jul 2015 07:34:00 +0000

vanilla panna cotta, peach compote + jelly

this refreshing dessert is perfect for summer and what i like about it is that its all natural and does not contain any coloring. the weather has been horrible lately, i feel fortunate i don't have to work under the hot sun and i suddenly have got a new found respect for those who do!

there are 3 components to this dessert. first you make the peach compote by poaching peaches in a vanilla sugar syrup. while at it, the color leaches out of the skin of the peaches lending the syrup a very beautiful peachy pink color where you later on make it into a peach jelly by adding gelatin. there's also the vanilla panna cotta which is very creamy. this is so lovely and is one of my favorite verrines now. i think the whole thing is more vanilla than peach since poached fruit don't really taste like much.

recipe is from this website. one tip though - make sure you use a freestone peach instead of a cling peach because if you use the latter, you'll have an extremely hard time getting the pits out. it virtually doesn't budge. the first time i tried, i used nectarines and it was an ugly messy affair. not a problem if you just intend to slice or dice the fruit, but if you're intending to halve the peach and twist it, good luck with that. i learned my lesson the hard way and used a proper peach this time round, the kind with fuzzy skin.

this recipe would also work with stone fruits like plums as well as pears. i find the jelly on the sweet side so rather than what the recipe says that is to add additional sugar into the compote when making the jelly, i watered it down.

Matcha Marbled Pound Cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Fri, 26 Jun 2015 11:09:00 +0000

probably the last time i'm using my loaf tins before packing them away into storage. we're getting ready to move pretty soon and i think it will be an exciting journey. but before that, some good ol' pound cake to start the day with. did you know that the name for pound cake originally meant a cake made using a pound each of butter, sugar, eggs and flour? i have no idea how much it would make but 1 pound of sugar (450g) is just crazy. this is probably why i like japanese recipes so much. their recipes are much lighter without sacrificing the taste and texture.

this recipe uses not much butter and sugar in comparison but uses quite a bit of ground almonds. the addition of kuromame (black beans) which i got in a tiny can from isetan also gave it a nice texture. taste wise was quite good. the cake was tender, crumbly and not too sweet though i think it could use more matcha. 2 tsps for a cake? definitely not enough.

recipe from here. personally i really like this website. did i mention the japanese hotcakes i made using this website's recipe were really awesome? tasted like morinaga's mix totally.

Liege Waffles

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Thu, 18 Jun 2015 18:18:00 +0000

liege waffles are a type of belgian waffle, yeast-risen with pearl sugar added to give it a distinctive crunch. pearl sugar, unlike normal sugar, are larger, coarser and do not melt on high heat therefore they retain their shape after baking. in the past when i didn't have much baking experience, i've always thought there's only one type of waffle and thats the liquidy kind you normally make in a waffle maker and eaten with syrup or ice cream. so when i came across this type of cutesy belgian waffle at starbucks, i tried to replicate it by making it in my waffle maker and was dismayed that it could not "retain" its shape! it was only much later that i realized that this sort of waffle are yeast-risen and are made from a round dough. very silly of me.

i therefore went out to buy a stove-top waffle maker and with the swedish pearl sugar i got from the baking supplies store, i made these. there were a plethora of recipes out there, very happy to come across this one because it was really very good. the waffles were slightly more work since you need to knead it like you would a bread dough and proof it but the texture was great - crisp on the outside, soft and crunchy on the inside and it smells amazing of vanilla and butter. definitely making these again! my only gripe was that dividing the dough into 6 equal portions were still rather large in my opinion so i would probably do 8 portions next time.

on an unrelated note, just a friendly reminder to remind you guys to save recipes onto your OWN pc/tablet/email whenever you come across any that you'd like to try. don't just bookmark the site or blog thinking that you'll just refer to the recipe from there later on. i've come across blogs that are put private without any warning, leaving readers to beg to be invited back in because "my family's favorites are in there and i can't access your blog now. send me an invitation, pretty please?" sort of thing. don't expect blogs or websites to be up there forever because anything that can happen, will. murphy's law. you know it too, right?

Rainbow Rare Cheesecake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 08 Jun 2015 19:03:00 +0000

rainbow desserts are literally everywhere. you would think maybe they'll stop at a layered cake or something but i've now seen concoctions of every kind, from slushies to rainbow heart in a crepe cake to jello shots and meringues. all in psychedelic rainbow colors. i gotta say they look very fancy and pretty but is it weird i only like them in pastel shades? how could anyone even stomach that much red or blue coloring is beyond me. i saw this particular style of rainbow cheesecake circulating its rounds on instagram and thought "hey, that is nice, i could make it!" so i found a recipe for a plain japanese rare cheesecake and turned it into rainbow one.

this is really fun to make! i've seen a few styles of rainbow cheesecakes like swirled or layered but i find this bullseye effect to be the prettiest. tastewise its very delicious too. for the uninitiated, rare is like non-baked or chilled in japanese so this is basically a chilled cheesecake. it uses yogurt so its very light on the palate. i also like the fact that the crust uses a combination of marie and digestive biscuits so it tasted significantly better compared to crusts that only use 1 type of biscuit. i heard speculoos are really nice as well, so i'm going to try experimenting with lotus biscuits next time.

did i also mention i LOVE japanese product websites like meiji, morinaga and nestle? they have really nice recipes and this one is taken from japan's philedelphia cream cheese website called happy-philly. fell in love with their recipes on first glance, they're all so beautiful! you can find the recipe for this rare cheesecake here. if you're making a rainbow version, just separate the batter into 6 or 7 equal portions, color and pour them directly into the center of the crust after each color. i should have done 1 more color after the yellow though.

Sakura Financiers

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Thu, 28 May 2015 08:42:00 +0000

i bought a bunch of stuff from rakuten like monaka (wafer) shells, wax papers, mousse rings, financier tins and sakura leaf powder. these are stuff i would never be able to find locally. i was very excited to use the financier tins because i have the silicon version and didn't like it one bit. cakes baked using silicon molds always give me this weird glossy surface which i find very annoying. gloss on a mirror glaze - yes, but on a freshly baked cake - no! anyway i love financiers but i don't like the long chilling time for the batter. having to wait 12-24 hours is not my thing so when i came across this recipe from cotta that didn't require any chilling i was like, hell yea! i wanted to see if there's any difference to chilling the batter vs. baking immediately. do you think it would make a difference?

honestly, i don't think so. the financiers tasted virtually no difference when baked immediately so i don't think chilling was necessary. in fact, i don't even know what it does. probably to "relax" the batter but for what? i know madeleines develop their distinct humps when the batter is chilled thoroughly but i probably wouldn't chill my financier batter (very much) from now on. these turned out very very good btw. i loved them!! probably the best financier i've ever made. the recipe uses sakura powder which i believe it should be pickled sakura powder but since i didn't have it, i used sakura leaf powder instead. it made the batter slightly darker and with a greenish tinge but flavor wise, really awesome. it tasted like a cross between cinnamon and ume plum. sweet, yet a tad salty.

financier tins and sakura leaf powder, from rakuten. i really like the tins because they're really lightweight. there are 2 kinds of powders in this range, the sakura flower powder, which is pink and supposed to be used in this recipe, as well as the leaf powder. the flower one was sold out unfortunately but i would use the leaf powder again because it imparts a really nice aroma.

i made 6 of these and i only ate 1 because hubby brought 5 to work! i wasn't expecting him to like this since he thinks sakura is such a weird flavor but i was surprised he LOVED these. recipe wise, i couldn't find it in the translation on when the ground almonds were supposed to be added, but i could be wrong since i can't read japanese at all. so i referred to dorie greenspan's financier recipe and it says the almonds were supposed to be cooked together with the sugar and egg whites so i did just that. this is a keeper million times over and i would make them again.

recipe from here.

Japanese Fruit Sandwich

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 18 May 2015 22:27:00 +0000

not sure if anyone has tried it but this is pretty awesome stuff. these sandwiches are filled with sweetened whipped cream and fruit. think of it like the bread version of a strawberry/fruit shortcake and the best thing is, its breakfast, snack and dessert all in one. i've never really been a fan of sweet accompaniments like jam or nutella. instead, give me a BLT anyday! but the moment i sank my teeth into these, i was sold. they tasted soooo good. fruit sandwiches are really big in japan and don't come cheap because the fruits are so expensive over there but i can see why they're so popular. they taste really amazing. even hubby who's not a fan of white bread nor whipped cream asked for second helpings!

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Floral Wreath Cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Sat, 02 May 2015 01:51:00 +0000

i wasn't actually going to blog about another buttercream flower cake so soon but these two weeks, i did nothing but practice piping flowers until wee hours in the morning and i had like 3 trays of flowers in the freezer so i was thinking, heck, i'll just assemble them. after that i can just reuse the buttercream to make other flowers. koreans mainly make theirs in 3 forms - bouquet, wreath or crescent so since i made the bouquet one already, i decided to tackle the wreath one. its pretty nervous wrecking since i have not made anything remote similar. good chance to practice the placement, i think.

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Buttercream Rose Cake

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Tue, 14 Apr 2015 09:40:00 +0000

buttercream flower cakes are the rage these days. apparently its very popular with the koreans and they seemed to have "revived" this trend of making old school buttercream cakes into something more modern and beautiful. i decided to jump on the bandwagon and hereby present to you my first ever buttercream flower cake made for my 15th wedding anniversary! prior to this, i have no experience piping flowers, as in, petal by petal. my piping tip repertoire is pathetic and i probably own like what, 5 piping tips at most. i have a couple of plain tips which i use for macarons and eclairs, 1 saint honore tip and a 2D flower tip for rose swirls in cupcakes. oh right, and a bismarck tip! so this time, i made a trip to the baking supplies shop and bought 10 tips for making various flowers and leaves, plus a flower nail and lifter.

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Sakura Macarons

noreply@blogger.com (bossacafez) — Mon, 30 Mar 2015 09:48:00 +0000

i experimented with sakura macarons recently. since its not a very common flavor, i have not tried it before hence there wasn't any reference for me. i decided to just keep it simple and made them pink with pickled sakura flowers on top.

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