New beginnings

March - Occupation: Financial analyst, 50 hours/week

September - Occupation: Full time pastry student, 35 hours/week

Yes, I've made the switch. Well, at least for the next 7 - 11 months. My offer letter from École supérieure de cuisine française Ferrandi came at the end of last April. And on the first week of last May, after many negotiations with my parents, I made the crucial decision. Fast forward 5 months and I have just completed the first 5 weeks of my pastry course :)

Pursuing this course came with a good many benefits. For one, I get to move to Paris! The most romantic city on earth. And second, I was introduced to the world of cheese. In the past, the only cheeses I would buy were parmesan, cheddar, mozzarella and maybe an occasional brie. But my oh my...In the supermarket here, there is an entire aisle (similar to the open ones they sell cuts of meats on) dedicated to cheese!

I discovered that the Camembert is heavenly when baked with honey and the Comte is amazing eaten with red wine, baguette de tradition and slices of salami or prosciutto. Even better if you eat them in the park below the Eiffel Tower. The cheeses have been my antidotes to the sweet things I taste everyday. Not that I am changing my mind, but eating pastry cream and variations of it for 4 days in a row can take its toll. 

So today with my big batch of brioche, I decided to bake something savoury. I've been eyeing this recipe for a while but since leeks aren't my most favorite ingredient, I use mushrooms instead. 

The bread pudding came out tasting a lot like a light quiche and it's nice as a snack, light lunch with salad or a side. There's also some liquid in the pan after baking. I'm not sure whether it's supposed to be there, but i'm good with it as it helps keep the bread pudding moist. My guess is that it probably came from the mushrooms as they always excrete water whenever they cook and shrink. If you have any ideas, let me know. Well here goes.

Mushroom & Comte Bread Pudding

Ingredients

6 cups 1-inch cubes brioche

1 tbsp butter

2 shallots

oregano, thyme, parsley

3 eggs

4.5 cups milk

salt & pepper

200g mushrooms

1 cup Comte cheese - grated

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C and toast the brioche cubes.
2. Melt butter and saute shallots with oregano and thyme until tender (2-3 minutes).
3. Toss the brioche, shallots and parsley in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and milk until light and frothy. Season generously.
5. Layer a 9x13 inch loaf pan with 1/3 of the cheese, 1/2 of the mushrooms and 1/2 of the bread mixture.
6. Repeat the layer and top with the remaining cheese.
7. Pour in enough milk mixture that will leave some bread cubes protruding. Season with salt.
8. Let rest for 15 minutes.
9. Bake in the oven for 55 to 65 minutes

To plate or not to plate

 I've recently discovered that plating and presentation make a lot of difference.

Your food can taste delicious, be the best (insert dish here) in the world...but if it doesn't look appetizing, you're gonna need some time convincing people.

On the other hand, you can fall on the other extreme. The food can be borderline but because it's presented so elegantly, people are attracted to try.

If I had to choose one, I'd rather pick the first. At least, once people know, they'll keep coming back and telling their friends. The latter will just end in disappointment. But why stop at option one? Work on both. With taste and image hand in hand, your customer with leave satisfied and amazed with the experience.

The reality is, it's not easy to have both. First things first, you need to be inspired. This creates the drive that will push you through your comfort zone. Second and more importantly, it takes practice and practice and practice. But you know what they say. Practice makes perfect :) Don't give up just yet. And last but not least, start from something small and work your way up. You need to walk first before you run.

Cream of Pumpkin Soup
with sweet garlic, thyme croutons and drizzle of paprika oil
adapted from Guy Savoy: Simple French Recipes for the Home Cook
serves 4

Ingredients
1 head garlic
1 cup milk
1 small pumpkin (about 680g)
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1-2 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
croutons

Method

1. Peel garlic cloves and place in a small saucepan along with the milk.
2. Bring just to a boil, then remove from heat and drain, discarding the milk.
3. Peel pumpkin, discard fiber and seeds, and cut the flesh into 1-cm cubes.
4. Warm the butter in a large pot and add the pumpkin cubes and blanched garlic cloves.
5. Season with salt and cook over high heat, stirring often and crushing the flesh of the pumpkin as it becomes soft.
6. Add the chicken stock, lower the heat to medium low and simmer for about 40 minutes or until the pumpkin is very tender.
7. Add the milk and cream and cook for 6-7 minutes.
8. Puree the mixture in a food processor until smooth.
9. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
10. Pour into the serving bowl and add your garnish.

Thyme croutons

Ingredients
3 slices of stale white bread (freeze it individually to ease cutting)
olive oil
salt and pepper
dried thyme 

Method: Cut the bread slices into 1-cm cubes. Heat oil in a frying pan. Add the bread cubes and coat well. Season with salt, pepper and thyme. Stir until dry and crispy. Alternatively, you can bake the bread cubes until crispy.

Paprika Oil
Heat some flavorless oil (like canola or grape-seed oil) in a frying pan. Add paprika powder and stir into the oil until it turns red.

Strawberry shortcake - Trifle style

I follow a list of food blogs. At least once a week, after a full day of sorting through data, rearranging them to make it more understandable, going through meetings or burning off stress with friends on weekends, I like to retreat, sit back, laptop on my lap, and escape to the world of food and culinary journeys.

Time hasn't been on my side for the past month since my last post. There were Fridays and Saturdays I had to be out of town. There were a couple of days I caught the dysentery bug so common of visiting or returning overseas students. There were days where...well, let's just say I have to keep a social life. On those times, the blogs were the next best thing to baking itself. For the other bloggers out there, your passion, recipes and warmth continue to inspire me and I want to thank you for that. Keep doing what you're doing.

I can't believe I'm at a point of time where I have to choose between what I have to do and what I love doing and sometimes I can't always have both. When I was a student, there was so much time that I can bake on impulse. Now, I have to plan when to bake.

But you know what. I still love it. And I promise you, I will come up with more creations soon :) I love cakes, I love making something out of the simple ingredients, mixing and matching recipe parts and I love the joy of sharing the food I make. And the smile on everyone's faces after they taste what's been made. That's what I call accomplishment.

So here's to baking...First visit back - strawberry trifle :) Enjoy~

Strawberry Trifle

adapted from Sky-High's Sky-High Strawberry Shortcake

Makes 6x250ml glasses

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups cake flour

2 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

70g butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, room temperature

2/3 cup whole milk (or buttermilk)

500g strawberries

2 tbsp rum

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp sugar

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C and butter 2x20cm pans (you probably can substitute them with a rectangular baking tray/swiss roll pan).
2. Whisk flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl until thoroughly mixed. Set aside. 
3. Clean and hull strawberries. Cut them into nickel-thick slices.
4. Combine strawberries with rum, extract and sugar. Coat well and leave for at least 1 hour.
5. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, cream butter, sugar and extract on medium speed until pale and fluffy.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Pour in the dry ingredients in two or three additions, alternating with the milk.
8. Divide batter evenly among the two prepared pans.
9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and a cake tester skewer comes out clean.
10. Leave a while before inverting to cool on a wire rack to room temperature.
11. In another bowl, beat the cream and sugar on medium speed until soft peaks form.
12. Cut the cake into slices that will fit the width of your glass.
13. Layer the cake first, next add the strawberries with some of the juices (but you don't want the cake to be soggy), and then spoon in the whipped cream evenly.
14. Repeat the sequence of the layers until you fill the glass, making sure the whipped cream ends up on top.
15. Decorate with leftover strawberries slices and serve :)

Loving chocolate cupcakes

A recipe collection isn't complete without one for chocolate cake. At times when you're at loss of what to bake for family, friends or occasions, always go back to a chocolate batter. It's bound to be a crowd pleaser.

There's just something about chocolate. Perhaps it's the sweet, tart and comforting, velvety taste. Or maybe it's the aesthetically pleasant deep and dark colour of whatever cocoa touches. Hmm..it could be the very nature of chocolate desserts themselves. Chocolate is a classic and it knows no cultural barriers. Heck, a bit of phenylethylamine doesn't hurt either. It's been found that chocolate contains 380 known chemicals. That compound and a few others are just the ones discovered to increase the level of happy chemicals (endorphin, serotonin) in our brains. Dark chocolate in moderation is good.

Dark chocolate in desserts is fantastic! But keeping in mind the downside of chocolate and sugar, it pays to search for the best chocolate dessert recipes. That way, the occasional indulgence won't go to waste.

After baking through 5 different chocolate cupcake recipes, I've finally arrived at one I am more than happy to keep. The taste of chocolate is just right (strong but not too sweet) and the texture is light and fluffy. My kind of cupcake. What I've noticed is that the chocolate flavour tends to come out stronger in recipes containing melted chocolate in addition to cocoa powder. Cakes with cocoa powder have a milder chocolate taste - or chocolate in the background as I like to call it. The original recipe makes 12 cupcakes but it's probably convertible into 2x20cm cake layers. Just bake the batter for 40-45 minutes.

Chocolate Cupcakes

adapted from Baking: From my home to yours

makes 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

1 cup cake flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

113g unsalted butter, room temperature

5/8 cup white sugar

1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk

150g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), melted and cooled

Method

1. Place muffin paper cups in a 12-hole muffin tray and preheat oven to 175C.
2. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl until well combined. This step is to ensure you don't have discolouration or bursts of salt in your cupcakes.
3. On medium speed, cream butter and sugar until well combined (2-3 minutes). They should turn pale and fluffy.
4. Beat in the vanilla extract.
5. Beat in the egg and then the egg yolk. Beat until the batter has 'absorbed' the liquid.
6. On low speed, mix in the dry ingredients until just incorporated.
7. Pour the milk gradually and beat until well mixed.
8. Still on low speed, mix in the rest of the dry ingredients, again until just incorporated, and finish off by folding with a rubber spatula.
9. Fill the cups 2/3 of the way and bake for 20-24 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
10. Leave for a few minutes, then unmold and place on a rack to cool to room temperature.

I came across 17 and baking a few weeks ago and have been inspired by Elissa's creations ever since. I stumbled across one of her older posts and thought that it was such a cute idea.

I used my favourite buttercream recipe and modified it to orange.

For a less creamy alternative, either glaze the cupcake with melted chocolate or dust cocoa powder and icing sugar.

Happy Valentine's Day

If you're celebrating Valentine's with that special someone and wondering about what to give him or her, why not something out of the box? Instead of the usual chocolates, bake your own cake and wrap it nicely :)

The good thing about this gift is that you can add your personal touch, suit his or her tastes and is an almost foolproof gift for someone who seems to have everything! (It's not only if he/she doesn't like cake...but hey, that's rare). Here's just one idea for the cake. Click here for another.

Hope you all had a fantastic weekend! Happy Valentine's Day:)

Almond Sponge Cake with Chocolate and Raspberry

adapted from Gourmet Traveller

makes a 20cm (8") cake

Almond Sponge Cake

Ingredients

50g almond meal

190g cake flour

8 eggs

220g caster sugar

80g butter, melted and cooled

Method

1. Butter and line 2x20cm round cake pans and preheat the oven to 160C.
2. In a food processor, pulse the almond meal and flour until fine. Triple sift.
3. Beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale and triple in volume (can take between 7-15 minutes depending on your mixer's speed).
4. Fold in the flour.
5. Fold in the melted butter.
6. Distribute evenly among the pans and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden and springy to the touch.
7. Unmold and cool on a wire rack 

Raspberry Filling 

Ingredients

130g raspberry jam

1/2 cup raspberry

1 tbsp water

Method

1. Place jam, raspberries and water in a small saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir until melted and well combined.

Dark-chocolate Raspberry Ganache

Ingredients

200g dark chocolate, chopped

50g raspberry filling

2 tbsp milk (can also be 200ml heavy cream)

Method

1. Place chocolate and raspberry filling in a saucepan over low heat.
2. Stir together until melted and combined.
3. Add the milk and stir until smooth.

Assembly

1. Spread the raspberry filling on each of the cake layers.
2. Place one layer over the other, with the filling between them.
3. Pour the chocolate ganache over the cake.
4. Top with ferrero roche, dust with cocoa powder.
5. Place in the refrigerator to harden