3-ingredient Chocolate Swiss Roll

I have a really bad habit. I tend to go grocery shopping when I'm hungry. And it's bad because this is why - you end up buying a whole lot of groceries and stuff that you don't need and probably won't use until it's reaching its expiry date. Take my desiccated coconut for example. I bought it months ago when I was grocery shopping and had my mind on eating some Anzac cookies, but well, it never happened :/

Another bad habit I have, which is related to the previous one is that I tend to bake when I'm hungry. Which is really really bad. I try to speed the process of baking a lot by upping the temperatures sometimes (which is always a bad thing and explains why I get burnt tops) and when the baked product is done, I take it out of the oven, give it a few blows in a bid to cool it so that I can sink my teeth into it. I have burnt my tongue and throat more than a few times because of this. But what can I do? I'm ravished by the time it's baked!

The point of saying this is well, I know the photos from the swiss roll previously weren't that pretty, and I specifically reminded myself to take nicer photos this time, but guess what? I happened to bake right before tea time, and by the time the cake was cool and rolled together with the filling, I was so hungry I could have eaten an elephant! So what happened was that I whipped out my phone from my pocket, hastily took a few shots before gobbling the slices down. And well, my brother had my camera, so that was another excuse ;p I wasn't alone in gobbling the slices down though, my parents were also stuffing themselves crazy with the slices because they were really fluffy and yummy and well, it was tea time!

I'll be submitting this swiss roll for this month's Aspiring Bakers #9 Swiss Rolling Good Times, hosted by Lyn. It's using the same recipe I posted here, but with a slight chocolate variation. 

This is what happens when you become so hungry you don't have time to put the slices on a nice plate to take a photo. 

For the benefit of those lazy to click on the link to my basic sponge cake recipe, I reproduce it here, complete with how to make it a chocolate sponge cake. 

Basic Chocolate Sponge Cake

Adapted from an unknown, very popular Japanese recipe a long time ago

Makes a 30cmx30cm cake

4       large eggs 

60g   castor sugar

30g   all-purpose flour

10g   cocoa powder 

Method: 

1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. 
2. In a bowl, whisk 30g sugar into the yolks. Sift the flour together with the cocoa powder, before sifting them into the yolks. Mix all together until you get a smooth paste. 
3. In another bowl, whip up the egg whites until foamy, before adding the remaining 30g of sugar. Continue whipping until you get shiny, stiff peaks. Mix some of the whipped egg whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it up before folding the remaining whipped egg whites into the yolk mixture. 
4. Pour into a lined baking tray and rap the tray against the counter to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10 minutes. 
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tray for about 10 minutes before removing it to cool on the cooling rack. 

To make it a swiss roll: 

Swiss Meringue buttercream filling
Adapted from Martha Stewart here

80g castor sugar
60g egg whites
160g unsalted butter, diced into 3-cm cubes
A few drops of vanilla extract

Method:

1. Prepare a bain marie. The pot of water should be simmering and not boiling. 
2. Dice the butter into 3-cm cubes and allow them to stand at room temperature or until softened. 
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the egg whites and castor sugar. Place the mixing bowl over the bain marie and whisk constantly, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are warm. You can use your fingers to rub the mixture in between your fingers to ensure that there are no undissolved particles left. 
4. Remove the mixing bowl from heat and beginning whipping the mixture at high speed until it becomes thick and glossy. Once soft peaks are achieved, beat at medium speed and begin adding the butter cubes one at a time until it is fully incorporated. The mixture will first appear curdled before reaching a smooth silky texture. At this point, add in the vanilla extract. 
5. Continue beating until you get soft peaks and there you have it - swiss meringue buttercream! At this point, it will be a little soft because of our humid hot temperature, so do refrigerate it until needed. 

Janine's jots: 

• Notes: You can choose to use cake flour instead of all-purpose flour if you want a finer crumb. For the filling, you can use a basic whipped cream filling or anything that is your fancy. I used Swiss Meringue buttercream because I was using it later to top some cupcakes and it was convenient. 
• Taste: The sponge cake by itself may not be sweet enough for some, so I suggest upping the sugar in the recipe to a maximum of 100g. Alternatively, just use a sweeter filling if you're making it into a swiss roll. That's what I did. Note that the buttercream recipe produces buttercream that isn't overly sweet, so do fill free to add more sugar - the original recipe calls for about 120g of sugar. 
• Serving size: This recipe fits the 30cm by 30cm tray perfectly. As you can see, this cake is definitely 'thicker' than the previous one because I used the right tray for the recipe!
• Storage: The cake keeps well for weeks in the fridge! I've tried keeping it for a month before using it and it still tastes as good. At room temperature, it stores well for about 3-5 days (without any filling). If you have a whipped cream or buttercream filling, do store the cake in the fridge. 
• Would I make this again?: Definitely! I can imagine so many other variations I can do with this recipe - substituting the cocoa with nut flours, matcha powder, black sesame, etc. Just make sure that the total 'powder' weight is 40g. 

In pictures: 

All ready for the oven!

Remember to remove the 'skin' if you want a nice-looking swiss roll!

Check out the innards - it really feels as if it can go boing-boing!

And a final side view of my swiss roll.

Basic Sponge Cake, rolled.

I've been rather uninspired to bake any type of cake lately, content to make muffins and cupcakes instead; but luckily for me, I took a look at Aspiring Bakers and was inspired again. This month's theme is Swiss Rolling Good Times, and it's the 9th edition, hosted by Lyn. I'm actually quite amazed at how our little group has grown and how active I've been in participating. To date, I have tried to submit at least one post for each theme, and I'm always excited to see what the other Aspiring Bakers come up with, because I tend to get inspired when blog-surfing. 

I have to admit that I'm not a huge fan of swiss rolls, which is kind of strange, because I like sponge cakes, which are essentially swiss rolls but flat. Anyway, I really like this sponge cake recipe a lot - I've been using this for a while now and been alternating this with another basic recipe when I need sponge cakes as a base for my other cakes. This recipe is probably the shortest you'll see anywhere - it only consists of 3 ingredients! I'm not sure why though, when I finally decided to make a swiss roll out of it, the sponge cake didn't turn out too good - it's supposed to be a lot thicker than what you see in the photos but it turned out rather flat. I think it might be because I used a different sized pan and downsized the recipe incorrectly?

Basic Sponge Cake

Adapted from an unknown, very popular Japanese recipe a long time ago

Makes a 30cmx30cm cake

4       large eggs 

60g   castor sugar

40g   all-purpose flour

Method: 

1. Separate the egg whites from the yolks. 
2. In a bowl, whisk 30g sugar into the yolks. Sift in the flour, stirring until you get a smooth paste. 
3. In another bowl, whip up the egg whites until foamy, before adding the remaining 30g of sugar. Continue whipping until you get shiny, stiff peaks. Mix some of the egg whites into the yolk mixture to lighten it up before folding the remaining whipped egg whites into the yolk mixture. 
4. Pour into a lined baking tray and rap the tray against the counter to get rid of any air bubbles. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 10 minutes. 
5. Leave the cake to cool in the tray for about 10 minutes before placing it on the cooling rack. 

To make it a swiss roll, 

• To make your rolling easier, do roll up the cake while its still warm, right after removing it from the tray. Roll it together with your lined baking paper and leave it to cool, rolled up, on the cooling rack it's cool enough to add your filling. 
• As with any swiss roll, you can use any form of filling you want. If you wish for a whipped cream or buttercream filling, do prepare it while waiting for the cake to bake. I chose to go with my homemade strawberry-apple-rhubarb jam, which was slightly sweet and tart. Be generous with the filling, because otherwise, the cake will taste rather plain. 
• You can choose to put your swiss roll in the fridge for the flavors to meld together or you can choose to slice it up and consume it right away!

Janine's jots: 

• Notes: I weigh my egg whites and yolks, and I tend to use about 120-130g of egg whites and 70-80g of egg yolk. Also, if you want a cake with a finer crumb, do swap the all-purpose flour with cake flour or substitute a little cornstarch with the all-purpose flour.
• Taste: If you're not a huge fan of the 'egg-y' smell, I would advise adding about 1tsp or less of vanilla extract. Otherwise, this makes a really nice sponge cake. 
• Serving size: This recipe fits the 30cm by 30cm tray perfectly. I've tried using 3 eggs instead, and using a smaller 10-inch rectangular tray (the cake you see below).
• Storage: The cake keeps well for weeks in the fridge! I've tried keeping it for a month before using it and it still tastes as good. At room temperature, it stores well for about 3-5 days. 
• Would I make this again?: Definitely! I have been using this sponge cake recipe a lot, because I like the fact that it doesn't use any form of oil or butter but still tastes as good, or it not better than those with!

Oops I can't slice my swiss roll properly :/

I know the photographs aren't too pretty and aren't too convincing, mainly because I made this just before tea, so I was scrambling to get it done so that I could eat it! The other reason is really, I'm not that good at making swiss rolls. The many times I've tried, the cakes turn out to be failures - either they are too thin, or cracked, or just inedible. Although not too aesthetic, I've to say that this was a pretty good attempt on my part, after the many failures. I'll definitely do trying this again (making my recipe into a swiss roll) so that I can convince some of you out there to try this. It's a really simple and short recipe, and produces fantastic results! 

Som Tam ส้มตำ, or Easy Thai Salad

I read CNNGo's list of the worl'd 50 most delicious foods with much joy and pride, mainly because a number of Asian delicacies, especially those of my home country and country of residence made it to that list. And although I might not agree with them on everything, I do agree that Massaman curry (their #1) is absolutely delicious, and so is som tam, which made it to #46 of the list.

And coincidentally, this is the same thing I'm going to attempt from Stephane Reynaud’s 365 Good Reasons to Sit down to Eat – the Easy Thai Salad. It’s rather ubiquitous here in Singapore and Malaysia, and is really easy to whip up considering that we would probably have most, if not all the ingredients in our kitchen. I remember when I was in Thailand, I would order the Thai Mango Salad or Papaya Salad (generally referred to as Som Tam (ส้มตำ)) as a starter each and every time because it really “wakes up your palate”, or what the Chinese call 开胃, literally 'opening your appetite'.

What I love about som tams in general is that they are slightly spicy, slightly sweet and slightly sour, with lots of crunch and and different textures, and this recipe fits the bill perfectly. I have to say that I was slightly doubtful given that this was an Asian recipe written by a non-Asian, but Reynaud got it right :] For this recipe, I omitted the prawns, scallions and vermicelli as I wanted the salad to accompany my meal which contained chicken, and I didn't want it to be overly filling. This recipe really is flexible, in fact, all that is constant is perhaps the "sauce" - you can do a fruit som tam if you wish! 

Components of the salad before mixing them together :]

As with my vacherin post, the recipe below is from the book, but do note my modifications below!

Easy Thai Salad

Ingredients: 

200g chicken breast fillet

2 carrots

2 bulb spring onions 

3 garlic cloves

1 celery stalk

1 bird’s eye chilli

300g rice vermicelli

1 tablespoon sugar

3 tbl fish sauce

3 tbl sunflower oil

1 tbl lemon juice

200g fresh-shelled prawns

Method:

1. Chop the chicken breast into small cubes, cook it in boiling water for 5 minutes.
2. Peel the carrots, shred them finely.
3. Slice the spring onions and celery, peel and finely chop the garlic and chilli.
4. Cook the vermicelli according to the instructions on the packet.
5. Combine the sugar, fish sauce, sunflower oil, lemon juice, garlic and chilli.
6. Mix all ingredients with the prawns. 

Janine's jots: 

• General comments: As with most of Reynaud's recipes, his instructions are rather brief. Some changes I would have made were to shred the chicken breast instead of cubing them, and boiling them first, followed by the prawns, and finally the vermicelli. 
• Taste: For a more authentic Thai meal, do use palm sugar instead of normal granulated sugar. Some additions I would suggest, which I added in my salad would be a couple of dried shrimp, as well as chopped peanuts as garnishing. If you have a mortar and pestle, do pound the garlic and chillies (I used more than 1) together to 'release' the flavors, and gradually add the others. Do use lime juice instead lemon juice if possible, and add a couple of tomatoes, green papayas and tamarind juice to the mix for a more "thai" flavor. 
• Storage: This salad stores well in the fridge for 1-2 days only, because the vegetables tend to lose their crispness. Best to consume right after, once you've combined the paste together with the vegetables. 

A vegetarian Thai Salad (minus the fish sauce of course)

Well, there is a reason why som tam made it to the list, and seriously, besides fish sauce, most of the ingredients are really easily available, especially if you're located in Southeast Asia. If you're not, fret not - I bet the Asian grocer nearest you will definitely have fish sauce, as it's a commonly used condiment not only in Thai but in other cuisines as well. If you are trying to recreate what you've eaten in Thailand, do note the suggestions I have made. I didn't have the opportunity to use my mortar and pestle which is located back home in Malaysia, so I had to make do, but the salad still tasted good.  

If you're a cook and you have problems deciding what to cook everyday, I highly suggest buying Reynaud's book - (I'm not paid to say this) - I find that although this book is pitched to an audience of more experienced chef (for instance the preparation time for this salad stated 10 minutes but I took a lot longer than that just to chop my veggies) and his instructions are sometimes brief, looking at the recipes each day does give you inspiration to cook, and indeed, reasons for you to sit down to eat :] 

Vacherin with seasonal fruit

This is my second recipe from 

Stéphane Reynaud’s 365 Good Reasons to Sit down to Eat book, as part of the 365 challenge. This was suppose

d to be made on the 15 July, but is rather belated (again) because I’ve been inundated with lots of work and haven’t been able to blog as much as I would have liked although I still am baking quite a bit.

Anyway, I 

first chose this recipe without knowing much of what it was. In fact, I had heard of a cheese by this name, 

but never knew th

at "vacherin with seasonal fruit" meant meringues with fruit. Of course, I have since rectified this by ordering vacherin desserts at some of the French establishments I visited here and there, so I now have 

quite a good idea of what a vacherin tastes like, and the different ways you can plate it. 

A vacherin (pronounced as vash-ran) is basically a dess

ert consisting of meringue shells, layered with whip

ped cream, ice cream, fruit, etc. It's a classic French dessert and this vacherin is no different. Reynaud called for a vacherin with all of the above actually, but since I didn't have a fruit sorbet complimenting the fruit in the vacherin, I decided against it and had crushed meringues with fruit and whipped cream instead :]

As for seasonal fruit, well berries are in season now, but since most of them are expensive, I decided to go with strawberries as well as a local fruit, the mango. Mangoes are in season now, together with durians, rambutans and mangosteens, but I decided to get myself a Malaysian mango. It's slightly greener than its Thai or Indian counterparts, and tastes slightly different from them too. A little astringent is what I would describe it. I thought the mango was sufficiently sweet, as I often find Indian mangoes a tad too sweet. 

***

Note: This is the exact recipe from the book. I found it rather vague, so please read comments below for some of my modifications. 

Vacherin with seasonal fruit 
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Serves 6 

800g fresh fruit
Juice of 1 lime
Fruit liquer (use the same as the fresh fruit)
3 store-bought meringues
300ml whipping cream
100g sugar
Fruit sorbet 

Method: 

1. Cut all the fresh fruit into cubes, puree half of it with the lime juice and the liquer. 
2. Crush the merigues, whip the cream into a chantilly with the sugar. 
3. In glasses, arrange layers of fruit, coulis, meringue, chantilly and finish with a scoop of sorbet.

Janine's jots: 

• General comments: As store-bought meringues are not easily available here (I doubt they even are), I made my own meringues by using a recipe from Donna Hay. Please see below for recipe. Also, to make the chantilly, whip the cream using a mixer and gradually add in the sugar, whipping until soft peaks are achieved.  
• Taste: I found the dessert a tad too sweet and I'll definitely be reducing the amount of sugar used in the chantilly. 
• Texture: I liked how the crispness of the meringues contrasted with the sweetness of the chantilly and the tartness of the fruits. The different textures melded really well. I can imagine how wonderful the vacherin will taste with an additional scoop of sorbet on top! Ps, apple sorbet with diced poached apples work really well (I had that in a French bistro!) :]
• Serving size: As you can see in the pictures, 1 meringue disc, 1 strawberry and some mangoes actually formed 3 layers in my tiny vacherin. I poured the whipped cream in between these layers, alternating with the pureed fruit and repeated the layers. Do halve the recipe as this recipe will produce a lot of vacherins!
• Storage: The meringues store pretty well at room temperature - be sure to store them in an air-tight container and they should last for a week before turning soft. Once you have assembled the vacherin, do consume it immediately as it does not keep well - the meringues will soften because of the liquid in the dessert. 

Part of the components of the vacherin.

Half a vacherin serving, sans the sorbet.

*Note: The Aussies and Kiwis call this a pavlova, but it's basically the same thing, meringues with whipped cream (or chantilly if you must) and fruit. This recipe produces 10 fist-sized meringue discs, which is perfect for 2-3 servings of vacherin above. 

Pavlova

Adapted from Evan who adapted it from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2

2 egg whites

80g caster sugar

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp white vinegar

Red food coloring 

Method: 

1. In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until foamy. Gradually add in the vanilla extract and fold in the cornstarch and vinegar. Whip until you get soft shiny peaks. 
2. Using a spatula, dollop the meringue onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. To create colored swirls, dip a toothpick into red coloring and swirl it into the meringue. 
3. Bake the meringues in a preheated oven of 120C for 50-60 minutes and leave the meringue in the oven to cool. 

I really enjoyed making this, as it meant stepping out of what I was comfortable with and exploring new foods. The meringue recipe is a keeper as it does produce meringues which are crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside - in essence, the perfect meringue. I can imagine all the other things I could do with this meringue recipe - Eton's Mess is something else that comes to mind that is really very similar to a vacherin. Anyway, if you're interested in what other dishes the other cooks are whipping up in their kitchen, do head down to Murdoch Books’ 365 Challenge Blog to have a look!

A to Z of Australia: C is also for Cakes!

I was thinking about cakes the other day. (Who am I kidding? I think about cakes all the time!)

Anyway, as I was saying, I was thinking of chocolate layered cakes, or entremets for my dad's upcoming birthday and a few cakes that I tasted whilst in Melbourne occurred to me. I decided to take a look at them once again, and naturally, I started salivating and mooning over them, again. During my short stay in Melbourne, I think I consumed at least 3 servings of cake and macarons per day, all in the name of 'research'. And this was on top of my daily meals, where I scouted out the best food that Melbourne could provide!

I decided that these exquisite cakes (and bakeries) required a post all of their own, so this is yet another C for my A to Z of Australia, in addition to the one about Chokolait. Do scroll down for more details on the stores!

A common sight outside the bakery.

Remember the cup of hot chocolate I had from Chokolait? Well, after that cup of hot chocolate, I found myself wandering further down Little Collins Street, and lo and behold, I found myself in front of a slate-grey, nondescript storefront which bore the words Le Petit Gateau in cursive grey writing. It really reminds me of the French bakeries, which are similarly located in buildings with straight boring lines (office buildings) and surrounded by other similar buildings.

You can't see from this photo on the right, but there are huge panes of glass for you to peer inside the bakery to see what goodies they have for the day (which are the same everyday actually).

Having seen quite a few bakeries in my trip so far, I wasn't too impressed with the prices of the cakes - each slice retails at $8 and tarts around $5-6 (I can't remember exactly). Because I was so full from the hot chocolate, I decided on having just one cake, and I decided on the brownie and passionfruit chocolate gateau even though I'd just consumed a copious amount of chocolate. This was because I'd seen rave reviews on urbanspoon. And mainly because I also fall prey to any chocolate cakes in display cases. Seriously - at any bakery - the cakes which never fail to draw my attention are the chocolate ones, especially those chocolatey-nutty-praline type of cakes with just the right amount of fruit. I'm predictable that way.

Anyway, back to the cake.

As its name suggests, it has a brownie base, followed by a layer of crunchy praline, passionfruit custard, chocolate mousse and finished off with a chocolate ganache topping with a passionfruit jelly. The flavour combination was phenomenal. I've to admit that till now, I've never had a passionfruit-chocolate combination anything, be it a tart or bread or any other dessert, so I was really very impressed with how well this combination went. The tanginess of the passionfruit went perfectly with the richness of the mousse and the brownie. I also liked the fact that they didn't go with the normal jocondes or dacquoises here but went instead with a walnut-laden brownie, which provided a lovely contrast to the other textures - especially the mousse in the cake.

Le Petit Gateau's Brownie and Passionfruit Chocolate Gateau

Look at how gooey the mousse is. LOVE.

Of course, my dessert journey doesn't end there although it was a darn good start. The next day, I mapped out my route pretty precisely because it was my last full day in Melbourne! After visiting some markets and other touristy attractions, I headed first to the Parisian Patisserie Boulangerie (where I had the best almond croissant outside of Paris) and then to Burch & Purchese followed by LuxBite. I'll write about PPB another day, since I'm not sure where those photos are. Anyway, all these places are slightly North of the city centre, and are not exactly accessible by foot from the city centre. There are however many bus services that ply the area of South Yarra.

So, I'd read quite a number of blog posts on this place - Burch & Purchese, which is essentially the surnames of the 2 patissiers who decided to open a sweets wonderland. Like with many other bakeries in Melbourne, they have a very inconspicuous outside, but walk in, and be impressed. It was the first time I saw a wall of ingredients in a shop. I didn't count, but their blog states that there are more than 250 ingredients there where you can choose to go into your made-to-order cake. B&P is a lot about molecular gastronomy as well, so you also see cool things like edible greeting cards, sprays in addition to the traditional offerings of cookies and meringues.

Yet another normal shopfront. I like their logo colors though!

Check out this wall! It's only 25% of their wall because well I only had my 50mm lens and this was all it could capture without me stumbling into some shelves. 

Some bloggers have described B&P as akin to Willy Wonka's, but since I wasn't privileged enough to go behind the doors, I can't say much for the magic that goes into the sweets, except to say that I was really really impressed with the clean layout of the 'studio' and with the desserts. In fact, I found it really really really hard to make my decision, but I had to make do with just one, because I was so full from consuming so many other goodies before (think Lebanese pizza, etc). I was also very happy that they were very nice about taking photographs in the bakery, very unlike other bakeries which have staff staring down at you like a hawk.

Part of where the magic happens!

These are edible flowers in edible soil!

I was seriously wowed by all the cakes they had on offer because they had really traditional ingredients in unique combinations and unique presentation. In the end, I chose to have the  vanilla-pistachio-lemon-green tea, which is essentially "white chocolate & vanilla mousse | crunchy green tea meringue | lemon cream | pistachio cake | green tea macaroon | brilliant white chocolate spray" (copied verbatim from their webpage). I have to admit that in retrospect, I should have bought a few more cakes, because I kinda regret not having them after I tasted a bite of the cake when I was back at home with my friend. Beware though that a trip to B&P will not be easy on your pocket - each slice costs $9 apiece, but I think it's really worth it for the quality ingredients that go in, and the number of layers in each cake!

Oh look, that's my scarf in the background ;p

After purchasing the cake to-go at B&P, I then drove myself to LuxBite (yes I had the luxury of having a friend's car on top of staying with said friend) and got myself some macarons. I really like the image of the shop - apparently the owners of LuxBite were so enamoured of the Pierre Herme macarons that they decided to open a shop selling macarons themselves. Pretty cool huh? Good thing was that they decided against the sweet, floral French patisserie theme and instead went for French understated elegance, from their black and white finishings to white furniture and backlit macarons in a beautiful glass case. 

Today's macarons selection. 

At any one time, LuxBite has more than 16 types of macarons available, and each and every one of them look delicious! Adjacent to this display case is another storing the typical French desserts and sweets, including some unique ones, but none of them caught my eye, having been to B&P prior. I did like their macarons though - there were some pretty innovative flavors - like kaya toast and watermelon yogurt. Each macaron is uniformly in size, and cost about $2.50 each, I think. They also have tea sets where you can enjoy your macarons with tea, but I was buying them back to share, so no tea set for me!

Some of the macarons I had were the kaya toast and the raspberry&white chocolate, as well as the salted caramel. I've to say that the latter two were not too memorable - of course the shells were the right amount of crispness and chewiness, and the fillings right on the money, but I very much preferred the caramel from Baroque and these combinations were just, well,  run-of-the-mill. The one that left a really really deep impression on me however, was the kaya toast macaron. It's an absolute treasure! The shell had little bits of toasted bread mixed into it, so you not only have the taste of having kaya with bread, you also have the mouthfeel! The house-made kaya is perfect too, tasting as delicious as the kaya that I usually have at home, with the right amount of pandan scent. On top of that, there's  a surprise bit of butter sandwiched between the cookies. Absolute heaven. I really felt like I was having kaya toast back in Singapore - the only thing missing was my teh.

So if you ever hop by Melbourne, do give these places a visit. I assure you that you will not regret any minute trying to get there.

Details


Le Petit Gateau
Address: 458 Little Collins Street, Melbourne
Contact: (03) 9944 8893
Opening hours: 7.30am-5pm, weekdays only.
Website: http://www.lepetitgateau.com.au/
Price: $ (cakes from $8)


Burch & Purchese Sweet Studio
Address: 647 Chapel Street, South Yarra, Victoria 3141
Contact: (03) 9827 7060
Opening hours: 10am to 6.30pm everyday except Monday
Website: http://www.burchandpurchese.com/ and http://www.burchandpurchese.blogspot.com/
Price: $ (cakes from $9)

LuxBite
Address: 38 Toorak Road, South Yarra
Contact: (03) 9867 5888
Opening hours: 8am-8pm, Wednesday to Monday
Website: http://www.luxbite.com.au/
Price: $ (cakes from $7. They also serve hot meals)

Fluffy Pancakes II

My friend had been craving pancakes for some time, and I wanted to try out a new pancake recipe, which was perfect - she came over to my place early in the morning, so that we could get started on making some pancakes for our breakfast!

This pancake recipe is unique in the sense that it requires whipped egg whites. It also uses milk and not buttermilk or sour cream, which makes life so much easier since milk is so much cheaper and readily available than those ingredients. Now, making pancakes should be a relatively easy task, and you might think - whipped egg whites ain't easy at all! Well, I'm here to prove you wrong - it really is pretty easy. Make sure you separate the egg when it's cold, because it separates most easily then. Let it warm to room temperature before attempting to whip it. The egg white will whip easier when it's not cold. It was all manual labour here - no mixer, just a metal bowl and whisk, and lots of elbow grease. Just use your wrist and whip that egg white  up, it will start to froth and slowly whiten, and before you know it, you have softly whipped egg whites. The whitening of egg whites is one of those processes in baking that I anticipate the most, really. 

Do try out this recipe if you're bored of your usual pancake recipe - whipping your egg whites separately does produce results and some mighty delicious pancakes :]

Fluffy Pancakes

Adapted from Evan here

Makes 7 pancakes

Ingredients: 

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, separated

2 tsp caster sugar

1 tbl oil

Method: 

1. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. 
2. In another bowl, whisk together the egg yolk, sugar and milk. Add in the oil and mix well. 
3. Add the yolk mixture into the flour mixture and whisk to combine. Make sure the batter is smooth with no lumps. 
4. Whisk the egg white until soft peaks are achieved, before folding it into the mixture above. 
5. Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium low heat. Using a 
   ¼-cup measuring spoon, ladle 
   ¼-cup of batter on the pan and cook for 2 minutes, or until bubbles appear on the surface. Flip the pancake and cook for another 1 minute or until golden brown. 
6. Repeat for the remaining batter until you get a stack of pancakes. Serve warm with a pat of butter and maple syrup. Enjoy!

Janine's jots: 

• Taste: Pancakes were sufficiently sweet, such that they could be consumed on their own. Of course, nothing beats pancakes with jam and maple syrup :]
• Texture: The pancakes were really one of the fluffiest I've consumed, and trust me, I've tried tons of pancake recipes, ranging from those requiring buttermilk to sour cream to yogurt ... the list just goes on! I also like that these pancakes developed a slightly more 'crusty' exterior - perfect for dipping into maple syrup with!
• Serving size: This was the first time that a recipe yielded exactly what it promised - 7 pancakes were what I got. I know that my photographs only have 5 pancakes but well that's because I ate 2 of them while waiting for the rest to be done since I was SO hungry and the pancakes looked so darn delicious!
• Modifications: I would probably try decreasing the amount of oil in the recipe because I prefer to use more butter on the pan instead of in the pancake. Otherwise, this recipe is pretty close to perfect for me! 
• Storage: Pancakes should preferably be consumed right after they are made, but I have found that you can store them (cooked) in the fridge for up to 3 days, and give them a quick zap in the microwave to heat them up. The pancakes are noticeably heavier and less fluffy, but still delicious. You can also choose to store the batter (sans the egg white) in the fridge for a day - this means that you can make the batter the night before, wake up to whip the egg white and make pancakes early in the morning!
• Would I make this again?: My last pancake using the last 
  ¼-cup of batter turned out rather tough - that's because my pan is only large enough for 1 pancake to be cooked at a time and I think the gluten had already started to form and the egg white deflated. I would definitely try making this on a larger pan, to ensure that all pancakes are equally fluffy :] 

A to Z of Australia: C is for Chokolait Hub

As some of you might know, Melbourne has the coldest (and weirdest) weather as compared to the other Australian capital cities like Sydney or Perth. When I was in Melbourne, it was windy, and rainy, and really cold. Temperatures were in the low 10s, and the wind was so chilly that as I walked around Melbourne city, I would constantly pop into various shops to warm myself up, and every few hours, I would dream about having a cuppa hot chocolate. And that was what I did. I used the urbanspoon and tripadvisor apps on my phone, searched for a cafe selling good hot chocolate (Why would I want to waste my pounds and pennies on lousy hot chocolate, right?), and found myself at the doorstep of Chocolait.

Chokolait is located within Hub Arcade, which is on Little Collins Street - it's the tiny street between Bourke Street (the main shopping street) and Collins Street. When I entered, there was no one in Chokolait (yet), because it was early in the morning at 9ish and I was looking for a warm respite from the cold, having explored the city since 2 hours ago. After some recommendations from Ross (he's the long grey curly-haired owner of the place), I settled on the classic hot chocolate (right at the top of the list), but made with a mix of dark and milk Belgian chocolate.

Just what I needed - a cuppa hot chocolate to get rid of the cold!

When I commented on the lack of human traffic, Ross told me that the cafe does see quite a lot of tourists, because it is #1 on the list of restaurants in Melbourne. It is true - it was indeed because of those reviews that I headed to Chokolait over other chocolate stores like Haigh's in Melbourne. I've gotta say that this is the best hot chocolate I've ever had in Australia and outside Belgium. It's the perfect combination of dark and milk chocolate - the bitterness of the dark chocolate is perfectly balanced by the saccharine sweetness of the milk chocolate. The chocolate shavings on top of the hot chocolate were also the real deal - freshly shaved milk chocolate which provided a really nice mouthfeel. I could also tell that Ross and Marianne are really proud of their products - their hot chocolate is thick and viscous, not watered down like some 've had elsewhere in Melbourne. While I was sitting in the cafe enjoying my hot chocolate, I also saw a number of people coming in to order their 'hot shots', which is basically hot chocolate, but way thicker and more viscous - so much so that you have to use a spoon to eat them! Those looked fantastic too, but I was too gelat from the hot chocolate to try anymore.

I also wanted to try their pavlova because I'd seen some awesome reviews on it, but I was so full from the hot chocolate (I'd recommend sharing the hot chocolate because it really is a tall glass full of thick chocolate liquid) that I had to skip it. I'm definitely heading back this way if I'm in Melbourne again.

A last look at my heavenly cup of chokolait

Details

Chokolait Hub

Address: Shop 8, Hub Arcade, 318 Little Collins Street, Melbourne 3000

Contact: (03) 96396188

Opening hours: 9am-6pm daily

Website: http://www.chokolait.com.au/

Price: $$ (starts from $6-$15)

Blueberry Lemon Muffins

I seem to be on a muffin craze lately, don't I? First was pear and ginger muffins, then blueberry lemon muffins... I still have a few more combinations I want to try out up my sleeve ;p

Anyhow, it's the season for blueberries and all other types of berries now in the Northern hemisphere, and in Singapore, we're lucky to get these exported to us rather cheaply -  blueberries are about $5 per 250g punnet, which is far cheaper than what I saw when I was in Australia. These blueberries are not fresh though, because I had a can of blueberries in the freezer for the longest time and I finally stumbled across them the other day, so the first thing that came to mind was blueberry muffins! Next thought was... lemon and blueberries would go well together, won't they? My mom disagreed, saying that lemons don't go well with blueberries and they would taste funny - I of course begged to differ... so I turned to my trusty friend Google and looked for a blueberry-lemon muffin and voila, I stumbled onto Elise's wonderful blog which featured a blueberry muffin with just the lemon zest - I specifically didn't want any muffin with lemon juice because I wanted the juice to drink with honey for my sore throat. 

I have to admit that this recipe really does deliver - it is light, fluffy, moist and most importantly, chock full of blueberries! (I also have to admit that this might not be the typical muffin-making method of mixing wet into dry and barely combining them but hey, this works!)

Blueberry-Lemon Muffins
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated The New Best Recipe

Makes 10 2.5-inch muffins or 6 large muffins

Ingredients: 
187 g     all-purpose flour
1½ tsp    baking powder
¼ tsp      baking soda

¼ tsp      salt
70 g       unsalted butter, softened
95 g       castor sugar (I substituted 20g with brown sugar)

1 large egg (about 60g)
180 ml   plain yogurt
1 tsp      lemon zest
120 g     blueberries
1 tbl      flour (if using defrosted frozen berries)

Method

1. Preheat oven to 170°C.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together, beating until fluffy. 
3. Add in the egg, beating until it is fully incorporated. Add in the lemon zest. 
4. Beat in one half of the dry ingredients until just incorporated. Next, beat in one third of the yogurt. 
5. Beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients (a quarter of the total). Beat in a second third of the yogurt. 
6. Beat in the remaining dry ingredients and then the remaining yogurt. Again be careful to beat until just incorporated. Do not over beat. 
7. Fold in the berries. If using frozen berries, defrost them first, drain the excess liquid, and then coat them in a light dusting of flour.
8. Distribute the muffin dough equally among the muffin cups and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the tops are dry to touch and golden brown. 
9. Set on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes before serving. 

Janine's jots: 

• Taste: I gave these muffins to some of my harshest critics - my mom, my best friend, my picky brothers and myself, and all of us decided that these were the best blueberry muffins ever! The lemon zest provided that 'brightness' to the blueberry muffin that most blueberry muffins lack and the sweetness was just about right. 
• Texture: The texture of these muffins are phenomenal! They're really the fluffiest and lightest muffins you will ever taste! The moistness comes mostly from the blueberries but the combination is sublime!
• Serving size: I filled up 10 muffins cups with batter, making sure that each cup were almost seven-eighths full - these created the 'muffin tops' that you see as the tops spread. 
• Modifications: I am a little OCD, so I made sure that each muffin had at least 15 blueberries in them, before distributing the remainder blueberries in some muffin cups. If you don't wish to have blueberries in every bite, I would recommend reducing the blueberries to about 100g or so. Also, the original recipe calls for 120g of white sugar, but since I prefer a not-overly-sweet muffin, I reduced the sugar to 75g white and 20g brown. 
• Storage: I am not too sure how long exactly they will last because they were consumed in less than 2 days but they should last up to 3 days in our weather and up to a week in the refrigerator. 
• Would I make this again?: I am loving this so much, I am making another batch for tomorrow's breakfast with my remaining blueberries, substituting with orange zest this time round ;)

I'm totally loving the crusty little muffin tops :]

Pear and Ginger Muffins, or Spiced Pear Muffins

Ever since I started watching foreign cooking shows and competitions (Read: Masterchef and such), I’ve been exposed to so many different types of foreign foods and foods that my mom does not typically cook. Over in Singapore, we're lucky to have a huge variety of fruits to choose from, both temperate and tropical, but one of the fruits that I most wanted to try when I went to Australia was actually a pear, a brown pear, otherwise known as Beurré Bosc or Kaiser pears. 

Why this pear in particular? Well, I saw them a number of times, being used in tarts and pies, and what sold me was an episode of masterchef where the contestants poached these pears and the image of the judges digging into the soft flesh of these poached pears is still imprinted in my mind today. Needless to say, when I got my hands on these pears, the first thing I did was to eat them raw, followed by baking them as part of my pear and almond tart, followed by poaching them to eat with a quenelle of vanilla ice cream on the side – heavenly I tell you. 

I haven’t seen these pears around in Singapore or Malaysia, but that might be because I seldom frequent the bigger supermarkets which tend to sell a greater variety of fruits. These pears are shaped like the Packham pears that we often see around, with a greenish-brown or dark brown skin (they become dark brown with spots when they ripen) and their flesh can be likened to a better version of Packham pears. Packham pears tend to be overly soft when ripe, with a nauseating sweetness (in my opinion), but Beurré Bosc pears have that balance just right. I was so enamoured by them that I finished the few pears I’d bought in Eveleigh, and went on to buy a whole tub of them for baking. They are the perfect combination of sweet and firm. 

For the recipe below, I used a bunch of pears I bought from Eveleigh Market – they were organic and the method of purchase was unique – a bag was worth $10 and you could fill up the bag to as full as you want with as many different fruits as you wanted. It was slightly expensive of course, but you are paying for organic and fresh and local produce – a difference that I was willing to pay for and a cause I was willing to support.

Pear and Ginger Muffins 

Adapted from New York Times

Makes 6 big muffins 

Check out my crumb top :]

Ingredients: 

For the muffins:

1 cup all-purpose flour 

1 tsp baking powder 

1 tsp ground ginger 

½ tsp salt 

½ tsp cinnamon 

½ tsp allspice 

¼ cup brown sugar
¼ cup vegetable oil 

1 egg 

1½ tbl honey
⅓ cup sour cream

1 cup chopped peeled pears 

For the topping: 

¼ cup packed brown sugar 

2 tsp butter, softened 

¼ tsp ground ginger 

Method: 

1. In a bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients - flour, baking powder, ground ginger, salt, cinnamon, allspice and brown sugar. 
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg and sour cream, followed by the oil and honey. Pour into the dry ingredients and combine until the dry ingredients are moistened. It is okay to have lumps in the batter. 
3. Add in the chopped pears and briefly fold the mixture to distribute the pears evenly. Spoon the batter into muffin cups. 
4. Preheat the oven to 180°C. 
5. In the meantime, cut the butter into the brown sugar and ground ginger, until you get 'bread crumbs'. Sprinkle this over the tops of your muffins. 
6. Bake the muffins for 25 minutes, until the tops are brown and firm to touch. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for another 10 minutes before consuming. 

Janine's jots: 

• Notes: Measurements are in cups because I actually did not have any weighing scale while I was in Australia and I survived by using just measuring cups and spoons – not that I liked it though – I still prefer my trusty electronic scale!
• Taste: Friends who tasted the muffins said that the ginger taste was not sufficiently pronounced and they preferred a spicier muffin. For myself, I thought the balance of pear and spice was just right as hints of the cinnamon and ginger are pretty obvious. 
• Texture: The muffin tends to be on the moister side because of the chopped pears. You can reduce the amount of pears if you prefer more 'cake' than pears because these muffins were packed full of pears! The crumb topping is also a must, because it provides a nice juxtaposition against the moist and fine-textured muffin underneath. 
• Storage: The muffin kept very well at room temperature (because it was winter) for a week! I also stored some in the fridge and they kept well for a fortnight - I zapped them in the microwave for 20 seconds to warm them before eating. 
• Would I make this again?: Definitely - these muffins are a perfect winter treat as these pears are in season and they go perfect with mulled wine. For those in warmer climates, don't write off these pear muffins because these definitely are not sold anywhere that I know of, and the combination of sweet/soft pear with the lightly spiced cake is just sublime.  

All the ingredients nicely laid out to be incorporated.

Adding the crumb topping

A close-up of the crumb topping - it's really just crumbs - no need to combine any further!

I thought this picture provided pretty interesting shadows. What do you think?

And just a few more gratuitous shots outside, just to show off my new purchase. I was grocery shopping at Coles (as usual) when I spotted this huge gray box with the words "cake stand". Surrounding it were $5 deals, things which I cannot remember now, but I remember the excitement I felt when I thought - oh boy this huge cake stand for A$5?! I immediately grabbed it and rushed to the nearest cashier to do a price check. True enough, it WAS FIVE BUCKS! I paid for it on the spot, even though I wasn't done with my grocery shopping yet. And that's the story of kiasu me and my lovely cake stand. The best buy out of my entire Australian trip, which says a lot since I did buy a whole lot of other baking things in my one month there. And yes, I did lug it back home - I think it weighs a hefty 2kg!