Opera Gateau

This is the first official pro-like cake that I've made~ it's a layer cake ^^ I found out "gateau" means cake (thanks to Bobo) and Opera must mean... coffee.. haha coz its a coffee flavoured layer cake~

Layer cakes are really fun to make and they're not as hard as it looks! There are just different components. It may look like a lot of steps but YOU CAN DO IT :D



Finished product.. now to the recipe =P

 Sponge cake
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups (150g) almond meal
1 cup (160g) icing sugar
1/3 cup (50g) plain flour
25g unsalted butter, melted
4 egg whites 1 tbs caster sugar

1. Preheat oven to 220oC. Grease and line 2 25cm x 30cm cake tins
2. Beat eggs, almond meal and sifted icing sugar in a small bowl with electric beater until creamy; beat in flour. Stir in butter.
3. Beat egg whites in small bowl with electric mixer until soft peaks form; add caster sugar, beating until sugar dissolves. Fold into almond mixture in 2 batches.
4. Divide mxture between pans. Bake around 7 minutes. Cool.

Coffee butter cream
1/4 cup (60ml) milk
1/4 cup (55g) brown sugar
2 tsp instant coffee granules
1 egg yolk
125g unsalted butter, softened

1. Stir milk, sugar and coffee in small saucepan until sugar dissolves
2. Whisk egg yolk in small bowl and gradually whisk in hot milk mixture.
3. Return custard to pan; stir over heat without boiling (~ 5 min or until thickened slightly)
4. Cool. Beat butter in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy; beat in custard.

Coffee syrup
1/3 cup (80ml) boiling water
2 tbs caster sugar
1 tbs instant coffee granules

1. Stir ingredients in small bowl till sugar and coffee dissolves.

Ganache
160g dark eating chocolate, chopped coarsely
1/3 cup (80ml) cream

1. Stir ingredients in small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water until smooth. Refrigerate until spreadable.

Glaze
50 g unsalted butter
75g dark eating chocolate

1. Stir ingredients in small heatproof bowl over small saucepan of simmering water until smooth. Use while warm.

Assembling the cake
1. Cut cake so that you can get 3 even pieces (there are 3 layers for this cake.. so cut a third off each cake so you are left with two 2/3 pieces and two 1/3 pieces if that makes sense =S)
2. Place one large sponge (the 2/3 one) on baking paper and brush with half of coffee syrup. Spread cake with half of butter cream; refrigerate for 10 minutes.

3. Place next cake layer on top (two pieces of 1/3) and brush with remaining coffee syrup. Spread with ganache and top with remaining cake; refrigerate 10 minutes.

4. SPread top of cake with remaining butter cream; refrigerate 3 hours.

5. Make glaze and spread evenly over cake. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until glaze has set.

TA DA!! Look at that awesome glaze dripping down.. and ganache oozing out.. mmm mm :)

Cherry tart

Since its Cherry season! (and before Cherries get really expensive) why don't you try this recipe for Cherry tart? I actually got the recipe from a Coles magazine ^^ but turned out pretty good :)

Ingredients:
PASTRY
1 1/2 cups Plain flour
100g cold butter, chopped
2-3 tbsp iced water
FILLING
100g cold butter, chopped
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs
100g almond meal
1/3 cup plain flour
500g cherries, pitted

1. Place flour in large bowl. Add butter and use fingertips to run in until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add water and mix with knife until mixture comes together.
2. Gather dough in a ball. Roll out pastry and fit into flan tin (34cm x 11.5cm). Chill for 20 min.
3. Preheat oven to 180oC. Line pastry with non-stick baking paper and fill with dried rice or beans. Bake for 15 min then remove dried rice or beans and cook for a further 15 min or until dry and lightly golden. Coll.
4. Filling: Beat sugar and butter with electric beater till light and creamy. Bean in vanilla essence. Add eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Folld in almond meal and flour. Spread into pastry case. Arrage cherries over the filling, pressing in slightly. Bake for 30 min or until set and golden brown. Cool and dust with icing sugar to serve.

we could have put more cherries.. but they were huge ^^" hehe

Gingerbread GIANTS!

So Vin had a craving for Gingerbread men and I felt like baking something so we did :D

They were supposed to be Gingerbread men but mutated into GIANTS!!! I think coz we added way more Self-raising flour and Vin kneaded the dough heaps.. so they're softer than normal but still taste delicious :)

Here's what you need:
125g margarine
2 tbs golden syrup (i didn't have any so i just used maple syrup)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
3 cups self-raising flour (can add more if needed)
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 165oC.
2. Melt butter and syrup. Mix in sugar and egg.
3. Add sifted flour, salt, ginger and cinnamon and mix well. Dough should come away from the sides of the bowl.
4. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface and use cutter to cut biscuits.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes until a delicate golden brown colour.


Men turning into GIANTS!

 

Ta da~~

ROYAL ICING (Vin's favourite icing) 1 egg white
1 tsp lemon juice
1 cup icing sugar, sifted

1. Whisk eggs whites with lemon juice using electric mixer until soft peaks form.
2. Add sifted icing sugar slowly while still mixing.

Decorated by Vin

My personal faves: azn man

Masked man

Simple as that =p We made WAY too much icing so I thought.. maybe I can make the icing into meringues ^^ AND IT WORKED :D :D :D bake till golden brown!

MERINGUES <3