Work catering #29: Cream cheese theme~

I love everything cream cheese! I mean, who doesn't? You can make frozen cheesecake.. cream cheese frosting... baked cheesecake.. slices.. cakes.. so much variety!!! =D =D OR you can just eat it by itself =p haha ok.. maybe that's going a little too far!

After recipe searching, I found this delicious recipe for Green Tea cream cheese brownies! YUM! everything I love~~ Green tea.... cream cheese... brownies!! =D

Green tea cream cheese brownies
Recipe adapted from dailydelicious

Ingredients
Green tea cream cheese batter
170g cream cheese
35g caster sugar
1 tbs plain flour
1 egg
30ml thickened cream
2 tsp green tea powder

Brownie batter
70g plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
130g unsalted butter
200g dark chocolate
175g caster sugar
3 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 23cm square pan with baking paper.
2. To make green tea cream cheese batter, beat cream cheese and sugar together until smooth.
3. Add cream and egg and beat until smooth. Sift green tea powder and stir until combined. Add flour and stir to combine. Set aside.
4. For brownie batter, place butter and chocolate into saucepan over medium heat and stir until melted.
5. Add sugar and salt and sugar until combined. Remove from heat and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes. (if the batter is too hot, it will scramble the eggs!)
6. Beat eggs together and add to bowl, stir to combine.
7. Sift over the flour and baking powder and stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan. Spoon the green tea cream cheese batter on top and swirl with a knife to create marbled effect.
8. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Don't overcook it (as I almost did!) as it can become dry.

Brownie squares =D

See the marbled top? ^^

I also made my oreo cheesecake balls! (sticking to the cream cheese theme =p). You can find the recipe here.

Hmmm..... looking for more inspiration for next bakes! Feel free to give me suggestions!! =D

Work catering #28: Inspiration from desserteries - Zumbo Patisserie and B&P sweet studio

I've been eating wayyyy to many sweets recently >____<" but all in the name of research ;P haha! Adriano Zumbo has opened up a pop up shop recently selling his "Chouxmacas - choux pastry topped with a macaron" and I've somehow become a regular customer =p" 

Pina coloda chouxmaca! so cute ^^

taking a look inside the Banana cheesecake chouxmaca! my favourite one~~~

Masterchef has also made Burch & Purchese sweet studio quite popular too! So went to visit (again) and the desserts were AMAZING!!! =D =D =D!!! Oh and I met a former Masterchef contestant -> KYLIE :) she was lovely ^^

Delicious desserts!! love all the layers and textures and flavours! <3

Kylie! super nice :) Has the dream job at B&P!

So those desserts have given my inspiration for this week's work catering =) I made lychee and coconut pannacotta - inspired by B&P's multi-layered desserts; and chocolate macarons - inspired by Zumbo's macarons!!
Lychee and Coconut Pannacotta

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups thickened cream
1 1/2 cups coconut milk
3/4 cup caster sugar
3 tsp gelatin
1 can lychees 
1 packet (85g) create-a-jelly (Aeroplane brand)
1/2 cup shredded coconut

1. Place cream, milk and sugar in saucepan over medium heat. Stir till sugar dissolved.
2. Add 3 tbs boiling water to gelatin in small bowl and mix to form a gel. Add gelatin mix into cream mixture and stir till gelatin dissolved.
3. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
4. Pour into jug and pour into plastic shot glasses (~3/4 full). Drain canned lychees (reserving 200ml lychee juice) and cut each in half. Place lychee half into each glass and refrigerate for around 1 hour or until set.
5. Empty jelly powder into separate jug, and add 1 cup (250ml) boiling water. Stir and dissolve well. 
6. Add 200ml of lychee juice and stir well. Remove pannacotta from fridge (once set) and pour lychee jelly into each shot glass. Return back to fridge and allow to set.
7. Place shredded coconut on lined baking tray. Bake for around 10 minutes at 200oC or until toasted. Sprinkle coconut onto pannacotta and serve.

I wanted to create different textures (creamy pannacotta plus crunchy toasted coconut) and also add an element of surprise (the lychee in the middle). I'm really happy with this one! The flavours complimented each other really well, no ingredient overpowering the other (HAHA! sounding like a Masterchef judge). I was really happy because many people gave great comments ^___^" Like "this is the best thing you have ever made" - whoa... and "who bought these?" =D The only complaint was "you should make the glasses bigger" hahaha

Since I was making a an order of macarons, decided to make extra for work! Haven't made them in a while and glad they turned out well! No strange/creative flavours like Zumbo does, just simple chocolate :) You can find the recipe for my Chocolate Macarons here. Still my most visited recipe ^_^"

Oh and EXCITING NEWS! ADRIANO ZUMBRO TRIED THESE MACARONS!!!! Yes!!!! He came to his pop up shop for the last day and so i brought some of these for him to try XD XD while most people were asking for a photo and autogtraph, I stood there holding my box of macarons and asked if he would try one! XD XD! He said "a bit too crunchy, they should be softer..." i think because they weren't freshly made and dried out a little! but happy to get some feedback from the Macaon Master himself!! hehe... oh and I did get a photo too ;P

with the macaron master Adriano Zumbo!

Macarons finally making an appearance for work catering =p

close up of macarons! see the "feet" hehe

Work Catering #27: White chocolate's perfect match

This week I decided to have a WHITE CHOCOLATE theme! Found a bunch of white chocolate melts in the cupboard that I needed to use up, so here is what I've made with them :) First up, truffles!!! I've never made truffles before but have realised they are so simple! Of course, I could have made White chocolate truffles but wanted to do something a little different. So the question is, what flavours match with white chocolate? 1) LEMON and COCONUT =D

Lemon and Coconut white chocolate truffles

Recipe adapted from Max and Me

Ingredients

1/3 cup (80ml) thickened cream

250g white chocolate, chopped

2 tsp lemon rind, finely grated

1/2 cup desiccated coconut

1. Heat cream for one minute in bowl over pot of simmering water (double boiler).

2. Add chopped white chocolate and stir with metal spoon until melted and smooth.

3. Remove bowl from heat and stir in lemon rind. Cover with cling-wrap and refrigerate until firm (3-4 hours.. or overnight as I did ^^)

4. Line baking tray with baking paper. Remove truffle mix from fridge and roll into balls.

5. Coat in desiccated coconut and place on tray. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

I think I needed to make more =p

Deliciously lemony ^_^ 

Everybody seemed to love them! Just goes to show sometimes simple is best =) they kinda reminded me of Lindt balls ^_^ Just needed to coat them in white chocolate!

So the next flavour match for white chocolate I have chosen is 2) PISTACHIO and RASPBERRY! Made some blondies - which are just like brownies but blond =p so made with white chocolate!

White chocolate, Pistachio and Raspberry Blondies

Recipe adapted from Baker's corner

Ingredients

270g white chocolate, chopped

38g butter, chopped

3/4 cup (165g) caster sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

2 cups (~300g) plain flour

1 cup (190g) white chocolate chips

1 cup (140g) pistachio

1 1/2 cup frozen raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 180oC/160oC fan forced. Grease and line base of 30x20cm rectangle slice tin.

2. Melt butter, white chocolate and sugar in large saucepan. Stir over low heat until melted. Allow to cool for 10 minutes.

3. Stir in eggs and mix well. Add flour, then pistachios, white chocolate chips and raspberries. Stir until combined. Spoon mixture into prepared pan and smooth surface.

4. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until mixture is firm to touch. Allow to cool in pan. 

5. Remove slice from pan and cut into squares to serve.

Blond blondies ^^

Look at the colour! LOVE IT! :D

I've had many exciting foodie adventures recently that have given me lots of inspiration =) so thinking next week's catering will be a bit more.. creative? ^___^"

Work catering #26: Yo yo yo! It's salted caramel time!

Yoyo's are one of my favourite cookies! I love the buttery dough sandwiched with buttercream filling =p.. yum! My favourite flavour would probably be the classic PASSIONFRUIT! I've made Melting moments before but they were quite huge so decided to make these smaller yoyos :)

Passionfruit Petit Yoyo's 
Recipe adapted from Simply great meals

Ingredients (Makes ~40 petit yoyos)

Yoyos
225g butter
6 tbs icing sugar
1 1/2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup custard powder

Butter cream
60g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups icing sugar
1-2 tbs passionfruit pulp (tinned or fresh)

1. Preheat oven to 180oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted flour and custard powder and mix to form firm dough.
3. Roll teaspoonfuls of dough into ball and place onto baking tray. Press lightly with the back of a fork and bake for 8-10 minutes.
4. Make butter cream by beating butter, icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in passionfruit until combined. Sandwich yoyos together with butter cream.

before people grabbed them~ ahha

Can see the passionfruit seeds in the butter cream :]

I also LOVE SALTED CARAMEL!!!!! So wanted to try out this swiss roll. I haven't made many swiss rolls and I think this one turned out a little small for my liking but the salted caramel made up for it ^_^"

Salted Caramel Swiss roll
Recipe adapted from Happy flour

Ingredients

Sponge:
3 eggs, separated
50g brown sugar, sifted
52g cake flour (I used plain flour with a bit of corn flour mixed in)
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp vanilla essence
35g vegetable oil

Salted caramel sauce:
1/2 cup caster sugar
1/2 cup cream
1 tsp salt

Salted Caramel Butter cream:
100g unsalted butter
1 tbs icing sugar
3 tbs salted caramel sauce

Sponge:
1. Preheat oven to 200oC and line 20x30cm baking tray with baking paper.
2. Sift flour and baking powder. Set aside.
3. Whisk egg whites with electric mixer until frothy. Gradually add in sugar until stiff peaks form (using a stand mixer would be very helpful! otherwise your arm may get sore :P)
4. On medium speed, gradually add in egg yolks. Whisk for another minute until combined.
5. Fold flour into meringue in 3 portions until well blended.
6. Lastly, fold oil into batter until well combined.
7. Pour batter into prepared baking tray and smooth surface. Bake for 10 minutes.
8. Remove cake and place on rack to cool with skin facing up.

Sponge ready to be spread with salted caramel butter cream!

Caramel Sauce:
1. Melt sugar over medium low heat in saucepan
2. One sugar has melted and turned into golden brown liquid, remove from stove. (Don't burn the sugar!!)
3. Carefully and slowly pour cream over caramelized sugar. Mixture may splatter and caramelized sugar will harden but don't worry!
4. Return saucepan to stove with low heat, stir mixture until caramelized sugar melts and is smooth - this may take a while but BE PATIENT ^^
5. Stir in salt and remove from stove. Set aside to cool. Can be stored in fridge if necessary but thaw to room temperature before use.

Salted Caramel butter cream:
1. Beat butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Add in salted caramel sauce and beat till combined.

Cake assembly:
1. Carefully transfer cake onto greaseproof paper with skin facing down.
2. Spread butter cream evenly on sponge.
3. Gently roll cake using paper to lift the cake and roll.
4. Rest the roll in fridge to maintain shape.
5. Remove, slice and serve.

Salted caramel wreath ^^

yum yum yum =D

Work catering #25: BakingTray back baking balls and slices!

It's been a while since I catered for work! Really missed it actually ~ So what to bake for my comeback? haha...well a friend showed me this recipe (THANK YOU ^^) and as soon as I saw it, I thought "YES! MUST BAKE!". Not only is it a no-bake recipe, but only needs 3 ingredients (well 4 including the white chocolate)! and you know me? I can be the lazy baker.

Oreo cheesecake balls
Recipe adapted from Kraft recipes

Ingredients
450g oreos (3 x 150g packets should be enough)
250g block cream cheese, room temperature
250g dark chocolate melted
50g white chocolate, melted

1. Process oreos until resembles fine crumbs.
2. Mix oreo crumbs with cream cheese until combined.
3. Roll into small balls. Place on tray and refrigerate for 10 minutes.
4. Coat balls in dark chocolate and place on tray.
5. Pipe white chocolate squiggles on top and refrigerate.

Balls of oreo cheesecake goodness!

I also had a spare can of passionfruit pulp that I bought the other day so was looking up some passionfruit recipes and found this one for passionfruit slice. Yummy ;)

Passionfruit slice
Recipe adapted from Exclusively food

Ingredients
1/3 cup passionfruit pulp and juice (you can use fresh or canned)
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
1 cup desiccated coconut
125g butter, melted
110ml lemon juice
395g (1 can) condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 180oC (160oC fan-forced) and line a 20x30cm slice pan with baking paper.
2. Sift icing sugar and flour into large bowl. Add coconut and stir until well combined.
3. Add melted butter and stir until combined. Firmly press mixture over base of pan using back of spoon.
4. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until slightly risen and lightly browned around the edges.
5. For topping, place passionfruit pulp in medium bowl. Add lemon juice and condensed milk and stir until well combined (mixture should thicken).
6. Pour mixture over base and spread evenly with a spatula. Return pan to oven and bake for further 10 minutes.
7. Allow slice to cool in pan before removing and refrigerating before slicing.

Prepped for catering~

You get the crunch of the passionfruit seeds~

I'm glad to be back baking! Actually been on a baking spree XD so lots more posts to come! =D This is what happens when I go a month without baking =p

Aspiring Bakers #34: Green Tea cookie topped Profiteroles

I haven't joined in Aspiring Baker's challenge in a while. Partly because I was busy/holidaying and partly because last month's theme was DURIAN >____<" But this month's theme is CHOUX PARTY!!! And I thought, I can do that ^^" So gave it a go! The recipe is based on Adriano Zumbo's choux pastry and I just gave it a bit of an asian twist with the green tea =) I burnt a few of the cookie tops >.<" but still tastes yummy ^^ 

There are 3 parts to this recipe: 
1) Green Tea pâte sablé a choux (the crunchy cookie topping); 
2) Choux Pastry (the profiteroles); 
3) Green Tea creme patissiere (the custard filling).

Green Tea Cookie Topped Profiteroles
Recipe adapted from Zumbo by Adriano Zumbo 

Green Tea pâte sablé a choux

Ingredients
60g dark brown sugar
60g unsalted butter
60g plain flour
10g green tea powder

1. Place all ingredients in small bowl. Beat together until paste formed.
2. Roll dough into a cylinder shape (2cm in diameter) using cling wrap and place in fridge for 1 hour or until firm.

Choux pastry 
(I divided the original recipe by 3)

Ingredients
100g butter
106g water
5g caster sugar
133g milk
5g salt
133g plain flour, sifted
204g, lightly beaten egg (around 4 eggs)

1. Preheat oven to 210oC and line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
2. Place butter, water, sugar, milk and salt in saucepan and bring to boil. Remove from heat and quickly beat in flour. Return pan to heat and beat until mixture comes together and dough leaves the side of the pan. (Usually takes 1-2 minutes over low heat).
3. Transfer to stand mixer and gradually add in egg. Beat until thick and glossy.
4. Pipe pastry onto trays (around 2.5cm in diameter and 2cm high), allowing room for them to puff up.
5. Slice the green Tea pâte sablé a choux into small discs (2mm thickness) and place on top of pastry.
6. Bake or 25-30 minutes or until golden brown, puffy and firm. Allow to cool before poking small holes in each profiterole for custard filling.

Choux pastry ready to be baked!

Green Tea creme patissiere
(Original recipe divided by 6)

Mmmm.. nice and green!

Ingredients 
210ml milk
1 vanilla beans, split (or just use 1 tsp vanilla essence)
3 egg yolks (now u know why we divided by 6 xP)
55g caster sugar
55g corn flour
55g butter
1 tbs green tea powder

1. Stir the milk and vanilla beans in saucepan over medium heat until almost boiling.
2. Whisk yolks, sugar, cornflour and green tea powder in bowl until thick and pale. 
3. Gradually whisk in hot milk into egg mixture. Return to saucepan and whisk over medium heat will custard boils and thickens.
4. Spread over tray to cool rapidly. Cover with cling wrap to prevent skin forming. When the mixture has cooled transfer to bowl and stir through butter.
5. Transfer mixture into piping bag and pipe into profiteroles.

A little burnt, but still delicious~

These are best eaten on the day you make them. I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #34: Choux Party (August 2013) hosted by Jasline of Foodie Baker.

Light as a feather?

BakingTray is back! Had a great holiday in Malaysia and Singapore! Visited lots of relatives, ate heaps of delicious food and shopped a lot too =) Good to be back home though! Unfortunately, down with a virus this week so pretty much confined to the home~ good time to blog though!

Here's one of my last bakes before my holiday: Featherlight Cheesecake. It is essentially a Japanese cheesecake which I have made before. I'm not sure this cake worked 100%, as it wasn't as "featherlight" as I would have liked. I think it shall go on "to repeat" list =p However the flavours were there!! Quite light and cheesecakey =D

Featherlight Cheesecake
Recipe adapted from Peng's Kitchen

Ingredients
200ml milk
20g butter
125g cream cheese
50g plain flour
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
pinch of salt
90g caster sugar
1/2 tbs cocoa powder
1 tbs boiling water

1. Grease and line 20cm square tin with baking paper.
2. Combine milk, butter and cream cheese in bowl over double-boiler and mix until smooth. Cool slightly.
3. Sift over the flour and mix well.
4. Stir in egg yolks and vanilla essence.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until foamy. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff peaks form.
6. Gently fold 1/3 of meringue into cheese mixture. Then pour the cheese mixture into meringue and fold until combined.
7. Mix cocoa powder and water until paste formed. Spoon in some cheese batter and mix until smooth.
8. Pour cheese batter into tin. Drizzle chocolate paste using a knife to create a marbled effect.
9. Place tin in deep baking tray and fill tray with water to create a waterbath. Bake at 160oC for 1 hour.
10. Remove cake from oven and allow to cool before slicing.

not very "fluffy" =/ but still tasty! :D