i'm just in time to make something for x'mas. i was down with a flu and i still had to fulfil some insane macaron orders for the past few weeks so i really lost my interest for blogging and photography. i don't know when i'll get the enthusiasm back, hopefully soon.

i'm not sure if anyone has seen or heard of the ladurée sucré book. i didn't know about its existence until the lovely felicia very generously loaned it to me (she bought it on her recent trip to paris). the book is unlike all other books i've seen - velvety suede cover with gold trimmings and delicately packed in a ladurée's signature pastel green box with lilac tissue paper (hubby commented that it looked harry potter-ish lol). i fell in love with it at 1st sight but was even more fascinated with the recipes as i flipped the pages. i don't think i've ever classified any cookbook as totally "my type" but for this one...YES! the book features lotsa dainty and feminine desserts like rose petal ice cream, pistachio financiers, vanilla eclairs, raspberry rose verrines etc.

and one of them that caught my eye was the guimauve fraise et fleur d'oranger, or strawberry & orange flower marshmallows. the name itself is very lovely and it was after i made it that i realize what a fantastic pairing it was. the orange blossom water is both floral and fruity and is a great complement with the strawberry puree. really delicate. i also felt it was about time i made marshmallows again since i wasn't exactly satisfied with my previous attempt on the passionfruit version.

i bought some really beautiful purple sweet potatoes during the weekend and immediately set my eyes on this. i've seen this on several blogs and the violet amethyst-like cubes embedded within the cake really caught my attention. i guess i just hv this weakness for pretty desserts (and purple sweet potatoes).




the cake turned out fluffier than i thought, consider that the purple sweet potato puree was rather thick and heavy. tastewise its pretty mild since the sweet potato doesn't really hv much taste/aroma to begin with but i do like the subtle sweetness and the contrast of the cubes with the cake. i also think that its better eaten fresh from the oven coz that raw eggy smell will be more apparent upon cooling.



recipe is adapted from here and the original yields a 17cm cake but i scaled it up since i only hv a 22cm tin. also, i don't like the idea of using cream of tartar when whisking egg whites coz i don't see a difference in the results. japanese pastry chefs don't use it in their recipes either so i'll usually omit. sugar and egg whites alone will give you a beautiful meringue so you don't need cream of tartar, or vinegar, or lemon juice.

my first recipe from hidemi sugino's le goût authentique retrouvé and i'm really happy with it. i think i must be crazy to purchase a japanese book when i don't understand a word of it but i just couldn't resist coz first, he's a famous pastry chef, secondly the recipes are all so fantastic! some of my friends were really kind to offer help to translate but i just don't wanna impose on them. they can afterall help translate one but not the whole book, which is frankly what i need. you would wanna fully utilize the book too if you had spent close to a hundred bucks on it. so while half-heartedly trying to memorize all the hiragana & katakana characters, i gave up in the end and went ahead with this recipe. luckily the ingredient portion was written in french as well so i could understand a little. it was not all that difficult since this is not the 1st time i've attempted to make a cake without the given methods/steps.

ddeokbokki is a popular snack food that is commonly sold by street vendors in korea. i've tried them a couple of times in korea but didn't really like it coz i find it kinda bland and not sweet enough for my liking. i like mine really sweet and generously doused with lotsa sesame oil and sesame seeds, something which i find lacking from the ones in korea so i love making this at home coz its so easy and i can tweak it according to my own preference. the authentic recipe uses cabbage and spring onion/scallions but i didn't hv both so i omitted.

what comes to mind when you think of eclairs? are they just vanilla custard choux puffs with a hastily applied chocolate glaze which look ugly rustic at best? to me, they're far from that boring ol' combination of vanilla and chocolate. when i think eclairs, i think fauchon, the hyperluxe gourmet food shop in paris. fauchon is definitely synonymous with eclairs and here's why. decked in all sorts of flavors and designs imaginable, from the mona lisa eyes to garden peas to leopard prints on the icing, you'll never look at eclairs the same way again. even without all these adornments i feel that an eclair should be elegant looking - long and thin and topped with a shiny fondant glaze. therefore i started by trying out a relatively safe coffee flavor and pairing them with coffee creme patissiere, coffee fondant glaze + cocoa nibs for that extra crunch.

something i tried from a new chiffon cake book i bought last week. i realize i don't look at chiffon cakes like the way i used to in the past coz they're made in so many exotic flavors like earl grey, black sesame, yuzu, purple sweet potato, rose, matcha etc these days. no longer are they just limited to boring flavors like pandan and chocolate. decided on this cake coz i wanted to put my really expensive $60/kg sevarome pistachio paste into good use. the cake turned out really soft and fluffy and is probably the softest chiffon cake i've ever tasted. was really good! and chiffon cakes aren't exactly the most photogenic subjects around so i only hv this pic.

*recipe removed due to copyright restrictions.

i seriously cant think of anything more delicious, pretty and feminine than this, the ispahan. unless you dislike rose, it would be a crime to skip this. with some red rose petals and raspberries leftover from the weekend, i just HAD to make these again.

i can't believe i've not heard of rose petal jam, or jelly until i saw this as one of the components of a verrine i intend to make. given my love for rose there was no way i could miss this out so i went ahead and bought the reddest rosiest red roses i could lay my hands on. i knew the color was gonna turn out pretty and striking and true enough, it was a blood red hue not unlike raspberry jam.

i had macaron orders for two consecutive days. first one was a wedding order, from the bride to her bridesmaids as thank-you gifts. flavors are rose, pistachio & dark choc.

second one - birthday gifts. flavors are matcha adzuki, passionfruit milk choc, caramel fleur de sel & dark choc.

** edited to add : one more last minute order. rose, caramel fleur de sel, black sesame.

i made 200 macarons these two days and the aftermath is extreme dark circles under eyes and aching back, hands & feet. so so tired and desperately need some sleep now *yawns*

apart from sadaharu aoki & hidemi sugino, i was told that toshi yoroizuka (鎧塚 俊彦) is another prominent pastry chef in japan and if i were to go to japan i must visit his boutique at midtown tokyo. frankly, i've not heard of him so i googled and found out that this has quite alot of his recipes (i think its his official site). the only thing is they're in japanese and apart from ingredients used, the method & steps are not stated at all. this is actually not surprising consider that if you can attempt professional level cakes and entremets, you should hv already memorized the steps by heart. i wouldn't say i was very confident but i was up for the challenge. imagine, i had to rely solely on google translate to translate the text from japanese to english + make this without any written steps, its a little like playing with fire.

i never knew i would hv craving for a simple vanilla cake with a glass of cold milk since i've always thought i had "complex tastebuds" but i did so i went hunting for a recipe in the middle of the night. i didn't wanna spend an hour baking a cake therefore i opted for cupcakes instead. i had really good results with magnolia bakery's red velvet cupcakes sometime back so i just wanted to try their famous vanilla cupcake recipe this time round.

my collection of chinese cookbooks, mostly on french patisserie and translated from japanese. i hv alot more chinese than english ones coz its really difficult to find english books on french/japanese patisserie and entremets. most french or japanese books would usually be translated to chinese, seldom are they translated to english so i'm really glad i can read them. i spent a small fortune on these but its still much cheaper than going to pastry school :p

as i was browsing through my chinese cookbook collection, i came across this cake recipe which i found very enticing. a weekend cake, or gateau de voyage is a traditional french pound cake thats rich and buttery. i don't fancy butter/pound cakes much coz i find they use wayyyyy too much butter and take wayyyyy to long to bake. plus they're just too rustic for my liking. but perhaps its the lovely combination of spices, rum, nuts and candied peel in this one that makes me wanna go ahead... and there's just something really christmassy about it too.

i made a strawberry shortcake for my friend huiyi's birthday and this is by far my best attempt. i've always shyed away from anything to do with whipped cream mainly for two reasons - i tend to overwhip the cream to the point that it splits and secondly, i just don't hv the talent in frosting whole cakes. when i found the solution to these two major problems, i jumped at the opportunity to make one again. with regards to overwhipping the cream, my pastry chef gf told me to whisk it on high speed, never mind that the bowl and beaters are not chilled. it worked! secondly i read that instead of frosting the cake painstakingly, you could pour the cream into a mousse ring like you would an entremet. that worked too!

kongnamul muchim, or korean seasoned soybean sprouts is another banchan that i'd often go for second or third helpings at a korean restaurant. i think this one is an acquired taste since it can taste rather raw and grassy to some people but i love it coz its like eating veggies and beans together. i like using soybean sprouts rather than the smaller mung bean sprouts for the crunch and texture but they're actually interchangeable for this dish. if you use mung bean sprouts, the name for it would be sukju namul (숙주 나물) instead.

the concept of a shop-within-a-shop, or rather cafe-within-a-shop seems to be all the rage now. think hairloom & caramel, a cafe within a hair salon, jams cafe inside prologue bookstore and tea cosy inside eclectic attic, a furniture shop.

arteastiq is the latest one to jump on the bandwagon. also nestled within a furniture shop that sells modern baroque/roccoco and neoclassical-inspired pieces, the gf and i decided to hv tea there on a lazy weekday afternoon. the place reminds me vaguely of the cookie museum but i like it better here, more modern and chic and a really cosy place for chillaxing.

had a bunch of carrots and potatoes that needed getting rid of and i really couldn't think of any way to use them up. i didn't wanna cook any chinese style soups with them coz that means i'll hv to buy meat just for that. i decided on a cream of carrot soup and while googling aimlessly and striking off some of the carrot puree soups that needed crystallized ginger and curry powder, i came across this recipe by ju of thelittleteochew that didn't require any of those. having made cream-laden soups like clam chowder before, i very much prefer this kind that uses very little cream but is instead thickened naturally with potatoes. the soup is sweet, flavorful and satisfying!

was doing macarons for my latest order and was really happy with the outcome for this batch. the feet looks pretty consistent and this batch has got such pretty colors! from left : rose, dark choc, caramel fleur de sel, matcha & coffee.

yum. wish i could devour everything.

i just had a painful tooth extraction a week ago and i've virtually been surviving on semi-solid food. that means porridge oats or cookies dunk in milk. really boring actually. i wanted something for a change and came across this butternut pumpkin risotto recipe which looks really really delicious. it uses vanilla bean in the pumpkin puree and it makes me wonder how vanilla could find its way into savory dishes so i was curious to give it a try.

i've put off making this tart long enough and i'm finally glad i made it. having bookmarked this recipe for almost a year, each time i look at it i just feel like i don't hv the courage to go ahead coz i don't hv so many of the ingredients called for, things like titanium dioxide, tahitian and mexican vanilla beans as well as trimoline (inverted sugar) used for the biscuit cuillere (sponge fingers). in the end i decided to make do with whatever i hv and cut corners whenever possible and luckily for me, the tart turned out glorious still. so far i've used a couple of pierre herme's recipes, from the complicated ones like the emotion ispahan verrines and this vanilla tart to some of the basic recipes like candied citrus peel, pate sablee tart crust, choux pastry, passionfruit milk choc ganache for the mogador macaron etc, i must say his recipes are nothing short of amazing. it really makes me wonder - if my homemade renditions could be this good, what more for those coming out of his own hands, the picasso of pastry himself?

i made purple sweet potato mont blanc again last week upon hubby's request and got some leftover puree from it. its not easy to find purple sweet potato recipes out there especially dessert ones (so far i only came across a few blogs using the same purple sweet potato chiffon cake recipe). i wanted to go for that at 1st but the thought of having to use 5 eggs in a cake just don't appeal to me. and having to work with egg whites all day while making macarons, the last thing i wanna do is whisk more egg whites so i decided on something simple and i made this without a recipe. drawing my inspiration from the korean hobakjuk (sweet pumpkin porridge) and the chinese black sesame seed paste, i decided to make a paste/gruel of sorts and then topped it with glutinous rice balls and sesame seeds. surprisingly it tasted quite good.

ever since i bought a nice wooden table from IKEA which was meant to be a proper table for photography at my balcony area, i realize i like having breakfast there as well. my balcony is breezy and well lit in the morning and its just so calm and serene sitting there having a leisurely breakfast. that was part of the reason for this entry. another reason was coz i woke up this morning feeling the need to practice on my food styling, something which i'm always very lazy to do coz i just simply suck at it (read : no talent) and the idea of having extra things to wash up just don't appeal to me. but with all the props that i'm constantly purchasing, i think i might as well just make the best out of everything.

finally i've waited long enough for dates to be on the shelves again so i jumped at the change to try my hands on another recipe. my previous attempt last year was too cakey and i really wanted a pudding-like one this time. when i saw felicia's entry on it, i told myself i HAD to make it. hers look really really good! the truth is, this one is cake-like too but better than my previous. i'm wondering if i shd hv underbaked it a little but nonetheless its really delicious, with or without the sauce and ice cream. and OMG, i finally succeeded in scooping a one-spoon ice cream quenelle, much to my delight :D i've always wanted to scoop a quenelle coz its really elegant but the two-spoon method don't quite cut it for me. after much practice, i can safely say - i'm getting there!!

having made quite a few korean dishes now, there's no way to leave out the banchans. out of the so many varieties, one of my favorite would have to be this - myeolchi (myulchi) bokkeum or spicy anchovies. doused with a sweet, spicy and sticky sauce, i would be happy to have it with rice alone without any other dishes to go along. its that addictive! its also very easy to make, usually under 10 mins and i've made this quite a couple of times now. there's the non-spicy version as well but gimme the spicy one anytime!

i've got some leftover mint from the tarte aux fruits rouges so i decided to make something simple. not sure when it started but i actually liked eating mint just like that. i used to use them solely for decor and if mint has to find its way through my food, they're only limited to jelly ie. with lamb, or in teas and drinks. so when i saw this recipe i knew i had to try it. fruit salad is common but the moment i read that it uses grand marnier, my favorite orange liqueur, i was sold!

tarte aux fruits rouges, or red fruit tart is a simple summer berry tart thats hard to go wrong with. while i'm not sure if there's a fixed recipe to it but i think the most common version would be to use a pâte sucrée (sweet crust pastry) and crème pâtissière (pastry cream) or custard. in here though, i used pierre herme's pâte sablée crust, a really nice, rich and buttery crust with ground almonds hence the name 'sandy dough'. i then filled the tarts, or rather tartlets with creme d'amandes, a baked almond cream traditionally used in frangipane tarts and brushed with a generous a layer of raspberry jam before adorning them with berries.

i hv a weakness for lemon curd. when i first tasted a jar of waitrose organic lemon curd, i knew i had to make some myself. that was many years back and it (homemade, not storebought!) became a pantry staple ever since. i like having it with scones, tarts and as a filling for macarons. and this time round i decided to try out a lemon curd recipe from cannelle et vanille's blog coz i got curious after seeing the recipe. first of all it doesn't require any cornflour and secondly the way its cooked is exactly how you would a creme anglaise or ice cream. the one i frequently use is actually good enough but there'd always be some annoying bits of cooked egg whites in there and i'd often end up picking them out or blending them back in.

i've been making smoothies rather frequently these days. i see it as an alternative to eating something i don't like and in this case its plain yogurt and strawberries.

finally i feel like i've made enough desserts to compile them into an entry. read my previous instalments of desserts i made part I here and part II here. my momentum for making them this year has dropped to an all-time low. apart from family birthdays and some practising in order to prevent my dessert making skills from getting "rusty" i haven't been making very much. on average i'm making just one every month, i wish i could make desserts every other day but sadly, the waistline just cannot afford it!



clockwise from top left : purple sweet potato mont blanc, opera tiramisu verrines, strawberry shortcake, orange choc cake, pistache-abricot entremet & almond raspberry financiers.

it was through word of mouth that we found out that chef yamashita of the famed patisserie glacé (read : gla-say) has left and opened his own shop. i don't think many people knew this at all. having heard good things about glacé, i've been wanting to visit for the longest time. but since chef yamashita has his own patisserie now, its only natural we visit this one first (and maybe glacé next time) :p

dolsot bibimbap, or korean hotstone mixed rice is one of my favorite korean dishes and i like it for both its color & taste. despite not being the easiest thing to make (lots of chopping, boiling & frying), i think its worth the effort consider how good it is. theres virtually no difference between homemade and those from the eateries/restaurants so this is something i will never order when i'm out in korean restaurants. ingredients i used are carrot, japanese cucumber, large bean sprouts, chinese spinach, dried shiitake mushrooms, ground beef & korean hot pepper paste (gochujang). served on a bed of japanese rice of course!

when i want something simple (and most importantly low fat), i'll invariably choose to cook simple japanese food at home. i usually hv chawanmushi and miso soup as well but since i was feeling lazy i just whipped up sushi and cold soba noodles.

despite not being a fan of local/nyonya food, i actually adore coconut quite alot! and what better way to make ice cream with it. i think avocado and coconut is an ingenious combination, its even better with a drizzle of gula melaka (palm sugar). given the success of my pulut hitam ice cream, i decided to give a flavored coconut ice cream another go. this recipe is from poh ling yeow, the runner-up in masterchef australia. indeed, its very good. cool, creamy and very coconutty. this is also the first time i'm using single pouring cream instead of whipping cream as per recipe instruction. seriously, i don't see any difference! its still very creamy so i'm sticking to single cream in future since its lower in fat.

ahh, there's just so much to say about these these little cakes which originated from the bordeaux region in france, my (and i'm sure many others') love-hate affair with them. using relatively simple ingredients which resemble a crepe batter, the end result after baking on high heat for a considerable length of time is a thick chewy caramelized crust and soft custardy innards perfumed with rum & vanilla. bittersweet, aromatic and addictive would be the perfect adjectives to describe them.

traditionally baked using copper molds that needed to be treated with beeswax prior to baking, many bakers these days opt for the easier (and cheaper) way out by using silicon molds. i'm no exception. you might too if you knew how much these little copper molds are. one tiny two-inch mold costs about US$20 on amazon. i could easily afford one for sure, but not 16 or 20 thats usually required to make a batch of these babies. so silicon is the way to go.

cherries are in season now as well as some other lovely stone fruits like nectarines and white peaches. i was pleasantly surprised to spot some really fresh (check out the glossy sheen!) and cheap ones so i just grabbed without thinking about what to do with them. i'd really like to eat them fresh yet at the same time bake something with these too. what should i make? cherry clafoutis? or maybe griottes (kirsh-soaked cherries).

i realize i haven't been taking pics of my macarons for a long long time. i'm taking on larger orders now so after i'm done everytime, i'd feel too pooped to take any pics. during moments like these i wish i hv a personal photographer to do the job for me!

anyway here are some pics of a latest order. my current favorite is this - the passionfruit milk choc macarons. i really like how the sweetness of the milk choc complements the tanginess of passionfruit. and a not-so-new flavor is the orangette which is another of my favorite. i've declared my love for anything choc-orange a thousand times i think! basically my orangette macaron is made up of orange shells dusted with cocoa powder and filled with orange zested dark choc ganache and my homemade orange peel. homemade makes all the difference coz i added lotsa spices and cooked the peels for 2 hrs. really like the flavor alot. i intend to come up with somemore new flavors when i'm not so busy, one of them would be another pierre herme's inspired montebello - two-colored shells with pistachio ganache & raspberry pâte de fruit (read : paht der fruee) center :)

mental note to myself : take more pics of my orders in future!

pajeon, or korean scallion pancake is sooo difficult to get it right i'm not sure why. so far i've not eaten a good one even at korean restaurants or eateries coz they're either too floury or oily so i thought i'd wanna try my hands on these. i first set my eyes on the one by david lebovitz after looking through several recipes. made it and didn't like it. the batter was too thick it had no chance to spread hence i ended up with a really thick pancake which was slightly uncooked in the middle.

i think the locals and malaysians should be very familiar with this. a very common condiment to have at the tze char stalls, i like having it with my horfun and muifan coz its real appetizing to eat and isn't too spicy. seems to be able to take away the greasiness of the food too! and being someone who doesn't step into the wet market, it means when i buy veggies i can't buy them by the stalk or piece. supermarkets sell green chillies by the packet which is like 200g and there will always be leftovers since there are only two of us at home. what better way to use these up by pickling into my favorite condiment since not many recipes use fresh green chilli anyway.

the moment i set my eyes on the recipe, i knew i had to make them rightaway. and to be honest, incorporating rose into cookies did not cross my mind even though i love them in mousses, cakes, puddings and even beverages. but once i tasted them, it was really no turning back.

prior to this, i've never really baked nor roasted savory stuff except very rare occasions of baked rice, pasta or pizza. which is why i'm really proud to say my ovens are very clean coz they're free from oil splatters and weird odors. but lately i've suddenly taken an interest in savory food. so far i've made clam chowder and bolognese sauce and i intend to roast a chicken next.

and here's my first attempt in roasting anything - potatoes. i'm surprised at how well this turned out but of coz, this is a no-brainer. i liken them to potato wedges though the skin's not as crispy but they're healthier and the insides are fluffy and nice. hubby likes them unseasoned but i prefer them with lotsa seasoning - coarse sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, parsley flakes...the works. i used three varieties of potatoes here, the normal yellow ones, purple and red.

something simple for sunday breakfast. wouldn't really have thought of making until i got these white ceramic chawanmushi cups. i've been on the lookout for these white cups for the longest time! most of them are floral/japanese-inspired so i was really elated to find white ones at daiso. cup + lid for just two bucks is definitely worth it! plus its just the right shade i like - creamy white :)