Cheese for Dessert, Done Two Ways

First off for the cheese is one I haven't done a many years, which is a frozen berry cheesecake which is actually from one of the Kraft Cooking magazines. It's a very mild cheesecake that's perfect for the summertime. I can't seem to find where I put the recipe for this but when I do, i'll post it up.

Next is a chocolate tiramisu; kind of my specialty. Filled with lots of mascarpone cheese and marsala wine, this is absolutely divine. The extra melted chocolate as well as cocoa powder makes this extra rich. And obviously, I didn't make the ladyfingers (way too much work and it wouldn't look half as perfect). I just bought the Savaiordi ones which taste really good. Nice and eggy and vanilla-y.

From the Past

I've had these pictures in my computer for a while now but totally forgot about them so I'm putting them up now. The one on top is a strawberry mousse layered cake and I wanted it to be fun cute but not girly. The polka dots kinda reminded me of a cartoon dinosaur and I love blue and yellow together. The one below was a triple berry cake and the outside was decorated with cherry blossoms because the birthday girl loved them. The ribbon on the side was actually an afterthought to cover up the side seam ribbon but it turned out pretty well.

For a Mom

My friend asked me to make a cake for his mom's birthday the other day and since she doesn't have too much of a sweet tooth, I made a fluffy sponge cake with layers of strawberry mousse. The outside has a thin layer of buttercream and the flowers are all buttercream as well.

The mom loves flowers and is into really "girly" things so I wanted to do something cute, but beautiful as well. Asians love chrysanthemum's (as do I) so I decided on a few hues of pinks, and purples although in the picture, it looks more like orange than pink. I had these cascading down the sides so it looked very elegant, like the mom.

The sides were a bit plain, so I decided to play up the cuteness by adding some small polka dots and tiny hearts from leftover coloured buttercream. She apparently loved it so I was satisfied and very happy. I think that's really the most important part in making a cake; it's the client's tastes you are catering to so if they're happy, I'm happy.

Seared Tuna Wrap

Went to Costco the other day and found some awesome frozen tuna steaks. Yeah they're frozen, but they were such a good deal! $12.95 for 5-6 well-portioned steaks. The really good thing is that they're individually vacuum-packed. I was only going to use it for tuna tartar anyways but I had some leftover so I decided to just pan-fry it slightly and glaze it with some sweet chili sauce. Put it in a tortilla wrap with some sliced tomatoes, lettuce, and leftover ratatouille and there was my lunch for the day! I have to admit, for frozen steaks, they're pretty gosh darn good. I will definitely be picking up more on my next trip to Costco!

Chocolate and Raspberry - A Match Made in Heaven

So here I am with another cake, finally. This one was for a 3rd birthday for a kid who loves Toopy and Binoo, a cute cartoon show that shows on YTV Treehouse. I think this cartoon is quite new as I had never heard of it before but a little research got me some pretty good pictures of it. The only other specifications were: Chocolate and fruity. I got to thinking and here is what I came up with:

2 chocolate dacquois meringues sandwiching a milk chocolate rice krispies layer, and on top of that, a raspberry jelly floating inside chocolate mousse that has fresh raspberries folded into it.

The outside is just a dark chocolate glaze and the picture, I piped out of chocolate. The design turned out exactly how I wanted it to turn out so I was relieved and very happy with the result. I didn't get to taste the cake unfortunately but I heard that it was a big hit so I'm absolutely delighted. Can't wait till the next experiment!

The Not-so-Traditional Black Forest Cake

So I've been out of the blogosphere for a while now (my mind being distracted and all) and I'm back for now. Hopefully I'll update more regularly 'cause I have some plans to experiment a bit more with new techniques and recipes. Here's the first little test of mine in a while with the black forest cake.

I got the inspiration on a trip to Sweet Revenge down on Main St. one night when they had the Black Forest cake as their feature of the day. I don't normally like Black Forest cake all that much (I'm not a fan of the maraschino cherries and kirsch though I know, I know, that's what makes the cake) but they were using fresh cherries instead of the maraschino ones. I was a little disappointed in that you couldn't really taste the cherries because the kirsch covered it all up. The cake itself was alright I guess; it was slightly grainy you could say. I could only finish half (it was quite filling) and I got the idea to do my own take on the Black Forest. One that I could actually enjoy.

I decided on using a chocolate sponge cake that used actual chocolate instead of cocoa powder and that was high in butter so that it was rich but the texture was still spongy. I soaked it in simple syrup with framboise and spread a thin layer of raspberry jam on top. Fresh pitted cherries came next and vanilla whipped cream with mascarpone cheese (I had leftovers). I covered the sides in chocolate panels and more fresh pitted cherries. The top picture shows the 6" version that my sister brought to work and I had some leftover cake so I made myself a mini one. I definitely enjoyed this better than the traditional one. The absence of kirsch was a blessing and the hint of raspberry jam lended sweetness and complimented the fresh cherries.

More from New York

Okay, so where did I leave off last time? Ahh...yes. Dinner at Craft, by Tom Colicchio. I was considering going to Craftbar, his slightly lower-end restaurant, but When I saw that he had monkfish on the menu at Craft, I just had to try it. I didn't take many pictures of the food here 'cause the lighting was very dim (though they did have very cool lighting as you can see) and the plates weren't really presented that nicely except for the dessert. Their menu was a little confusing as they had a column for entrees, sides, and starches so I assumed that one would have to order one from each column and it would be plated on the same plate. I was wrong however and our table of three ended up with a lot of leftovers (as hard as we tried to finish them). I ordered the monkfish, of course, and it was delicious. Firm but not overcooked and the sauce it was braising in was amazing. I had it with sauteed pea tendrils and some potato gratin, which was superb by the way, and saved a little room for dessert.

This was the milk chocolate gianduja panna cotta with a cherry sauce and fresh cherries:
This was the smoothest and silkiest panna cotta that I've ever tried. It wasn't rubbery at all and melted straight away in your mouth. I love gianduja chocolate which is a hazelnut milk chocolate so this was heaven. The cherries also balanced out the richness of the panna cotta as well.

We also visited the Chelsea markets which is a long strip of really unique stores and bakeries. They had an Italian market there where I gazed at the truffle oils and boxes of saffron and also picked up some pink Himalayan sea salts which were surprisingly only $5.99 for a large jar.

One of the bakeries near the entrance of the market was Eleni's, where the smell of cupcakes baking really draws you in. They had many flavours of cupcake decorated with swirls of icing and Amazingly cute sugar cookies decorated in royal icing. They were pretty pricey though at $65 for a themed box of cookies.
Another bakery we passed by was Ruthy's. They had really cute cupcakes: Cookie Monster cupcakes anyone?. On the top, they displayed these amazing wedding cakes. I love the bridal gown one.
Next comes my favourite shop in New York: Payard. This patisserie is the epitome of French pastries, in my opinion and everything was just so spot on and clean. I have been to many pastry shops in Vancouver and passed by many in New York that had a good concept and I'm sure the cakes tasted good but were done sloppily and I think it just ruins it. All the cakes were just so perfectly finished. Until now, I had never seen Isomalt decor on cakes for display before and it looks amazing.
And all of these small cakes just made me drool:


They also had all these wonderful and colourful macarons:
My mom and I enjoyed their The Royale, which was their high tea menu with caviar on buckwheat blini and an assortment of mini sandwiches and desserts.


Their mini eclairs were especially cute and the chocolate mousse tartlette was topped with a beautiful scalloped chocolate disc.



Stay tuned for more food coming up!

Finally back from New York!

The past week, I went to New York in search of some relaxation, kitchen goodies, new pantry items, and of course, good food. The relaxation was I think maybe half-achieved; I was away from work which was good, but all the walking I did left my feet sore every night and I couldn't get that much sleep throughout the trip either.

If you live in Vancouver, you know how hard it is to find new kitchen gadgets, and specialty baking items such as molds and frames without paying crazy shipping and brokerage fees over the internet and driving to the suburbs only to find jacked up prices on items you know they could sell you at half the price but they won't because they know that they're the only ones that carry it in the area. Finding the JB Prince store (big restaurant and bakery wholesaler) in New York that sold retail as well was like finding a gold mine. I was a bit wary at first and wondered if I had gotten the wrong address as it was on the 11th floor of an apartment-like building but once I walked in, I was like a kid in a candy store. They have a large variety of gourmet books and magazines, silpats at $14.95, molds of all shapes and sizes, cake pans, mixers, mandolins, everything a baker or chef could ever want!

For the new pantry items, I picked myself up some pink himalayan sea salts, freeze dried strawberries (I had been looking for these for a while now), cheap pistachio nuts, chestnut puree, and a variety of chocolates to try; among them being the bacon chocolate from Vosges! I also visited the Jacques Torres store where you could see them making the delectable chocolates and cookies through the glass. Of the many varieties of truffles, I tried the Earl Grey which was heavenly. I also bought some champagne truffles which I have yet to try.

Alrighty, down to the best part, the good food. This I am going to have to split up or else it's going to be a huge post (if it isn't already) so I'll start with Bouchon Bakery where I had the raspberry macaron with yogurt sorbet, fresh fruits, and blackberry coulis.
Next is Maze by Gordon Ramsay where I tried the six course chef's menu. There was the eggplant carpaccio with pickled chanterelles and fresh figs:
A pickled radish dish with asparagus veloute:

Cumin dusted diver scallops with cauliflower beignets and a golden raisin puree which was divine as well as a marinated beetroot with ricotta, pine nuts, and cabernet sauvignon dressing:
The highlight of the night, the filet of Brandt beef so tender you could pull it apart with a fork. It came with braised morels:

Then for dessert, a cherry jam and peanut butter sandwich with cherry sorbet and salted nut brittle (I was a bit skeptical at first but it turned out very well. The saltiness of the brittle accentuated the subtle sweetness and creaminess of the peanut butter:
Last was the green apple and caramel trifle. This was exceptional and very refreshing. The bottom was the green apple gelee, the middle was the caramel custard sauce, and to top it all off, the cider granita served with a cinnamon beignet:

Okay, that's it for now. I'll post more once I finish unpacking!

Mango Mousse Cheesecake

Mango mousse cakes are a favourite among Asian pastry shops and cheesecakes are a favourite among dessert lovers, so why not combine the two?

The exterior of this cake is the mango mousse part and the interior is a light cheesecake mousse enveloped in thinly sliced mangoes. The lightness of the cheesecake doesn't weight down the texture or taste of the mousse on the outside and the mango slices lend a freshness to the cake.

Cape Gooseberry Tart with Raspberry Sorbet

A little bit of research gave me the reason as to why these Cape Gooseberries were on sale at the local market. They're normally in season from March-July but I haven't really seen them in stores till just recently. Most of the ones I could find were without the papery husk which I find so beautiful. I did, however manage to find some with the husks that weren't at an outrageous price so I picked up two boxes.

Inside the husk is a golden-coloured berry that's slightly tart and sweet at the same time. I've always wanted to try out a variety of tarts so a gooseberry tart was the way to go this time.

I filled the tart shell with some fresh raspberries that I just mashed up with a fork and some icing sugar, piped in some orange pastry cream, and topped it all off with a gooseberry compote. I paired it with some raspberry sorbet to match the fresh raspberries in the tart. If you were to make the raspberry sorbet though, I strongly urge you not to buy the frozen raspberries in syrup as I did because it turned out way too sweet and yet the flavour wasn't that strong. Fresh would be best, and if not, frozen whole raspberries are the way to go! The sweet dough tart recipe, by the way, is really easy to work with and doesn't shrink at all.

Sweet Dough Tart

83 g icing sugar
167 g butter, soft
vanilla, lemon zest to taste
250 g pastry flour
1 egg yolk

-Beat the sugar and butter till combined and add the flavourings. Add the yolk and mix. Add the flour last and mix till combined. Line tart shells and blind bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit till golden. Cool.

Orange Pastry Cream

5 egg yolks
15 g cornstarch
50 g sugar
250 ml milk
zest of 1/2 an orange

-whisk together the yolks, sugar, and cornstarch. Bring the milk and zest to a boil and slowly pour in the egg mixture while whisking. Pour back in the pot and whisk over medium heat till thickened and whisk, cooking for one minute more. Pour into a bowl and chill.

Cape Gooseberry Compote

1 pint husked cape gooseberries, quartered
100 ml simple syrup (equal parts sugar and water, boiled)
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
zest of 1/2 an orange
1 tsp cornstarch

-Bring the syrup to a boil with the vanilla and orange zest. Dissolve the cornstarch in some cold water and add to the mixture. Bring to a boil till thickened and add the gooseberries. Simmer for 5-6 minutes and drain. Cool down.

Raspberry Sorbet

500 g raspberries, pureed and strained
500 ml simple syrup
500 ml water

-Mix all and put in ice cream maker.