Sugar and More Sugar

Now that I'm anxiously waiting for my new job at DB Bistro to start, I have a bit of free time. Things I'm going to do/ have been doing: Sleeping in, catching up on tv, baking! I'm so happy to have had this break! And I'm happy I get to bake at home again!

The first thing I made were these sugar cookies. I don't have really fancy cookie cutters so I decided on just plain rounds and piping different patterns on them. It's a little late, I know for a "fall" theme but technically, it still is. The acorn ones are my favourite.


Oh, and marshmallows. My sister has been waiting for these forever, and I've been meaning make them for a long time too but never got around to it. I really wanted to cover some in toasted coconuts but I didn't feel like going out in the rain to pick some up so I just did some plain vanilla and some rose ones where I put in some rose syrup. I tried cutting some in strips and tying them into a knot like I've seen before in some bakeries in France but mine's ended up breaking. I think I need a stiffer recipe. This one is very fluffy and soft, and just melt in your mouth!

Marshmallow

1 egg white, beaten to stiff peaks
90 ml water
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tbsp corn syrup
90 ml water
1 1/2 packs gelatin
vanilla

-soften the gelatin with the water and melt. Leave aside. Boil the water, sugar, and corn syrup until it reaches 125 degrees celsius. Slowly pour it into the whites while whipping and add the gelatin. Whip until it cools down and is thick. Quickly add the flavouring and pour into your mold sprayed with pam. Dust icing sugar on top and let it set for an hour. Unmold and cut with a wet knife. Roll all edges in icing sugar and let it set overnight.

New York Cheesecake

I got an order the other day for a really dense, cheese-y cheesecake and since I had none in my own repertoire that were quite dense enough, I had to search online (a baker's best friend) for a good recipe. Not many recipes are dense anymore. I guess people are becoming more health-conscious and want something a bit lighter.

New York cheesecakes are usually much denser, baked at a high starting temperature, and unlike many cheesecakes, don't require to be baked in bain-marie. I found this recipe from Cook's Illustrated which guarantees a dense and firm texture. It baked very well actually and didn't crack at all which is always a big concern when it comes to cheesecake. All I did to finish it off was some fresh fruit and whipping cream.

New York Cheescake
-from Cook's Illustrated

2 lbs cream cheese
1 1/4 cup sugar
4 eggs
vanilla
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup sour cream

-line a 6" pan and brush the sides with butter
-beat the cheese till smooth, then add the sugar until combined. Add eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla. Stir in the cream and sour cream. Bake at 500 degrees fahrenheit for 10 mins. Open the door and lower the temperature to 200 degrees fahrenheit until it reaches that temperature. Bake for another hour or so until it is just set in the middle. Remove and cool on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature. Cover and refrigerate.

Strawberries!

Here is a strawberry mousse cake that I made just last night. Although you can't really tell from this picture, the outside cake is a joconde cake baked with stripes of raspberry jam and then cut to fit on the inside of the acetate. It was a little difficult cutting it though because the jam stuck to the knife and the cake, because it was so thin, tended to creak really easily where the jam is. It does piece together seamlessly though so that was a relief.

Inside is strawberry mousse with floaters of genoise and strawberry jelly.

Something Light

Thanksgiving was just a few days ago and I miss the smell of turkey roasting in the oven, gravy simmering on the stovetop, and yummy mashed potatoes. My mom had some friends over and they're not to big on desserts so I opted for a lighter dessert that would be refreshing after a heavy meal. Something not too sweet too as some of the guests couldn't have too much sugar.

Inside a white chocolate bowl (formed from a small balloon dipped in chocolate) was fresh orange segments, an unsweetened cranberry jelly, and a prosecco wine jelly. You can less of the wine jelly for the people who can't have sweets. This was very simple and yet looks very elegant as well.

Cranberry Jelly:

500 ml unsweetened cranberry juice
5 gelatin leaves, softened

-warm up half the juice and add the gelatin, mixing to dissolve. add remaining juice and chill in a flat pan. Cube when set.

Prosecco Wine Jelly:

500 ml prosecco wine
5 ml gelatin leaves, softened

- warm up 1/4 of the wine and add the gelatin, mixing to dissolve. Add remaining and chill till set. Cube.

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.