Chocolate, Earl Grey & Hazelnut Gateau

This was the chocolate & earl grey gateau I made for my sister's birthday back in August.

I know it’s end of September & I could have posted the recipe ages ago.

It seemed like I always have too many things to do like travelling, making hand creams, cross stitching e.g. & baking seems to be the last on my list.

It’s a rich chocolate mousse cake consists of 6 components:

1. Chocolate cotton cake

2. Hazelnut praline coated puffed rice

3. Hazelnut praline mousse

4. Chocolate mousse

5. Earl grey creme insert

6. Chocolate glaze

It took me 2 days to finish this & it was absolutely worth as the cake was delicious with wonderful combo of flavours.

Earl Grey, Hazelnut & Chocolate Yule Log... Happy New Year 2015!

This was the first time I had prepared a dessert for a Christmas meal.

It was usually Jenny’s job to do it, ever since she’s working as a professional patisserie, she doesn’t bake much at home.

This cake consists of 4 components:

Earl grey creme

Hazelnut mousse

Chocolate sponge cake

Chocolate chantilly cream

I quite enjoyed preparing the yule log & I'm sure I’ll be making this from time to time as I really like the combo.

A rich chocolate cake with a smooth nutty mousse & a sophisticated note of earl grey tea, all combine every well. 

Everyone loved it & commented that it’s very nice.

This has been a great year for me in completing my Ph.D.

Thank you all for your patience & re-joining me this year & the coming years.

Wishing you all the best & happy new year.

Cake Roll with Earl Grey Poached Asian Pear

After reading the newspaper on pear desserts, I was craving for pear mousse dessert.

My sister has been making cake rolls & chiffon cakes, so I wanted to make something different but ended up making cake roll as well because of its simplicity.

Cake roll can be simple filled with some whipped cream but I wanted something more & it ended up with a caramel mousse & some poached pears as the filling.

The recipe for the cake base is from a chinese website.

It’s called japanese cotton cake, as the name said it’s indeed very spongy & light.

For the choice of pears, I prefer Asian pear as it’s juicy & crunchy with a refreshing fragrant.

I’ve used oolong tea to poach Asian pear for the oriental theme, this time I used earl grey tea instead. 

Everything goes wonderfully together & the caramel mousse doesn’t overtake the delicate note from the earl grey tea & the Asian pear.

M for Madeleines

Amongst those small cakes, my all time favourite is the buttery French madeleine.

Ever since Jenny baked some madeleines at home, I fell in love with the moist & crumbly textures.

Madeleines are easy to make & all the ingredients are in my cupboard.

There are 3 flavours: earl grey, cranberries & chocolate.

My favourite is certainly the chocolate flavour.

Which one is yours?

Earl Grey Poached Pear Entremets

I realised I haven't made entremets & mousse cakes for a few months now.

Making delicate & pretty entremets is one of my passion in baking.

It feels amazing the moment I finish the decoration, take a photograph, then taste it, and of course to share the joy with you here.

Have you noticed whenever I make entremets I like to combine different flavours & ingredients?

The most recent one was poire vin blanc using white wine poached pears & caramel, then chocolate & passionfruit.

I'm lack of inspirations recently, instead I like to bake some simple & delicious snacks.

Last week I was craving for pear mousse cake & pear is certainly one of my favourite fruit.

 I decided to bake these earl grey poached pear entremets using the recipe of oolong & asian pear entremets.

It's simply delicious, the mousse is light yet fragrantly rich & the taste nicely balances with the rich chocolate brownie base.

One Apple, Two Blueberry Cheesecakes & Three A Trip to Lewes

It’s my friend’s birthday and she had special request for a baked cheesecake.

So, the night before I met her, I baked, not one but two small cheesecakes.

The recipe was actually for a 8” cake but we’re going to a historical & lovely town called Lewes.

It’s not a good idea to bring a giant 8” cake around.

The little cheesecake turned out great with simple arrangement of poached apples & my friend loved it :)

I cooked some blueberry jam & simply spread over the other cheesecake which I brought to my mum the next day when we had lunch together.

Lewes was an adorable town, full of antique shops, cozy cafe & cute crafts stores.

There is also a big flea market & it's like treasure hunting :)

Floral tea cups & saucers bought from Lewes.

Earl Grey Chocolate Mousse Cake

Last week, I made a chocolate mousse cake for my birthday.

I always wanted to make an earl grey chocolate mousse cake & finally got around to make it for my special day.

I wasn't happy with the decoration overall, I wanted a dome shape & the chocolate ganache wasn't smooth.

I wasn't going to post this but it did taste really nice & rich so I decided to post it anyway.

I might try to make this again sometimes & I believe decoration will become better with practice.

I tend to design the cake before getting to make it e.g. the look & the flavours.

It's not always turn out like the drawings but I find it inspiring :)

I draw more often now as I have an iPad which is great for drawing but I rarely show my works here.

Jenny also made me an apple & red wine mousse cake which was pretty & delicious.

Joining Online Bake Sale for Japan

I picked up some puff pastry on my way back after college.

I thought it'll be very handy if I'd like some desserts sometimes.

I baked an apple tarte tatin later in the week, it's simple yet making a great dessert that night.

Cheesecake & Update

It has been a long time since the last post.
The main reason is that I'm extremely busy with my study as I'm writing up report and finishing my project.
This is a great excuse but part of the reason is it seems like I've less & less to write about.
I'm not inspired to write nor bake recently, well I'm not a great writer after all.
However, I did bring my camera with me for a short walk, I did work on jewelry & I also baked.

Once more~ Pears & Earl Grey

Summer has finally arrived in UK.

The weather is so hot & I can't stand the heat.

Honestly, I don't like summer because of the heat & the worst thing is I have hay fever.

I didn't have hay fever back in Malaysia but I do have sensitive nose & eyes.

Earl Grey Tea Cheesecake

Got London accommodation sorted.

Next thing is to pack my luggage, which I'm still lazy to do.

I had time for baking but not for packing...

Well, force myself to start packing today.

I've tried baking muffins using earl grey tea which were great.

So, I wanted to try baking a cheesecake using the tea.

Smell great, taste great & feel comforted!

The cheese texture is rich & smooth, a heavy taste of earl grey tea.

It's perfect for the time of autumn.

Recipe (adapted from here) for 6'' round pan:

Crust:

100g digestive biscuit crumbs

30g butter (unsalted & melted)

Mix the crust ingredients & press into a 6'' round pan, cool in a fridge.

Cheese Filling:

250g cream cheese

130ml whipping cream

100g sugar

5 Earl Grey tea bags

80ml water

2 2ggs

3 tbsp corn flour

Infuse tea bags in hot water for 3 min, then remove the tea bags.

Whisk cream cheese & sugar until smooth.

Gradually blend in eggs, corn flour & whipping cream.

Sieve the cheese mixture, then blend in the tea (50ml).

Add in 3 bags of tea leaves, then blend well.

Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180'C for 60 min.

After cooling to room temperature, cool it further in a fridge for at least 2 hrs before serving.