Caramel & Pear...

I went to Venice with my family as a celebration of passing my PhD viva.

These are the scenes from Venice, it’s a pretty city.

I baked a Japanese cotton cake before going to Venice & immediately fall in love with the light & spongy texture.

I baked it again when I got back to England but a plain & simple sponge cake wouldn’t satisfy my obsessions with photo & food styling.

I poached some pears with white wine then I whipped some cream with salted caramel I made from last time.

My decorating skills become worse… Luckily I bought some shimmer sprays last time when I visited a supermarket.

Shook the can & sprayed on, the cake was covered with a gold shimmer, the photo couldn’t really show the shimmering effect but it does look much prettier.

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.

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.

Barcelona & A Recipe for Poire Vin Blanc

Last week, I went to Barcelona for a short  break with my sister.

I walked around the city just exploring & taking photos.

After the break, I made these pear & caramel entremets.

I saw the red wine pear entremets posted on Evan's Kitchen Ramblings & that reminds me of this recipe which I've designed a while back.

Finally got the chance to make these & it tastes absolutely gorgeous!

I really love the white wine poached pears & the caramel mousse.

Refreshingly tangy, fragrant yet rich & creamy.

I was regret that I didn't have another piece before heading back to London...

Asian Pear & Oolong Mousse Cake

This lovely mousse cake is when East meets West.

The subtle, sweet & fragrant oolong mousse with crispy Asian pears coupled with the chewy & moist pecan brownie.

When it melts in the mouth, I can feel the delicacy & sweetness, gradually overtaken by the rich & nutty chocolate brownie.

I've chosen to use Asian pear over William pear.

William pear usually go tender after poaching, but I wanted crunchy bits in the mousse & Asian pear retains its crisp texture.

Plus, Asian pear is very juicy with a delicate & refreshing fragrant.

It is one of my favourite fruit.

Oolong tea varies in taste & the tea I used is originated from China which is sweet & fruity.

The taste of oolong tea is vital so I would recommend to get the best oolong tea you can get hold of.

I really like it, especially the mousse & I'll definitely make it again :)

You can also make a 'West meets West' version, simply replacing the oolong tea with black tea like earl grey, Asian pear with William pear.

Pear & Chocolate Wholemeal Muffins

It has been a long time since my last post.

I had been away to my home country Malaysia & also visited Hong Kong & China mainland.

It was hard getting back to work after a long & relaxing holiday, so I'm catching up my work & back to my 'old' life.

It was a great trip & I will post some photos of my trip after I sorted them out.

Meanwhile I'm sharing a simple recipe of chocolate muffins.

I didn't have time for food shopping so I used what I had in the kitchen, it turned out great.

Enjoy baking & the sun!

Poached Pear Mousse Cake ~酒香迷梨~

My mum's birthday was on Saturday, so I took a trip to Basildon after work & made her a birthday cake.

I thought cheesecake is too simple so I took on a challenge to design a cake themed 'Red Wine'

As I'm craving for pears recently, red wine poached pears seem to be a perfect idea so I did on Friday night & made a mousse cake the other day.

The result... I wasn't totally satisfied by the look but I definitely love the taste.

I always have more fun in making petit cakes then a big one, plus I find the giants are difficult to decorate.

Quick Pear Tart & Coconut Truffles

I've a really relaxing weekend, spending time in reading, food & photography.

I also ordered some cookbooks online from The Book People, it always has good prices on top selling cookbooks.

The only problem I have with those cookbooks is that I have a growing list for baking.

Sometimes, I just can't decide what to make next.

I had made this tart 3 times this week, I didn't have them all as I took two for my colleagues & I received many praises.

I made the last one today so I can take some photos.

The tart was simple to make but so yummy.

I also made some coconut truffles as I had some chocolate left.

I thought it'd be great to make truffles for Valentine's day.

Once again, happy Valentine's day to all.

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.

Osmanthus & Asian Pear Sweet Soup

My sister has brought me 2 bags of dried osmanthus flowers from Taiwan, plus other sweeties.

I'm thinking what I can use it for, too many desserts on top of my heads.

It's traditionally used with green tea like jasmine or for Chinese traditional desserts.

It's perfect with Asian pear, so top of my list is osmanthus & Asian pear sweet soup.

Of course, if you can't find osmanthus, you can omit it, the sweet soup tastes great alone.