Raspberry Friands

I had a group of my close girl friends over for a baking session at my place because what is more fun than baking well it has to be baking with great gals. Since most of them do not bake often I decided to start with this fairly easy recipe which requires no effort at all. It's a one bowl recipe where you prepare the dry ingredients and mix it in with the wet ingredients.

Ingredients:

Melted butter to grease

Plain flour to dust 

195gm pure icing sugar sifted

75gm plain flour sifted

155gm almond meal 

3 eggs lightly whisked

180gm butter melted

100gm frozen raspberries

2tbsp flake almonds

Icing sugar to dust

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 deg, brush a muffin tin with melted butter and dust with plain flour.
2. Combine the sugar, flour and almond meal in a bowl. Make a well in the centre. Add egg and butter. Stir well until combined.
3. Divide among among the muffin tin. Place a few raspberries in the centre and sprinkle with flake almonds.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden. Set aside in the pans for 5 minutes to cool slightly before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Dust the friands with icing sugar to serve.

We enjoyed the fruits of our labour with a nice cup of tea and gal chit chat, what a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. This is one of many baking sessions to come, look out for it.

Flourless Chocolate Cake

I usually bring what I bake to work as most of the time it will be too  much for me and my family to finish all by ourselves and also because we do not want to add onto much to our expanding waist line. Recently we had a colleague who join our team who was gluten free and she always ends up missing out on the treats I bring in. So just for her I decided that I'll bake a gluten free cake so she won't have to miss out.

This is an easy to follow idiot proof recipe and it did not take any effort at all except for whisking the egg whites which in today's modern kitchen there's always a mixer handy to assist.

Ingredients:

200g dark chocolate

200g butter

60ml hot water

30g cocoa powder

4 eggs separated

300g brown sugar

155g hazelnut meal

2tbsp coffee liqueur

cocoa powder to dust

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180 deg. Grease and line the base of a 23cm square cake pan.
• Combine chocolate, butter, water and cocoa in a saucepan over low heat. Cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Add egg yolks, sugar, meal and liqueur, stir to combine.
• Use an electric mixer to whisk egg whites in a clean, dry bowl until soft peaks form. Add one third of the egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture and gently fold until just combined. Add remaining egg whites and fold until just combined.
• Pour into the prepared pan, smooth the surface. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes or until a skewer inserted comes out clean.
• Set aside for 10 minutes to cool. Dust with cocoa powder, cut into squares and serve.

T my daughter could not wait to have a piece of it and she had it with vanilla ice cream. She said it was rich and chocolatey, love every bite of it. I had the cake 5 minutes longer in the oven than required so the corners are a little burnt but that did not affect the overall taste of the cake. It was still really rich and moist.

Pabu - Collingwood

We celebrated our wedding anniversary at Pabu a Japanese Sake & Grill no frill joint which serves tapas size shared portions. I had to book two weeks in advance as this place is pretty popular and you won't get a table trying to book it a day before I should know as I tried and failed. So to be safe I make reservations well ahead of time to guarantee a spot.

The moment we stepped into the restaurant we were greeted by enthusiastic staff, our wait staff  showed us to our table that had the reserved tag. She handed us our menu and explain how the concept worked and even suggested a few of their best sellers without hesitation we ordered them.

We had reservations for 7.30pm so by the time we got there we were famished and fortunately we did not have to wait for long before our dishes got served to us. As soon as one dish was finish the next one arrived to our table, I like how it flowed one after another.

Tempura Vegetables

First was the tempura vegetables note that I cannot remember the name of the dishes as they were in Japanese so I have given you what I thought the dish was. The batter was light and crispy and not at all greasy. The vegetables were still fresh and crisp.

Gyu Tataki

Then it was followed by the gyu tataki which was thinly slice beef drizzled with mayonnaise, spring onions and ginger. The beef was so fresh it just dissolved in your mouth, the dressing had the right balance of sour, spice and sweetness. The spring onions and sesame seed gave it crunch.

Chicken Kaarage

Next came the chicken kaarage which they use the chicken spare ribs part which was nicely coated with batter and fried to crispy golden perfection, the meat was juicy and tender as you bite into it. It was serve with wasabi mayo that left a good heat as it dissolve on your tongue.

Salmon Sashimi

We were recommended the kingfish sashimi but I was not a fan of kingfish so we opted for the salmon instead, and again this dish did not fail. The salmon was fresh and got quite a few pieces from the small serve we ordered.

Soft shell crab

We are a big fans of soft shell crab so we did not think twice of ordering the next dish, the crab was fried to golden crispiness and there was no hint of grease on it. It was serve with a light salad with mayo dressing and sweet chilli sauce.

Mixed grill

The dish up next was the mixed grill which was one of their chef recommendations, it consisted of chicken balls, pork belly, beef steak, tofu skin and chicken pieces. each serve with their own individual dressing sauce on top. All of it was good although we all agreed that the best was the chicken balls and tofu skin.

Sizzling beef teriyaki

Each dish that was served up was a treat to the senses and the sizzling beef teriyaki was no different, the beef was tender and the teriyaki sauce complimented the dish well. It was serve with mash sweet potato on the side which was really good too.

Soft shell crab roll

By this time we were full and we had one last dish to go, which was the soft shell crab sushi roll that came in a generous size. They had a generous serving of crab in the roll and although we were full each mouthful was just a delight. The spicy mayo left a slight heat on the tongue nothing too hot that we cannot handle.

Overall we enjoyed the experience at Pabu and will definitely be back over and over again. And if you have read my review I suggest you make reservations soon to try it out yourself.


Location:
190 Smith St
Collingwood
VIC 3066
 

Apple Lattice Pie

I'm a huge fan of cooking shows as I get a lot of my inspiration on what I cook and bake from it. Currently on television which I'm watching religiously is My Kitchen Rules, a cooking show where two people cook for a guest of 12 in their instant restaurant which is in their home thus the title of the show my kitchen rules. I got this recipe from contestants Cathy and Anna a mother and daughter duo. The judges gave full marks for the dessert, so I reckon that if it was good enough for those judges it was good enough for me to try. 

The apple pie was served with creme anglaise but I skipped that as I almost passed out at the amount of egg yolks that was required. Even the pastry required quite a huge amount of butter to achieve the short crust buttery melt in your mouth taste.

Apples peeled and diced

 Apple Filling:

2kg large granny smith apples

440gm caster sugar

100ml water

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 

90gm butter 

2tbsp orange marmalade

Stewed apples

Pastry:

60ml milk 

Raw sugar to dust

Melted butter to grease

310gm butter, chopped, at room temperature

60ml boling water

500gm self raising flour, sifted plus extra to dust

pinch of salt

Blind bake pastry

Note: The original recipe makes 12 individual pies but because I do not have mini individual pie tin I make mine in a 8" pie dish. After making the apple filling I realise I had too much left over I would cut the quantities of apples to 1kg. 

Method:

1. To make apple filling, place apples, sugar, water and cinnamon in a large saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 mins or until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to medium low. Cook, covered and stirring occasionally for 15 mins or until apples are tender. Drain slightly, leaving a little liquid in pan, then stir in butter and marmalade. Set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease a pie dish with butter
3. Place butter and water in a bowl, mash to combine. Mix in sifted flour and salt to form a soft dough.
4. Shape into a disc, wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 mins
5. Using a floured rolling pin, roll out pastry on a lightly floured work surface until 2 to 3mm thick. Carefully roll pastry onto rolling pin and place on pie dish. Roll out remaining pastry and cut into 1cm strips.
6. Fill pie dish with cold apple mixture. Place pastry strips on top to form a lattice pattern. Press end of strips to join pastry crust. Brush with a little milk and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 25 mins or until golden.

Apple pie fresh from the oven

The pastry was really hard to work with as it was crumbly and really soft. The picture does not do it justice but I'm comforted by the taste of it though. It melts in your mouth and takes no effort to eat at all. Because I did not make the creme anglaise as a accompaniment I had the pie with ice cream instead and it was just divine. The pastry just melted in your mouth and the apple was warm with the taste of cinnamon. I can now understand how this dish scored a perfect 10 from each of the judges.

Slice of apple pie best served with ice cream

Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Since I've been bitten by the baking bug predominantly due to the fact that I have the new KitchenAid mixer which I'm completely in love with, I've been baking cakes consecutively for 3 weeks now although I'm a lot slower in posting my blogs which I have some catching up to do. I've never bake a red velvet cake before as I thought it was going to be a tedious process due to the fact that it was red but I came across a recipe from Bakerella blog and it was so enticing that I had to give it a try. And the recipe was a walk in the park, so I put on my apron and got to baking.

Red Velvet Cake 
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar 
1 Tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 Tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 oz. red food coloring


Method: 

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
• Grease and flour two 8 inch cake pans. 
• Lightly stir eggs in a medium bowl with a wire whisk. Add remaining liquid ingredients and stir together with whisk until blended. Set aside. 
• Place all the dry ingredients in your mixing bowl and stir together really good with another wire whisk. 
• Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix on medium-high for about a minute or until completely combined. 
• Pour into cake pans and then drop the pans on the counter a few times to release any air bubbles. 
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 
• After about ten minutes, remove from pans and cool completely on a wire rack. I also cover in plastic wrap while the cakes cool. 
• Then make the frosting. 

Cream Cheese Frosting 

250gm cream cheese

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla
6 cups confectioners’ sugar
100gm dark chocolate melted

Method:

• Sift sugar and set aside. 
• Beat cream cheese and butter on high until creamy. Add vanilla. 
• Then, add the sugar in batches. Scrape down the sides in between each addition. 
• And finally add the melted chocolate and mix to combine. 

This has got to be one of the most moist red velvet cake I've had due to the oil and buttermilk content in the recipe. Although I did find it a little crumbly when I cut into it, nevertheless colleagues at work gave it a thumbs up. 

Tasty Gate - Werribee

There are heaps of Singaporean/Malaysian cafes that are mostly concentrated in the city or the east there's not many in the west. So when a new joint opens up in my hood I make it a point to explore it as soon as humanly possible. First impressions was promising when I walked in, the place was huge nothing fancy but clean and orderly. We were greeted by the wait staff who was friendly and inviting. She showed us to our table and pass us the menu. Unfortunately for the pros of this place this is where it ends, very tragic!

Begedil

For entrees we had the Begedil (meat patties made with mash potatoes and fried till brown and crispy). I have eaten more than my share of begedils and have made plenty of it myself so I know what it should taste like. But what I put in my mouth was thick and very floury, I believe they overdid with the flour but the wait staff ensure me there was no flour use in the mixture only to coat the pattie which I find hard to believe. The other entree we had was curry puffs, the filling of chicken and potato had the right spice level. Although the pastry which is an important part of the curry puff was a big letdown. It was rather doughy tasted more like bread, not flaky and buttery like it should be. 

Roti Jala

From then on it just went downhill, I had the roti jala (crepe like pancake) with chicken curry while T (my daughter) had roti canai with chicken curry as well. The chicken curry was served to us luke warm, and the curry was so runny and lack the strong flavours of spice mix. By the time we finish our meals, Hubby still has not got his mains. They need to work on their food delivery service where all mains are served at the same time

Roti 

Anyway by this time hubby was not looking forward to his mains since every dish we've had so far just lack the malaysian flavor. Hubby's main finally arrived note that it was a 20 min wait since me and T finish our meals. He had the lamb mamak soup, again lack the spice paste flavour and was runny when the broth it suppose to be packed full of flavors of spice and black pepper. The other dish he had was the beef lemak (coconut broth with beef and vegetables). Finally they got the flavour of this dish right, it had the right amount of spice and coconut in it.

Beef Lemak

Lamb Mamak Soup

The dessert for the day was bubor cha cha (sweet potato, yam and tapioca boil in coconut milk), look this is a very simple dish hard to get wrong and they did. There was not enough gula melaka (palm sugar) and I definitely did not taste the pandan (screwpine leaves) which is suppose to be a predominant flavor in this dessert. Again another epic fail for me.

Bubor Cha Cha

The staff was very eager for feedback from customers and I gave them my humble opinions but they seem to be quite defensive about what was being offered instead of taking them onboard for improvements. Have I been harsh with my review? I beg to differ since there are a lot of better malaysian cafes and restaurants out there which I have tried, it's a competitive industry if you cannot stay authentic and true to the origins of the dishes then you'll lose customers like me.



Location:
4c Watton St
Werribee

Pistachio Cake With Rosewater Frosting

Since now that I have my new toy (KitchenAid Mixer) I want to bake more often like everyday but having a full time job, that means I only have the weekends and there are always a lot of activities that we do as a family during that time. So I only get to bake at night when T has gone to bed. Nonetheless I have scour and archive a few recipes that I will be trying in the weeks to come. I had a packet of raw pistachios which has been sitting in my pantry for quite a while waiting for me to use it up so when I found this recipe it was only befitting that I put it to use. 

Pistachio Cake (Makes 2 x 8" cake pan) 

Note: You can half the recipe to make 8 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shelled raw pistachios 

1 1/3 cup plain flour 

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cardamom 

110gm butter

1 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

1 cup milk 

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract 

Method: 

1. Pre heat oven to 175 degrees celcius. Grease and flour both the cake pans or line muffin trays with paper case if you are making it as cupcakes.
2. Place the pistachios in a food processor and blend till finely ground. Transfer the ground pistachios into a bowl reserving two tablespoons for topping the frosting.
3. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and cardamom in a bowl and set aside.
4. Cream the butter and sugar on medium speed till light and fluffy for about 3 minutes.
5. Add the eggs and beat on medium for another 30 seconds until mixture is incorporated. Scraping down the bowl making sure everything is mix well. 
6. Add half the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
7. Then add the milk, vanilla and almond and mix on medium speed for about 15 seconds careful not to overwork the mixture.
8. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix on low speed until barely combined, at this stage if there is still flour on the side of the bowl just scrape it down with a spatula. Remove bowl from mixer.
9. Add the ground pistachios and mix gently to combine.
10. Divide the batter between the two cake pans or if using muffin tins scoop into paper cases. Bake until top springs back lightly when touched or skewer comes out clean for 22 to 25 mins for cake pans and 16 minutes for muffin tin. 
11. Let cake cool completely before frosting.

Rosewater Frosting:

3 large egg whites

2/3 cups caster sugar

170 gm butter

1/2 tsp rosewater (Found in middle eastern or indian shops)

1 drop green colouring (Optional)

Method:

1. Simmer a saucepan of water big enough for the bowl of your mixer to sit on top of it.
2. Add the egg whites and sugar to the mixer bowl, whisk well to combine, then place over the pot of simmering water. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is opaque and thick for 3 minutes.
3. Transfer the bowl back to the mixer and starting on low speed and over the course of 30 seconds, bring the speed up to high. Whip on high speed until the whites are thick and glossy and the bowl is cool to the touch about 7 minutes.
4. While the whites are whipping, cut the butter into bite size squares, it's important that the butter is not too soft, if it is put in the fridge so that it is somewhat firm.
5. Add the butter one at a time to the whites and whip on low speed until combine for about 10 seconds. Continue doing this with the rest of the butter waiting 10 seconds between each addition.
6. When all the butter has been added, turn the speed up to high and whip until the mixture comes together to form a thick frosting. This may take a while if it's a warm and humid day but don't lose faith it will come together.
7. Add the colouring and rosewater and whip on high for 10 seconds.
8. Cover cake with frosting and sprinkle with reserved pistachios from earlier on or if making cupcakes, place frosting in a piping bag and pipe over cupcakes sprinkling the reserved pistachios.

This was the first time I had made buttercream from a meringue base, and I kind of like it better even though there are a few more steps involve. I found that I had control of how much butter and icing sugar I use therefore the buttercream use in this recipe was not too sickeningly sweet.