eatshowandtell » Dessert Recipes

I have not desserted you, My Dessert tables

linda — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 01:00:35 +0000

Where have I been?

A couple of months ago, good friends Richard and Virginia asked if I could help prepare a dessert table for their wedding. They explained that with a Chinese banquet, which usually consists of 10 dishes, it is predicted that most of their guest may be too full to enjoy the wedding cake. To ensure that guests don’t miss out on desserts, they would like a variety of mini treats which guests can take home to enjoy at their own leisure. What a great idea.

As most of the readers know by now, I am by no means a professional cook. My cooking experiences are relegated to cooking for family and friends. The only time I have ever been in a commercial kitchen to cook for the mass was the Food Blogger’s Dinner at Merivale, which I was lucky enough to achieve with the help of a couple of friends and a team of kitchen staffs. Virginia tells me that I will need to bake enough to cater for 150 people!

Walnut brownies

Anyone that knows me well knows that I like to take on challenges, this case was no different. Both Virginia and Richard were kind enough to give me free reign of the menu, their only requests were Popcorn Macaron with Salted caramel filling, and Raspberry Friands. At the mere mention of friands, I felt as if I had hit my first roadblock, what is a friand? I have never eaten one, let alone baked one. I was adamant not to let this little hiccup get in the way of the planning process. The show must go on. With this in mind and further consultation, I was able to gather a little more information about what flavours they liked and the colour theme of their wedding.

Strawberry & vanilla macarons

Chocolate and Raspberries were thrown around a lot during our brainstorming session, along with the knowing the theme of the wedding was white and pink, this made it easier for me to compile a list of treats for the dessert table.

RaspberryFrainds
Popcorn and Salted caramel Macaron
Raspberry and Vanilla Macaron
Walnut brownies
cake pops
cheesecake pop
Lemon meringue tart
Red velvet baby cupcakes.
and strawberry marshmallows

Mudcake pops

I knew with such an elaborate compilation, there was absolutely no way that I would be able to do it on my own, so I enlisted the help of my baking buddy Dung. Together we divided the list in to two, one for her, the other for myself. I was given the task of baking the Friand, Macarons, Brownies and the tart.

Passionfruit meringue tarts

On the morning of the wedding day, the thought of the walnut brownies in which Dung had baked and cut on the previous night had plagued my mind. Unfortunately, being anal/picky/padantic, however you may like to call it, I wasn’t completely satisfied with the brownies. So with one hour to spare in the morning before the tea ceremony and church ceremony, I baked another batch of brownies. As if I needed to add more pressure on myself, however with it cut and packaged how I had envisioned, the stress was worth it.

Anyway, check out the rest of my creations below.

Cheesecake pops

Popcorn and salted caramel macarons

Raspberry friands

Marshmallows

A big thank you to Richard and Virginia for allowing me the opportunity to be a part of their wonderful wedding day. I had such an enjoyable experience baking alongside Dung for Richard and Virginia’s wedding, and to see the smile on their face more than made up for all the stress and anxiety that I was suffering from.

Red velvet cupcakes

I would definitely recommend anyone to involve more DIY components to their wedding, to me, it makes the day more personal and a tiny bit more special, and let’s not kid ourselves, NOBODY in their right mind would say no to desserts on a dessert table.

Oh and thanks to Howard for coming up with the terrible pun in the post title!

Rainbow Milo Cake

Minh — Sun, 08 May 2011 13:00:42 +0000

I’ve no idea how she does it, but somehow every year I find myself baking a cake for my co-worker Viv for her birthday. Even though we spend most of our days fighting with one another, somehow we’ve formed a relationship around our mutual laziness and love of food. That said, when she requested a Rainbow cake for this year’s birthday I really just wanted to push her over.

Baking and I do not go together, and there may have been more than a little swearing when I started decorating the cake. Luckily a copious amount of M&Ms are a great way to transform a cake from ugly to awesome!

So intense

(...)
Read the rest of Rainbow Milo Cake (375 words)

Pumpkin and Pecan Pound Cake

linda — Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:00:57 +0000

Happy New Year Everyone! I can’t believe another year has passed, once again we’ve been handed a blank canvas of 365 days. I know alot of people make New Years resolution to strive to achieve something they’ve always wanted or even to just experience something new. For me, every year it’s the same thing, make some resolutions, work to achieve it through out January, lose sight of what I want throughout the year, come December, regret that the resolution has not been achieved.

This year, to make it a little more interesting, I’ll post my short list of resolutions on the blog and hopefully by the end of 2011, I can come back to share my success story. My list includes:

Exercise more and improve my diet, obviously the aim of this is to lose some weight. Since I have started blogging, I have gained 5 kgs, I’m hoping to get back to my goal weight by the end of the year.
Spend less money. As a result of my love for fine food, I think I have spent the majority of my wage on dining out throughout the last couple of years. So this year, I will cook and eat at home more often.
Explore NSW more. It’s sad to admit that I have never been to many places outside of the Sydney CBD, so this year I have made it my goal to explore more of what NSW has to offer.

I will document my journey, hopefully going towards the right path. By the end of the year, you should be able to judge whether this year I had failed my resolutions again, or have finally achieved it. It would be interesting to read what other people’s new years resolution is as well, so if you have time, tell us what your New Years resolution is.

To celebrate this list (not really, I was just bored), I decided to bake something simple and can easily be shared. A friend of mine, Sue recently mentioned that she wanted to try baking pound cakes. Prior to this I have never even heard of pound cakes, which Wikipedia tells me the name stems from the original recipe of using one pound of each of the four main ingredients, flour, butter, eggs and sugar. I guess with it being a new year, I should also attempt to try and bake things I haven’t baked before.

I found a couple of great and simple recipes online, however I decided to once again mix and match recipes, coming up with my own cake.

This is by far the easiest and most addictive cake that I have ever baked. Piping hot out of the oven, I couldn’t stop myself from picking at it. However, once cooled each elements of the cake was much more prominent. The pureed roasted pumpkin imparts a rich fragrance to the cake, but also helped make this cake absolutely moist. I would be happy to just have this cake on it’s own, however I think the addition of the caramel glaze takes it to another level. This cake would be perfect to take to work for morning tea. Why not treat your work colleagues to some pumpkin and pecan pound cake some day, I assure you, it is bound to cure any Weekdayitis.

Pumpkin and Pecan Pound cake with Caramel glaze

Pumpkin and Pecan Pound Cake recipe

Adapted from Sweet Kat’s Kitchen

3 cups Plain flour

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups cooked and mashed butternut pumpkin cooled

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup chopped pecans

Method:

Preheat oven to 170 degrees celsius. Spray a 10-inch tube pan with nonstick baking spray then coat with plain flour, removing any excess.

Wash and remove the skin of approximately 1kg butternut pumpkin. Remove seeds, then chop the pumpkin to 3cm pieces. Bake in the oven on an oiled baking tray for 30 minutes. Once cooled, remove and puree with a food processor.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sift again. Set aside.

In large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars and vanilla extract on medium speed until very light and fluffy.

Add the sweet potatoes and blend well. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and blend in the flour mixture in thirds. Mix just enough to blend the batter after each addition.

using a wooden spoon or spatula mix in 1 cup of chopped pecans.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 50-60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 1 hour. Remove from the pan and place the cake on a wire rack and allow to cool completely. (I was a little impatient, after 50 mins of baking. I increased the oven to 190 degrees celsius, in less than 5 minutes, the top of the cake started to burn. Patience is the key!)

Caramel Glaze

Adapted from My Recipes

1 cup package dark brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 can evaporated milk

Dash of salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

Bring first 4 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring often. Boil, stirring constantly, 3 minutes.

Remove from heat; add baking powder and vanilla. Beat at medium speed with an electric mixer 5 to 7 minutes or until thickened.

Drizzle quickly over cake.

Lemon Meringue Cupcake

linda — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 23:51:28 +0000

I’m on a bit of a cupcake roll lately. I don’t think I have ever met anyone that does not like cupcake. What is there not to like about cupcakes? They’re small, cute and don’t make too much of a mess when you eat them.

The great thing about them is that they make great gifts, and what better time to give gifts than during the festive season we are in?

I find it really hard to think of presents to give to people, instead I rather give them good, at least I know they’ll eat it.

This recipe is a mash up of mine, like many of my other recipes. I like mixing things up, the combination of meringue and lemon curd is a perfect fit.

The key to this cup cake is scooping out some of the innards and actually putting the lemon curd inside. With each bite you get a taste of all the different textures (cupcake, lemon curd, meringue). Oh and check out Max, he’s grown quite a bit since the last team he featured on the blog!

And the fun part? Using the butane torch of course?

So what is your favourite cupcake flavour combination?

Lemon Meringue Cupcake by Linda To

Lemon Cupcake- Adapted from Oprah

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 cup milk

1 cup buttermilk , well-shaken

3/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 extra-large egg

Grated Lemon rind from 2 lemons

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 150°C. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin tins with paper liners and spray the top of tins with cooking spray.

Adjust 2 oven racks to divide oven into thirds. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, lemon rind and salt in a bowl.

Whisk together milk and buttermilk in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment beat oil and sugar on medium-high speed until combined. Add egg and vanilla; combine well. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients and wet ingredients in 3 batches, starting and ending with dry ingredients; combine well.

Divide batter among 24 cups and bake about minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean; switch positions of pans halfway through baking. Transfer pans to racks and cool completely in the pan.

Lemon Curd- Adapted from Bill Granger

75mls Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice

1 whole egg

70 grams caster sugar

30gm Butter

Place the Lemon Juice, eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl and place that bowl over a saucepan with simmering water (aka the double boiler method).

Whisk continuously until the mixture begins to thicken. This whisking will probably take up to about ten minutes at the most.

Once the mixture has thickened take it off the heat and whisk in the cold butter. Let the curd cool.

Lemon Meringue- Adapted from Martha Stewart

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2/3 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

6 large egg whites, room temperature

Combine 1 1/2 cups sugar with the water and corn syrup in a small saucepan; clip a candy thermometer to side of pan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves. Continue boiling, without stirring, until syrup reaches 230 degrees.

Meanwhile, in the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk egg whites on medium-high speed until soft peaks form. With mixer running, add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar, beating to combine.

As soon as sugar syrup reaches 110 degrees celcius, remove from heat. With mixer on medium-low speed, pour syrup down side of bowl in a slow, steady stream. Raise speed to medium-high; whisk until mixture is completely cool (test by touching the bottom of the bowl) and stiff (but not dry) peaks form, about 7 minutes. Use immediately.

Butterscotch Crunch Cupcakes

linda — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 23:24:03 +0000

I know by now, I must sound like a broken record, repeating time and time again about how busy I am and how I don’t have enough hours in a day to get everything done. Unfortunately, I feel it more so now that the festive season is coming up.

Whilst flicking through my diary a couple of weeks back, which I barely touched, I had thought that this was going to be a quiet end of year for me, however upon talking to my friends I realised that from now to the end of the year, each weekend is basically booked out.

When I have a quiet moment, I love to get my washing done, but hate taking the clothes in and folding them, so if you know me well, you’ll know that I have clothes piled up in random places in my house. I also love to bake and give away my baked goods to friends, but really dislike cleaning up and washing the dishes. I guess that’s life, you just have to accept the good and the bad.

Speaking of good and bad times, a friend of Howard and myself had an engagement party on the weekend. We couldn’t decide what to give the couple so opted for a nice bottle of wine, and some home made cupcakes. Some of my favourite flavours to experiment with are chocolate and butterscotch sauce, so I decided on a chocolate cupcake filled with butterscotch sauce and peanut butter buttercream, then topped with shards of honeycomb pieces. This was made following a combination of very simple and quick recipes. This cupcake was so delicious, it would be a great gift to give to someone for Christmas or even to take along to a lunch or dinner.

The engagement party was held at the bride to be’s sister’s house. Upon arriving to the venue, we were greeted with tons of food, chicken wings, sausages, nem nuong, sushi, mango pudding, delicious vanilla cupcakes, the list was endless. It was nice to be invited to celebrate the occassion, and to congratulate Michael for finally popping the question. Congratulations to Michael and Anne, what a beautiful evening, I can’t wait for the party.

I mentioned earlier about the day being filled with good and bad times, the good was obviously the engagement party. The bad, was me suffering my first ripsticking injury. Pressured by Howard and my brother, I’ve started to learn how to ripstick, I thought I was getting the hang of things, until I had to do a turn. Mid way through the turn, Max randomly decides to stand in front of me, and would not budge, fearing that I’d crash in to him, I decided to hop off the ripstick, but did not see the wall to my side. With a bump on my head, and bleeding from my elbow and knee, I was proud of my battle scar. Good and bad times, all in a day’s work.

Peanut butterscotch crunch cupcake

Chocolate Coffee Cupcake Recipe

(Adapted from Oprah)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 cup freshly brewed coffee

1 cup buttermilk , well-shaken

3/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 extra-large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 170°C. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin tins with paper liners and spray the top of tins with cooking spray. Adjust 2 oven racks to divide oven into thirds.

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.

Whisk together coffee and buttermilk in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment beat oil and sugar on medium-high speed until combined. Add egg and vanilla; combine well. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients and wet ingredients in 3 batches, starting and ending with dry ingredients; combine well.

Divide batter among 24 cups and bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean; switch positions of pans halfway through baking. 6.Transfer pans to racks and cool completely in the pan.

Butterscotch Sauce

(Adapted from Taste)

160ml (2/3 cup) thin cream

155g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

50g (2 1/2 tbs) butter, cubed

2 tsp vanilla essence

Place the cream, sugar, butter and vanilla essence in a medium heavy-based saucepan, stir over medium heat for 5 minutes or until well combined.

Increase heat to high and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring often, for 5 minutes or until the sauce thickens slightly. Remove the pan from the heat. Set aside for 2 hours or until cooled to room temperature. Serve at room temperature.

Peanut Butter Buttercream

(Adapted from Marta Stewart)

1 1/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter

16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

Pinch of salt (optional)

Cream peanut butter and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed. On low speed, mix in sugar until combined, then beat mixture on high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add salt to taste, if desired. Use immediately.

Honeycomb

( Adapted from Citrus and Candy)

80ml honey (can be replaced with golden syrup)

20ml water

220g white sugar

2 tsps bicarbonate of soda

Grease and line a baking tin with baking paper.

In a large saucepan, heat the honey, water and sugar together, bring to a boil then simmer on low heat for 5-10 minutes until it reaches brittle stage and a golden colour (150°C). Watch that it doesn’t burn.

Remove pot from heat, add the bicarb soda and quickly whisk in for a few seconds. Pour immediately into the cake tin. Leave to set then break into bite size chunks. If it’s a humid day you might have to finish setting it in the fridge.

To Assemble:

using a small teaspoon, but out center of the cupcake, 1/3 depth of the cupcake.

Pour one teaspoon of remaining butterscotch sauce in to the interior.

Pipe the buttercream on top of the cupcake and top with shards of honeycomb.

Passionfruit Curd Pavlova

linda — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 00:45:07 +0000

From memory, I think the first time I’ve ever had a Pavlova was at Mounties buffet, which was our local club. Initially, I wasn’t a huge fan because I found the meringue to be too eggy, stupid thought I know, considering the base is just eggwhites and sugar, I guess my tastebuds was just not developed enough at that time. Fast foward a couple of years later, a good friend of mine, Sue, bought me a Pavlova from Helen’s in Yagoona. Hands down, one of the best dessert I have ever eaten. I loved the contrasting textures of the meringue, from the crispy exterior to the soft chewy center.

Since that eventful day, I have constantly been on the look out for the perfect Pavlova recipe. After years of searching, I was ready to give up, until NYE last year. Judy, one of my bestie brought along a Pavlova, albeit a little burnt, it was delicious. I later found out it was a Bill Granger’s recipe.

Whenever I have a party or am invited to a party and I want to bake a simple dessert that is sure to impress, I’d usually bake Bill’s Pavlova. This year, I think it would be a great idea to serve a Pavlova at your christmas dinner or lunch, better yet, make mini ones and give them away.

The thing I like most about this Pavlova is that you are able to modify it to your liking, for example use fresh fruits that are in season, change the topping, use curds, honey, whatever takes your fancy. This festive season, give this Pavlova a go, I’m sure everyone will be begging for more.

Pavlova with Yoghurt Cream- Bill Granger’s Recipe

6 egg whites

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

11/3 cups (310g) caster sugar

1 tablespoon cornflour

2 tablespoons arrowroot

2 teaspoons white vinegar

300ml thickened cream, lightly whipped

300ml plain yoghurt

Line a baking tray with baking paper and draw 5cm diameter circles on the paper.

Place the egg whites, cream of tartar and vanilla into a clean dry bowl and beat until stiff peaks form.

Add sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until all the sugar is incorporated and dissolved and the mixture is thick and glossy.

Stir in the cornflour, arrowroot and vinegar.

Pipe meringue to fill the circles on the paper.

Turn oven to 150C.

Place in oven and bake for 30 minutes, then turn oven off and leave in oven until completely cool.

Meanwhile, to make the yoghurt cream, whip the cream and fold the plain yoghurt through it.

Passionfruit Curd- Bill Granger’s Recipe

75mls Freshly squeezed Lemon Juice

1 whole egg

70 grams caster sugar

30gm Butter

Place the Lemon Juice, eggs and sugar in a heatproof bowl and place that bowl over a saucepan with simmering water (aka the double boiler method).

Whisk continuously until the mixture begins to thicken. This whisking will probably take up to about ten minutes at the most.

Once the mixture has thickened take it off the heat and whisk in the cold butter. Let the curd cool.

Macerated Strawberries

1 punnet Strawberries

1 tablespoon good Quality Balsamic Vinegar

4 Tablespoon caster sugar

Dice strawberries into small pieces, mix with balsamic vinegar and caster sugar.

Mix well and refrigerate.

To Assemble the Pavlova

Pour half a tablespoon of yoghurt cream in to the hollows of the Meringue.

Pour half a tabespoon of the passionfruit curd on to the yoghurt cream.

Top with the chilled macerated strawberries and add fresh blueberries.

Popcorn Macaron with Salted Caramel Filling

linda — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 01:02:31 +0000

Whenever I tell friends I’m in the mood for baking, they often expect me to bake Macarons, and they’re not wrong to think so. To prepare me for a day of baking, I always start with Macarons. Nothing motivates me more than a batch of successful macarons. What makes these Macarons more enjoyable to make is the opportunity to experiment with flavours.

I absolutely adore popcorn, whether it be sweet or savoury, caramel, salt, paprika, you name them, I love them all. This time, I decided to incorporate salted buttery popcorns with macaron and pair it with a salted caramel filling.

I must admit, this flavour combination is my all time favourite and what makes it worse is that it’s incredibly addictive. I was quite happy with the way the macaron turned out, I liked the way the buttery popcorn pieces added a whole new dimension to the mundane macaron. Salted caramel filling, what would it not go well with, it was perfect with the macaron.

Macaron are visually appealing and is always a good gift to give or receive. Why not make some pocorn macaron with salted caramel to give to family or friends for Christmas, it would be a good change to the usual Bonds socks and Undies.

Popcorn Macaron recipe

110gm almond meal

200gm icing sugar

3 egg whites

30gm caster sugar

1 cup salted butter popcorn

3 days prior to baking the macaron, separate the white from the egg yolk. Allow it to age in the regrigerator by covering it with a cloth or paper towel. On the day of baking, remove from the fridge and allow egg white to reach room temperature before whisking.

Whisk egg whites till it reaches a soft peak, gradually incorporate the caster sugar while beating. Whisk till a stiff peak is achieved (about 3 minutes of medium speed).

Add 1/3 of the previously sifted almond meal and icing sugar into the egg white. With a spatula, mix the mixture, adding the remaining 2/3 of the mixture as you go. Continue mixing until the mixture is well incorporated and is of magma consistency.

Pipe the mixture onto baking paper, leaving a gap of 2.5cm between each circle.

Using a food processor, process the popcorn into small pieces, then sprinkle on top of the piped macronage.

Allow the macaronage to sit for half an hour, this dries out the outer layer- thus when baked forms a crispy shell.

Pre-heat fan forced oven to 120 degrees celsius.

Upon lightly touching the top of the piped macronage, the mixture should not stick to your finger. Once this has been achieved, bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Once baked and cooled, I filled the macarons with salted caramel from Zumbo’s Chocolate Mousse Cake recipe.

Green Tea Cupcake with Strawberry jam and Cream Cheese Frosting

linda — Sun, 28 Nov 2010 14:00:13 +0000

As December quickly approaches, the only thing that’s on my mind is Christmas. I LOVE Christmas! I Love the fact that I get to eat all my favourite food in the one day without having to feel guilty, I love that Christmas always equates to a long weekend, but most of all I love the tradition of gift giving.

When I was younger, I would look forward to putting up the Christmas tree on the 1st of December, along with the family then proceed to decorate it. Baubles, glass ornaments, fairy lights, anything that would make our tree colourful. Once the tree was up, the countdown then began, up until the 25th when my brothers, sister and I would wake up at 6am, run to the tree and open up our presents. I would look forward to unwrapping some sort of toys, reading books or pretty dresses. I miss those days.

These days, I would rather give than receive gifts. What I have found that what my friends appreciate most were edible gifts. For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be writing posts on mini desserts, providing suggestions on things you can possibly bake for family and friends.

Some of my favourite flavours are green tea and cream cheese, so I decided to make green tea cupcake with home made strawberry jam and cream cheese frosting.

Green tea cupcake with strawberry jam and cream cheese frosting

Green Tea Cupcake – Adapted from Oprah

2 cups plain flour

1/3 cup green tea

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 Tbsp. kosher salt

1 cup milk

1 cup buttermilk , well-shaken

3/4 cup canola oil

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 extra-large egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 160°C. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin tins with paper liners and spray the top of tins with cooking spray.

Adjust 2 oven racks to divide oven into thirds.

Whisk together flour, green tea, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together milk and buttermilk in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment beat oil and sugar on medium-high speed until combined. Add egg and vanilla; combine well.

Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients and wet ingredients in 3 batches, starting and ending with dry ingredients; combine well.

Divide batter among 24 cups and bake about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into center of a cupcake comes out clean; switch positions of pans halfway through baking.

Transfer pans to racks and cool completely in the pan.

Strawberry Jam

2 punnets of strawberries

1 tablespoon of Balsamic Vinegar

1 Vanilla bean

1 cup castor sugar

Wash the strawberries and leave to dry, then dice into small pieces.

Place strawberries, balsamic vinegar, sugar and seeds of the vanilla bean in to a small pot, allow to boil at high heat, then reduce the heat to simmer.

After 15 minutes, check the mixture, once thicken, remove from heat and allow to cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting- Adapted from Martha Stewart

250gm cream cheese, room temperature

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature

1 cup icing sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter and lemon juice, and continue beating until smooth and well blended.

Sift in confectioners’ sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

To Assemble Cupcake

Once every thing is cool and ready to assemble, use a teaspoon to scoop out the center of the cupcake.

Fill the gap in the cupcake with the cooled strawberry jam.

The thing that I liked most about this cupcake is surpisingly how well the moist green tea cupcake tasted with cream cheese frosting, but what really made this cupcake was the inclusion of the tart strawberry jam. This was an incredibly easy cupcake, more importantly it was absolutely yummy.

Pipe the cream cheese frosting on to the cupcake, then dust with green tea powder.

Peanut Butter and Blackberry Jam Macarons

linda — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 03:03:06 +0000

Macarons, no doubt my arch nemesis in the baking world. It’s been a few months since I last tackled a macaron and I wasn’t sure whether I could pull it off or not. Determined to prove myself wrong, I used the same recipe I used a few months ago. To mix things up a bit, I piped it with one of my most favourite flavour combinations, peanut butter and jam.

I love the flavour in this macaron, it’s such a classic combination which most of us have grown up with.

Macaron Recipe

Ingredients

110gm almond meal

200gm icing sugar

3 egg whites

30gm caster sugar

Blackberry jam, or your favourite jam.

Method

3 days prior to baking the macaron, separate the white from the egg yolk. Allow it to age in the regrigerator by covering it with a cloth or paper towel. On the day of baking, remove from the fridge and allow egg white to reach room temperature before whisking.

Whisk egg whites till it reaches a soft peak, gradually incorporate the caster sugar while beating. Whisk till a stiff peak is achieved (about 3 minutes of medium speed).

Add 1/3 of the previously sifted almond meal and icing sugar into the egg white. With a spatula, mix the mixture, adding the remaining 2/3 of the mixture as you go. Continue mixing until the mixture is well incorporated and is of magma consistency.

Pipe the mixture onto baking paper, leaving a gap of 2.5cm between each circle.

Allow the macaronage to sit for half an hour, this dries out the outer layer- thus when baked forms a crispy shell.

Pre-heat fan forced oven to 120 degrees celsius.

Upon lightly touching the top of the piped macronage, the mixture should not stick to your finger. Once this has been achieved, bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

Peanut Butter cream Recipe

Adapted from marthastewart.com

Ingredients

2/3 cup natural, creamy peanut butter

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

Fine salt (optional)

Method

Cream peanut butter and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed. On low speed, mix in sugar until combined, then beat mixture on high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Add salt to taste, if desired. Use immediately.

To assemble

Spread peanut butter cream and jam on two macarons.

Chocolate Rice Krispies Bars

Howard — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 13:25:05 +0000

I don’t create much dessert at home, I leave that to Linda most the time because she has the amazing ability to pull off nearly every creation she puts her mind to. She’s come up with some very good desserts whether unique or adapted and whatever she makes is gobbled up in no time if left in the house. However today, I had a real craving for chocolate after having an awesome honeycomb chocolate bar at Bentley Restaurant and Bar last night. It made me think though, how hard could it be to make a chocolate bar ? At $8 a bar, it’s a bit steep to have regularly.

I’m not the best when it comes to baking and dessert, I tend to wing the measurements which I know is a bad habit, especially for dessert recipes. After going through a few of Linda’s cookbooks I managed to find one which looked easy enough for me to have a go at. This recipe is from Sherry Yard’s, Desserts by the Yard. I first saw Sherry on Iron Chef America where she was one of the Wolfgang Puck’s helpers. I only saw a few minutes of her in action on the show but it was enough for me to want to buy her cookbook for Linda. It’s a great book with a lot of American milk bar and home style desserts.

This chocolate bar turned out pretty good. There are basically two components, the base and the bavarian cream. The rice bubbles give it a bit of texture, something which is needed because the chocolate bar is quite rich. I used Coles dark chocolate because that is all I had in the pantry. I’m sure it would’ve tasted even better with an alternate chocolate such as valrhona jivara or something a bit more premium. Either way, I had to make do with what was in the pantry and it turned out pretty good.

One ingredient which I did buy was Ovaltine. The book suggests you can use Thai or normal Ovaltine (like the ones in Woolies and Coles). I was going to Cabramatta for brunch so I made a quick stop to a newly opened Thai grocery store to see if they had Thai Ovaltine. Luckily they did because I wasn’t willing to fight the weekend queues at Woolies down the road. Sherry Yardreckons that Thai Ovaltine has a richer and maltier flavour than its Western alternative. I haven’t had ovaltine for years so I couldn’t compare. Either way I think the results would be similar.

I left the finished product in the fridge for four hours, but I reckon it would be even better if left overnight. The chocolate was still a bit soft, but solid enough to cut into individual chocolate bars to be kept in the fridge for when I have chocolate cravings. I’m not sure exactly how the texture is supposed to turn out, but if it was a bit more solid it could easily sit in my work bag for a cheeky snack. I don’t expect these bars to stay in the fridge for long, they are very addictive especially with a cup of coffee or tea.

So there you go, probably my first dessert post on this blog. The results were super but I’ll probably stick to savoury though, I’m much more confident cooking a suckling pig or ribs!.

Recipe: Chocolate Rice Krispies Bars topped with Ovaltine and Milk Chocolate Bavarian Cream

Adapted from Sherry Yard: Desserts by the yard.

Ingredients

Makes 16 4-by-1-inch bars Bars:

Bakers parchment paper / Baking paper

Bar base

8 ounces quality milk chocolate, chopped

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

¾ cup Rice Krispies or rice bubbles

Pinch salt

Bavarian cream:

8 ounces quality milk chocolate, chopped

2 cups heavy (whipping) cream

½ cup Ovaltine (see note)

Instructions

Make the bars: Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. Melt chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl at 50 percent power for 2 to 3 minutes or in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. With a rubber spatula, stir in oil and mix until it’s incorporated and the mixture is shiny. Fold in Rice Krispies and salt. Spread mixture evenly in prepared pan. Place in refrigerator

Make Bavarian cream: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring 1 cup cream to a simmer in a medium saucepan and whisk in 1/3 cup Ovaltine. Whisk vigorously to break up lumps as you bring mixture to a boil. Pour mixture over chocolate. Tap bowl on work surface to settle chocolate into cream and let sit 1 minute, then whisk until smooth. Let cool to room temperature.

Whip remaining 1 cup cream to soft peaks. Fold half of whipped cream into the chocolate mixture to lighten it, then fold in remaining cream. Remove Rice Krispies base from refrigerator and spread Bavarian cream over it in an even layer. Tap pan lightly against your work surface to flatten top. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight. Just before serving, dust top with remaining Ovaltine. To serve, run a knife along the inside of the pan and unmold. Using a warm knife, cut into bars.

Quick Notes

Ovaltine comes in both Thai and American versions. Thai Ovaltine has a much richer, maltier flavor than the American variety and can be found in Thai grocery stores.

Berrymisu recipe, a twist on the tiramisu

linda — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 14:00:57 +0000

Spring has finally arrived! From memory, I think this winter has been one of the coldest that I have experienced. Finally, gone are the harsh windy and wet weather, replaced by beautiful bright sunny days. Not to mention that we’re inching closer towards daylight savings, all the more reason to celebrate. Most people do a spring clean just to freshen and brighten things up around the house, to get them in to a happy mood and generally ready for summer. For me, I like to bake, ditching my messy room for my messy kitchen. What better way to celebrate this glorious weather then to whip up something simple, something that can be done within a couple of hours as opposed to a couple of days.

Lately I’ve been extremely busy with work commitments as a result all my baking endeavours have been limited by time constraints, I now try to bake things that does not take up most of my day off, leaving me with a couple of precious hours to spend with my dog, Max.

When I think of warm weather, the first thing that comes to mind is my beloved mango, however, mango although now in store are a little too expensive, so the next best thing are Berries. Whilst walking in to my local fruit market, I couldn’t help but notice the bright colours of all the berries that were on offer, strawberries, blueberries and raspberries, immediately a Berrymisu comes to mind. A Berrymisu is just like your normal Tiramisu, involving sponge fingers and mascarpone cream, however replacing the coffee base with a mixture of berries. This recipe is so simple, it can be made a couple of hours in advance, set in the fridge until ready for a gathering with family and friends.

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Daring Bakers Challenge, Pandan Bombe Alaska with Durian & Coconut Icecream

linda — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 01:08:12 +0000

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I’ve always wanted to make a Baked Alaska since having it for dessert at Bistro Ortolan. For those who don’t know a Bombe Alaska is a Meringue based dessert that has ice-cream layered with sponge cake, which is then topped with Meringue before being torched quickly to let the Meringue harden. For my version I used a Coconut and Durian ice cream, paired with Pandan flavoured meringue and layered with Brown Butter Pound Cake.

Durian Bombe Alaska - Looks like a durian, right ?

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Durian & White Chocolate Cheesecake Recipe

linda — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 02:35:53 +0000

WARNING – Not for the Faint Hearted.

You know the saying, “Two wrongs don’t make a right”? Well I think I just disproved that with my durian cheesecake.

Cheese is not something everyone can wrap their brains around, essentially it is a block of moulding milk by-products. Whether it be buffalo or cow milk you cannot argue against the fact that all cheese imparts quite a strong smell, really I think the only thing that is smellier is the Durian.

What can I say about Durian except that it is hands down the only fruit that really divides people, you either really like it or detest it. Never in the history of all things food related has one fruit been banned from hotels and public transport. I especially love reading about people’s first encounter with durian, I don’t think I’ve read anything funnier than, “It’s odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock“, as expressed ever so eloquently by Travel and food writer Richard Sterling.

Durian Cheesecake

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Adriano Zumbo V8 Cake, Masterchef Recipe

linda — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:53:57 +0000

You would think that after my last encounter with an Adriano Zumbo cake, I would know enough to make it my final try. However, I’m not one to shy away from challenges and I decided to go one step further this time tackling the V8 Cake.

So what is the V8 cake for those who have been living under a rock in the last couple of weeks? For the Masterchef finale week, the first pressure test challenge was an insane cake made by Adriano Zumbo. The cake takes its name from the 8 different vanilla layers, each presented textually differently. The contestants were expected to complete the cake within 4 hours.

4 hours in the kitchen, how hard could it be?

The finished V8 cake

Boy how I had underestimated the V8. By the time I had completed the cake I was cursing the crazy person that initially conjured up such a torturous idea. Gellan, titanium dioxide, patissier glaze WTF!

Let’s take a look at how I spent collectively SIX hours in the kitchen.(...)
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“This and That” Dessert, My Bistro CBD Experience

linda — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 00:58:46 +0000

Weeks of researching, planning, organising and countless sleepless nights later, now it’s all over. The food bloggers dinner hosted by Merivale was held on Wednesday night. What a night it was. For this post, I’ll give you a run down of my experiences working in a commercial kitchen and an overview of the initial planning process down to plating up our courses.

Fouad the mastermind behind a couple of secret dinners and SIFF dinners wanted to do something a little more challenging, so he enlisted the help of Billy, Karen and myself. We were told that the idea of the Food bloggers dinner would be each of us individually coming up with a meal to be served in a 5 course meal at Bistro CBD. With this in mind, we were instructed to have a meal plan ready by our next meeting/taste testing session.

Prepping in the Kitchen

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Strawberry Tres Leche cake

linda — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:17:23 +0000

“OMG Linda, my work mate brought a ridiculously ugly cake to work, but it was so good, I had 2 slices!” What a greeting I had from Minh last Wednesday morning, no “Hello” or even a “Hey”. Upon further enquiry Minh explained that the cake was called Mexican Milk Cake, Tres Leches ( 3 milk) cake. I was quite intrigued by this deliciously ugly cake, so decided to investigate. According to Google, Tres Leches cake consists of a cottony soft vanilla sponge cake made with milk that when cooled, is allowed to sit and soak up a mixture of three milk, sweetened condensed milk, evaporated milk and thickened cream.

The description of the cake is something I think the whole family will appreciate, so I decided to give the cake a go. However, to spice it up a bit, I added a middle layer of caramel mousse and fresh strawberries, topped with freshly whipped cream, caramel web, more fresh strawberries and torched meringue.

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Black Forest Cake, MasterChef recipe

linda — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:13:18 +0000

Due to my current obsession with masterchef, it was only natural that the next thing I bake was another masterchef recipe. A couple of weeks back, we saw how by missing out two layers of Gary’s Black forest cake costs Dom his place in the competition.

I’m not a huge fan of black forest cake, if it’s there, I would eat it, if not, I wouldn’t go out looking for it. My brother on the other hand absolutely adores black forest cake, requesting one for his birthday every year. I decided to surprise him by baking his favourite cake.

Obviously the main component of a black forest cake are cherries, unfortunately, autumn is not cherry season for us in Sydney, so instead I opted for frozen cherries. All the other ingredients are readily available at the supermarket.

Gary's version : Image from masterchef.com.au

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Caramel Parfait Glace w/ Salted Peanut Caramel & Milk Chocolate Mousse, Masterchef recipe

linda — Sun, 09 May 2010 14:46:45 +0000

Yay Masterchef is back! With the return of Masterchef, means the return of baking crazy desserts, desserts which takes way too long to bake and complete, but tastes so damn good that it made all the blood sweat and tears worthwhile. Last week’s Celebrity chef challenge saw 20 year old Callum, pitted against one of Australia’s most popular pastry chef, Phillipa Silby Head Pasty chef of Circa the Prince in Melbourne.

Throughout the challenge, I watched in awe as Callum battled his way through the 6 different elements, all within 1 hour and 45 minutes. Profusely sweating whilst trying to beat the clock, I think he did a great job, and deserves to be commended for his efforts.

Since I love a great challenge, I thought it would be fun to also try out this recipe. Being super obsessed with Snickers Bar also convinced me to give it go. I followed the instructions exactly as on the Masterchef website , but how did it turn out compared to what they produced on Masterchef ? Let me know what you think in the comments!

Caramel Parfait Glace with Salted Peanut Caramel and Milk Chocolate Mousse

recipe adapted from Masterchef 2010, chef Philippa Sibley.

Ingredients

For the caramel mousse
500ml thickened cream
1 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped
135g liquid glucose
190g caster sugar
50g unsalted butter, cold
6 leaves gold leaf gelatine, soaked in cold water, drained
160g egg yolks

For the chantilly cream
250ml thickened cream
250g good quality milk chocolate

For the peanut caramel
200ml thickened cream
80g liquid glucose
150g caster sugar
50g butter
100g salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
¼ tsp sea salt

For the peanut dacquoise
140g salted peanuts
250g pure icing sugar, sifted
80g almond meal
160g egg whites
100g caster sugar
For the chocolate plaques
200g good quality milk chocolate

Step 1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan forced.
Step 2. For the caramel mousse, whip 200ml of the thickened cream to soft peaks, cover and refrigerate until needed. Combine vanilla, remaining cream and 115g of the glucose in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Set aside. Meanwhile, weigh out 140g of the caster sugar. Heat a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat and add 1 teaspoon of caster sugar. Once it has dissolved, gradually add the remaining, stirring constantly, until it has dissolved and turned lightly golden. Slowly pour the hot cream into the caramel, whisking until combined; whisk in the butter followed by the gelatine leaves. Strain into a bowl, set over another bowl half filled with ice and water and leave to cool, whisking occasionally.

Step 3. Combine the remaining 50g of caster sugar, 30ml water and remaining 20g of liquid glucose in a small saucepan over medium heat and bring to the boil. Meanwhile, using an electric mixer, beat the yolks on a moderate speed. Using a sugar thermometer bring the sugar syrup to 118°C. Remove from the heat and let the bubbles die down slightly. Pour the syrup down the side of the bowl onto the still whisking yolks. Turn up the speed and whisk until pale, doubled in size and cool.

Step 4. To finish the mousse, fold the two cooled mixtures together, fold through the whipped cream then pour into a 20cm x 25cm x 3cm Swiss roll tin lined with baking paper and place in the freezer until very firm.

Step 5. For milk chocolate Chantilly cream, melt the chocolate and keep warm to the touch. Whip the cream to soft peaks. Quickly whisk half of warm chocolate into the cream, to lighten the mixture. Immediately whisk through remaining chocolate and refrigerate.

Step 6. For the peanut caramel, combine cream and glucose in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Set aside and keep warm. Heat a heavy-based saucepan over medium heat until 1 teaspoon of caster sugar dissolves when added. Gradually add the rest of the sugar and stir constantly until it has dissolved and has turned light golden brown. Slowly pour the hot cream into the caramel, whisking until combined; whisk in the butter. Set over another bowl half filled with ice and water and leave to cool until slightly thickened. Fold through the peanuts and the salt and refrigerate until needed.

Step 7. For the peanut dacquoise, process peanuts until finely ground. Combine icing sugar, nuts, and almond meal in a large bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Sprinkle sugar onto the whites and continue whisking until firm and glossy. Gently fold the mixture through meringue until combined, but not over-mixed. Spread onto a lined baking tray at a thickness of about 1cm. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the dacquoise is crisp on top but slightly soft in the centre. Remove from the oven and slide onto a cool surface. Place a piece of baking paper on top of the surface of the dacquoise and carefully flip it over onto a small flat baking tray. Remove the paper. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes. Remove the mousse from the freezer and invert onto the slightly warm dacquoise. Press down lightly to ensure the two surfaces are lightly stuck together. Remove the tin from the mousse. Slide onto a tray and return to the freezer.

Step 8. For the chocolate plaques, gently melt the chocolate, no hotter than 45°C, in a metal bowl over hot but not boiling water. Pour 2/3 of the melted chocolate onto a cool, clean work surface and spread it around until it begins to thicken and feels cool to the touch. Return the cooler chocolate to the warm chocolate that remains in the bowl. Stir until completely combined. The chocolate needs to be about 26°C. The chocolate will feel cool on the side of your little finger. Spread the tempered chocolate with a palette knife over 3 x 4cm x 30cm strips of acetate plastic (stuck to the marble with sticky tape). When the chocolate is set to the touch but still slightly malleable, peel the strips off the bench and turn upside down so the chocolate surface is down. To portion the plaques, measure 10cm lengths, mark through the chocolate with a knife heated under warm water then cut the acetate with scissors. You will get 2 plaques per strip of plastic. Store plaques in the fridge until ready to use.

Step 9. Remove the tray from the freezer and peel off the paper and discard. Using a long knife heated under very hot water, cut the mousse into 10cm logs, taking care to keep the edges clean and straight.

Step 10. To serve, smear a small amount of the peanut caramel in the middle of the plate. This will stop the dessert from sliding around. Then place the bar on the plate dacquoise side down. Now peel the plastic off a plaque and carefully place, shiny side up, on top. Using a teaspoon dipped in hot water to form small quenelles and evenly place three on the plaque. Fill the two spaces with peanut caramel then place another plaque on top. Be careful not to get fingerprints on the chocolate. Serve immediately on a cool plate.

OMG that is one heck of a dessert. Out of all the desserts that I’ve baked, this is by far my favourite. Each components just work so well together. Starting from the deliciously chewy slightly salty dacquoise to the rich and creamy yet fragrant caramel mousse, topped with the refreshing chantilly cream contrasting salted caramel, all held together by a couple of melting dark chocolate plaques. YUM! As usual, the boyfriend and family were taste testers. All in all, it was unanimous, this dessert is worth the 2 hours of cleaning up.

Finally, here’s a monthly update of Max. He’s grown considerably in the last month, he’s always learning new tricks, but remains cheeky.

Traditional Pudding, Daring Bakers Challenge

linda — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 14:30:53 +0000

I have to admit, I’m a little bit obsessed with the DBC, these days my favourite day of the month is the 1st. It is on the 1st of every month, a new challenge is revealed. The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Suet?? For those who don’t know, suet is the solid fat surrounding the loin and kidneys of animals, with suet from beef and lamb predominantly used. My initial reaction at the thought of incorporating raw animal fats into my dessert was one of disgust, only because I don’t eat meat. Unfortunately, it appears that many other participants of DBC felt the same way, so Esther was very accomodating and allowed us to use any substitute that we were comfortable with, provided we stick to either steaming or more traditionally boiling our pudding.

The best choice for me was to substitute the suet for butter. However the most difficult part was to figure out what type of flavours or fillings to use. As bananas are currently in season in Sydney, I decided to go with a steamed banana pudding.

Esther was kind enough to provide us with the recipes for variations of puddings, I’ll post the recipe for the one I used. If you’re interested in other options, check out Esther’s blog.

Steamed Banana Pudding

100gm plain flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

100gm breadcrumbs

75gm caster sugar

75 gm butter

1 large egg

6-8 tablespoon cold milk

2 mashed ripened bananas

Sift flour, salt, baking powder in to a bowl
Add breadcrumbs, sugar and butter
Using a mixer, beat to a soft batter with egg, milk and ripened banana
Pour in to a spring form baking tray or a pudding bowl. Cover securely with baking paper or foil.
Steam for 2-3 hours.
Turn out on to a plate, and serve at room temperature.

I’ve only started experimenting with burnt butter, because of the fragrant nutty flavour that burnt butter oemitted, I decided to make burnt butter ice cream to serve with my pudding. Overall, I served my banana pudding with caramelised banana pieces, freshly whipped cream, cocoa chips, burnt butter ice cream and chocolate powder.

With all products of my DBCs my brother and boyfriend are usually the guinea pigs, they would usually have a bite, then either walk away or stay to eat the plate clean. Luckily this time they both absolutely loved it, with my brother declaring it “the best DBC ever.” With such statements, I couldn’t help but sample it myself. OMG the banana pudding was so moist! The smell of the banana just permeates the sponge cake. The freshly whipped cream helped balance the caramelised banana, while the cocoa chip added that much needed crunch. The superbly rich and creamy burnt butter ice cream really tied everything together.

As previously mentioned, the thing i love most about the DBC is that it encourages you to step out of your comfort zone, to do things that you never thought was possible. Thank you Esther for choosing such an interesting challenge for this month, now I have another accomplishment under my belt.

Thomas Keller’s Lemon sabayon tart

linda — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 14:15:31 +0000

I’ve previously made the lemon sabayon tart many times before. Whether it be friends or families, people seem to be quite impressed by the tart, often asking for the recipe. To understand the reason for its success, look no further than the man behind it, Thomas Keller.

Prior to ever baking this tart, the thought of baking a French Laundry’s dessert used to scare me, this is a 3 michelin starred restaurant we’re talking about. So imagine my surprise when I finally got the opportunity to bake the tart, not only were they super dooper easy to bake, but the fluffy lemon sabayon filling combined with the buttery pine nut crust made this dessert worth while.

Lemon Sabayon Tart

Adapted from French Laundry, available from Epicurious

Pine Nut Crust (Recipe is adequate for making 3 tarts)

283gm (2 cups) pine nuts

1/3 cup sugar

453gm (3 cups) all-purpose flour

230gm unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place the pine nuts in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add the sugar and flour and continue to pulse until the nuts are finely ground. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
Add the butter, egg, and vanilla extract and mix to incorporate all the ingredients (the dough can be mixed by hand or in a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment).
Divide the dough into three equal parts. Wrap each piece in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 10 minutes before using.
The extra dough can be frozen, wrapped well, for up to 1 month.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Generously butter and flour a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and refrigerate it while the oven preheats.
Remove the tart pan from the refrigerator. Use your fingertips to press the chilled pine nut dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan. Trim off any excess dough.
Bake the crust for 10 to 15 minutes, then rotate it and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Remove the crust from the oven and let it cool while you make the filling. (There may be some cracks in the crust; they will not affect the finished tart.)

Lemon Sabayon

2 large eggs, cold

2 large egg yolks, cold

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup fresh lemon juice

6 tablespoons (85gm) cold unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces

Bring about 1 1/2 inches of water to a boil in a pot that is slightly smaller than the diameter of the bowl you will be using for the sabayon. Meanwhile, in a large metal bowl, whisk the eggs, yolks, and sugar for about 1 minute, or until the mixture is smooth.
Set the bowl over the pot and, using a large whisk, whip the mixture while you turn the bowl (for even heating). After about 2 minutes, when the eggs are foamy and have thickened, add one-third of the lemon juice. Continue to whisk vigorously and, when the mixture thickens again, add another one-third of the lemon juice. Whisk until the mixture thickens again, then add the remaining lemon juice. Continue whisking vigorously, still turning the bowl, until the mixture is thickened and light in color and the whisk leaves a trail in the bottom of the bowl. The total cooking time should be 8 to 10 minutes.
Turn off the heat and leave the bowl over the water. Whisk in the butter a piece at a time. The sabayon may loosen slightly, but it will thicken and set as it cools. Pour the warm sabayon into the tart crust and place the pan on a baking sheet.
Preheat the broiler. While the sabayon is still warm, place the tart under the broiler. Leaving the door open, brown the top of the sabayon, rotating the tart if necessary for even color; this will take only a few seconds, so do not leave the oven. Remove the tart from the broiler and let it sit for at least 1 hour before serving. Serve at room temperature or cold.

After tasting the lemon sabayon tart, I now understand why Thomas Keller is reviered as the chef that he is. How could someone turn soemthing as simple as a lemon tart into something so light and fancy. I found that the addition of the pine nut, rounded the tart as a whole off well. With it’s slightly more noticable flavour as compared to almond, the crumbly crust helped balanced the tanginess of the lemon.

I don’t often enjoy any form of citrus in my dessert, however I can honestly say, this tart is the only exception. I served the lemon tart with a dollop of honey mascarpone cream and a crunch of praline.