Defying Gravity

I'll be pretty tight in the office and in the kitchen till X'mas...but...defying gravity...yes, that was what I did last weekend, losing love...no...I have plenty of them from family and support from friends! Yup! I decided to take up a challenge to do 200 macarons in these colours and different flavours for Lisa of Sugarflours for a towering wedding cake!

Lisa called me while I was holidaying in Alor Setar last weekend regarding the order....I wanted to turn down, but I thought if I didn't try I wouldn't know my limits....so...armed with 300g egg whites (of which 150g went down the drain due to poor macorrange and wet weather, my first batch of macarons didn't pied!!!you!!!??), almond flour, icing sugar, caster sugar, my oven and loads of faith....I did it! The fillings were Swiss Meringue Buttercream in Strawberry, Lemon, Mango and Rose.....of course I must thank my hubby for minding the kids and Wiz and Rima for lending their ears during needy times!

I decided to do the shells first, and store them in airtight containers. Since the function was on Sunday, I filled and assembled the macarons at Sugarflours' kitchen on Saturday....and I delivered 210 macarons! Yeay!



All rights to this cake belong to Sugarflours

The macarons were supposed to be placed on the top tier of this cake, and should look like the cake below.....I was in awe when I saw this cake that day...magnificient and that's what Sugarflours do...awesome cakes!

All rights to this cake belong to its owner!

Thank you Sugarflours, thank you special peeps, you know who you are, and am waiting for the next challenge....in the mean time, enjoy Glee's Defying Gravity!



Green Tea Macarons....

I loved green tea...in fact I loved to drink any teas! Learnt about them whilst I was studying in the UK and now there is always a constant supply of Lady Grey, Peach and Lipton dust (to make teh tarik) teas at home.....and naturally when I know about macarons, I want to make Green Tea Macarons! The bitter taste of green tea coupled with chocolate ganache and the sweet whiff of strawberry buttercream....they are pure bliss...divine!

The only limitation with this flavoured macaron is that, all the recipes that I know either uses the Italian Meringue technique or the French Meringue method....how lah? They are too daunting, now that I am confortable with the Swiss Meringue method!

But, I thought I'd better give it a shot last weekend...I couldn't hold back anymore! So, here's the recipe:

Matcha Green Tea Macarons

modified macaron recipe from Tartelette

110g blanched almonds ( I used almond meal from Bagus, and grind them with a food processor)

200g powdered sugar

2 tsp matcha (green tea powder)

100g egg whites, aged a day and brought to room temperature (mine was aged for four days in the fridge)

50g sugar

1/2 cup strawberry swiss meringue buttercream, 1/2 cup chocolate ganache

1.Prepare your baking tray with Silpats...loved them! Prepare the piping bag.

2.Pulse almond powder, powdered sugar and matcha powder in a food processor until finely ground. Sift and set aside.

3.Whip the egg whites until foamy (like shaving foam). (I also added a pinch of cream of tartar) Gradually add in the caster sugar while whipping until a shiny meringue is formed. Take care not to overbeat, you want a soft peak but not dry!

4.Add the almond mixture into the meringue, I did it in three batches. Fold them quickly, then stop to check the consistency. You want the batter to drop like a ribbon but not runny.

5.Pour the batter into the piping bag, I did not use a piping tip, just cut off the tip of the piping bag! Pipe small round about the size of 50 cents coin at least an inch apart, the batter will spread a bit.

6.Gently tap the baking tin on your worktop to rid of excess air in the batter.

7.Let the macarons sit for an hour, and you will see a 'skin' form on the batter, err the batter is dry to touch.

8.Preheat oven at 150Celcius, well your oven is like your car, you know how it works! When I slot in the macarons, I turned the oven to 135Celcius, and bake the macarons for about 15 to 20 minutes.

9.Let the macarons cool completely, with Silpat, they lift easily once cooled!

The macarons were for Aida, I also made the usual macarons and filled them with Strwberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream for her...pictures will follow....soon.....

Now, I'm not afraid of making macarons anymore, I hope you give them a shot and feel the thrills like I went through :p

Kek Lapis Haw Flakes

Apart from Lapis Prune, I loved this lapis Haw Flakes. And since Hari Raya Haji is just around the corner and I will be going back to Alor Setar, I baked this to bring back home!

I used the recipe that was posted in Rima's blog and the source was frpom non other than Bro Rozzan. This recipe has biskut marie in it, and MIL uses biskut maries in her Pineapple Upside Down cake, so I figured this cake would be divine! So, here goes:

Ingredients

450g butter (I used SCS salted)

210g sugar (I used 150g)

10 eggs grade A

300g Marie biscuits, finely ground .....err with my new basic Kenwood processor...this was a breeze!

300g sweetened condensed milk

85g sekaya...couldn't stop myself from calil-calit.....bliss!

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 tsp baking powder

2 packs haw flakes about 200 pieces, i didn't count but bought an extra packet just in case

Food colouring...I used wilton's red red and americolor's fuschia

Method

1.Preheat oven at 175 Celcius.

2.Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy, add eggs one at a time, and continue to whisk at high speed.

3.Add in vanilla, your batter might curdle...but fret not....it will resolve!

4.Turn speed to low and add in condensed milk and sekaya...yum!

5.Fold in Marie biscuit that you grind earlier.

6.Divide batter into equal parts...I did 2 portions.

7.Start layering!

8.Bake 2 layers of each color, the second layer spread the haw flakes:

red

red+haw flakes

fuschia

fuschia+haw flakes

9.Once all done, cover the top with an aluminium foil and bake using upper and lower heat at 150celcius for another 10 or 15 minutes.

.....the taste...I couldn't describe it........divine.....this is by far one of the kek lapis that I like, but Lapis Prune is still tops!  

Doris Greenspan's Classic Brownie

I was craving for brownies last Friday...I flipped the pages of Dorie's recipe book and stopped at this page!

Classic Brownie woo hoo!

5 tbs. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup all purpose flour

Preheat the oven 150 degrees Celcius. Line an 8” square pan with foil and either butter the foil or spray it with nonstick spray.
In a medium sized saucepan, over very low heat, combine the butter and chocolates. Stir until just melted and smooth, then remove from the heat. Stir in the sugar, then whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla, and gently stir in the salt and flour just until incorporated. I also added 1 cup of lightly roasted and chopped walnut! Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a tester just about comes clean. Be very careful not to overbake. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely, then use the foil to remove the brownies from the pan and cut into squares.

Mak came with Anis and Nadia, so after lunch and sending our cotton materials to make baju kurong, we had this, goreng pisang and cendol and ais kacang for tea....voila...bliss and blessed!

Have an enjoyable weekend you alls...I have a project to do :p

Life's Little Pleasures....

....when I am able to put a smile on another....a cutting cake for Alin's wedding. Alin is Kak Ezza's daughter, even though I don't speak with Kak Ezza daily, our hearts are close...Kak Ezza, the loveable, huggable, full of fun and wisdom...lauk kenduri akak and the tapai sangatlah sedap!

Who wouldn't fall for this lady....Kak Ezza, KG and Muhammad...

Hubby, Khadijah, Muhammad and Hajar with her lolly!

It was also a makcik bloggers' meet...Kak Puteri and Kay, Yatt in the background...

Kak Ezza and Shana

Before that we attended a kenduri doa selamat at my husband's cousin's condo...I love this pictures...pure pleasure and bliss! 

Khadijah and her book!

Hajar....when I asked her to smile!

Umar, Muhammad, Ibraheem and Hajar...Yusof had left for Yemen to learn Arabic on 4.11.2010.

An uncle and a nephew...Wan (husband's cousin) and Adli..

Hubby, Hajar and Muhammad

Bakes and Cakes

Thank you Kak Zamiah for this order...Vanilla Cuppies for a farewell party..

Thank you Marina and Wan Halina for this orders...

Thank you Raja for this order! Thank you edi for your reference...ish malu ah! 

I was not well when doing this, but I enjoyed this! Thank you Nooriza!

Thank you Muzal!

Devils Food Chocolate Cake..thank you Huda!

Chocolate Moist Cupcakes with Chocolate Ganache and Vanilla Buttercream...thank you Muzal!

And I used faux flowers for a cutting cake for Alin's wedding...snippets in the next post!

KG meets Rima!

I've only know her recently, through her food blog ....She inspired me to bake kek lapis...she inspired me to make macarons....so, on Sunday when I knew she was in town I decided that we have to meet...on Monday for coffee during lunch...but I was called for a meeting, so our coffee session had to be cancelled.

Then , I looked at my schedule again, for Tuesday...looked clear, so....I decided to go for some time off from work in the morning.....dropped by my office to check my emails or any other matters and ciao...off to Concorde to get Rima....we were going to Bake With Yen in "the area" in Chow Kit....fun...good fun!

And...Rima....what can I say, the exotic looking, petit lass....we share the same mulut....MURAI....pot pet pot pet....it's as if we were debating, fighting who'd speak first muahahaha...like Rima said macam cacing kepanasan...yes, we hit it off the minute we saw each other, macam dah lama kenal!

We spent a good hour in Bake With Yen, bought stuff (of course!!), yang dah ada pun beli lagi!! After that I whisked her off to Mak Jah Corner for coffee and some kueh mueh melayu...we spoke about food, butter, Rima gave me loads of tips in between, gossip about people, talked about our children and our eyeliner (MAC!), cake pans we spoke about everything...ah...wished we had more time....what made my day...Mak Jah didn't believe that I have 6 children looking at my appearance, and Rima was one of my daughter! Ha ha...okaylah you can call me Mommy Rima!

Tanpa kusedari it was already 12, and I have to head back to the office, and Rima had to check out.....I sent Rima back to Concorde and glide the car slowly to Menara.......you can see my muka excited whilst with Rima here :KG meets Rima!

Next up will be Opera Cake Rima!