Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Bacon & Mushroom Quiche + Pandan and Peanut Butter Swiss Roll

I remember when I was working in Langham, I used to work overtime just to bake tons of quiche for a function.
Before that, I thought quiche should be pronounced as "kirsh" hahaha
But well at least I learnt how to make a quiche now hahaha

Quiche is actually a savoury tart, with your choice of meat or you can have it vegetarian as well.
It is not hard in making quiche but when you are doing the egg filling, I guess its hard to measure how much seasoning like salt to be put in.
Not that I am lucky but everytime the quiche I make just taste right hahaha
With mushroom and bacon inside.
My customer also order a swiss roll, a pandan swiss roll with peanut butter.
Not many people has eaten swiss roll of this flavour before, so it sounds so cool
to them when I mention Pandan & Peanut Butter Swiss Roll.

My mum always buy this one from her friend, thats when I know this and decided
to sell this swiss roll of this flavour.
You will never know how would it tastes like when pandan and peanut
link together, they just combine so great together!
For this time, I am using sweet shortcut pastry for the shell, so it tastes sweet on the shell
and savoury filling in the middle.
 It tastes good actually, sweet and savoury sometimes go very well
together hehe :)

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Lemon Chiffon Cake

During this very hot weather, I really want to do some baking but the kitchen is so warm which makes me feel very grumpy and annoyed.
I mean I really love to be in my kitchen, but not during this hot 35 degrees celcius weather x)
So I make the easiest and yummy chiffon, also one of my favourite.
Lemon flavour, how's that sound? 


Perfect for this warm summer with bits of sour and sweet chiffon cake ^^

Lemon tend to make your cakes lighter and appetising especially during summer as people
will be looking for something sour rather than rich and heavy cakes.
I am using freshly squeezed lemon juice, also add a little bit more sugar when doing the mixture.
This time, I got a bit of egg yolk in my meringue, causing the meringue cannot be achieved in peaks form.
Well, that the reason I think why my cake rise not that much compared to my coffee chiffon cake.

So its more compact in texture, but the flavour is good, just nice with the sour and sweet combination.
I love when the lemon smell is oozing out from the oven during the baking.
This cake is not dry but just that the texture, too compact as I thought, gonna use a perfect stiff  meringue next time when I am doing this again.


Well I personally love the flavour because it is lemon~~~ What about you???
I also dusted the cake with some icing sugar, just perfect to go with the lemon flavour yummm
I was thinking of making orange flavour for the next chiffon cake and give it out as an sample for
my customers, so stay tuned for the upcoming pictures :)
I am very happy that everyone seems to love the lemon flavour and the texture of the cake since it is not too dry.


Saturday, January 28, 2012

Crispy Salt & Pepper Prawns

Hi all, I learn this very simple salt and pepper prawn from one of my friend JIAYUAN.
As you know, I love seafood especially prawnss
Whatever to go with prawns, I love them so much!
This is a very easy to make prawn dish, but it requires some deep frying before go to stir fry.
3 of the main ingredients for stir:
spring onion/shallot
garlic
 red chilli
Chop the garlic and chilli, and slice the spring onion then set aside for later use.
For the prawn, I put in some seasoning like salt and pepper before I coat them
with the egg and flour so that it has some taste.
Then I coat them with egg followed by flour (I mix in with some corn flour)
then deep fry them in a pot of hot oil at 165 degree celcius for 5-7 minutes
or until golden brown.

The picture above is how the prawns look like after deep frying.
Then in a hot pan with some oil, stir fry the rest of the ingredients for 2 minutes
or until the aroma comes out, add in the prawns and keep on tossing until
they are well combine.
Lastly, add in some salt and pepper for taste then it is ready for serve.
ENJOY!


Thursday, January 26, 2012

Mango Pudding with Mango Cubesss

Getting mango pudding for tonight's dessert yay~~~~
I add in some mango cubes to get more mango flavours,
I don't know why I just love mango so much~~~~

I make this by using a normal mango jelly mix, replace 2/3 of water with
evaporated milk, maybe need to add more sugar next time as evaporated tends
to bring away some of the sweetness haha.
A perfect cut of mango pudding on a plate.
Serve it with some evaporated milk, they both combines perfectly!


Despite that the texture is a little bit too firm, it actually taste great!
Maybe add more water next time because I did reduce the amount
of water so that they set firmly.
My hubby love this and he is having them with some evaporated milk hehehe
I am making this mango pudding on a pyrex tray, then add in the mango cubes
then go into the fridge for 4 hours.
I am waiting~~~~
The pudding comes out perfectly, like TOFU~~
I should just make them in a small plastic cup next time as it
hard  to move them around especially when they are fragile
and with the mango cubes around ^^

Coffee Chiffon Cake

As I mentioned before, I will be keep on making chiffon cakes with different flavours.
This time I make the coffee one, using double expresso from the freshly grounded coffee bean.
Another attempt on chiffon cake this time, and I am also giving it free to my friends as this testing stage of coffee flavour.

Expresso from my GIOTTO coffee machine, look at the thick
crema , I smell coffee around my house :)

The texture of the chiffon cake is very good out of my expectation, it is very moist
and soft like cotton.
The coffee taste and flavour is rich enough for the whole cake, I think the expresso
did make my cake more moist and soft.
Still the flavour of the coffee is just at the right dose :)
One problem about this cake is that I am having a hard time in getting the cake out,
it is harder to have the knife run around the cake perfectly and clean.
Consequently, the surface of the cake torn off a bit, so no clean and perfect looking cake.
The cake actually bounces back when I press it, this is what I am looking for a  "CHIFFON CAKE"^^
The inside of the cake.
Ready in a plastic bag to be picked up by them tomorrow hehehe
Hope they like it :) 

HAPPY AUSTRALIA DAY EVERYONE!
Hubby like this too so I am hoping that they find this is good enough to
be in my ORDER MENU^^

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Sweet and Sour Fish (酸甜鱼片)

Its a very hot summer this month, my hubby lost
his appetite so he is asking for something sweet and sour.
Still a very simple dish that I made for tonight's dinner, sweet and sour fish :)
Fish is one of my favourite food, particularly ginger and shallot fish fillet but I also
love them serve in a sweet and sour manner hehehe

What I have used:
I am using basa fish fillet that are ready to be cut into slices and cooked.
Using simple ingredients like onion, shallot, garlic and bits of minced ginger.
For the sauce, I am using tomato sauce + white vinegar+ white sugar+lemon juice.
Mix the sauce in a bowl before cooking and have a taste :)
Adjust the taste of the sauce, I am using lots of sugar for this.
I also marinate the fish in a bit of soy sauce, white pepper, salt and shao xin wine + rice white.



*If you would like to : add some pineapple and capsiums for more colour and flavour :)

Steps:
(1) Stir fry the onion, garlic and shallot plus ginger over a hot pan with some oil for 2 minutes.
(2) Add in the fish and stir fry until its 50% cooked.
(3) Pour in the sauce and stir until the fish is well coated, cook for another 3-4 minutes.
(4) Have a taste, add in more sugar or salt if necessary.
(5) If the sauce is too much or too thin, add in some corn flour water to thicken the sauce a bit
OR I DO IT THIS WAY
scoop out all of the fish, leave the sauce in the pan and continue to cook until it is reduced to thicker sauce, then pour over on the fish and serve :)
ENJOY!
Not a complicated dish at all, you can also deep fried the fish before you cook it
with the rest of the ingredients and sauce so that it is crispy.

Just dip the fish in cornflour -> egg -> flour then deep fried it in a pot of hot oil
at 160-165 degredd celcius until golden brown :)

I omitted this step to avoid cleaning and longer cooking time, and also
for lower calorie & healthy meal :p
It is something very optional, just do it the way you like ^^
Sprinkle on some white sesame/fresh coriander before serve :)

Monday, January 23, 2012

Durian Swiss Roll with Meringue

Ohhhhh finally durian swiss rolls:)
Spongy swiss roll with durian cream, topped with some meringue (always wanted to do this XD)
I actually made this for friends that visited to our place today, its first day of chinese new year!
Melbourne seems to be lack of new year atmosphere, feel so boring here I wanna go back :(
A slice of swiss roll is best to go with coffee but today is so hot, its 35 degree celcius and I am sweating all day.
So I made some refreshing lemonade for my guest, they seem to like the rolls very much and everyone have 2 slices then the whole roll is gone :p

They say its nice, I also like this a lot because of the soft sponge and the durian cream, and the meringue did add a lot of points for this swiss roll hehe
I am happy of course,  didnt want to keep the swiss roll in fridge for too long.
Well I am also selling this, got this into my order menu :)
I pipe the meringue in this way because I saw a lemon meringue tart of a cafe in Westfield shopping centre is having the meringue piped like this in the middle of the tart.
This is so cute and like those honey bee nest hehe

Not exactly like the one I saw, but still I like it XD
I also blow torch the meringue so that it is a bit brownish on the outside, what do you think?


Dark Soy Maryland with rice (卤鸡腿饭)

Hi all, tonight is chinese new year eve, what are you guys having for dinner?
Its just me and him tonight so I just simply cook for tonight's dinner.
Almost the same like last time ru rou fan, I am using chicken maryland this time.
I also put more onion and garlic and extra fried tofu and hard boiled eggs.
I am using a bit of sweet dark soy sauce, so the sauce looks darker.
Look at the eggs, the outer layer is very dark with the yellow egg yolks in the middle yumm


I really love hard boiled eggs so this is really driving me crazy, love the yolks
and I dont even have to use any sauce as the egg itself is cook well and salty enough to eat it alone :)
Happy Chinese New Year everyone, have a wonderful new year with your family and friends ^^

Dozen of Egg Tarts for Wayne

This is my first order for egg tarts! And also new customer!
Although it is only a dozen but I really enjoy making this at home :)
Whole house smell like egg tart coming out from the oven~~~


And he also given me a positive feedback, he says he likes and this is such a good thing that I want to hear during CNY :)

I personally also like this egg tart with soft and pudding like filling, and also with the crispy pastry that I make by myself at home :)
Wish all of you have a prosperous CHINESE NEW YEAR 2012, stay healthy and happy :)

6'' Durian Cake for Jeannie

Another customer order for durian cake, a new customer which is friend of friend :)
A 6'' durian cake with lots of durian cream cheese on the top!
Hope she will love this and give me some positive feedback about this.
Happy Chinese New Year to all of you and thank you for your business :)


Pandan Chiffon Cake, freshly made on the day prior to pick up~~~

Finally I got an order for chiffon cake, and its pandan flavour~~~~
I make this early in the morning prior to pick up in the afternoon.
I think chiffon cake is best to have on the day as it will stay moist and spongy :)
Not much about this but I got a neutral feedback on the colour of the cake, they say its too green.
Well, will note this next time so that it stays light green but not super green.

I can't predict this because before I bake it, it is light green in colour.
When its out from the oven, the inside of the cake looks so green, it surprises me too!
Hope that everything is fine except of the colour, but I think the texture and taste is good.
When I touch the cake, its so bouncing like sponge so I guess the texture is good, just the colour :(

I am gonna make more chiffon cake with different flavour, howbout orange and almond???
Would try that soon and stay tuned~~~~

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Mango Cheesecake for Chinese New Year

I am celebrating this Chinese New Year in Melbourne.
We are having new year eve dinner in his relatives place so I am gonna bring some cakes for after dinner treats :)
I make this mango cheesecake for them.


I am using different mango this time which is not that sweet and a bit sour,
slightly yellowish in colour,
but after I brush on a layer of sweet flangel on the top, everything goes perfect with the cheesecake ^^
But of course, its easier to arrange the mango with this one as the flesh is not that soft compared to the honey mango, can slice very thinly and I can get neater and shinny finish on the top.


Below is one of my customer order, I am using 2 types of mango for the top.
Different colour of mango arrangement make more contrast on the colour isn't?
Nice try but still I prefer using only one type of mango hehehehe
Hope that Wayne will love this cake, I add in more gelatine so that it sets into stable shape.
I think he will love the mango taste, as well as what he can find inside of the cake :P
I am so happy that everyone loves this cake, even some of them didn't really like cheesecake
still they love this because of the cream cheese and the mango :)
Some of them even say that it tastes like ice cream, not too sweet and love the mango taste ^^
Overall, they finish all of them.
I guess I need to make a bigger one next year hahaha


Happy Chinese New Year everyone, have a great day with your family and friends :)
Miss you, my beloved mummy, daddy and brother in KK~~~~