29th June 2010: Mogador (Genoise Chocolate)

I must say that never never never sprinkle chocolate powder on the chocolate drops like that. The cocoa powder will tend to moist a little. The fresh raspberries are yummy - to prolong it's freshness sprinkle icing sugar on top of it before decorating your cake.

28th June 2010: The making of La Tropizienne (Pâte Brioche)

1st pic: Now this is the reason why I love using a mixer. Look at my dough!!! I'm so proud of it. Smooth faced like an egg! I bet the ants will slip trying to take a hike on that dough of mine! 

2nd pic: Mousseline cream with a dash of orange water! Yarmee!

28th June 2010: La Tropizienne (Pâte Brioche)

As fun as it looks. Brioche dough are really fun to play with! Sugared brioche split in two halves & rosetted with mousseline cream! Oh my oh my! This is seriously too yummy for a bread!

26th June 2010: Mascott Au Praline (Genoise)

The all egg cake without using any rising agent so you pretty imagine the hard time I went through trying to whisk air into this batter to give it a spongy texture. Note: Genoise cakes would be a little tad dry to eat on it's own but with the perfect combination of cream & imbibe = it's heavenly. Is also a great base for fondant covered cakes.

The Mascott is a genoise based cake with layers of praline buttercream & almond flakes all over the cake!

23rd June 2010: Biscuit Viennese (Petite Four Sec)

The all favorite butter biscuit dipped in chocolate. But we have it with a twist by sandwich praline or strawberry jam in the middle! Sure darn yummy. Comes in assorted shape and sizes.

21st June 2010: Little Parisienne (Pâte Brioche)

First picture: Parisienne are actually quite like A tete except the come in smaller sizes and the filling is certainly up to one's desire. The chocolate drops didn't sit quite well on my Choc Parisienne. But the other two looks alright. Well sat with a dollop on top!

Second picture: A Tete with my little P's! 

20th June 2010: Gateau Au Frommage (Cheesecake)

Nothing beats the taste of a Cheesecake. They say everyone loves Chocolate. My vote indefinitely goes to Cheese! I couldn't resist consuming two big slices of this cake before I rushed to the airport to catch my flight. Light and creamy cheesecake with the crust of the graham crackers! 

18th June 2010: Langue De Chat (Petite Four Sec)

In French, this is simply known as the Cat's Tongue. I'm not sure how a cat's tongue look like; not to mention I don't even know if my dog's tongue is so flat and buttery! Another well known in the Petite Four Sec section.

16th June 2010: Marzipan Rose

Rose made out of Marzipan. A very last minute decoration for .... my Gateau Au Frommage. 

15th June 2010: A Tete (Pâte Brioche)

Oh this is such a well known French favorite! The A tete! Full of butter and egg content! Wondering why the shape? I've got to check with it's history. But the ball on top is a form of a head! Tete in French means head! Ohhh A tete! By the way, the head is suppose to sit right on it's body but mine flew on one side. This wasn't very successful. I'd try again some other time. 

13th June 2010: Cigarettes (Petite Four Sec)

Did you notice the colors of the cigarettes were different? I actually had a difficult time rolling the biscuit because I tend to move like a snail and keep burning my fingers! I had to roll it while it was fresh out of the oven! Oh my oh my! Hopefully, the next time around when I do it - would be much an easier task! Cigarettes may be served with pipe filling in the middle. Try something nutty - would be a crunch! 

10th June 2010: Palete Aux Raisins (Petite Four Sec)

Another petite four delectable - this is a love between raisins and rum lovers. When the cookies were fresh out of the oven - we infused rum in the cookie!

9th June 2010: Custard Buns (Pâte Brioche)

Brioche in the making – Didn't I mention in my previous entry that I'm never going to make or consume bread ever again? I admit I'm a culprit to my taste bud - maybe not all breads. Yes, I fell in love with Brioche. First of first is because I get to use my kitchen mixer to hook the dough. Secondly; the dough – was perfecto! It came up perfectly beautiful; kneading it the way I want it to be. One simple dough recipe creates so many different faces.  Simply love it!

Brioche is a French bread with high content of egg and butter therefore it is also considered as a Viennoiserie (baked goodies made from yeast with high content of milk, butter, sugar and whatever that gives it the richness) and did I mention eating it was the fun part? It's so yummy on its own! 

These were the leftovers of my Pate Brioche. Never throw the dough they say! All we need is a little imagination. Hence, with the leftovers and all the De gas moments with the dough. I rolled them into two balls and let to proof for an hour or so. Before baking, i filled my piping bag with pastry cream and top it off with a little almond flakes and icing sugar - viola!!!

There's my breakfast! Heavenly! This morning I woke up with a growling tummy; finished off my custard buns and went back to bed before hell kitchen awaits. I am a slave to my passion. Shrugs.  

7th June 2010: Croissant (Pâte Croissant)

Seriously, I’ve never been a big fan of bread and dough. Having to go through so much hassle with my first croissant makes me wonder if I’d ever eat or make another ever again! I don’t mean to scare you but; oh well – that is how I feel. Anyway, the method of working with the dough is quite similar to the pâte feuilletée. One difference is – the pâte croissant contains yeast. Placing the beurre manié (butter)on my détrempe (basic dough) were definitely not my worst nightmare. It’s the process of enveloping the dough with my butter inside – that’s the trick.

And seriously, MY WORST NIGHTMARE is making sure my dough doesn’t spit butter while I roll it with my rolling pin. I know what you’re thinking – make sure I dust heaps of flour will help prevent my dough from splitting and sticking to my work bench. Yeah, that helps – it’s my hands that won’t synchronize with the work flow!

Mixing the ingredients were also one of the crucial I had to face every single day when I work with my products. I know what the smartie pants would say – hell no! Well, hell yes when I’ve got to mix everything with my hands and loyal spatula or whisk. I’ve been sent back to basic land with no kitchen mixer – all that is a quid pro quo situation for someone who wants to be a chef pâtissier. Nothing comes free. If you want to work and survive; you have to do what it takes. Certainly, I do miss the times when I get a free moment to myself and gazing into the mixer bowl while the ingredients twirl into heavenly mixture.

I guess dreaming won’t make me happy. So working on reality might help better. Let’s just hope Brioche would bring me better joy!

The tables have turned

Moment of thought - As I twittered earlier; I did mention that its not very courteous of potential customers to hesitate over a simple "no" reply towards their inquiry. I'm not saying this because I'm the one on the other line. If I was the person inquiring and I was no longer interested in their service; I'd inform them. I guess it's very personal that different people do have a different touch when it comes to communications. One reason stacks upon another on why I'm relating to this. Firstly; I'd like you to understand that as much time as you took to write me an inquiry. I took the same amount of time and extra effort to guide you on the services I provide.

Moment of truth - Pricing and facts – I was once very shallow when it comes to cakes and pastries. I used to bake simple cakes with simple ingredients that didn't cost too much and so that's what everybody else concludes. How expensive can the flour and sugar be? Everything else that fits in is just a little of this and that – it shouldn't cost too much. Ask the industrial bakers and home bakers; they'd tell you otherwise.

Moment of reality - Don't you even dare mention the commercial cake mix! Honestly, I've tried it once – very easy to bake and mix with – and that was it! The attention goes to using quality ingredients – it's a desire with no turning back. The results and taste were unspeakable! Okay, maybe the end product may not look so chirpy at all times. But the taste is definitely better than commercial cake mix. I bake from scratch and I'm proud of it. 

Moment of fact - Cheers to serious bakers! It's a fact that home bakers have limitations when it comes to high tech equipments. But when it comes to ingredients; we always have the upper hand. It's true when they say it's just a dollar difference and we would pay more to achieve better quality products. Why not? It's just a dollar! These are the ingredients that industrial / boutique bakers would pain over the fact that a single dollar would lower their profit margin. And on top of that; I've not mention about labor cost! Now this is what consumers should really understand.

To anyone whom is reading this; I made no intention to rant. Actually it's a mind blowing urge to blog about my opinion.

6th June 2010: Tuile Aux Almandes (Petite Four Sec)

Most often people would think of a squarish bite size cake when they hear "Petite Four". In actual fact, petite four could vary from any mouth size delectable consisting of mini meringue, mini cookies, mini cakes and more. "Sec" in French means dry.

And hereby I present the Almond Tile cookies. "Tuile" in French means roofing tiles.

This little cookie is commonly served with ice cream / mousse as garnish but never quite the main attraction. Funny how we'd go through all that trouble just to bake something that is not quite the shout out? Welcome to the baking reality. 

5th June 2010: Dacquoise (Meringue)

The Dacquoise is basically two layers of meringue foam cakes filled a layer of butter cream. Meringue on the other hand is a type of foam cake that contains no fat.

Besides the norm of hazelnut/ almond meringue + butter cream. We did quite the reverse; we had it all done with the plain meringue + almond slices on top & a layer of praline butter cream.

Jinx Detrempe

Moment of mood - Every morning I wake up with a glow in my heart and I say to myself that it’s going to be a good day in the kitchen. Today's been an exceptionally bad day in the kitchen. 

Moment of fact - As I mentioned on my previous entry; I wonder if I've been too hard on myself. This is the 3rd time (first & second on pâte feuilletée and third on pâte croissant) I laid my hands on détrempe (basic dough) yet I still manage to disappoint myself to some extent. Why is it so difficult to do? Have I got bad judgment towards my détrempe? It’s got to be at some point my poor judgment that gave me a hard time. Trust me, with a bad start – even if you had the best beurre manié (dry butter) – it will still suck as much. Perhaps this weekend would be a good to chill back and think about the mistakes I've made. 

Reality - Signing off with much determination to master the art of working with détrempe.

Baking and it's spur momento

Moment of mood - There's always this part of me that tells me - I'm just not good enough. Friends says it's good sign because it pushes me to be better. It does; it makes my requirement exceptionally high towards my own being and that applies to my baking too. Time flies, don't they? It was only December 2009 when I toyed with my interest and it rolled into a passion; now it became a mountain of curiosity and eagerness. The passion is building up so quickly and it's getting so huge! That made me a little blank headed. (Forget about what I'm ranting about)

Moment of fact - Today's menu is Petite Four Sec. What's a petite four? Generally its confections that are served with tea or coffee after a meal or pretty much the “English Tea” session. “Petite four” is derived from a French word which means “small oven”. “Sec” means dry. So if we put the words in sentence - it should sound like - dry small oven. 

Moment of truth - I know; that was a bad attempt with joke. Well, to my understanding - petite four - relates to tiny. It is the tiny dainty little confections in variety consisting mini puff pastries, mini cookies, mini cakes, mini macaroons, mini meringues and much more mini stuff! I'm a sucker for mini stuff. It makes me unaware with the amount of calories that I put in.

Reality - Let's just hope that the baking turns out alright later ~ 

2nd June 2010: Gateaux Basque

French butter cake with pastry cream. This is one real pain in the ass. 

It requires piping the cake batter into the ring mold base and sides then piping the pastry cream into the center; popping the cherries in place. Adding double layer of cake batter to fully cover the top of the mold. Scrap clean with a spatula and to bake!