Recipe: French Buttercream

A number of people asked me the recipe of French Buttercream after reading my previous few posts. So here it is! 

The ingredients are simple enough:
Sugar 122 gm
Water 34gm
Egg yolks 73 gm (room temperature)
Butter 271 gm (soft, at room temperature)

Make a sugar syrup by boiling the sugar and water in a small saucepan.   Keep track of the temperature, the sugar needs to reach the soft ball stage at 118C.  In the meantime, put the egg yolks into the mixer and whisk until light and fluffy. Once you get the right sugar temperature, lower the speed and slowly drizzle the sugar into the egg yolk.  Whip at high speed until the mixture is cool.  Do not add the butter if the mixture is still hot.

Once the mixture is cool, stir in the soft butter bit by bit. Mix until everything is nicely emulsified.  At this stage, you may add any flavourings such as vanilla, etc.   Don’t panic if at any point you see the buttercream being sloppy and separated, just keep on whisking and it will turn out ok.  The French buttercream can be kept in the fridge for about a week.  Make sure it is well covered.

I copied from bakingproject.com. Thanks Min :).

Bread Banana Pudding and Apam Polkadot

For this post, I just feel like sharing some recipes which I recently tried. Great recipes, tried and tested ones. The first recipe was baked using my newly purchased 8 x 4 inch Pyrex dish. Just to try it out :)! The amount of this recipe can just perfectly fit into the dish.

1. Bread Banana Pudding

4 pieces of bread (tear to pieces)

1 200ml box of full cream milk (I used Dutch Lady)

3 medium-sized eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

4 tablespoons sugar

half teaspoon salt

1 medium sized banana (cut to small pieces)

1 tablespoon butter

Place the teared bread and banana pieces in the baking dish. In a separate bowl, mix together the milk, eggs, vanilla essence, sugar and salt. Beat until all the sugarget dissolved in the liquid. Pour the mixture into the bread+banana-in-the-baking-dish and let it set for about 10 minutes. Put the butter randomly on top of the mixture (sort of sprinkle it). Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, 170 C.

Ta-da! Here's the results, I mean, what was left of it... :)

This second project is not a baking project, it's a steam project, but what the heck!

Dalilah has been bugging me to do this and I have to find the recipe in the Net. I got it here and so far Dalilah love it!


2. Apam Polkadot

I'm too lazy to type it here, but you can find the recipe here :)...

Have a nice day celebrating Maulidur Rasul!

Recipe: Simple Butter Cake

This is a request from Yah, Ros and Kak Zah. I brought the cake to the office, already cut to pieces as I didn't decorate it this time. They liked the taste and texture of the cake and requested the recipe. I forgot where I got this recipe, but I've already amended it according to my liking. It's a bit on the sweet side, so you are welcomed to lessen the sugar or the condensed milk if you prefer a not-too-sweet cake.

So, here you are!

Ingredients:

250 gms butter (1 stick)
200 gms castor sugar
210 gms all-purpose flour and 1 teaspoon of baking powder (sift together)
5 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
4-5 tablespoons of condensed milk

1. Stir butter, sugar flour and baking powder in a cake mixer until sugar is dissolved.
2. Add the eggs one by one and continue stirring.
3. Add vanilla essence and condensed milk. Continue stirring for about 4 minutes. Don't stir too long, okay.
4. Pour into an 8 or 9-inch baking pan and bake for about 45 minutes 170 C (depending on your oven) or until inserted toothpick came out clean.

* This cake is a bit different because as the usual convention is to cream the butter and sugar first before adding in the rest, usually saving the flour for last.

But, do try it! I'm sure it will change your mind about baking a butter cakes after this!

Interesting Recipe Book

Commercial Break!

I have no baking project to report today, but in a mood to post something here. Haziq is supposed to mail me the pictures of my latest project, as all the said pictures reside in his friend's camera. Unfortunately, he is already in Melaka now.

"How come the pictures are not in YOUR camera?" you might ask.

Well.... it's a long story... anyway, truthfully, I'm quite pissed off, but I hope to be able to post those pictures in my next post. It was an interesting project and I put quite an effort to execute it. And am quite satisfied with the results.

Enough of baking projects.

See the picture of Chef's Sabri recipe book above? He is quite a versatile Chef and you will love his book. The layout is very nice and he gives very good tips, especially for beginners. There are recipes on cakes too, apart from the full range of recipes; from main dish to desserts to soups to rice dishes etc.

Here's an excerp of the book:

Dunia Masakan Chef Sabri
Price: RM40.00
Send any questions about this product
Author : Chef Ahmad Sabri Abu Hassan Catalog Code : TBBK 1095 ISBN : 978-967-5102-25-7 PRICE : RM 40.00 Chef Sabri menggunakan pengalaman beliau sebagai Master Chef untuk menghasilkan himpunan resipi pilihan yang pasti menjadi. Lengkap dengan tip, amalan dan cadangan yang harus kita amalkan ketika di dapur. Bukan itu sahaja, malah anda akan dikejutkan dengan pengalaman dalam dunia chef. Sila lihat di dalam untuk lebih banyak kejutan... Jom kita memasak sendiri untuk mendapatkan yang HALAL dan BERSIH 100%. Makanan bersih membentuk jiwa dan minda yang HEBAT lagi BERKAT.

Good news! You don't need to go to the bookstore to get it. You can just order it here, pay the price and it will be sent to your door (or any address you prefer) in 3 days.

True! I've tried and tested it! Guaranteed!

Don't worry, go on, try it! Here's the e-store: http://www.stormreaders.net/greatproducts

Or, alternatively, you can click on the picture above or below.

Have a nice time browsing!

Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dalilah has been bugging me to make these cookies, although it is not Raya yet. Traditionally in my family, cookies are for Raya only. If you want to eat cookies at any other time besides Raya, you just buy biscuits from the sundry shop, which is just as good and tasty.

Oh well, Dalilah nagged and nagged until I finally had to relent. So, here's my latest baking project. Thanks Mamafami for the fabulous recipe. My kids like them a lot!

Hot from the oven...

... straight into the bowl!

This is the recipe, from mamafami's blog:

Ingredients :

(A)
250g margarine
160g castor sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

(B)
230g flour
20g cocoa powder
100g chocolate chips
50g Nestum

Method :

1. Sift flour and cocoa powder. Set aside.
2. Cream margarine and sugar. Add in egg yolk and vanilla essence.
3. Add in Nestum and chocolate chips. Mix well.
4. Add in the sifted dry ingredients. Mix till well combined.
5. Spoon a teaspoon batter onto the baking tray layered with greaseproof paper. The cookies will expand slightly when baked.
6. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 165 C for 25 minutes or till done.
7. Leave the cookies to cool on the cooling rack before storing them in an air-tight container.

I ran out of chocolate chips. Just about 50 grams left, so I add 50 grams chocolate rice instead, to make it even, :).

Baked Macaroni with hot tuna

Once in a while I include some savories in my 'baking projects'. However, I always forgot to take pictures of those projects, mainly because they are not as pretty as the cakes. Anyway, who decorates baked savories, i.e, baked macaronis or quiches, right?

As my other (and better) half does not favour sweet stuffs, such as cakes and cookies, so, as much as possible I try to find recipes that suit his tastebud as part of my baking projects. Such as this 'Baked Macaroni with hot Tuna'. Thanks Roslina for sharing the recipe. InsyaAllah I will bake it again as my other half really likes it!



A little bit burnt, but still okay (read: can still be eaten) *smile*. Below was the leftover...


Recipe:

1 bowl (soup) of macaroni (boiled as intructed on the packaging)
1 small box of Dutch Lady fresh milk
3 pieces of bread

To be mixed:
Half bottle of mayonnise (small)
2 pieces pf capsicum (bell peppers) diced into small cubes
5 medium-sized eggs (beaten)
2 cans of hot tuna
crushed black peppers
salt to taste
mozarella cheese (grated)

Tear the bread into small pieces and soak it in the milk for a while. Mix everything and pour into a casserole dish. Bake for 35-45 minutes 175C.

So easy, right?