Cherry Blossom Sakura Soufflé Cake Roll 桜ロールケーキ❀

Wooop wooop wooop, spring has finally come ❤ flowers are blooming, cherry blossom appeals to me the most as always, there are several blossom trees around St. Paul's where my office is, it is very delightful to sit under the cherry blossom trees, listen to the birds sing and enjoy the sweet scent of spring ❤

❀ Let's celebrate spring with this Cherry Blossom Sakura Soufflé Cake Roll ❀

Cherry Blossom Sakura Soufflé Cake Roll  桜のロールケーキ

Ingredients:

For the Sponge Cake

20g pickled sakura cherry blossom 桜花漬
3 egg
60g caster sugar
2 tablespoon milk
2 tablespoon cherry blossom honey syrup
50g plain flour
2 tablespoon melted butter

For the Strawberry and Whipped Cream Filling

200g whipping cream
3 tablespoon caster sugar
3 tablespoon cherry blossom honey syrup
200g chopped strawberry

Equipment

9-inch square brownie pan
electric mixer

Method:

Sponge Cake Roll

1. Soak the pickled sakura cherry blossom in a bowl of water for at least 4 hours to remove the salt from the pickle. Dry the cherry blossom on kitchen paper.

2. Line the brownie pan with greasproof parchment paper, put the cherry blossom on the paper. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F).

3. Place eggs and sugar with in a large metal bowl over a pan of hot water, beat on high speed for about 7 minutes until white and fluffy with an electric mixer.

4. Fold in milk and syrup until combined.
5. Sift in flour and whisk for about 3 minutes on low speed to incorporate.
6. Stir in melted butter until combined.
7. Spread the batter in the brownie pan and drop the pan lightly on the counter to raise the air bubbles out of the batter.
8. Bake at 180C (350F) for 12-15 minutes till lightly brown.
9. When it's done, remove the sponge cake from the pan by lifting the parchment paper and place it on a wire rack to cool.
9. When it's cool enough, remove the parchment paper and place the sponge cake on the parchment paper with the brown side up.

Filling

1. Whisk whipping cream, syrup and sugar on high speed in a bowl until stiff.
2. Coat the surface of the sponge cake evenly with the cream. Line the chopped strawberries in the middle over the creamed surface.

3. Roll and wrap the cake in the parchment paper and put in a fridge for at 1 hour to set.

4. Remove the wrap and enjoy!

 Here are some cherry blossoms around St. Paul's in London

Raspberry Cheesecake (Fridge Set)

After a few weeks of fondant figures modeling craze, it is time to catch up with some baking fun :-D let's enjoy the longer daylight and the slightly warmer weather with some creamy cheesecake!

Raspberry Cheesecake (Fridge Set)

Ingredients

For the Biscuit Base

180g digestive biscuits, crusted

50g butter, melted

For the Cheesecake

300g low fat cream cheese

70 g caster sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp lemon juice

9g gelatin leaves, soaked and softened in cold water, dissolved in 40ml boiling water

200ml whipping cream

For the Raspberry Coulis Jelly

250g fresh raspberries or strawberries, blended into puree

100g sugar

80ml water

2 tbsp lemon juice

5.5g gelatin leaves, 

a handful of mixed berries to decorate, optional

Utensils

6 presentation rings lined with Acetate Cake Collars or 7 inches springform tin

Method

For the Biscuit Base

1. Put the digestive biscuits and melted butter into a blender and pulse until they resemble breadcrumbs. 

2. Spoon the biscuit mixture into the presentation rings placed on a large plate. Press the mixture down firmly and chill in the fridge until set.

For the Cheesecake

3. Place the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl and beat until creamy. 

4. Add the melted gelatin liquid into the cream cheese mixture until well combined.

5. In another bowl, whip the whipping cream until stiff. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

6. Spoon the mixture on top of the biscuit mixture and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon. Chill in the fridge until set for at least an hour.

For the Raspberry Coulis Jelly

7. Put the raspberry puree and sugar into a small saucepan, boil on medium heat, gradually stir in the water and lemon juice.

8. Remove the saucepan from heat when the raspberry mixture starts to boil, squeeze out the excess water from the gelatin leaves, stir well into the mixture until the leaves dissolved.

9. Sieve the raspberry mixture to remove the seeds, set aside a little while if it is still still hot.

10. Spoon the mixture on top of the cheese mixture. Chill in the fridge until set for at least an hour or overnight.

11. To serve, carefully remove the presentation rings and cake collars from the cheesecakes. Decorate with some mixed berries and enjoy! :-D

First Entry in Cake International Competition - Merit Award! ✯

Havent updated for a while,  most of you may know I was busy preparing for Cake International  Competition in London Excel. It was my first time entering and attending to a cake competition, it was a such a great experience, I am very glad my Alice In the Wonderland theme cake got a Merit!

It took me a while to decide the theme after I signed up, I didnt want to make something too simple and would like to put as much details and as much skills as I could. It was my first time making full-body figures and wired flowers :) it took me 2 weeks of evenings to make the whole cake, I still cant believe I managed to put all these together :-O

Here are some close ups:

The judges told me I actually got marked down significantly because I used wire for the whiskers of the Cheshire Cat and the March Hare, I thought it was ok for dummy display..they said otherwise I would have got a medal :-O... ohhhh next year then :-D

I am also very happy to meet and talk to other competitiors who share the same interest as me, I was absolutely amazed by how talented, skillful and creative they are, their artworks totally widened my horizon! Also thanks so much for a lot of kind supports and sweet comments! I am so touched and appreciated xxx

Here are some highlights of their works (apologies with the limited space here):

            

More photos can be seen in Cake International Facebook :)