French Éclair

When I was in Paris, I saw Éclair in every pâtisserie window, I didnt realize they were actually very popular until I read a book about different varieties of French pastry. They are sold in big profiterole rather than oblong shape in Japan and Hong Kong, while filling and icing are quite similar, my favourite flavours are Earl Grey and vanilla crème pâtissière cream puff from Beard Papa's, they used to have a branch in Oxford Street and sell different flavours everyday, I went there almost every other week to grab one or a box to share with friends, but it is now closed :(

Choux Pastry is really easy to make, I made them as little profiterole last time for croquembouche, this time I made them as mini éclairs.

French Éclair

Recipe adapted from On Cafe:

For the French Éclair

50g butter
60ml milk
65ml water
75g plain flour
1/2tsp salt
1tsp sugar
3 medium eggs

Method:

1. Place butter, milk and water in a saucepan and bring to boil.
2. Mix the flour, salt and sugar together in a box.
3. Once the butter has melted, take the saucepan off the heat and tip in the dry flour mixture. Beat well with a wooden spoon until incorporated.
4. Beat the eggs gradually into the mixture until well-combined, the mixture should be shinny and springy.
5. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag.
6. Preheat the oven to 180'C.
7. Pipe the choux pastry into finger-length for mini éclairs with space in between onto a baking mat.
8. Bake the tray of mini éclairs in the oven for 30 mins, or until golden-brown and firm.
9. Leave them to cool on a wire rack.

For the Crème pâtissière 

3 large egg yolks
50g golden caster sugar
17g plain flour
167ml full cream milk

Method:

1. Beat the egg yolks, sugar, and flour in a bowl to make a smooth paste.
2. Bring the milk to the boil in a saucepan.
3. As soon as it reaches the boil, pour it over the egg mixture, stir well.
4. Return the whole mixture to the saucepan and cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until the sauce is very thick and bubbling.
5. Transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with cling film to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to use.
6. Pipe them into the éclairs an hour before serving.

For the Chocolate Ganache Glaze 

100g Dark Chocolate
80g Whipping Cream
1tbp Glucose

Method:

1. Break chocolate into pieces and place into a bowl.
2. Boil the cream in a saucepan in medium heat.
3. Pour the the hot cream onto the chocolate, stir well until combined.
4. Mix in the glucose.
5. Carefully dip the top of the éclairs into the glaze, leave them with the glaze facing up on a wire rack until set.

Baby Girl Shower Cake and Macarons

Apart from wedding cakes, I always wanted to make baby shower cakes. I was thinking maybe I could just decorate a dummy one (a cake-shaped foam for display use) just for fun, but it would be a bit of a waste. Then a few weeks ago, Kristina came to me and asked if she could place an order to me for a baby shower cake, I was soooo over the moon and got extremely excited. My dream totally came true!!

Kristina and her friends were planning to throw a surprise baby shower party for Eileen. I was amazed at the level of detail that Kristina had gone to for the baby shower when she showed me a bit of her email; restaurant, flowers, helium balloons, centerpiece, teddy bears, baby clothes, ribbons, cards, decorations, candy boxes with tags, cake and favours and on an on! She told me baby shower is a big thing in America. I was honoured to help make the cake and favours. There was a pink and brown theme, we discussed a few ideas for the cake, teddy bear and shopping chic would be the final design. For the favours, Kristina suggested macarons to be more English : ) she definitely got me as excited as her, especially there were a lot of funny stories in between, especially how to get Eileen to the party! :-P We were all very glad Eileen enjoyed and liked the baby shower very much ♫

My first draft for the design of the cake, we scaled down to 1 tier cake and macarons was more than enough.

I started making bits and pieces a week in advance, made the chocolate cake with pink vanilla and brown chocolate sponge layers with buttercream the day before, I enjoyed putting everything together the most in the end.

Macarons have been very successful recently without any cracks.

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❤  May God bless Eileen and her baby girl , may you both be happy and healthy  ❤

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

Penguin, Lion and Panda Icebox Cookies

After I made the panda bread, I always wanted to use the same technique to make cookies. I saw Carman making some panda cookies recently, they looked sooo cute, I saved the idea making them this week so I could give some to Scarlett as a leaving present.

I also realised they are called icebox cookies, because they are made from a dough which has been refrigerated or frozen, typically in a log shape. The freezing or cooling makes the dough stiffer, and ideally suited to slicing into thin rounds for baking. Checkerboard cookies made from refrigerated dough. I was looking for good recipes online, and I found Diamonds for Dessert invented these adorable lion and penguin icebox cookies. Definitely a go to me, although i meant to make a smiley face for the panda, it turned out a sad face..  :-P

Panda Icebox Cookies

recipe adapted from Diamonds for Dessert

Make about 12 cookies, depends on how large you make it and how thick you cut it.
150g flour
115g butter, softened
85g sugar
30g powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder

1. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolk and beat until combined. Add the vanilla bean paste and mix.
2. Sift the flour in and stir until just combined.
3. Split the dough into 1/3 and 2/3 portions and put in a separate bowl.
4. The 2/3 portion bowl will be used for the panda face.
5. The 1/3 portion bowl will be used for the panda ears, add the cocoa powder into the bowl and mix until the dough become dark to resemble panda ears.
6. Divide the chocolate dough into 6 with 2 equal larger portions for the ears, 2 equal medium portions for the eyes, then the remaining 2 portions to be the nose and the mouth. Roll or pipe the dough of each portion into a long log.
7. Divide the plain dough into 8 portions like the picture below for the panda face, roll or pipe the dough of each portion into a long log. Carefully wrap the logs accordingly to form the panda face.

8. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until firm. After chilling, slice the log dough into 0.3 inch/8mm thick and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
9. Preheat the oven to 180C. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

Penguin Icebox Cookies

Make about 12 cookies, depends on how large you make it and how thick you cut it.
200g flour
115g butter, softened
85g sugar
30g powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder
Purple food coloring
yellow and white coloured icing tube and melted chocolate, for decorating

1. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolk and beat until combined. Add the vanilla bean paste and mix.
2. Take about 3/4 of the mixture into one bowl. Add 50g of the flour to it and mix until a dough forms. Remove from the bowl and wrap with cling wrap and set aside.
3. Take the remaining 1/4 of the mixture and mix in the purple food colouring until the desired colour is achieved. Add the remaining 150g of flour and mix until a dough forms. Wrap with cling wrap.
4. To make the penguin shapes, take the yellow dough and roll out into a log about 2cm in diameter. Set aside. Take the purple dough and roll out into 2 rectangle shapes, one as long as the plain log and another one as long as the diameter to wrap the yellow dough. Wrap the purple dough around the yellow dough and seal the edges.

5. Wrap the entire log in cling wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 160ºC and line a cookie sheet with baking paper. When the dough is firm, take the log out of the fridge and slice with a knife into 0.5cm slices. Place the slices onto the lined baking sheet, bake for 12-15 minutes and cool on a wire rack.
6. When the cookies are completely cooled, use piping icing and melted chocolate to pipe eyes, feet and wings onto the cookies.

Lion Icebox Cookies

150g flour
115g butter, softened
85g sugar
30g powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla bean paste
1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder
yellow a icing tube and melted chocolate, for decorating

1. Cream butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add egg yolk and beat until combined. Add the vanilla bean paste and mix.
2. Sift the flour in and stir until just combined.
3. Split the dough into half and put into two separate bowls.
4. One bowl will be used for the lion face.
5. The other bowl will be used for the lion hair, add the cocoa powder into the bowl and mix until the dough become dark.
6. Roll the plain dough into a long circle log.
7. Roll the chocolate dough into a rectangle shape long enough to wrap around the yellow circle log. Wrap the chocolate dough around the yellow dough and seal the edges.

8. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes or until firm. After chilling, slice the log dough into 0.3 inch/8mm thick and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
9. Preheat the oven to 180C. Bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
10. When the cookies are completely cooled, use piping icing and melted chocolate to pipe eyes, noses, mouths and ears onto the cookies.

Infinitely Vanilla, Pistachio and Pietra Chocolate Macarons

I am so happy that I am being asked "Can you make me some macarons?" the most :) ♫ I also notice my best-sellers are pistachio, vanilla and chocolate flavours, no matter how adventurous I am making new flavours :-O

Pistachio Macarons Recipe can be found in my old post, I added 3 tbsp of matcha powder to the ganache to enhance the flavour:
http://cheriekelly.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/pistachio-chocolate-and-salted-caramel.html

Infinitely Vanilla Macarons Recipe can also be found in my old post:
http://cheriekelly.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/hazelnut-chocolate-and-vanilla-macarons.html

Chocolate Tiramisu Cake

I have been told by my friends who went to boarding schools how strict the daily schedule was and how awful/unhealthy the food was.... I was very lucky to go to a private day school when I did my a-level here, and home-stayed with my Korean guardian family with my old best family from hk, enjoyed all the delicious mouth-watering korean food everyday and picked up some korean cooking.

Stephen is going back to his boarding school life soon, so not looking forward to the terrible food.. he asked if i could make him a chocolate cake for his birthday, I gladly loved to :) however i couldnt send/post him one to Bath, so we decided to celebrate with him in advance and wish him all the luck with his new school year (^_^)☆

Banana Cake Loaf

New school year starts when September starts. It was a very joyful summer, especially I made a few new good friends, Simon is one and actually my first friend from Dubai, who is a pianist (and a awesome photographer :-P ), spent almost 1.5 months of his summer holiday in the UK and travelling around in Europe, we went to Sardinia together with a group of friends, we have had so much fun and laughter. Summer holiday finally came to an end, he is flying back home tonight, I wanted to make him a leaving little present - moist banana cake loaf would be nice to have on the plane : ) this banana cake also created a very drooling bakery-scent throughout my whole place, best to serve hot when it is still crispy on the top!

Banana Cake Loaf

Ingredients

270g soft light brown sugar
2 eggs
250g peeled bananas, mashed
280g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp ground nutmeg
140g unsalted butter, melted
1 bananna, sliced for decoration (optional)

A 23 x 13-cm loaf tin, greased and dusted with flour

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C/325F.

2. Whisk the sugar and eggs with a electric mixer until well incorporated. Beat in the mashed bananas.

3. Add the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, cinnamon and nutmeg to the sugar mixture. Mix it thoroughly until all the dry ingredients are incorporated. Beat in the melted butter.

4. Pour the mixture into the geased loaf tin and smooth over with a palette knife. Line the sliced banana on the top. Bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until firm to the touch and a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

5. Leave it cool slightly in the tin before taking it out and serve it warm.

Pre-Wedding Ceremony Cake

It has been a while since I last updated, Aleha kindly let me make her this Pre-Wedding Ceremony Cake, the bride gave me some preference of the size, flavour and design of the cake she liked, I have then been busy making this cake.

This is the biggest cake I have ever made, I worried it would be very heavy to carry as I could barely lift it myself and couldnt find a bag to put this 12 inches cake in... i couldnt make it to the Pre-Wedding Ceremony  , Jemma and Jamie kindly helped me to bring the cake all the way to Aleha!!

I spent most of the time making the sugar flowers, we all agree presentation is most important :-P

I definitely looking to practice more in icing cakes and decorating in sugar flowers, although making the sugar flowers do take quite a long time, I do enjoy it very much : )

Congratulation to Aleha again! Wish you all the happiness on your wedding day and a happy wedded life ❤

Banoffee Cupcakes with Toffee Filling

When you live in Central London, those supermarkets around the area do not sell enough interesting varieties of ingredients for baking and cooking, I stocked up a few canned of Nestle Carnation Caramel last time when I went to a bigger supermarket, I had a can left and found it very precious :-P I used one to make banoffee pie last time, and looking to make a cake version of it - Banoffee Cupcakes with Toffee Filling! like what i made for tiramisu cupcakes with mascarpone cheese filling, sinfully irresistible :-O

Recipe adapted and modified from The British Larder

Banoffee Cupcakes with Toffee Filling

Make 8 cupcakes

Ingredients

For the Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes:

130g unsalted butter, at room temperature
120g caster sugar
2 very ripe banana, peeled and mashed
2 large free range eggs
125g plain flour
25g cornflour
1tsp baking powder
50g dark chocolate chips (you can use white chocolate chips)
100g Nestle Carnation Caramel for the filling (optional)

For the cream cheese frosting:

200g icing sugar, sifted
50g unsalted butter, at room temperature
125g cream cheese, cold
1 tablespoon of Nestle Carnation Caramel

Method

Banana and White Chocolate Cupcakes:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a large muffin tray with 8 cupcake cases.
2. Cream the soft butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the mashed banana, cream until well incorporated, add the eggs one at a time, cream well after each addition.
4. Sift the flour, baking powder and cornflour over the creamed banana mixture and add the white chocolate chips, fold it all together. Do not over work the cupcake batter.
5. Spoon the cupcake batter into each case for three quarters full.
6. Bake the cupcakes in the preheated oven for 20 - 22 minutes, test if they are baked by inserting a metal skewer if the skewer comes out clean then the cupcakes are done.
7. Transfer the cupcakes to a cooling rack and let them cool completely.
8. (optional) Core each cupcake and fill each hollow with caramel with a teaspoon.

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1. Beat the icing sugar gradually into the butter by a electric whisk on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
2. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed.
3. Separate the cream cheese into 2 portions, fold in 1 tablespoon of Caramel.
4. Vertically fill one side of the piping bag with the original cream cheese frosting, and the caramel cream cheese frosting on the other side, this will allow the piped frosting come out in two-toned colour.
5. Pipe the frosting onto the cupcake. They are best eating the day after they are made. Keep in a cool place, but do not refrigerate.

Red Velvet Piped Rose Cake

It was Kristina's fabulous 30th birthday yesterday, I didnt believe her turning 30th when I saw her birthday drinks and dinner invitation last week, no idea how she looks so young! Kristina moved from New York to London last year, she is extremely fun and has totally brightened up the whole environment at/after work, everyone loves her! I hope she is not feeling too homesick on her birthday. I decided to make her a Red Velvet Cake and decorated with rose swirls, because I remember she wore a big beautiful flower fascinator to Royal Ascot ❤ 

I like the cut-out slice : ) which can see the redness from the cake.

Red Velvet Cake 

Ingredients

For the red velvet cake:

120g unsalted butter, at room temperature
290g caster sugar
2 egg
15g cocoa powder
35ml red food colouring (recommend Dr. Oetker's or a paste colouring as red food colourings vary in strength)
2 tsp vanilla extract
240ml buttermilk (can be substituted by 240ml milk + 2 tbp lemon juice)
300g plain flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
3 tsp white wine vinegar

For the cream cheese frosting: 

(this will make enough to sandwich 4 layers and pipe the roses all over the cake)
900g icing sugar
150g unsalted butter, at room temperature
375g cream cheese, cold

You'll also need:

7 or 8 inches cake tins x 2

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas mark 3.

2. Put the butter and the sugar in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy and well mixed. Turn the mixer up to high speed, slowly add the egg and beat until everything is well incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, red food colouring and vanilla extract to make a thick, dark paste. Add to the butter mixture and mix thoroughly until evenly combined and coloured (scrape any unmixed ingredients from the side of the bowl with a rubber spatula). Turn the mixer down to slow speed and slowly pour in half the buttermilk. Beat until well mixed, then add half the flour, and beat until everything is well incorporated. Repeat this process until all the buttermilk and flour have been added. Scrape down the side of the bowl again. Turn the mixer up to high speed and beat until you have a smooth, even mixture. Turn the mixer down to low speed and add the salt, bicarbonate of soda and vinegar. Beat until well mixed, then turn up the speed again and beat for a couple more minutes.

4. Divide the moxture into 2 portion and pour each portion into each geased tins. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 mins, or until the sponge bounces back when touched. A skewer inserted in the centre should come out clean. Leave the cakes to cool slightly in the tray before turning out onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

5. Meanwhile for the cream cheese frosting: Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a handheld electric whisk) on medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed. Add the cream cheese in one go and beat until it is completely incorporated. Turn the mixer up to medium-high speed.

6. Continue beating until the frosting is light and fluffy, at least 5 mins. Do not overbeat, as it can quickly become runny.

7. When the cakes are cold, cut them into half so they become 4 cake slices. Sandwich and stack the layers, decorate by piping roses all over.

My Wedding/Special Occasion Line ♪

I recently learnt and mastered some new piping skills and flowerpaste skills, I handmade all these flowers for these buttercream vanilla cupcakes, I am very contented with how pretty they look ❤ 

I truely enjoy making the flowers and am going to make more ( ^o^ )♫

Vanilla Buttercream Cupcakes

Make 12 cupcake

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

150g butter, softened at room temperature
150g caster sugar
3 free-range eggs, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla essence
150g self-raising flour
1-2 tbsp milk

For the Vanilla Buttercream Icing

125 unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
250g icing sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
a few drops food colouring

Method:

For the Vanilla Cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Line a 12-hole baking muffin tin with cupcake cases.
2. Beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a bowl until pale for at least 5 mins. 
3. Add and mix in the eggs gradually and stir in the milk and vanilla extract.
4. Sift the flour into the mixture and stir until well-combined.
5. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases to 2/3 full. 
6. Bake the cupcakes for 20 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cupcakes and come out clean.
7. Leave them on wire rack to cool.

For the Vanilla Buttercream Icing

1. Beat the butter by adding the icing sugar gradually in a large bowl until soft. 
2. Add the milk, vanilla essence and food colouring, whisk until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
3. Spoon the buttercream mixture into a piping bag with a star nozzle and pipe onto the cupcakes in a large swirl.