Thursday, December 18, 2014

Christmas Tree Macarons

Merry Christmas 2014 Everyone :)




For the 12 Christmas Tree shells
Ingredients:

1. 40g egg white
2. 30g almond powder
3. 50g icing sugar
4. 30g castor sugar
5. 1/2 tsp green food colouring
6. 1/4 tsp red food colouring
7. 1/4 tsp yellow food colouring

1. In a blender, mix up the almond powder and icing sugar, sieve and set aside.

2.Beat the egg white until frothy, add in half of the castor sugar, keep beating till you get a soft peak and then add in the rest of the sugar. Beat to stiff peak.

3. Add the blended dry ingredients to the stiff egg white.

4. Roughly combine the mixture the scoop out 2 tablespoons of mixture, putting each in seperate bowl. Keep folding the main mixture until you get a mixture that flow slowly like lava. The mixture should be uniformed, shiny and when lifted it should flow down and form a thick ribbon.

5. Add in yellow and red food colouring in each bowl and mix well with a toothpick. 

5. Put a piece of baking sheet over a baking tray, pipe out triangular shapes. Repeat until all mixture is used up. Using a toothpick dip in the yellow and red mixture prepared earlier to decorate the triangular.



6. Let the macaron sit until a skin is formed and it's no longer stick to the fingers when touched. Depending on your room temperature, and air humidity this should takes somewhere between 30 minutes to 1 hour.

7. Pre-heat the oven on 130 C with top heating.

8. When the oven is heated up, put in the piped macarons. Increase to 140 C and continue baking for about 4-5 minutes, be sure to work with your oven and you might need a few test to know how much your oven heats up. The feet should already be forming after 4-5mins. Decrease the temperature to 130C, open the oven door quickly to allow hot air to escape. bake for another 6-8 minutes until the shells are baked.

9. To know if your macarons are baked, you could try it by gently touching the shells, when it's baked it should no longer slide against the feet.

10. If the macaron shells are not well baked, extend the baking time by 1 minutes and recheck.

11. Let macaron cooled before removing them from the baking sheet. You could speed up the process by lightly wetting your working area with a sponge and drag the baking sheets over.

12. Match up all the similar size shells. Get the ready for filling.



Bitter Dark Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

1. 50g bitter dark chocolate (70%)
2. 50g fresh cream


Methods:

1. Melt chocolate over water bath.
2. Warm cream and pour it over melted chocolate.
3. Stir and mix well until a smooth ganache is obtained.
4. Let cool until the ganache solidify slightly before piping onto shells



Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Mirabelle Plum Ganache Macaron




Hello hello :) Really sorry for my long absence, I had recently got back to work so meaning less time for baking !!

It is the season of mirabelle plum in Lorraine region in France. The mirabelle is a specialty of the French region of Lorraine, which has an ideal climate and soil composition for the cultivation of this fruit.


The mirabelle is identified by its small, oval shape, smooth-textured flesh, and especially by its dark yellow colour which becomes flecked in appearance. They are known for being sweet and full of flavour. The fruit is primarily used in jams and pies, and its juice is commonly fermented for wine or distilled into plum brandy.


For the shells:
Ingredients
* 1 egg white (40g)
* 30g castor sugar

* 50g icing sugar
* 30g almond powder
   (blend together)
* pinch of orange food colouring

* red powder food colouring


Methods
1. Mix almond meal, icing sugar and food colourin together and blend it up in the blender. Sift then set aside.

2. Using electric beater, beat egg white until foamy, then add in half of the castor sugar, continue until the egg white reaches soft peak then add in the remaining sugar, beat until stiff peak.

3. Add the dry ingredient to the meringue. Start folding each batter in each bowl until a smooth shiny batter is obtain. The batter should flow down smoothly and formed a ribbon when it's ready.


4. For details and FAQ on folding please refer to this post http://macaron-fetish.blogspot.fr/2010/02/basic-macaron-recipe.html


6. Using a pipette, suck up some red food colouring powder and then gently blow over the shell to give the shell an airbrush effect.



7. Preheat oven to 150 C while the macaron is resting. Bake for 12-14 minutes and let the macaron shells cool down before removing them.

8. Match up the shells by size and get ready to prepare the filling.






Mirabelle White Ganache Filling:

* 25g mirabelle pulp (deseeded, and mixed up in the blender)
* 60g white chocolate


1. Melt white chocolate over steam bath
2. Mix the pulp with chite choclate, mix with hand blender then let it set in the fridge
3. When the ganache is not longer runny, pipe it on the macaron shells.
4. Enjoy

Hope you like the post, and I would like to show you guys my new family member - Kaeleb - A bunny whose mother was abandoned and rescued, he was born in the shelter the next day his mother was rescued.

Friday, February 28, 2014

Macaron Party Cake

Hello everyone so sorry that I havent been updating the blog for a while

We had been extremely busy with taking care of my critically ill bunny Nestor and moving house. Nestor passed away sadly 4 days ago after a long battle with his illness. It is still very hard to cope with the loss and I miss him very much. he was very dear to our heart and a warrior.



RIP now my sweet angel, until we meet again....


I had made a cake for client who requested a Macaron party cake. this is the first time I ever make one and the result was not too bad :) It was for her son birthday party. what do you guys think ?