Paul Hollywood’s Chelsea Buns recipe

 

I am not putting the recipe for these here since you can find them here and here. I simply followed everything Paul instructed in the video for these. (I think I am becoming a really big fanboy!) The only difference is the lack of dried cranberries which I substituted for with more raisins and apricots.

The basic idea is to make an enriched dough, prove it, roll it out, put the filling, roll up like you would for a cinnamon roll, cut, second proving, make icing, bake, spread jam, drizzle icing and serve.

The results are mouth-watering. Simply mouth-watering. I mean just look at that apricot jam glaze. So tempting.

Paul Hollywood’s Bloomer

Okay like the bloomer above, I haven’t been in the best of shape. Honestly, a bloomer isn’t that difficult to do. The only reason why it’s burnt and weird-shaped is because I was in a foul mood that day and what I really wanted to do was to vent my frustration by kneading some dough. Really, the recipe is dead simple.

I don’t know about you but I guess my mood just translates into my baking. The saddest part about this bloomer is that no one ended up eating it and it just went stale after a couple of days.

I managed to salvage it by preparing bostock though. Sigh.

Expresso Butter recipe

The other night, I ended up in Drury Lane with Sam and she happened to be eating banana bread with expresso butter. That drove me to perfecting my own espresso butter recipe. It’s relatively simple and you can use it for toast, bagels, muffins and whatever spreadable.

INGREDIENTS : 
3 tsp of instant coffee granules
2 tsp of hot water
1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
110g of butter (the spreadable type)
1 heaping tbsp of icing sugar

 
RECIPE : 

DISSOLVE coffee granules and vanilla extract with hot water in a small bowl

CREAM butter and sugar in another bowl until light and fluffy

COMBINE the two mixtures
BEAT until smooth
SPREAD IT.

 

Bananareo Icecream recipe

Yes it’s banana + oreo icecream!

It’s really simple. The texture isn’t quite like icecream but it does have a smooth consistency. Some people told me to add milk in order to get that icecream-like texture so I will experience with my next batch of bananas.

Maybe this time, I will do a nutella version.

INGREDIENTS: 
4-5 frozen bananas
6 oreo cookies

RECIPE : 
CUT the bananas
BLEND bananas in food processor
ADD mashed cookies
FREEZE again for at least a day
SERVE

Vanilla Cupcakes with Strawberry Buttercream recipe

Firstly, I apologise for the daily lack of posts. A lot has been on our writers’ minds at the moment so we have been caught up in life. We are working to bring in more authors so thank you for your kind understanding!

Back to the post. I don’t even like cupcakes in the first place but out of all the things my niece, Athena could have requested, she asked for this so I simply used ratios to determine the cupcake and buttercream recipe.

INGREDIENTS : 
(for cupcake)
55 g of  salted butter
55 g of plain flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp of vanilla essence
55g of castor sugar
1 tbsp of milk
1 tbsp of strawberry jam

(for buttercream) 
2 tbsp of strawberry puree
70 g of butter
120 g of Icing Sugar

RECIPE :

(for cupcake)
PREHEAT to 180C
CREAM butter and sugar
BEAT in egg and vanilla essence
ADD milk and jam
FOLD in flour
POUR in muffin tin
BAKE for 10 minutes

(for buttercream)
CREAM butter and icing sugar
ADD strawberry puree
MIX well

Well, despite that cheeky smile on her face, she didn’t enjoy the cupcake as much as she would have wanted since she expected it to be lighter and more fluffy. Perhaps I should use buttermilk and yoghurt in my cupcake recipe instead.

I know some of you out there are cupcake enthusiasts so do let me know if you have a brilliant cupcake recipe to share!

Key Lime Tart recipe

On Your Mark. Get Set. Bake.

I guess I really have been watching too much The Great British Bake Off. After watching Ryan churn out his Key Lime Pie, I was tempted to do something limely too so thus, here you have it. A first collaboration with Sis. Key Lime Tart.

The idea is pretty simple. It’s a simple shortcrust pastry recipe from Eugenie’s Kitchen and the filling from Sally’s Baking Addiction’s Key Lime Pie Squares. Just combine the two.

INGREDIENTS : 

(for filling)
4 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
4 large egg yolks
14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup key lime juice
2 teaspoons lime zest

RECIPE : 

BEAT cream cheese on high speed until smooth.
BEAT in the egg yolks 
BEAT in the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, and lime zest until combined.
POUR into the warm crust.

POUR into tart shell and bake for 15 mins (180C)
CHILL for at least 2 hours

SERVE and consume.

The result turned out to be better than I thought. I have tried eating it cold and warm and I have found that it tasted better warmer. On first sight, it is reminiscent of the traditional portugese egg tart. However it packs a punch with it’s key lime pie filling which surprisingly goes well with the crust.

Perhaps a sweet crust could have been used to help balance out the sourness of the key lime filling. Do you prefer the traditional gingersnaps base and having it served cold? Well. Time to get this sorted.

Apricot and Chocolate Brioche recipe

Well there you have it. SORTED – Chocolate and Apricot Brioche with a The Great British Bake Off Season 4 Technical Challenge Episode 6 Technical Challenge glaze. My first collaboration with Yvonne. Perfecto.

INGREDIENTS :

(for brioche)
250 g of plain flour
80 g of butter, room tempature
2 eggs
1 tbsp instant dried yeast
2 tbsp caster sugar
80 ml of warm milk
pinch of salt
1 extra egg for glazing
large handful of dark chocolate chips
large handful of dried apricots, chopped

(for glaze)
50 g of apricot jam
100 g of icing sugar 
25 g of toasted flaked almonds

RECIPE : 

DISSOLVE the yeast into the warm milk by whisking together in a bowl.

MIX the flour, eggs, butter, salt and sugar together in a mixer with a dough hook until combined and dough like.

SPLASH in the milk and continue to knead until smooth and elastic. It will be very sticky.
TRANSFER to a bowl and cover bowl with Clingfilm or a clean tea towel.
LEAVE to rest in a warm place for 1-2 hours until it doubles in size.

CUT chocolate and dried apricots (I didn’t have chocolate chips!)

ADD chocolate chips to half and the apricot pieces to the other, using a little flour dusted on a work surface.
PLACE the chocolate half into the bottom of a 900g loaf tin (lined if it isn’t non stick).
LAY the apricot half on top of that, then cover again and leave to rise for 30mins.
PREHEAT an oven to 180˚C
BRUSH the risen dough with the egg wash.
BAKE for 30mins.

ADD splash of water to apricot jam, heat up and stir.
ADD splash of water to icing sugar and stir till thick and consistent

GLAZE by spreading apricot jam over, spamming flaked almonds and drizzling icing sugar

SLICE and bon appetit.

 =

The result is a very light fluffy loaf which you can pull apart. It tastes part-bread, part-cake. The moment you sink your teeth, the sweet jam glaze hits you with the soft crust followed by an explosion of apricot and dark chocolate. The two simply complement one another in terms of flavor but the glaze does it’s magic by balancing the sweetness and bitterness of this brioche. The texture is exquisite and amazing, it tastes good, what more can I ask for?

Love You Berry Much Cake recipe

Okay that’s not REALLY the name of the cake but it’s been quite some time since I baked this cake so the information is a little fuzzy.  The basic idea was to bake a heart-shaped cake using a blueberry muffin recipe and to ice it with a simple creamcheese frosting.

I don’t really remember the exact measurement but this should be roughly how it went.

INGREDIENTS :
(makes 2 heart-shaped pans)

(for cake)
250 g of all-purpose flour
220 g of granulated sugar
2 tsp of baking powder
76 g of unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup of milk
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
300g of fresh blueberries

(for creamcheese frosting)
227 g of cream cheese
57 g of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
350 g of icing sugar
RECIPE : 

(for cake)
PREHEAT oven at 180C
SIFT flour, sugar, baking powder, salt
WHISK butter, milk, eggs, vanilla extract
MIX both mixtures
FOLD in blueberries
POUR into heart-shaped pan
BAKE for 50 minutes
COOL it

(for creamcheese frosting)
CREAM creamcheese and butter
ADD sugar gradually
MIX in vanilla extract
PIPE onto cooled cake and add blueberries
FRIDGE it before serving

It’s really simple to bake and simply delightful to gawk at. If you have additional batter, why not make some cupcakes in the process?

Bon Appetit!

Bake Sale #1 Summary

I must thank all of you who made this bake sale so successful! 1000 Thank Yous!

For those of you who were wondering what was the purpose of this sale, it was to raise funds for my India mission trip. Although the amount made wasn’t exactly big, I had a glimpse of what it meant to bake commercially and in copious amounts.  I thank you all for giving me this experience! I look forward to developing more recipes and baking more food for you fellas.

Speaking of bake sales, there is a charity bake sale coming up soon! Any aspiring amatuer bakers interested?

Time to start developing recipes for this.

And speaking of bake offs, I am a passionate fan of The Great British Bake Off and for those of you who have never seen the show, you really ought to catch season 4 off Youtube while it’s still up there! Enjoy!

Matcha Biscotti with White Chocolate Chips & Almonds recipe

A good number of my friends have been asking for something with green tea so I decided to go with this recipe from leitesculinaria. I tweaked it by adding white chocolate chips and using light brown sugar instead of turbinado sugar.

The matcha flavour comes through excellently with every crunch and so does the sweetness from the white chocolate chip. I may have over-baked it a little bit thus leading to its dark green colour though. The white chocolate chips should have also been incorporated deeper into the mixture and not so much at the exterior. However I am pretty satisfied with my end result so all is well.

INGREDIENTS :

250g of  all-purpose flour
80g of caster sugar
1 tsp of baking powder
2 tbsp of green-tea powder
1/4 tsp of  salt
3 large eggs
60g of unsalted butter, melted
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
30 g of slivered, blanched almonds
30 g of  white chocolate chips
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 tbsp of  light brown sugar

RECIPE :

WHISK sugar, baking powder, matcha, and salt in medium bowl

BEAT the eggs, melted butter, and vanilla in another bowl

COMBINE mixture

ADD white chocolate chips and almonds

SEPARATE into two even portions (you can see I did a terrible job here. HAHA. )
ROLL into a log the size of your tray and flatten slightly
BRUSH top with egg white and sprinkle generously with light brown sugar

BAKE for 20-25 mins in pre-heated oven of 175C (make sure it’s firm to the touch and light brown at the top)
COOL for 10 mins or when it’s easier to handle

CUT into bite size pieces using serrated knife (I haven’t had much biscotti in my life and these are roughly the sizes of the one I had in germany!)

REDUCE oven temp to 135C
ARRANGE one side of the biscotti on tray
BAKE for 15 mins

FLIP the biscotti to the other side
BAKE for another 15 mins

PLACE into jar and serve with coffee

ボナペティ!