katcakes-blog

[katcakes-blog]

Macaron Kit Review + Giveaway

Hi Everyone! Hope you’ve all been great. So I guess I have some exciting news for you all. For those who have been following my blog from the very start will know just how far my blog has progressed over the past few years. I know that lately I haven’t exactly been as active, but I wanted to do something to say thanks to all my followers and supporters over the years I’ve been blogging.

This year, KatCakes turns five, and I have been thinking of how I can commemorate this special year for my blog. Thus, what a better way to say thank you to everyone than by doing a giveaway!

For this review and giveaway, I’ve teamed up with Katy’s Home who has generously provided me with TWO Mastrad Macaron Kits to giveaway. If you’re interested in scoring yourself one of these macaron kits (valued at $25 each!) to aid your macaron creations at home, keep reading to find out how. 

When it comes to macarons, I have become used to the ‘drawing circles on the back of the baking paper to ensure equally round shells’ method. One of the things about using macarons kits and macaron mats is that you skip a step and basically have the circles drawn on for you. Of course there are people who can easily pipe their macarons without the need for drawing circles. If that is you, you deserve a big thumbs up, but if you’re like me and need a little guidance with consistency, then you can rely on macaron mats to do just that. 

This 11 piece macaron kit includes:

A flexible and non-stick silicone mat

Silicone piping bag with seven pastry piping tips. 

A peg that closes the silicon piping bag in order to stop the mix from dripping out the other end

A recipe book to assist in your macaron making

In this product review, I’ll be reviewing both the items in the kit itself as well as the macaron recipe provided in the booklet. 

The silicone mat:

When using the silicone mat, you’ll need to place it onto a large baking tray as it is quite thin on its own. The good thing about this silicone mat is that it features two circles. The smaller inner circle is where you should stop piping which will allow the mixture to spread to the outer circle. Since the mat is quite large, you are also able to pipe a good amount of shells in the first batch of drying.

I do admit, I didn’t have a baking tray that was large enough to fit the silicone mat. I missed one row of circles, and some of the circles were on a slant on the baking tray I had placed underneath it. Nevertheless, the silicon mat should fit most oven sizes. You’ll just need a tray that is large enough to hold it. 

The silicone mat is also quote versatile. Because it is flexible and non-stick, you can even flip it over and use it as a smooth baking sheet, perfect for cookies, meringues and other small treats. 

The silicone piping bag:

The size of both the piping bad and the piping tip for the macarons is pretty good. A good amount of mixture comes out of the tip - not too much and not too little either. The silicon is also quite thick and sturdy which is good because you won’t have to worry about getting holes inside your piping bag. I also found it quite easy to clean too. 

It takes some time getting used to holding the piping bag. I’m used to using the reusable plastic piping bags which you can easily twist and hold. Because of the sturdiness and make of the silicon bag, it’s not as easy to do this and you might require a little bit of practise getting the hang of the right way to hold the bag and pipe effectively. 

The recipe book:

The recipe book provides many recipes for making different types of basic macarons. It features the Italian and French meringue method of making macarons, and also features filling recipes from ganache, buttercream to fruity fillings. 

I decided to test the kit’s Italian meringue macarons since the Italian meringue method is my favourite method to use these days. I decided to keep my macarons plain in colour but filled with a caramelised white chocolate buttercream, which I will provide the recipe along with this giveaway. 

The recipe for the macarons is straight forward and easy to follow. As someone who understands the Italian meringue method, it follows the same method and the same processes as most Italian meringue macarons would.

I noticed however that it used a little less icing sugar and almond meal mixture than some of the recipes I’m familiar with. This means that during the mixing stage, a little more mixing needs to be done in order to break down the meringue a little bit more so you’ll get the right consistency and not have your mixture too stiff that it causes the shells to turn into almond meringues rather than macaron shells. 

The macaron results:

My macaron shells were consistent and turned out pretty well. I did get a few cracked shells, but I would say that was mostly because of the parts of the silicon mat that were slightly angled rather than flat. So I had a few shells that were also slightly lopsided, but again that was more to do with the position of the macaron on the mat. The macaron shells were light and delicate, complete with a crisp shell, just like what a macaron should be. 

Overall review:

The kit is easy to clean and recipe is easy to follow. If you’re new to macaron making, macaron kits help in ensuring you have all the necessary items you need to aid you in your baking. You don’t need to worry about having to draw circles or purchase disposable piping bags that could break. You don’t even have to worry about using up a whole heap of baking paper. Overall, I’m happy with my macaron kit. The only real thing I’d worry about is finding a large enough tray to be able to fit the silicone mat so I wouldn’t get anymore cracks on my macaron shells. 

So how can you get your hands on one of these macaron kits? It’s simple! 

Take a creative macaron picture, upload it to your Instagram account and tag @kat.nadine (no need to follow) and #KatCakesMacaronGiveaway to enter. You can take a picture of a macaron you bought or a macaron you made, just be as creative as you want and think like a food photographer. This competition will go for the month of June (as my blog turns five in June, woot woot!) and will end midnight on Wednesday 1st July, 2015 (AEST). 

This competition is open to Australian readers only, however, please feel free to still tag your macaron photos regardless of where you live because I would like to do a blog post showcasing all your wonderful pictures and give you all shout outs because you are all incredible readers! 

Good luck and happy Instagramming! Below is the recipe for the Caramelised White Chocolate Buttercream to accompany your macarons.

Caramelised White Chocolate Buttercream 

Ingredients

100 white chocolate

100g unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted

Method

To caramelise white chocolate:

Preheat the oven to 120 degrees Celsius. Place white chocolate onto a baking tray with baking paper. If the white chocolate is a block, chop it into smaller pieces. Bake for ten minutes.

Remove from oven and swirl white chocolate around the tray with a clean, dry metal spatula. 

Continue to bake for 30-60 minutes, repeating the same process every ten minutes. If your white chocolate looks lumpy or chalky in the process, this is normal. Just continue stirring until smooth and colour is evenly distributed. 

Bake until white chocolate is a deep golden brown and smooth. 

Remove from oven and store in a jar at room temperature until ready to use. 

To make the buttercream:

Place butter and icing sugar in a mixing bowl and beat together with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. 

Beat in the caramelised white chocolate. If icing is too runny, add more icing sugar. 

Place buttercream in a piping bag and pipe onto half the macaron shells. Sandwich together with remaining macaron shells. Serve.  

ENJOY! :D

Special thanks to Katy for this collaboration. Be sure to check out her store at Katy’s Home (which is still growing) and will feature more products soon in the future. 

[katcakes-blog]

Nitrogenie, South Bank QLD

Among the streets of restaurants and cafes sits this fluorescent and attention-grabbing ice cream parlour. Yet rather than overlooking into tubs of frozen gelato or ice cream in rows behind the glass window, patrons find themselves staring at the cool fog that creeps along the counter. 

I first set my eyes on South Bank’s Nitrogenie last year during our family trip up to Queensland. As a fan of gelato, ice cream and nitrogen ice cream, it was my mission to visit the place the next time I were to visit Southbank. And just a couple of weeks ago, I fulfilled my mission with a few friends and set foot inside Nitrogenie to satisfy our ice cream cravings.

If there is one word to describe the atmosphere of Nitrogenie, it would be vibrant. The ice cream parlour comes to life at the sight of glowing lights surrounding the entire front counter despite the dark purple walls enclosing the establishment. Eating ice cream becomes modernised. Gone are the days of bright, clean walls and cheerful, upbeat, pop music normally found inside ice cream parlours. Nitrogenie brings a funky and exciting experience to ice cream eating and those passing by can’t help but stop and stare at the magic that takes place in front of their eyes. 

“Ice cream from magic,” quotes Nitrogenie. This magic they speak of involves real food ingredients of creamy milk and actual eggs, with the addition of liquid nitrogen that binds the ingredients together to create a frozen, delectable treat. To this basic Nitrogenie anglaise, other ingredients are added to create the flavour that is desired. Everything is placed into a mixing bowl and whisked together with the added liquid nitrogen, and in just moments later you’re handed a smooth and creamy ice cream. 

It’s not just ice cream in a cup that is served here at Nitrogenie. Get your ice cream served in a cone if you’re up for a crispy addition to your smooth treat. Or perhaps you’re feeling thirsty and would rather a Nitroshake or Nitrospider to sip on instead. Whichever method you decide to indulge in your Nitrogenie creation, you’ll be promised with getting a taste of exactly what you asked for.  

The Nitrogenie website features a total of 63 incredible flavours offered at their stores. There are a combination of sweet and rich flavours such as Chocolate Fondant Pudding and Caramel Fudge Sundae. For something fruity, you can expect to look forward to flavours such as Fig and Honey or Passionfruit Yoghurt Yum. There are of course flavours that are specific to different occasions in the year such as the Aussie Day Lamington which was featured during Australia Day or Uncle Bob’s Eggnog around Christmas time. 

Out of these flavours, each Nitrogenie store selects six to feature. These flavours are then changed each week to keep you interested in sampling new flavours or coming back for old favourites. If choosing to keep your ice cream in a cup, you can expect to choose one out of two different sizes - regular ($6.95) or large ($7.95). 

Eight flavours were featured at South Bank, rather than six. The flavours featured at Nitogenie at the time I visited included: Chocolate Roughy, Peppermint Choc Chip, Vanilla Beanie, Lemon Meringue Pie, Sticky Date Toffee Fudge, Salty Caramelly Popcorn, Mango of Summer and Nutella Ella Ella. 

As a huge fan of anything caramel, it was only fitting for me to choose the Salty Caramelly Popcorn flavour. This delicious creation features a creamy and light salted caramel gelato with the addition of pieces of crunchy caramel popcorn folded through.

The sweetness of the caramel was well balanced with a good level of salt, keeping the gelato at a level of sweetness that isn’t sickly or overpowering. Spoon after spoon of this addictive flavour is met with a small piece of caramel popcorn. The extra crunch and texture not only adds a small hit of caramel sweetness, yet also gives the gelato a heightened level of excitement at the discovery of an extra treat inside the cup. Just like a little kid digging for treasure, so is a young adult searching for that golden caramel popcorn inside a mound of creamy gelato. I would have liked to have seen the gelato topped with a few pieces of popcorn just for some extra presentation so it wouldn’t look like it was just a salted caramel ice cream. Nevertheless, whether you’re a fan of salted caramel, sweet caramel or caramel popcorn, this is a gelato creation you would be happy to indulge in.  

Chocolate meets coconut in this next Nitrogenie creation. Chocolate Roughy is a smooth chocolate ice cream combined with a handful of shredded coconut, creating that ‘rough’ aspect of the gelato.

This particular creation has a delicious chocolate ice cream base that any chocoholic would be happy to consume. It’s not overly rich or sweet, and the addition of the coconut takes it from what could have been an ordinary chocolate ice cream into something a little more special. While I’m not a huge fan of coconut and chocolate, this is a flavour that I wouldn’t mind eating. It was also one of the pretty creations as the gelato was topped with a sprinkle of extra shredded coconut.   

There is really only one word to describe the Nutella Ella Ella: YUM. It’s the ‘choc hazelnut favourite’ as spoken by Nitrogenie, and what could taste more like chocolate and hazelnut than using Nutella itself. Whether you’re a kid or just a kid at heart, the Nutella Ella Ella is a delicious gelato that will take you back to memories of that yummy chocolate and hazelnut spread that we all love.

While liquid nitrogen gelato isn’t exactly a new experience to me, I do like to indulge in it every once in a while. Knowing that liquid nitrogen ice cream exists in Queensland means that I can expect still enjoy it when I journey on another trip up state. 

So dear Nitrogenie, you can expect another visit from me the next time I visit Queensland. Maybe this time I’ll try the Lemon Meringue Pie, with my reasoning being that I saw a lady order it while I was there and it looked so amazing I was tempted to ask her if I could take a picture of her ice cream. 

Nitrogenie (urbanspoon spoonback links to Noosa Heads store)

Shop 30 Stanley Street Plaza South Bank Brisbane, QLD 4101

Visit the website at: http://nitrogenie.com/

[katcakes-blog]

Coconut and Lime Cupcakes

Okay, so I'm thinking it's about time I finally announce what my Instagram account is. Yes, here's a shamless self-promotion, but I have a very good reason for doing so and without giving too much away, something will be happening on this blog very soon over the next month or two. And Instagram is part of it. So if you would like to see more food pictures and food adventures of mine (there is savoury food too!), check out my Instagram at kat.nadine. And in other news, watch this space!  

With that out of the way, I can move onto these cupcakes. The other day I finished work quite early and with a whole Thursday afternoon to waste away, I decided to bake a batch of cupcakes because I was in the mood for getting my creative and innovative juices running. Experimenting isn't something I do much when it comes to baking. Instead, I enjoy just putting together popular flavours and enjoying the taste of their combination. I could have easily done so with this particular cupcake flavour, but I decided to go a step further into my baking experimentation and use ingredients that I've never actually used before. Ever worked with coconut meal/coconut flour before? Neither have I, until this day. So keep reading for a little post on how to use this particular ingredient in baking, and read further to get the recipe for these Coconut and Lime Cupcakes. 

One time I went on another trip to Costco and noticed this giant bag of coconut flour. The very first time I saw it, it stuck in my mind that I would one day figure out how to use it in baking and give it a go. Well, that day finally came and I wondered through the baking isle in my local Woolworths grocer and found a small 400g bag of coconut meal that I knew was a good amount to use for a little experimenting in the kitchen. Before you say anything and before I continue on, yes, coconut meal and coconut flour are the same thing. Don't get confused with the names. 

While coconut meal can be used in place of plain flour, using it is a little tricky in the way you consider the incorporation of ingredients. The great thing about coconut meal though is that it is a great alternative to flour that can allow you to create gluten free and grain free desserts. So if you know anyone that has to follow a gluten free diet and is missing out on all the great desserts you're making, you can use coconut meal. 

When using coconut meal in place of regular flour, the ratio isn't as simple as 1:1. Coconut meal absorbs quite a lot of liquid, which is probably why you might notice that most recipes only call for a small amount of coconut meal and a whole lot of liquid. Basically, the simple rule is that for every one cup of flour you do have, it is about the same amount as one-third of a cup of coconut meal, one-third of liquid and one egg. While it does seem like there is a lot of liquid compared to flour and you might think your cake batter will be runny, you'll notice as soon as you mix your ingredients together that your batter turns out just the same. 

I guess that's the basic foundation of what to expect when using coconut meal. Now onto these cupcakes which include the coconut's most famous partner, lime. 

I originally wanted my cupcakes to be coconut and topped with a lime buttercream, but I decided for a more intense flavour, I added a little lime zest into the cake batter to balance out the coconut. Most recipes would often call for desiccated coconut added into the batter, but since I was experimenting with ingredients, I decided to use coconut meal and coconut cream. I wanted a rich coconut flavour in the actual cupcake, however, because of my addition of extra lime zest, unfortunately my cupcakes tasted a little more lime-like than they did coconut-and-lime-like. 

The cupcakes are a little more dense and moist compared to other cupcakes which are usually airy and light. However, the lime buttercream adds a little kick in the cupcake which makes it quite refreshing and steers clear from any anxieties on whether you've made your cupcake too sweet. If you're a fan of the sour and zesty flavours, you'll happily enjoy this cupcake flavour because the lime just kicks in at every mouthful. However, if you have quite a sweet tooth but still want a little lime and coconut flavour, just add a little more sugar than suggested in my recipe. 

Topping off the cupcakes with a little toasted shredded coconut adds a little colour and a pretty decoration. And I did cheat a little with the buttercream by adding a drop or two of green food colouring just to get that faint lime colour going. 

Coconut and lime is a popular flavour combination, so if you've never tried it before, be sure to give it a go. Even though this is more a summery type of cupcake, March has proven to still be pretty hot so there's still time to make these citrusy and zesty cupcakes. 

Coconut and Lime Cupcakes

Ingredients

Cupcakes:

1/3 cup coconut meal

1/2 tsp baking powder

65g unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

2 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

125ml coconut cream (you can also use coconut milk instead if you prefer)

zest of 1/2 lime (however, add more/less depending on your taste)

Frosting

100g unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups icing sugar

1 tbsp coconut cream/coconut milk

Juice of 1 lime

Green food colouring

Toasted shredded coconut, for decoration

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a 12-hole muffin pan with cupcakes liners. Sift the coconut meal and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla.

With a rubber spatula, fold in half the coconut meal mixture and half the coconut cream until combined. Add in the remaining meal and cream mixture, mixing well. Fold in the lime zest.

Evenly distribute the mixture between the cupcake liners. Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden and cupcakes are cooked through. Remove from oven and stand in tray for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the frosting: Beat the butter with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Gradually beat in the sifted icing sugar, followed by the coconut cream and the lime juice. Add a drop or two of the green food colouring, beating the icing until just the right tint of green. If frosting is too runny, add a little more icing sugar.

To assemble: pipe frosting onto cooled cupcakes, then finish with a sprinkle of toasted shredded coconut.

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Madeleines

Hello, February... and almost March! It's about this time of the year where we venture into the season of autumn, which means summer is coming to an end (YAY!). It's around this time that also sort of signals that the year goes back to normal as the kids go back to school and the next public holiday (or set of holidays) isn't until April. February is also month where all things red and pink and lovey-dovey come out, which normally would make me cringe, except this year was a little different. I hope you all had a great Valentine's, whatever you did, whether it be a cheesy picnic date or you waited until the day after to get in on the discounted Valentine's chocolate. 

Anyways, moving on. I know, my last post featured a recipe containing raspberries, but hey, I don't get to use raspberries often so I figured I may as well make the most of the summery season and take advantage of these colourful berries which sort of disappear once the cooler weather hits. Since I haven't baked in a long time, I wanted to make something really simple and easy. And a few weeks ago, my manager at work kept talking about madeleines so they were stuck in my head for a while before I finally actually decided to bake them. Here I have Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Madeleines. 

As if I haven't already spoken about madeleines so many times. Just how many variations of one thing can you make? Pretty much as many as you can. Not too long ago I was in Kinokuniya Bookstore in Town Hall and someone wrote a cookbook filled with nothing else but madeleines. From a short flick of the book and skimming of pages, there were some pretty out there and interesting flavours that I never would have thought of creating with this little shell-shaped cake. It definitely gave me a little inspiration though in some of the other madeleines flavours I'll come up with in the future.  

On another note, I know there has been quite a bit of new stories about frozen berries containing harmful chemicals. So if you're turned off from baking these because of them, don't be. Fresh berries are still out there that are a lot better to use, even though I have been guilty of using frozen berries in a few of my desserts. If you still decide to use frozen berries, always be sure to wash them first before using them, just as you would with fresh fruits and vegetables. 

For this particular flavour, I originally thought of dipping the madeleines in either white chocolate or milk chocolate. Having already created a recipe using white chocolate and raspberries, I scraped that idea, and threw in just normal milk chocolate instead. I didn't even use actual chocolate chips, but that was my fault. I thought I still had my gigantic Costco bag of chocolate chips, but it turns out I ran out. So I improvised and chopped up whatever blocks of chocolate I did have and used them as 'chocolate chips'.

If I haven't already said it over and over again, madeleines are incredibly easy to make, I recommend everyone getting a hold of a tin for yourself. They should be a baking tin staple. Just like you need one muffin pan, one cookie tray and one springform tin, you need a madeleine tray. 

The flavour in this madeleine exerts something quite fresh, tangy, sweet and generous. In every bite you can get a bit of raspberry and chocolate, which in itself already makes an awesome combination, followed by a soft and spongey, buttery cake. Dusted with a little icing sugar, it makes the madeleines something quite lovely and elegant, perfect to serve if you ever have fancy guests coming over but don't have enough time to make something extravagantly fancy. But it's not like I have any fancy guests coming over, I just like making desserts fancy for my family, and that's basically the same thing. 

I guess it's safe to say that the year is moving quite quickly. So quickly that it's hard to believe that we're almost into the third month of 2015. I hope you're all having an incredible 2015 so far. I know that despite how quickly the year has progressed, I'm definitely looking forward to whatever else is in store for this year. Happy baking!

Raspberry and Chocolate Chip Madeleines

Ingredients

2 eggs

1/2 cup caster sugar

3/4 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g unsalted butter, melted

75g fresh raspberries

75g milk chocolate, roughly chopped

Icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan forced). Lightly grease a 12-hole madeleine pan with cooking oil spray. 

Whisk together the egg and caster sugar until combined. Fold in the plain flour, baking powder and butter until mixture comes together to form a smooth batter. Gently fold in the raspberry and chocolate until just combined.

Evenly distribute mixture between the prepared pan, filling each madeleine hole until two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown.

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Raspberry and White Chocolate Macarons

HAPPY BELATED CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR! *insert fireworks sound effects here* I realised it has literally been over a month since my last blog post, and I could sit here and apologise over and over again, except I'll probably end up not blogging about these macarons here. So I'm a bit late, but hey, we finally hit 2015. I don't know about you guys, but my 2014 turned out a lot different to what I had originally expected it to be. Nevertheless, I'm blessed with everything that did happen in 2014 and looking back, I wouldn't have it any other way. I guess that means I'll be entering 2015 with no huge expectations and just being thankful for whatever comes. A little spontaneity never hurt anyone. If I did have a resolution, I guess it should be that I should get back to regularly blogging as normal. A big shout out to all the food bloggers out there who have kept up with their blogs regularly. It's not that I lost motivation (I didn't!), it's just that life got busy, which is not a legitimate excuse, I know.

I'm starting off the new year with a favourite of dessert of mine: macarons. I miss making macarons, and since it is summer, berries are in season. I've made a few berry macarons from strawberry to blueberry, and so I needed a new berry flavoured macaron to add to the list. One particular flavour I've always wanted to combine was white chocolate and raspberry, and so the opportunity arose for me to test out the flavour in macaron form. Here's the result: a smooth plain coloured macaron with a vibrant purple white chocolate and raspberry filling. 

There were many different ways I could have gone with this flavour, and with the macarons appearance. I wanted the outside to be the plain white colour to represent the white chocolate and also to allow the inner raspberry filling to really stand out and be quite vibrant. I did originally want to decorate it with the stardust method, except not only did I run out of red food colouring, but I couldn't find the brush that I normally use to create the effect. Additionally, I have been guilty of making macaron shells crack before by using too much 'stardust', and I really couldn't risk doing that to this batch of macarons. I guess if I were to do this flavour again, I would try the stardust. I've always also wanted to use metallic powder to decorate my macarons, but I guess I will save that for another day. 

The filling for these macarons is a raspberry ganache. While it might probably be better to use fresh raspberries, I decided to use frozen ones just because I was going to puree the raspberries anyway. The raspberry and white chocolate filling offers an interesting combination of a tangy and sweet flavour. White chocolate is normally quite sweet, but pair it with the raspberry, and the sweetness of the white chocolate is cut with the freshness and slight tang of the raspberries.

Creating the ganache is quite simple. You simply puree the raspberries and cook it along with the cream until it's heated through. And like a normal ganache, you simply poor the raspberry cream mixture over the white chocolate and stir it around and cool it down until it is ready to be piped onto the macarons. I'm not entire sure why the colour ended up a magenta-like colour, although it could have something to do with the cooking of the raspberries. I will be honest, I did expect a more red colour than purple, but the macarons still turned out pretty well.  

I guess it's safe to say that my curiosity in wanting to find out how white chocolate and raspberry taste like together is fulfilled. That's one thing I can cross off my 'things to discover in 2015' list. That is, if I actually had that list! 

I wish everyone the best for the new year! Have an awesome one and keep eating dessert, because according to my mum, 'you need to eat sweets so you can be sweeter.' Happy 2015!

Raspberry and White Chocolate Macarons

Ingredients

1x quantity plain macaron shells

Filling

100g frozen raspberries

50g thickened cream

200g white chocolate

Method

Place the frozen raspberries in a small food processor and process until smooth and pureed.

Place the raspberry puree and thickened cream in a small saucepan over medium heat. Heat mixture until it begins to simmer.

Pour the chocolate into a small bowl. Once cream mixture is heated, pour over the chocolate, allow to set for a minute, then stir to combine until the mixture is smooth.

Refrigerate until ganache is firm and of spreadable consistency. 

Place ganache into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe onto half the macaron shells and sandwich together with the remaining shells. Refrigerate or serve immediately.

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Mulberry Yoghurt Cake

It's summer! *Insert some sort of cringing emoji here to represent me thinking about the endless sweat and heat we'll be experiencing over the next three months*. Just kidding! I do appreciate some things about summer, like the sunlight and how the sun doesn't set until later at night or the laundry drying pretty fast because of the heat. And berries! Summer is the best time to get into using fresh berries for dessert, pairing them with a bit of cream or ice cream, or even just eating them on their own. But let's be realistic from a baker's perspective - where is the fun in that?

Because it is summer, I try and restrain myself from using the oven often due to the heat that comes from it. So when I do decide to use the oven, I will do my best to make something simple and easy that requires less oven time. I have a container of mulberries sitting in the fridge just screaming to be used in some sort of dessert, and so, after much researching on exactly how I could incorporate these berries into a dessert, I settled on a really simple Mulberry Yoghurt Cake. I've never attempted a yoghurt cake before and since yoghurt seems to partner well with berries, I figured it would work nicely in cake form. After all, even though I could just eat the mulberries with the yoghurt on its own and just be healthy for once, my dessert-addict side seems to find a way to convince my brain to put everything in a cake. Of course I listened. 

Unlike other berries, mulberries grow on trees, and when they grow, they grow abundantly. Depending on the variety of mulberry you have, the darker it is, the better and riper it will be. As far as I know, these mulberries here that I've used in this cake are the black mulberries. And while they're delicious and tart in flavour, mulberries have a reputation for having juice that stains like crazy. Here's a heads up if you remove the stalks from your mulberries. Your fingers will turn purple. Mine did. Which means you should also avoid wearing a white shirt or a white apron.  

Originally I was thinking of how to incorporate these berries in the cake without actually having to destroy the shape of the berries. I wanted to keep them in their form because it would look prettier that way, but I learned that it's quite difficult when the mulberries are super ripe and you're trying to rip off the stalks, only to have the fruit crumble into smaller droplets in your hands. That explains why the mulberries only sit on the top of the cake. I did have a few nice ones though that kept their shape which was good. And because of the whole 'staining' thing, I decided not to mix them into the cake because I didn't want to end up with a purple cake. 

Making this cake is really easy, and the addition of the yoghurt adds an extra height of flavour and texture that can take an ordinary butter cake to a whole new level. On the outside, it does look like a normal butter cake, but on the inside, you're met with a crumbly, delicate, moist cake with a light, tangy and fresh flavour. 

The cake uses both plain and self-raising flour. If you don't have both, you can always use plain flour and add some baking powder, but I wouldn't suggest using all self-raising flour. While you want this cake to rise slightly, you don't want it to be overly aerated and light. The addition of the yoghurt gives the cake a good balance of fluffiness and density.

Personally, I didn't find this cake to be overly sweet, but it would all depend on the type of vanilla yoghurt you choose to use, and some people have experienced eating sweet yoghurt cakes for this reason. The vanilla yoghurt is used in place of using milk or buttermilk, which is why it gives the cake a slightly tangy flavour. This in itself would help to balance the sweetness. And of course, we can't forget the highlight of this cake - the mulberries. Keeping them on the top of the cake means you can appreciate the yoghurt flavour and texture of the cake while enjoying a little piece of mulberry at every spoonful. If you wanted to incorporate some mulberries into the actual cake as well, you can. Just be sure to drain it well so the juice doesn't colour the cake, and perhaps press the mulberries into the batter rather than folding them into the cake. 

A dusting of icing sugar always makes cakes look pretty. While the cake is delicious on its own (and even straight from the oven if you're too impatient to wait for it to cool), you can serve it alongside a dollop of extra yoghurt or whipped cream. This is a quick and simple cake to whip up, and would make an ideal treat for the upcoming summer weather we'll be having in Sydney. 

Enjoy the summer, Sydney! And if you have any other suggestions on how to use mulberries, don't forget to let me know! 

Mulberry Yoghurt Cake (adapted from Taste.com.au)

Ingredients

80g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup caster sugar

2 eggs

2/3 cup plain flour

2/3 cup self-raising flour

1/2 cup plain vanilla yoghurt

1 cup fresh mulberries, stalks removed

icing sugar, for dusting

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (160 fan-forced). Grease and line a 20cm springform cake pan with non-stick baking paper.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

In a separate bowl, sift the two flours together. Add half the flour and half the yoghurt into the mixture. Fold until well combined. Add the remaining flour and yoghurt, folding until all is incorporated. 

Pour batter into the prepared cake tin. Arrange and press mulberries over the top of the batter. Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven and allow to stand in pan for 10 minutes before transferring onto a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and serve. 

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse Tart

If there is one thing I do appreciate about the warmer weather, it's the joy of being able to take pictures of food as late as 7pm because the sun is still out. One of the struggles about taking food pictures during winter is the lack of natural lighting available during the day, which means that if I ever had to bake something, I would need to be done by at least 3pm to be able to still get good lighting. So as much as I ramble on about how much I prefer winter over summer, I do appreciate the extra daylight available for me to be able to take pictures. And even better, to take pictures outside and make use of the natural and simplistic look of food photography.

With that said, if you've ever had a fear of making cheesecakes, fear no more. Baked cheesecakes too heavy and filling for you? Be gone! Gelatine is your worse nightmare? Yeah, it's mine too which is why I avoid them. Whether you want to call this a 'cheats' way of making a cheesecake is up to you, yet making a cheesecake mousse pretty much gives the similar results to making the regular kind. The benefits of a cheesecake mousse? You get a lighter and fluffier cheesecake, less preparation and making time and literally half the effort. It's perfect if you're after a dessert you want to whip up in a short amount of time, and goes perfectly with any fruit or toppings you want. In my recipe, I've opted for freshly cut strawberries on top of a strawberry cheesecake mousse with a crumbly, chocolate shortcrust pasty tart shell. 

Anyway, moving on... I came across the idea to create a cheesecake mousse after a ridiculously hot Saturday afternoon. I wanted to 'bake' something without actually having to 'bake' it and use up the oven too much and since the only cheesecake I ever make is a baked cheesecake, I needed to find another alternative to creating the dish. Looking through my fridge, I found a bottle of thickened cream and thus sprouted the idea of a cheesecake mousse. It literally only took about 10-15 minutes to put the whole thing together.

You're probably thinking 'cream cheese' combined with 'thickened cream' does not exactly sound like it's going to turn out as a light cheesecake. Yep, it's full of dairy, but it's actually very light because of the way you basically put the two together. A cheesecake mousse requires only a few ingredients, mainly just sugar, cream cheese and thickened cream. The thickened cream is whipped to an aerated texture before being folded into the cream cheese mixture to add bubbles and create a light and fluffy dessert. It's different to most cheesecakes in the sense that gelatine or egg is often used to stabilise and solidify the dessert to keep it in tact, whereas a cheesecake mousse is a little more free form and can be enjoyed in its blob-like form. That is also another reason why mousses are served in glasses or dessert bowls rather than in a pie or tart form. You don't even have to refrigerate it for hours or overnight like you would do for a normal cheesecake.

For my cheesecake mousse, I decided to add strawberries and chocolate to give it a little extra flavour and vibrancy of colour. I made a strawberry coulis to add to the mousse as well as topped off the cheesecake with rows of fresh strawberries and a generous drizzle of melted milk chocolate. Originally I had planned to make a biscuit casing for my mousse, but decided against it because of the structure of mousse. I figured a tart case might actually still hold the mousse together, and I guess I've shown that it really did do that. Cutting the tart of course proved to deliver a different result, but nevertheless the cheesecake was delicious and light with a hint of strawberry and chocolate at every spoonful. 

Summer is coming, strawberries go on sale and cheesecake is my ultimate go-to dessert for the season. Trust me when I say this recipe is very easy and is a simple twist on a classic favourite.

Also, on another note, sorry for disappearing for a month! I can't believe I missed the whole month of October (actually, I had one post, but still!). I apologise greatly and promise I won't ever do that again!

Chocolate and Strawberry Cheesecake Mousse Tart

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry:

1 1/2 cups plain flour

1/4 cup icing sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

150g chilled unsalted butter, chopped 

1 egg, lightly beaten

Strawberry Coulis:

100g strawberries, chopped

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp caster sugar

Cheesecake Mousse:

250g cream cheese 

2/3 cup thickened cream

1/3 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1x quantity strawberry coulis

Strawberries and milk chocolate, for decoration

Method

To make the shortcrust pastry: Place the flour, icing sugar, cocoa powder into a large bowl and mix to combine. Rub the butter, piece by piece, into the flour mixture until all the butter is used and mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg and knead until mixture comes together to form a dough. If mixture is too dry, add a little water. Roll the dough into a ball and flatten to a disc. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease a rectangular tart pan with a removable base.

To make the strawberry coulis: Place strawberries, water and sugar into a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook until strawberries become syrupy. Remove from heat and set aside for 5 minutes to cool.

To make the cheesecake mousse: Place the cream cheese, icing sugar and vanilla extract into a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Place the thickened cream into another bowl and beat until whipped. Fold the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture, followed by the strawberry coulis, folding to aerate mixture and to create a light and fluffy texture. Refrigerate and set aside.

Roll out dough onto a lightly floured surface until 5mm thick. Line and press the pastry gently into the prepared pan. Blind bake for 15 minutes with dried beans or uncooked rice, then remove paper and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before assembling.

To assemble, remove tart case from the tin and place onto a serving board. Spoon cheesecake mousse into the case and top with freshly chopped strawberries and a drizzle of milk chocolate. Serve.

ENJOY! :D 

[katcakes-blog]

Mini Ube Macapuno Chiffon Cupcakes

Hello, I am still here! I apologise for my almost three-week disappearance, but things have been quite hectic lately. Like I mentioned in my previous post, so much has happened over the month of September and as much as I'd like to share with you all bits and pieces, I can't. Well, at least not yet. Anyways, I can tell you that September has been an awesome month so it was kind of sad to see it end as we stepped in October. Speaking of October, weather in Sydney has been crazy hot and it's not even summer yet. I'm not too sure how I will survive the heat this year, but thankfully I have a job where they like to blast the air-conditioning so it feels like winter.

Part of my September news has to do with these cupcakes I have prepared for this post (that's all I'm giving away!). I have moments in baking where I'm inspired to seek out recipes and flavours that take me back to my Filipino roots, and some of you may be familiar with ube as a Filipino specialty. Ube cake holds a special place in my heart as for every important birthday milestone in my life (1st, 18th and 21st), ube cake has been the cake of choice to celebrate with. So I finally worked up the courage to attempt to create my own version by incorporating the ube flavour into a chiffon cupcake mix and a sweet, silky buttercream frosting. Of course, you can't forget to top it off with some macapuno! 

Ube is actually referred to in the English term as 'Purple Yam', and I think I may have mentioned them in a few other posts where I've used ube. Basically, if you know what a yam is, you'll know that it is a root vegetable. It's different to Taro (which I'll save for another day), which is often what it is confused with due to its vibrant lavender colour. You're probably thinking, 'how can a yam be used as a dessert?'. In Filipino desserts, this particular purple yam is turned into a jam, therefore incorporates that sweetness and texture that changes the vegetable into a sweet delicacy in the Philippines.

With many ube desserts, you can't forget its partner, macapuno. Macapuno is the term used to describe young coconut or coconut sport, and often the flesh from macapuno is quite different to a regular coconut. Some say the flesh is a lot softer and flavour wise, is somewhat nutty. Incorporating into desserts, you'll notice a lot of Filipino's using strings of macapuno from a jar that is often cooked in a sugar syrup to give it that extra sweetness. This is what I've used for these cupcakes.     

I'll admit, my cupcakes aren't exactly as purple as I wanted them to be. And while the picture doesn't exactly do a good job at showing it, my batter was a soft lavender colour in which I added a drop of purple gel paste to give it that little extra colour. The frosting however was definitely as vibrant as I expected it. You will definitely need to add a little food colouring as the ube jam won't add a huge amount of colour to your cupcakes or your frosting. 

I've had many different varieties of ube cake, but one of my favourite cake textures is the chiffon cake. The fluffiness and lightness of the cake just makes it easy to eat and it's the perfect type of cake to use alongside buttercream frosting. It's also quite easy to consume a few cakes without realising it, seeing as the texture helps balances the sweetness of the frosting and the cake.  With my buttercream, I decided to make a whole-egg buttercream for that extra creaminess and silky, melt-in-the-mouth kind of icing. It's quite simple to make, it just requires a little more technical skill and patience than if you were to do a simple buttercream with icing sugar and butter. Of course, if you're pressed for time, that is the buttercream to use. With the buttercream I've used here, I simply whisked the egg and sugar together in a double boiler until the sugar dissolved and was hot enough to form a syrup like consistency. Then after beating to cool, I simply added the butter bit by bit, followed by a heap of ube jam for that ube flavour. To top it off, I just spooned over some chopped pieces of macapuno. I considered dusting the cupcakes with icing sugar, but I decided I didn't want anymore distractions from that ube purple colour. And ta-da, you have your very own miniature ube cupcake. 

Ube jam is my go-to ingredient for incorporating the flavour into the cake and frosting, yet many other people have used frozen ube or the powder form. I'm not too sure how that affects the cake or what you might need to change, although if you can't get your hands on ube jam, those are the other alternatives. If you use powder or frozen ube, let me know how they turned out because it would be interesting to compare the textures and flavours to discover which is best.

Happy October, everyone! Let's make this month just as good as September. 

Mini Ube Macapuno Chiffon Cupcakes (cake recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly)

Ingredients

Cupcakes: 

3/4 cup self-raising flour

1/2 tbsp cornflour

1/4 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup ube jam

50ml vegetable oil

2 eggs, separated

1/4 cup caster sugar, extra

Buttercream:

2 eggs

1/2 cup caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

225g unsalted butter, cubed

1/3 cup ube jam

Macapuno, sliced into small pieces, for decoration

Method

Cupcakes:

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius. Line a 24-hole mini muffin pan with mini paper cases. Set aside.

Sift the flour, cornflour and 1/4 cup caster sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the ube jam, oil and egg yolks and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the egg whites and beat with an electric mixture on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the extra 1/4 cup caster sugar into the egg whites, continuously beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form.

Divide batter between prepared paper cases. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes or until cupcakes are well browned and firm to touch. Do not insert a skewer to test the cake or it may collapse (also avoid opening the oven door to check the cupcakes as this too can cause the cakes to collapse). 

Remove cupcakes from oven and stand in tin for 5 minutes to cool. Transfer cupcakes to a tray and cool completely before icing.

Buttercream: 

Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla into a metal bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk until ingredients are combined. 

Place mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water to form a double boiler. Whisk continuously over the steaming water until the eggs reach 70-71 degrees Celsius on a candy thermometer. 

Once mixture reaches temperature, take off heat and beat on medium-high for five minutes, allowing mixture to cool. 

Reduce speed to low and add butter, one at a time, into the mixture. Allow 10 seconds before adding the next piece. Continue to add butter into the mixture until all the butter has been incorporated.

Once all butter has been mixed in, add the ube jam and continue to run the mixer until the mixture turns smooth and silky.

To assemble: 

Place the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a 1M nozzle. Pipe onto each cooled cupcake and top with a small spoonful of macapuno. Serve. Keep frosted cupcakes refrigerated. 

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake

Happy birthday to my dear mum! Actually, her birthday was last Friday, but thanks to our weekend of festivities, I wasn't able to upload a picture or recipe of her cake. So here it is. Thanks mum for everything, including being the person to always make an effort to try and eat everything I make. That's love right there. 

It's been a super long time since I have decorated a cake for an occasion. I think the last cake I ever made was the Pikachu Cake that I made for my brother's birthday, and that was all the way in January. It feels good to be able to spend hours decorating a cake. And there are plenty of reasons to celebrate with a cake like this: the start of spring, September being an awesome month so far (I WENT AND SAW BOYCE AVENUE LIVE AT ENMORE THEATRE! Any other BA fans out there?), the beautiful sunshine and a whole lot of other things that if I listed them all, I'd be here all day.

Of course, celebrations only get better when there's chocolate cake involved. One of the exciting things I love about cake is that you always want to find out what the inside looks like. Yeah sure, the frosting might be chocolate, but the inside might actually be vanilla. And vice versa. I wanted that sort of reaction from my cake. So I created a silky, sweet caramel frosting to completely cover a dark, solid chocolate cake. I guess my chocolate drizzle gives away the chocolate component. Nevertheless, here's my Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake. 

It's been a long time since I've made just a simple chocolate cake. Mostly because I usually run out of decorating techniques or flavour options. However, I knew that I haven't tried the chocolate and salted caramel cake combination just yet, so I thought I'd give it a go.

There were two ways for this cake to go. Either I went a salted caramel cake and decorated it with chocolate fudge frosting. Or I would create a chocolate cake with caramel frosting. On personal preferences, I thought a salted caramel frosting would be more enticing and would contrast nicely against the chocolate cake. 

For the chocolate cake recipe, I turned to Donna Hay for a little help. I didn't want a rich chocolate mud cake at the risk of the cake being too indulgent and too heavy that no one would eat it (in all honesty, that's my biggest fear when it comes to baking. There have been numerous times I've done that, and I just feel sooo bad that I've made it too sweet). So I found a simple chocolate cake that looked like the type of texture I was going for. However, the original recipe required three cups of caster sugar, which took me back for a second because I really didn't want to have to put that much sugar into the cake on account of the salted caramel frosting I was going to use. I took a risk and decided to just half the sugar amount, hoping it wouldn't have an effect on the cake itself. Luckily, the cake still turned out fine and the sweetness was just right.

Originally, I wanted to create layers in the cake and insert some frosting in the middle as well. Unfortunately, I don't have a small enough springform cake to be able to do that, and my cake failed to rise around the sides, but did an incredible job in the middle. So I just kept it at its size and abandoned the thought of a layer cake. And after I chopped off the excess cake peak, there was no way I would be able to slice the cake in half evenly.

The pressure point with this cake is the icing. I have probably mentioned it many times before when trying to make a caramel frosting. There is a chance your icing could split. And trust me, you're probably going to want to give up and throw it away, but I'm telling you, I have managed to save my icing numerous times with just a little patience and a stand mixer. I'm telling you, I whipped my icing for about an hour (okay, maybe not that long, but it felt like an hour) until I got it to this silky consistency. I have not yet figured out a recipe for caramel frosting that won't split (unless you make an egg-based buttercream) so until I do, I'll just stick with this recipe that I've been using. When you see that weird, grainy consistency, just keep going. Keep going until your icing looks pale. Keep going until you don't see the graininess anymore and it starts to look just like whipped butter.

Finish off the cake with whatever and however you want. I decided to pipe a ruffled border around the edges of my cake and a messy drizzle of melted dark chocolate. 

So what have you celebrated this September? Or what will you be celebrating over the next few months? If you're looking for a simple yet delicious cake to celebrate with, give this one a try. Salted caramel and chocolate make a great combination. And this cake isn't too sweet either.

Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake (cake recipe adapted from Donna Hay's Chocolate Buttermilk Layer Cake) 

Ingredients

Cake:

1 1/2 cups water

190g unsalted butter, chopped

1/2 cup cocoa powder

3 cups plain flour

1 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

3 eggs

3/4 cup milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

dark chocolate, melted, for decoration

Icing:

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

200g salted butter, separated into two sets of 100g, chopped

300ml thickened cream

2 cups icing sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease a line a deep, 20cm springform tin with baking paper. Set aside.

Place the water, butter and cocoa powder in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted and mixture is combined.

Place the flour, bicarb soda and caster sugar in a large bowl. Add the cocoa mixture and whisk together to combine. Whisk in the eggs, milk and vanilla extract.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake in the oven for 60-70 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Remove from oven, stand for 5 minutes, then turn over onto a wire rack to cool completely. 

To make the icing: place the caster sugar into a medium saucepan over low heat. Allow to caramelise. Whisk sugar until completely melted, remove from heat, then add 100g of the salted butter, one block at a time, mixing after each addition until combined. Add all the cream and stir to incorporate. Transfer to a stainless steel bowl and place in the fridge to cool completely.

Once caramel has cooled, transfer to a bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk caramel until it is light and soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining butter and icing sugar. Continue beating until icing forms a silky, soft, butter-like consistency (this can take up to 30 minutes.)

To assemble: Trim the top of the cake and turn it over onto a serving plate. Spread the cake with the frosting and add ruffled borders using a 1M tip. Drizzle the melted dark chocolate over the top of the cake. Serve.

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Magnum Pleasure Pop-up Store, Westfield Sydney

Calling all ice-cream lovers! The beloved Magnum Pop-up Store has found its place back in Westfield Sydney again, following its popularity from its first launch just last year. I was so upset when I missed out last year, and after spending a day in the CBD, I finally got the chance to get my hands on a self-designed Magnum ice-cream. And it's not even summer yet (not that you need to wait for summer to eat ice-cream). 

Normally I don't start my blog posts with the final product, but I'm changing things up a bit with this post because it's not going to be like my regular reviews (I actually think I'll be writing more about the experience and the indulgence. Hence the first person narrative). 

Not too long ago, fellow food blogger Maggie posted her experience on the Melbourne Magnum Pop-up Store and I was salivating at her awesome and delicious ice-cream pictures and I actually thought that I had missed out on the Sydney store. Then a few pictures popped up all over the Internet and I realised that the Sydney pop-up store was still around. So when the posters were around Westfield Sydney advertising how the pop-up store would only be around for a limited time, I knew I had to visit it before it was too late.  

The hype circulating this sweet indulgence basically comes from the experience that customers are involved in when it comes to visiting the store. Magnum offers six steps in designing and indulging in your very own ice-cream, and although the price is twice as much as what you would spend if you had just bought an ordinary Magnum, it's all about the experience and the sharing that makes it all exciting and worth it. 

The fun (and equally difficult) part of making and designing your Magnum is choosing the toppings. Out of a possible 18 choices, you have to pick 3-4, which for some people is really easy, but for others it's like choosing what one topping to put on froyo. I was one of those people who struggled to decide what toppings to sprinkle over my ice-cream, but I definitely went 'sickly sweet'. 

All the toppings offer a hint of texture, extra flavour and a little indulgence to intensify your ice-cream experience. If you're after an ice-cream with crunch, go with the roasted nuts, the biscuit crumbles or even the pretzels. If you want to balance the flavours to avoid the 'sickly sweetness', try the dried strawberries, diced pineapple, coconut flakes or the blackberry chips. And if you're after a chocolate overload, pick anything that screams chocolate. 

Toppings from top to bottom, left to right - roasted almonds, roasted pistachios, roasted cashews, roasted hazelnuts, honeycomb pieces, dark cookie chunks. 

Toppings from top to bottom, left to right - rose petals, vanilla crumble, white vermicelli, salted pretzels, dried strawberries, mocha chips, mixed chocolate crispearls, diced pineapples. 

After placing your order and choosing your toppings, they are spooned into a cocktail shaker and shaken to mix the toppings together. Your naked ice-cream is dipped into your selected coating, in which your toppings are then tossed over the top of the ice-cream and drizzled with your choice of either dark or milk chocolate to set it altogether. As if that wasn't enough chocolate, at the end of your ice-cream designing, you choose either a milk or white chocolate Magnum button to complete the look.   

With my Magnum design, I settled with a white chocolate coated Magnum, topped with roasted pistachios, vanilla crumble, milk chocolate flakes and honeycomb pieces, drizzled with milk chocolate and finished with a milk chocolate button.

Pistachios are my favourite nut and I wanted to create an ice-cream that was full of texture because I knew how creamy and soft the ice-cream would be. That also explains the honeycomb and the vanilla crumble, but the additional milk chocolate flakes scattered over the top was clearly for indulgence. As I mentioned, it was incredibly sweet yet worth it for anyone who loves ice-cream and chocolate immensely. 

Sydney's Magnum Pop-up Store will be opened until October 19, so if you haven't made a visit to the pop-up store, get moving! The cost is $8.00 for an ice-cream and while that might seem a bit pricey for some, it's an opportunity and experience that you don't get to do very often. Happy 25 years, Magnum!

The Magnum Pleasure Pop-up Store is located on Level 2 inside Westfield Sydney. 

[katcakes-blog]

Ensaymada

Hello spring! Winter has officially ended and now comes the season of floral patterns and pastel looks. When it comes to the fashion and retail world, spring is usually one of my favourite seasons to dress up in because it's the time for chiffon, light pinks and creams. Anyway, on the topic of spring, you'd think that after two or so weeks of non-stop raining and the sun finally out, I would enjoy the lovely spring weather. Except no. I unfortunately got sick again because of the weather and now I'm sitting at home drinking a whole lot of water to stop me from going into a coughing fit. 

So moving on... For this post, I wanted to go back to my Filipino roots and make a common Filipino treat. Some weekends, my family and I have Pandesal and Ensaymada for breakfast, and so I was inspired to try and make my own version of the sugary brioche-like buns that we Filipinos have. Just like brioche, they're fluffy and golden yellow, buttery and sweet all at once. Read on for the recipe and a little background information on just what makes these sweet bread rolls a delicious treat.

You see, with the Spanish ensaimada, the fat ingredient that is used in the dough is actually lard. According to my resources (ahem, wiki), the 'saim' in ensaimada is a Catalan word meaning 'pork lard.' While both the Filipino and Spanish versions of the pastry use similar basic ingredients like flour, egg and sugar, I guess the spelling of the word also comes down to not just the pronunciation, but also the fat ingredient that is used in making it. The Filipino version of ensaymada uses butter and not lard. That's not to say that 'saym' is the Filipino word for butter. I can't remember what the word for butter is. I don't even know if I've actually heard the word for butter.

Filipino ensaymada has three very distinct features that make it what it is: a yellow, fluffy bread texture, a generous coating of granulated sugar and a topping of grated cheese. There are plenty of versions of ensaymada that I've had that don't have cheese on top. As a personal preference, I actually would rather just the sugar and no cheese.  But to keep in pace with trying to be traditional, I topped a few of my rolls with cheese and some without. 

Now, if I have to admit, my dough was not as fluffy as I hoped it would be. And that was entirely because I must've done something with my yeast and my dough didn't rise as well as it should have, so my bread was slightly heavy and dense rather than light and fluffy. I'll still provide the recipe for you all to try since I adapted it from a few several recipes and articles I read on ensaymada, but I will give it a go during the warmer season to help the dough rise a bit better. Like I said, it's been raining all week and the cold does not help with any bread making whatsoever. 

Ensaymada is literally just like brioche. Some recipes call for using just egg yolks in order to really bring out the yellow of the dough, while some substitute for a heap of butter. Once the dough has come together nicely, it's rolled out and spiralled in a snail like motion and placed into individual brioche tins (or in my case, a muffin pan). In my particular recipe, I used a lot of butter instead of the egg yolk option because I wasn't planning on making macarons any time this week to use up the egg whites.

Rolling out the dough for this pastry is a lot different to what I'm used to when it comes to rolling dough in general. With cinnamon rolls, you roll the entire ball of dough into a log and cut up up into individual pieces. This gives it this nice, flat, spiralled surface. With ensaymada, the bread peaks slightly so it kind of looks like a spiralled muffin. You divide the dough into individual sizes first, then roll it into a snake before rolling it up into a snail and fitting it nicely into your prepared tray. Once it's baked, let it cool slightly, then smother it in some more butter, dip it into some sugar and generously sprinkle the tops with grated cheese (unless you're like me and you don't want the cheese).

Baking this ensaymada made me remember the delicious treats I ate at Goldilocks and Red Ribbon when I spent some time in the Philippines earlier this year. Even though I can easily buy some here in Sydney, it's always a good feeling to be able to get in touch with your heritage and culture and try to recreate the pastries of that place.

Have a suggestion for what Filipino treat I should make next? Leave a comment below or shoot me a message! Until then, enjoy spring!

Ensaymada (recipe adapted from The Australian Gourmet Traveller August 2013 and The Goldilocks Bakebook) 

Ingredients

2/3 cup lukewarm milk

1x 7g sachet dried yeast

3 cups plain flour

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 tsp salt

3 large eggs

200g unsalted butter, softened

Topping

50g creamed unsalted butter

1/3 cup caster sugar

1/3 cup grated cheese

Method

Place the yeast and 1/3 cup of the milk into a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Stand for 5-10 minutes until foamy. 

In the bowl of an electric mixer with a dough hook attachment, place the flour, sugar and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated. 

Add the yeast mixture and eggs. Beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes until combined. Add the butter and continue beating until dough forms, about 4-5 minutes.

Knead dough until slightly smooth. Roll into a ball and transfer to another greased bowl and cover with plastic. Allow the dough to stand for 45 minutes to an hour until it has doubled in size.

Grease a 12-hole muffin tray (or 12 individual brioche moulds). Punch dough down and divide into 12 even pieces. Roll the dough into a long rod, approximately 20cm in length. Loosely coil the rod into a snail shape and place into prepared muffin tray. Repeat with remainder of dough. 

Set dough aside for an hour and allow to double in size. 

Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Bake the dough for 15-20 minutes until golden in colour and cooked through. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

Remove from muffin tin and the tops with the creamed butter. Dip each roll into the sugar and top with grated cheese. Serve.

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Lemon Chiffon Cake

So the other week my friends and I were lounging around eating pizza and junk food and out of the grocery bag, my friends pull out this fluffy, green pandan chiffon cake. It was this rectangular loaf of vibrant green and spongey goodness that was incredibly soft when you took a bite out of a piece of the cake. Having not had a chiffon cake for so long, eating this pandan cake reminded me that it was time for me to get my sponge cake making skills back on the blog and in the kitchen. 

I absolutely adore chiffon cakes. To me, they're the only type of sponge cake that I actually appreciate and would happily eat without icing, without ice cream or without any additional toppings. To me, chiffon cakes are best eaten and best made when they use very simple flavours because the real feature apart from its flavour is its fluffy and soft interior. Thus, with that in mind, I decided to try and replicate my favourite sponge cake with this Lemon Chiffon Cake, which adds a good lemon punch to this delicate cake. 

Anyway, so after all these chiffon cake encounters, I decided to try a Lemon flavoured version because we still have plenty of lemons in our fridge and I am still refusing to give into family pressure and make a lemon meringue pie. The last time I made something really fluffy, aerated and delicate like this was probably last year when I made a Japanese Cheesecake for a Baking Society meeting. No, this lemon chiffon cake is no cheesecake. Although, I have to admit, it kind of looks like one from aerial view. 

Normally chiffon cakes are made with a baba tin or bundt-like tin. Whether it is a fluted or plain sided baba tin, it just gives the cake a little more aesthetics without actually having to add extra ingredients. Unfortunately I don't have a baba tin, but this cake serves as a reminder that the next time I go utensil shopping, I'll have to add that onto my list. I just used a plain springform cake pan. 

One of the complicated and annoying things about making any sort of sponge cake is the incorporating of egg whites with the rest of the cake batter. The trick is to somehow figure out a way to combine the mixtures thoroughly without knocking out too much air from the egg whites and without being too rough or heavy-handed. You'll know if you've mixed the batter too much when your cake doesn't rise much, it's not as light and fluffy as it should be and you get random egg white air pockets (that is, if you haven't actually mixed it enough). I did expect my cake to be a lot thicker and whether or not that has something to do with the size of my tin, I can say that I probably mixed it a bit more than I should have as my cake wasn't as soft and fluffy as I wanted it to be. Don't get me wrong; the cake was still very spongey. I just wish it was softer.

One last additional factor about making chiffon cakes has to do with the actual greasing and lining of the baking tin. After researching and looking at different recipes, I discovered that many recipes DO NOT grease or line their baking pans. EEEP. It freaked me out a little because not greasing the pan is my absolute baking pet peeve and here I am not greasing my pan because that's what I'm told to do. The reason for that is because you want the cake to actually stick to the pan which will help it to rise higher in the baking process. Greasing the pan, as mentioned by many of the recipes, stops this from happening because the grease prevents the cake from clinging to the tin (which is why we grease our pans in the first place).

At first I was a bit weary about this rule, but I took a risk and tried it anyway, crossing my fingers and hoping it wouldn't be such a task to have to get my cake out of the tin. Thankfully, my cake turned out fine. Sure, some of the outer crumb stuck to the tin and left the exterior of my cake looking patchy, but that was something that a heavy dusting of icing sugar would easily fix. Next time, I might actually try lining it with baking paper to see if it would produce the same result but make the cake look a little more complete.  

For a cake that looks so simple and appears to look like not a lot of hard work is put into it, it's actually one of those cakes that fools the eye. There's a lot more technical skill and patience that goes into making a chiffon cake, but once you get it right, it's all rewarding at the end when you slice into the cake and take a bite into it's delicious and fluffy texture. 

Lemon Chiffon Cake (recipe adapted from The Australian Women's Weekly)

Ingredients

1 cup self-raising flour

1 tbsp cornflour

1/4 cup caster sugar

juice and grated zest of 1-2 lemons (depending on your taste. I used one and a half)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, separated

1/3 cup caster sugar, extra

Method

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celsius.

Sift the flour, cornflour and 1/4 cup caster sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the lemon zest, juice, oil and egg yolks and beat on medium speed for 1-2 minutes or until mixture is smooth. Set aside.

In another bowl, add the egg whites and beat with an electric mixture on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the extra 1/3 cup caster sugar into the egg whites, continuously beating until sugar is dissolved and stiff peaks form.

Using a spatula, gently fold egg whites into the cake mixture, one-third at a time, until mixture is combined. Do not beat. 

Pour the batter into an ungreased 20cm round springform tin and bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until cake is well browned and firm to touch. Do not insert a skewer to test the cake or it will collapse.

Remove the cake and stand for 1-2 minutes. Run a flat-blade knife around the edge of the cake to loosen. Invert the cake into a wire rack and remove the sides of the tin. Repeat with the base of the tin.

Place the cake onto a serving plate and dust generously with icing sugar. Serve. 

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Paper Plane Cafe, Parramatta

Away from Parramatta's main food hotspot sits a quaint little boutique cafe on the small, quieter Horwood Place. It's decor follows the trends circulating cafe establishments over the year, with iced tea served in mason jars, hues of blue and green and dishes served on wooden boards. Paper Plane Cafe is a new addition to Parramatta's Cafe scene, having opened up in early 2014. 

Despite having been opened for a few months, the cafe appears to have a promising future ahead of them. The premises has both indoor and outdoor seating, with both areas well decorated with trendy, corner-street cafe decor. Black chalkboards with coloured chalk writing sprawled across and raw wood seem to be the main features of Paper Plane. 

The raw wood continues inside the cafe with floor boards spread across the establishment and a tall wooden shelf stretching upwards from behind the counter. More chalkboards are pressed up against the back wall, offering a list of breakfast specials to all day breakfast items to their lunch dishes. One particular chalkboard features a 'tip tally', which is a fun tipping concept Paper Plane developed. 

Upon entering the cafe, the cool, grey wall is decorated with a white picket fence and a black bench propped with a stack of books and the daily newspaper. Yet vintage and trendy doesn't stop there with Paper Plane. A steel-framed bicycle sits in front of the counter with lovely pot plants attached around it. 

Paper Plane offers Numero Uno coffee, poured into adorable bright blue coffee cups. Whichever cup you're in the mood for - cappuccino, flat white or latte - rest assured you'll be served with a delicious smooth coffee that produces a strong, roasted aroma. This Picasso coffee blend supplied by Numero Uno, along with the generous cafe style dishes, landed Paper Plane in this year's Sydney Morning Herald Good Cafe Guide. 

A small Flat White decorated with a heart - $3.50

Frothy Cappuccino dusted with cocoa - $3.50

Milky and creamy Latte in a glass - $3.50

Of course, a trip to Paper Plane Cafe with a cup of coffee is not complete without a breakfast meal. If you happen to arrive after eleven o'clock and miss out on the breakfast specials, have no fear as Paper Plane is fixed with an all day breakfast menu, perfect for anyone stopping over for brunch. 

A wholesome savoury breakfast item is the Honey Glazed Bacon and Eggs on Organic Sourdough ($8.50). Two thin slices of sourdough are lightly toasted on either side and served underneath meaty rashers of honey glazed bacon. Completing the open sandwiches are crispy sunny-side-up eggs, seasoned well with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. This is an ideal breakfast treat for bacon and egg lovers, with the bacon exerting a hint of sweetness to compliment its saltiness.  

Have eggs cooked your way by ordering what Paper Plane literally call Eggs "Your Way" ($7.00). Served with organic sourdough toast, you can create your own eggy breakfast with your choice of either poached, scrambled or sunny-side-up eggs. If you're after any extras with your meal, you can add other sides to finish off your breakfast. 

With these particular eggs, we've ordered them scrambled with a slice of sourdough cut in half. If the orange plate it is served on isn't vibrant enough, the sunny yellow eggs are cooked perfectly with a pinch of salt and pepper add even more colour to work up the appetite. 

Those with a sweet tooth and a preference for a sweet breakfast will happily indulge in this generous french toast dish. Paper Plane's golden French Toast ($8.00) is topped with a spread of vibrant red rhubarb compote, a dollop of french vanilla custard and finished with a decoration of crushed pistachios and fresh strawberry slices. Extra flavour and spice is added with the additional dusting of both icing sugar and cinnamon to finish off the dish.

These three slices of soft french toast will surely fill you up and makes for a fun and exciting breakfast treat through its bold colours and flavours. The combination of the sweet rhubarb compote with the acidity of the strawberries offers a delicate freshness that cuts through the creamy vanilla custard and crushed pistachios. Paper Plane's French Toast delivers something both home-style and elegant, and definitely something that can be shared or served for one. 

Since it is a breakfast and lunch cafe, Paper Plane opens from morning to the afternoon, so it is ideally a good stop over if you're catching up with a few friends over brunch. Its location makes it a peaceful area to sit comfortably and focus on soaking in the delicious food and aromatic coffee without the disturbances of the rush of busy people on the street. You'll feel a warm welcoming feeling as you step inside this vintage and trendy cafe that after a visit to Paper Plane for breakfast, you'll be back again to try their lunch menu and then perhaps visit a few more times before they become your regular cafe. 

Paper Plane Cafe

Shop 5/2 Horwood Place Parramatta, NSW 2150

Visit their website at: https://www.facebook.com/cafepaperplane

[katcakes-blog]

Strawberry Madeleines

It's funny how when you're sick, you start to crave things that you probably wouldn't normally eat if you were healthy. Take me and tea for example. I love coffee so much that I avoid tea unless I'm really sick and for some reason, tea tastes surprisingly delicious during this time. I was drinking black tea with honey and lemon and it was like the best thing ever. Even better than coffee. I feel really bad for saying that.

Well, after I got sick, so did my mum and she started to crave all sorts of fruits, one being strawberries. With two punnets in the fridge, I decided to take a few strawberries and use them in my baking.

So I didn't get very creative this round of baking, but I've wanted to try and incorporate the strawberry flavour into madeleines. Plus, madeleines are incredibly easy to make (as I say every time I do make them) so I knew it wouldn't be difficult to try and figure out how to put them in the batter.

Texturally, the madeleines are still the same. It still has that delicious, soft, buttery flavour like a small tea cake and in between each bite, you get a small piece of strawberry. It's so easy to keep eating them one after the other because of how small they are. It's just like eating mini muffins, but in a cute shell shape.  

Numerous times I have used strawberries in baking, the cake batter tends to end up quite dense and heavy. I would say it's probably from the liquid and the juice of the strawberries. But I've managed to figure out how to still have a fluffy and light cake despite the pureed strawberries.

I decided to make a strawberry coulis so that the strawberries will become a little more syrupy and less juicy to ensure the cake isn't too dense. Usually when I make a strawberry coulis, I strain the juice to remove the pulp and keep the syrup. However, this time, I kept the pulp as planned. If you prefer the madeleines without pulp, you can always choose to remove it and keep the syrup only.  

Of course after you make your madeleines, you have to dust it with icing sugar for a little decoration. And icing sugar makes things look pretty. 

Now I have to think of new madeleine flavours. And perhaps get a little more creative as well with them. I might try the whole 'dipped in chocolate type of thing' because that looks really cool. If you have any suggestions, let me know! 

Strawberry Madeleines

Ingredients

Batter:

2 eggs

1/2 cup caster sugar 

3/4 cup plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

50g unsalted butter, melted

Icing sugar, for dusting

Coulis:

100g strawberries, chopped

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp water

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C (160 fan forced). Lightly grease a 12-hole madeleine pan with cooking oil spray. 

To make the strawberry coulis: place strawberries, sugar and water in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Cook for five minutes until sugar is dissolved and mixture becomes syrupy. Set aside to cool.

Whisk together the egg and caster sugar until combined. Fold in the plain flour, baking powder, butter and strawberry coulis until mixture comes together to form a smooth batter.

Evenly distribute mixture between the prepared pan, filling each madeleine hole until two-thirds full. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked through and golden brown. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

ENJOY! :D

[katcakes-blog]

Hazelnut and Nutella Skillet Brownies

Okay, so lately I've been craving brownies because one time I was scrolling through my tumblr dashboard and for some reason, every single food blog I'm following on here was uploading pics of brownies AT THE SAME TIME. I don't know if that was some sort of sign to convince me to make brownies, but hey, it worked and here I've finally satisfied my brownie craving with an individual skillet serving. 

On that note, my lovely friends gifted me with a set of four mini skillet pans for graduation. They came with pre-made packets of chocolate chip cookies and brownies, but I decided to test my own recipe to see if it would work. I've always wanted to use a skillet pan for baking, and now I finally have my own set to use. 

There is nothing like taking your favourite chocolate brownie recipe and dressing it up with familiar flavours and ingredients like Nutella and Hazelnuts. Part of coming up with this combination for the brownies was all a result of the inspiration that popped up on my Tumblr feed. A drizzle of Nutella and the scattering of hazelnuts over the top makes this individual skillet brownie hard to split between two, despite the 'shared' serving suggestion. 

The thing about cast-iron skillets is the maintenance. We used to own a sizzling hot plate and after the first use, the hot plate was still useable. My dad seasoned it with a thin coat of oil, just as the instructions said. The second time we used it, we forgot to dry it after washing it so it rusted really bad. And the rust was so bad, there was really no way we could use this hot plate again. So we ended up buying another one.

While this post is a recipe for my skillet brownies, let me just give you some advice as well with using your skillet pan (if this is the first time you're using it). Be careful when you clean it. There are different methods of cleaning, but if you decide to do the whole hot soapy water method like me, make sure you dry it off completely right after you wash it, then coat the skillet with a thin layer of oil. This is all about maintaining durability and preventing rust from forming. 

This brownie recipe is really easy and straightforward. It's similar to a lot of those one-bowl cake recipes you see floating around, except in this recipe, I make everything in one pot to avoid excess washing up. Simply melt the chocolate, butter and the sugar together, and once it's cooled down, just throw in your egg and flour and hey presto, you have brownie batter. Divide it between your skillet pans and go crazy with the drizzling of Nutella and sprinkling of hazelnuts, and you're pretty much done. Ten minutes tops. Plus another ten to bake it. Easy.   

If you're a huge fan of fudgy, rich brownies, this probably won't be your favourite textured brownie, if I do say so myself. The shallow dish of the skillet pan and the small individual size means that the brownies cook a lot quicker than usual brownies. Skillet pans also heat up very quickly, so that's something to take into consideration. The texture of this brownie is pretty crispy on the outside, with a cake to cookie-like interior. It still has that rich chocolate flavour, and the addition of Nutella and hazelnuts makes it that much more guilty.  

If you have one big skillet pan, you can use that instead of making individual ones. I like to serve my brownies with a scoop (in my case, a quenelle) of ice cream to just cut the richness. These brownies are best served straight out of the oven. Just be careful when taking them out that you avoid placing your bare hands on the iron handle. If you want to reheat them, just put them back in the hot oven for no more than five minutes or you'll end up overcooking the brownie.

Winter is starting to disappear. It's making me a little sad. 

I'm not too sure what else I can use a skillet pan for apart from brownies and cookies, so if you have any suggestions, let me know!

Hazelnut and Nutella Skillet Brownies

Ingredients

65g unsalted butter

100g semi-sweet dark chocolate

1/4 cup caster sugar

1 egg

1 cup plain flour, sifted

2 tbsp Nutella

1/4 cup roughly chopped hazelnuts

Ice cream, to serve

Method

Preheat the oven to 160C. Grease four individual-sized cast iron skillet pans.

Place butter, chocolate and caster sugar into a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir to allow ingredients to melt and combine Once melted and smooth, remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes. 

Add the egg, mixing well with a wooden spoon until mixture comes together and appears smooth. Mix in the sifted flour.

Evenly distribute batter between the skillet pans. Pipe or drizzle some Nutella over the top of each brownie, then sprinkle generously with hazelnuts. Place into the oven for 10 minutes or until cooked through and a skewer inserted into the centre of the brownie comes out clean. 

Remove from oven and serve immediately with a scoop of ice cream.

ENJOY! :D 

[katcakes-blog]

Nok Nok Thai Eating Place, Darling Harbour

There is something delightful about being able to sit and dine in among the restaurants stretching across the timber walk-boards located along Darling Quarter. Whether it be overlooking onto the people bustling on the pavements or the children playing opposite you on the playground, the energy around these open restaurant and cafes create an uplifting vibe and excitement influencing your decision to dine in. 

Among these restaurants is the modern Nok Nok Thai Eating House. It captures the attention of hungry customers with its bold characteristics of vibrant sun yellow walls and mirrors pressed up against all sides of the restaurant. From the floor to the top of the high ceiling, these mirrors are pressed with a repeated marble white diamond frame for extra visual aesthetics, where you'll often catch yourself staring at your reflection as you admire these cut-outs. 

The seating inside and the remainder of the restaurant's atmosphere is constructed with a modern feel rather than one traditionally decorated with the typical Thai elements. A slight nature vibe is spread across the interior with pot plants dangling from above the booth seating and small trees sprouting from the centre of the picnic-style marble table that stretches down the middle of the restaurant. Leather brown seats contrast the sleek white interior, alongside the pops of leafy green again to reflect this natural ambience of the restaurant. Nok Nok welcomes both indoor and outdoor seating, with arrangements available for all group sizes. 

Start off our three-course meal with Nok Nok's Thai Dumplings ($9.90). This four-piece serving features a home-made steamed chicken and prawn filling encased inside a delicate egg wanton pastry. Steamed to reach its juicy and succulent texture, the wanton dumplings are then garnished with a generous topping of crunchy and golden chopped garlic, before it is finished with a soy vinaigrette on the side.

The familiar Asian flavours arise at each bite of these dumplings as each bite is met with a splash of the salty and slightly spicy vinaigrette and a few crunchy pieces of the garlic topping. The amount of garlic spooned over the dumplings can overpower the other flavours, so try to divide the garlic as you cut into each of the wanton dumplings. 

A specialty on the Nok Nok entree menu is the Nok Tod ($12.90), otherwise known as Deep Fried Quail. This delicate game bird is prepared with a flavour packed marinade of garlic, coriander root, pepper, soy sauce and coriander seed. Deep fried to a perfect crisp, the dish is garnished with a sprinkle of crunchy, chopped garlic and a side of Sri ra hot chilli sauce. 

You can expect to devour this quail like you would for ribs - messy and with your hands. But holding the wingettes between your index fingers and thumbs is part of the experience, where some of the sticky, charred marinade is left behind for some finger-licking goodness. Despite my Asian heritage, I'm not one for using my hands to eat in public. Yet there is no way to properly eat this quail and manoeuvre around the bones if you choose to use a knife and fork. It has a delicious balance of sweet and salty, and with a dab of the sri ra sauce, a touch of heat comes between your lips for extra flavour. It's easy to see why the Nok Tod is a popular dish and a crowd pleaser in this restaurant.     

On the topic of ribs, Nok Nok offers this generous pork rib rack among the many grilled main dishes on the menu. Start salivating at the sight of the Sii Krong Moo Yang (Grilled Pork Rib, $24.90) served on top of scattered mixed leaf salad and with a ball of sticky rice on the side. The sweet aromas and flavours of the ribs arise from a marinade of Thai whisky, soy, ginger and Thai spice, with the addition of Nam Prik Num - a roasted green chilli and red onion dipping sauce. 

The pork ribs were lovely and tender, despite the difficulty in eating around the bone (as expected from eating ribs). It was beautifully charred around the exterior, leaving behind a slight sticky texture to accompany the intense flavours that deliver something a little modern and traditional. 

Another main dish that showcases familiar Thai flavours in both a traditional and modern manner is the Som Tum Gai Tod ($21.90) which appears on Nok Nok's Chef's Special category. This dish translates to a serving of chicken maryland slow cooked in an aromatic broth of mixed spices, then twice cooked by deep frying in hot oil for that crispy and golden outer-skin. These chicken pieces are served with a ball of sticky rice and a mountain of green papaya salad filled with mixed green leaves, vibrant baby tomatoes and a dash of chilli for extra heat.

Slow cooking the chicken in a broth of soy sauce, palm sugar, garlic, star anise and cinnamon created a vibrant flavour that reflected the authentic and typical flavours of Asian cuisine. What more is the papaya salad that sits next to it, offering the refreshing and crunchy texture needed to complete the entire dish. This chef's special definitely possesses something fun and exciting, especially for those looking to try something on the traditional scale of Thai flavours.    

Nothing else speaks of popular Thai desserts than the traditional Sweet Sticky Rice with Thai Custard and Coconut Ice Cream ($8.90). Nok Nok's version of this familiar Thai dessert features a cylindrial, flan-like sticky rice with a slice of warm Thai Custard sitting on top. Finished with a small drizzle of coconut cream and a scoop of coconut ice cream ends the three-course meal with satisfaction. 

The sticky rice is pressed together tightly and requires a little more effort to slice through, almost like cutting a cheesecake rather than a delicate sponge cake. It is definitely quite sweet, yet the custard sitting on top adds an eggy and aerated flavour and texture to cut through the sticky rice. The ice cream definitely was packed with a beautiful coconut flavour with little coconut bits folded through it as well. 

The next time you take a walk down Darling Quarter in search for a place to dine in for lunch or dinner, take a detour towards Nok Nok Thai Eating House. There is something for everyone, whether you're a fan of saucy stir-fries or fiery and spicy curries. With a full-licensed bar, you can also enjoy a glass or two with your meal. Whatever you choose at Nok Nok, be prepared for generous servings and lovely, balanced Thai flavours.

Nok Nok Thai Eating House

1 Harbour Street Sydney, NSW 2000

Visit the website at: http://www.noknok.com.au/#home

[katcakes-blog]

Rocky Road Macarons

One of the most unfortunate first world problems you can encounter during winter is catching the virus that travels around. And if you're one of the lucky few who do catch the virus, you'll be sneezing and coughing your way through a couple of days during winter. Unfortunately I was one of those people, so despite having made these macarons before I was sick, I haven't been able to post pictures or write a blog post because I've been trying to restore my energy to rid of this inconvenient sickness. I really do not like getting sick because it stops me from baking or even eating sweets. The worst thing about having a dry, sore throat is not being able to eat chocolate or ice cream or anything overly sweet. Anyway, since I'm feeling a lot better, I thought it was finally time to whip out the laptop and get typing. Sorry to keep you all waiting!

In a previous post, I mentioned having relatively large marshmallows and having no clue what to do with them. Well, I finally found a way to incorporate them into my baking, and of course I settled with macarons.

These particular macarons are an upgrade from my first chocolate-marshmallow macaron combination. One of my most popular macaron flavours on the blog are my S'mores Macarons and due to the popularity of this flavour, I decided to use the same concept and idea but get a little bit more creative. I figured another typical treat that uses a lot of marshmallows is rocky road. I've always wanted to use the rocky road concept in macarons, and I finally had a handful of marshmallows and time to be able to try it. So if you loved the S'mores Macarons I made almost two years ago, keep reading to find out how to create these Rocky Road Macarons. 

So pulling apart a typical piece of rocky road, you'll normally find marshmallows, chocolate, peanuts and glace cherries. That's of course if you've got a basic rocky road. It's all about the chocolate and marshmallows, the with peanuts adding a little bit of texture and the glace cherries cutting the sweetness with that extra burst of fruitiness. To be honest, I've never really fancied the rocky road with the cherries, so in my version of rocky road macarons, I've omitted the cherry/jelly texture.

With the breaking down of the rocky road elements, it was time to move onto how to put the components together. Unlike my S'mores Macarons, I didn't make my own marshmallow, simply because the whole idea of making this flavour was to put my incredibly large marshmallows into good use. My original plan was to create a white chocolate ganache and add the marshmallows in there, but I decided to use a creme patissiere instead to 1) use the left over egg yolks from the egg whites in order to avoid wastage and 2) because there was already chocolate in the macaron shells and I didn't want it to be overpowering in chocolate flavour. 

Of course, before I went ahead with making my macarons, I consulted an expert. I flipped open my Zumbaron cookbook and had a look at Adriano Zumbo's toasted marshmallow macaron recipe to get an idea of how he incorporated the marshmallow into the filling. Little did I know he actually used a creme patissiere mixture for the filling so I thought 'hey, at least I'm on the right track and I know these will turn out fine.'

The fun thing about this macaron flavour is blowtorching the marshmallows like crazy. Thanks Helen, aka Grab Your Fork, for the blowtorching idea! It's probably not the best idea to blowtorch your marshmallows on baking paper, so please don't follow my lead. Whatever size marshmallow you have, you want to be able to blowtorch it to the point where it is melted on the inside. One reason for this is because you need to get it smooth enough that it will combine well with the creme patissiere and be able to pass through the nozzle when you pipe it onto the macarons. If it's not melted through, then you end up with large lumps of marshmallow. This was one of my problems with the larger marshmallows as it was so thick, it wasn't melting towards the centre. The outside was already quite charred, so I ended up chopping my marshmallows in half to be able to toast the inside. 

Once I made my creme patissiere, I mixed it in with some creamed butter to hold it together before throwing in the toasted marshmallows one by one. If you need to make your filling smoother, push it through a strainer and it should come out smooth. Afterwards, throw in some chopped unsalted peanuts and if you really, really, absolutely want glace cherries or something gummy, chop a few up into tiny pieces and toss it into the filling as well. Once you pipe the filling onto your chocolate macarons, dip it the filling into some melted chocolate for a finishing touch, before sandwiching it together. And there you have your rocky road macaron. 

I do have to say, this particular flavour is quite chocolatey, but there is that lovely crunchy peanut texture against the smooth toasted marshmallow custard filling. It isn't overpowering in sweetness either! This particular flavour might take a bit more work than some of the other flavours, but it definitely takes you back down that memory lane of rocky road. 

Rocky Road Macarons

Ingredients

1x quantity chocolate macaron shells

Creme Patissiere

2 egg yolks

30g caster sugar

1 tbsp cornflour

100ml milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Filling

100g marshmallows

100g unsalted butter

1/4 cup unsalted chopped peanuts

100g melted chocolate

Method

To make the creme patissiere: whisk the egg yolks, caster sugar and cornflour in a bowl until smooth and pale. Place the milk and vanilla extract into a small saucepan over medium heat and allow it to come to a simmer. Remove from heat and gradually whisk the milk into the egg mixture, then return mixture back into the saucepan and continuously whisk until a thick custard forms. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl and set aside to cool.

Place the marshmallows onto a baking tray lined with aluminium foil. Blow torch the marshmallows until toasted on the outside and melted on the inside. Set aside.

Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Fold in the cooled creme patissiere and the marshmallows. Add the chopped peanuts and mix to combine.

To assemble: Place filling into a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle. Pipe the custard onto half of the macaron shells, then dip each filled macaron half into the melted chocolate. Sandwich immediately with the remaining macarons halve. Refrigerate at least an hour before serving. 

ENJOY! :D