Tiramisu ( Pick Me Up! )

Tiramisu ([tiɾamiˈsu], Italian spelling: tiramisù; meaning "pick me up" or "lift me up") is an Italian dessert. It is made of ladyfingers  (Italian: Savoiardi) dipped in coffee, layered with a whipped mixture of egg yolks and mascarpone cheese, and flavoured with cocoa.

I love any coffee dessert and this is certainly one of them. Coffee in dessert is like my most wanted drugs. lol! Desserts with coffee is SO sexy! What more with chocolate in it.

If you were to look for recipes, there are like a thousand and one of them. I did tried a few and since alcohol content is not an option, I went for the origin.

I found the recipe from Chubby Hubby. And without fail of more than 10 times making these, what more deed can I do him than credit and share the recipe.

Tiramisu ( Pick Me up! )
This recipe is initially from The Silver Spoon but Chubby Hubby had done a good deal removing marsala wine.

2 egg whites
4 egg yolks
1.25 cups confectioner’s sugar ( I moved it down to 1 cup of powdered sugar instead )
1.75 cups mascarpone cheese ( I used 1 ½ cup of mascarpone just to make it slightly creamy and not stiff )
7 ounces ladyfingers ( 2 packets which I bought from Phoon Huat )
3/4 cup freshly brewed strong coffee, cooled ( I used Nescafe classic, 5 teaspoon + 1 cup of hot water, add more if needed )
7 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated ( I made with and without, but sprinkled a little bit more of the cocoa powder, so this is really up to you )
good quality unsweetened cocoa powder, for dusting

Stiffly whisk the egg whites in a grease-free bowl. You can easily use an electric hand mixer. Set aside.

Beat the egg yolks with the sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. Gently beat in the mascarpone till well incorporated. Then fold in the egg whites.

Make a layer of ladyfingers on the base of a deep, rectangular serving dish or any pretty container you have. You may cut up the fingers if your containers are small.

Then dip in half of the fingers ( lengthwise ) evenly with the coffee. Cover with a layer of the mascarpone cream and sprinkle with a little of the grated chocolate/ lots of good cocoa powder.

Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used, ending with a layer of the mascarpone cream. Dust with cocoa and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours.

The super easy assembling dessert. Easy Peasy!

Try it! Your partner would adore you.

Lotsa love,

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Six-Layer Chocolate Cake with Demystified Swiss Meringue Buttercream

This is a back dated post which I should have done on June. I'm so sorry for the delay. It's the fasting month right now and in betwenn I manage to save some time for this.

I was chosen to bake for a friend's surprise birthday party. A very close friend of ours. They are newly weds and her hubby wanted to throw a private party for her at Marina Bay Sands. It was sweet. I was honoured and was more than happy to bake Ziana her 27th birthday cake. I even decided to make a mini Paris theme party for her since they had their memorable honeymoon in the city of love, Paris.

What could be more awesome than to eat a rich and tall chocolate cake with delicious buttercream for your birthday - I thought. She was a chocolate lover and a red velvet crazy. I decided to do both. A 6 layer chocolate cake and Red velvet cupcakes. Apart from that, I also did Rose Meringue cookies and Fruit Loops Mallow Pops to go with the Sweet Paris Theme . Anything for this couple who had wen through so much thick and thins. I will share the recipe for 1 cake today. Red Velvet- another day please.

Back to the cake - I was a huge fan of Sweetapolita Rich and Dark Chocolate Cake paired with her Swiss Meringue Buttercream Demystified. She always have great tips and techniques for you to never go wrong.

Rich Chocolate Cake ( since I do not have dark chocolate cocoa )

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup  Cacao Barry Cocoa Powder–Extra Dark - I used Valhorna Cocoa Powder - bought at Ghim Hin

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

1 cup strong black coffee (can be hot)

1 cup buttermilk, room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Prepare 3 x 8″ cake pans with butter and flour or parchment paper.

In bowl of electric mixer, sift all dry ingredients. Add all remaning ingredients to bowl with the dry ingredients and with paddle attachment on mixer, mix for 2 minutes on medium speed (you may need the plastic splashguard that comes with mixer) and pour into prepared pans. Batter will be liquidy.

Bake for 20 minutes and rotate pans in oven ( My oven was big enough for me to fit all 3 round pans in ). Cakes are done when toothpick or skewer comes clean–approximately 35 minutes. Try not to overbake.

Cool on wire racks for 20 minutes then gently invert onto racks until completely cool.

I had totally forgotten to take pics of the cake unfrosted. But here is the frosted cake.

I love the taste of the swiss meringue buttercream with this cake. Creamy and not too sweet. Here is the recipe. For a more detailed tutorial, please click here

Sweetapolita’s Swiss Meringue Buttercream     

Yield: 15 cups (enough to frost and fill approximately three 8″ round cakes) I was left with some left overs

Ingredients

16 large egg whites (30g each–total 450g, or 2 cups)

4 cups granulated sugar (800g)

5 cups (2.5 lbs, 10 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened but cool, cut into cubes

30 ml (2 tablespoons) pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Method

Wipe the bowl of an electric mixer, whisk attachment, small bowl, and whisk with paper towel and lemon juice (or vinegar), to remove any trace of grease.

Add egg whites and sugar,  and simmer over a pot of water (not boiling), whisking constantly but gently, until temperature reaches 140 degrees F ( I used  a candy thermometer ), or if you don’t have a candy thermometer, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the egg whites are hot (you can feel a drop in between your fingers to ensure no granules.).

Take off of stove, and place bowl back on electric mixer fitted with whisk attachment, begin to whip until the mixture is thick, glossy, and neutral (you can feel outside of the bowl to test temperature).

Switch over to paddle attachment and, while mixing on low speed continously, add butter one cube at a time until incorporated, and mix until it has reached a silky smooth texture (if curdles, keep mixing and it will come back to smooth). 

Add vanilla and salt, mix well. 

Mine turned out perfect & satiny. Like this!

Frosting takes patience for me. And it's funny how, I love to just frost & frost. It was "Zen" moment for me.

It was a successful suprise and an awesome party. MBS sucks though and thank god we've got great company!

Now anyone can make a birthday cake. ;-)


Baking a lil' magic,

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Chocolate Crinkles

I love this super chocolatey taste! This is definitely for chocolate lovers as the recipe has a good amount of chocolate inside compared to any other cookie.

I love the rustic but elegant look of this cookie. I would likely call it Chocolate Crack cookies as exactly how it would look once bake.

Chocolate Cracks Cookies ( wow! I really like how it sounds like )  are deliciously soft, fudge-like cookie that are encased in a generous coating of powdered sugar. The covered powdered sugar "crinkles" or "cracks" as the cookies bake, revealing a little of the chocolate underneath. 

 I love to eat these Chocolate Crinkles warm from the oven when they are so wonderfully soft and just seem to melt in your mouth.

Chocolate Crack Cookies

from joyofbaking

(Makes about 3 dozen)

4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter

8 ounces (230 grams) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped ( I used Hersheys )

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping: (needed after the dough has been refrigerated)

1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Directions:
In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). It will be right consistency when you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.

 Then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. 

Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (several hours or even overnight, I did mine overnight and so I made a few batches).

The next day.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls, and then roll each ball in the sugar. Make sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.

Bake cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) 

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.

Reminder Again!!

The cool part is that as the cookies bake, they spread, making cracks in the white sugar which gives you a glimpse of the soft chocolate cookie underneath. 

Do not over bake these cookies or they will be dry. And that is not how we want them, we want them to be nice and soft.


I love to eat these cookies warm from the oven so, if possible, make them shortly before serving.


They can be stored for a day or two in an airtight container, that is, if they last that long.

Remember that it is supposed to be chocolatey, fudgy and chewy.. :)

Lots of love,



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Chocolates - Which one?

I always got confuse when a recipe called for bitter sweet chocolate, dark chocolate and so on. Some needs melting and some chocolates can't be melted.

And So I came across an article by Martha Stewart Everyday Food, Issue Jan 2011 - Thank god for IPad! which I thought was helpful.

Not very detailed but it was enough for a novice baker like me.



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Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Muffins

Hubby told me on short notice, about 1 and half hour before he goes to work that he wanted me to bake a goodbye treat for his Starhub colleagues. He has been working there for 5 years and he wanted to take a 1 month break before he started a new career.

My mind rushed and was thinking of the easiest and fastest treat to make. I was thinking brownies when Nigella's muffins came to my mind. That was just irresistable!

And so I gathered the ingredient and all was ready in 45 mins including packing time. hahah

These muffins a best made fresh and eaten warm. And i got a 2 thumbs up for the chocolatey awesomeness! I am NOT a chocolate person but this was an exception. I ate 3 of these and then it made me guilty.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins ( Nigella Lawson )
 ( make 12 regular size or 25 minis )

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons best quality cocoa powder

3/4 cup superfine sugar

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 cup milk

1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

Special equipment: 38/38 paper muffin cases

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F or 200 degrees.

Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa, sugar, and 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips into a large bowl.

I seriously do not know why I cant rotate this pic - Sorry!

Pour all the liquid ingredients into a measuring jug.

I hate blogger now!

Mix the dry and wet ingredients together, remembering that a lumpy batter makes the best muffins. Spoon into the prepared muffin cases. Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips on top and then bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, risen and springy.

And the result , I had to bake a 2nd batch as per their request!



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Hazelnut Balls

I have been super backdated. I just didnt realize that time had flew so fast. I had so many unwritten post ever since I got pregnant. And well , I gave birth to the most cutest girl I could have imagine (at least for me!)

All the missed unwritten posts were worth it!

That's her! Hadya is her name.

Ok back to the post, I'm going to give the easiest recipe for this Hazelnut Ball. The cheaper version of this recipe is Almond London on which I prefer hazelnut to almond as it taste so much better. 

Hazelnut Balls

( Hazelnut covered with cookie dough and covered with chocolate coverture )

Ingredients:

250 grams - Salted butter ( softened )

100 grams - ground hazelnut

250 grams - Hong Kong flour

70 grams - icing sugar

50 grams - Rice flour

1 teaspoon - Vanilla essence

Roasted hazelnuts for the fillings.

Tulip brand bar of chocolate ( to be double boil )

Chocolate rice or colourful sprinkles of your choice for decoration

Directions:

Beat butter, icing sugar, vanilla essence and grounded hazelnut evenly till creamy.

Fold in the Hong Kong flour and rice flour till well mix.

Roll dough in balls & stuffed in the roasted hazelnut in each ball.

Bake in mediun heat ( about 150 degrees ) for 20 minutes or till slight brown.

Place all cookies aside and cool.

Later, dip in these cookies on at a time in the melted chocolate and place them in the mini paper cups.

Sprinkle chocolate rice and let the cookies set for about 15 mins.

Store these cookies in airtight container and you can keep these for up to 2 weeks!

Kids love these!!

Enjoy..

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