Cakes from Yamazaki Boulangerie Chaude

Chanced upon this bakery at Tampines 1 while looking for cakes. I found out that Yamazaki Boulangerie Chaude belongs to the same company that runs the Sun Moulin Bakery at Scotts Isetan. The looks of the cakes looked inviting enough and I bought some for my afternoon tea today!

Chocolate Swiss Roll

I finally found the peeerfect swiss roll recipe where the cake layer is not too hard and it rolls easily without cracking up too much!

I adapted the recipe off the Joy of Baking website. There is even a video that shows you a step-by-step approach on how to re-create the recipe in your own kitchen.

Although the website termed it Chocolate Sponge Cake, it is actually a chocolate mousse recipe that doesn't require flour or butter. The chocolate mousse layer is then assembled like a swiss roll with raspberry flavoured whipped cream.

I would personally recommend to reduce the amount of sugar used in the recipe. Nevertheless, the recipe yields a melt-in-your-mouth swiss roll where the main calories comes from the cream filling. So if you have a sweet tooth and yet is trying to watch that waistline of yours (yes, I agree. Life is complicated!), then go easy on the cream filling. :)

Raspberry Crunch Cake

I adapted this recipe off The Sunday Times - Life! section.

 

Raspberry Crunch Cake

 

 

Ingredients:

130g butter

150g caster sugar

2 eggs

250g self-raising flour (sifted)

120ml milk

250g fresh raspberries

 

Crunchy Top:

130g flour

100g brown sugar

125g chopped butter

50g chopped almond (I used almond slices instead)

 

Method:

(1) Grease a 22cm diameter baking tin, lining the bottom with baking paper. Preheat the oven at 180°C.

(2) Prepare the crunchy top by rubbing the flour, butter and brown sugar together in a bowl until it resembles coarse breadcrubs. Set aside.

(3) For the cake, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.

(4) Add the eggs one at a time, beating to mix them in.

(5) Continue beating while adding the sifted flour and the milk a little at a time. The mixture should look like a thick batter.

(6) Pour the cake mixture into the prepared baking tin and sprinkle the raspberries on top, slightly pressing them into the cake batter.

(7) Sprinkle the crunchy topping evenly over the raspberries

(8) Lastly, scatter the almonds across the top.

(9) Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes or until a knife inserted into the cake comes out clean.

 

Verdict:

(+) Simply ingredients and very easy to make

(-) This cake is a little too heavy for my liking

(=) It is more suitable for serving on the same day to a group of about 8-10 people otherwise the top would lose it's crunchiness overnight.



Valentine’s Day 2012

A little something from THE husband:

And from me, a self-assembled ice-cream cake – inspired by a home-cooked Valentine’s Day menu from The Sunday Times.

Ingredients:
1 pound cake (I used Sara Lee chocolate swirl pound cake)
1 tub of ice-cream (whichever flavor you like – chocolate chip peppermint in this case)
Fruits (canned mandarin orange, diced strawberries and mangoes)

Method:
(1) Thaw the pound cake and ice-cream for about 15-30 minutes until they are soft enough for assembling
(2) Cut the pound cake into slices, apportioning some to cover the bottom, side and top of the container. If possible leave some as the inter-layers as well.
(3) Lay the pound cake slices on the bottom and side of the container
(4) Scoop some ice-cream to form a thin base
(5) Decorate the next layer with fruits
(6) Scoop some ice-cream to cover all the fruits
(7) Add some slices of pound cake
(8) Scoop some ice-cream to cover the pound cake
(9) Decorate the next layer with fruits
(10)Scoop some ice-cream to cover all the fruits
(11) You might want to repeat the layering process until the ingredients are used up or the top of the container reached
(12)Lay the remaining pound cake slices on top of the ice-cream as the final layer
(13)Wrap the ice-cream cake with plastic wrap and freeze it for 3-5 hours prior to serving

Verdict:
(-) I would recommend not to add the mandarin orange slices (opposed to the recommendation from The Straits Times) as it does not taste juicy when freeze.
(+) Quick and fun to assemble
(=) It’s assembled, so how bad can it taste? :)

Antoinette

I was pleasantly surprised when I received a Christmas gift box from DBS, it was a box-full of baked goodies from a local bakery and cafe, Antoinette.


Here's what they wrote on their website:

Antoinette invites you to share our joie de vivre in our beautiful surroundings reminiscent of
an elegant boudoir with an excess of meticulously crafted cakes, pastries and fine food as
the Queen descends on Singapore’s shores. Marie-Antoinette, the last Queen of France
who was so often revered for her extravagance and fine taste opens her humble abode and
presents a tantalizing treat for the senses both savoury and sweet.

This quintessential Parisian pâtisserie and salon de thé will set the benchmark for the pastry and dessert scene not only in Singapore, but also in the region with her takes on time-honoured French classic desserts. While our restaurant promises a savoury celebration of Chef Pang’s culinary prowess with an excellent selection of classical regional French fare.

Incontestably, L’élégance â la Française at it’s best!

The gift pack consisted of container of Meringues, a muffin, a loaf of fruit and nut bread, a Christmas fruit cake, 3 different varieties of cookies and a bottle of fruit jam. I'm not typically a fan of blatantly sweet stuff, especially Christmas cakes but the meringues with their soft chewy middles were kinda addictive and the fruit and nut loaf wasn't too bad either, but give me fresh bread anytime and it will still beat a sugar coated loaf that is meant to last for days.

I have not been to the cafe itself but I had heard of it's exorbitant price of selling a slice of cake for about $9! Anyone who is keen to check them out can find more information at: www.antoinette.com.sg.

Bon appetite!

Was it MacD hotcakes?

After having explored the website for fluffy pancakes, I finally found THE recipe – tried and tested to produce Macdonald's-like hotcakes! I simply couldn’t describe the state of ecstasy I was in when I was making them!

It’s nice and fluffy eaten on its own - not too plain or too sweet. And the look on my son’s face when he mumbled “mum mum” only goes to show the success of this recipe. Remember, infants can’t lie….yet.
I’m still excited even when I’m blogging about it now.

All thanks to a friend who introduced me to a new blog site – Food 4 Tots! I’ll be sure to be trying out more of the recipes posted there!

High Tea @ Halia Restaurant, Singapore Botanic Gardens

It has been a long, long time since I went to a nice restaurant for a nice proper meal. The visit to the Halia restaurant was totally unintentional, if not for a couple of factors such as the warm, humid weather and an infant drenched in perspiration.

Just when we thought that refreshments are easily available in all parts of Singapore, with the Singapore Botanic Gardens being part of it, we were disappointed to be proven wrong in this case. Restaurants and small snack kiosks can be found dotted throughout the garden but to have to wheel a stroller from our current location to the nearest pit stop was really not as straightforward. The directions entailed some nicely marked signs telling the visitors the correct way to go and almost certainly, it involves some flights of stairs. If you decide to go the 'stairless' way, then be prepared to travel a longer distance, all the while with signs which stubbornly points you in the direction of some stairs.

Needless to say, we ended up defeated by the signs and had to carry our dear boy, in his big and comfortable stroller up a couple of stairs. So by the time we saw the Halia restaurant, it was an unanimous decision to simply dash into the air-conditioned restaurant.

We were just in time for their weekends high tea which was definitely priced for the tourists given the small selection of pastries and a choice of coffee or tea.

pastry tray with serving size for two

The only pastry that had a bit of the WOW factor would have to be the scones. It was warm and crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and not too overly crumbly. The rest of the pastries can only be graded as normal.

I'm not sure I'll be back anytime soon but to the Botanic Gardens, yes we'll be! :)

Housewarming Cupcakes

I am not much of a cupcake fan and I will probably never comprehend why people pay so much for such a tiny plain cake if not for the fancy decorations on it.

Nevertheless, mini cupcakes were the very first gift we received from guests to our new home. It was purchased at the mooncake carnival at the basement of Takashimaya and almost expectedly, it was packaged in a nice long gift box.

With me as the exception, everyone else ohh and ahh over the different cupcake flavours.

I am very sure it is nice, it's just that I'm not a cupcake person. :)

Books, Tea and a Nice Comfy Armchair

It has been quite some months since I last blogged and I would have totally forgotten about this little café which I visited sometime in May had it not been for the convenience of digital photography.

I couldn't recall how I come to know of this café nor can I remember its name. It is situated along one of those small alleys snaking throughout Tanjong Pagar.

The café has its wall lined with bookshelves from floor to ceiling. Some books are free for customers to read while others are wrapped in "sell-only" condition. For those who are not in the reading mood, there is also a variety of good old board games to choose from or even play a game of pool in the courtyard.

They do not have a wide selection of cakes but the serving is definitely generous!

For those who knows the name or address of the café, please do leave a comment here with the details. I do hope to visit the place again some day.

Baumkuchen - The Hungarian Version

Just when I thought I had seen and tasted THE Baumkuchen, I found an entirely different version in Villach, a little town located at the southern part of Austria. And to make things a little complicated, it's the Hungarian version known as Kürtőskalács which were sold there.

It was a much simpler version consisting of only one ring unlike the Singapore version which was made up of numerous bark-like rings. Also, unlike it's Singapore counterpart which has numerous flavors and fanciful decorations to choose from, the Hungarian version tasted more like a bread (rather than a cake) with plain sugar and cinnamon powder coated all around it.

Nevertheless, the freshly baked, piping hot baumkuchen was quickly devoured amongst the few of us as we wandered along the snow-covered Christmas market on a cold and windy winter afternoon.

The First Quarter of His Life

On 21st October 2010, Philip officially turns 3 months old!

To mark the first quarter of his life, we celebrated the day with this mango cake from Chocz. While the adult gets to taste the cake, the best Philip could do to participate was to drool and stare as the cake gradually disappeared into our mouths. :)

Baum Kuchen

Baum Kuchen literally translates to mean Tree Cake in English. Despite having spent quite some time in Austria, this is the first time I came across this cake.

The cake resembles the growth ring of a crosscut tree and the baking process is even more interesting. It is somewhat similar to kueh lapis where a thin layer of batter poured into a baking tin is allowed to be baked before adding on the next layer. However, in the case of the Baum Kuchen, the batter is brushed onto a spit which is rotated around a heat source. Once the outer layer is baked, the next layer of batter would be applied until the ring grows to the size of one's desire.

I happened to chance upon the shop, Wheat Baumkuchen, at Toa Payoh Central (Blk 190 Lorong 6, Toa Payoh #01-530) and thought that it stands out from the rest of the typical neighbourhood shops surrounding it.

I would have thought that this is yet another business idea brought in from Europe but was surprised to find Japanese wordings on the paper bag. My curiosity got the better of me and a quick search online revealed that the cake was first introduced to Japan by a German in 1919, shortly after World War 1, which subsequently grew to become a popular pastry in Japan today.

I purchased 3 flavors - Original, Chocolate and Original with Nutella & Nuts coating. Both the Original and Chocolate flavored cakes tasted rather plain and dry. Truth be told, I would rather prefer a spongecake. The last piece tasted much better probably due to its coating which gives it a rich chocolately and crunchy texture.

I'll surely be back for more but only the ones with coatings or toppings on it.

Jams Cafe @ {Prologue}

Another hidden treasure for me, the Jams Cafe at {Prologue} in ION Orchard. As some of you might know (or might not know), {Prologue} belongs to the familiar Popular chain of bookstores that we grew up with, unfortunately with the establishment of the mega bookstores such as Borders and Kinokunia, Popular has been losing much of it's market share which is evident in the closing and shrinkage of some of their outlets.

When I found {Prologue} at ION Orchard, i was a little skeptical about how long they would last there, I would assume that the lease there would be significantly higher and especially since they, as a "Popular's tradition", dedicated a section to our all too familiar assessment books! Nevertheless, when I wandered in and saw that they too have a small cafe within the store, I decided to give it a shot.

Surprisingly, I find the cafe to be nicely situated at one end of the book store with a nice view of the street activities below at Orchard Road. The ambient was nice, quieter than most of the other cafes in the area, probably due to the lesser crowd at that level on ION Orchard.

Blueberry scones, cheesecake and latte

The blueberry scone was a tad too dry and not particularly tasty, neither was the blueberry cheesecake too fascinating. I'm not much of a coffee person and the latter wasn't impressive enough to make a convert out of me. The bit which I found quite annoying was that they wouldn't give any jam and cream with the scone ($2.50 single) unless the customer buys the scone set ($8.50) which comes with 2 scones, so effectively, they are charging an extra $3.50 just for jam and cream! I simply refused to pay for jam and cream and just had the single scone.


On my second visit over the weekend, I decided to try their red organic rooibos tea and apple walnut cake. The rooibos tea was nice and nutty, plus it's rich in antioxidants! The apple walnut cake has a texture texture similar to that of a moist carrot cake, so it was a rather pleasant surprise. Overall, I thought that the tea went well with the cake. Of course the main reason I went back there was more for the ambient, a quick getaway and feet-rest after walking lots in Orchard road.

World Cup Mania @ BreadTalk

BreadTalk is probably the only bakery I know of that is always up-to-date with the latest local or international happenings.

Previously, with the F1 night race in Singapore, all the BreadTalk bakeries were decorated with F1 cars assembled from bread. Next, with the showing of the movie "Sex In The City 2", they came up with the "Spring In The City" buns. And more recently, with the World Cup matches in South Africa, they came up with at least two cake designs - one modelled after the football and another modelled after the football field.
These cakes or buns might not taste extraordinary nice or better than others sold elsewhere but it's the creativity and effort put in that impresses me and has me going back for more.

I am already looking forward to their new launches in celebration of the Singapore National Day on the 9th of August 2010.

Meanwhile, BreadTalk is currently celebrating their 10th year in the business and all buns are selling at a discounted price of $1.10. Go grab some before the promotion ends. :)

You Shall Be Missed

Over the months, I have grown to love Austrian breads, pastries and cakes.

The regular toast or sandwich breads readily available in Singapore are somewhat a rare sight here. In it's place are bread loaves which comes in a great variety such as white bread, wholemeal bread, sour dough bread(vollkorn), dark brown rye bread(schwarzbrot), muesli bread, yoghurt bread and many many more!

plain white semmel bread

vollkorn bread

The local's preference for cakes and pastries differs quite abit from Singaporean's as well. While different varieties of cheesecakes, tarts and thick chocolate cakes are usually spotted at cafes or bakeries in Singapore, quite a fair portion of pastries found in Austria are made with seasonal fruits like raspberries, blueberries, strawberries etc.
Another flavour not found in Singapore is the mohn cakes which are essentially poppy seed cakes. I really enjoyed it but sometimes, I can't help wondering if I really like the cake or whether I am simply 'addicted' to it.

A traditional local flavourite would be Schaumrolle. This is a very light pastry with puff pastry rolled to form a tube and the hollow in the center filled up with meringue (sugared whipped egg white). It can be quite a mess to bite into one but nevertheless, a hit during open-air events especially the annual Christmas markets.
The list is endless and I could sit here for hours blabbering away or I could go out right now and grab myself some tasty munchies before the shop closes for the day! :)

2-in-1 Birthday Cake

May is a busy month in the family, with two Taurus birthdays to be celebrated in Weisskirchen. Although it made the month of May a joyous one, however, for yours truly (the hopeless dessert glutton), it also meant that we'll be getting only ONE yummylicious cake from the baking expert - Tante Heli. *boo hoo*

This year, we got a Sacher Torte! Honestly, it tasted better than those sold at Sacher Café or Deml. It was chocolately yet not too sweet - simply P.E.R.F.E.C.T!

And everytime after tasting any cakes from Tanta Heli, it'll give me a boost of motivation to want to master the craft of cake baking. Do you think it's too late to add that to my New Year resolution?

Happy Birthday To...Me....

Happy Birthday To Me~

Happy Birthday To Me~

Happy Birthday To Me...Me...Me...Me...Me~

Happy Birthday To ME!

I had a great birthday celebration this year with the most number of warm wishes received! As one ages, the importance of material gifts somehow diminishes over time and in it's place, gaining in importance, is the warm fuzzy feeling of having someone remembering my birthday and sending me a simple birthday wish. :)

And topping off this sense of emotional fulfilment with yummylicious food would certainly make it a near-perfect birthday experience!

The birthday dinner was held a day before at La Balance, a restaurant situated in the Balance Hotel near Wörthersee, which specialises in SPA and wellness facilities.

Dinner was a five-course meal with a starter, soup, 2 main courses and dessert. I was initially worried about the portion for each course since a single serving in a typical Austrian restaurant can be rather large and hence, it is not uncommon for me to order the kid's meal from time to time. However, on this evening, I was pleasantly surprised when I was presented with the starter. It was so nicely decorated and the portion was just R.I.G.H.T! The rest of the courses were equally elaborately decorated with matching crockeries and most importantly, they all tasted yum yum!

Starter - Variation von Räucherfischen mit Krenschaum und Gurkenspaghetti (Variations of smoked fish)

Soup - Fenchelschaumsuppe mit Knusprigem Garnelentartare (Fennel cream soup with crispy deep fried prawn wontan)

Main Course #01 - Gebratenes Forellenfilet auf Spargelrisotto (Fried trout fillet with aspharagus and risotto)

Main Course #02 - Duett vom millstätter Tauernlamm mit Ratatouille und Kartoffelgratin (Braised mutton and lamb rib chop with potato gratin)

Dessert - Das Beste vom Topfen und der Zwetschke (Variations of quark cheese)

Dessert #01 - Original topfen with plum sauce topping

Dessert #02 - Deep fried pastry with topfen fillings accompanied by plum dip

Dessert #03 - Caramel topfen with plum

If I have to choose a favourite amongst the courses, it would be a tough decision between the soup, braised lamb and caramel topfen! :P

At the end of the sumptuous meal, I was even proposed a toast by the hotel owner and presented with a small bottle of their homemade marmalade. Isn't that what personalised service is all about? :)

On the actual day, I was greeted with the pleasant sight of roses in the living room - thanks to dear Sebastian and THE hubby!

The day was spent relaxing and idling around town with 2 bratwursts from the Wurstkönig and takeaways of four nice-looking cake slices from Café Bernold.

Now, this is the P.E.R.F.E.C.T birthday experience for me! :)

Creamy Strawberry Cake

The story unfolds with a recipe for a creamy strawberry swiss roll. However, due to the unfortunate absence of a square or rectangular baking pan, I proceeded with a bundt pan instead.

The recipe yielded enough batter for two round cake bases. Armed with my 'creativity', I proceeded to trim off the four sides of the round cake base to yield a perfect square. However, after applying the first layer of whipped cream and strawberry chunks, I realised that the length of the cake base was far too short and the layer too thick to be rolled into a roll.

So with my never-giving-up spirit, I decided to stack the second piece of cake base on it and tried to craft it into a regular square cake instead. The irony of it all - I could have saved the effort of having to trim away the four edges in the very first place where I would have ended up with a regular round cake as well!

With 2 cups of whipping cream as stated in the recipe, I ended up with so much cream which I tried desperately to smear all over the two pathetically thin cake bases. Even then, there was still some leftover cream which I had to dispose of. :(

This would have to be the creamiest cake I ever tasted... any more cream and it would only be cream left! :)

Creamy Strawberry Cake

(recipe modified based on above experience)

Ingredients:

150g cake flour, sifted (I used plain flour since cake flour was not available)

4 eggs

100g + 1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 drops red syrup (optional)

1/2 tsp strawberry essence (optional)

1 to 1 1/2 cups whipping cream

1 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Method:

(1) Preheat the oven to 180°C.

(2) Line the bundt pan with parchment paper.

(3) Whisk the eggs until frothy and add in 100g sugar slowly. Continue whisking till stiff peaks form.

(4) Add the essence and colouring. Mix till well combined.

(5) Fold the flour slowly into the egg mixture.

(6) Pour the mixture into the pan and bake for ~15 minutes or until it is cooked with a springy texture.

(7) Remove from the oven, trim the crusty edges and slice the cake into two equally thick round bases.

(8) Allow the cake to cool before spreading the fillings.

(9) Meanwhile, whisk the whipping cream together with 1/2 cup sugar till stiff peaks form. Refrigerate the whipped cream until ready for use.

(10) Wash and dice the strawberries. Set aside.

(11) Spread the cream over the first cake base before evenly sprinkling the diced strawberries over it. Be generous with the fruits.

(12) Spread a thin layer of cream to slightly cover the strawberries.

(13) Place the second layer of cake base on the cream layer and proceed to spread cream all over the cake.

(14) You may wish to decorate the cake with whole strawberries.

(15) Chill the cake before serving.

Verdict:

(-) For step (3), I could only achieve a frothy mixture instead of stiff peaks no matter how long I whisked the eggs.

(-) The cake bases were not as soft as I would like it to be.

(-) Without a layer of gelatine coating on the strawberry decorations, the fruits could not keep fresh or survive for long in the refrigerator.

(+) A relatively healthy cake base recipe without the addition of butter or oil!

(=) The cake tastes good if not for the excessive cream applied. :P

Marbled Banana Chocolate Cake

Banana Chocolate Marble Cake

Ingredients A:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

2 bananas, mashed

Ingredients B:

1 cup plain flour

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Ingredient C:

1 cube dark baking chocolate

Method:

(1) Preheat oven to 180°C.

(2) Spread some butter on the bottom and sides of baking pan before lining the pan with baking paper. Lightly grease the baking paper with the remaining butter. Set aside.

(3) In a big bowl, whisk together ingredients A.

(4) Add ingredients B and whisk well.

(5) Remove 1 cup of the batter and place it in another small bowl. Microwave ingredient C to melt it before adding it to the batter. Mix well.

(6) To create the marbling effect: Place a scoop of the white batter in the middle of the baking pan. In the middle of the white batter, pour a scoop of chocolate batter on it. Alternate between the two-coloured batters until all batters are used up.

(7) Bake for ~30 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

(8) Cool on a wire rack and store in an air-tight container.

Verdict:

(+) Extremely fast and easy to make

(=) The fragrance of the bananas makes it a hard-to-resist tea time snack.

The Icing Room @ Jurong Point

Being a central 'kid', I have hardly ventured beyond Toa Payoh in the north, Bugis in the east and no further west than Cityhall itself for shopping!

I can find almost anything within that tiny geographical area which I described above. So strictly speaking, why should I bother travelling to anywhere further in search of what is readily available within familiar territories?

But that is up till some smart aleck in BreadTalk came up with The Icing Room. And of all places, they have to have it in Jurong Point. Damn!

Wanting to explore the culinary creative side of me, I purchased a 4" cake just short of $12 and proceeded to let my creative juice flow out of me onto the cake. After about a minute or so, I realised that it can be a little difficult. There are crazy kids jostling and arguing around me with some trying to clamber onto the bloody unstable table top where my precious cake sits and at one point in time, a long-haired lady even tried to perform some acrobatic stunts by bending over my cake to talk to a cashier on the other side of the table and in the process, had a few strands of hair slightly skimming over the surface of my cake! Eeeks! I was darting annoyance glances in all directions annd could easily be the most hostile-faced customer in the midst.

So after what seem like ages, I finally completed decorating my cake with the limited selection of icings (strictly speaking, it's more like coloured whipped cream than icing sugar) allocated to me and hurriedly passed it to the cashier to have it boxed up before any misfortune befalls it.

And on my way back, while passing by Prima Deli, I saw the 'usual' selection of cakes on display. And it just occured to me that I'll never find such a selection of cakes in Austria. Perhaps something that looks alike but never one that tastes alike. Maybe it's not so usual afterall...