4th Anniversary Cake

So crèche..., but time flies.... 

 ♥︎ Happy Anniversary to us  ♥︎

It was four years (and a week now...) ago we got married in Las Vegas in front of Elvis-look-a-like. ;D

Andy booked us in for a lovely evening spa treatment followed by dinner (thanks you, Andy!) and I... made cake...as usual...

This year I made Swiss roll with hazelnut praline cream and some fruits in the middle and topped it with macarons. It's simple but the hazelnut cream and four different flavour macarons were enough to make it special. :)

Some of my favourite flavours...

Liquorice, Purple sweet potato, Matcha, and Caramel.

Macaron is always a way to add that little bit of extra to simple cakes and desserts, isn't it? ;)

Remember to grab your FREE copy of  The World of Sweets 2015 Calendar! Of course, the macaron recipe is in it too!

Hinamatsuri. 雛祭り-2014-

Time flies.. and It's Hinamatsuri again!
I've posted about this Japanese girls' festival in the past, so I'm not going to talk about the details, but it's a day to celebrate and wish for the happiness and healthy growth of girls.

To celebrate Hinamatsuri I made a special Swiss roll for Lana (and me...) I've always thought that when Hinamatsuri comes, the spring begins. So I made what I want to call "Spring Swiss Roll". I drew flower petals and leaves...;)

The cake itself is my classic Swiss Roll but I used rice flour in stead of plain flour and there is whipped cream in the middle (I didn't add any sugar this time).

The colour and mini size looks quite Japanesey...

I put strawberries on top and...

A slice of this super light cake is a perfect little treat for a little person!

Lana absolutely love it;D xxx

Gluten-free Orange & Poppy seed Swiss roll

With the orange custard and orange 'jam sauce' thing on my previous post, I made this gluten-free cake, Orange & Poppy seed Swiss roll.

I'm getting quite into the gluten-free baking and wanted to see how my basic Swiss roll sponge would come out with the gluten-free flour (I use Doves Farm plain white flour.). It worked so well that I could barely tell the difference and so did some people who ate the cake. Only thing was with the gluten-free flour the sponge cake was softer, which made the rolling action a little tricky.

The recipe for the sponge cake is the same as my basic Swiss roll. I just replaced the flour to gluten-free flour, then added a few table spoon of orange jam sauce, and folded a good amount of poppy seeds in the sponge.

For the cream inside, I mixed orange custard with whipped cream. Oh, I love custard and whipped cream together, and with a nice orange flavour with it, it simply cannot go wrong!

When you make Swiss rolls for customers or as a gift, I need to trim the ends, and they are, obviously, for me! ;D This time I put them in the freezer and had them a few days later. I couldn't wait for the cake to be completely defrosted so I had it half frozen, and guess what... it tasted amazing! It really was a treat for the baker! Please try it when you have Swiss roll next time;D

Basic Swiss Roll Recipe

More Gluten-free Swiss roll;
Coconut Swiss Roll

Coconut Swiss Roll

My love for Swiss rolls has been mentioned quite a few times here on my blog, and the recipe has already made it to BON APPETIT.

This Coconut Swiss Roll is a variation of my basic Swiss roll, but it's a little bit different.

It has no sugar, no flour in the actual sponge nor in the cream. Hum, good news for those who are watching their sugar and carb... Well, I'm not a health mania but I still love this Swiss roll!

I used coconut flour in stead of plain flour and honey as a substitute for sugar.  (I've been using a lot of honey recently, aren't I? ;D) Although some of the ingredients are replaced, the method of making the sponge is the same as the basic Swiss roll sponge.

The sponge had less volume and was slightly more fragile than the basic Swiss roll but still had a nice texture with a beautiful flavour of coconut.

I rolled dairy free cream and my homemade coconut jam known as Kaya in the middle (I came across Kaya when I was in Malaysia and loved it so much that I often had roti kaya for dinner...).

So here we are..., ultimate Coconut Swiss Roll! I have to admit it was really good that I had more than half the cake to myself, but still there was no sugar, no flour, I didn't feel guilty at all! In fact I felt super satisfied! ;D

More Swiss Rolls?
Chestnuts Swiss Roll
Thank you cows... Swiss Roll
Grape jam Swiss roll
Blackberry and cream cheese Swiss roll Bush de Noel
My Birthday Swiss roll
Dad's Birthday Swiss roll

Happy Birthday to me & my sister!

So so so, it's our birthday today! Happy birthday to my sister and me! Unfortunately we cannot be in the same place but I'm sure she's had a fantastic birthday too.

I baked my birthday cake myself... Some people might think 'what? you made your own birthday cake?' But I love it because I get to bake exactly how I want it.

This year was kind of special for me because it's the first time we celebrate my birthday with my daughter, so I wanted to make something that she can have some too as well as Andy and I can enjoy. So, I went for one of my favourite, Swiss roll, again! (I did that for my dad's 60th birthday, didn't I...) But I made the sponge without sugar but substituted with banana, which worked amazingly well. Then added unsweetened cream and fruits in the middle. That was one heavenly birthday cake for me.

I had the whole thing for dinner. After all, it's my birthday, let me eat cake!

Thanks to all my family and friends who made my birthday such an amazing day, and specially thank you to my mum and dad who brought me into this world.

お母さん、お父さん。また誕生日がやってきました。ラナが生まれて初めての誕生日、あらためて誕生日の’ありがたさ’を感じてます。いつもなかなか言葉にして言えんけど、色んな意味で、ありがとう。

Happy 60th Birthday to my dad!

Today is my dad's 60th birthday. Happy Birthday to my dad!
お父さん、誕生日おめでとう〜。

I borrowed my mum's oven to make dad's birthday cake. Because I couldn't find a round cake tin and I didn't have much time to prepare the cake, I decided to make a special Swiss roll...

Super light apple cinnamon Swiss roll with strawberries;)

It was not too sweet, which is how my dad likes, and the light sponge went perfectly well with the airy whipped cream.... I was very pleased to be able to bake my dad a birthday cake and celebrate his 60th birthday together. :D

あらためて、お父さんお誕生日おめでとう。

Christmas party at Tinny's

This Saturday we had a Christmas party at Tinny's and, OH YES! I was responsible for desserts and cakes (What Tinny calls Yumicakes...;D).

I was so excited to make cakes for everyone and had so many ideas about what to bring, and...I ended up making... profiteroles, fruits tartlets, Swiss rolls, cheesy scones, mini croissants, and a loaf of bread...

For the profiteroles, I made mini choux buns and filled them with three different creams, cream patissiere, vanilla flavoured fresh cream, and chocolate cream.

There were also two different tartlets. One with vanilla tart and cream cheese topped with strawberries and blue berries, the other with chocolate tart and chocolate cream cheese topped with banana and cherry.

Swiss rolls came in twos too... a soft vanilla and a rich chocolate...

I was too busy eating that I forgot to take phtotos of scones and mini croissants... (they were the ones that appeared on my blog before.) I brought them in the edible bread bowls.

After all those food, my belly was so full (I felt still full even the following day. I had to go for a run...)!

I had such a good time and it was very nice seeing and catching up with everyone.

And of course..., special thanks to Tinny for a great time and letting me bring so many cakes. ;D

Chestnuts Swiss roll

From my older posts some people might know by now that I'm a big fan of Swiss roll. And here we are again..., another day with a slice or two of mouth melting Swiss roll.

This time I went for a taste of Autumn and Winter, chestnuts! I added a good amount of chestnut jam in the sponge as well as in the butter cream in the middle.

I probably put a little too much of butter cream in the middle (because I'm a greedy monkey...) so I struggled to roll up the sponge a bit but it did taste amazing...

Even though I knew exactly how much butter and sugar went into the whole cake, I could not resist the second piece... (well anyway, I have a policy that I don't care about the calories when it comes to cakes and sweets...)

Have you seen my other Swiss rolls and the recipe?
Grape jam Swiss roll
Blackberry and cream cheese Swiss roll

Three tier cream cake

For dessert at Steve's party, I made a super creamy vanilla sponge cake. I wanted the cake to be simple but also look a bit special, so I did three tiers. :)

I baked two sheets of sponge cake (the same sponge as the Swiss roll sponge), and made big Swiss rolls for the bottom and middle tiers. I put vanilla flavoured whipped cream in the middle and decorated also with a generous amount of cream.

It was creamy! Super über creamy! Cream with a nice and light sponge, just how I like it! I love cream...I am a cream monster. I must have had a quarter of the bottom tier...  It did definitely fill my cake hole.

Thanks to Steve for a lovely eveing and awsome fireworks!

Blackberry and cream cheese Swiss roll

More blackberries and another Swiss roll! (Hum? Am I addicted to Swiss rolls? My last Swiss roll was only a few weeks ago, was it?)

This time I added blackberry jam in the sponge to make it taste "super blackberry". ;D And of course, there is blackberry jam in side along with cream cheese icing... Hummm, what a combo!

They were already in the "Sooo goood" territory as is but they went extra level when I froze them. Oh man! I easily downed three pieces after a massive pasta meal...

Even my top taster Andy said "It's a little piece of Heaven." Yum yum yum, life is not bad... :)

Bush de Noël

Another of my Christmas baking, Bush de Noel! I usually see this log-like cake made with chocolate, but I went for a white Christmas:)

First of all I baked a  large sponge cake for Swiss roll, which came out really well. Then I made three different fillings to go inside the cake, lemon custard, vanilla butter cream and cream cheese icing. I spread those fillings on the cake and rolled it tight. To finish it off, I covered my Swiss roll with meringue, made lines with fork, and then coloured the surface with blowtorch. Andy made me snows made with meringue to go with the log;)

I really liked my white Christmas log, but when I tasted I liked it even more! Quite frankly, this was the best sponge cake I ever made and the creams and meringue were awesome! I couldn't help having another piece!

Vanilla butter cream Swiss roll

Because I've been making a lot of breads at work..., because I just wanted to make an authentic sponge cake..., or simply because I was craving for something soft and sugary yet creamy...whatever the reason is I had an urge of making this Swiss roll.

It is pretty simple. When you follow the recipe, I almost guarantee that you'll get a nice soft sponge that is easy to roll and goes with any fillings you like;D

This time I made my own vanilla butter cream. I wanted to make it really exquisite, so I used a whole vanilla pod. (from Vanillabazaar, seriously awesome stuff!) Using a ready made cream or jam for the filling is fine, but it's much more fun to make it yourself!

So here is my vanilla butter cream recipe...;
Butter 80g

Sugar 60g

Egg 1

Milk 60ml

Vanilla pod 1 (scrape the beans)

1. Cream butter until it's fluffy. In a separate bowl, beat egg.

2. In a pot, combine milk, vanilla beans and pod and sugar and put on a heat.

3. Keep stirring 2 and when it starts to boil, turn the heat off. Take the vanilla pod out.

4. Add beaten egg into 3. Keep mixing in order to keep the egg from being lumpy.

5. Add 4 into butter. Keep mixing until it's smooth.

And a few tips for a nice soft Swiss roll...

Egg 2

Sugar 30g

Flour 30g

***

Vanilla butter cream + coconut flake (2-3 tbsp) + a few drops of rum = Humm, awesomeness...

1. Pre heat the oven to 200ºc. Place a baking sheet in a cake tin.

2. Beat egg with a electric hand mixer. Add sugar and mix until it's VERY fluffy. (Make sure that the eggs have got a lot of air in and look sort of white.)

3. Sift four into 1. Fold in. NEVER mix, but FOLD IN! (Do it like drawing '8'  with a spatula. Do not let the fluffy egg disappear.)

4. Pour the mixture in the prepared cake tin. Make the surface smooth with a spatula. Hit the bottom of the tin against the work surface a few times to get the air out.

5. Bake in the preheated oven (200ºc) for 10 minutes.

6. When the cake is done, cover it with cling film and cool it down.

7. Spread the filling on the cake, and roll up carefully.

Aghaaah awesome cream and sponge..., that was a really nice sugar supply for the afternoon...

Thank you Cows..., Swiss roll

Day 5 of the baking week, and happy Friday! I've made a special effort to show my appreciation to Cows, who let me have their lovely milk and cheese everyday ;) I'm a big fan of them...

This cow pattered Swiss roll is great for something bit special, and also it's not as complicated to make it as it seems.

Ingredients;

Flour 60g

Sugar 60g

Egg 3

Vanilla extract 1tsp

Cocoa powder 1tsp

Black food colouring

-----

Fresh double cream 150ml

Sugar 2tbsp

Vanilla yogurt 1tbsp

1. Sift flour twice. Pre-heat the oven to 200º.

2. Prepare boiled water in a large bowl (let's call it "Bowl A").

3. Prepare a little smaller bowl (let's call it "Bowl B") than the bowl A, and combine eggs and sugar in it. Place the bowl B on top of the bowl A so that the bowl B is warmed up from outside.

4. Mix the egg mixture with a hand mixer well until it becomes fluffy and almost like a meringue.

5. Take out the bowl B from the bowl A, quickly add the flour, and mix with the hand mixer until the flour is mixed in thoroughly.

6. Take a table spoonful of the mixture in a small bowl. Add cocoa powder and food colouring in and mix.

7. Place two pieces of baking sheets on a baking tray. Drop the black-coloured mixture on the tray randomly, and spread so that it looks like a black patches of a cow.

8. Pour 5 into the tray.

9. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes.

10. When the cake is done, take it out on a cake cooler rack. Place one of the two baking sheets on the top, and turn it up side down. Peel off the other baking sheet slowly to prevent damaging the surface. Place the same baking sheet back on, and cover the cake with slightly wet tea towel. Let it cool.

11. Prepare the cream. Combine cream and sugar in a bowl, and mix until it is stiff. Fold yogurt it.

12. Spread the cream on the cake. Roll it carefully. Wrap the cake with a cling film. Let it cool in the fridge.