Royal wedding

I'm not sure I was this excited even at my own wedding... (I guess I was more nervous...) Yes, today is a big day for Britain, Royal Wedding! Oooh, bless them. What a gorgeous wedding! Watching the happy couple, people with such a joy made me feel warm and happy too:D

Here are cakes, little square cakes and union jack batternburg for our royal wedding tea party.. we'll just enjoy the festive atmosphere by ourselves on TV because we aren't invited....

Ultimate custard ice cream

There are so many things we can do with those left out egg yolks after making macaroons or chiffon cakes, and sometime, those yolks with a look of "use me up!" gives me great ideas:)

This time, I opted for a simple custard... but it wasn't just custard, it was for my ultimate custard ice cream! I've always wanted to make really rich cream-brulee-like ice cream, so the time has come!

I've made the custard with brown sugar for a change from normal white sugar, which worked well and gave the custard a good body. Hum, looking already good:) Since I still had dulce de leche from the other day, (remember Torta de hojas I made?) I mixed it in the custard and made lovely marble. Wooow, I could already see it was going to taste amazing.... I even had a spoonful before putting it in the freezer... cheeky...;)

Having waited whole afternoon, I finally got it out for dinner. The texture wasn't rock -hard like the ones you sometimes get, but so smooth that I could serve it straight from the freezer. The taste... oh..man..! This is what I call "The ultimate custard ice cream"! Yum yum yum...

Ingredients;

Corn starch 15g

Brown sugar 120g

Water 80ml

Egg yolk 2

Single cream 160ml

1. Boil sugar and water in a sauce pan. When the sugar is fully melted, turn the heat off.

2. Mix corn starch, egg yolk and cream together. Add them into 1.

3. Put 2 back on a low heat and mix well.

4. When the mixture has become creamy and shiny, turn the heat off. Let it cool.

5. Add dulce de leche in 4 and mix roughly to make marble.

6. Put 5 in the freezer to set.

Coconut macaroons

Coconut macaroons again! (have you seen my cocadas?) I made them last night to take with us for camping today:) We're busy getting ready and by the time we finished packing it was already late. But, how can we go off without sugar supplies, right?
So, I quickly got coconut, sugar, eggs, and almond powder out, and mix, fold,  bisch basch bosch, done... chewy texture, lovely coconuts flavour... Not bad... ;) With a pink food colouring, even the simple quick macaroons are now looking pretty:D

Well, let's do one! We're off!

Easter cakes

Easter treat made by Andy's mum, Chris! Awesome! Not only was it a giant cup cake but also it had a nice surprise of jam, dolly mixtures and chocolate eggs! Oohoo, and the butter icing was so good that I kept scraping it...

There was another cake also made by Chris, a traditional Easter cake. Look at the marzipan! They are so nicely coloured:)

Thanks for all the nice goodies!

Easter eggs

Happy Easter weekend!
Nice looking chocolate eggs and bunnies are everywhere this time of the year. However, unfortunately I don't eat chocolate, so I won't get those cute sweets for myself... humm, shame;(
But, never mind because this year I made coconuts cake eggs! When I found this egg shape cake mould in a supermarket, I was like.." Yest! this is what I was looking for!"
The recipe was quite an experimental one, but it did go well with Andy's help:) Thanks, buddy!

The cake is semolina sponge cake, which is coated with jam and coconuts icing. They aren't the traditional chocolate eggs but I'm really happy that I'm going to have my own Easter eggs this year ;D

Torta de hojas

"Cake of leaves"...., Torta de hojas is a Chilean treat that has a stack of cookie-like layers and a rich caramel filling between the layers.

I've always interested in making this cake, but I've sort of avoided trying it until now, knowing it's a very time-consuming recipe. However, today I finally made my mind up and went in the kitchen to start a long prep session. Fun fun fun...:D

First of all, because my oven isn't big enough to fit all the layers at once, I had to run 4 sessions to bake all 8 layers..., which took me... about an hour.
Then, while I was baking the layers, I made the caramel filling, dulce de leche. Since I've made it before, I was thinking... "it shouldn't be too hard, but it just takes time...". Ok..., I was wrong. It was pretty tough to watch out the caramel and the stuff in the oven at the same time, but I was doing well....yes..., until the dulce de leche made a little explosion... Luckily, it wasn't major and there were only few drops of caramel on the hob... phew...
All in all, I finished the prep in 3 hours or so, which was what I consider as a success!
The only part left was to stack the layers! Yes, this is the bit I've waited for! The authentic torta de hojas uses brandy between the layers, but I avoided it this time as I didn't want the cake to be alcoholic. I also mixed whipped cream in the filling so that it's more spreadable and lighter to eat;)

Here we go... it's looking pretty, no?

To see the recipe, visit The World of Sweets Recipes, Chile.

あずき練乳アイス (Azuki Ice cream)

Sunny Sunday! I can really see the summer is really coming!
And in my math (I'm terrible at math, by the way...) Summer = Ice cream!
One of my all time favourite is "Azuki Milk Ice cream", we call it あずぎ練乳アイス (Azuki rennyu ice). And last night, I found a stock of condensed milk and azuki in the cupboard, and there was some cream left in the fridge. Yep, perfect. I could already tell it was going to work!

After 2 minutes prep, my ice cream went in the freezer...

The following morning..., I rushed to see it nicely set. One, two, three scoops... I had a taste with a big spoonful. "......Oh.. home.... Japan..." That was just the taste I expected, nostalgia.. Childhood, a humid lazy summer's day. It tasted really like the Azuki Ice cream from "551 Horai" if you know them... (It's a very popular Buta-man shop in Osaka.)

It's very easy! When you want to feel a taste of Japan, try it!

Ingredients:

Ready cooked sweetened azuki 500g (see my post -Sweet Azuki Beans)

Condensed milk 150g

Single cream 150ml

1. Mix all the ingredients.

2. Put it in the freezer until it set.