mille crepe

Green tea and white chocolate mille crepe for my sister's birthday. This wasn't difficult, but was very time-consuming. And the crepes turned out somewhat rubbery..

Hidemi Sugino's Charme

Based on Hidemi Sugino's Charme. The original recipe called for griottes (morello cherries soaked in kirsch), so I went out and got some. They were freaking expensive (almost $30 for 400grams, of which only about 220g was the actual cherries) - and awful in the cake! way too alcoholic. So i chopped up some, and mixed it up with chopped canned dark cherries.

Layers from bottom to top: chocolate biscuit joconde soaked with kirsch, dark chocolate chantilly cream, layer of cherries, milk chocolate chantilly cream, another layer of soaked chocolate biscuit joconde, then finally a layer of white chocolate chantilly cream. Topped with cocoa powder, chocolate shards and griottes dipped in chocolate.

quinoa for dinner

Quinoa with carrots, mushrooms and cashew nuts. I ate it hot; it was more like a very healthy version of fried rice than a salad. I would make this again, but perhaps with grilled root vegetables instead of the carrots (I don't like carrots)..

chocolate zucchini cake

something uncomplicated today, after all those fussy french pastries.

i think i have new muscles from grating all that zucchini. the cake turned out a little bitter (cos i ran out of 56% chocolate couverture and had to use the 70% kind) - couldn't taste the zucchini at all, though it was slightly fibrous/chewy. But that could have been because of the wholewheat flour.

this was very addictive when it came out from the oven - warm, dense, with pockets of melty chocolate. we'll see how it is after it has a day or so to sit in the fridge. 

tarte infinitement cafe

This week's project was pierre herme's infinitely coffee tart. Started with the pate sucre tart base, then a layer of coffee white chocolate ganache, then a lady's finger soaked in coffee, covered with more ganache, then topped off with a coffee mousse.

It was pretty incredible how awful everything was on its own, but came together so well. the mousse was very, very bitter, and the coffee ganache was too sweet - but together, it worked.

Also made a batch of his lemon cream for the citron tart. it was not bad, but the amount of butter in it is shocking. I've made something similar (lemon curd + mascarpone cheese) and far easier, that wasn't quite as sour, and was creamier - think I'll stick with that next time.

frustrating cream puff

this was seriously more trouble that it was worth.
this is from the third batch. the first two batches didn't rise well - the roux was made with half milk, and half water, and it only worked after i changed it to just water.
and nothing would keep the damn things crispy! even the biscuit topping!

... at least people liked it... :D

coffee macarons

OMG these turned out alright!!! Feet and all!
The first batch of coffee buttercream curdled so i ended up using the pate a bombe version I made for the opera cake. Was too sweet with the macarons - should have reduced the sugar (or increased the coffee..)

apple crumble

quick and easy apple cinnamon crumble topped with brown sugar streusel (made with wholewheat flour so i can pretend it's healthy!) i love the plump, juicy baked raisins.
wanted to practice rubbing in the butter.

my first entremet!

 

70% dark chocolate mousse entremet with a praline feuilletine layer. SUPER yums. and everyone i gave it to really liked it :D

L'Opera

Substituted the bottom layer of joconde with a praline feuilletine base instead. The praline paste was made from scratch!
the coffee taste was a perfect balance to the sweetness, especially after a day or so in the fridge. deep but not overpowering.

 

caramelised hazelnuts for the praline paste.

tandoori tofu

the spices

pancakes

fluffy buttermilk pancakes

Midnight snack

Quinoa with Japanese wafu radish dressing and random prawn I found in the fridge

Spent the whole afternoon making (failed) macarons.
The one on the left has no feet.
The one in the middle is domed - it is shaped like mt fuji.
The one on the right..... looks like a volcano. it has a head instead of feet.... Will try again tomorrow!

cakes

Black magic cupcake
Filling: Nutella, dark chocolate, cream cheese and chopped hazelnuts
Topped with dark chocolate and rum ganache

YUM!

Whipped cream lemon cake filled with yujacha
Was too dense and not sweet enough - reduced the sugar by too much.

black bean and quinoa burger

served on a slice of wholewheat bread with lettuce, cucumber and fresh salsa.

granola

rolled oats, almond flakes, chia seeds, raisins, dried apricots, honey, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, salt. the smell of it baking was lovely.

falafels and yoghurt dip

Tried making falafels. They were baked instead of fried, and broiled at the end. I thought the batter was too dry so i added half an egg - I probably shouldn't have done that cos it was too wet after baking.

Packed for dinner with a grilled mushroom and tofu salad. The yoghurt sauce was awesome!

smoothie and cookies

orange smoothie. made with fresh oranges, plain greek yoghurt and a teaspoon of honey.

and something in the oven..

chocolate chip cookies! reduced the sugar by almost half but it was still too sweet.

quinoa tabbouleh

didn't have quite enough lemon juice, so added some yuzu salad dressing instead.

spanish baked eggs

canned tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggs (2 egg whites, 1 egg yolk), coriander, shallots, parsley, onion and garlic.