Almond & Cornflake Rochers

Just made these (non-bake) almond & cornflake rochers this morning. It's really very easy, try it!

Recipe for Cornflake & Almond Rochers

(makes about 80 pieces)

Ingredients:

500g chocolate chips

100g toasted nibbed almonds

100g cornflakes

some melted white chocolate

* Feel free to adjust the amount depending on whether u like more chocolate, almond or cornflake. Just ensure that there's enough chocolate to cover the almonds and cornflakes.

Method:

1) Melt chocolate chips over a pot of simmering water (double boil).

2) Mix in the almond and cornflakes. 

3) Place small spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture onto a greaseproof paper. 

4) Pipe some white chocolate on top. 

5) Chill in the fridge to set. 

6) Transfer chocolates to baking cups if preferred. 

Chocolate Eclairs

Prepare some choux pastry, use star nozzle and pipe 5cm lengths on the baking sheets.
Bake and cool the shells.
Whipped up some vanilla cream and pipe into the cooled baked puffs.
Coat the top with melted chocolate.
And you'll have chocolate eclairs!

Double Chocolate Chips Cookies

Baked some double chocolate chips cookies yesterday afternoon...

Yap, these are "Not so Famous Sheryl's Chocolate Chips Cookies"...

Have received some orders to bake more of them. Great for keeping me occupied at home :P

Hope these cookies bring some cheer to those who eat them :)

Chocolate Cake with Strawberries

Made this simple chocolate cake covered in choclate ganache and strawberries for my sister SL's birthday back in April. I'm glad that she love her cake :) A year older, a year wiser... Aim for the stars!

Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Mousse

After baking a chocolate cake last Saturday, I baked one again today using the same recipe from Allrecipe. After reading the reviews, I decided to add some instant coffee as suggested & increase the amount of cocoa powder to give the cake a richer chocolatety taste. I also made some french chocolate mousse (Alex Goh's recipe) to sandwich the cake & chocolate ganache to cover the entire cake. Woooooo... An awfully chocolatety cake!

An Awfully Chocolatety Cake

Moist & Rich Chocolate Cake

sandwiched with French Chocolate Mousse

& covered in Chocolate Ganache

Perfectly Chocolate Cake

Good enough to be eaten on its own :)

Adapted Recipe for Perfectly Chocolate Cake

(makes 1 8-inch round cake, I made 2 smaller cakes)

Ingredients:

(A) In the mixing bowl
160g sugar
90g all purpose flour
30g cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
(B) Mix in a measuring cup
100ml milk
1 egg
50ml vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
(C)
1 tbsp instant coffee
100ml boiling water

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 180C.
2) Sift flour & powders & mix all the ingredients in (A) in a mixing bowl.
3) Add (B) & mix on medium speed till ingredients are well combined.
4) Dissolve 1 tbsp instant coffe in the boiling water. Stir in the water into the batter.
Mix well. The batter will be very  thin.
5) Pour batter into a greased baking tin. Cake tin should be about 1/2 filled to allow for expansion during baking. (I had a problem of the cake batter overflowing from the cake tin last Saturday.)
6) Bake in the oven for an hr or till the skewer comes out clean.
(The original recipe states baking time to be 30mins, but I needed an hr for my oven.)
7) Allow cake to cool in cake pan for 10 minutes before cooling on rack.

French Chocolate Mousse
(adapted from Alex Goh's "Temptation of Chocolate")

50g dark chocolate, melted
15g caster sugar
2 egg yolks
120g whipped cream

Method:
1) Stir egg yolks & sugar in a bowl over simmering water till the mixture thickens. Remove from heat.
2) Whisk till cold.
3) Add in the melted chocolate & mix well.
4) Add in the whipped cream & mix well.

Assembling the Cake:
1) Cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers.
2) Sandwich the cake with the chcocolate mousse cream & chill in the fridge for a few hours..
3) Apply chocolate ganache or chocolate glazing as desired and let it set in the fridge.
4) Dust some cocoa powder or icing sugar over the cake as desired just before serving.

Chocolate Cake

I love chocolate cakes! I realised I said the same thing about egg tarts, fish, cheesecake, kwei lapis & what else... I've got to admit the fact that I love to eat :P Some people just eat to survive, Jerome & I enjoy our food. No wonder Jerome has put on weight... Actually, I'm guilty too :P

Anyway, back to chocolate cakes. I remembered the last time I tried to bake a chocolate cake many years ago, it was a failure. The cake was rock solid after I've chilled it. It was so hard that I almost had to use a chopper to try to cut it. So, sad to say, the cake landed in the bin.

I found a "One Bowl Chocolate Cake" recipe from Allrecipes.  It was a 4 1/2 star rating recipe with a lot of favourable reviews. The cake was moist & chocolatety. So I decided to try it out & serve it when my friends came to visit.

I made some adjustments to the ingredients as I wanted to bake a small cake. I poured the batter into a small rectangular cake tin. Unfortunately, I underestimated the expansion & the cake batter overflowed out of the tin halfway through baking.  Imagine the mess in the oven as the batter burns away... I had to quickly put in another baking tray to catch the falling batter. I was not looking forward to cleaning up the charred cake batter at the bottom of the oven.

The orignial called for 30 minutes of baking. But when 30 minutes were up, the cake was still very wobbly, so I had to extend the baking time. Checking the cake once a while to check whether it was done. Eventually, the cake took about an hour to be done. The cake came out with a bump & a crack on its top. Initially I had wanted to dust some icing sugar on the cake & serve it plain. However, the huge crack called for a change in plans. The cake needs some make up! So I decided to decorate the cake with some freshcream & strawberries.

Chocolate Cake covered in fresh cream & strawberries

The bottom half of the cake shrunk!

The cake was moist & soft. I'll definitely try baking it again next time in a bigger baking tin.

Adapted Recipe for Chocolate Cake

(makes 1 8-inch round cake)

Ingredients:

(A)

160g sugar

90g all purpose flour

25g cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

(B)

1 egg

100ml milk

50ml vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla essence

100ml boiling water

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius.

2) Mix all the ingredients in (A) in a mixing bowl.

3) Add (B) & mix on medium speed till ingredients are well combined.

4) Stir in the boiling water last. The batter will be thin.

5) Pour batter into a greased baking tin & bake for an hr or till the skewer comes out clean.

(The original recipe states baking time to be 30mins, but I needed an hr.)

6) Allow cake to cool in cake pan for 10 minutes before cooling on rack.

Chocolate MatchSticks

Found a recipe for chocolate fingers from "Chocolate Galore" by Caroline Barty which I borrowed from the NLB. What started out as chocolate fingers ended up being chocolate matchsticks...

Crisp, buttery Viennese fingers dipped in milk chocolate

Recipe for Chocolate Fingers

Ingredients:

120g butter, slightly softened

40g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla essence

120g plain flour

80g chocolate, broken into pieces

Method:

1) Cream butter, sugar & vanilla essence till light & fluffy.

2) Fold in the flour till you achieve a smooth dough.

3) Fill the dough into a piping bag with a 2cm fluted nozzle. Pipe out 7.5cm long fingers onto a non-stick baking sheet. Leave gap to allow for expansion.

4) Bake for 10-15 minutes in a preheat oven of 180 degrees celcius.

5) Leave them on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

6) Melt chocolate in a bowl over hot water. Dip the ends of the biscuits into the melted chocolate & place on non-stick perchment until hard.

Chocolate Cream Puffs

Tried making these miniature chocolate cream puffs for the 1st time :) Nice! This time, I coated the cream puffs with some melted semi-sweet chocolate chips. Next time, I'm going to try using chocolate ganache. I'm also going to make some durian puffs :)

Chocolate Cream Puffs

Recipe for Chocolate Cream Puffs

(makes about 36 pieces of small puffs)

For the Cream Choux Pastry:

Ingredients:

(A) Sift together

120g plain flour

1 tbsp icing sugar

(B)

200ml water

75g butter, cubed

(C)

3 eggs, beaten

Method:

1) Heat water & butter in a saucepan over a gentle heat to melt butter. Bring to a boil & remove from heat.

2) Add the flour mixture to the mixture & mix well until a smooth dough is formed. Transfer to a bowl & leave to cool.

3) Gradually mix in the eggs into the dough with an electric mixer to make the cream choux pastry.

4) Pipe the pastry onto the baking sheet.

5) Bake in the oven @ 200 degrees for about 30 minutes or until puffed & golden.

6) Make a hole with a chopstick at the top of the puff & leave to cool on the cooling rack.

Chocolate Cream Filling:

Ingredients:

300ml whipping cream

2 tbsp drinking chocolate powder

7) Whip the cream & chocolate powder until stiff.

8) Piped the chocolate cream into the puffs through the holes made earlier with the chopstick.

Chocolate Coating:

100g semi-sweet chocolate chips

9) Melt the chocolate chips using the microwave or in a bowl over hot water.

10) Dip the filled cream puffs over the melted chocolate covering the top.

11) Serve the chocolate cream puffs chilled.

Durian + Chocolate = Fatal Combination?

When I baked the durian cake for Jerome' birthday, I had extra batter for a small sponge cake...

Sponge Cake with Fresh Durain Bits

I decided to cover it with chocolate ganache... & dusted some icing powder...

Durian Sponge Cake Covered in Chcolate Ganache

Jerome & I were enjoying the cake when he suddenly recalled reading about a girl who actually died after eating durians & chocolates together a few years back. I don't recall such an incident but to err on the safe side, we had to throw away the rest of the cake :(  I tried to look for some information over the net about whether there was such an incident but I can't find any relevant information.

Anyone else heard of such a thing? Eating chocolates & durians together is fatal?

Well, Jerome & I ate some & yes, we're still alive :)

Chocolate Ganache

An all-purpose, all occasion, chocolate spread for cakes or cupcakes. A must for chocolate lovers.

I used it for a cake & matching cupcakes for my sister's birthday :)





Recipe for Chocolate Cream Ganache

Ingredients:
300g whipping cream
500g dark chocolate
30g butter

Method:
1) Heat up the whipping cream in a suacepan just till it starts to boil.
2) Remove from heat. Stir in the chocolate until it melts completely.
3) Mix in the butter until well combined.
4) Leave to cool & spread on cake or cupcakes as desired.

Strawberry Ice-cream Cake

My sis, Si Qing, has casually remarked that she wanted an ice-cream cake for her 25th birthday after I made a fruit flan cake for my mum's birthday last weekend. So I decided to try making some ice-cream first. After succeeding in making some chocolate ice-cream, I decided to make some strawberry ice-cream for a strawberry ice-cream cake. It's covered by chocolate ganache and decorated with 25 gum-paste flowers. Yap, I made the flowers too :) And so this is the 3rd birthday cake I've made...







Matching cupcakes for the birthday gal :)


Looking sweet & pretty... Like the birthday gal...


Opps! Too much cream!

Strawberry ice-cream using fresh strawberries puree. Yummy!
Quite surprised that the sponge cake remained soft after it's been frozen.

Recipe for Simple Strawberry Ice-Cream

Ingredients:
500g strawberries
50g icing sugar (subjected to personal preference)
juice of 1/2 lemon (I used orange juice instead as the strawberries are quite sour already)
300ml whipping cream

Method:
1) Use a food processor & blend the strawberries till it becomes a smooth puree.
Add the icing sugar & lemon/orange juice & process again till smooth.
2) Press the puree through a sieve into a bowl. (I forgot to do this step but the ice-cream still tasted great in the cake. Maybe it'll make the ice-cream smoother.) Chill till cold.
3) Whip the cream until it just thickens but still falls from the spoon. Fold the whipped cream into the strawberry puree. Pour into a freezerproof container.
4) Freeze for 6 hrs until firm, beating occasionally with a fork/electric whisk to break up the ice-crystals.

Step by step pictorial recipe of making strawberry ice-cream

Assembling the Cake
1) Cut the sponge cake horizontally in halves. Place 1 piece of the cake into an adjustable cake ring.
2) Scoop soft ice-cream onto the cake and smoothen it. Place the other piece of cake over the top.
3) Cover up the cake with cling wrap or a freezer proof airtight container (I used a Lock & Lock) & let the ice-cream set in the freezer for a few hours.

I used a Lock & Lock airtight container to keep the cake in the freezer & keep the odours away.

4) After the ice-cream has set, remove the cake ring. Apply a layer of whipped cream over the cake.
5) Let the cream set before applying a layer of chocolate ganache over the cake.
6) Decorate as desired. Keep in the freezer until you're ready to serve.

Classic Dark Chocolate Ice-Cream

My sister, SQ, has requested for an ice-cream cake for her birthday. So that set me my next challenge. Had been thinking of whether to buy a tub of ice-cream & assemble into a cake or should I try making some home-made ice-cream. Of course, I chose to try making some ice-cream. I don't have an ice-cream maker & don't really intend to get another machine for my small kitchen. So I went in search for a recipe for home-made ice-cream...

First I tried a recipe from AllRecipes.com that required double cream as an ingredient. So I went to Cold Storage & spent about $10 for a 300ml container of double-cream. It was the first time I tried using double-cream. When I started to whip the cream with my mixer, it started to curdle. I thought that I can save it by increasing the speed of the mixer. But regardless of how much whipping is done, the cream remained yellowish & thick. I quickly did a quick read-up on the net & found out that I've done the unthinkable! Overwhipping double cream = butter! So 1st attempt into ice-cream making failed...

I took out "The Ice-Cream Book" (by Joanna Farrow & Sara Lewis) that I bought quite some time back & looked for another recipe to try. And found the recipe for "Classic Dark Chocolate" that's "rich, dark & wonderfully luxurious". I'm glad that this recipe worked for me as you can see from the picture of the ice-cream... And I'll be trying more ice-cream recipes from this book :)


Rich, dark & wonderfully luxurious Classic Dark Chocolate Ice-cream

Recipe for Classic Dark Chocolate Ice-cream
(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients:
4 egg yolks
75g caster sugar
1 tsp cornflour
300ml semi-skimmed milk (I used full-cream milk)
200g dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
300ml whipping cream

Method:
1) Whisk egg yolk, sugar & cornflour in a bowl until thick & foamy.
2) Pour milk into a saucepan & bring just to a boil.
3) Gradually whisk it into the yolk mixture. (Use a hand whisk. The 1st time I use the machine, the mixture became so foamy. I had to start all over.)
4) Return the mixture to the saucepan & cook over a gentle heat, stirring constantly until the custard thickens & is smooth. (The custard will coat the back of a wooden spoon.) Remove from heat.
5) Stir the chocolate into the hot custard until it has melted. Leave to cool, then chill.
6) Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon.
7) Fold the whipped cream into the chilled custard.
8) Pour into a freezerproof container & freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating a few times with a fork. (This will break down the ice crystals & ensure that the ice-cream remain smooth & creamy. So the more you beat the ice-cream while it is freezing, the finer & silkier the finished texture will be.) Since I'm at home, I actually check on the ice-cream every other hr :P

Sheryl's Chocolate Chips Cookies For Orders & Sales

Yap, I'm taking orders for the Chocolate Chips Cookies. I do enjoy baking them & am pleased when someone enjoys eating them too :) There's only so much that my hubby & I can eat...

Here's what people said about the cookies...
"I can't stop eating them..."
" They're really addictive..."
"They're sinfully delicious..."
"I've never tasted cookies quite like this..."
"They're better than F...... A..."
"What's your secret ingredient?"
" I think about them even during this 'merlioning' period..." (from a pregnant fren who has serious morning sickness)
" You can sell them..." (which I'm trying to do now :P)
"I hope 3 large jars will last me for a week..." (Really makes me wonder how this slim & petite lady keeps her figure... if she can finish 3 jars on her own... & in a week??? I'm jealous!)



Presenting Sheryl's Chocolate Chips Cookies (bitesize) available in the following:

A dozen in a pack $2
Small Jar: 500ml glass jar $8
Medium Jar: 1000ml glass jar $15
Large Jar: 1500ml glass jar $20

Really like to keep the cookies in these glass jars as they're airtight & help keep the cookies stay crispy.

This was my 1st order of cookies that I took over 3 days to bake :)
Looking forward to more orders to keep myself busy...

Ingredients & materials used in the production are all halal.
I only bake to order :) meaning I only bake them when I have the orders.
This is to ensure that your cookies are baked fresh & u get to eat them fresh.

Email your orders & enquiries to cookiss007@gmail.com.

Meanwhile, I'll go on the search for the perfect melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie ...

Sheryl's Chocolate Chips Cookies

I like to think I'm famous for my Chocolate Chips Cookies in school :P (Shameless!)

It started off when C baked some & gave it to me. It started a craving in me & I started to look for the perfect recipe and experiment with the ingredients to get the cookies that tasted just right. I began baking & giving out to colleagues & recieved a lot of positive feedback :)

During a fund raising activity in 2007, I offered to bake them for sale. Ended up baking for over 3 days with the help of at least 3 other teachers for an order of about 50 jars of cookies. After that overdose of cocoa, I don't really eat my chcocolate chips cookies now :P

Now, I still bake them occasionally to give to relatives & friends who thankfully still love the cookies. Since I'm on leave now, baking helps me to occupy my time. And I'm thankful for the orders for the cookies cos there's only so much my hubby & I can eat. Hubby is not much of a cookie monster & I'm trying not to put on too much weight :P

Anyway, here's the original recipe for the Chocolate Chips Cookies for those who would like to try baking them on their own. This is not my final version though :P. I'm taking orders for the cookies & aspire to open up my own "Cookiss" shop :P

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

(A)

100g sugar

100g brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

100g butter

60 g magarine

1 tsp liquid glucose

(B)

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

(c)

200g flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

(D)

100g chocolate chips

Method:

1. Cream A lightly. Add (B) & cream till smooth.

2. Add in sieved (C) & mix well.

3. Add (D) & mix well.

4. Drop spoonfuls of the dough onto a baking sheet.

5. Bake at 180 degress for 15-18 mins.

* Cool the cookies on a cooling rack before storing them.

Do let me know if you've tried out the recipe and whether this is better from mine :)