Busy Busy Bees 🐝

How are you all getting on this Monday? Are you all being busy bees back to work? Don’t forget no matter how busy you get, always take time to relax and spend time with your loved ones. (One of the good thing about living alone is you can ignore the latter haha 😛)

As a child, I was very lucky to have a family who worked very hard in order for me to get the life I have now. Whether you’re trying to earn a living for yourself or your loved ones, I commend you for your hard work and your determination to make the most of your lives. And, to commemorate those of you busy bees out there, I would like to share this recipe of my bumble bee lemon cupcakes. Best wishes to the rest of the week! And keep fighting! 💪

Bumble Bee Lemon Cupcakes

Quantity: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients:

For the cake batter:

125g unsalted butter, soft

125g caster sugar

125g self-raising flour

2 large eggs

1 lemon, zest only

1 tsp baking powder

For the lemon icing:

250g icing sugar

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 lemon, zest only

Yellow food colouring

For the bumble bees:

Yellow fondant

Dark chocolate, melted

Dr. Oetker Chocolate Hearts (alternatively, you can temper your own chocolate)

Other decorations:

Wafer flowers

Popping candies

Method:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/gas 6.

2. Cream the butter with the caster sugar using an electric whisk.

3. Sieve your flour, and add the rest of the cake ingredients into the butter mixture. Beat or whisk until well-combined and smooth.

4. Line muffin tin with cupcake paper cases. Place the batter evenly across the cases. Bake the cupcakes for 12-15 minutes, or until golden and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cupcakes on a wire rack once ready.

5. For the icing, sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and beat until smooth. If your icing is too wet, add more icing sugar to thicken it.

6. To make the bumble bees, roll yellow fondant into small balls. Pipe the melted dark chocolate to form the stripes and the eyes. Insert the chocolate hearts on it to form the wings.

7. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, spread or pipe the icing on top and decorate with the bumble bees, wafer flowers and popping candies.

Pillows and Marshmallows

‘Last night I dreamed I ate a 10-pound marshmallow, and when I woke up the pillow was gone.‘ Have you ever dreamt about marshmallows? Tommy Cooper once did at the cost of his own pillow. As I am leaning against my pillow, almost half dozed off, I thought I would share the recipe of my homemade marshmallows.

It’s probably unsurprising to know that I am always a big fan of sweet treats, but this is my first time making any kind of confectionary. And surprisingly, these pillowy blueberry marshmallows are rather easy to make. I can say my friends and I had fun eating them while dipping them in our hot chocolate and coffee yesterday. (It’s quite a sticky business though! 😂)

The recipe is adapted from the book ‘Pâtisserie’ by William and Suzue Curley. The recipe starts from making a blueberry purée, but you can also adapt it for other kinds of fruit purée to create marshmallows of different flavours! 😋

Blueberry Marshmallows

Quantity: 1 tray

Ingredients:

For the blueberry purée:

150g blueberries

15g caster sugar

15ml water

1 tsp lemon juice

For the marshmallows:

110g blueberry purée

10g leaf gelatine

225g caster sugar

135ml water

38g egg whites

Icing sugar, for dusting

Cornflour, for dusting

Method:

1. To make the blueberry purée, place blueberries, caster sugar, water and lemon juice in a saucepan. Bring to boil and crush the blueberries as you are cooking them. Pass the purée through a sieve and set aside.

2. Soak the leaf gelatine in cold water and set aside.

3. Use 110g of the blueberry purée to make the marshmallows. (You can save any leftovers to eat later, for example, putting it in plain yogurt!) Place the purée in a saucepan and bring to boil.

4. Squeeze off any excess water from the leaf gelatine and add it to the purée. Stir until the gelatine is fully dissolved. Set aside.

5. Place the caster sugar and water in a saucepan and heat to create a syrup.

6. In a large, clean mixing bowl, whisk egg whites to soft peaks.

7. Mix the syrup with the purée mixture. Then add it to the whisking egg whites. Continue to whisk until smooth and cold.

8. Mix equal amounts of cornflour and icing sugar together. Sift into a bowl.

9. Line a small baking tray with baking paper (choose one with enough depth). Dust it with the cornflour and icing sugar mixture, saving some for dusting the marshmallows later. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the tray and spread evenly.

10. Place in a fridge for about 1-2 hours, or until set.

11. Once set, cut into cubes of marshmallows and roll in the dusting mixture before serving.

Have a sweet marshmallow dream! (Excuse me as I doze off on my pillow 😴…)

Your Daily Bread

I would believe, for many of you, bread is a staple item in your house. Breakfast, lunch or dinner… you can do no wrong with a piece of bread with your meal. Sourdough, in particular, appears to be a popular choice as of late.

While I am not a massive fan of this artisan bread, I was intrigued by its unique preparation. For those of you unaware of this, sourdough requires a starter. Sourdough is not made with active or dry yeast and instead uses wild yeast. The sourdough starter is essentially a pre-ferment made from mainly flour and water, and a way to cultivate the wild yeast in the flour.

The recipe I used for the sourdough starter comes from BBC Food. (Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/sourdough_starter_22976) The starter will take a few days to be ready, so do start early if you want fresh sourdough bread by the end of the week.

Once the starter is ready, you may make the sourdough bread. (Link: https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/how_to_make_sourdough_08213) The remaining procedure is very similar to making regular breads otherwise. One of my colleagues is actually quite fond of sourdough himself and I recommended this recipe to him.

Now, I tend to like to dip my sourdough in garlic olive oil and salt before eating, or have it as an open sandwich. How do you like your sourdough bread? Let me know in the comments!

The Sun Above the Marshmallow Clouds

As we are approaching to the second half of June, summer holiday may have begun for some already. But for the past week, the sunlight was tucked behind the clouds in London. (Maybe it was ’cause I kept complaining how hot it was the week before?) For those of you who live in hot, exotic countries though, I wonder how many of you are sick of the heat by now? (Trust me, having lived in one before, I can empathise haha.)

But for now, how about enjoying a dessert? This mango and coconut meringue is one to enjoy be it cloudy or sunny weather. The combination of crunchy, marshmallowy meringue and soft whipped cream paired with tangy mangoes is one that can whisk you high up in the clouds. And with its vibrant yellow colours, it was as if the sunshine is brought into the house. ☀️ 😊

Mango and Coconut Meringue

Quantity: 1 meringue

Ingredients:

75g egg whites

100g caster sugar

50g icing sugar

Yellow food colouring

Half a mango, peeled, stoned and sliced into pieces

100ml double cream

80g mango pulp/purée

Desiccated coconut

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 140C/ 275F/ Gas 1.

2. Make the French meringue by whisking egg whites in a clean mixing bowl. Add the caster sugar a bit at a time when whisking until stiff peaks are formed. (To test if it is ready, tip the bowl over and the meringue shouldn’t fall.)

3. Gently fold in the icing sugar into the meringue.

4. Brush stripes of the yellow food colouring inside a piping bag with a star nozzle. Place the meringue into the bag and pipe small peaks to form two circular discs of equal sizes.

5. Bake the meringue discs for about 1 hour, or until crisp and lightly coloured. Cool the meringues slowly in the oven, then open the oven slightly to cool further before taking them out to cool on a wire rack. (If the meringues are cooled down too fast, it may cause them to crack.)

6. Whisk the double cream to soft peaks. Mix 2-3 tablespoons of desiccated coconut into the cream.

7. When the meringue discs are completely cooled, spoon most of the whipped cream on top of one of the discs. Drizzle the mango pulp/purée over and place the mangos on top. Add the remaining double cream, and place the other meringue disc on top to finish assembling.

8. Sprinkle more desiccated coconut over the meringue before serving.

Wordless Wednesday

#WordlessWednesday

Butter Yourself Up!

When I watched Julie and Julia a while ago, there was a scene when Amy Adams’s character expressed that when ‘the day there’s a meteorite heading toward the earth and we have thirty days to live, I am going to spend it eating butter’. Certainly not a good move for your cholesterol, but one cannot deny the pleasure butter can bring to your food. For a baker like me, butter is such a staple in many baking recipes, it seems inevitable that I will always have a supply of butter in my home. But what kind of bakes will allow you to showcase the beauty of butter the most? I would say it’s none other than some flaky, buttery puff pastry.

As a fellow blogger (Hi, terrepruitt! 😊) asked me about the puff pastry bakes on my cover photo a couple of days ago, it reminds of a period of time when I was desperately trying to master it at home. If one is to ask me if I have any tips on making puff pastry, my answer will be a simple one word: ‘patience’. Patience, patience, patience until you practically run out of patience by how many times I utter this word. The times I found myself struggling with the lamination of the pastry are often times when I rushed it. A good puff pastry can take up to several hours to make with constant procedures of rolling, folding, chilling and resting in and out of the fridge. It’s one LONG process (which does make me appreciate that some of you might just decide to save the effort and buy ready-made puff pastry from the supermarket altogether 😜). For those of you who don’t have much patience like me, there is an easy alternative though. And this is rough puff pastry.

So what is rough puff pastry? It is basically a cheating method of achieving puff pastry without the long lamination process. A rough puff pastry takes less than an hour to make as opposed to several hours for a full puff pastry. Only will you get the same signature flakiness in the pastry, but it also tastes just as good! The only one downside is that because you have no defined layers in your rough puff pastry, it will not rise as high as the full puff pastry would. But, this still means that rough puff pastry still can be used in a vast array of recipes – sweet AND savoury!

English Breakfast and Teriyaki Chicken & Cucumber Puff Canapés

The recipe I used for the rough puff pastry is by Gordon Ramsay and can be found on the BBC Good Food website. (Link: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2403/roughpuff-pastry-)

What other ideas do you have for using puff pastry? Feel free to share with me in the comments!

It’s Pizza Friday!

I doubt anyone can resist the temptation of a delicious pizza. And they always taste better after a night of heavy drinking to celebrate the end of the week! I particular enjoy the taste of homemade pizzas, given the fact I am one of those people who likes to go crazy with the toppings. Whether you like a plain old Margherita or a rich Meat Lovers, one of the best things of making pizzas at home is that you can put whatever you want on it!

The pizza dough recipe I used came from a Pizza Margherita recipe on BBC Good Food. (Link: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4683/pizza-margherita-in-4-easy-steps ) It is very easy to adapt to make any types of pizza you want!

Pizza

Quantity: 2 pizzas

Ingredients:

300g strong white/bread flour

1 tsp instant yeast

1 tsp salt

200ml warm water

1 tbsp olive oil

Toppings of your choice

Method:

Place the flour in a large bowl. Stir yeast and salt into the flour.
Make a well in the flour mixture, and pour in water and olive oil. Mix until well-combined and you have a soft, fairly wet dough.
On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough for 5 minutes and until smooth.
Cover and set aside before use. (You do not need to leave the dough to rise but it is not essential for a thin crust.)
Prepare the toppings.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface. The dough needs to be very thin as it will rise when baking in the oven.
Pre-heat oven to 240C/fan 220C /gas 8.
Place toppings on pizza and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until crisp and toppings cooked.

Why not give it a try to start your weekend? Have it ready to cure your hangover the next day!

What is your favourite kind of pizza? Tell me in the comments below!

Monday Blues, Rocky Roads

My first day back to work had been quite uneventful and yet somehow I managed to be exhausted by the time I got home. It is Monday though. True to the classic Monday blues, I don’t seem to be able to shake off the anticipation of a long marathon of a week ahead, and I just hope it’s not going to be all rocky roads along the way. But, hey, life still goes on and I know I still need to be prepared for any challenges that may get thrown at me anytime. So, instead of letting myself be submerged in a feeling of dread. I am going to tell myself to live in the moment. As Kylie Minogue sang once, ‘Into the blue. With nothing to lose.” I am now game.

To start off the week though, you always need a bit of sugar! I was taught how to make rocky roads by a friend in uni, and it had since become one of my favourite snacks to make. Sweet, crunchy, soft and tang. They are literally small blocks jam-packed with all sort of goodies, and they only take a few minutes to prep!

Classic Rocky Roads

Quantity: 1 tray

Ingredients:

300g dark chocolate

100g digestive biscuits

100g mini marshmallows

50g sultanas

50g glace cherries

Method:

Break chocolate into small chunks and place them in a large bowl.
Melt chocolate using a double-boiler or a microwave.
Break digestive biscuits into small pieces. Add them to the melted chocolate.
Add marshmallows, sultanas and glace cherries into the mixture, and stir until well-mixed.
Line a tray with baking paper. Spread the mixture evenly on the tray.
Place the rocky road in the fridge for about 1 hour for the chocolate to set.
When ready, cut the rocky road into even slices to serve.

This recipe is open to interpretation. You can replace sultanas and glace cherries with any dried fruits or nuts of your choosing. I found that dried mango and desiccated coconut also worked quite well for a tropical twist.

Wish you all rocky roads no more this week! (But you are allowed to eat rocky roads haha 😂)

Imperfection Is Beauty

How often have you spent your day worrying what others think of you and trying to be your perfect self? But when I have days like this, I would suddenly feel like I am losing myself in the process of trying to achieve this almost-impossible goal. Isn’t life just simpler when you embrace all these imperfections?

Following my stunt to make the perfect macarons a few days ago, I was left with trays of cracked macarons that had since clustered in my fridge. I pondered whether I should just throw them away or just eat them all as they were, but then an idea came to my head that maybe they could be of some better uses. After some quick researches online, I was inspired by the idea of making an Eton mess using the broken macarons. Not only did it look more elaborated, but the softeness of the whipped cream and the tartness of the fruits complimented very well with the crunchy texture of the sweet macarons. And more importantly, it is very simple and quick to make. It is the perfect summer dessert!

Life may not be smooth sailing at all times, but those imperfect moments are just as beautiful as the rest. So, let’s all enjoy the ride! 🙂

Macaron Eton Mess

Quantity: 2 plates

Ingredients:

1 batch of macarons

400g strawberries

200g mixed berries (e.g. blueberries and raspberries)

20ml water

20g caster sugar

1 tsp lemon juice

300 ml double cream

Method:

Place one third of the fruits, water, sugar and the lemon juice in a saucepan. Heat and bring them to a boil. Crush the fruits as you are cooking.
Pass the puree through a sieve and leave it to cool.
Whip the double cream to soft peaks and set aside.
Use a spoon to drizzle swirls of the fruit puree on the plate. Break the macarons into small pieces and place on top of the puree. Garnish with the remaining fruits and whipped cream, and drizzle more puree over it.

Red, Orange, Yellow, Green and…

As the sequel to my post on the food market earlier, for my late night snack, I have made a focaccia using the beautiful tomatoes I bought from the market today. The tomatoes not only gave the bread a great appearance in colours, but also delicious flavours. Good for supper, lunch or breakfast even!

The stall owners told me the best way to eat these tomatoes is to eat them raw with salt and drizzles of olive oil. Sometimes, simplicity is indeed the best! Not sure what they will think of my focaccia haha?

The recipe I used is inspired by the focaccia recipe in ‘How To Make Bread’ by Emmanuel Hadjiandreou. (I found this book when I was visiting a book store one Friday night after work. It is a great read for those of you who may be interested in bread making!)

Rainbow Tomatoes and Cheese Focaccia

Quantity: 1 focaccia

Ingredients:

200g / 1½ cups strong white/bread flour

4g / ¾ tsp salt

1g / ¼ tsp dried/active dry yeast

150g / ⅔ cup warm water

50g / 3 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil

Cherry tomatoes, multiple colours

Pecorino/Parmesan cheese, grated

Method:

Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl and set aside.
Place the yeast in a large mixing bowl. Add the warm water and stir until the yeast has dissolved.
Add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture. Mix until you get a quite sticky dough.
Place one third of the olive oil in another large bowl and place the dough in it. Cover it and let it rest for 1 hour.
Gently fold the dough twice and cover again for another 1 hour.
Repeat step 5 for a total of three times. Add a little olive oil each time before resting to allow the dough not to stick too much to the bowl. By the end, the dough should be well-risen and bubbly.
Line a baking tray with baking paper. Gently transfer the dough to the tray and avoid damaging any air bubbles. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.
Flatten and widen the dough into a rough rectangle using your fingertips to push it out. Cover and let rest for another 10 minutes.
Chop the cherry tomatoes in halves and arrange them on top of the focaccia. Sprinkle the cheese and season with salt. Drizzle olive oil lightly over the toppings.
Cover the focaccia and let it rise for about 20 minutes, or until doubled in size.
While waiting for it to finish proofing, preheat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas 9.
Bake the focaccia for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown and the focaccia makes a hollow sound when tap at the bottom. (Unlike most other breads, you do not need to place a cupful of water at the bottom of the oven to create steam as this focaccia dough is moist enough to create steam on its own.)
Once the bread is ready, set it on a wire rack to cool.