TBB: Chocolate Sweetheart Madeleines (P391)

This is a quick and easy recipe. Very easy to put together.  I didn't have mini madeleine pans so I used the normal size ones.  

I tried to weigh the batter into each cavity, but I realised that 16g is too little, so I increased and filled it to 3/4 full so I ended up with exactly 20 pieces.

Just out from oven! 

However, I'm a bit disappointed that they are 'humpless' which is the characteristic of madeleines.

Removed from pan and cooling... 

I dusted with some icing sugar and sandwich 2 madeleines with ganache instead of glazing it. 

The Chocolate Madeleines tasted like chocolate cake than madeleines...and no characteristic hump! 

In fact, it tasted more like whoopie pies and that is why I sandwich 2 madeleines with ganache.

It's a wonderful and easy recipe and the chocolate cake is moist and soft.  But to call it madeleines, I'm not sure about that... 

That said, I would still make it again anytime since they are easy to make, delicious and easy to eat too in bite size.   

TBB: Prune (Mango) Preserves and Caramel (Dulce De Leche) Cream Cake Roll (p105)

This is only half the roll...

Plums yes, Prunes no. I don't hate it in general, I can still eat them but given a choice, I would pick other dried fruits, like apricot or mango. Thus, I substituted the prunes with dried mango instead. The flavor is not so mango-rish, but more citrus-y.. maybe I added too much lemon juice! lol!  

I didn't follow the instructions in the book exactly for the sponge cake.  I saw on the photo that it's a very thin cake roll and I like my cake roll (we call it "Swiss Roll" here..) to be a bit thicker..and fluffier. So I added some oil and water making it more chiffon like... my pan is slightly smaller I think..so naturally it will come up a bit taller, I figured. 

Baked for 15mins and cool it upside down.

After cool, spread Mango preserves

I have a can of Dulce De Leche in fridge, so lazy me, just used this instead of making caramel. 

No photos of the whipped cream because somehow after I whipped the cream, it melted really quickly..so it was quite a mess trying to roll the cake with soft cream.  I ended up putting the whole cake roll in the freezer wrapped in cling wrap.  I rolled the cake length way..and maybe added the difficulty.. 

Below is the frozen cake. Quite good in fact..still soft in freezer and the cream taste like ice-cream...lol! 

Of course I added more vanilla ice cream on it.. and drizzle plain ganache which I had in fridge.  

My husband likes it a lot. The citrusy tangy mango preserves blends very well with the cream and ice-cream.  Perhaps next time if I make it again, I should just wrap it with ice-cream instead of whipped cream - just like the classic Artic Roll cake which I love.

TBB: The Araxi Lemon Cream Tart (p235)

I baked this tart together with the Marble Cheesecake. I made the tart crust earlier and kept in the freezer for a while..and forgotten about it until I was clearing my freezer.

So I took it out from freezer and baked it till golden brown as instructed.

Then I made the lemon cream.... .I didn't have time to wait for the 30min rest time, so I strained the  custard instead..I strained it twice hoping it will be ok... had some bubbles and I tried to remove with spoon.. 

After baked... I poured the custard too full. The baking sheet below warped in the oven..and the custard leaked over the sides.

My share of the cheesecake and the lemon tart

This is the BEST lemon tart I have ever tasted!  I always thought lemon tart is too sour for me.. but this cream tart, I love!  Now I feel like making it again.. soo good! I had great feedback on this! Everyone who tried it loves it...! 

TBB: Marble White & Dark Chocolate Cheesecake (p164)

I had no intention of baking till end October, but as I was clearing my freezer space to make space for my upcoming big project, I realised I had some biscuit crust and pastry tart crust all rolled out nicely in the pan waiting to be baked... But I tried to do too much... even now that I am typing this...I'm also at the same time multi-tasking other things.. because I want to get things done asap and there seems to be not enough time... Why time flies so quickly... or is it because I am getting older or what?

Anyway... because when I tried to do too much things at limited time, I made many mistakes too also because I wasn't feeling very well either.. my stomach was acting up.. I think maybe gastric from all the stress!  

As you can see, I baked the Araxi Lemon Cream tart too... 

I used the leftover cookie crust (instead of baking the sponge cake).

Mix the melted chocolate into half the cheese batter... 

I ran out of white chocolate..left with 60g and I made up the rest of the weight with Dulce de Leche... (I boiled the can for 3 hours in water....didn't explode..if you are wondering.. if it did, I won't be here typing this..lol!)

All ready to be baked...

I tried to save time and transferred the cheesecake to the toaster oven to cool down..but forgot to turn off the toaster oven..and in the end, the top of the cheesecake was burnt!  

Under the burnt skin..not too bad isn't it?  

The disaster part after this...I didn't record any photos..as I was busy 'firefighting'... I thought I could cover the top of the cake with sour cream. So I poured the sour cream over and as it was baking..the sour cream turned into liquid and leaked..and I realised I poured heavy cream instead!?!?!?  I tried to tilt the cheesecake and pour out the heavy cream and the cheesecake almost fell out. I had to use a spoon and scoop every drop out!  I gave up for the night (midnight...!) and place in the fridge to set.

The next morning, wide awake, I finally had a great idea! Just cover the top with ganache. Why didn't I think of that that night before!!

Very very good cheesecake. Super delicious and very rich! Just the way I like it. Actually, it is like saying the obvious! All Rose's cheesecake recipes are very good..no fail.  All creamy, smooth and deliciously melt in mouth and this is no exception.  

TBB: Bourbon Pecan Balls

I made these at the same time I made Double Chocolate Oriolos earlier in May 2015. These are super easy to put together. If you are using store bought wafers, even easier!  I love the addition of Bourbon here. I'm not a drinker but I like addition of some alcohol in my baked goods. It gives that extra flavor. 

These are the Double Chocolate Oriolos cookies I baked earlier. 

They are so good on their own! I was actually pretty sad to have to blitz them all in the food processor.

Getting ready my Bourbon! :)  

Blitz the Oriolos.... and transfer it out to another bowl.

Blitz the pecan nuts, cocoa powder & icing sugar. 

Mix the cookie crumbs and pecan cocoa mixture together and stir with wooden spoon!

This is hard..took forever!! I got impatient and put the mixture into mixing bowl and mix with a paddle instead! 

Bourbon all mixed in and rest for a while. 

Roll them into balls..i used a tiny cookie scoop..probably 10g each instead of 20g and coat with sugar. 

Coating with sugar..again for 2 time before placing onto a container lined with kitchen paper towel (with packet of silica gel underneath)

All done and ready to rest in fridge overnight. :) 

These are so good that you can't stop eating...love the subtle bourbon flavor ..at the end notes. :)  

One container went to my daughter's office and everyone loved it. 

TBB: Cream Cheese Butter Cake (p15)

Rose's Butter Cake is the Best!  Perfect and always a Winner. 
So this Cream Cheese Butter Cake is no exception and is too a Winner. So velvety, delicate and moist crumbs.  Just typing this is making me crave for a slice!

I like how creamy the batter looks. Looks delicious here already! 

I added some lime zest.  You can see the green specks. 

After baked.

Making of the curd. I made Lime Curd instead of Lemon.

And I microwaved it instead of cooking it. :p

I cut out 3/4 portion to share it away :D  

TBB: Perfect Savory Cream Puffs (p304)

I made the Deluxe version of the choux pastry using bread flour and more egg whites.  I like how fluffy they turned out to be.  

I filled these with different flavor ice cream.. esp. in the hot weather, ice-cream is the best dessert isn't it? :D  Mango, Green Tea with Red Bean, Rum & Raisin flavors..  After the wedding dessert table thingy I did last weekend or was it 2 weekends ago?...my freezer for once was empty and thus I filled it with lots of ice-cream.. hee hee.. 

But since this is Savory cream puffs..I have to attempt to make the liver pate..faux gras.. 

Making of chicken liver faux gras. 

Chicken liver is very cheap here..I got whole lot of liver for only $1 which included 3 hearts that I threw away. 

Saute the onions with butter... then add cream and seasoning and more butter

Add liver and blend... turn into a not very pleasant color.

After I strained into a corning ware and steam bake it for 30 mins. 

Making of Choux Pastry.

I used hand to mix in and made double recipe since one batch of recipe seems too little. 

You need a good arm strength for this... 

Pipe onto floured baking tray.. 

All baked! :D  

So here's the liver faux gras after chilling in the fridge till next day.  I couldn't stand the smell of it after it was baked. During baking, it smells good. But not after. I wonder why?

The color turned even uglier when exposed to air. Seems like it oxidises. I learnt something new!  

When I dig into the pate underneath is pink.. but after 5 mins standing, the area exposed to air will turn grey. 

After chilling, the weird smell seems to have gone away.

I tried and it was a bit too rich for me.  A tiny bit goes a long way.  

Perhaps should mix in whipped cream to lighten it? Or add something?

Since nobody else wanted to try it, I decided not to make the port caramel.

I think this faux gras is good as a sandwich spread but not as a filling.  As sandwich spread you can spread thinly. But as a filling, you need quite substantial amount of it.  Or maybe it's just me..  

I think I need to try with the Foie Gras instead..:D