Earl Grey Tea Cake

Keiko Ishida's Okashi : Earl Grey Tea Cake

YUMMY! This cake is seriously addictive! One bite of it and you will be craving for more. It's light & moist, the earl grey tea paired with the lemon zest really brings out the fragrant & flavor of the cake.  This cake is not sweet (the sweetness is just nice imo).  If you like really sweet cakes, add more icing sugar.  

Keiko Ishida's Okashi : Earl Grey Tea Cake (Pound Cake)

Ingredients:-

150g cake flour

1/8 tsp baking powder (i added 1/4 tsp more)

150g softened butter unsalted

150g icing sugar

15g glucose

3 eggs (abt 150g)

1/8 tsp salt

5g earl grey tea dust (from tea bags) (i added 2g of tea dust & 3g of earl grey tea powder)

15g ground almond

1 lemon zest

1 tbsp fresh milk
100g sugar syrup (50g sugar to 100g water)
2 tbsp lemon juice


1.  Preheat oven to 170C. Line a 19 x 9 x 8 cm pan.  Sift flour and baking powder twice.
2.  Mix syrup with lemon juice. Set aside.
3.  Beat butter, icing sugar and glucose together until light and very fluffy. Gradually add eggs and beat well, then add salt, tea dust, ground almonds and lemon zest and milk. Mix well.

4.  Add flour mixture and fold through completely using a spatula. Surface of batter should be glossy and smooth.

5.  Pour batter into prepared cake pan and make a lengthwise dent in the middle with a spatula. Bake for about 50 mins (baking time may vary according to your oven).

6.  When cake is done, remove from pan & peel off parchment. Place cake on wire rack and brush with sugar and lemon syrup while still warm.  Cool completely before serving. If storing, wrap with cling wrap.

Peanut Butter Ingots vs Green Tea Financiers

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 317:  Peanut Butter Ingots

I thought it would be a great idea to bake 2 different types of financiers and since i've been wanting to try out Keiko Ishida's Okashi (she's Japanese, went to pastry school in Paris but now relocated to Singapore and teaches here) green tea financiers. Afterall both recipes have more or less similar ingredients...so it was easy to bake them together without more work. :)

Toasted the blanched almond slices & grind into powder

After heating the butter - left over brown milk solids on pan & filter paper.

Beurre Noisette - clarified & brown butter.

HCB's Peanut Butter Ingots

Green Tea Powder

Okashi's Green Tea Financiers

Opps, as you can see my financiers were a bit burnt on the top because i was watching the scary movie "Stepfather" and didn't realised that the financiers were done before the 20mins. :p... Only the top was a bit burnt but the inside was still moist and soft. 

Verdict: Rose's Heavenly Cake's Peanut butter ingots taste great and nutty.  Okashi's green tea financiers has a lighter texture and is less sweet.  I like Okashi's green tea financiers better because green tea is my all time favourite, it is not as sweet, lighter in texture plus the recipe is very easy, ie, less hassle and very straight forward.   Nonetheless, both the peanut butter & green tea versions tasted great.  My daughter who's not a green tea fan actually liked the green tea financiers better because it has more flavor. My husband said both are equally good.  

Green Tea Financiers

by Keiko Ishida from her book Okashi (sweet treats made with love)

Pastry Flour          50g

Corn Flour             5g

Baking Powder     1/2 tsp

Egg Whites            130g

Castor sugar           130g

Ground Almonds    50g

Salt                          a pinch

Unsalted Butter       130g

Green Tea powder  10g

1. Preheat oven to 220c. Lightly grease the cake moulds with a little softened butter and place them on a baking sheet. Sift flour, cornflour, green tea powder and baking powder together twice.  

2. Place egg whites into a clean bowl and beat lightly with a hand-whisk. Add sugar, ground almonds, flour mixture and salt each at a time and mix well without over mixing. Set aside.

3. Brown butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat, whisking frequently until fragrant and golden brown in color.  Pour butter into a mixing bowl. Place the bowl with browned butter into a larger bowl half filled with ice water to stop it from cooking further and burning. (Beurre Noisette)

4. Add brown butter to flour and almond mixture and mix well.  Spoon batter into the prepared moulds. 

5. Bake financiers for 10-15 mins until they are light golden in color. Remove from moulds and cool on wire racks. 

Oatmeal-Raisin Crisps

Recipe from the book "Cookies, Brownies & Bars" by Elinor Klivans.  This is a very easy & quick recipe and the cookies are amazingly yummy. I like the chewiness of it. I guess it is because of the oatmeal that gives this cookie a chewy texture. This is my new found favorite cookie besides the cornflake cookies.  The recipe below gives very sweet cookies (as with all American recipes i find), so if you do not like too sweet cookies, dont pack the brown sugar firmly and reduce accordingly.  

Oatmeal Raisin Crisps
(from cookies, brownies & bars, by Elinor Klivans)
yield: 40 cookies

Ingredients:-

2 cups        apf
1 tsp           baking soda
3/4 tsp        baking powder
1-1/2 tsp     ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp        salt
1 cup          unsalted butter @ room temp
1 cup          brown sugar firmly packed  
1 cup          granulated sugar
2                 large eggs
2 tsp            vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups   old-fashion rolled oats
2 cups          raisins

Method:-

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180c. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
3. Combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar. Using a mixer on medium speed beat until well blended about 1 min. Add eggs and vanilla and beat on low speed till the eggs are completely incorporated, scarping down the sides of the bowl occasionally.  Slowly add the flour mixture and beat on low speed just till incorporated.  Add the oats and raisins and beat until incorporated.
4. Place heaping tablespoonfuls of dough 2-1/2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake until the cookie tops are evenly golden, about 11-14mins.
5. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5mins then transfer then to wire rack to cool completely.

Sicilian Pistachio Cake

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 65:  Sicilian Pistachio Cake

I didn't intend to bake this cake because i was tired after baking and decorating the Alice in Wonderland Cake on Saturday.  However, after reading what great reviews by fellow HCB's Mendy, Monica, Vicki & Marie had of this cake, i just knew i had to bake it even if it means baking after work.  

So i got home after work around 8pm and got ready all my ingredients by 830pm. I had to blanched pistachios since i can't find already blanched ones.  Since i had only limited time before bedtime, i did the shortcut way, ie, i microwaved the pistachios in water for 1 min and transferred to a bowl of cold water and removed all the skin quite quickly. :)  Yup, only 1min in microwave and the water was really hot and the pistachio skin peeling off. Then i continued the recipe from there....process the blanched pistachios with sugar etc...  The batter was quite easy to make and in no time it was in the oven already.  

Next was the buttercream which requires heating of the sugar syrup. I did the shortcut way again and microwaved the sugar syrup..:p  I put all the ingredients in the measuring glass then microwave it on a spurt of 30secs x 3 (stir after 30secs so the sugar will dissolve) and then after 3rd 30secs, the sugar should be all dissolved and i microwaved it for a further 1min. And by that time the sugar is all thick and ready to be added into the egg yolks.   I like how the yolk sugar mixture thickens after it cool down. :)   I didn't have pistachio essence, so i added pistachio paste i had in the fridge.

I was a bit alarmed when i saw my cake domed quite badly in the oven and i did put on the cake strip you know. However the dome subsided a fair bit (it's still there, you can see above photo) after cooling so it wasn't that bad anymore.  I blasted a fan to cool the cake down so i can quickly frost the cake asap. :S  I have never frosted & decorated a cake so quickly before..but for this, i did it in like 5mins or less and I'm at amazed at myself too..hahaha..not my best but i think not too bad for last min job.  By the time i'm done it was still slightly before 12am..:)

Oh..and i forgot to add that the nuts on top are toasted pistachio nuts since i ran out of blanched nuts, i decided to just toast it instead of having to blanched again (er..i blanched only 1/2 packet of nuts earlier since i was only testing if blanching works in microwave..). Quite good cos it gives the crunchy effect when eaten with the cake. lol!  And i suspect that my cake domed a little in the centre because i didn't dry the blanched nuts enough while i processed it with sugar. :S 

VERDICT:  Normally i don't eat supper at all, for this post i just had to sacrifice my waistline a bit to taste it so i can write what i think about this cake right? I took a slice and oh my, it was without doubt, DELICIOUS! No wonder Marie said she couldn't stop eating the cake and took 3 slices! LOL! My daughter, my husband and even my domestic helper all took a slice (they all don't eat supper too!) and they all loved it - said the pistachio blends very well in the butter cake, paired with the buttercream it was pure heavenly! :)  I didn't regret baking it but i think i would very much have regretted if i didn't bake it...yes, it is that good!   

PS: Since i'm typing this at 1235am, half asleep already, i think what i just wrote made sense..if not, it'll be corrected the next day when i'm more awake..lol! And i'm really quite tired of my flowery plates..always using the same plate to take photo..

Alice in Wonderland Cake

It's my daughter's turn to bring a cake to Church for Youth Fellowship for the month.  I decided to make an Alice in Wonderland's cake after watching Tim Burton's 3D movie.  Don't ask me why, but i just love the story of Alice in Wonderland since young.  

Thanks to a very generous flickr-friend Taya @deliciouslydecadent for her topsy turvy cake tutorial that i finally plucked the courage to do this. However, i did a lousy job! LOL! I cut the cake the wrong way, ie, i cut it in the opposite way (instead of a pyramid, i did a cone..) and i realised my mistake a bit too late. And to salvage it, i did everything the wrong way to get it right. LOL! Then i  place the top tier a bit off the centre... er....yup..i don't know what's wrong with me..i don't see it until i get everything done and then noticed it is off the centre. But I'm quite happy with my 'un-planned' last minute design and my inspiration is from other flickr members - Genevieve @forloveofcake and Rebecca @sweetcakesbyrebecca.  Needless to say, of course their design is 1000x better than mine. :))

The problem with me is i don't know how to plan & design a cake. This cake design just came up as I went along.. I asked my daughter who is into design (she plans to study it as she enters into university this year) to help me think of something and she fell asleep while thinking - so much for counting on her!?!?  I actually had some ideas in my mind but as i was doing it, i completely forgotten and colored the top tier fondant in the wrong color. So i had to just add whatever i thought of as i went along.   Also i spelt the Happy "UN-Birthday" wrongly...and NOBODY at home noticed it.. aargghh.. until when the cake was about to be cut..someone then noticed it!  

Here's the left over cake.  Coffee cake with coffee buttercream & white chocolate coffee ganache.  A lot of caffeine in the cake. I think you don't have to drink coffee after eating a slice of this! LOL!   

Strawberry Cheese Bread

After reading & salivating over Jane's (of Jane's Sweet & Baking Journal) post on Strawberries & Cream Muffins, i had every intention to bake her muffins on Sunday since they looked very delicious and so tempting..lol!  Check out her blog and her post (both links are given above) and you will know what i mean. :D

However, i got side-tracked after going through some books i haven't been reading for a while and saw a similar bread recipe with strawberries & cheese by Alex Goh from his book "Magic Bread" using gelatinized dough.  I made Butter Sugar Bread from his Magic Bread book before and his bread recipes never failed me, always so soft and chewy and has a longer shelf-life compared to the rest of the other bread i've baked before, ie, it stays soft and chewy the next 2 days without the use of bread addictives/improver. 

Also it would be a waste not to bake bread in this hot weather...proofing is so fast & easy..lol!  I'm glad i baked these buns! I love the strawberries & cheese filling in the bread and the streusel topping adds to the crunch. 

Strawberry Sweet Bread
from Magic Bread by Alex Goh
(Basic recipe for his dough link can be found here (or see below))


1. Divide sweet bread dough into 70g each and mould it round. Place it onto a 11cm round baking cup mould.
2. Place it in warm place and let it proof for 40mins.
3. Egg wash the surface. Pipe strawberry cheese fillings in the centre of bread, then sprinkle some streusel over it.
4. Bake at 180c for 15 mins.


Strawberry Cheese Fillings
125g cream cheese
50g  sugar
50g  whipping cream
10g  custard powder
3 pcs of fresh strawberries chopped


Cream cream cheese & sugar till light. Add in whipping cream and cream till smooth.  Add in custard powder and mix until well blended.  Add in chopped strawberries and mix till combined.


Streusel Topping
60g sugar
50g butter
100g bread flour


Mix sugar and butter by hand until crumbles. Add in flour and mix till crumbles. Keep it in fridge. Use it to sprinkle on top or coat the surface of dough.




Basic Sweet Dough Recipe
(taken from Magic Bread by Alex Goh)

Ingredients:-

A) 100g Bread Flour
70g boiling water

B) 300g bread flour
100g plain flour
80g sugar
6g salt
20g milk powder
9g yeast

c) 175g cold water
60g cold eggs

D) 60g butter

1) Add boiling water from A into flour, mix until well blended to form a dough. Cover and set aside to cool. Keep it into fridge for at least 12 hrs.
2) Mix B until well blended. Add in C and knead to form rough dough. Add in A and knead till well-blended.
3) Add in D and knead to form elastic dough
4) Let it proof for 40mins.
5) Divide the dough into required weight and mould it round. Rest it for 10mins and ready to use.

Chocolate Apricot Roll with Lacquer Glaze

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 163: Chocolate Apricot Roll with Lacquer Glaze

This recipe is 5-pages long...and by the time i'm on last page, i forgot the what i read on the first page..LOL! So i had to read each section on its own and make the related ingredients required on different days.  

Day 1 (Wed):  Decided that i should make the Lekvar first since i had no idea what it was but nonetheless i like apricot so figured i should just make it instead of going for the 'short-cut' suggested in the book. So, after work, i got ready the ingredients and soaked the dried apricots. Only then did i realized that i have to soak for 2 hrs which by that time will be midnight so i left the apricots to soak overnight in the fridge.  

Day 2 (Thurs): Realised that after soaking for 24 hrs, the apricots were very soft. But i still followed the instructions to boil the apricots till soft and process it.  Couldn't stand the sight and idea of not knowing what to do with my skinless lemon after zesting it, i added the lemon juice into the processed apricot. :p  Didn't do any harm i guess cos my jam still tasted great and very apricot-y.

Seriously, imo DO NOT skip making this!  Believe me..lekvar is amazing stuff!  I realised I still had plenty of time before bedtime, did more reading of the recipe and ended up making the apricot ganache filling, apricot syrup and lacquer glaze :)  

Day 3 (Sat):  Baked the Biscuit Roulade.  Pretty easy & quick.  The half-sheet pan i own was like 1/2-inch shorter on one side...can't remember which side but i guess it didn't do much harm.  Baking at 230c was kind of a torture (in my small kitchen can feel the oven heat!) since the weather here has been at around 34c-37c but thankfully it was only for about 6 mins. This is my 2nd time making swiss roll so i was a bit apprehensive of rolling the roulade but everything went on smoothly. :)  

Above pic: Spreading the syrup, lekvar & ganache. You can see at room temperature, my ganache was way too soft! I guess room temperature probably was at 31c..lol!  Rolling the roll with soft ganache was quite difficult..cos the ganache tends to ooze out from the sides and thus i couldn't roll it too tightly.  Next time i'll have to use ganache straight out of the fridge instead of leaving it to room temperature.  Pouring the lacquer glaze wasn't that bad either..maybe because of our weather, it allowed me time to smooth it with a spatular and still remained smooth & shiny.  I used Hersey's special dark cocoa powder for the lacquer glaze in case any one of you wonder why my glaze is so dark. 

VERDICT:  SIMPLY HEAVENLY!!  The lekvar blends very well with the apricot ganache and compliments the soft biscuit roulade.  The sweetness was just nice. Cake has a lightness to it and can eat a few slices and not feel sick.   I love it the hint of apricot with chocolate.  The best part of the cake is the lekvar.  I'm so glad that i took the time to make it - now i have a huge bottle of it left, i can find ways of using it. :D.   My family loved the cake and said it is very good.  Worth all the effort making it! :)

White Chocolate Cake Balls

What to do with left-over cake scraps again..lol! I used a bit of leftover buttercream to put the scraps together and rolled them into balls; coat them with white chocolate and sprinkle little chocolate-rice & hearts and there they are...yummy white-chocolate cake balls!  :) Surprisingly they tasted better than what i had expected.  I should have freeze the cake balls before dipping them into the white chocolate because i didn't, the cake mixture was seeping a bit into the white chocolate so i had difficulty handling it and hence the white chocolate coating isn't very smooth. :P

[MacTweets/ma5] Spring Fling: Yuzu RedBean Macarons

Yuzu Macarons Shells with RedBean centre & Yuzu/Lime Buttercream.

I had a hard time coming up with flavors for Spring since I live here in the tropics where it is Summer all year round and right now we are experiencing the hottest period ever!  All i can think of is ice-cream, ice-water, ice-kachang (local dessert made of ice!)..

I finally thought of Yuzu flavored macarons since i just bought a bottle of yuzu paste. It smells very much like tangerine/mandarin oranges..and i like anything orange. :)   I paired the Yuzu macaron shells with redbean centre & yuzu/lime buttercream.  

This time I wanted to try a different macaron recipe so i settled on Veron's @ Kitchenmusing.com  italian meringue recipe. You can find her recipe here.  She's a very talented lady and she uses the original recipe by Pierre Hermes having been to his macaron classes.   The recipe isn't too difficult and her instructions are pretty clear.  However, i had a hard time folding in the egg white. For this method, I find I needed a lot of strength to fold and  macaronnage which i find quite tiring!  

<Note>: I realised that the macarons from this recipe is more chewy with better texture and even though the recipe seems to have a lot more sugar, it doesn't taste any sweeter than the other macaron recipes i've tried before. Recipe definitely a keeper despite the fact that i have difficulty folding in the meringue. LOL! 

Please do check out other bloggers' macarons & flavors listed on http://mactweets.blogspot.com!

Yacht Cake 2 ( replacement cake )

This is the replacement yacht cake i had to make after the 1st yacht cake fell from the stool. I stayed overnight to re-bake and re-decorate the cake again and slept only 2 hours just to get the cake to be delivered on time.  

This cake is much smaller than the 1st yacht cake since i didn't have much time and i downscaled the batter and also the size of the cake. I didn't have as much time to add in as much details on the cake as i would like, plus lacking sleep i was having a headache.

The yacht is named 'Tuxedo" because that's the name of my boss' boat...but of course the above doesn't look like my boss' real boat. 

Everything on this cake is made from edible material and cake flavor is Coffee Cake with Coffee Buttercream. 

Thankfully this cake made it in time for my boss' celebration dinner.

PS: Im typing these 2 yacht posts with 2 hrs of sleep..so my sentences might sound weird..but i'll correct later after i have enough sleep..hahahaha..

....The Next Day....

My boss gave me this photo he took last night after the cake was cut.  I find it pretty interesting to see the  inside of the cake though..maybe because most of the time i don't get to see the inside of the cake or the cake being cut.

Yacht Cake 1 ( fell & damaged b4 delivery )

I made this cake for my boss' birthday celebration. Took me the entire day to decorate this cake and when i completed, my husband moved the cake to be placed onto a stool while i cleared up the table and then i accidentally touched the side of the board and then entire cake fell off from the stool and smashed into bits! All my hard work gone...wasted!  I was way too shocked and lost my sanity a bit and hence for got to take photos of the damaged cake..which i should have. 

Then i ended up staying up overnight and slept only 2 hours to re-bake and re-decorate the 2nd yacht cake ( in my next post ).

Right from the beginning, i had lots of problems with this cake..with fondant cracking, with cake sliding..etc and hence the boat looked rather 'bloated'..LOL!

Everything on the cake is made from edible material except the candle of course.  Cake Flavor: Chocolate Cake & Coffee Cake with respective buttercream...but too bad nobody got to eat it..all went to the bin! :(

Pineapple Tarts

Every year, just before Chinese New Year, i will order my fave pineapple tarts from a friend's friend who makes the most amazing melt-in-the-mouth pineapple tarts ever. However, this year she stopped baking them..and i am left with no pineapple tarts for Chinese New Year! Arggh...!  Pineapple tarts is my all time favorite goodies during Chinese New Year among others like 'bak-kwa' (..like beef jerky..but it's pork and sweeter and juicer), love letters (almost like tuiles and traditionally done under charcoal fire with a patterned metal clamp..which i remembered i did help out when i was a little kid..), Lapis cake, Suji cookies, Bangkit, etc.. I wanted to give pineapple tarts a miss this year but one of my amazingly talented flickr friend, "Sweet-Tooth-Fairy" had to tempt me with her recipe and her pineapple tarts that i am left with no choice but to bake some for myself. And so my quest for the perfect pineapple tarts (to my tastebuds that is..lol!) began...

My first batch of pineapple jam was a bit too moist (4 pineapples in total).  But nonetheless was still ok but a bit more difficult to handle so the shaping of the soft pastry was a bit difficult. So instead of round, it was a bit 'dome' shape - see photo below..supposedly to be a bit round..but ended up dome..lol!  It's sweeter but the pastry does have the melt in the mouth texture. Overall, it was good but still room for improvement. My husband said the pineapple jam was a bit sweet and has no tangy flavor. 

For experiment no. 2, I actually wanted to buy store-bought pineapple jam at the speciality bake-store but last minute all the ready-made jam were sold out..so i had no choice but to cook my own jam again! This time, i bought 6 pineapples (not totally ripe) and grated them all together and cooked them in a non-stick wok and till dry.   I'm not too sure if it is because i had more experience or what, but i shaped the pastry much neater this time and faster too. See the pastry below is more compact and neater..and the jam inside is drier too.

My husband likes the 2nd batch better as the pineapple jam has a bit of sourness/tangy taste and the pastry is not as sweet, has more texture but still maintaining the melt-in-mouth quality..except he thinks the pastry is a tad too buttery.  He said if i cut down on the butter a bit more would be perfect....but that would be experiment no. 3..after Chinese New Year... Although i still have pineapple jam stored away in the freezer..:)..but i need a break from pineapple tarts..LOL!

Wishing all a Happy & Prosperous Chinese New Year! 

And May the Year be Tigerrific! :) 

新年快乐，身体建康，万事如以，恭喜发财！ 

Book & Vintage Car Cakes

A lady from Church requested that i bake a cake to our monthly fellowship gathering for her 4 grandsons' birthday.  I don't really know what her grandsons like so it was difficult to come out with a design.  And for 4 boys to share 1 cake seems a bit sad..so i thought why not bake 2 cakes for them instead since I couldn't decide if i wanted to decorate the cake into a book or a car, i might as well do both and see which one turns out looking better...hahahaha...  Perhaps also because of this, both cakes turned out less than satisfactory to me. There are a lot of mistakes and i can spot them right away.  I decorated both cakes at record time..hahaha..i decorated both cakes the same time i decorated the camera cake i did earlier... so 1st lesson i've learnt - "never decorate more than i can handle"!   

Both cakes side by side

Book Cake

Vintage Car Cake

From the photos above, you can see i didn't cover the cake board as i ran out of fondant...so i had limited fondant to work with. :p  And I seriously think that there is something wrong with my eyes (other than the floaters that are still floating in my right eye!)..every time i carve a cake, it will end up slightly crooked..no matter how i try..even after taking proper measurement!?  Arggh!  

The 2nd lesson i've learnt is: "use modelling paste for all the other parts of the car, tires, bumper etc and not just fondant cos it is way too soft"! The vintage car is a copy from one of Debbie Brown's book and yes, i can't even copy properly! LOL! Seriously, it looks terrible and far from her original one! I think my cake here looks more like a cartoon car instead of a vintage car..and it has flat tires! Or perhaps it looks more like the vintage car had been wrecked or something..LOL! Besides flat tires, the bumper is also crooked..hahahahaha.. looks like the car is pretty knocked up..lol!  See what i mean...argggh..modelling paste please the next time...this is the result of no proper planning which is true cos i didn't plan ahead what i needed.

The gathering went on well and i hope the 4 birthday boys enjoyed their cakes! :)  I forgot to add that both cakes are made of chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream covered with chocolate ganache.  Yup.. chocolate again.. :)

PS: Nobody mentioned about the car looking wrecked so i guess they probably thought i did that on purpose..LOL!

True Orange Genoise

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 179: True Orange Genoise

Since i love anything orange and esp. the combo of chocolate and orange. I decided to bake this cake as my husband's birthday cake.  

I made the orange curd & ganache the night before.  I used Sunkist orange juice and reduced it by microwaving it as mentioned in the "Notes" (since it's impossible to find Seville oranges here in Singapore).  I have to say that i really like the orange curd! I had to refrain myself from eating the orange curd before i bake the cake!

I didn't know i had to make Beurre Noisette until last minute when i read the recipe! :P!  Heated the butter until the milk solids turn brown and pour it through a sieve. However, i realised that my sieve is not as fine as it should be since i can still see little brown dots in the butter.  Then i remembered i have this oil-filter paper which filters out every minute stuff...from the oil..

Packet of filter-papers - always a staple in my kitchen cabinet.

As you can see, after running the butter through the filter paper, the tiny tiny brown milk solids are "trapped" on the paper?  Amazing isn't it?  :)  

A tsp of vanilla added and covered with airtight lid. 

After making the beurre noisette, i forgot to take photos! So no more steps till the final cake! The Genoise sponge turned out well and as per instruction, i layered with orange curd and orange syrup.  Ta-Dah! Here's the cake..i didn't do much decoration as my husband didn't want a too elaborated cake. LOL!  So i just piped some white chocolate ganache that reads "happy birthday". 

Verdict: Everyone loved the cake. Of course my husband loved it! He said it is very good.  However, i think i brushed too much syrup since i find the cake a bit on the sweet side but still i do like it since i've always love chocolate & orange combo.  My colleague MH who has a (very) sweet tooth and an orange/chocolate lover said this is really good and she likes it a lot. She also mentioned that the cake sweetness is just right.

However, i really wished i had Seville oranges because i believe that using the Seville oranges probably does make a difference. Just like turbinado sugar vs brown sugar i think as in my earlier upside-down pineapple cake..

Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

Rose's Heavenly Cakes, Page 339: Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes

I didn't have the required pineapple pan or the required sized ramekins, so i baked it in a 8"-pan. However, i think a 6" pan would have been better...cos i realised the batter was too thinned out on an 8" pan.  I wasn't in the best of mood either after a serious family meeting chaired by my sister. So this was more like "i want to get over and done with" cake. I didn't have cherries topping either and added glaced cherries instead to add a bit of color. As you can see the sides are bit burnt..or over caramelized..LOL!  

Can't find turbinado sugar, so i substituted with brown sugar and perhaps i should have added less sugar since the cake batter 100g of cake flour vs 100g of brown sugar turned out quite sweet.  The Caramel topping & the Pineapple Caramel Drizzle made it even sweeter.  I couldn't wait and took a bite when it was still hot and for that moment, i thought i was going to turn diabetic!  Much too sweet for my liking.  Perhaps the fresh pineapple that i used was really sweet to begin with, as sweet as the canned one.   My husband & daughter said the cake was good since they are both able to take sweeter desserts compared to me - but they did mentioned that it is much sweeter than what they would like.  I tried the cake the next day again straight from the fridge,  I think this cake tasted better when it is cold - not that sweet compared to when it is hot.   I'll cut half the sugar in the batter if i do make it again. :)