Faubourg Pave

This fanciful french name, Faubourg, is named after Faubourg Saint-Honore, the exclusive neighbourhood surrounding the original Lauduree, and its shape is that of a pave, or paving stone, usually baked in a loaf pan. This was the first cake Pierre Herme baked when he took over the kitchens of the legendary Lauduree in 1997, Paris's oldest patisserie. 

端五节 Chinese Dumpling Festival

Time really flies. It's the Chinese Dumpling Festival again. But the festive mood is not like what I used to experience when I was a child. During that time, we only get to eat 'bak zhang' when the festival is round the corner and my mum would start making them. As a child, my sister and I would watch my mum make them. Unlike now, you can eat 'bak zhang' any time and the festival has lost its touch and meaning. 

Sugar Roll

I bet most of us know about the famous Polar sugar rolls. How about the ones from Dino? I love those from Dino. The combination of the soft sponge and the delicious vanilla buttercream is hard to resist. You can have it anytime. It is so light you can easily have two at one go.

Fallen Chocolate Souffle with Berries

This cake is for my nephew, Sean's 13th birthday. He wanted a cake that is not airy and with strawberries. When I asked him what he meant, he couldn't actually describe it to me. So I asked him is it like brownie that is dense and fudgy, he said yes. Thus began my search for a cake with this texture. I do not want it to be a brownie but a cake that can be adorned with lots of berries. Took out my Bittersweet book by Alice Medrich. This  

Chocolate Genoise

Genoise is a French sponge cake, very light and airy with no chemical ingredients such as baking powder in it. It's totally healthy. Genoise cake uses eggs as the leavening agent. Because of this and the absence of baking powder, you need skills in folding the flour into the egg mixture. If you overfold, the egg mixture will deflate and you will end up with a tough and deflated cake. This is a very basic cake which can be eaten on its own with some whipped cream and fruits and also as a base for all types of layer cakes. To use it for layer cakes, we need to infuse the cake with some sugar syrup with the optional liqueur to make it soft and moist.

Mocha Muffin

I love the fragrance of coffee and I'm a coffee drinker. After having perfected the chocolate muffins (according to my preference, haha ...), I want to create a mocha flavoured muffin. Imagine the flavour of chocolate and coffee blended into one and having it with a cup of freshly brewed coffee. Heavenly, isn't it? I used a little cocoa powder dissolved into some boiling water to create a hint of chocolate flavour. For the coffee flavour, I used instant coffee granules dissolved in boiling water and a small cup of freshly brewed espresso. No butter can be found in this muffin. Only corn oil. Healthy and delicious, isn't it? 

All Downy Yellow Butter Cake

All I want to bake today is a simple yellow butter cake. Back to basics time. I took this recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum Cake Bible book. It uses all egg yolks instead of whole eggs to give it the more "yellow" colour and moister and denser texture. I reduced the sugar by 15% and it still is a little too sweet for me. For those who have a sweet tooth, it is just right. For me, I will reduce by another further 5% the next time I bake it. This cake is easy to bake. It rose very nicely and it is very moist and soft, full of the butter and vanilla fragrance. If you find the cake a little too rich for you, you can try substituting egg yolks for whole eggs. I will try this the next time.