Risking taking Risks

Why would someone intentionally sell a cake without any prior experience in making that certain cake? Well, because that someone, who just happens to be me, is stark raving mad.

In a frenzy of delicate macaron making for the sudden rush of orders I recieved, I also recieved an order for a birthday cake...and it proved to be a tough one! I had many restrictions. The cake had to NOT include any nuts, coffee, chocolate, or cheese. Bummer!...hence, I had to surrender to the goddess of Flora and Fauna. It took me about 5 minutes of deep thought to come up with something which would taste fabulous, yet not contain any of the taboo ingredients.

Roses, Lychees, Strawberries....All delicate flavours, which would compliment each other perfectly, I thought. Well, the stars were aligned perfectly this morning, as the cake turned out to be orgasmic!

I started off early in the morning, preparing my rose sponge cake...followed by 5 minutes of sheer delight, listening to my liquidizer blend up some fresh and fated for death lychees as well as some insanely sweet strawberries I managed to stick my claws into on a trip to the supermarket.. Oh, the harmony!

Anyway, the rest, as they say, is history. If my crystal ball is telling the truth, this cake will definitely be a hit with this client, and many more to come. Hopefully not this week, though! I've been rushing through a mad frenzy of orders this past week...one of which includes an order for over 300 dark and white chocolate truffles. Thank heavens Stef came over and helped me roll those little moreish morsels of euphoria. She is a life saver!

I'll be posting the Strawberry Vodka Jam recipe which Stef and I made last week. All credit goes to her, the Empress Dowager of jammy goodness.

Strawberry Vodka Jam

Ingredients

- 250g Strawberries
-Zest and juice of 1/2 a lemon
-1 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar
-130g Caster Sugar
-2 tbsp Vodka
-1/2 tsp Butter
-Dash of salt

Sterilise a jam jar,wash with boiling water, wipe,then place in a pre-heated 100 degrees celsius oven to dry completely.

Place a small glass dish in the freezer. Wash the berries hull them, and choose 2 or 3 of the softest,reddest ones. Mash with the lemon juice and zest to release natural pectin which helps to set the jam.

Cut the rest of strawberries up into even chunks. (Not too small as you want chunks of fruit. )

In a heavy based pan over medium heat, place mashed berries with sugar and cider. Stir, then place chopped berries in with pinch of salt. Pour in vodka (you may choose to ignite to let alcohol burn off right away---if you don't ignite...it will evaporate eventually anyway.)

Keep stirring, and occasionally dab down pan sides with a wet brush. Allow 5 to 7 minutes of rapid boiling and stirring. To test if jam has set , place a little on your dish from the freezer.

If jam forms a skinvand wrinkles when pushed, it is ready. If it slides down like a sauce, continue to boil for a further 1 to 2 minutes. Turn heat off and stir in butter to remove any foam that has formed on jam.

Ladle carefully into your hot, sterilised jar, and place a square of baking paper over the cap. Seal immediately and store in the fridge.

Jamming Session #1

I'm officially back! Sorry for being so awfully quiet!

My friend Stef came over yesterday, and since she's the Empress Dowager of Jam, we concluded that a Jamming Session was obligatory. In return, I would teach her how to make the ubiquitous MACARON. It was then, that "Jamming Session #1" was born.

Stef and I first made macarons, but I'll get to that later on. After piping them, we headed out to get my yeti eyebrows waxed and trimmed. Ouch. I managed to convince Stef to get her's done too. Bad move...now she wants to have me assassinated due to all that pain I put her through.

After about 20 minutes of torture, we headed out to the grocery store to get some strawberries and blueberries for our jam...

When we got back, we quickly baked our macarons and got started on our jam. I love how stef doesn't use any pectin in her jam..I always thought that pectin was essential in making jam, but I was and have been misguided up till now.



Stef also indulged me in the fact that the apples for our blueberry apple jam had to be par-boiled, as cooking it in its raw state would wreak havoc due to its extremely high water content, giving me apple soup. After making jam, we made some lemon curd as well..which I didn't photograph..yeah, so shoot me :)



Onto the macarons now...

Empress Dowager brought along her "Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream" oil...which turned out to have a really addictive smell..I went around sniffing the contents of the little bottle like a crack whore.

We added the oil into the chocolate shells, giving it a unique flavor, unlike the previous chocolate shells I have made. We also made a mint ganache...which I accidentally poured coconut extract into. OH NO! THE HORROR! Well, it didn't matter since we poured in even more mint extract, which seemed to consume the coconut flavor of the ganache. (Stef could still taste it, but I couldn't)

Due to my lovely new oven from the depths of hell, I ended up with lemon macarons which had "baby feet" once again.



Suddenly, inspiration hit us! Why not make large macarons? Smaller than Ispahan macarons, yet larger than regular macarons! We filled them with some berry buttercream which I just happened to have on hand, along with a dollop of luscious lemon curd in the center. After sandwiching them, we studded the edges with our blueberries. And voila, a new creation was born!

We decided to name it Kristobelle, and she will now be a sister of my popular Isadore and Bethanie macarons! Oh joy! Who knows what we will come up with next week, in Jamming Session #2!

Breaking the Curfew

Okay, so technically, I'm supposed to be on hiatus.

But oh, what the hell! Here's the lowdown of what's been going on recently. My once not so amazing kitchen is now really really out of this world. Well, at least to me, it is.

We re-furbished the kitchen, got rid of everything that was malevolent, installed new built-in cabinets, another new oven, new hobs, a new sink, and practically new everything!

Finally, I have a constructive work triangle, which doesnt make me just want to scream in rage everytime I cook or bake something. As you guys know, I am supposed to be on hiatus, studying for my examinations and all that jazz. However, since the exams will be over by next week, I decided to test out my new oven! I could be compared to a child, yearning for a kaleidoscopic lolly, hung right in front of her face, but just far enough for her to not be able to grab it and lick away. My father told me last night, "Do NOT make anything till the exams are over!!".....But hey, he's at work, and he'd never know, right?

I just had to use my new oven. I just HAD to. I had to "consummate" it. Anyway, as evident in the photo above, you've probably realized that the macarons are a little flat, and have baby feet, as my friend Stefanie likes to consolably say. Was it the oven? Or was it just a case of an overmixed macaron batter? Rather puzzling. The bottoms of the macaron shells were also much softer, compared to the ones made in another oven. Perhaps they need a little extra time in this new oven?

The only time I actually ended up with baby feet and soft bottoms was when I accidentally overmixed a Lemon Macaron batter a couple of months ago. However, I'm pretty sure I achieved perfect macaronage today. So was it the fault of the oven? Perhaps I'll just have to try again. There's always an excuse to make more macarons, mind you.

Onto the flavor now...The macaron shells were flavored with just a tad of strawberry extract. As for the filling, it is a concoction of carefully proportioned ratios of buttercream and Strawberry Vodka Jam, which was a gift from Stefanie. She makes great jam! Still, the buttercream was lacking a booze factor. So I added a generous splash of Absolut Raspberri. Heavenly.

As for now, it's just a matter of me trying to perfect my macarons yet again, in this new oven. Wasn't perfecting them once in a different oven enough? I guess not. I'll probably have 2 methods of macaron making now...One for the ancient oven, and another for the brand spanking new one. My only worry now is that my father sees the macarons in the chiller. Oh well, what's done is done!