Strawberry Vanilla Almond Entremet

It's official. I've just turned a quarter century years old for about almost a week already. And man, do I...not feel much of a difference actually. In fact, I realise that the years just fly by so quickly ever since I hit 21 a few years back. What I definitely feel is, there is a change in how my body feels at the ripe "old" age of 25, as compared to say, a fresh young 20. I get tired way much easily nowadays. I could stay up late till the wee hours of 2am in the past, get only a mere handful hours of sleep, and still not be tired. Trust me when I say definitely can't do that now. I'll probably be zombie-fied and if I don't get a cuppa of coffee in me, I'll be half dead on my feet for sure.

ANYWAY. I digress. I had a really enjoyable birthday so far this year. I met up with friends for a birthday brunch the day before my birthday. The Sis and I went for a great lunch and coffee on my birthday itself (which was a Monday - but my workplace have a birthday day off scheme!) and I met up with a girlfriend for dinner. Then on the public holiday on Tuesday, I had a few girlfriends over for a homemade brunch party. And there are some more upcoming birthday gatherings...I'm blessed.

I was really fortunate on my birthday. First of all, I dropped $50 in a shop, but managed to find it when I retraced my steps. And second, when I was out shopping, I noticed I had a bleeding blister from the new shoes I was wearing. I asked my Sis if she had a bandaid, all the while rummaging through my bag to look for one. At the moment, the sales lady approached me, offering me a wet tissue AND a bandaid to clean up. That's just so nice of her isn't it?

Anyway, back to the cake at hand. I made this cake recently cos I wanted to use up the strawberry puree in the freezer. And also, because it's been pretty long since I last made an entremet.

Strawberry Vanilla Almond Entremet

Red wine poached pears entremet

Hi. Does anyone even drop by anymore? :)

I know I'm not an expert in many things, but I'm certainly a master in procrastinating. These days, I have simply no urge to blog, nor even, *gasp* bake. It seems my lackadaisical plateau has hit an even lower bottom than I had possibly imagined.

Oh well. I'm not going to question it, but go with the flow. Perhaps I've spent too much time overanalysing this, but I'll try to post some photos today to make up for the absence for the past two weeks. I had a baking session some time back with Evan, and we had decided to make another entremet together (yes, it's so hard to find like minded people who love to bake entremets - or rather, I'm just a very shy person to begin with so I don't reach out my hand first to know more people hee).

Red wine poached pears entremet

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!

I decided to make a little something for the Dad. I do love my Dad and all (hey, we're family!), but I'm not one for words of affirmation when it comes to such things. I'm not that kinda girl who'll go "I love you, Dad!". But. I'm still rather a Daddy's little girl nevertheless. So, here's a cake combining a few of his favourite elements for this Father's Day!

This is one cake that will be enjoyed by the men in your life. I mean, I'd risk a bet to say that 90% of men likes rum and raisin as their choice of poison favourite ice cream flavour. So, make this for the special men in your life (fathers, husbands, boyfriends) and I'm sure it'll bring a smile to their faces.

 Caramel coffee rum raisin entremet

Matcha goma entremet

I was itching to make an entremet again after a long pause from my last one. I've been eyeing this particular recipe for the longest time ever, and knew that I should not procrastinate any longer and just do it (as Nike says). :)

 Matcha goma entremet

Apple milk tea entremet

I've not made any entremets for some time now and my hands were just itching to have a go at it. I think perhaps I was just a little too ambitious cos my project turned out to be a nine-components (!) entremet that wrecked havoc in my now tiny kitchen...

 Apple milk tea entremet

Blueberry vanilla chocolate entremet

I had a whole big box of frozen blueberries in the freezer that I had painstakingly prep and froze the last time blueberries were in season. I needed to clear the freezer, so I decided that I shall save them for using in an entremet. I researched for recipes, and finally found one from my scanned copy of "頂級法式時尚甜點" - Jennifer aux Myrtilles - a blueberry vanilla chocolate entremet. The only thing was - I needed a valid excuse/special occasion to make the cake.

Blueberry vanilla chocolate entremet

Hidemi Sugino's B-Caraibe

This is my first attempt at using a recipe from Hidemi Sugino's book, Le Goût Authentique Retrouvé.

 Hidemi Sugino's B-Caraibe

Matcha azuki entremet

Come to think of it, I've been in love with entremets for a year or so. Or should I say, I've only discovered the existence of entremets since a year ago. (Yeah, apparently for a dessert lover, I'm kinda a slow learner.) In common everyday language (to those who might be wondering), in the dessert world, an "entremet" actually refer to the "sweet course" which is always served after the "cheese course" in France. To me, an entremet represents a beautiful multi-layered cake. The allure of such a lovely concoction makes me want to produce such dainty looking pieces on my own.

Some might call me crazy, but I jumped straight into my first entremet almost a year ago, without any basic knowledge on how to assemble such a dessert. Prior to my first Matcha Opera, I rarely ever bake cakes, mostly sticking to simpler goodies like cookies and cupcakes. I wonder what made me so adventurous to explore the complicated world of french patisserie. Hmmm. Madness perhaps? :)

Once I got started, well, my interest in french patisserie styled cakes increased. Like tenfolds. I am constantly thinking of making entremets. For me, I enjoy the process of baking more than the products I make. Not to say I dislike eating the sweets I make, but it's just that the actual baking is much more interesting than just stuffing your face with the dessert. I wish I can make entremets everyday...but then again, who's gonna eat them up for me? Sigh.

Matcha azuki entremet

Ailette

I wanted to do something special for myself in November (my birthday month). Flipping through all of my newly bought Chinese baking books, I finally settled upon the Ailette. I was drawn in with the words "caramelised bananas" and "caramel mousse"...

Caramelising the bananas

A girlfriend's birthday cake

I bought two new cooking books recently. What's surprising is that:

1) I rarely ever buy cooking books, most of the time I borrow books from the library and scan the recipes I like to keep as jpeg files in my laptop.

2) The books are in Chinese! (Okay, one is fully in Chinese, the other is English/Chinese). Although I scored A1s for my O AND A levels (don't ask how I did it, I really have no idea), my Chinese is actually pretty sub-par and it's been so long since I last wrote any Chinese characters that most of the time, I find myself forgetting how to write even the most basic characters...(I'm always fearful that I'll forget how to write my own name in Chinese. Haha). I mean, I can read Chinese pretty okay, just don't ask me to write, so to buy the Chinese cookbooks is really a rarity indeed. It's just that I love layered cakes desserts and most of the pretty intricate looking entremets cookbooks are all in Chinese (or Japanese or French, which sadly I know neither). Thus, it can also be that reading the books I buy will allow me to brush up on my Chinese reading? :)

Anyway, exactly a month ago, it was one of my best girlfriend's birthday. Since I've been baking a cake for most of my besties this year for their birthdays, this was no exception. She, who doesn't like sweets stuff muchos, will probably suit a fruity cake yeah? And looking through one of my new books, I decided to make a grapefruit mousse cake.

Leftover miniature cakes...

Chocolate hazelnut mousse cake

I was in the mood for some chocolate (okay, like when am I ever not?), and a chocolate hazelnut praline mousse cake has been sitting right at the top of my to-do list since...forever. I didn't have a specific recipe in mind, all I knew about my proposed cake was that it should have my beloved hazelnut feuilletine layer, a chocolate sponge, and a chocolate mousse.

With that in mind, I went about collecting recipes from different sources...again. I really must do something about this bad habit of mind, always making a multi-component something sourced from various sources instead of sticking to the original recipes. Tsk tsk.

 

My version of a 'Chocolate Hazelnut Mousse Cake'

Chocolate mango mousse cake

It was my one of my girlfriend's birthday, and we were all meeting to celebrate the belated birthday of her and another girlfriend's birthdays. so I decided to make a little something just because she's special. (:

I knew the girls probably don't really like sweet stuff muchos, so I made a small cake, then cut it smaller still to bring and share among the six of us. Haha. I was afraid if I brought the whole thing, they would have to stare at it and will themselves to finish it. And we were already meeting for dinner, so it would be silly to bring a huge cake cos our stomachs will be full already from said dinner.

I chose to make something with mango, because a few months ago, Daddy went Thailand for business, and came home laden with a kick ass box of fruits. Correction. Kick ass box(ES). Totally madness. He bought like a few excess boxes of mangoes to give out, but afterwhich, we were left with like a full box of mangoes, mangosteens, jambus, rambutans and some other stuff I might have missed out (me having a lousy memory). We were eating mangoes daily to the point that we were kinda scared of them. So I decided to cut a few mangoes and freeze them for future use. ;)

Chocolate mango mousse cake

Poire D'Eve

Following my success with the matcha opera, I wanted to try my hand at making other layered desserts. Who else should I turn to but my favourite site, Tartelette. I've bookmarked most of her recipes but the one that I decided to make was this. I was in the mood for fruits. And lately, pears are on my mind alot, they are sweet, and cheap, and plentiful. When I dropped my the supermart and saw those tiny Honey Belle pears from New Zealand, I immediately took a box and place it into my grocery basket. No need to think what I should do with them first. I can easily go online and check my bookmarks for inspiration. And when I did, it was surely the Poire D'Eve that I must do. Poached pears, and crunchy hazalnut biscuit base? I'm in.

Poire D'Eve