Nutty project drives me nuts

I've handed in my 2 assignments due last Friday, with utmost relief. ;) Now all that's left is the assignment due this Friday, and the exam on the 12th. Phew.

Went for a movie How to Lose Friends and Alienate People today with Fiona and Ludwig. Movie was so-so. But the fun part was we had lunch at West End before that and cos we had time, we went St Vinnys! (For those in the dark, it's kinda Salvation Army kinda shop) My first time there. hoho I got a pink patterned bag for $4. ;)

Anyway, cos Therese had said she wanted my help in baking to do some shots for her photomedia, I decided to make Filbert (Hazelnut) Gateau with Praline Buttercream over the weekend. Literally over the weekend. Since the process of making the cake was a damn long list, I spread the job over a couple days. It made things way easier for sure. Then her hsemates, aka the two above, told me on Saturday Therese is not coming anymore. o.o Oh well, since I had already started the job, so might as well finish it right.

Some negative side effects that I had while making the cake were, I overwhipped the egg whites (trust me, you wouldn't want to know how it looks like), so I had to throw away the first batch and do up a second one (which I hand whipped instead of using the electric mixer) and the mountain of washing I had to do. -.- But the effort was worth it (kinda) since the praline buttercream was damn yummy haha.

It's great I halved the recipe so I ended up with lesser portions. One thing about baking so much is that you tend to not want to waste food, so I always cut back on the recipe to whatever proportions possible. I ended up with 6 mini cakes but I only used 5 of those since one of them kinda collapsed tsk tsk. I gave one to Woo as belated birthday, one to my ex-boss (oh did I mention I'm done with my intern thing? (: ), one to Pam who's coming back tomorrow from Bangkok! and one for myself! So there's still one more in the fridge...

hazelnut brittle process

praline paste process

praline buttercream process
assembling the cakes process

the caramalising hazelnuts process with the long long tips.

pouring ganache over cakes process

Eclairs.

When I think of eclairs, I think of Beard Papa. I'm not really an eclair person. I'm more into other baked goodies like cakes and brownies and whatnots. However, the only eclair that I remember being really into was the ones from Beard Papa. I recall the first time I tasted it, it was at the Takashimaya basement outlet. I ordered one (measly small piece it was, that costs me about two bucks) and took a bite out of it.

I was hooked. The creamy chocolate cream (I normally detest cream of any sort) that simply melts in your mouth - I still remember how happy I felt eating it - and then proceeded to declare it my pick-me-up treat. It was back in the secondary school days I think. And for a period of time, whenever I dropped by town, and if I was feeling low, an order of Beard Papa's chocolate eclair was sure to be on the list of things to get. A mouth of that yummy dessert and I'm all perked up (I reckon it's my inner happy endorphins that got a kick out of all that sugar rush...).

I was browsing through all my favourite food blogs as usual, when I saw the Daring Bakers baked good of the month - Pierre Hermé chocolate éclairs. Since I am experimenting with different baked goodies lately, I decided to make it for fun's sake. I used the choux pastry dough as per listed, made a batch of almond pastry cream (that's simply to-die-for) and topped the treat up with melted 70% lindt dark chocolate before adding chopped pistachios/a raspberry to the eclairs.

Of course, I hurried to complete the pastry in hopes of snapping some pictures of it before the sun sets as my digital camera sucks at night photography (do I hear a new camera hollering my name?). I was lucky (since I did the almond cream the day before, I only need to make the pastry today), I managed to get in some day shots of the completed goodies before passing the sweets on to the housemates. (:

Chopped pistachios atop an eclair.

Almond pastry cream. Lusciously divine.

Pictures 13

Enjoy.

Lemon bars and brownies made about two weeks ago for well, Fiona's birthday.

210808 bento: Inari sushi, tomatoes, broccoli, miso chicken

220808 bento: Furikake rice, broccoli, grilled salmon and loads of water. I borrowed the interesting book from the library, but a pity I couldn't finish it in time before the due date...

Berries custard tarts which were so easy to make using frozen puff pastry. Simple dessert ready in less than half an hour (could be).

280808 bento: Beef rolls, steamed veg, bean sprouts, basmati rice and tomatoes

Woo Aa's friend bought her a big strawberry shortcake. We all had a slice. yums.

290808 bento: Brown rice, beef rolls, strawberries and orange.

Ingredients in making...?

Here's a clue...matcha powder...

Matcha cookies. (: For Silvia's 22nd.

I think I'm getting into that whole "k-let's-find-suitable-props-and-bg-deco-to-match-the-food-to-snap-pictures" mode.

It's lucky how the house has these petite elegant teacups and matching saucers. Jasmine tea and matcha cookies shaped in poker- card shapes.

Flowers

One of my favourite shots. What do you think?

030908 lunch: Canned salmon, tomato, butter lettuce on nine grains bread