Fondant was used to cover the house

I had never made a gingerbread house before I moved to Japan. I always made cookies at Christmas but had never challenged an entire house.

Let's start the Christmas season

 It is already the middle of December and I am just starting to bake for Christmas. The month is slipping by too fast.

This chocolate cake has cinnamon and red wine in it which gives it a nice zingy taste.

The recipe is originally from Christine Ferber who is  best know for her jams.

This cake is quite quick to put together - about 30 minutes total. You can either bake in two small pans or just one large one.



1. Mix the softened butter with the sugar and cinnamon using a whisk. In a separate bowl, sift the flour, almond powder, baking powder and cocoa together.

Wine and chocolate are ready to mix Use a small whisk to combine together

2. Melt the chocolate over a pan of hot water. Remove the pan from the heat. Add the wine in portions and use a small whisk to mix together. Put over hot water again if the chocolate becomes chilled.

3.  Add the egg to the chocolate in portions  using a small whisk. Add in the butter mixture in portions. Add the flour mixture and mix together well with a spatula.

4. Put into pans that have been coated with butter and flour. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 - 25 minutes.

Cakes ready for the oven

Cake just out of the oven

Baked in a kugelhopf pan

Bread is ready - bring on dinner!

Finding a dinner roll recipe which is easy but packs a lot taste is difficult.  Parker House rolls are a traditional roll so I made a few changes to the basic recipe to reduce the butter but keep the soft texture.

This roll is made with milk instead of water which gives it a rich flavor.  Adding a whole egg to the recipe also adds the right amount of softness.

This recipe makes about 8 rolls of 50 grams each.

Add the butter to the dough

Dough is ready to start the rising process

6. After the bread is finished rising. Put on the kneading board and cut into 50 gram pieces. Flatten each piece & roll each into a ball and let sit under plastic wrap for about 15 minutes (bench time).

7. Flatten & re-roll each ball. Put on a baking sheet. Brush each ball with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and put in a warm place.

8. Rise for 30 minutes. Bake at 200 degrees Celsius for 20 - 25 minutes or until browned.

Measure all ingredients before starting

Brush with butter before the 2nd rising Use a small rolling pin to make a crease in the middle

Sweet potato pie decorated with powdered sugar

Sweet potatoes are still plentiful in the store even in late November so I couldn't resist making a pie.

I like sweets potatoes anyway they are cooked or baked so I didn't need much encouragement to bake this pie.

The traditional American recipe of baked sweet potatoes topped with marshmallows is not popular in Japan so I had to make this pie to serve my friends here. Recipe fits a 21 cm tart pan.



1. Sift the flour into a bowl. Cut butter into small cubes and mix with the flour using a pastry cutter (use a food processor if you have one). Butter should be well mixed with the flour.
2. Add the egg, sugar, salt & water and mix. Put dough on a smooth surface and knead gently until it is soft and well mixed.
3. Cover in plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before using.

50 grams almond powder
50 grams powdered sugar
50 grams soft butter
5 grams flour
1 egg
5 grams dark rum
1. Mix the butter and powdered sugar. Add the egg and mix. Add the almond powder, flour & rum. Mix well.

1 sweet potato (baked, peeled & sliced about 300 grams)
1/2 sweet potato thinly sliced (these pieces will be boiled)
30 grams butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
15 grams honey
10 grams dark rum
2 egg yolks
100 grams cream

Arrange slices in a nice pattern

1. Soften the butter then add the brown sugar, honey, rum & egg yolks. Mix well with a whisk.
2. Boil the sliced sweet potatoes in water (add 1 tablespoon sugar to the water) until they are soft. Do not over  boil  or they will break apart.
3. Add the 300 grams sweet potato to #1. Use a food processor to mix together if possible. Add the cream. To remove the lumps, you can  put the mixture through a sieve.
4. Roll the dough to fit the tart pan and cut off the extra. Fill the inside with sweet potato filling. Cover with almond cream (do not add too much). Arrange the sliced sweet potatoes on top in a nice circle pattern.
5. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for 10 minutes then reduce to 160 degrees and bake for 40 minutes until browned.



Use another tart pan for a more interesting shape

Serve with coffee!

Chestnut mousse cake decorated with glazed chestnuts

As you can tell from my postings, I like mousse cakes. A creamy mousse combined with cake and a filling makes for a great dessert.

My collection of chestnut recipes is growing -- which gives me a great idea for a cook book :)  Anyway, this is a new recipe I found this year and couldn't wait to try it.

This cake has 3 items to make but if you want to skip the chocolate ganache you could.

A layer of cake is on the bottom, followed by mousse, another layer of cake & chocolate ganache topped with mousse. Recipe is enough for a 18 cm x 5 cm ring.

Chocolate ganache

Pan should not be too deep this pan is  28 cm x 28 cm

Cake
80 grams powdered sugar
100 grams almond powder
30 grams flour
3 eggs
20 grams melted butter
130 grams egg white
60 grams sugar

1. Mix the 3 eggs in a bowl. Sift the powdered sugar, almond powder & flour together. Add to the eggs and mix well with a whisk.
2. Whip the egg whites and then add the sugar in portions until soft peaks form. Add to #1 above. Add the melted butter and mix gently with a spatula.
3. Pour into a baking pan and bake about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.





1. Cut the cake so that it fits inside the 18 cm ring (put mousse film inside the ring). Fill about 1/3 with the mousse. Add another layer of cake (cut smaller) and the chocolate ganache. Add some pieces of marron around the inside. Fill the rest with the mousse. Put in the refrigerator until it becomes firm - at least an hour or two.

Place a piece of cake on the bottom and put the ring on cake

Cake is ready for the refrigerator to become firm

It is only mid-November but I heard Christmas carols in the store this evening.

There are some great fall recipes that I want to share with everyone before Christmas so I need to get busy with my updates.

Cakes featuring chestnut paste are hugely popular in Japan. The infamous Mont Blanc cake, is another standard in all bakeries here.

This recipe is quite easy - mixing butter, sugar, eggs, flour, etc. The baking pan is unique though. It is in the shape of chestnuts. Not sure how easy this is to find in your country but I bought mine at Cuoca in Tokyo.

Dough should be smooth

The  baking pan I used is in the shape of  a chestnut

This pan is super easy to use. You can directly pour the dough into the pan without using butter or oil sprays.

Fill each mold half way and add a piece of chestnut in the middle & the fill the rest of the way

Fresh out of the oven

Here is a fast and easy one AND they taste great.

Apple walnut muffins topped with cinnamon crumble.

There are 3 parts to the recipe.

Recipe:

1. Apple Caramel:
60 grams sugar
40 grams butter
200 grams cubed apples

1. Heat the sugar in a pan until it turns golden brown. Don't wait too long to take off the heat since it changes color very fast.
2. Take off the heat and add the butter. Be careful when adding the butter since the sugar  is VERY hot.  Add apples after the butter melts.
3. Put in a bowl and let cool.

Butter melting in the caramel

2. Apple Crumble:
30 grams butter (room temperature)
30 grams brown sugar
60 grams flour (sifted)
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. Add the brown sugar to the butter & mix. Add the flour and cinnamon. Mix well.

3. Batter
100 grams butter (room temperature)
140 grams brown sugar
2 grams salt
2 eggs
100 grams milk
240 grams flour
8 grams baking powder
50 grams chopped walnuts

1. Mix the softened butter with the brown sugar using a whisk. Add the egg in portions.
2. Sift together the salt, flour & baking powder. Add 1/2 of the flour mixture to #1 above and mix -- add 1/2 of the milk and mix. Repeat the process with flour & milk and mix well.  Add the nuts.

Putting Together:
1. Fill muffin cups about 1/3 full then add pieces of the apple caramel.  Add a little more batter and top off with the apple crumble.  Should make about 11 - 12 muffins.
2. Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes then reduce the oven to 180 and bake for 20 minutes.

Muffins ready for the oven

These are a great idea for a brunch or even Thanksgiving.

It is a simple dough filled with your favorite ingredients.  I made a mixture of chicken and fall vegetables such as carrots and mushrooms to fill these.

You can make the dough a couple of days before and fill them on the day that company is coming.








1. Sift the flour. You can use a food processor to mix the flour and butter. Add in the egg, water & salt. Mix together well. Knead together lightly and roll into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator for at least one hour before using.

1. Cut the chicken breast & lightly fry and add the mushrooms.
2. Cut the carrot & turnip into small pieces and boil until soft.
3. Put the chicken meat into a food processor with the egg and mix. Put into a bowl with bread crumbs, carrots & turnips.
4. Roll the dough out and use a cookie cutter to cut shapes such as the leaf cutter below. You can also use a pumpkin shape or something similar depending on the season. Put a small amount of the filling into the middle of the shape and brush with egg around the outside. Place another piece of dough on top and brush egg on top. Keep the dough cool while working with it since it can soften quickly. I put the first group of cut dough in the refrigerator before matching them with the bottom piece.
5. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 25 - 30 minutes until well browned.

Use a cookie cutter to make shapes

Brush top with egg before baking Use a knife to decorate the top Make sure each piece is well sealed around the edges

Delicious Chocolate Mousse Cake

Pumpkins made from fondant

An easy way to make these cute decorative pumpkins is to use fondant. The one I used is from Wilton.

Fondant can be a little hard so to soften it just put a piece into the microwave oven for a few seconds. Only work with a small amount at a time so that it stays soft.

Also use Wilton colors to make the shade you need. Knead in the coloring - don't be surprised that this takes a few minutes to fully incorporate the color paste.

The pumpkin stems are pieces of clove. I brushed on orange and green powdered coloring which can be found at Sugarcraft baking supplies or other such stores.

This is a great activity for kids -- just think of all of the other fruit & vegetables you can make!!

Enjoy your decorating :)

Home Style Bread Pudding just out of the oven

Here is an incredibly easy one. Bread pudding is a good way to use old bread which is around the house. Prep time is about 15 minutes and baking depends on the size of the pan you use, but should be no more than 30 minutes.