Tokyo Desserts

Ready for dinner!

I really enjoy baking bread, just wish I had more time to make it.  Making bread at home is a luxury.

This is a basic recipe and you can easily add other ingredients to add extra zest such as black olives or nuts.

This bread is soft and easy to eat, great as a sandwich roll as well.

Here is the recipe:

375 grams flour
35 grams sugar
7 grams salt
6 grams yeast
100 grams milk
100 grams water
1 egg
40 grams olive oil
Fresh thyme (4 - 5 pieces)

1. In a bowl, sift together the flour, sugar and salt. Add the yeast. Mix the egg, water and milk in another bowl.

 2. Add the egg mixture to the flour.  Use a bench scraper to mix and coat the flour. Put on a flat surface and knead for about 10  minutes. Dough should be soft but not sticky. Let rest under a bowl for about 10 minutes.

 3. Stretch the dough and pour 1/3 of the olive oil over it, knead well to incorporate the oil. Repeat several times until all of the oil has been added. Knead until the bread is soft & supple. If  the dough feels too dense, add a teaspoon of water or so and knead again. Add in the thyme. Put in a bowl and cover with wrap. Let rise in warm place for 60 minutes.

 4. Divide the dough into 70 gram pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. Place on the kneading board and cover with plastic and let rise for 20 minutes (bench time).

 5. Flatten each ball to remove the air and roll again into ball. Place on the pan you will use for baking - leave room between each piece since they increase in size during rising. Brush with olive oil. Cover with plastic and place in a warm place. Should rise again for about 30 minutes.

 6. Heat oven to 210 degrees Celsius and bake for about 20 - 25 minutes until browned.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentines' Day!  Here is another great chocolate cake recipe. It is made with hazelnuts powder and hazelnuts so it has a delicious nutty flavor.

The cake has 3 parts, a light crunchy bottom topped with a thin layer of Nutella then the chocolate cake on top and finished with chocolate ganache.

You can bake this cake using a pound cake pan.



30 grams flour
1.       In a food processor, add the hazelnuts powder, flour and powdered sugar and mix. Add the butter and mix and then add the egg.
2.       Spread the batter on a baking sheet about 20 cm x 20 cm square. Use a spoon to smooth the mixture evenly. Bake at 180 degrees for 15 – 20 minutes.


40 grams cocoa mass
75 grams flour
100 grams powdered sugar
100 grams hazelnuts powder
30 grams hazelnuts (finely chopped)
40 grams butter
200 grams egg white
50 grams sugar

1.       In a saucepan, heat the butter until it become bubbly and turns a golden brown color. Do not overcook. Strain the butter into a bowl to remove the sediment and let cool for 5 minutes then pour over the cocoa mass.  Use a spatula to mix. Put the bowl over hot simmering water to melt the cocoa mass completely if needed.
2.       Sift together the flour, powdered sugar, and hazelnuts powder.
3.       In a bowl, whip the egg whites and add the sugar in portions.
4.       Add the cocoa mass to the egg white in portions. Mix with a spatula. Add the flour mixture to the egg whites and mix with a spatula. Lastly, add the chopped hazelnuts.
5.       Pour into a lined baking pan and bake at 180 degrees for 30 minutes.

Chocolate Ganache:
120 grams sweet chocolate (chopped)
15 grams corn syrup
100 grams fresh cream

1. Heat the cream and the corn syrup in a saucepan until it is lightly boiling. Pour over the chopped chocolate and mix with a small whisk.
2. Let cool until the texture becomes like pudding. Either decorate the cake with a knife or put the ganache in a pastry bag with a decorative nozzle to decorate.

Putting Together:
1. Cut the crunchy cookie the same size as the cake bottom. Spread a light layer of nutella on the cookie and place the cake on top. Decorate the cake with the chocolate ganache.

Delicious Coffee Mousse Cake with Caramel Sauce

Happy New Year! My new year's resolution is to keep up with blog posts. I slipped a lot in 2014 but will make more of an effort this year.

Cold weather has advantages for baking. This is a good time of the year to make desserts with chocolate and mousses.

The first recipe of the year is a delicious coffee mousse cake with caramel sauce. There are 4 items in the cake to make including the caramel sauce. If you want to keep it simple, you could skip either the cake or the crunchy bottom.

The bottom of the cake is a crunchy cornflake and milk chocolate mixture. Next layer is a sponge cake with candied orange pieces - great complement to the coffee mousse taste. Surrounding everything is a coffee mousse topped with a caramel sauce.  Let's get baking, here is the recipe!

I used a 18 cm x 6 cm ring and the cake easily serves 8 people

Crunchy bottom:
60 grams small cornflakes or other crispy cereal
60 grams milk chocolate
10 grams salad oil

 1.       Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan filled with simmering hot water. After chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and add the salad oil in portions. Mix with a small whisk.
2.       In another bowl, combine the cornflakes and sliced almonds and pour the chocolate mixture over top.
3.       Set a 18 cm ring on plate and fill the inside of the bottom of the ring with the cornflake mixture. Put in the refrigerator to so that it becomes firm. Use a mousse film inside the ring so that the cake will be easy to remove.

Cake:
60 grams butter (room temperature)
40 grams sugar
2 eggs (room temperature)
60 grams flour
5 grams baking powder
55 grams diced orange peel

2.       Sift the flour and baking powder together and add to the above. Use the whisk to mix. Then add the diced orange peel and mix using a spatula.
3.       Pour into a pan about 20 cm x 20 cm and bake at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.

Coffee Mousse:
150 grams milk
6 grams gelatin
3 egg yolks
12 grams sugar
10 grams instant coffee
250 grams white chocolate
200 grams fresh cream

2.       Heat the milk and coffee in a saucepan. Mix the sugar and egg yolks in a bowl. Add the heated milk to the egg yolk mixture and mix then add to the saucepan again. Heat on a low heat until the mixture becomes lightly thickened. Remove from the heat and add the gelatin and mix well. Pour into a bowl and cool to about 25 degrees Celsius. Add the chocolate to this in portions and mix with a small whisk.
3.    In another bowl, whip the fresh cream until soft peaks form. Add the cream to the chocolate mixture in portions and mix with a spatula. Keep the this bowl over a bowl filled with ice water so that the consistency begins to thicken. Timing is everything - do not cool too much otherwise everything will become firm too quickly.

Putting Cake together:
1.       Cut the cake to fit inside the ring, but make the size about ½ cm smaller than the ring. Place the cake on top of the cornflake filling and pour the mousse on top.
2.       Put in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before cutting.

Caramel Sauce:
100 grams sugar
200 grams fresh cream

1. Heat the fresh cream in a saucepan until it lightly boils.
2. Heat the sugar in a saucepan until it turns a light caramel color. Turn off the heat and add the fresh cream and stir with a spoon to mix. Pour into a bowl to cool.

Ready for Dessert!

My friend's finished house

 
I still enjoy making and decorating gingerbread houses at Christmas. The first step is to make a template for the house you want to make. This is your chance to be design the house of your dreams!! My advice is to keep it simple though.

The gingerbread recipe below is very crispy and does not become soft easily. Good for making houses, not so good for making cookies.

Secondly, you need icing which is not too wet so that it dries relatively quick and the house can stay together.



Recipe makes 1 medium size house:
Sugar　85 grams
Baking powder 2 grams
Salt 3 grams      
Molasses (light or dark) 125 grams
Ground ginger 1 gram
Cinnamon 1 gram
Flour 325 grams
Water 25 grams


1. Mix the first seven ingredients in a bowl until well blended.  Add the flour and water next. Continue to mix until dough forms.

Cut the dough in shape of the template

2. Roll the dough directly onto the cooking sheet and cut out patterns using the gingerbread house template.
3. Cut the gingerbread with a sharp knife working from the inside out.  This means, if there are windows, etc. cut them first.  Then cut the sides.  Bake at 180 Celsius for about 15 minutes. Check for hardness. If soft, bake again for several minutes.



The house is ready to be baked

 


1. Combine powdered sugar and meringue powder. Add the water and beat until it becomes fluffy. Icing should be able to hold its shape when piped.



1. Prepare a piece of cardboard covered with foil for the base. Make a line with the icing on the foil where the house will be put. Start with the back of the house and continue with the sides.

2. Place the back of the house along the back icing line. Then place one of the sides next to the back of the house and put a line of icing along the side to hold the two pieces together. Repeat the same process for the other side.