The Tower of Poseidon

Alex made me a lovely meal on our 6th month engagement anniversary. This dish deserves a five star rating in my opinion.



Balsamic and Marsala Wine Reduction Glaze

1 part Marsala wine
5 part balsamic vinegar
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
Freshly ground black pepper

1 Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to boil until volume is reduced by approximately half.

Potato, Onion and Garlic Cake

4 boiled baby potatoes, mashed
½ purple onion, diced
1 small Mexican garlic, diced
1 egg, beaten with some milk
Sea salt
White pepper
Sprinkle of dried basil

1 Mix all ingredients and place mixture in 4 round moulds.
2 Preheat oven to 220C.
3 Bake in oven at 200C for 10 minutes and grill at medium heat for another 5 minutes.

The Tower of Poseidon

1 large fillet of Atlantic salmon, cut in half
8 asparagus, lightly boiled
Water cress for garnish
Sprinkle of dill tips for garnish

1 Coat each side of Atlantic salmon with sea salt flake.
2 Drizzle some olive oil in a pan.
3 Heat the pan on high (must be hot) and place fillet skin side down.
4 Cook until crispy then flip over (do not overcook).
5 Assemble the dish as per photograph.

Bon appetit!

Chocolate Truffle Cake

The layer cake lasts us for nearly a week now and I haven't been baking any more since. My palate started to get more attached to sweet stuff than the savoury now. With no new recipe to share this week, I decided to pick one of my old recipes for chilled cake.



Virtually every member of Mr T's family knows about cooking and baking. Lisa is one of them who has many beautiful recipes to share. This recipe is a revised version of Lisa's original recipe. The outcome is so good I would strongly recommend everyone to try it! With this recipe, I used flaxseed oil in replace of salted butter. I enjoy sweet food but certainly not looking forward to gain too much weight!

Chocolate Truffle Cake

Makes 11 cakes

Apparatus:

Muffin pan

Ingredients:

Biscuit base:

6 Arnott Marie biscuits
3 tbsp flaxseed oil

Fillings:

100g Cadbury chocolate bar
300mL double cream
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 tsp brown sugar

Methods:

1 Grind biscuits finely.
2 Add flaxseed oil to bind crumbs together.
3 Evenly press crumbs into each hole of a muffin pan.
4 Melt chocolate bar in a warm water bath.
5 Beat double cream, vanilla bean paste and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
6 Add melted chocolate into the mixture. Stir to mix thoroughly.
7 Place 3 tbsp of creamy mixture over the crumbs.
8 Chill in fridge for at least a day or overnight.

Indonesian Kueh Lapis (Horlicks flavour)

I have a mysterious love-hate relationship with Indonesian layer cake. It was once my most favourite childhood tea cake yet it is dauntingly difficult to make. The preparation work was draining but the end result was amazingly marvelous! I have long wanted to attempt this cake recipe that I got from Table for 2.... or more. I know Alex likes this cake as much as I do. Hence, on his birthday dinner tonight, I decided to challenge my patience, go through the hassels, finish off the cake I am most proud of.



So, what do you think? As I flipped the cake upside-down, I was puzzled to find the cake was very much burnt on the outside. I couldn't picture how bad it would be on the inside. Tonight is going to be a disaster, I thought. Though covered in cold sweat, I still managed to pull out my plan B, which was to decorate the cake lightly with dusted Horlicks powder and white chocolate fudge icing dots.



The important moment had come. Alex sliced his cake in front of his parents and to my biggest ever surprise, the middle of the cake was still fairly moist. The texture was very well defined still. Alex enjoyed it so much and so did his mum and dad. I am glad my luck was on my side. I needed more confidence in myself perhaps!



So, there we go! A lovely recipe for Indonesian Kueh Lapis. Enjoy!

Indonesian Kueh Lapis (Horlicks flavour)

Apparatus:

Round / Square cake pan
Flat-bottomed glass

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup grapeseed oil (or butter)
3/4 cup cane sugar
1 can condensed milk
8 egg yolks
8 egg whites
1 3/4 cup self raising flour
1 1/4 cup Horlicks powder

Method:

1 Lined and greased the bottom of a cake pan (usually we use square pan but I used a round pan this time as I intended to present it as a birthday cake for Alex). Leave the sides ungreased.
2 Preheat oven in grill mode at medium temperature.
3 Beat sugar and grapeseed oil (or butter) until light and fluffy. Gradually add in egg yolks one by one.
4 Beat in condensed milk until smooth. Leave aside.
5 In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peak forms. Leave aside.
6 Fold in sifted flour and Horlicks powder (in 2 batches) into the egg yolks mixture.
7 Fold in egg whites. Mix gently to combine.
8 Warm the cake pan in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove then spread evenly 2 tablespoonful batter into the pan. Grill at low-medium temperature for 5-7 minutes or until the top layer turns brown.
9 Remove from oven and press gently to release air with a flat-bottomed glass. Brush top lightly with some grapeseed oil. Repeat the same process for second, third, fourth... layer until all batter are used.
10 Once you have finished the final layer, turn the oven to bake function. Cover top of the cake with aluminium foil and bake for another 5 to 10 minutes. Remove and cool on wire rack.

Crumbled Apple Slice

One of the girls at work made a beautiful crumbled apple slice and immediately I asked her for its recipe. I have been long dying to try this recipe and having a day off work today is just perfect for this occasion. One can easily buy this from the local supermarket but I still prefer to DIY as I have no confidence with the ingredients they used in the commercial products. The girl who gave me this recipe used a can of pie apple as its core ingredient and like I mentioned earlier, I do not fancy using pre-packaged commercial product, hence I figured another way to prepare my apple slices. How was the result? It was simple to make yet perfect to eat. I am definitely loving it!





Crumbled Apple Slice

Apparatus:

Slice pan
Saucepan

Ingredients:

Flour mixture:

1 1/2 cup self raising flour
1 1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup cane sugar
3/4 cup grapeseed oil (or 180g butter)
1 egg

Apple mixture:

2 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced
5 tbsp grapeseed oil
5 tsp cane sugar
1 tsp conc. vanilla extract
1 tsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Methods:

1 Stew apple in a saucepan for 10 to 15 minutes until apple soften.
2 Preheat oven to 180C. Lightly grease an 18x28cm slice pan.
3 In large bowl, combine flour, coconut and sugar. Mix in grapeseed oil (or butter) and egg. Press half mixture evenly into prepared pan.
4 Cover base with apple mixture. Crumble the remaining mixture over apple.
5 Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden brown. Cool in pan. Cut into squares

Matcha Chiffon Cake

During our trip in Hong Kong, we bought many Japanese green tea as souvenirs for family and staff at work. We ended up stockpiling many of them at home as some of the people we initially intended to giving to were either not so keen on drinking green tea or were planning trips to HK themselves. So, today I baked this beautiful green tea (matcha) chiffon cake to cheer my beloved fiance, Alex instead. He likes chiffon cake very much.

This chiffon cake is easy to make once you are familiar with the steps and ingredients you need.





Green Tea (Matcha) Chiffon Cake

Apparatus:

Chiffon cake tin

Ingredients:

(A)
6 egg whites
1/3 cup cane sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

(B)
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup soy milk
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup cane sugar
2/3 cup plain flour, sifted
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp green tea powder

Methods:

1 Preheat oven to 170C.

(A)
2 Using an electrix mixer, beat egg whites until soft peak. This may take between 10 to 15 minutes. Gradually add in cane sugar and cream of tartar and continue to beat for another 5 minutes until stiff peak forms. Set aside.

(B)
3 Whisk egg yolks, soy milk and grapeseed oil in a separate mixing bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually add in cane sugar, sifted flour, baking powder and green tea powder in sequence. Continue to whisk until well combined.

4 Fold in 1/3 of egg whites into the batter. Gently mix in all ingredients. Repeat the step with the remaining egg whites.
5 Transfer mixture to cake mould. Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean. Remove chiffon from the oven and invert the mould immediately. Cool the cake on a rack or rubber mat.

Bacon and Mushroom Scrolls

I made this savoury scrolls a while ago. The pastry came out so nicely from the oven I can almost smell the savoury aroma again through my memory. The recipe was so good that I definitely could not miss posting it in this blog. If my memory serves me correctly, Alex enjoyed the scrolls so much and he gobbled four of them in no time. I surely would like to try this recipe again and refine it further if possible.



I remember reading about how to make a dough. It highlights the importance of getting the water to flour ratio correct. The simplest recipe is as below.

Basic dough recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups plain flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 sachet (7g) yeast
1/2 cup luke warm water

Methods:

1 Make yeast mixture.
2 Combine flour, salt, sugar and water.
3 Pour in yeast mixture.
4 Knead for 15 minutes or until a smooth and elastic dough is formed.
5 Leave to double in size (usually 2-3 hours).

Once you have the dough, you can literally make any pastry as you like. The recipe as follows is one of the examples. I like this a lot!

Bacon and Mushroom Scrolls

Makes 10

Apparatus:

Rolling pin

Ingredients:

1 basic dough
1 cup diced mushrooms
2 slices short cut rindless bacon, fat removed and diced
3 tbsp olive oil
1 egg, beaten
Sprinkle of mozarella & cheddar cheese
Sprinkle of mixed herbs/smoked paprika
Sprinkle of salt and pepper

Methods:

1 Punch down dough and roll out into a rectancle shape.
2 Brush surface with olive oil.
3 Spread diced mushrooms and bacon evenly.
4 Sprinkle mixed herbs, salt and pepper and cheese all over.
5 Roll pastry lengthways to form a log.
6 Cut crossways into 2cm thick slices.
7 Leave to expand for another 20 minutes.
8 Brush pastry with beaten egg.
9 Bake at 280C for 15 minutes.



It is not hard to make afterall, is it?