Simply Fresh Fruit Rolled Cake: Simple cake that looks great!

I have a lot of work at the end of each month (well, if you work as the accountant you will understand me >*<). So I will have less time for my baking world ^ ^", and I really don't like this situation.
But baking is what I live my life for, so I must make something, easy quick and yes, lovely haha. So, to fulfill my need this cake is the answer.
Simple but with a little decoration, this cake can be a show stopper for your party.

The method for this cake is very easy, and foolproof too. By beating the egg white separately, the precious air pocket that you need for making the sponge cake puff up in the oven ^ ^.

I think that if you afraid to make the sponge cake, this is the one that you must try, and you will be happy with the result, I promise.

Simply Fresh Fruit Rolled Cake

Sponge cake
3	Eggs (separated)
70g	Sugar
40g	Cake flour
25g	Butter (melted)
Filling
200 cc.	Whipping cream
20g	Sugar
	Fruits of your choices

Preheat the oven to180°C
Line the base of 30X30 cm pan with baking paper.


Using hand mixer, beat the egg white with sugar (add the sugar gradually) until stiff peaks form.

Pour the egg yolks into the egg white, beat with low speed for 1 minutes.
Sift the flour into the bowl and fold to combine.
Pour the melted butter into the bowl, and fold lightly to combine, then pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 9-10 minutes, or until lightly golden.

While baking the cake, spray the clean table clothes with water.
As soon as the cake came out of the oven turn the cake over the clothes, pull the baking paper off.
Roll the cake with the clothes, then let the cake cool on the wire rack.

Whip the whipping cream with the sugar until soft peaks formed.

Unfold the cake and spread the whipped cream over the cake, fill with the fruits.
Reroll the cake.
Decorated with fruits and whipped cream (as you like ^ ^).

Simply Fresh Fruit Rolled Cake: Simple cake that looks great!

May 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #30: Apple Strudel

I'd never thought that apple strudel would be hard, until yesterday, >*<. I started with a great feeling, ok, it's just a time for another baking. But I always have a problem that when I read the recipe sometime I just misunderstand it.

So, after I made the dough and filled it, and rolled it, I knew that I have a problem. The dough was tearing apart, because I just sprinkled the filling all over the dough, and I had to throw away the first batch.

Then I started again, and this time everything was fine, (the one that I took the picture of the instruction ^_^). I thought that it'd be a good job and I could do it without any problem at all. It's going into the oven and the sweet aroma was filling up my room. But the disaster was after that. When the strudel was done, I took it out of the oven and it was flying into the floor, in front of my eyes. I cried, yes, I really cried, I felt so tried and I thought about skipping this challenge >*<. But I just can't, I already did it even I felt like giving up yesterday, I wake up this morning with my intention to make it again. It's fun to play with the dough, to make it tissue thin, like when playing with play dough haha. And you can see that I can make it (anyway I made half of the recipe for today, it's the one that I took the picture for the finished product) , it's not hard to make, and I really want everyone to try it too, ^_^, but hope you don't throw it on the floor like me.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Apple strudel
from: Exquisite Desserts
from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague”
by Rick Rodgers

Strudel dough
1 1/3 cups (200 g)	unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon	salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml)	water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml)	vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon	cider vinegar
Apple filling
2 tablespoons (30 ml)	golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml)	raisins
1/4 teaspoon	ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g)	sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g)	unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml)	fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g)	coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g)	tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

Make the filling:

1.Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

2. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar

Make the strudel dough and fill it:

1. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

2. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Spread the apple mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Well, this is the one that I made after all my failure, haha!

May 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #30: Apple Strudel

Strawberry and Pistachio Financier: Lovely green and red!

I love the color of this financier, green and red, like a little jewel ^ ^. This recipe is the combination of 2 flavors, rich from the nut and tangy from the strawberry, and the strawberry give this financier the great fragrance too.

I made these financiers with an idea of easy afternoon tea, a small treat that is not heavy in both appearance and the taste. I thought about the berry, floral or herbals tea, not the darkest or bitter one. And yes this one is answer my need, it's great with berry or floral tea, the texture of the financier, the crunchiness of the chopped nut when combine with a softness of the baked strawberry, it's delicious.

I think about using other kinds of fruit too, like a small blueberry of raspberry, well, it might need some experiment ^ ^.
Anyway, when it cames to the tea time treats, the possibility is unlimited.

Note: I use silicone pan so I don't need to grease the pan before put the batter in, but if you using other kinds of pan make sure your pan is greased and floured. The pan that I use is petits- fours pan (about 4X2cm) but you can make this financier in mini muffin tins but you will get less pieces (about 20 pieces).

Strawberry and Pistachio Financier
Makes 25 pieces (4 cm x 2 cm)

50g	Almond powder
80g	Pistachio (skin removed)
20g	Pistachio (skin removed and chopped)
75g	Butter
80g	Icing sugar
30g	Cake flour
3	Egg white (about 90g)
20	Small strawberry (cut into 1 cm pieces)

Melt the butter in the pan over low heat, until the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and begin to brown. Remove the pan from the heat and let the butter cool completely.(it’s called “Beurre noisette”)
Pour the golden liquid into a bowl discard the brown solid.

Put 80 g pistachio into the food processor bowl, process until fine. Pour flour, almond powder, and icing sugar into the same bowl, and process until powdery.
Sift the mixture into the mixing bowl.

Pour the melted butter into the flour mixture, mix to combine.
Mix in the egg white in 2 additions, until homogeneous.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate the batter for 2 hours.

Before baking preheat the oven to 180°C


Scoop the batter into the pan (if using metal pan, brush it with butter).
Put the strawberry on top of the batter, and sprinkle with chopped pistachio (lightly press the nut into the batter).
Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden.

Strawberry and Pistachio Financier: Lovely green and red!

Orange Brioche and The review of the Book :パンで幸せ三昧―賢く作ると、なるほどおいしい!

As I promise you before about the book name:..................... that I will write about it. So, I have to full fill my mission by testing another recipe ^ ^.
But before I will talk about it, I have to tell you something. You can see that I change my watermark, and this is the story that I want to tell you.
I must say "Thank you" to Ngoc Anh Hoang, a lovely reader in Vietnam, who told me about the web site that uses my photo without my permission, so I redesign my watermark to make it harder to remove.

I don't tell you the name of the site because Ngoc Anh Hoang already sent them the letter and hope they will be ashame, and don't do anything like this again. I don't mind if anyone will use my recipes or photos, but I just ask for them to give me the credit, that's all!
Because when I posting I mean "I really want to share" and I hope everyone will understand. So, let's talk about the book ^ ^.
パンで幸せ三昧―賢く作ると、なるほどおいしい! (LEE CREATIVE KITCHEN) is a collection of bread recipe, and I just can't stay away from this kind of book haha.
It start with the basic bread and how to knead (with a clear picture of instruction, Japanese style) it, from table rolls, milk bread, raisin bread, butter roll, semi-hard roll, croissant bagel and foccacia.

Follow by the bread variation (28 items!), like olive bread, whole wheat, bread with fruits and nut (there are many recipe that I want to try, ex. bacon and onion bread, I already tried sweet corn bread ) . If you know how to make the basic bread you will be able to make different kinds of bread too.

Following with the section of quick bread and muffin. In this section there are a lot of pizza recipes too, yummy, yummy ^_^.

Then the rest 5 sections are about the bread meals, like French toasted (21 varieties, lol, I love the one name: strawberry and coconut French toasted).
Open sandwich section is quite lovely, it can be use for the canape too.

The sandwich section is, well, sandwich haha, rolled sandwiches, toasted sandwiches, bagel, pita, baguette croissants and hamburger. Different kinds of bread and different kind of filling, so if you have sandwich for your lunch, it's really helpful.

Then the pizza toasted section, it's easy and delicious, just one loaf of bread you will be able to create 10 pizza toasted (and after reading it, you might get more idea, ^ ^).

The last section is bread become meal, bread quiche, soup, (well, and the idea of bread tatin, lovely).

So, I do love this book, it's great for the bread and variations. And for everyone who love eating carbohydrate, you might love it too.

So, let's talk about today menu, ^ ^.
It's the first menu that catches my attention, well, I just really want to try. I love brioche, and I love orange jam, so, I think that it will be great if they are together.
The percentage of the butter in this recipe is not very high, so it's not hard too knead, and the butter is not melt a lot when shaping the brioche.
But if you don't want to shape like mine, you can roll the dough into a ball and bake it that way, it's delicious in any shape, ^_^.

Orange Jam Brioche
Makes 14 pieces (5 cm)

250g	Bread flour
2tbsp	Caster sugar
5g	Instant yeast
½ tsp	Salt
90ml	Orange juice (do not use fresh)
1	Egg
75g	Unsalted butter
40g	Orange marmalade
	Egg wash (1egg + 1tbsp water)

Put the flour, the sugar and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add and salt whisk again. Pour the liquids mixture into the bowl.

Use large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together, and knead briefly to bring all the ingredients together.

Add the butter and knead to combine.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead by using the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself (see the picture here). Give the dough a little turn and repeat. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Keep folding over and compressing the dough.

Knead for 5 - 10 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable, this dough won't be satiny, but it will stop being sticky.

Pour the jam over the dough and knead until all the jam is fully distributed.

Put the dough into a light buttered bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in size about 1 hour.


Take the dough out of the bowl, deflate by touch it lightly.
Cut the dough into 14 pieces, roll into a ball and let them rest for 10 minutes.

Shape the dough:

Roll the dough into a bowling pin shape (one side small one side big).
Punch a hole in bigger side.
Flip the small side under the bigger one and pass the small dough through the hole.

Place the dough into the pan, lined with paper cases.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
When the dough almost double in size, brush with egg wash.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the brioche is golden brown.

Orange Jam Brioche: lovely morning bread

Mini Blueberry Muffins with Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies: Very Berry Day!

I have a bad habit, every time that I go to Supermarket, I just can't buy only the things in my list. I end up with many many items which I still don't know what to do about them, haha.

The last time I bought a lot of blueberry (and other kinds of fruits >*<) without knowing what they will turn out to be. So I have to find the good way to use it. I remember that last week, when I had a little party with my friends, someone talked about the blueberry muffin. It's not hard to make and it's delicious, ^_^. Then I decided to make the muffin. I always love mini size so I use my favorite mini cheese cake pan to create the mini blueberry muffin but if you use the standard muffin pan you will get 5-6 pieces than 10 pieces. But morning won't be complete without a cup of refreshing smoothies, so to make the great start, I suggest the blueberry yogurt smoothie! Well, a glass of smoothie and a piece of muffin, it's the good day.

Mini Blueberry Muffins
Makes 10

160g	All-purpose flour
80g	Sugar
1¼ tsp	Baking powder
⅛ tsp	Baking soda
¼ tsp	Salt
½ tsp	Cinnamon
125 ml	Milk
65g	Unsalted butter (melted)
1	Egg
100g	Blueberry (fresh or frozen)

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line the mini cheese cake pan with paper cups.

Pour the milk and egg into the melted butter, whisk to combine.

Whisk the dry ingredients together.
Pour the butter mixture into the dry ingredients, mix together with rubber spatula.
Stir just until blended.
Add 65g of the blueberry.

Stir just until evenly incorporated, then scoop the batter into the prepared pans.
Sprinkle the reserved blueberry on top.
Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean, about 15-20 minutes.
Let the muffin rest in the pan for 3-5 minutes then remove.

Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies
Serves 2

60 ml	Milk
80 g	Plain yogurt
120g	Frozen blueberry
1-2 tbsp	Honey
	Fresh blueberry for sprinkle on top
	Mint for decoration

Put all the ingredients in the blender and process until smooth.
Pour the smoothie into the glass sprinkle the fresh blueberry on top and decorate with mint leaf.

From: たかこ＠caramel milk tea カフェのデザートとランチのレシピ by Takako Inada

Mini Blueberry Muffins with Blueberry Yogurt Smoothies: Very Berry Day!