Crumpets with Honey butter: Say "Good morning!" with English style bread

Good morning!, Well, I really want to be the one who shout these words and serve everyone with a delicious breakfast ^^, anyway, I'm not the early bird, haha. 

But even I'm not the one who wake up early, I still can make this bread for breakfast, why? Because it's easy and very quickly to make.
All you have to do is whisk and whisk, ^^, and when the batter is fully combine, cover it and let it rest for 20-30 minutes (depend on the room temperature). While the batter is resting, you can make this honey butter or you can take a nap, haha, it's up to you.
For the honey butter, I try to follow the recipe in the book by boiling it but I fail >*<, maybe the problem is my honey is quite thick, it's become harden after boiling it. So, I chose to mix it into the butter, it's the only thing that I adapt from the original recipe.


I never think that I will love my home made crumpets this much ^^, actually I had tried the crumpet in UK, but I don't 
fancy it, the one from the shop (and supermarket), is dry and tasteless (sorry to use these words). It's a lot better to make it by yourself, the taste is so much better and it's very easy to make it! Because the ingredients list is very short, milk, flour, yeast, sugar and salt, I think most of us have it already in the kitchen, right?


I just can't say more ^^, so I hope you can try it at home, this little British style bread is simple and delicious, serve it warm with butter or jam, and don't forget a cup of hot tea!

Crumpets with Honey butter

Makes 6 (using 8cm ring)

CRUMPETS
250ml ............................. whole milk
200g ............................... plain flour 
1 tsp ................................ Instant yeast 
1 tsp ................................ caster or granulated sugar 
½tsp ............................... table salt 


HONEY BUTTER
3 tbsp ............................. honey 
125g ............................... unsalted butter, at room temperature 
½ tsp .............................. Maldon sea salt


2 tbsp ............................. vegetable oil (for frying)

1. Mix together all the ingredients for the crumpets in a bowl, cover and leave in a warm place to double in volume for 20 minutes (or more, up to the room temperature).

2.  Whilst proving, make the butter. 

Beat the butter until fluffy and pale, add the salt, then fold in the honey. Put the bowl in the fridge.

3. When the crumpet dough has doubled in butter volume, put a large frying pan over a moderate heat, add 1tbsp of the vegetable oil and place three greased metal rings in the pan.

4. Spoon the crumpet mixture into the rings about 1.5 cm high. Allow the undersides to

cook slowly until the mixture has set and the bubbles on top have burst; Repeat with the remaining oil and mixture, then serve with the butter.

Crumpets with Honey butter:

 Say "Good morning!" with English style bread

Lemon cream sandwich cake: Tangy cream + sweet cake equal Delicious!

I just fall in love with my new book ^^, (well using "just" is not the right word because I fall in love before I bought it!). And the book name is パウンド型ひとつで作るたくさんのケーク -しっとりパウンドケーキ、ふわふわウィークエンド、ごちそうケーク・サレ…et plus！-  (one loaf pan, a lot of variations, pound cake, soft week end cake, cake salés and etc.) by  若山 曜子(Yoko Wakayama) 

And you can see from the name that in this book you need only 1 loaf pan, to create a lot of delicious and good looking cake .

I really like the first table that will show you the list of the ingredients that you will use if you have different pan (18cm, 12cm, deep 18 cm loaf pan and 22cm loaf pan), plus the suggest baking time.
The basic of the loaf pan that used in this book is 18x7x6.5cm, and with this table even you have different loaf pan, you will be fine!

Like most of Japanese cookbooks, the illustration is a lot (and it's good if you're in doubt, ^^).

The book divided into 4 section:
First basic pound cake, with a lot of variations.
For example, cake with dried fruits, cake with different flavor (ex. coffee or chocolate and hazelnut), cake that make from different kind of flour, marble cake, cake for grown up, cake made with sweeten bean or canned fruit, and cake with fresh fruit.
Second soft and puffy pound cake:
Weekend cake with variation (ex. lemon, pineapple and yusu), cake with different flavor (ex. tea, rose), cake with fresh fruit, and cake with filling (ex. lemon cream sandwich cake ).
Third other kinds of cake:
Cheese cake, carrot cake, gingerbread, short cake, fondant chocolate, and pumpkin pudding.
Forth, cake salés:
Carrot and mustard, broccoli and curry, tomato and olive and etc.

You can see that this little book has a lot to give. ^^

And after talking about the book, now we can talk about the cake, and I choose the one that I like most, the lemon cream sandwich cake. As I told you before, I love the tangy taste, so lemon curd is one of my weakness, I just love to eat it!
This cake can be the right answer for me, the soft and puffy pound cake that split in 3 layers and sandwich them with tangy lemon cream. This pound cake is made from foaming method, you start the batter by beating a lot of air into the egg, like the way you make the sponge cake. The result is very puffy cake, the texture is more light and I think it doesn't become dense and heavy after refrigerate like the plain pound cake.
The lemon cream is very easy to make, ^^ and I love it, haha. Just put everything (except the butter) into the pan and with a little stir over the heat, you will get the  lovely yellow cream, that you will use in this cake, eat alone, or with other bread or dessert that you want to.
I finished this cake very quickly ^^, and come with the feeling that I want to share this recipe with everyone (esp. I really like this book), so hope you try this recipe and wish you love it like me.

Lemon cream sandwich cake

Makes 1 (18x7x6.5cm loaf)

Cake
90g ................................. Melted butter
2 ...................................... Eggs (about 100g)
80g .................................. Sugar
60g .................................. Cake flour
20g .................................. Corn flour


Lemon cream
1 ....................................... Egg
2tsp ................................. Corn flour
40g .................................. Sugar
50cc. ................................ Lemon juice
.......................................... a pinch of lemon zest
20g ................................... Butter 


Icing
6tbsp ............................... Icing sugar
1 tbsp ............................ Lemon juice

Prepare the pan by lining the pan with baking paper.
Sift cake flour and corn flour together, set aside.
Preheat the oven to  180°C/350°F.

Beat the egg and sugar, by placing the bowl over warm water (the water temperature is about 60-70°C), until very thick and pale.
Pour the sifted flour into the egg mixture, fold to combine.
Pour the melted butter into the batter and fold to combine.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Make the lemon cream, by putting all the ingredients except the butter into the pan and put over low heat, stir until thicken.
Take off the heat and put the butter into the pan stir until the butter melt.
Place the plastic warp over the cream surface and let it cool completely.


Assemble the cake:

Slice the cake into 3 layers, spread the lemon cream cake over 2 of the cake layers, and place the last one on top.

Mix the icing sugar and lemon juice together, and pour the mixture over the cake.

Lemon cream sandwich cake: 

Tangy cream + sweet cake equal Delicious!

White chocolate and strawberry marquise: Cute Cool Sweet!

The look of this dessert will brighten up your heart, ^^, well, I don't know other people will feel like this or not but for me, it's work! 

So, you can see that many time I choose to make something from the look, haha, (it becomes my bad habit, ^^).

But this time, not only the look that makes me want to try, the taste of the white chocolate mousse and strawberry is good combination, and coming in cool form is a plus. 

This dessert is very good, the combination of sweetness from the chocolate, the richness of the cream that will be cut by the tangy taste of the strawberry and strawberry sauce, make it well balance.

The chilling time for at least 24 hrs is a must (or longer will be great), because when it's firmer, it will be easier to cut it into a neat piece.

I find that the strawberry sauce taste is better when you let it rest for  1 day, (because the taste of the icing sugar will be less noticeable), so you can make it after making the marquise and chill it in the fridge.

White chocolate and strawberry marquise 

SERVES 8-10 

6-8 .................................. sponge fingers 
4 tbsp ............................. freshly squeezed orange juice 
2 tbsp ............................. Cointreau (or other orange liqueur) 
300g/11oz ..................... white chocolate, broken up 
3g .................................... Gelatin sheet
30ml .............................. whipping cream
25g/1oz ......................... unsalted butter 
200ml/7fl oz ................. whipping cream 
3 tbsp ............................. icing sugar 
500g/1lb 20z ................ strawberries 

1 Line a 1.2 litre loaf tin with a double layer of cling film allowing it to overhang the edges. Arrange rows of sponge fingers, widthwise, across the base. Sprinkle evenly with 3 tbsp orange juice and 2 tbsp of Cointreau. 

2 Bloom the gelatin in cold water, and set aside.
Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl with the butter. Microwave on Medium for 1½ -2 mins, gently stirring halfway through. 

Heat 30ml of whipping cream in the microwave for 30 second, and whisk in the gelatin. When the gelatin melt, pour the mixture into the melted white chocolate.

Whisk cream with 1 tbsp icing sugar until it just holds its shape. Fold in the melted chocolate until evenly mixed. 

3 Select even sized strawberries. 

Spoon half the chocolate mix into tin, then put selected strawberries down the centre of the tin, pressing down gently. Spoon over remaining chocolate cream and smooth the top. Fold overhanging cling film over marquise. Chill for at least 24 hrs in the fridge until set. 

4 weigh out 250g of the remaining strawberries, roughly chop them and put in the food processor with 2 tbsp icing sugar and 1 tbsp orange juice. Blitz until smooth, then press through a fine sieve to remove the seeds. Chill until needed. 
5 To serve, unmould marquise and cut into thick slices. Serve with strawberry sauce and a few reserved strawberries.

White chocolate and strawberry marquise: Cute Cool Sweet!