Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Baby Girl had a very slim lady teacher who was gluten intolerant and I guess I wondered then if that was why she was so slim and elegant. That was the second time I was actually brought to think about this problem, the first being that one Christmas party I attended at Tetra Pak in Modena many years ago where they had a separate buffet spread for employees with coeliac disease. The third occasion was last year when I organised a lunch for my BISS Year 12 class and discovered that one of the very slim and glamorous mums who attended was gluten-intolerant.

From the look of all the round and boisterous members of my family, none of us seems to be suffering from this misfortune and could eat as much pasta, bread and cakes as we want, which we did, making us look like what we ate basically.

Then I noticed that gluten-free products whether primary (e.g. flours) or finished tend to be much more expensive than normal ones and that made me curious to find out more about the disease. I even bought a gluten-free cookbook written by some celebrity chef, but must admit that most of the supposedly delicious recipes hadn't inspired me thus far.

Finally, a Germany bakery here was having a promotion a few weeks back and never one to be able to resist a sale, I bought a packet of premium hazelnut meal and have since been wondering what I could do with it.

A few days ago, I decided to make a simple Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake for 3 reasons: 1. to use up the hazelnut meal; 2. to give the kids a taste of a gluten-free cake; 3. because I suspected that Hub would enjoy it very much.

The cake turned out very well and I served it with home-made whipped cream. The kids thought it tasted nice, but preferred the "normal" chocolate cakes that I've baked them. Hub, as predicted, loved the taste and texture of the hazelnut meal in the cake and basically ate most of it up on his own!

The next time there should be a need for a gluten-free offering, I would know what to bring.

Gluten-free Chocolate Hazelnut Cake:

175g chocolate (minimum 35% cocoa butter)
125g butter

6 egg whites
½ tsp salt
25g castor sugar

6 egg yolks
75g granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp grand marnier (optional)
130g hazelnut meal

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line an 18-cm cake tin (mine's more than 7 cm tall) and grease its sides.

Using a clean and dry electric beater beat the egg whites till stiff, adding the salt and then the sugar along the way. Set aside.

In a separate bowl melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave. Mix well and set aside to cool.

In a large mixing bowl cream the eggs and sugar together. Add the vanilla and alcohol.

Stir in the butter-chocolate mixture.

Stir in the hazelnut meal.

With a spatula mix in the egg whites in 2-3 portions.

Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for 45 to 55 minutes. The wooden skewer you poke into the cake should come out clean.

Leave the cake in the tin to cool for a few minutes before turning it out.

Eat it as it is, with some icing sugar over it, or with home-made whipped cream like we did. The cake was not as compact as it would have been otherwise because of the use of egg whites. It even managed to turn out quite tall even though there was no baking powder in it.

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Pandan Chiffon Cake

Baby Boy is very fond of eating Pandan Chiffon Cake. I cannot recall where and when he picked up his first slice of the cake, but it's interesting that he should like it since he grew up in Europe and chiffon cake is not popular there.

A few months ago we attended a celebration organised by the Singapore Consulate in Shanghai and a vendor sold pandan chiffon cakes in the bazaar there. I was made to buy a small cake that was really expensive, and I asked myself then why I've been making orange and other chiffon cakes in the past but never a pandan one?

A few afternoons ago, I decided to whip up one quickly to match a charity theme. A few friends of mine here are organisers of the More Than Aware Fun Run yesterday (for breast cancer awareness) and green and pink were the colours for the charity. I made a Beef in Red Wine sauce for the pink and decided on a pandan chiffon for the green. Hub was away as usual (this time abandoning us to be with his best friend in Thailand) so we decided not to join the event, but I've wanted to be with them in spirit.

The chiffon turned out pretty well as I adapted the recipe for my other chiffon cakes for it, but I made the mistake of not being able to bear the loss of a tiny bit of pandan paste just after I've poured the batter into the mould, dipping the spoon into the batter...unfortunately this bit of paste sank into the bottom of the batter without mixing properly with it and the result could be seen after the cake has been baked. We learn from our mistakes, I'm sure.

Pandan(us) Chiffon Cake:

6 egg whites
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cream of tartar
70g caster sugar

6 egg yolks
60g caster sugar
60g canola oil
150ml coconut milk
1 tsp pandanus paste
150g all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder

Preheat the oven to 340°F or 175°C.

In a mixing bowl whisk the egg whites till half stiff. I prefer to prepare the egg whites first when the electric beater is clean so as to minimise failure.

Add the salt to the whites and continue whisking.

Add the cream of tartar and continue whisking.

Finally add the sugar and whisk till stiff but do not over do it.

In a separate mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks and sugar till creamy.

Add the oil and continue beating.

Sift the flour with the baking powder and mix into the batter.

Stir the pandan paste into the coconut milk and pour into the batter. Mix well.

Mix the egg white batter into the egg yolk batter in 3 times.

Pour into an ungreased and unfloured 21-cm chiffon cake tin and bake in the hot oven for 55-60 minutes.

Turn the cake tin upside down after you've removed it from the oven and let it cool for a while.

Use a knife with a serrated edge to separate the sides of the cake from the tin and unmould the cake onto a serving plate.

The cake can be kept (covered to prevent drying) at room temperature for 2-3 days, but probably not more than that as it contains coconut milk. Keep part of it in the fridge if need be.
  

Glutinous Rice Balls (汤圆): the last night of the Chinese Lunar New Year

汤圆for元宵

Every year, across countries in Asia where glutinous rice balls are consumed on auspicious occasions,  one often reads about some kid or elderly choking to death on a ball. Yet, the asian love for all things round continues and I couldn't keep out the sound of the salesgirls promoting their glutinous rice balls in Carrefour in the week leading to the end of CNY, nor could I stop receiving (on social media) all sorts of well wishes for 元宵 - also known as the Chinese Valentine's Day.

I guess the folklore of lovers reuniting under the full moon is irresistible for the Chinese and the fact that you could play with the characters/symbols and come out with all kinds of wishes for fullness, wealth etc make it a sure hit with the superstitious. However, the occasion is not celebrated the same way everywhere in the Chinese world and the way one would eat a glutinous rice ball would also differ according to local customs or taste.

I remember that when I was a kid, mum would roll her own glutinous rice balls and they would be plain, white and red, and served in a sweetened soup. Of course the Gods and ancestors would always get to try them first, but I loved them and didn't mind having the leftovers :-).

Then the age of the industrially-produced frozen glutinous rice balls arrived and we would have them stuffed with sesame paste, peanuts or red bean paste. From the look of things the Chinese where I am are now at this stage because almost every person I questioned about the rice balls was not making his own. Quite a pity since we all know now that it is best to avoid consuming industrially produced food products wherever possible, plus glutinous rice balls are probably one of the easiest things to make on one's own.  

In Shanghai, the Chinese also eat savoury meat-filled glutinous rice balls which are not something I am used to. And according to my driver Zong, what matters to them is the filling (whether sweet or savoury) and not much attention is usually paid to the soup. In fact, they usually just serve their precious glutinous rice balls in hot water.

CNY 2015

I will not bother to blog the recipe since I've done so about 5 years ago. For this year's yuanxiao, I made 3 types of glutinous rice balls: rose and pandanus flavoured, as well as plain white balls stuffed with salted duck egg yolk. The soup was a simple brown sugar with ginger and pandanus leaves solution. If using Taikoo's ginger brown sugar, use it sparingly and combine with normal white sugar as the former is very very strong.

I made each kid eat just one glutinous rice ball for the occasion as they are not at all into it (I guess it's an acquired taste) while I gobbled down the rest. I thought it made a good occasion for teaching them about some of the Chinese customs while we are still living in China.  

Waffle (a second recipe)

Waffles

I have a yeast-based waffle recipe in my archives that dates back to 2010. It's pretty classic except that it requires quite a bit of sitting time and there are days when I may be in a bit of a hurry. That's when a baking powder-based waffle recipe comes in handy, especially on this day when, in exchange for a few stingy kisses from my hormone-fired female teenager, I had to prepare a round of waffles for breakfast.

I also used a different iron for these waffles, giving them deeper indents which allow them to collect more sugar, honey or maple syrup.

Waffles (makes 8-10) :

300g all-purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
2 tsp sugar
2 eggs beaten
125g butter (unsalted or salted, melted)
400ml milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract or
1 tbsp orange blossom water/grand marnier/rum (optional)

Mix the dry ingredients together. Make a well in the middle and beat in the eggs.

Stir in the milk and mix well to get a smooth batter.

Stir in the melted butter and extra flavouring if you choose to use it.

Let the batter sit for at least 20 minutes.

Heat up your waffle iron and butter it. Pour in the batter and cook. Hub likes his waffles not too cooked while I like mine very cooked, so basically adjust the cooking time according to your taste.

The waffles are light and fluffy, though with this recipe, in terms of quantity, I can't really feed my always-hungry family of 5. I had to double the quantity in order to give everyone at least 3 waffles each.

Serve with maple syrup, icing sugar, honey, jam, ice cream, whipped cream or enjoy them plain!

Tarte au Citron Meringuée

Tarte au citron meringuée

Baby Boy is the only person in the family besides myself who likes this French lemon tart. Occasionally he has a craving for it and would pester me to make him one. I've offered him a few store-bought ones, but he always insists that he prefers mine. At the same time I do not really think that he's crazy about my version of the tart, he just wants to give me work to do.    

I never seem to have the same tart no matter how many times I make this Tarte au Citron Meringuée. Probably because the oven I've used was different each time. But the result was usually quite tasty and from the rustic look of my labour you could well imagine that I've made it from scratch short of growing my own lemons.

The French do not like to waste if they could help it. Hence if 3 egg yolks were required for the sweet pie pastry, then 3 egg whites would go towards making the meringue to cover it. It serves at the same time to prevent the custard from burning.

Depending on how firm you like your custard to be, you can adjust the baking time in the second part of the baking. I've made anything from flowing lava to firm and they all tasted more or less the same at the end of the day: rich, sweet, acidic, very sinful.

Tarte au Citron Meringuée:

A sinful, calorie-filled slice

For the sweet crust pastry:

200g butter

a pinch of salt

120g icing sugar

3 egg yolks

250g flour

For the lemon custard:

1 large lemon (untreated)

60g butter

1 egg

120g castor sugar

For the meringue:

3 egg whites

80g castor or icing sugar

Cut the butter into small pieces and leave to soften in room temperature. Add the salt and sugar and mix (with a whisk or with your fingers) till you obtain a creamy paste. Add the egg yolks and continue mixing. Sift the flour and mix in a quarter first. Finally add in the rest of the flour and finish mixing only with your fingers without overworking the dough. Form the dough into a ball and wrap in cling wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 170°C/340°F. Line the bottom of a round ceramic mould with baking paper and fill it with the dough pressing it well onto the sides. I didn't bother to roll out the dough before I used it so I ended up with a rustic-looking crust. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. As a general rule, I prefer tarts with a thin crust so that one could enjoy the filling, but for this lemon tart, I tend to go heavy with the pie crust because I couldn't normally survive too much of the certes yummy tangy-sweet filling. In any case it's all a question of personal taste.

Lower the heat in the oven to 150°C/305°F. Zest and juice the lemon. Melt the butter and set it aside. Mix the egg with the sugar followed by the zest, juice and butter. Pour into the baked pie crust and bake for 12 minutes. At this point you can decide to increase the baking time by a few minutes if you wish to have a firmer/more cooked custard. Remove the tart from the oven and set aside.

Lower the heat in the oven to 100°C/215°F and do make sure the oven is truly at this temperature before you proceed. Whisk the egg whites till firm and whisk in the sugar bit by bit till you get a shining white meringue batter. Cover the tart with it and bake in the oven for 20 minutes. If for some reason the meringue is not cooked, continue baking till it is reasonably firm.

Let it cool before serving. I personally prefer it chilled.

Butter Cake (Compact Version)

Butter Cake (compact version)

A fellow blogger recently justified her absence with the publication of a cookbook while another was MIA because she had a new baby. I, unfortunately, have been absent mainly because I couldn't figure out how to use the new blogger. Plus the VPN hadn't been cooperating much since the Chinese Government figured out how to sabotage it from time to time. 

Actually I haven't been cooking anything exciting either since we have become a family of fatties (with the exception of the Teenager who has only grown muscle, not fat). While we fantasise about eating we hadn't dared to do too much of it. Our family BMI has not diminished much, unfortunately, and I've been toying with the idea of a fat freeze which wouldn't happen since we have 3 kids to send to university and not enough funds in the bank for that.

We have however done a bit of travelling. In fact, the overweight problem probably came from that since one does tend to put on weight when travelling and trying out interesting restaurants during the trip(s).

The Chinese Golden Week starts tomorrow and I've made the good resolution to stay put and not travel so that we wouldn't put on more weight; but I made the mistake of paying an Animal Jam membership for each of the Babies which saw them hogging both computers at home all of yesterday.

Not knowing what to do (I didn't feel like reading, was sick of trying to finish up my latest mosaic project and couldn't play the piano since Hub was in a video conference), I decided to bake a Butter Cake. But a compact one and not the usual more-like-pound-cake one that I've been making since I was a teenager.

I was so lazy I didn't even want to take out my electric mixer. I just baked a cake by stirring with a wooden spoon and the result was a very compact and rich cake that the Hub, who is currently on daily aspirin to thin his blood, consumed almost entirely single handedly. Needless to say he ate and whined alternatively which made me sound like a sabotager of healthy hearts instead of a kind and loving wife.

Butter Cake (compact version) :

200g butter

150g sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

3 tbsp grand marnier

4 eggs
100g plain flour
a pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F.

Line a 19/20 cm round mould with baking paper.

Melt butter in a large bowl in the microwave oven till very soft.

Stir in sugar, vanilla extract and grand marnier with a wooden spoon.

Stir in one egg at a time.

Stir in sifted flour and add the salt.

Pour into lined mould and bake for 25-27 minutes.

Remove cake from the oven and cool for at least 15 minutes before removing from the mould.



Know why Hub couldn't stop eating this cake? It was the grand marnier that did him in. 

Mooncake Festival 中秋 2012

 

I haven't been able to bake my own mooncakes last year like I'd promised myself I would the year before. Apart from being lazy I'm also trying to lose some weight (since when have I not been trying to lose weight you'd say) so it would be crazy to start baking dozens of the sweet and oily stuff much as it would be nice to have a few nice pictures to show for the effort.

Then came the neighbours to the rescue. In anticipation of the Mid-Autumn festival J attended 2 mooncake-making classes and kindly agreed to share her new-found skills with a few of us. She brought over all the necessary ingredients and all I needed to provide was my table top, coup de main and hot oven. Charming company thrown in, of course.

You should see the amount of golden syrup, oil and sugar that went into those mooncakes. I had to provide a lot of cling wrap if I didn't want the table top to be over moisturised. Though it was fun making them because you could more or less fill them with whatever you like. But I'm a simple girl, I either like red bean paste or lotus seed paste with double egg yolks.

Incidentally I ended up eating quite a number of lotus seed and red bean paste mooncakes last year in spite of my good intentions (not to). The Chinese cousin sent up 2 boxes from the South (containing dried tangerine peel though you couldn't really taste it - thank God) and a local friend offered me a box (that also came from the South).

I also ate a number of the local savoury pork mooncakes that were really good when eaten hot off the oven. Though ask me not what they filled those stuff with, one couldn't really make out what was meat and what was fat but eat everything together and I can tell you it was good (though not for the heart).

So I start off 2013 with the resolution (once again) to make my own mooncakes this year. I will buy a few of those modern plastic moulds (see picture) that may not be sexy or ecological, but oh so easy to use. Another good reason to spend more time on Taobao.

Classic Tiramisu (with Egg version)

I am one of those Asian mothers who tend to be more negative then positive, I guess.

Scraped your knee or have a tummy ache? Do I look like a doctor to you?

Pick up whatever you have thrown around! For every piece of rubbish I find you'll get a stroke of the cane! (I know that this has registered because they repeat it to each other every time they make a mess)

Get yourself lost when we are out shopping? We'll give your toys to the remaining sibling. And you know what they do to you after that? Remember Slumdog Millionaire.

I've sometimes fantasised about being one of those positive mums who instils confidence in her kids by always being kind and positive. Who only talks/discusses/praises/encourages and never screams/threatens/condemns/ridicules...But life is never the fairy tale you dreamt of living and I've somehow been programmed to be the shrewish sort (yup, blame it on the DNA). I worry a lot about how the mother I am could be affecting my kids, but I'm not as strong as I would have liked to be, unfortunately. I could only shower them with a lot of love and attention when I am not angry or screaming away.

The other day we were out shopping. Baby Boy has become pretty proficient rolling about in his Heelys. And out of the corner of my eye I saw him heeling away ahead of us, not watching where we were actually going. It wasn't a big mall so I wasn't too nervous about it, and being the mean mum I was, I wanted to see 1) if he would realise that he was lost; 2) whether his siblings would realise that he was lost; 3) if he would still dare to heel away without waiting for the rest of us.

5 minutes later Baby Girl suddenly noticed that Baby Boy wasn't with us. I shrugged my shoulders and continued shopping. The Teenager was his usual selfish self and didn't react. But Baby Girl surprisingly told me not to move so that I wouldn't lose her and dashed out to look for her younger brother. She returned a few minutes later holding her weeping brother's hand.

When I realised that he was lost, I didn't think of taking his toys, mum. I was worried that there would be nobody to play with me anymore.

This is the girl who is always jealous of her younger brother. But I guess she must care for him after all.

I had to clear out the fridge since we would be leaving Shanghai tomorrow for 3 weeks. I had mascarpone, whipped cream and organic eggs. I thought I could make my Babies happy by making them a Classic Tiramisu. The version with eggs - even though we are in the middle of a hot Shanghainese summer.

This Tiramisu is lighter than the eggless ones I usually make. And it has a pretty yellow hue thanks to the egg yolks. I should make this more often and cross my fingers we do not get salmonella poisoning. So do try to use fresh organic eggs when making this dessert.

Classic Tiramisu :

26-28 sponge fingers
3-4 expresso cups of strong coffee
2 tbsp grand marnier
2 tsp sugar

400g mascarpone (preferably italian-made)
200ml whipping cream
3 large organic eggs (yolks and whites separated)
2 tsp natural vanilla extract

3 tbsp soft sugar
1-2 tbsp grand marnier

cocoa powder (sifted)

Prepare the strong coffee (I only use expresso nowadays), add in the sugar and Grand Marnier. Pour into a soup plate.

Whip the egg whites till stiff. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat the egg yolks till creamy. Add the mascarpone and continue whipping. Pour in the whipping cream and the vanilla and whip till you get a thick and creamy mixture. Add the soft sugar, pour in the alcohol and whip some more.

Finally gently mix in the stiff egg whites.

Dip the sponge fingers (usually sugared already) very briefly on both sides in the coffee and line the dish with half of them.

Cover the first layer of sponge fingers with the cream and sift a layer of cocoa powder over it. Spread another layer of sponge fingers on top and cover with the cream. Finish with more cocoa powder over it.

Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce

It was audacious on my part to serve Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce to an Italian when he came for dinner. But it was the easiest dessert to make and I had all the ingredients at hand.

He obviously hadn't expected me to dare to have made it myself. He asked me where I'd bought it and when told that it came out of the same kitchen he was standing in, looked suitably impressed. Guest was on diet (who isn't?), but offered me the compliment of helping himself three times to the panna. Said it was very good, better than the ones you find in many Italian restaurants! Coming from an Italian that was compliment indeed.

Panna cotta literally means cooked cream in Italian. I made it for the first time in Italy a few years ago and it took a few tries to get it right, from working out the right quantities of everything to getting the boiling point right and knowing when not to over stir it. I knew my panna skills were rusty when I made it a few weeks ago for the neighbours and you could taste lumps in the dessert at the bottom of the glass. That probably came from stirring the cream after it has started to cool. Itchy fingers.

But a few attempts later with very eager guinea pigs in the form of Hub and kids soon helped me recover the touch and I am relieved to say that my panna cotta is now a light, smooth cream that can once again be served to discerning guests. Thanks to Marks and Spencer here in Shanghai, I also have nice frozen (if expensive) raspberries to serve the panna cotta with. Remains for me to experiment with agar agar to try to make a vegetarian version because when you have Muslim friends over sometimes they worry that the gelatine may have come from pork. And if I offer it to my mum, she'd worry that it came from beef. On ne peut pas plaire à tout le monde!

Panna Cotta with Raspberry Sauce :

1l whipping cream

135g sugar

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

180ml full cream milk

10g gelatine powder

The Raspberry Sauce :

500g raspberries

1 tbsp sugar

If using frozen raspberries, microwave on high for 90 seconds with the sugar.

Mix well and crush with a fork till you obtain a rough fruit sauce. Set aside.

Take note that I usually prepare the raspberry sauce a few minutes before serving while the panna cotta has to be prepared at least 5 hours before hand.

To make the panna cotta, mix the sugar, vanilla and cream in a pot and bring it to a very gentle boil on low-medium heat. Stir from time to time.

By gentle boil it means that bubbles appear on the surface of the cream and it starts to tremble - after you've stirred it from time to time, first to dissolve the sugar and second to help ensure that the heat is spread out evenly.

In a bowl add the gelatine powder to the cold milk and stir well.

When the cream has come to a gentle boil, turn off the heat and pour the milk with the gelatine into it. Stir well.

Pour into moulds or glasses and do not stir the cream any more as it starts to cool.

Leave to cool before covering with cling wrap and refrigerating for at least 5 hours before serving.

Serve the cooked cream with some fruit sauce.

One can of course also serve the panna cotta with other sauces like mango, caramel etc.

Tiramisu (Eggless Version)

6 years ago I blogged about making a simple Tiramisu. Looking back at the post, I realised that I got to know the amazing Edith of Precious Moments around that time making our friendship in and out of the blogosphere more than half a decade long! Time does fly, doesn't it?

Over the years, I have been making Tiramisu on and off - and often differently from the last time. I guess that as a person grows older, the food she prepares changes too. I do not make Tiramisu for my solo consumption, so as the kids' tastes and demands evolve, I try to take them into consideration (Hub would say, "What about me?" but like I like to say, "Too bad I'm not your mother!"); myself I have decided that I prefer Grand Marnier to all the traditional Italian liqueurs so Grand Marnier is the alcohol de préférence in my Tiramisu nowadays.

You will have some difficulty finding Tiramisu in restaurants during the warmer months in Italy - because it's more dangerous to consume raw eggs during this period. I have taken to omitting eggs when making Tiramisu (after we started living in Italy) so that it becomes a year-round consumable. The yolks would give it a richer taste and a slightly golden hue and the beaten whites would add some lightness to the cream - but overall I do not think they really change the taste and what is really important is the quality of the main ingredients.

When I have guests I would serve the dessert in individual glasses allowing all to enjoy the view of the different layers. Making Tiramisu just for ourselves, we prefer to have it in a large recipient so that everyone gets large portions - my kids could have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

It was funny though to see Baby Boy go, "I really love Tiramisu - but not as much as I love my mother!" (He would then whisper loudly to his sister, "Because mum is the one who made it...") Their friends dropped by to play in the afternoon and I politely offered them a slice - and the Babies dropped whatever they were doing so that they could make sure that I didn't serve their friends too-generous portions of the dessert.

A good quality mascarpone, as I've discovered, keeps for a long time. Mine was a year past its expiry date (left to wallow at the back of the fridge) and when checked yesterday, turned out to be as good as ever. I swiftly dug out a packet of sponge fingers, turned on the Nespresso machine and whipped out a Tiramisu.

Meanwhile I know that I've been away for a long time. Friends and family came to visit in succession so I have been busy. They left last Saturday taking with them the Teenager, so I finally get to breathe a little now and can return to a few of my usual occupations.

Tiramisu (2012 version) :

26-28 sponge fingers

3-4 expresso cups of strong coffee

2 tbsp grand marnier

2 tsp sugar

500g mascarpone (preferably italian-made)

200ml whipping cream

2 sachets vanilla sugar

2 tbsp soft sugar

1-2 tbsp grand marnier

cocoa powder (sifted)

Prepare the strong coffee (I only use expresso nowadays), add in the sugar and Grand Marnier. Pour into a soup plate.

In a large bowl whip the mascarpone with the vanilla and soft sugars and add in the cold whipping cream. Continue to whip till creamy. Pour in the alcohol and whip some more.

Dip the sponge fingers (usually sugared already) very briefly on both sides in the coffee and line the dish with half of them. It is very important not to let the sponge fingers become soggy or the Tiramisu will taste horrible.

Cover the first layer of sponge fingers with the cream and sift a layer of cocoa powder over it. Spread another layer of sponge fingers on top and cover with the cream. Finish with more cocoa powder over it. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate for a few hours before serving. Easy peasy.

Crème Anglaise

The sauce is Crème Anglaise

This is not about the cake (Fondant de Nathalie) but about the sauce - Crème Anglaise as I've always known it to be called.

When you have made a moist but bitter cake because you've changed your chocolate and it was too strong, you may need this delicately perfumed sweet silky sauce to save your day.

I had guests yesterday, ran out of my usual fondant chocolate and used an unsweetened 100% cocoa table to make dessert, didn't increase the amount of sugar used and ended up with 2 bitter cakes.

The cakes would normally have been eaten up in a jiffy, but the kids do not like dark chocolate. So I had to make a crème anglaise.

We managed to eat out in the garden even though it rained in the morning. They are really intent on waking up the mosquitoes with all that rain lately, Hub actually found mosquitoes and their eggs in the water tank of his Nespresso machine!

Our guests were Thai and German, the latter is also our neighbour and both have kids in the school where the Babies go to. I was just thinking to myself the other day about how where you live (in terms of country, city, school and residence) could determine the kind of people you know.

After more than a decade in expatriation, we have really met all sorts of people. As you may remember, back in Italy most of our friends were fellow top-level Ferrari professionals or top executives from important MNCs like Mercedes, Tetra Pak, Volvo, Audi etc. Here in Shanghai, through the international schools and especially our residence (the budget you have for your accommodation is often linked to your position in/and your company), we are really meeting even more important people both local and foreign e.g. Country Head of Pepsi, top brass from GM, Exxon Mobile, Dow Corning etc often in charge not only of their companies' operations in China but in the region...

But I am pleased to say that no matter how important their husbands' positions most of the ladies I've met are usually very nice and interesting, and our children play together all the time. I'm still trying to get the husbands to meet up and become friendly - but almost all of them travel a lot so it has not been easy thus far.

Crème Anglaise :

2 egg yolks

70g caster sugar

250ml full cream milk

1/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 tsp grand marnier (optional)

Whisk the yolks with the sugar in a large bowl till white and creamy.

Bring the milk to the boil in a casserole and stir in the vanilla.

Whisk the hot milk bit by bit into the egg mixture.

Pour into the casserole and keep stirring over low heat till the mixture starts to boil (but remove from heat once the first bubbles appear). It should be around 85°C.

Strain the mixture through a sieve and put it into an ice bath to cool it down completely.

Keep in the fridge for 24 hours to stabilise the sauce and allow the aromas to mingle. Stir in some liqueur if so desired just before using the sauce.

Goes beautifully with chocolate cake or egg white islands (e.g. ile flottante). I would drink all of it on its own - but must practise restraint, of course. Really yummy.

Orange Chiffon Cake

Orange Chiffon Cake

Fei went with Judy to the wholesale fruit market the other day and offered me 10 oranges. They were Chinese-grown and were surprisingly sweet and juicy. I ate them as they were and then had visions of Orange Chiffon Cake which were just nagging to become real.

Pieced together a recipe after interviewing a few chiffon cake experts meaning I took whichever part was most convenient to me. I've also learnt how to make an Earl Grey Tea Chiffon Cake at the ABC Cooking Studio some time back so I've understood the principle more or less - I think.

Earl Grey Tea Chiffon Cake@ABC Cooking Studio

My first attempt at the orange chiffon was a flop though the cake was tall and tasted really good - because it was undercooked. I am still not familiar with my current fabulous American oven and success is rarely guaranteed on the first try. When you think that my chiffon cake guru Shelley actually bakes hers in a small toaster oven you feel like a total wimp.

Like I've been telling the Teenager, it's the player that makes the gear, not the other way round. He's the sort of kid who expects to be geared up in designer sportswear when he signs up for golf, soccer or tennis - and then play mediocrely any way. I digress as usual.

Failing your chiffon cake on a morning when you were supposed to be doing necessary housework added to your sense of failure so I had to console myself by hailing a cab and going out for a foot massage. On a morning of several firsts it was the first time I tried this massage parlour, but had good expectations of it since my former neighbour's father used to go there and was on first-name terms with the staff...

But it was too Chinese for me. Gaudy decoration (lots of gold crepe and big flowers), TV, fruit and tea in the room - and a talkative masseur. Guy asked me if I could speak minnan (aka hokkien), declared us relations and proceeded to tell me his life. Thank God he was still very young so it couldn't drag on longer than the hour I was there. The massage was good but I think I'll stick to the strictly no-talking environment in S.E Asian spas.

Like they say, 失败是成功之母. The cake turned out nice and tall this time round. Moist, fluffy and tall, tall, tall. Nice orange colour thanks to the orange zest and only my barbaric knifing as I removed it from the chiffon pan (while screaming at the kids) made it look this ugly.

Orange Chiffon Cake :

21.5-cm tube pan

6 egg yolks (room temperature)

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

60g castor sugar

60ml canola oil

150-180ml pure orange juice (including the pulp)

1 tbsp orange zest (preferably untreated)

150g low gluten flour (sifted)

2 tsp baking powder

6 egg whites (room temperature)

½ tsp salt

½ tsp cream of tartar

70g castor sugar

Preheat oven at 340°F.

Separate the yolks from the whites.

In a large mixing bowl beat the yolks with an electric hand mixer. Add the vanilla essence and sugar and continue beating.

Now add in the oil and beat.

Followed by the orange juice in 2 times and the zest. I find it easier to zest my oranges whole (about 2 big ones) so I do it before I juice them.

Sift the flour with the baking powder and fold into the batter.

In another bowl whisk the whites till you get a foamy batter. Add the salt and continue whisking.

Followed by the cream of tartar and whisk till stiff.

Whisk in the remaining sugar till you get stiff peaks, gradually lower the speed of the whisk so as to keep the shape of the batter.

In 3 times gently fold the whites into the yolk batter.

Scoop into an ungreased, unlined, unfloured tube pan and bake in the oven for 55-60 minutes or till the toothpick comes out clean.

Fresh out of the oven

Turn it upside down immediately and let it hang/cool for 1-2 hours.

Hanging upside down

Remove the cake from the pan only after it has completely cooled.

After being cooled for 5 hours - not much flatter, I'm happy to say

Keep unconsumed cake in a tupperware in the fridge.

Chinese New Year 2012

CNY 2012

I left Singapore in September 1995 and have probably celebrated Chinese New Year once before I got married. After that it was too expensive to travel home just for a week, with summer being the preferred period for home visits.

When we arrived in Shanghai last year, it was just a week before the CNY, so we "celebrated" our first CNY in Asia riding on the free-flow firecrackers around us. Shanghai is usually dead during the holidays as its large migrant population closes all shops/restaurants/services and head home, so we weren't too impressed with the experience.

2 months ago we realised that we would be having a week-long break towards the end of January - because it'd soon be the CNY! And the year of the (water) dragon too. We decided to visit Singapore now that we're closer, but many others had the same idea so SQ was fully booked months in advance. We therefore booked ourselves on China Eastern which honestly was a mistake. In this day and age there is still a regular airline that doesn't offer inflight entertainment, that serves horrible meals (piled high on top of the trolley), that doesn't give you a new set of pillows and blankets on a new flight!

Still, it was exciting celebrating my first CNY in 16 years with my family. What I missed was the reunion dinner on the eve of CNY, embracing the traditions of giving red packets and oranges, staying up late, sleeping with lucky money, watching the Hongbao show on TV, checking out the lanterns in the Chinese garden, doing a spot of last-minute shopping in the night markets, visiting friends and relations, lo-hei, wearing new clothes, catching the Chingay procession...everything I have given up when I started living overseas and married a European.

年年有余

When the Teenager was very small, I kept up with a few of the traditions and organised steamboat dinners with Chinese friends during CNY. Then it fizzled out because Hub never seemed interested enough in my traditions, keeping anyway the barest minimum of his own. Then the babies came along, we moved around more and more and CNY just moved to the back of my mind (and priorities).

This year I stuck 2 red paper cuttings of the character 福 (luck, prosperity) on my doors though I would stop there as I personally find it a little vulgar the Chinese obsession with money (钱 or 财) all times of the year. We should wish for good health and for things to go smoothly - and everything else would follow. You could have all the money in the world, but if you do not have the health to enjoy it, it would be worth nothing.

Lo-Hei

Mum had to help refresh my memory of what needed to be done for CNY, though I didn't participate in the praying since I wouldn't be doing that when the parents leave the world. I wanted to visit the night markets but the skies refused to cooperate, sending the rain promised by the Water Dragon down on us almost every evening.

Treasure pot

We ate reunion dinner as a family though : my own, my brother's and my parents. Only my sis was missing, but she had her Hub's family to eat dinner with. It was an expensive meal filled with lucky and prosperous-sounding dishes though the kids and Hub failed to appreciate it. I had my first lo-hei in donkey years - and still only ate the crackers. But I ate through everything else, especially my favourite Kum Hiong 金香Crabs.

金香Crabs

On the first day we visited my 3rd uncle. It was to be our only visit as most of the relations would gather there so that there would be no need to do the rounds like we used to when we were kids. It was a little disappointing, but let's face it : at my age, most of my parents' older relatives that we used to visit would be dead and we would have little to do with their children or grandchildren. For my parents, with no longer any kids to drag along, they've probably lost most real interest in the visiting so they ended up staying at home watching TV for the past decade. Since we've never been into CNY gambling, we never got into hosting big gatherings either, so all was calm.

This is sad, I suppose. But like everything else there's a time (and place) for celebrating CNY. Take Shanghai, for instance. My Shanghainese friends told me that with small families they no longer see any point in celebrating CNY either. In the big city which becomes dead with most of the migrant workers gone they also fail to gather enough atmosphere for the occasion, having to cook their own meals and just hang around waiting for the shops to open again. Those who can afford it would take the opportunity to travel, since there are basically only 2 holiday periods in China : CNY and the Golden Week in October.

But I talked to my hairdresser yesterday who as a migrant worker went home to his village in Sichuan. There it was the big occasion with waxed meats, big meals (but no touching of sharp objects or fire on the first day), a sharper observance of the traditions, gambling and big red packets. Since he was single, he came home with thousands of Chinese yuan in red packet money. Compared to the 122S$ that each of my kids amassed in their week in Singapore...

红包 money of course is an interesting part of CNY especially for the children. And nowadays it's not like before, you can't usually get your kids to surrender their hoard to you. The amount of money you put into your red packets could also be a study of the differences between the Chinese in different parts of the world.

I was quite surprised to discover that inflation has not reached angpow money in Singapore. When I was a kid (very long ago), we usually received between S$2 and $10. Apparently kids still receive the same amount today 2-4 decades later. A check with my HK and Chinese friends revealed that the Mainlanders (even my driver) put at least 200 rmb (about S$40) in their red packets, if not 500, even 1800rmb!

They seemed a little more reasonable in Hong Kong though, kids usually get between 40 and 80 HKD (in pairs of red packets though) and elderly parents will get much more. I chose to do $6, $8, $12, $18 on average. We agreed that the red packet is a way of giving blessing, so the money shouldn't matter. It shouldn't ruin the giver, shouldn't be a race to see who can give more, shouldn't provide one with yet another opportunity to show off one's wealth. And kids shouldn't become greedy about receiving red packets. There is the whole year for one to show one's family that one cares, why wait for the CNY?

One thing we agreed with Hub and the kids at the end of our stay was that a week is too short a time for visiting Singapore. There was so much I couldn't do, so many friends I couldn't meet up with, so many things I've yet to eat.

年年高升

Sticky rice cake dipped in egg and pan fried

We are coming to the end of the CNY - tomorrow? I fried my own sticky rice cake年糕 (offered by Hub's Chinese colleague) for the occasion, nudged the kids to let off a few of the harmless fireworks (to no avail), and will go to bed wondering what I could/should do next year to make CNY a more meaningful occasion for my kids and myself.

祝大家龙年大吉，身体健康，万事如意。