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First Week of LCB, Sydney (ft. Sun dried tomato, olive, caper pasta)
Main dishesPastaRecipes

First Week of LCB, Sydney (ft. Sun dried tomato, olive, caper pasta)

by koalifiedbaking




SO, I’ve officially embarked on my baking journey and I just had my the first week of studying at LCB, Sydney as a patisserie student. How exciting! Honestly, I hadn’t experienced such a hectic schedule since I graduated from uni. It was quite an overwhelming week during which I was poured with tons of new information that I literally walked home like a zombie every day (especially with all the tools I had to carry). The long school hours was out of my expectations too – 7:30 or 8:30am to 6pm – but luckily I can feel that my biological clock is slowly adjusting to this new lifestyle, because I start to wake up by 9am no matter what.

LeCordonBleuToolBag

On the plus side, I feel blessed that now I get to be surrounded with amazing, knowledgeable chefs and classmates of common interests the moment I enter the campus. This week, we were taught to make several basic French desserts, namely scones, friand, pound cake, victoria sponge cake. I must confess that I also struggled a bit with making these “relatively easy” cakes because I predictably got nervous and disorientated working in a new kitchen. The photos I took of them don’t look nice enough (without my proper camera), so please pardon me that I don’t show my works here yet haha. But I promise that I will show you guys my bakes made in LCB kitchen later.

sundriedtomato-olive-caper-pasta

Funny enough, for the past few weeks, I’ve been cooking more savory than sweet at home as I have to feed my own tummy. So I decided to share with you my favourite pasta recipe – it’s so easy, nutritious, and bursting with flavours that I’d make it every time I crave pasta for a quick dinner. I am in love with this pasta dish for its flexibility, for I consider it the base that I can feel free to twist around based on the ingredients available at home. For examples, sometimes I’d also add mushroom or tuna to the dish when I feel like it. Therefore, be as creative with this simple recipe as you can, and surprise yourself with the result!

sundriedtomato-olive-caper-pasta3

 

Ingredients (serve 2):

  • 200g spaghetti (or other pasta)
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 medium sized onion, diced
  • 1 medium sized tomato, diced
  • 2 tbsp sun dried tomato, sliced into strips
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 1 tbsp raw sugar
  • 1 tsp dried italian herbs
  • a handful of olives , each cut in half
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Fresh parsley, for garnish
  • Toasted Pine nut, for garnish

Instructions:

  1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions until al dente, about 13 minutes. Drain and set aside.
  2. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onions and saute until translucent, about 4-5 mins. Add garlic and cook for another 1 minute (be careful not to burn the garlics). Add tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, tomato paste, and sugar, and dried herbs. Reduce heat to low, and let it simmer for about 5 minutes.
  3. Add the cooked pasta, olives, capers and toss well to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley leaves and pine nuts. Serve immediately.

Yum




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Close up of frosting on Almond Butter Carrot Cake
CakesDessertsRecipes

Nutty Crush – Almond Butter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

by koalifiedbaking

So yeah, I finally decided to jump on the fall bandwagon, and re-made one of my fav cakes of all time – CARROT CAKE! This cake was dearly loved by many friends of mine when I made it for the first time a while back. Why? Well, flavour aside, maybe they were all fooled by how healthy it sounds. 😉

Close up of frosting on Almond Butter Carrot Cake

I used almonds in three different ways in my version – raw almond, almond milk and most important the mighty almond butter – giving a naughty twist to the classic carrot cake recipe. This particularly nutty take gives the whole cake a richer flavour and accentuates how moist a mouth-watering carrot cake should be. In other words, this is where my nut obsession and the essential carrot cake meet. 

Almond Butter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

Nevertheless, the key elements of an authentic carrot cake are still present and very potent. You get all the fresh shredded carrots making the cake unbelievably moist, not to mention that the spice blend, especially cinnamon, will warm up your palette right away. While the lower sugar take on the iconic cream cheese frosting will round everything out with just the right amount of added sweetness. As you can see, I tried to keep the frosting as light and thin as possible to create a “naked” style. 

Slice of Almond Butter Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

P.S. If you want to save the fuss, feel feel to buy store-bought almond butter if they’re readily available in your country. But I think nothing beats a homemade one 🙂

Nuts and frosting on Almond Butter Carrot Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

Dry ingredients:

  • 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp ground ginger

Wet Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (240ml) vegetable oil, I used canola oil
  • 1/3 cup (80ml) homemade almond butter *see notes 
  • 3 eggs, room temperature
  • 1/2 cup (120ml) almond milk
  • 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
  • 2 ½  cups (325g) finely grated carrots
  • 3/4 cup (105g) almond, chopped

For the Cream Cheese Frosting

  • 115g unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
  • 330g cream cheese, softened at room temperature
  • 270g icing sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp almond milk
  • pinch of salt

Instructions:

For the cake:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F (175C)
  2. Line two 8 inch cake pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl, thoroughly sift in and combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt (i.e. everything listed under dry ingredients).
  4. In another mixing bowl, using an electric beater, beat sugar, oil, and almond butter at  medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, to the mixture, and continue to beat at medium speed until well incorporated. Add almond milk and vanilla extract to thin out the mixture. Finally, gently stir in grated carrots and almonds.
  5. Add the prepared dry ingredients into the mixture in three batches. Stir gently with a spatula to combine everything until no flour can be seen. Avoid over-mixing.
  6. Pour the mixture evenly into the two prepared cake tins. Tap the pans several times to break any air bubbles. Bake for 30-35 mins, or until a toothpick inserted in the cake’s centre comes out clean.
  7. Cool the cake for 30 minutes in their pans, then take them out and put them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
  8. While the cakes are cooling, prepare the cream cheese frosting.

For the cream cheese frosting:

  1. Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter (at room temperature) at medium-high speed until smooth.
  2. Slowly add in the sifted icing sugar using a tablespoon, and beat until smooth.
  3. Add almond milk, vanilla, and salt, and beat until light and fluffy.
  4. Refrigerate the frosting for at least 1 hour to get firm so as to hold its shape while you work on it later.

Assembly:

  1. Level the cake layers by slicing the top curve of the cakes with a sharp knife to achieve a flat surface.
  2. Peel the parchment paper from the base of the cake layers and place one layer onto a plate or a cake board placed on a revolving cake stand (if you have it).
  3. Now we do the crumb coat first.
  4. Put a generous amount of frosting on the middle of the cake layer. Using an offset spatula, spread the frosting carefully and top it with the second cake layer. Frosting the top and sides of the cakes. Get a nice, smooth coat of icing with a bench scraper or a spatula.
  5. Put the crumb-coated cake in the refrigerator for an hour to get the frosting nice and firm. Once the cake is chilled (the frosting should be dry upon touching), frost your cake evenly with another layer of frosting using the same method. Get rid of all the peaks and blemishes in the process.
  6. Transfer the remaining cream cheese frosting into a pastry bag tipped with a simple round tip. Pipe dollops of cream onto the cake, sprinkle ground cinnamon and a few almond pieces as garnish if desired.
  7. Refrigerate to let the cake set for at least 1 hour or overnight. Enjoy!

 

Notes (Instructions for home-made almond butter):

  • 200g almond
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • pinch of salt

Roast 200g raw almond in an oven at 350F (175C) for 10 mins. Blend or process the roasted almond until completely smooth and creamy. Add honey, cinnamon and salt, and process until well combined.

 

 

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Hojicha Chiffon Cake with Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Whiskey Ganache
CakesDessertsRecipes

Mount Glorious – Hojicha Chiffon Cake with Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

by koalifiedbaking
I’m not gonna lie; a fluffy chiffon cake had been on my to-make list for ages, so I’m so thrilled that I finally made it happen! I think some of you might be able to relate – when you’re truly into something, you simply want to do it however you feel that day. Take myself as an example, I think about food almost every waking moment and would use baking as an excuse for EVERYTHING. Like today, feeling beaten up physically after a rough night, I decided to bake off some of the tiredness with this superb recipe👌🏻. Side view of Hojicha Chiffon Cake with Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Whiskey GanacheSo, for this chiffon cake, I went against the normally lighter approach to chiffon cake, and used a combination of Hojicha (aka roasted green tea), dark chocolate and whiskey. They’re three flavours that are equally bitter and complex, instantly invoking a feeling of maturity. What’s more, I only realised later that they’re all elements deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. From the cold tip of Hokkaido down to the summery bays of Okinawa, the core of such tastes is tied to the purity of nature. Doesn’t that sound amazing? 😉

Hojicha Chiffon Cake with Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

As this is my first attempt of making a chiffon cake, I adapted the recipe of Green Tea Chiffon Cake by Just One CookBook. I am a big fan of the author, as she explains everything slowly and clearly, and I LOVE authentic home-style Japanese food. Feel free to pair the cake with fresh cream or fruits; but I wouldn’t mind having it on its own. Make this delicious treat for yourself and let me know how it goes!!

Close detail of Hojicha Chiffon Cake with Hazelnut Dark Chocolate Whiskey Ganache

Ingredients:

For the cake:

  • 3 egg yolks, room temperature
  • 30 g caster sugar
  • 3 tbsp (40ml) canola oil
  • 4 tbsp (60ml) milk
  • 75 g (⅔ cup) cake flour
  • 1 tbsp (10g) hojicha powder
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla

For the meringue:

  • 3 egg whites, room temperature
  • 60g caster sugar
  • pinch of salt

For the ganache:

  • 100g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
  • 100g heavy cream
  • 20g butter
  • 2 tbsp whiskey

For the toppings:

  • 1/4 cup hazelnuts, chopped

Instructions:

For the cake:

  1. Preheat oven to 340F (170C).
  2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk egg yolks and caster sugar (30g) until light and pale. Add canola oil, milk and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.
  3. Sift in cake flour, hojicha powder, and baking powder to the egg yolk mixture. Mix until totally incorporated.
  4. In another bowl (make sure it’s oil free), add egg whites and salt. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites at high speed until foamy. Gradually add the caster sugar (60g) using a tablespoon, and beat until all sugar dissolves and soft peak forms. This will take about 5 mins. Gently fold the meringue into the cake mixture in 3 additions.
  5. Pour the mixture into the ungreased 17cm chiffon cake pan (please do NOT grease your pan or otherwise your chiffon cake won’t stick to the pan and therefore collapse while baking). Tap the pan a few times to release air bubbles.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
  7. The cake must be cooled upside down; balance the chiffon pan on a tall heavy bottle using the pan indent. Leave until the cake is completely cool before removing it.
  8. To remove cleanly, keeping the pan upside down and use a thin sharp knife or thin offset spatula, running it gently around the cake.
  9. Place the serving plate on top of the cake (which will now become the base of the cake) and flip over. The cake should pop out easily.

For the ganache:

  1. Add the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a saucepan, add cream, butter, and salt. Bring it just to boil over medium-high heat. Turn off the heat.
  3. Pour the cream mixture over chocolate. Let stand for 10 mins and don’t stir to prevent it from going grainy.
  4. Stir the mixture with a whisk until smooth and shiny. Add whiskey and mix well.
  5. Pour over the chiffon cake and top it with chopped hazelnuts.
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Pumpkin ginger soup with pumpkin slice
Main dishesRecipesStews and Soups

The Warm Hug – Creamy Pumpkin Ginger Soup

by koalifiedbaking
Creamy Pumpkin Ginger Soup in Le Creuset PotI love pumpkin, it’s sweet, bright in colour, and appetising too. Its inherent sweetness and creaminess make the perfect centre point for any take of a heart-warming soup. With many kinds of veggies blended together, this particular pumpkin soup recipe is naturally nourishing for your body, and soothing for the soul. Best of all, even if you dig into it you won’t feel that you’re eating anything heavy at all.  

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