Mango Mousse Cake

Had wanted to bake a mango mousse cake for hubby for his
birthday, but he fractured his wrist just a week before his big
day so wasn't quite in the mood to do anything major.

Now that his problem is more or less settled, so i went ahead.

Took the sponge cake recipe from a chinese recipe book
家庭小西点 that my mother bought at least a decade ago.
The sponge cake turn out pretty soft, but it is very sweet.
Did not note the ratio of sugar to the flour! But I wondered
why is it so soft and fluffy, is it the baking powder, or the
corn flour (ya it has corn flour as an ingredient).

Then I proceed to make the mousse using a recipe (strawberry
cake) from the book "Joy of making desserts" I borrowed from
the library.

The sponge cake is quite straight forward. However, the
mousse recipe said I should stir the milk and egg mixture
till it thickens, but after stiring for quite some time, I do not
see it thickens, so I just pour my gelatin in (instead of leaving
it to the  last as advise by recipe).

Called in my cousin to help with eating the cake since my dh
wanted to avoid eggs. She keep saying its nice its nice, but she
likes mango lah. My kids like it too (since it is chilled) and I
think it is pretty good too.

I think the next time I will increase the mousse and thin the
sponge cake. Its suppose to be mousse cake mah.

Here's how my mango mousse slice look like.


Here's the portion of ingredients for the amount of mousse I
made, so must remember to increase it next time.

whipped cream 200g
milk 150ml
sugar 100g
yolk 2 nos
mango bits 250g
gelatine 20g

Here's the original recipe (I replace strawberries with mango)

1 egg yolk
40 g sugar
60 ml milk
100g strawberies(mashed)
1 1/2 tbsps lemon juice
80 nl whipping cream( whisked till soft peaks)
8 g gelatine sheets
8 strawberies (with stems removed)

1. Soak gelatine sheets in iced water for 2 minutes until soft.
    Drain. Put into a bowl and place the bowl in hot water until the
    gelatine melts.
2. Mix egg yolks with sugar in a bowl. Bring milk to the boil and 
    pour into the egg mixture. Place the bowl over hot water and
    stir the egg mixture until it thickens.
3. Add mashed strawberries and lemon juice. Mix well.
4. Mix in whipping cream and the melted gelatine. This will set to
    become the mousse.

 

Custard cream puffs

Oh finally after so long, I have got something to share on
baking.

I made custard puffs today. Custard puff is one of my
favourite and I used to buy them often from Sin Lee Bakery (has
been closed for a few years).

I follow the recipe from e's joie website as recommended by
my friend. Mum helpped me out with measuring and preparing
the ingredients while i "cook".

I prepared the custard first. Put all ingredients in, keep
stiring, not difficult at all. Am very please with the custard.
However, after it cooled down (i did not put in fridge as
suggested in recipe), it kind of harden, like into a pudding. Not
sure if it is suppose to be that way. Am expecting a smooth
semi solid custard filling.

Then i prepare the shells. Not too difficult but i cant beat
vigorously as mention in the recipe since i used a small pot.
After that, i did not pipe the batter, i just spoon it onto foil.
I still remember my last attempt last year ... those puff sticks
to the baking paper. This time , its still the same. It sticks to
the foil. Look at the hole after i manage to peel the puff off.



Overall, the results is quite satisfactory to me. Looks a lovely
brownish crust, lovely yellow custard. Here are the rest.

a close up


However, i m not sure if I had the inside of the puff fully baked,
but i figure it is, since it is not sticky like the uncooked dough. I
am suppose to prick the puff, then dry it with the oven door
open for 10 - 15 minutes, but i m not sure if I shd turn off the
oven power first, so I prick and dry it with door ajar for 5
minutes. Anyone can tell me what shd I do after the crust is
nicely browned?

did u see the moist inside?

update : the puff did not stick if you grease the foil.

这是 custard puff （对不起， 不会翻译）， 我其中一种最爱的
糕点。不是很难做， 但始终不知我做对了吗， 不知里面烘熟
了吗。不过样子还过的去，味道也不错。烘焙时，锡纸要抹油，
不然 puff 就会粘着纸，puff 拔出来时，puff 底就一个洞了。

More beading projects

Wasn't baking anything new, and couldn't bake in the nights,
so went to do some beading projects.

My sister in law in msia wanted a crystal bracelet she seen
in a shop near my in law's house. So I made this one for her.

The one she seen is something similar but has no space in
between. I feel that it will be too much of crystals if so, thus i 
did the bracelet this way . Not sure if she
like it. Her daughter has taken the previous chain I made.




Saw the above necklace on a TCS star in the shipyard drama
shown quite sometime back. Like what I seen, so try
duplicating the style, but like previous, after it is completed,
it doesnt look that lovely.



Saw this on my boy's classmate's mother few weeks ago.
After taking a closer look (she lend me), and a few tips from
her, i manage to create another. She told me she also like it
after she seen it on someone else thus she duplicates.
Its silver balls on a tiny silver ball chain. I guess this can be
 wore to a wedding dinner with normal office attire. Not 
an easy job because got to squeeze the balls into the chain. 

夜晚的时间我比较空闲，孩子睡了嘛。夜了又不能太吵，
不能用搅拌机做蛋糕，所以就找些首饰来做。紫色手环是给
大嫂的，看她喜欢吗。蓝色珠蝴蝶链是跟着一套戏主角所戴
而仿制的。银珠链是跟儿子同学的妈借来跟着仿制, 可惜戴在我
身上不比在她身上好看。哎呀， 怎么都是仿制品。都怪我艺术细胞
不够。不过美的东西谁都会想要得嘛。

Update

ok, Chinese New Year is over but how come my blog is
collecting dust?

Actually I hv been baking, but its just egg tarts and marble
cakes for the kids to eat. I also made a necklace and a braclet
but have not taken any fotos to make any post.

年过了, 但我的部落格还是静静的. 前阵子过年糕点还蛮多所以
没烘焙, 不过也做了两次蛋塔给孩子们但他们还要呢.

我也做了一条项链和手链, 待拍了照片就放它们上来让你们
批评.

Meme 2

Small small baker tagged me. Thanks, small small baker.

Its my first time being tagged and am suppose to share five
facts about myself. I guess its good opportunity to let my new
baking friends know more abt me thou nothing interesting.

First, the Meme rules :

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them).
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

ok, 5 facts abt me.

1) I have many hobbies, probably because I have no chance 
of trying them (grass on the other side is always greener). 
Baking, making jewelries and phoography are just 3 of them.

2) Started baking only last year cos kids are more
manageable and mother starts the ball rolling first cos she
goes to Phoon Huat demo classes then itch to bake.

3) A noturnal animal. I stay up till very late like 2am or later
 usually. What to do? Read blogs (oh i love this, consider 
hobby?) , watch HK drama etc. Then I drinks loads of coffee
to keep me up in the day.

4) Quite plump, esp after starting to bake. Wanted very much
to slim down, but then can't help snacking late into the nights
(since i stay up late). Really want to slim down leh.

5) Quite long winded (can see from this blog now right?). Not 
that I wanted to, but then I just need to take that amount of
words to express what I want. So, the above looks like more
then 5 facts.


Now ... I am suppose to tag another 5 .. here goes....

1) JY 

2) Esther 

3) Let's get Wokking

4) Apryl

5) Junhui

Simple Crystal Necklace

I found this quite sweet looking from the book, so I duplicate it,
however with different kind of beads and different colour.

It doesn't look so nice after I completed it. I think I still like
the original colour of blue and grey better.

By the way, anyone has any idea how much will such a necklace
be sold outside?

Mickey Cookies

My cousin bought these cutters for me in Japan. Then I use
them on a recipe that makes biscotti.

 

I think its a failure, cos the raw sugar that I used did not melt.
I can still see them (sank at the bottom of the biscuit). Suppose
to use brown sugar, but did not say caster or not, then I don't
have.

The biscuits are very crumbly, which likely is the cause of the
corn flour.

So, now i shd get another cookie cutter recipe, or try again
with caster sugar to see if sugar melts. Will post recipe when i
succeed.

hmm, maybe must buy icing pen to draw the details of the
hands and face feature .. else also don't know these belongs
to mickey.

表妹从日本帮我买了以上的模型。我用它们做了饼。这种饼
不是硬的那种，象牛油饼多些，易碎，不过我喜欢。 可惜， 不是
很成功因为糖没完全溶解， 都沉在饼的底部。没法啦，下次
再尝试做好它吧。