Strawberry & Lemon cupcakes

I finally got the opportunity to go to Donna Hay's store in Sydney. A friend of my aunty's was down in Sydney and my aunty took time off to take her friend around Sydney and one of the places was Bondi Beach so on the way I asked her if we could go to Donna Hay's store which is close to Bondi  for a quick look and get a novelty ornamental cooling rack from the store. We had a pit stop at Sydney Fish Market for lunch before heading to Woollahra then Bondi. It was a small boutique like store with everything so dainty,pretty & pastel-ish but very pricey. The cooling rack priced at $ 39.95 was so tiny that it could only fit a 6-7 inch cake. I obviously didn't buy it although I was very much tempted to. I got a couple of polka dot cupcake liners,Donna Hay's signature cupcake liners and Callebaut cocoa chocolate. I wanted to get a novelty item but the prices were so expensive but it was a good stop. If I was working I would be heading down to her store quite often!

I made strawberry cupcakes a couple of time and they never turned out well. They were no doubt delicious and moist but they sunk terribly in the middle and also the strawberries sunk to the bottom. So I tried the recipe a couple of times using different ways but somehow all it sunk everytime. I love the flavours tho so I had to look for another recipe with a similar ingredients.

It was a chaos at my aunt's place earlier because my aunt and I were arguing on how to frost the cupcakes. We did not have enough strawberries for garnishing so she took out a packet of cherries to top on the cupcakes,aiyoh! but I wanted the cupcakes to look more boutique baking style. Before allowing me to pipe the frosting, she wanted to use a tiny star tip nozzle to pipe the cupcakes, I refused to follow because it will definitely look kiddish. Anyway, we had a good time arguing/debating on how to decorate the cupcakes.

Strawberry & Lemon cupcakes:

Adapted from annies-eats

2 1/4 cups plain flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

zest of two medium size lemons

150g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups caster sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla dusting powder

2 eggs

3/4 cup milk, at room temperature

2 tablespoon sour cream

250g strawberries, coarsely chopped

Juice of a lemon

Method

1. Place strawberries, lemon juice & 3 tablespoon of sugar in a bowl and mix until strawberries are well coated. Leave to stand for 15minutes.
2. Preheat oven at 180 C. Line cupcake pans with paper liners.
3. In a bowl combine the dry ingredients, (Plain flour, baking powder & salt). Mix them with a whisk.Set aside.
4. Beat butter on medium speed until pale, & fluffy.Add the remaining sugar and vanilla dusting powder and beat until well combined.
5. Beat eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. 
6. Add half of the dry ingredients in and beat on low speed until incorporated. Then add in the all the milk,sour cream & lemon zest.Mix until smooth. Fold in the remaining dry ingredient until combined.
7. Fold the strawberry mixture with a spatula.
8. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared muffin pan,filling them to about 1/2- 2/3 full. I normally scoop a big dollop of batter into the muffin pan holes using the spoons we use for eating.
9. Bake for 20-25minutes until a toothpick/cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Check cupcakes at 20minutes, you don't want to overbake the cupcakes. Allow to cool in the pan for 5minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Cream cheese frosting:

250g cream cheese, at room temperature

150g unsalted butter, at room temperature

165g icing sugar,sifted

1. Beat the cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy.( beat at a medium speed for 5-10minutes) Then gradually add the icing sugar until well combined.

For decoration:

Strawberries, sliced into half

Lemon Slices

To Frost:

Place cheese cream frosting in a pipping bag with a plain nozzle and frost. Then decorate with a slice of strawberry & lemon.

Lemon macarons with boysenberries compote buttercream

This is one of the few recipes I baked the other day over at my aunt's place. I would not have been able to do this alone cause it's quite tedious and aunty has been asking me to make macarons with her since we did our macaron masterclass last year June! I made another macaron recipe as well but there were not many good pictures of it. Because macarons can be tooth-aching sweet, I made my own mix and match of filling to suit the palates of everyone around me.

I honestly couldn't eat my macarons after baking it and filling it with the buttercream cause I have been popping a few macaron shells in my mouth,obviously the distorted ones,so you can imagine how many distorted one were there!LOL. The balance of sour and sweet of the macarons and buttercream/filling made it less sweet sickening.

I have been purchasing a lot of kitchenware over the internet for my new kitchen back in Malaysia. I can't wait! I really can't wait to get my things organised and less headache with my maid keeping things everything everywhere.At the moment my kitchenware are all over the place-in the store room,in the wet kitchen and also my bedroom!I have a whole suitcase of kitchenware brought from Australia,Italy and Sri Lanka yet be to unpacked.

Macaron shells:

T-P-T mixture (almond mixture)

300g sifted almond meal

300g sifted icing sugar

110 aged egg whites

A pinch of salt

Lemon zest

Lemon yellow food colouring

Meringue                    

110 aged egg whites

½  teaspoon cream of tartar

300g sugar

75g water

1.       Mix sifted almond meal and icing sugar together until combined with a whisk.

2.      Then add the egg whites, salt, lemon zest and food colouring. Leave it aside.

3.      Using a candy thermometer, cook sugar syrup (sugar + water) until it reaches 118 C.

4.      When the syrup reaches 110 C, whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar until soft-medium peaks (in medium speed).

5.       When the syrup reaches 118 C ,with the mixer still whisking the egg whites (in medium speed), gradually add pour the sugar syrup. Then turn up the speed of the mixer for about 2 minutes until it turns glossy and slightly stiff and temperature of meringue has slightly cooled.

6.      Now, add in about ¼ of the meringue into the almond mixture to lighten the TPT mixture and well combined.

7.       Then FOLD IN the balance of meringue mixture in batches slowly until all is well combined. Mixture should be shiny.Do not overbeat your mixture.

8.      Scoop batter into a pastry/piping bag fitted with 10mm plain nozzle. Pipe onto your prepared trays. (Trays with a macaron shell template underneath parchment paper or silpat.) Let it rest until a ‘skin’ forms on top or when you touch the top of the macaron shell,it’s dry and does not stick to your fingers.In humid weather under an air conditioner around 15-30 minutes, if not 10minutes would be sufficient but it really depends on the weather. Decorate as desired before baking in a preheated oven of 170 C conventional or 150 C for fan forced ovens for 15 minutes. Open & close the oven door twice during baking time.

9.      When it’s baked, remove from the oven and let it cool on a rack. Once it’s completely cool. It should be able to peel off easily, pair them with similar sizes.

NOTE:

Some ovens has an auto switch off when the door opens so opening and closing the oven door twice is recommended but if your oven is an old oven which does not have an auto switch when you open the door, leave the oven door slightly ajar (not too much) when baking to allow the steam to escape. You really need to know your oven for macarons. Do a trial and error sheet of macarons before baking all the macarons shells if unsure.

Boysenberry buttercream

Boysenberries compote

100g frozen boysenberries, defrosted whole

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1.       Pat dry the defrosted boysenberries with a paper towel.

2.      Cook the boysenberries with sugar until juice oozes out but not mushy.

3.      Turn off the heat and pour the lemon juice in and mix until combined.

4.     Let it cool completely before mixing it with the buttercream.

Swiss meringue buttercream

1/2 cup (100gr) sugar

2 large egg whites

1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

Put the sugar and egg whites in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like marshmallow cream. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat the meringue on medium speed until it cools and forms a thick shiny meringue, about 5 minutes. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter, one tablespoon at a time, beating until smooth. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.

To make the boysenberries compote buttercream:

Mix the completely cooled boysenberries compote into swiss meringue buttercream  until well combined.

To assemble:

Pair them with similar sizes. Pipe or spoon the filling in the size of a 20cent coin or about a big tablespoon into the centre of  one macaron shell then top and twist slightly with another macaron shell. Place them in the refrigerator overnight before eating

Adapted from Pierre Hermes:Macarons and also here

Lemon Yogurt Cake

I have made this cake before in October last year and also had a post on it but I realised it didn't look appealing. We always judge a book by its cover,well most of us.I know I do. Today I decided to follow the recipe exactly, word by word. It turned out good the other time as well but mum just got a new oven so I just wanted to be on the safer side.This is a very simple one bowl lemon yogurt cake!Delish~

Recipe from Donna Hay's book - Fast,Fresh, Simple. Barely adapted.

180ml vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 tablespoon lemon rind

2 tablespoon lemon juice, about two medium lemons

280g thick natural yogurt

400g caster sugar

300g self raising flour

For the lemon frosting

150 g caster sugar

1/2 cup lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 180 C/160 C - for fan forced/gas 4
2. Place oil,eggs,rind,lemon juice,yogurt and sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine. Sift over the flour and stir until smooth.
3. Pour the mixture into a greased 8"/9" round baking pan and bake for 65 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer. While cake is still hot remove from the tin and place on a plate.
4. To make the lemon frosting, gently stir together the sugar and lemon juice. Spoon over the cake and allow to set.
5. Serve warm. It's so good on it's own!

Cheese Tart

Adapted from Nigella Lawson-Kitchen

250g cream cheese

2/3cup lemon curd

12-Store bought baked mini tart cases

1. In the food processor,wizz cream cheese and lemon curd together until smooth and combined.
2. Transfer cheese mixture into a jar and chill overnight.
3. Fill tart cases with cheese and place half a slice of strawberry on top.
4. Dust vanilla sugar on top of tart.
   

Lemon infused Sugar

While I made vanilla infused sugar and lavender infused sugar previously. I found this a good way of flavouring desserts without having to use artificial flavouring to desserts and cakes.This is good for baking citrus based desserts or just for sprinkling over desserts.

1 cup caster sugar

zest of 2 lemon

Place zest in a mixing bowl and mix 1/2 cup sugar until combine. Leave the lemon and sugar mixture uncovered for an hour or you can place the lemon sugar on a baking pan to dry at room temperature (Zesting releases natural oils of the lemon and create moisture). Add the rest of the sugar and mix.

Place lemon sugar in a jar or air tight container.Give it a good shake and leave it in a cool dark place. If you think the lemon flavour is too mild to your liking, you can add more lemon zest and you think the lemon flavour is too strong, add more sugar.

Voila ! you have lemon sugar! great for the holiday season as souvenirs and gifts!

Lemon Meringue Pie

Mum always complains I waste too much money on desserts instead of buying healthy food and suggested I bake since I love baking, so over the weekend I asked for suggestions and one of it was lemon meringue pie. I wasn't too keen on making it because firstly I don't like sour things and second the thought of making another meringue based dessert is daunting and worst of all, I don't know what to expect out of a lemon meringue pie because I never had one until the night before that and I did not like it but because mum likes tangy flavours,she liked what she tasted the night before. So I gave it a try anyway. And I am very pleased with the results. =)

Ps:The lemon curd filling I opted was more of a lemon custard filling than a lemon curd. Shall make a lemon curd filling next.

Sweet Crust Pastry

100g diced cold unsalted butter

75g icing sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

225g self raising flour

Lemon custard

250ml milk

25g double cream

220g caster sugar

3tbsp cornflour

125ml milk,extra

200ml lemon juice

zest of 3lemons

6 egg yolks

Meringue

6 egg whites

250 sugar, I used vanilla sugar I made previous,you can add a teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 tsp white vinegar

To make the pastry: process flour, icing sugar mixture & butter until they resemble breadcrumbs. Add egg and process again until pastry begins to resemble bread crumbs .Tip onto a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Shape into a flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 220°C or 200°C fan-forced. Roll out pastry between 2 sheets baking paper until 3mm thick. Press pastry into 24cm loose bottomed flan tin.(I used 3 disposable foil trays). Trim edges and prick base using a fork. Line with baking paper and fill with dried beans, lentils or baking beads. Bake in preheated oven 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove paper and beans; return to oven. Bake a further 5 minutes or until pastry is lightly golden brown all over base. Allow to cool.

To make lemon curd: Pour cream, milk , lemon juice and zest into a small saucepan and bring to the boil over a medium heat. Whisk egg yolks and sugar in a bowl, add half the cream and juice mixture and whisk to combine. Pour back into the saucepan with remaining cream and cook.Place the cornflour and extra milk in a small bowl and stir to combine. Pour the cornflour mixture into the curd mixture and whisking until mixture comes to the boil and thickens.
Allow to chill for 30 minutes. Spoon the lemon mixture into the pastry case and refrigerate for 2 hours or until set.

To make the meringue, place the eggwhites in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and white vinegar and beat until thick and glossy.

Spoon the meringue on top of the curd and grill (broil) under a preheated hot grill for 1–2 minutes or until golden and cooked.

I had extra of the meringue mixture, so I made mini pavlovas by placing mini scoops of meringue mixture and baking them for around 10-15mins. Then I served it with double cream and fresh passion fruit pulp.