Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cake Ver. 2.0

Here's a great opportunity to review what I learned at baking school a while ago. Chocolate Truffle Mousse Cake, as per my friend Mrs. HT's request. Slices of chocolate sponge nestled in luscious chocolate mousse, topped with rich chocolate ganache.

I could have skipped the decorative sponge part, but... why? That's the fun part of this cake! :D haha I piped the word 'friends' in mirror image with decorating paste and froze it while prepping biscuit joconde. Spread the biscuit joconde over the chilled decorating paste and bake it at quite high temp quickly... and there you have it. The most difficult part might have been finding the right font in right size for the template to pipe on!

Almond Crème Caramel

Mrs. SP kindly gave me a bottle of Orgeat syrup for me to try. I tried mixing it with cold unsweetened soy milk, and voila! Drinkable 杏仁豆腐 :D YUM!

I love the Orgeat flavour so much that I wanted to use it in non-beverage recipes... Thanks to Google, I found this recipe at FOOD & WINE.

This was my second try to make crème caramel (the first time was at baking school a few years ago...). I used various smaller ramekins, so I got 12 servings in total. I baked (cooked?) 4 at a time. The first group totally failed - a perfect example of custard cooked at high temp. I blame my finicky oven :p

Luckily, the following groups turned out pretty well. No ugly holes. Nice, silky, smooth texture. Caramel was spot-on, I must say :) hehe

Cream Cheese Crostata with Orange Marmalade

The recipe is from Epicurious.com, and is very easy to make. I added a teeny bit of Grand Marnier to the cream cheese mixture for extra orange-y flavour ;)

Strawberry & Chocolate Trifle

last-minute invite to a dinner + fresh berries in season = trifle

• layers of...
• chocolate sponge
• strawberry slices
• strawberry preserves
• white chocolate pudding
• topped with...
  • whipped cream
  • white & milk chocolate shavings
  • strawberries

Note to myself: next time I make a trifle, I'll definitely make each layers really nice and clean... :(

Spuma di Mele Cotogne (Quince Mousse)

Here's my quince experiment part II: sweet.
The recipe is from Chef Mario Batali.

Quinces.

After 50 minutes in the oven.

The skin and cores, removed. The flesh, sieved and cooked with brown sugar and lemon juice. I just love how the colour changed after heated/cooked.

The cooked quince + whipped cream + a bit of rum = spuma di mele cotogne a.k.a. quince mousse, served here trifle-ishly.

Quince mousse, quince jam (made by my friend V!), and plain white sponge in layers on spoon.

Avocado Coconut Ice Cream

When it comes to avocado, it was all about savoury application for me, such as california roll and guacamole... until my friend Eli introduced me to the sweet side of avocado, and now I'm totally hooked! (The recipe is from YumSugar. I added some coconut flakes to the mixture for extra flavour and crunchiness.)

Banana Split, Reinvented.

From front to back: banana foster with walnuts (my very first flambé experience! FUN!), strawberry granita, mocha pot de creme in dark chocolate cylinder (with maraschino cherry on top, of course), white chocolate covered vanilla ice cream topped with candied pineapple chunks and mango coulis.

* didn't like the plate :( * white chocolate was so thick that nobody could eat/break it! * chocolate tempering took forever... ugh

Mexican Feast for Two

Taco shells (sweet short paste), black beans (almond clusters), sour cream (whipped cream), salsa (strawberries), lettuce (mint leaves), & cheese (mango). Served with frozen strawberry margaritas (strawberry granita).

Spot the difference? The glasses were rimmed with medium sugar.

Vacherin, Reconstructed.

This is the reconstructed version of Vacherin I made a little while ago. Chocolate ice cream pyramid is masked with whipped cream, topped with two meringue hearts, sprinkled with chocolate shavings.

Affogato

Vanilla ice cream (semi-homemade - made with créme anglaise that I brought home from school)...

drowned in a shot of espresso...

A little heaven in a demitasse.

Vacherin

French meringue disks alternately layered with vanilla ice cream, decorated with whipped cream, meringue hearts & cocoa powder.

Yogourt Popsicle

Froze one 100g container of Astro BioBest yogourt in a popsicle mold.

Vietnamese Coffee Popsicle

Tried this awesome recipe by Chef David Bovitz for the first time and really loved it! Wish I had a blue sky background for this picture...