Sakura Swiss Roll

Swiss rolls (jelly rolls to the Americans) are one of the hardest things for me to make because they always turn out dry and hard. Traditional/western Swiss rolls are made using genoise sponge and the hallmark of the genoise is the crumbly and dry texture, which is why they are often sandwiched with jam and cream. I prefer Asian Swiss rolls for the dense yet soft texture but I don't want to use Ovalette, a magic cake stabilizer that makes fine-textured, soft, no-fail cakes. I asked two bakeries if they used Ovalette and they confirmed that they do. There's no way that I would knowingly feed my family with Ovalette. It looks like waxy, orange cholesterol.

I tried a couple of traditional Swiss roll recipes from the Net but none of them turned out good. I finally gave up on genoise and decided to make my Swiss roll using the separated egg sponge cake recipe, and I chose the recipe from here because it looked so good. My Swiss roll turned out soft and moist but the texture didn't seem to be the same as in Sotong Cooks. I was tickled to find that my Old Fashioned Butter Cake was among the recipes in the blog. It's an beautiful blog with tons of wonderful recipes; do visit it. There's no information on the person behind the blog but from the recipes and the way it is written, I think the blogger is Singaporean. Which brings to mind one of my thoughts when makng my jellies f! or the J elliriffic! Challenge: thank goodness no Singaporeans were invited because there are so many great cooking bloggers in Singapore!

After going through 4 packets of my precious salted sakura no shiozuke (remember the sakura jelly? I made another one with gelatine and it turned out much better), I now prefer to leave the flowers quite salty so that the flavor, taste and color are retained.

For the first couple of sakura rolls that I made, I used meringue buttercream flavored with blackberry jam (couldn't find cherry jam) and the filling tasted pretty good. For the Swiss roll in the photos, I used whipped dairy cream instead (less work) and improved the flavor of the filling through a chance discovery. I was cleaning my fridge out and found my daughter's secret stash (I ban dried plums because they have preservatives) of seedless dried plums. I am so pleased with the result because the dried plums tasted like the salted sakura and yet went very well with the whipped cream. Even the color was a correct match because the dried pulms were reddish instead of the more common white dried plums. Perfect.

This is a cake ladies would love because it's so pretty and because most ladies (who grew up eating salted plums) love salted plums. The guys would probably find the sweet and salty taste rather strange. But seriously, if you can, get hold of some sakura no shio zuke and make this prettiest of rolls.

!

Sakura Swiss Roll

80 gm egg yolks (4 large yolks)
20 gm caster sugar
2 T + 1 t corn/canola oil
2 T + 1 t water or milk (I used milk)
75 gm cake flour

160 gm (from 4 large eggs) egg whites
60 gm caster sugar

about 1 T salted sakura flowers

1. About 3 hours before baking, wash the sakura flowers and soak in plenty of water for an hour. Rinse and soak again for another hour and repeat.

Dry the flowers on paper towels. Grease a 12" X 12" Swiss roll pan, line with baking paper and grease the paper. Arrange the flowers in the first third section of the pan, making sure there's a border of about 5 cm without flowers because that part will be tucked under the roll.

2. Put the yolks, 20 gm sugar, veg oil and water/milk into a bowl and whisk it until well-combined.

3. Using a cake mixer, whisk egg whites until frothy and then add the 60 gm sugar, whisking until stiff.

4. Fold 1/3 of the beaten egg whites into the egg mixture to lighten it and make it easier for the rest of the whites to be incorporated. Fold in the remaining white until just combined; be careful not to deflate.

5. Pour batter into the prepared pan, level and bake 8 to 11 minutes or until cake when pressed lightly in the center springs back. Cool cake for 5 minutes in the pan and then turn over onto another piece of baking paper to cool completely. Invert cake o! nto anot her piece of paper and peel the brown 'skin' of theSwiss roll off, if like.

6. Spread the cream on the cake, leaving a seam of 5 cm or more at the edge away from you so that the cream won't spill out. Start rolling, using the paper to roll and tuck in snugly. You can make a couple of shallow cuts horizontally along the first part of the roll because that part of the roll is more curved and would be more likely to crack. Wrap the roll firmly, tuck in both ends, and chill for several hours before cutting into 1.5 to 2 cm slices.

Fresh Cranberry Cream Scones with candied ginger

So what Im a girl obsessed.

This week Ive treated myself to cranberry colored lipstick. I am way into my new cranberry sweater. I have my eye on some cranberry colored pumps (yea pumps). Cranberry nail polish, duh.

I have a bag of fresh cranberries in my fridge and Im slowly teaching myself to gnaw on them raw. I dunno. Im trying to be regular girl with regular holiday spirit but I think Ive transferred all of my holiday joy into all things cranberry.

Weird.

Fresh cranberries coarsely chopped paired with sweet and spicy candied ginger.

The zoom in.

Fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped, paired with sweet and spicy candied ginger.

Old trunk, gnarly rug, slip on pink shoes, unseasonably white dress.

The zoom out.

I like raw sugar for these scones, but any sort of sugar will do.

A simple combination of ingredients turns into gorgeous good.

These cranberries will burst and get drippy. The color! Gorgeous!

Fresh cranberries and candied ginger might seem like an unlikely combination. Tart meets spicy? Yea! Let it work!

These buttery scones are baked up and studded with tart cranberries that turn slightly sweet, and sweet and spicy ginger. Surprises in every bite. All you need is a milky cup of tea.

Happy December!

Mmmm hmmm.

Fresh Cranberry Cream Scones with candied ginger

makes 6 scones

recipe adapted from joyofcooking.com

Print this Recipe!

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup raw (turbinado) sugar (you can also use brown sugar or granulated if you have that on hand)

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes

1 heaping cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries

1/2 cup coarsely chopped candied ginger

1 large egg

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 cup heavy cream, cold

cream and sugar for topping

Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees R. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the cold butter and quickly work the butter into the flour mixture. Break up the butter until well incorporated into the flour. Some butter bits will be the size of peas, others will be as small as oat flakes. Toss in the cranberries and ginger and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together egg, vanilla extract! , and he avy cream. Add the cream mixture all at once to the flour mixture. Stir quickly to ensure that all of the flour mixture is moistened by the cream mixture. Dump the shaggy dough mixture out onto a lightly floured work surface and work together, kneading lightly, into a 1 1/2-inch thick disk.

Cut the disk into 6 wedges.

Place 2-inches apart on baking sheet and brush with cream and sprinkle generously with sugar.

Bake for 15 minutes until just cooked through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm or at room temperature. Scones are best served the day they are made, but these scones will last well wrapped at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Roasted Winter Squash Salad

I keep buying kabocha squash. Orange ones. This is despite the fact that, orange or green, they're incredibly heavy. Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I'm a complainer, allow me to add this - the walk home from the farmers' market is best thought of as a summit attempt. Straight up, five blocks. And not only are the kabocha dead weight, but they also threaten to crush the eggs, and smash the little gems in my sack. Bag bullies. But I can't get enough of them, and I've come to terms with the fact that they're actually worth the fuss - just the right amount of sweetness, quick-cooking, velvet-textured, sunset-orange flesh, AND they don't have the stringiness of pumpkins.

My absolute favorite way to eat the orange kabocha is this: roast fat wedges to within an inch of their life at 425F / 220C. They should end up deeply browned, the flesh tender and nearly falling from the sliver of skin lending structure. While still hot, eat straight from the skin - each bite with a smear of butter and a few flakes of good salt.

When you've had enough of that, I encourage you to try this. In short, it's a wintertime riff on potato salad. No potatoes though, just winter squash (kabocha, pumpkin, acorn, etc) roasted until brown-crusted and tender fleshed. Chopped celery and red onion lend crunch, bite, and that familiar flavor profile. The rest of the salad (in this case) came together from whatever was within arms reach; rosemary from the window-sill, the second half of my beer = dressing base, toasted walnuts and currants hopped up from spice drawer.

This is a long way of saying, if you come across these guys at the market, bring one home with you. I suspect you'll agree it's worth the effort. -h

Book signing: Just a quick reminder that I'll be at the Remodelista Holiday Market in Marin this Saturday 12/3 from 10-4. I'll have books to sell, and I'm happy to sign books you already have. Hope to see some of you there.

Continue reading Roasted Winter Squash Salad...

Roasted Winter Squash

I keep buying kabocha squash. Orange ones. This is despite the fact that, orange or green, they're incredibly heavy. Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I'm a complainer, allow me to add this - the walk home from the farmers' market is best thought of as a summit attempt. Straight up, five blocks. And not only are the kabocha dead weight, but they also threaten to crush the eggs, and smash the little gems in my sack. Bag bullies. But I can't get enough of them, and I've come to terms with the fact that they're actually worth the fuss - just the right amount of sweetness, quick-cooking, velvet-textured, sunset-orange flesh, AND they don't have the stringiness of pumpkins.

My absolute favorite way to eat the orange kabocha is this: roast fat wedges to within an inch of their life at 425F / 220C. They should end up deeply browned, the flesh tender and nearly falling from the sliver of skin lending structure. While still hot, eat straight from the skin - each bite with a smear of butter and a few flakes of good salt.

When you've had enough of that, I encourage you to try this. In short, it's a wintertime riff on potato salad. No potatoes though, just winter squash (kabocha, pumpkin, acorn, etc) roasted until brown-crusted and tender fleshed. Chopped celery and red onion lend crunch, bite, and that familiar flavor profile. The rest of the salad (in this case) came together from whatever was within arms reach; rosemary from the window-sill, the second half of my beer = dressing base, toasted walnuts and currants hopped up from spice drawer.

This is a long way of saying, if you come across these guys at the market, bring one home with you. I suspect you'll agree it's worth the effort. -h

Book signing: Just a quick reminder that I'll be at the Remodelista Holiday Market in Marin this Saturday 12/3 from 10-4. I'll have books to sell, and I'm happy to sign books you already have. Hope to see some of you there.

Continue reading Roasted Winter Squash...

A La Tartine Gourmande Book signing at Holiday Local Market in Boston

Sample from La Tartine Gourmande: Recipes for an Inspired Life

If you have been a regular reader of this blog, you know that, about one month and a half ago, I launched the presale of my cookbook, La Tartine Gourmande: Recipes for an Inspired Life.

I recently reflected on the making of the book, realizing that I didnt talk a lot about the process involved to complete the project. In view of this, I thought that itd be nice to share tidbits with you today.

Such as tell you that, unlike perhaps what you might have thought, there werent roses all the way. Like with every life process, there were bumps and uncertainties. Delays. A lot of going back and forth. Redoing. Rewriting. I had a lot of work in my hands since, while writing, styling and photographing the book, I was also learning to become a motheroh yes, do you remember that I started my book project when I was pregnant with Lulu? On Christmas day, she will turn three, so this gives you an indication of the time involved in the making of my book.

To my surprise, I was told it was completely normal.

Roost Books Fall 2011 Catalog
Photo credit is by myself

Ive been lucky though. During the months and years, I constantly received support and encouragement from Sara, my editor, and Shambhala Publications Inc., my publishing house. My book was going to be part of Roost Books, a line of books focusing on everyday activities that nourish and enrich our livesthey published Amanda Soules books too (from the popular blog Soule Mama).

What I want to tell you today is that I am very proud of the result. Of the style and feel of my book, the design and quality of the images printed inside. Its a highly illustrated book. Its an intimate book. And I really think that it turned out beautifully. It has the feel that this blog hasthis is just what I had been dreaming about all along.

On December 10th, I will be having my first book signing in Boston. I am delighted. Excited. Feeling shy and nervous too. All of it.

The lovely Maggie from Eat Boutique kindly invited me to be part of the Holiday Local Market held at Made in Fort Point. There will be yummy food (check the list of food makers) and other ! cookbook authors present, such as Judy Rosenberg and Erin Buyers Murray. The event is free. I am sure that it will be fun and filled with lots of interesting people. I will be there from 1 to 3 PM, with some food, books and my pen. So I really hope that, if you live in the Boston area, or are willing to travel, I will finally get a chance to meet some of you. Thats what makes the whole experience even more real. And human.

Non?

Also, I would like to thank each of you who kindly emailed me with feedback, or tweeted, about the book. Each one of your messages is special.

Alors, un grand merci !

Share and Enjoy:

Tawau Here I Come Again - Shan Shui Golf & Country Club

Our first stop for food in Tawau, Mee Soto @ Gerai Acil which was on our way to Shan Shui from airport.

Just wondering why they called it "Soto Banjar"

The chilli sauce for the noodle which they claimed to be burning hot but not a problem for me.By the way this was the airline that flew us to Tawau.
Shan Shui Golf & Country Club here we come again.

Shan-Shui Golf & Country Club was once voted as one of the best golf courses in Asia but not now. It's still a good course to play with interesting characters for you to remember.

There were many crocodiles in this course incidents of golfers being bitten were heard and here are four as a caddy jokingly mentioned at the last hole.

Our friendly opponents.....

Another beautiful day on a beautiful golf course in Borneo.

Bro...... don't be too serious it's only a game.The last I came here was to buy the super duper chilli sauce, this we were here for their mee soto.
Menu on wall..
My bowl of Beehun Soto with slices of beef.Ass Burning Chilli "ABC" sauce where both my opponents were sweating profusely with ears as red as the red chilli....