First of all, I’d like to apologize for my tardiness in replying emails the past few weeks. There’s been a sudden influx of requests and enquiries and I haven’t had the chance to sort through all my emails. Please bear with me for the moment!

This post is about another batch of macarons (and a local dessert). The common theme here is the colour purple (or lavender, if you like).

Flavour #4: Lavender macarons with honey vanilla buttercream. I’ve seen lavender used in macarons on several blogs, but haven’t tried it out myself. I wasn’t too sure about this flavour since lavender isn’t commonly used in food around these parts.

The macaron shells gave off a lovely floral scent and I loved the honey vanilla buttercream. But I was definitely too generous with the lavender flowers. Don’t get me wrong; I loved the scent, but once I’d bitten into the macaron, I found the taste too floral. Don’t be fooled by those pretty, tiny lavender buds; they pact a powerful punch flavour-wise. If I ever make these again, I’d definitely be more conservative.

Flavour #5: Violette macarons with cassis buttercream. I was more than happy to finally have an excuse to splurge on some Sevarome natural violette paste, although I wonder if I’ll ever be able to finish the entire 1kg tub. The cassis buttercream, made with pure blackcurrant purée, was wonderfully tart and completely delicious with the violette flavoured macaron shells. This flavour is a definite keeper!

Flavour #6: Ubi (yam) macarons with ubi paste. This flavour was first suggested by one of my students, Maggie. Thank you so much for the idea, Maggie! I hope your macaron adventure is going well.

This flavour is, without any doubt, my favourite of the lot. The yam paste filling was wonderfully fragrant and smooth. But it does have its “issues”.

First, there’s the extra step of preparing the yam paste. This same yam paste turned the macarons shells soft after a day. The filling is also a lot heavier than buttercream and one runs the risk of the delicate shells collapsing under the weight of the filling if they aren’t consumed within a day of being filled.

Still, I find these macarons irresistable and will certainly be making them again. Besides, I have another excusereason for making ubi macarons. I could never use up an entire yam for the macaron filling, which leads me to the perfect solution for all that leftover root: “or-ni” (dialect pronunciation) or yu4 ni2, 蓣 泥!

“Or-ni” is a local Teochew yam paste dessert. It’s made with yam, sugar and oil. The original version of this dessert is served with gingko nuts, pumpkin slices and sugar syrup, although I’ve also seen the paste served with creamy coconut milk.

The raw yam is first steamed and mashed up. It is then combined with sugar, cooked with oil in a wok or large pan until all the ingredients are well combined. By this time, the paste is completely smooth and no longer sticky. The yam paste is then steamed together with pumpkin slices and gingko nuts. Lastly, sugar syrup (boiled optionally with crushed water chestnuts) is poured generously over the paste and served hot. It’s definitely one of my favourite local desserts!

It’s been more than a month since my last post and I’ve received several e-mails from concerned readers, asking if everything’s fine. I’m extremely grateful for your concern and am glad to report that all is well!

I’ve just been a little pre-occupied with other matters and haven’t had much time to bake something interesting enough to blog about this past month. I’ve also been revising my macaron recipe, which is why they are currently off the menu, but more about that later on in this post.

The main topic of this post isn’t entirely baking related, but it is food-related, even though it’s not the sort of food that’s edible.

Ever since I read about food miniatures on Carol’s (Paris Breakfasts) blog, I’ve been fascinated by them. When they started popping up not long after on several other food blogs, I knew I had to own a set (or more) of these adorably diminutive toys.

Too impatient to order them online and wait for shipment, I did a little research online and found several shops in Singapore that carry Japanese anime products. Most of these shops also sell Re-ment and MegaHouse miniatures.

While I got my hands almost immediately on the Re-Ment ones, the widely-coveted MegaHouse Pierre Hermé Collection seemed to be out of stock at every store I called. Fortunately, I found a local online seller and I have my own set now.

I have to say that I prefer the Re-ment miniatures over the MegaHouse ones. I think it might have something to do with the fact that the novelty of owning cute tiny food toys had already worn off by the time I received the MegaHouse ones in the mail. I also found the miniatures in the MegaHouse PH Collection much smaller than the Re-ment ones, making them difficult to handle.

As for macarons, I haven’t had as much time to spend on the recipe revision as I’d hoped. So far, I’ve only had time to make peanut macarons sandwiched with dark chocolate and jelly. I preferred the ones with jelly, but I found that the filling tended to turn the macaron shells soft very quickly. Many thanks to S for the peanut and chocolate suggestion!

Other flavours, several of which are courtesy of Pierre Hermé, on my experiment list include passionfruit (with passionfruit milk chocolate ganache), chocolate (with dark chocolate yuzu ganache), violet (with cassis), lavender and ubi. I’m also contemplating the white truffle and hazelnut combination as well, but I’m not convinced yet.

I’m pretty excited about these flavours! I just hope I’ll have enough time for all of them.

After an insane 20-day-long Christmas baking schedule, I’m ready for an extended break.

Baking this year has been loads of fun, but at times, it has also been extremely challenging and exhausting, especially in the last 3 weeks. I suppose it was inevitable, with 418 macarons, 250 gingerbread cookies, 6 gingerbread Christmas trees, 30 cakes on the Christmas baking schedule and just one oven and one pair of hands!

Looking back, I’ve realised that this past year held several “firsts” for me; 1st press interview and press mention, 1st blog award, 1st corporate order, 1st time taking Christmas orders. I’m not sure if next year will be as exciting, but I’ll be beginning 2008 by teaching my 1st ever individual hands-on baking class!

None of these would have been possible without you (my dear blog readers and generous clients), so here’s a big thank you to all of you, for your support, wonderful comments and feedback this past year!

For now, Harald and I are off to Germany (and London) for a month of R&R! So here’s wishing everyone a happy Christmas and wonderful New Year!

Jen from Milk and Cookies has very kindly presented me with the Yummy Blog Award. Thank you, Jen! By my count, I’m the fifth recipient of this award, created by Meisha of meisha in progress for Culinary Creativity.

I’d like to pass this award on to the more than deserving Lynn of Enchanté. This Le Cordon Blu trained pastry chef makes the most beautiful desserts and gives lessons in pastry too. Have I mentioned that she takes gorgeous photographs of all her wonderfully original creations?

This post is a little late, but here it is anyway:

Mad Baker was featured in an article about “online bakeshops” in the weekend edition of a local newspaper, Today, on 22 - 23 September 2007.

I didn’t have time to make macarons for Audrey (Phoon), the really sweet executive writer from Today who interviewed me, but I did manage to whip up a few blueberry muffins for her. I’m really glad that the review was good.

I’ve received more orders for muffins (and macarons) since the article was published. Many thanks to Audrey’s friend who told her about my blog!

Just a photo teaser for now. The plan is to use these pretty butterflies on miniature cakes covered with sugar paste when I finally find some time to bake.

My Nikon D40 has been acting up lately, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll be able to take some photos when I’m done with the cakes.

Outlines.

Filled wings.

Finished butterflies.

Ever since I’d seen the beautiful photograph of raspberry napoléon in Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry Cookbook, I’d always wondered what the contrasting textures would taste like. The only hurdle in my way was the puff pastry.

I’ve always wanted to give puff pastry a go, but never had the courage to do so. I’ve convinced myself that the butter blocks would just melt horribly in the warm weather over here and I’d end up with a thick block of dough with no layers whatsoever.

So, when my parents presented us with store-bought puff pastry they’d carted all the way back from Melbourne (please don’t ask me how they did this without the pastry sheets defrosting on the flight), I knew right away what to do with them.

The resulting dessert was visually pleasing, but I didn’t like the texture of the store-bought pastry. Although the layers were present, I found the pastry a little too dry and flakey. Fortunately, the vanilla flecked pastry cream, which I’d also infused with orange zest, was lovely with the slightly tart raspberries. It looks like I’ll have to try making my own puff pastry!

This was lunch today. Chicken drumsticks marinated overnight in Lee Kum Kee’s chicken marinade and baked in the oven at 180 degrees C for 30 minutes, blanched green vegetables (choi sum or cai xing) and Vietnamese Phó mixed in a sauce consisting of dark soya sauce, sugar and sesame oil.

It was simple but satisfying. If only every meal were this easy to throw together…

Whenever I make macarons, I find myself invariably whipping up crème brûlée just to get rid of all the egg yolks. This rich and creamy dessert is surprisingly easily to make with just a few simple ingredients - egg yolks, sugar and whipping (or heavy) cream.

I love breaking through the thin crisp caramelized surface to get to the luscious custard hidden beneath.

This version here is my favourite - vanilla bean.

Vanilla Bean Crème Brûlée (Adapted from Crème Brûlée by Sara Lewis, makes 6 servings)

Ingredients
1 vanilla bean pod
2 1/2 cups whipping or heavy cream
8 egg yolks
1/4 cup fine granulated sugar
3 tbsp confectioner’s sugar

Directions
1. Place a rack on the middle rung of your oven and preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
1. Slit the vanilla bean lengthwise and put it into a medium saucepan. Pour the cream in and heat it until it almost boils. Take off the burner and allow to stand for 20 minutes for the vanilla flavour to develop.
2. Remove the vanilla bean from the cream and scrape the black seeds into the cream. Put the bean casing aside or discard it *.
3. Mix the eggs and sugar in a large bowl with a fork. Reheat the cream and gradually mix it into the eggs and sugar. Strain the mixture back into the saucepan.
4. Place 6 ramekins in a roasting pan and divide the custard between them. Pour warm water into the pan until the water comes halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, until the custards are just set and the centre is still soft.
6. Leave the ramekins to cool in the water. Lift them out when cooled and refridgerate for 3-4 hours.
7. Sprinkle the tops with the icing sugar and cameralize with a blow torch **.
8. Leave at room temperature for 10 minutes to allow the top to harden, then serve.

* The vanilla bean casing can be rinsed and left to dry at room temperature, or in an oven at its lowest setting. Store the casing(s) in the sugar canister to flavour your sugar or grind them in a blender and mix into the sugar.

** If you don’t have a blowtorch, place the ramekins on a pan under the preheated grill in your oven with the door open. Rotate the pan to brown the custard tops evenly. This will happen quickly, so keep a close watch.

All right, I confess. I don’t drink coffee. Not in any form - not hot, not cold, not blended. Whenever the waiter or waitress at a restaurant asks if I’d like a coffee or a tea to go with my dessert, it’s a no-brainer decision. There are days, however, when I crave something richer and a cup of tea just doesn’t suffice.

Those are the times when I’d ask for a cup of hot chocolate. There’s just one problem with that. Most of the time (in Singapore anyway), the “hot chocolate” is made using cocoa powder and some hot milk or worse - Hersey’s chocolate syrup stirred into tepid milk warmed in a microwave oven. Enough said.

My remedy for that - homemade hot chocolate. The hot chocolate you see here is made with real melted chocolate (I used Valrhona Manjari 64%), whole milk, some sugar and water. It’s rich, smooth and deeply satisfying. Most definitely worth the extra 20 minutes I’ll have to spend on the treadmill working it off!