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

Turducken Roulade (minus Duck)

In Japan, we don't celebrate Thanksgiving Day the way it is celebrated in North America. I usually don't feel either need or urge to eat turkey this time of the year for that reason, but I just happened to crave it this year :)

So I made no-duck turducken roulade, or should I call it turcken roulade? Brined chicken thighs wrapped in turkey breasts, roasted in the oven. Served with carrots, potatoes and brussels sprouts.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

insalata caprese look-alike

Mrs. S graciously shared a shiso plant with me - actually two; the green one and the purple one. I love, love, LOVE shiso!!

I had some well-ripened tomatoes, so I made this insalata caprese look-alike. Drained medium-firm tofu instead of sliced buffalo mozzarella, shiso leaves instead of basil, and seasoned with soy sauce and rice vinegar for a Japanese touch :)

when life gives you plums

Mr. & Mrs. S invited me over for the BC Day weekend. Their hospitality is amazing. So is their beautiful residence. They have a lovely backyard garden where they grow various veggies and fruits, which always makes me sigh admiringly and enviously.

They had a good (more than just 'good'?) harvest of plums this year, and I got to have a share of it. I made a plum jam. This one is for you if you like the natural tartness from this type of fruits.

Also I made a plum clafouti (recipe) which tastes much better than it looks :)