Category: recipes

Recipes & Reality

EthelLeave a comment

It’s been a while, I know. I’ve been fighting for my dream in San Francisco after I ended culinary school and also ended my time making cakes for all occasions while I ran Little Favors. Things have changed. Time has changed who I am.

I wanted more and I was searching for knowledge. I left Singapore to do that. The produce here is absolutely amazing. We get so much fresh fruit, vegetables, milled flours that I’m so extremely spoilt for choice. There’s a whole new spectrum of flavours here that you can never get in Singapore. It’s piney, vegetal and coastal if I could describe it in three words. The taste and smell of terroir has not been this evident until I moved here.

When you walk along the coast, you are instantly hit by the briney breeze, eucalyptus and coastal plants. When you stroll through the redwood forest, your senses are overwhelmed with pine and other various barks.

I suddenly immersed myself in foraging and was obsessed with capturing the scent of a moment. And that’s when I discovered Pascal Baudar. An amazing man whose life goal is to spread the foraging movement to ‘prevent food waste’.

“There’s so much edible non-native plants that we aren’t consuming! Isn’t that food waste?”, he said.

Why are we paying so much for oaxalis and nasturtium when it’s essentially a weed!

I worship him!! I was so inspired that I decided to make my own mountain syrup with pink peppercorns, pine, madrone bark, juniper and some lemon peel. It tastes like a walk through the forest.

I’m thankful for all these experiences I’ve collected throughout my time here.

Now, we’re all indoors, trying to prevent the spread of an invisible war. It’s unusual for us to not be social and not do things. What we can do is bake!! Full tutorial is on my instagram highlights. @littlefavors

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Directions:

Sift A together.
Mix B in a separate bowl.
Combine A with B until no more flour pockets are visible.
Spray a 4 Qt baking tin with oil or brush with butter and place batter in tin.
Preheat an oven to 170C.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until center is baked through.

Carrot Bundt Cake Wreath

EthelLeave a comment
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Carrot Wreath Bundt Cake

INGREDIENTS
GROUP A
4 eggs
225g caster sugar
300ml corn oil

GROUP B
300g plain all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1-1/4 tsp baking POWDER
½ tsp baking SODA
½ tsp salt

GROUP C
4 medium carrots, finely grated
75g walnuts, finely chopped
75g soaked sultanas or mixed fruit

METHOD

  1. Sieve group B items and set aside. Grate carrots and set aside. Preheat oven to 160C (convection setting/fan mode) or 180C (traditional setting). Prepare a 9″ (10 cup) kugelhopf bundt tin by spraying it with oil and dusting with bread* flour.
  2. Group A: Whisk 4 eggs & caster sugar together using a standing mixer until ribbon stage at medium speed. Slowly drizzle oil into egg mixture and continue whisking until incorporated.
  3. Fold in Group A items in to Group B until no visible lumps are seen.
  4. Fold Group C items into A+B until all incorporated.
  5. Transfer cake batter into tin.
  6. Bake for approximately 45 minutes – 50 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
  7. Cool completely before teasing out of the cake pan.

*Bread flour is best for dusting cake pans as its high gluten content will help the cake from sticking as it tends to absorb liquid slower.
CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

INGREDIENTS
125g cream cheese, softened
100g butter, softened
75g icing sugar
20g wildflower honey

tools
star piping tip (wilton 1M, or other similar tips)
piping bag

1/4 cup granola with mixed nuts

METHOD
Put all ingredients into a standing mixer and mix until just combined and smooth. Do not overmix as it’ll turn grainy and the texture will become too fluid.

ASSEMBLY
Pipe a shell border on the top rim of the cake and sprinkle with lots of granola, pressing it in.
Chill for 4 hours before cutting and serving.

Strawberry Shortcake & A Recipe!

EthelLeave a comment

I absolutely adore a good ol’ strawberry shortcake. Genoise sponge, (unstabilized) whipped cream and fresh strawberries. The recipe that I’ve posted below uses a different technique which I honestly feel is much more stable and easier than whisking a bowl over a bain marie to thicken the whole eggs. This recipe requires you to separate your eggs, make a meringue, then fold in the yolks. It does however, yield a slightly denser cake, but I actually prefer it this way!

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE RECIPE
yields one 6″ cake

INGREDIENTS
genoise sponge cake 

2 whole eggs, separated
85g caster sugar
75g cake flour
30g milk
20g butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract/paste

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 170C (traditional/convection oven) or 150C fan-forced. Line a 6″ tin with a removable base with parchment. *DO NOT BUTTER/OIL SIDES OF CAKE PAN
2. Melt butter and milk then add in vanilla and keep aside.
3.Place egg whites in a bowl of a standing mixer or a large bowl if using a hand mixer. Start making the meringue by whisking egg whites until foamy and streaming in sugar tablespoon by tablespoon making sure that the sugar has been melted into the meringue. Feel it between your fingers, if it’s grainy, your sugar has not melted. The meringue should be glossy, shiny and white and at semi-stiff peaks.
4. Stir egg yolks and gently pour over whites and fold until just combined.
5. Sieve cake flour over egg mixture and fold gently until no flour pockets are visible.
6. Stir milk mixture and pour into egg+flour mixture and fold gently.
7. Pour cake batter into cake tin and tap the tin on the table to remove larger air bubbles for even baking.
8. Place cake tin in center rack and back for about 22-28 minutes. Check at 22 minutes. Poke the cake with a skewer to test the cake for doneness. Skewer should be clean.
9. Let it cool completely before removing from the tin.
10. When cooled, slice into half.

Soaking syrup

1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp hot water
1 Tbsp dark rum

Stir to combine.

ASSEMBLY:

Whipped cream

250g whipping cream
20g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Ensure cream is very cold before whipping.
2. Place all the cream, sugar and vanilla into a bowl and whip until medium peaks.

1 Punnet of strawberries, halved, stems off, save 6-7 for top with their stems cut off.

Method:

1. Prepare a lazy susan or a cake turntable. Place a plate or 8″ cake board on the turntable.
2. Place first layer of cake on the cake board and brush the cake with the soaking syrup.
3. Spread cream on top of cake about 1cm thick.
4. Arrange strawberry halves on top leaving about a 1cm gap at the edge. Spread some more cream on top to make sure that the top layer does not slide off.
5. Continue to frost the rest of the cake.
6. Place the rest of the strawberries on top and dust with snow powder.
7. Chill for about 4 hours before serving.
8. Cake can last for up to 2 days in a very cold fridge.