Macarons ~strawberry & pistachio

Now that I'm back on track with macarons, I'm moving on to making strawberry and pistachio macaron requests. Naturally, the macarons will be pink and green :).

Since I’m not big on buttercream, I made white chocolate ganache for both flavors. For strawberry, I used strawberry preserve. It added flavor as well as pale pink tint. I left the color at that instead of adding food coloring. I think it’s nice like that.

For pistachio cream, I made pistachio paste by grinding the nuts. Pistachio is mild in nature. But in ganache, I could taste the flavor that was intensified by the paste :).

 

Putting it all together...

Maca-wrong! ~getting intimate with a new oven

AHHHHHHHHH!!
What in the world happened! I can't make macarons all of a sudden? I mean look at this mess :'(

Macarons can be such heartbreaker. It's either good or ugly...no in-between. But don't dispair. It can be fixed :).

Macarons are so finicky because what has to be right is hard to control. It doesn't realy on chemical reaction, unlike pound cake for example. If the ingredients are right amount, they're more-or-less forgiving to the surroundings. Macarons, on the other hand, are purely physics. Pressure and temperature are what make or break them.

Pressure is generated by moisture in the batter. It becomes steam during baking. But moisture here is part of egg white. It's not what I measure and add, grrr. And temperature? It's not just the knob on the oven. It's also heat distribution within the oven >.<. Eeee! Sometimes macaron god is kind and like the oven in my previous place, it worked right off the bat. But other times, we just have to find the sweet spot ;).

For my case, the biggest change between good and ugly was the heat source; from gas to electric. Though my oven thermometer registered the same temperature (ya, seriously), bottom of the uglies did look slightly brown. Is bottom being heated more than top?

I baked the next batch on the higher rack. Not good enough but no eruption - going in the right direction :D.

Looks like I have to protect the bottom even more. Another common trick is to double up the pan to give a heat cushion. Finally! Just to make sure this is the optimum condition, I tried the top rack, double pan in the middle rack, yadi yadi yada. It turns out, this oven has an extremely small success window for macarons. Should the second pan stay hot in oven...explosion again!

This is the cookie test I did when I moved. Looks pretty uniform right? I went much deeper into the oven profiling this time. We're going to get along so well now :D

Lamington

Lamington is an Aussie treat that I haven't seen in the U.S. It's odd, especially considering my first encounter in, of all places, China. I found them in Starbucks and even at McCafe. It's sponge cake squares coated in chocolate and coconut - hard not to love! July 21 is National Lamington Day in Australia. I wanted to pay homage to this delectable in hope to, one day, I get to have one in Australia.

First step is to bake the cake, similar to pound cake. They're cut into squares when cool.

Squares are ready to be dunked in chocolate syrup...yum! Roll it in a bed of coconuts and voila, enjoy!

Chic Cake

I had the opportunity to make two elegant cakes last week; one for multi-purpose celebration and another for a birthday. Both were quarter sheet cakes with half chocolate cream and another half strawberry cream. The birthday cake was to have fresh strawberries inside.

In order to make half-and-half cake, I had to have both creams ready at the same time. When the upper cake layer gets put down, both creams better be placed already. Neither of them could be made ahead of time. It can't sit outside too long because whipped cream will lose its volume. It couldn't be kept in fridge because it settles without having been shaped. This meant mise-en-place was more important than ever!! Construction was safely done and it was ready to rest in the fridge.

Next, I needed chocolate plaques for the sides. They will be gold dusted. There is nothing like gold dust for accentuating elegance. 

It's time to put everything together. Cake surface was coated with blackberry jelly. It adds a thin layer of fruitiness that cuts the chocolate. It's also for dark burgundy sheen which goes well with gold...like nice glass of red wine kinda prestige y'know ;). I wanted burgundy ribbon to match it too. The final touch was dark-colored fruit topping. Luckily, figs were in season. Cherries were also popping up in stores. A little gold dust to tie the cake together and they were ready for celebrations!

Chocolate Cake with Sugar Substitute

Even a simple cake can add so much to the special occasion. I hate to see dietary constraint take that away from anyone. Sugar free cake, coming right up!

General rule: Semi-sweet chocolate can be substituted with unsweetened chocolate and sugar (1oz:1tbsp). This isolates added sugar in the cake. Rest is replacing it with sugar substitute according to the sweetness & manufacturer's recommendation.

First thing first, I made the chocolate plaques for the sides. Unsweetened chocolate + Splenda melted together (^^)b. Chocolate cake was also baked with Splenda. Cream would normally consist of heavy cream + semisweet chocolate. In this low-carb version, cream was made with heavy cream + unsweetened chocolate + Splenda.

Assembled with fresh strawberries and rest.

Finishing touch was cocoa to avoid jelly that's loaded with sugar. Sugarless jelly could be an alternative too :). Last last step was to surround the cake with gold dusted sugar-free chocolate plaques and top the cake with fruits.

I did my best to limit the calorie but with chocolate, flour and what not, I think it still hovers carb and calorie. So please be mindful if you're sensitive :).