HoneyBee Swiss Roll Cake

I have finally did it! Something I have been wanting to do for awhile...another Swiss roll cake decoration!

 Doesn't this picture just cheer you up a little? It almost seems like a little kid doing a new kind of art work, lol! Since my last couple of attempts with the Pikachu Mango Swiss Roll and my MIL's birthday cake, I promised myself that I must do it again. :) I knew I had to do a picture with a bee in it, heehee.

This time I followed the recipe given in my cookbook. And mind you, its in Japanese and I am half guessing the words and trying to translate it online, lol! And the best part is I actually modified the recipe and so as to increase the volume to fit my bigger baking tray...scary right, lol! :P Anyway, the recipe calls for a simple vanilla cake using egg separation method, almost like chiffon cake technique. Here is my recipe, translated by yours truly (use it at your own risk, heehee) :

Ingredients for Vanilla Swiss Roll ( 10 inches by 14 inches cake tray) :

Egg Yolk Batter:

4 egg yolks

40g caster usgar

75ml water

50ml vegetable oil

1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract

100g Cake flour

For decorations and drawings

• (A) Four separate small bowls with 1tsp of above batter placed in it(for red, pink, yellow & brown food coloring) Note that I use 1 tsp of cocoa powder instead of brown coloring
• Add 1/4 tsp of cake flour into each bowl and mix well (Next time I will omit this as I find it hardens the batter a little and thus separating the decoration from the Swiss roll)
• (B) Another bowl with 2 tsp worth of above batter place in it (for green food coloring) Note that original recipe calls for green tea powder but I used green food coloring.
• Add 1/2 tsp of cake flour to the bowl and mix well.
• 1 egg white beaten with a pinch of cream of tartar & 10g caster sugar till stiff peaks. Take 1/3 of this egg white and mix in (B) mixture while the remaining 2/3 is divided equally among the 4 bowls in (A) and mix well.
• Place your desired picture on the baking tray and place a greased parchment over it and grease it again. Preheat the oven to 165C.
• Pipe the decorations on the parchment as required and bake in the preheated oven for a minute. Repeat till the whole picture has been piped out and baked except for some of the outlines which will require black food coloring later.

Egg White Batter:

5 egg whites
40g caster sugar
1/4 tsp cream of tartar

• Beat egg white till foamy, add cream of tartar and continue to whip. Gradually add in the sugar and continue to beat at high speed till it reaches stiff peaks.
• Fold white into the reserved main egg yolk batter gently in 3 separate portions till all is incorporated.
• Pour batter over the baked decoration and filled up the baking tray. Level it nicely and then place in preheated oven to bake for about 12 to 14minutes till the top is golden brown.
• Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from tray and peeling off the parchment.

This is how it looks like once all the decoration has been baked on to the cake and yet to be rolled up and outlined. Note that outlining the picture should only be done after you have filled and rolled up the Swiss roll. Simply just use some food coloring with 1/2 tsp of water and a fine tip brush will do.

Please pardon some of the "untidiness" you can spot from the Swiss roll. It can be really hard to control the cake batter to make it perfectly the way you want it to look like. I'm sure those bloggers that have attempted this will know what I mean. :P There were a few mistakes I made while making this, biggest one was forgetting to grease the parchment and causing some of the batter to stick! *sigh* Anyway, I am still happy with the end result...even thought it took me a whole 3 hours to complete it! ;P

I have filled the cake with simple whipped cream and fresh sliced strawberries, plus a thin layer of chocolate ganache...which explains why there's this brownish color on the inside. :P

My kids loved the cake...taste wise that is, they don't really fancy much of mummy's "art" work. :P The cake is indeed very soft...and no cracks when rolled. Shall make it again with other flavors next time.

Thanks for staying and reading my long post. And hope my explanation is clear enough for those who wants to try out. :P

Needless to say, I'll be submitting this post to Aspiring Bakers #9 - Swiss Rolling Good Times hosted by Obsessedly Involved with Food.

Have a good weekend folks!

Fresh Cherry FrangipaneTartlets

A couple weeks back, when I saw the nearby grocer having some fresh bing cherries on sale, I grabbed a couple of punnets without hesitation. :)) Somehow eating this fruit just brings back some nostalgic memories of my past life in California. Going to the cherry orchard and plugging those ruby red fruits fresh from the trees....and straight to my mouth, heehee. I also remember baking cherry pies and jams...such a luxury since it's so abundantly available there in CA. However back in Asia, it's so scare to see it selling in the grocer and it's usually pretty expensive. :P Anyway, I have this lovely and delicious recipe that uses fresh bing cherries which has become my family favorite; its Fresh Cherry Frangipane Tartlets.

These tartlets might not look scrumptious to you but once you take a bite, you would wish you have baked a dozen more!

The cherries had retained its juices during the baking and combining it with the soft cake like frangipane filling which is both nutty and creamy, its such a wonderful combination! Not forgetting the flaky and buttery pastry tart crust encasing all these....yum yum!

Ingredients for Fresh Cherry Frangipane Tarlets: (makes about 10)

Pastry tart : Please refer to my Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Custard Cream tarts.

Frangipane filling:

120g butter, soften
120g icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 tbsp cake flour
165g finely ground almond meal
1 cup of fresh bing cherries, pitted and halved
Some chopped chocolate (optional)
Method:

1. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, icing sugar and vanilla together till well combined
2. Add the first egg and beat well. Then crack the 2nd egg in and continue to beat till mixed in.
3. Then add in the flour and almond meal into the egg mixture and combine well.
4. Preheat the oven to 180C and take out the tart pastry that has been pressed into the greased tart tin shells. Please refer to my Fresh Strawberry Vanilla Custard Cream tarts for the steps on making the tart pastry. Note that no pre-baking is needed for the pastry tarts in this recipe.
5. (Optional but it'll definitely taste better) Sprinkle about 1/2 tsp amount of chopped chocolate at the base of the pastry tarts.
   
6. Spoon the frangipane filling into the pastry tarts and fill it about 2/3 full. Then press in 4 cherry halves in to the filling. Repeat till all the tart shells' been filled.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes till the top is golden brown and the tester comes out clean.

I got really good reviews for this tartlet when I gave some to my sister, parents and in-laws. They were actually asking for more but I couldn't find any more bing cherries in the nearby grocer anymore. :P Looks like the super short "season" is over. :P I was thinking to myself should I freeze some cherries next time but wonder if the taste of the tartlets will be the same. :P Oh well...we'll see. :)

Okay, gonna keep this short and will post again very soon. ;)

Have a good day all!