Sumopocky | Custom Bakes: Basic

Buttery Tart Crust Recipe

I cannot resist a good tart crust. That is why this crisp and buttery tart crust is my go-to recipe for baking versatile and elegant tart crusts that are suitable for many desserts.

This tart recipe is good for making both mini tarts and large tarts. Simply reduce or increase the baking time depending on the size.

As the tart crust is blind baked, it is good for desserts that have unbaked filling like chocolate ganache, custard or cream. This also prevents soggy crusts. For the best flavour and texture, they are best consumed on the day itself.

If you want them to stay crunchy even after filling, here are 2 ways to prevent tart crusts from becoming soggy:

Brush with egg: After the crust is baked, brush the surface with a beaten egg and bake it for an additional 2 to 3 minutes.
Coat with melted chocolate: Melt white, milk, or dark chocolate to coat the insides of the crust. You can then add your desired unbaked filling.

Hope you like this tart recipe and use it for many baking creations!

BASIC TART RECIPE
by Sumopocky

Yield
2 x 5.5" Tart
or 6 Mini tarts
or 1 x 5.5" Tart and 6 Mini tarts

Ingredients
[For Tart Crust]
75g of Unsalted butter (softened)
65g of Caster sugar
30g of Egg (beaten)
100g of Cake flour
1 tsp of Vanilla Essence

[For Tart Crust]

1. Combine the butter and caster sugar.

2. Mix in the beaten egg followed by vanilla essence.

3. Add the cake flour.

4. Chill the dough in the fridge for an hour.

5. After an hour, remove the dough from fridge. Grease the tart pans with butter and roll the dough to 5mm thickness. Gently place on the tart pans. For the mini tarts, you can use cookie cutters to cut out smaller pieces for better manageability. Trim off any excess

6. Place parchment paper over the tart and pour baking beans/rice. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C for 15 minutes. Then, remove the baking beans and parchment and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes. P.S. Adjust the baking time according to the size of the tart. Keep an eye on it and bake till it's golden brown.
7. Let it cool before filling.

January 15, 2017
8 Comments

How to pipe a buttercream rose with gradient

Baking

One of my to-do items as a baker is to pipe beautiful flowers using buttercream. My favourite kind of flowers are those with a gradient of colours, because it gives more dimension and appears more realistic.

I finally had the chance to experiment with different techniques, and discovered this simple method for piping a rose with gradients using buttercream, petals and all! Don't need to worry about making it look super neat or perfect, because nature is beautifully imperfect ;)

A key tip is to make sure the buttercream is stiff enough when you pipe, so that it retains the shape. If you live in a warm climate like Singapore, I recommend filling the piping bags with just a bit of buttercream and topping up whenever it's needed (store the rest in the fridge or an air con room). This prevents the buttercream from softening due to the heat from your hand.

These are the piping tips with the shade of buttercream that I used to pipe the roses. Notice how they are all different shapes and sizes? This is because I did not have 3 of the same tips, and I sure wasn't going through the trouble of washing the piping bags after piping each colour. Haha. Of course, you can feel free to use tips of the same shape and size.

My personal favourite is the curved one on the left, as it gives a beautiful bend to the petals. I used the smallest one for the heart of the rose because it shows more details.

You can use the roses to decorate cakes or cupcakes, like the unicorn cake I made below.

So please give this method a try! It's strangely therapeutic ;)

BUTTERCREAM ROSE with GRADIENT TUTORIAL
by Sumopocky

Yield: ~ 10 to 15 roses, depending on size

Ingredients
200g of Unsalted butter (softened)
180g of Icing sugar
1/2 tsp of Vanilla essence
Red food colouring (or any colour you desire)

Directions
1. With the electric mixer on high speed, beat the butter till it is white and fluffy.
2. Sift in the icing sugar, and mix well.
3. Add the vanilla essence.
4. Portion the buttercream and add food colouring to get the following:
• 1/3: Darkest pink
• 1/3: Pink
• 1/3: Light pink or white
5. Transfer the buttercream into piping bags with piping tips as shown below.

6. Place a small square of parchment paper on a metal stand, using some buttercream to adhere it and prevent it from sliding. Then, pipe the buttercream as shown in the tutorial video above.
7. Have fun piping your beautiful roses!

January 01, 2017
0 Comments

Basic Choux Pastry (Fail Proof!)

Baking

You will not regret trying this Choux Pastry recipe (aka pâte à choux) - guaranteed to puff up and rise proudly with a hollow centre. This is after multiple attempts at making perfect choux puffs (aka cream puffs). I've lost count of the number of times when they failed to rise and remained a lump of dough. So it's safe to say that I'M NEVER USING ANY OTHER RECIPES AGAIN.

Making choux seems straight forward enough - simmering ingredients in a pot, add flour and eggs, pipe and bake. However, the challenge is in precision. The temperature must be just right and steps followed exactly.

This recipe is very forgiving, and thus will be your go-to when making choux pastry (because who hates wasting ingredients on failed recipes?)

Left: Salted Egg Yolk Cream Puff

Right: Speculoos Eclairs

This choux pastry is a versatile base for making cream puffs (aka profiteroles / choux à la crème), eclairs, and more! It is often filled with sweet fillings, but sometimes with savoury fillings too. Love how it's still slightly crunch outside but just the right softness inside. Plus, choux pastry always look impressive... especially with a chocolate glaze.

This recipe includes how to make a classic custard filling. Of course, you can replace it with assorted custard flavours or even with cream - whatever you fancy.

Enjoy!

BASIC CHOUX PASTRY (FAIL PROOF!)

Yield: About 10 cream puffs

[For Choux Dough] adapted from Grindelberg
100ml of Water
45g of Unsalted butter
1g of Salt
3g of Caster sugar
38g of Cake flour
13g of Bread flour
2 Beaten eggs

[For Custard]
2 egg yolks
400ml of Fresh Milk
140g of Caster sugar
30g of Cake flour/Top flour

[For Choux Dough]

1. In a pot, heat the butter, salt, sugar and water over medium heat. Stir till the butter melts completely and the mixture is simmering.

2. Sift in the cake and bread flour and mix well, till the pastry starts coming together and does not stick to the pot.

3. Add the beaten eggs a portion at a time. Mix well between each addition. Stop when the batter falls down like a ribbon.

4. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe out puffs on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. (*Optional: You might want to spray a bit of water to the surface as this helps puff to expand bigger, but this recipe works well even without this step)

5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C for about 20 minutes. Lower the oven to 150°C and bake for another 15 - 20 minutes. Let the puffs cool completely while left in the oven with the oven door left ajar.

Look at how they have risen! Nice and hollow centres.

[For Custard]

1. Add half the portion of milk and the egg yolks. Mix well.

2. Stir in the caster sugar, followed by flour.

3. In a pot, bring the remaining portion of milk to a simmer. Pour the heated milk to the mixture in a steady stream while mixing continuously.

4. Strain the mixture through a sieve into a pot. Place it on low heat and mix continuously until the custard thickens. The right consistency is when you can draw an "infinite" sign with the custard. Remove from heat and cover with a cling wrap (make sure cling wrap is touching the surface of custard) or transfer to a piping bag. Chill it in the fridge.

5. With a small piping tip, pierce the bottom of the choux pastry and fill with custard. You should be able to feel the dessert getting heavier as you pipe. This indicates your choux has risen! (P.S. You can melt some chocolate and glaze the top for eclairs!)

August 16, 2016
1 Comments

Basic French Macarons Recipe

Baking

It's been two years since I embarked on the quest to making macarons, the temperamental yet irresistibly loveable French dessert that has won over my heart. I believe that my first batch of successful macarons is my personal defining moment as a baker. *cues emotional music*

I still remember the failed batches of cracked macarons (which I still get from time to time) with all the wasted ingredients and sweat poured in my stuffy kitchen; Each batch of unsuccessful macarons is a reminder of the effort and skills behind making them, and totally justifies paying a few dollars for this french cookie.

My miserable macarons

I've been wanting to share a macaron recipe for the longest time. While I was not confident enough at first, when I was finally ready to write about it, I didn't know where to start. There's so much to share about baking macarons that it can be overwhelming.

Thus, I decided to start with the basics of making macarons. There are two different methods, the French and Italian meringue method. I will be sharing the French meringue method on how to make simple macaron shells.

As this is a post on how to make basic macarons, I will not be flavouring the shells with anything but vanilla essence. This does not mean they will be tasteless, because the macaron filling will slightly seep through into the shell and infuse it with its flavour!

Today's post will be a basic French macaron with dark chocolate filling, which is the most popular flavour among my friends and family. However, you can always replace it with your favorite filling! You can view my other macaron fillings here.

Before we start, here are the basic goals when making macarons:

1. The shells must form "feet": What are "feet"? They are the little frilly things on each macaron shell, and you know you've probably made them right if they form.

Macaron "feet"

2. The shells should not crack:. Be it cracking like the ground after an earthquake, erupting like a volcano, or collapsing in like a land mine, the shells should be dome-shaped.

3. Texture: The shells should be crispy on the outside (like an egg shell), and chewy on the inside.

There are two important steps to making macarons:

There are many other factors that can determine the success or failure of macarons, but the list might be too overwhelming and will be introduced in a later post.

1. Making the Meringue: A meringue is basically egg-whites and sugar. Simple ingredients, but also simple to mess up. I personally feel this is the quintessential step to making macarons. Over-beat, and your macarons will crack. Under-beat, and the 'feet' will not form.

2. Macaronage: This process involves folding the ground almonds and sugar into the meringue, and gently scraping air out. Like the meringue, when you over or under mix, too much air or too little air might have been mixed out. This might cause cracking, or no feet will be formed.

Let's start!

BASIC FRENCH MACARONS

Servings: ~ 20 macarons

Equipment: Electric mixer, baking sheet/parchment paper, piping bag

Time: 45 min Active Time + Baking Time

INGREDIENTS

[For Macaron Shells]

Meringue: 70g of Egg whites (around 4 eggs) + 90g of Castor sugar

80g of Ground almonds

80g of Powdered/icing sugar

1 drop of Vanilla essence
Colouring (optional)

[For Dark Chocolate Filling]

1 tablespoon of Heavy cream

150g of Dark couverture chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

[For Macaron Shells]

First, we will prepare the meringue!

1. Using an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on low speed until it is white and frothy (approximately 1 minute)

2. Gradually add 1/4 of the sugar and continue to beat on low speed

3. When the first addition of sugar has completely dissolved (approximately 1 minute later), gradually add another 1/4 of the sugar.

4. Increase the mixer speed to medium, and repeat step 3 until all the sugar has been incorporated.

5. Continue to beat the egg whites and sugar until stiff peaks form. Stiff peaks are the little 'tips' that form when you lift up your electric mixer. It's not supposed to flop down (those are soft peaks). Also, when you turn your bowl upside down, the meringue should stay in the bowl without pouring out.

Your meringue is now ready for the macaronage.

6. In a separate bowl, sift the icing sugar and ground almonds. This will ensure smooth macaron shells. Once sifted, mix the icing sugar and ground almonds well.

7. Add the vanilla essence, icing sugar and ground almonds to the meringue. Using a spatula, gently fold the icing sugar and ground almonds. If you wish, you can add colouring to obtain your desired colour.

How to Fold? Folding the mixture involves lifting the bottom of the mixture to the top using a spatula, and rotating the bowl slightly.

After each fold, use the spatula to gently scrape the top surface of the mixture. This helps to remove some of the air from the meringue.

8. Repeat step 7 until you get a molten-like mixture and drips down like a ribbon when lifted. Be careful not to over-mix otherwise the shells won't rise.

Now that we're done with the two most important steps, it's time to pipe out the macarons!

9. Transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a round tip. On parchment paper or a baking mat placed over a baking tray, pipe out the macarons. Ensure to leave space between each shell as they tend to spread.

10. After piping, knock the bottom of the tray against a flat surface to get rid of air bubbles.

11. Let the shells dry for approximately 30 minutes. You should be able to touch it gently with the tip of your finger without it sticking. NOTE: To all fellow bakers who live in Singapore/a humid country, it is highly recommended to let the shells dry in an air-conditioned room!

Piped macaron shells, waiting to enter the oven!

And finally, time to go into the oven.

12. Bake in a preheated oven at 150C for 10-13 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on the oven as they over-cook easily! Also, as each oven is different, you might need to test around with the temperature for successful macarons. Let the shells cool before removing from the parchment paper/baking mat.

[For Dark Chocolate Filling]

1. Warm up the heavy cream in a microwave or in a saucepan.
2. Pour over the chocolate chips and melt it over a water bath.
3. Stir it occasionally until you get a smooth texture.
4. Transfer the filling to a piping bag and pipe them on to your macarons. Note: Before piping, it's a good idea to pair up the macaron shells (as the sizes might differ slightly). This will make it less chaotic and frustrating when you sandwich the macaron shells together, and helps to achieve prettier macarons.

Once you've nailed the basic macarons, the rest, they say, is up to the baker himself to perfect. Please don't give up even if your macarons turn out atrocious. Mine were awful too (remember the horribly cracked macarons above? hahaha). Just keep trying, tweaking the method, portions, and temperature slightly. Get experimental.

Good luck!

Cookie Monster Macarons

July 10, 2015
5 Comments

Pages

Buttery Tart Crust Recipe

How to pipe a buttercream rose with gradient

Basic Choux Pastry (Fail Proof!)

Basic French Macarons Recipe

Customised Bakes