I get asked quite often why I like to cook. The first reason I give is normally because I like to eat. I am Thai and food is a big factor in our culture. We greet each other with hello followed by 'have you eaten? When guests turn up at your house it's safe to assume that they will expect to be fed.

The second reason is that as I grew up in the Northeastern part of Thailand, the poorest region, food was always hard to come by. We weren't hungry as there was always rice, but it was difficult finding something to go with rice. Now I do have ingredients to go with rice, I want to cook!

Wednesday 16 March 2016

Little Red Riding Hood.




Little Red Riding Hood.

I've made this for my daughter's birthday. It was loved by both mums and children.
The wolf is portrayed by the chocolate cake, the strawberries represent Little Red Riding Hood. The Macarons are meant to be the flowers that Little Red stopped to pick. The muffins are to represent the cakes that were going to be Grandma's treat.

Equipment:
2x   30x15cm cake tins, or
2x20cm springform cakes tins, lined with baking paper.

In a saucepan, melt
-300ml double cream, with
-150g dark chocolate.
Cook, stirring on low heat until the chocolate has melted.
Leave aside.

       For the cake.
Use an electric mixer, beat
-250g butter, at room temperature, with
-400g caster sugar,
-400g self raising flour,
-2tsp baking powder,
-50g cocoa powder,
-5 eggs,
-1tsp vanilla bean paste,
-pinch of salt.
Stir through,
-melted chocolate.

Spoon into the prepared tin.
Bake in 180c fan forced oven for 20-25 minutes. The skewer should not come out clean.

Leave to cool completely in the cooking tins.

        Cream Topping.
Use an electric mixer, beat
-900ml double cream, with
-250ml mascarpone cheese,
-4tbsp icing sugar,
-1tsp vanilla bean paste.
Beat until the cream just holds its shape.
Refrigerate until needed.

       Buttermilk Blueberry Muffins.

Equipment:
Muffin tins lined with muffin cases.

Make 12.

    Dry ingredients.
In a large bowl, put in
-180g caster sugar,
-200g self raising flour,
-2tsp baking powder,
-pinch of salt.
Mix well to combine.

    Wet ingredients.
In a separate bowl, put in
-284ml buttermilk,
-3 eggs, 
-1tsp vanilla bean paste.
Whisk to combine.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Stir well to combine.
Gently stir through 150g blueberries.

Oven 180c fan forced. 

Spoon the muffin mixture into the prepared tins.
Bake 20-25 minutes, skewer should come out clean.

Cool on rack.

      Macarons.

Equipment:
2 oven trays lined with baking paper.
A piping bag fitted with 1.5cm round piping tip.

Preparation.
Sift,
-ground almonds. You need to end up with 160g. Macarons are exceptionally unforgiving so you have to be very precise.
Sift
-icing sugar. You need to end up with 160g.
Put the 2 ingredients into a large bowl and stir well to combine. Leave aside.

Use an electric mixer, beat
-4 egg whites, they need to be at room temperature.
Beat until soft peaks form, gradually add
-170g caster sugar.
Continue to beat until the egg white is at stiff peaks.

Add icing sugar mixture.
Stir to combine.
This is where I normally go wrong. Don't over mix. It's done when you lift up your spatula and the mixture falls easily and is the shape of the letter V.

Pipe 40 Macarons, 3-4cm apart.
Bang the trays on the work surface a few times to get rid of peaks.
Leave to sit in a cool room for 30 minutes before baking.

Bake in 150c fan forced oven 15 minutes.
Leave to cool completely on the baking trays.

      To Assemble.

Sandwich the Macarons with a tablespoon of cream mixture and thin slices of strawberries.
Sandwich the chocolate cake with half of the remaining cream and thin slices of strawberries.
Top with the remaining cream mixture.
Top with thin slices of strawberries  (you need roughly 800g in total).
Sprinkle over a handful of blueberries.

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