Feb-ulous Kyoto: Her Choice, and then Mine

One of my regrets for the trip being too short was not able to spend more time checking out the buzzing café scene in Kyoto this time. Nonetheless we did have the opportunity to check out two that were high on each of our must-visit list.

Dessert Masterclass

We have been nudging Chef Nicolas of Caprice to teach us how to make some of his amazing desserts, and we were super excited that he spared one Saturday morning last month doing just that at his kitchen for a few of us. Though the lunch service wouldn’t start until a few hours away, the kitchen at Caprice was already getting busy, with much of the preparation well underway.

Recipe: Rustic Cake for the Cooler Season

I made this dessert when my friends from New York T and L came over for dinner one evening in October. As the season of fall finally arrived I wanted to do something that fell in the mood of this cooler season. 

More Summer Recipe: Skillet Cake

I looked at my new Nambu Tekki cast iron pan and wanted to do something with it, that’s when I decided to make a simple skillet cake, something that is easy to make and I can enjoy all day – from breakfast to afternoon snacks to dessert. This is arguably one of the easiest cake to make – as long as you could mix and stir you should be able to master this rather quickly.

Celebration of sorts

Wifey wanna do a birthday celebration of sort in May so we organized a mini-gathering with a few friends for a long weekend lunch at our favorite restaurant. It's actually only our first time sitting down for a proper meal at the private room of Caprice tucked away towards the end of the dining room, with a long table in the middle, window in the front facing the harbor with glass cabinet on both sides displaying some of the fine antique porcelain pieces. It's especially spacious for just the nine of us. (room can sit twelve comfortably)

Let's make some brownies!

Many have said the most difficult part in baking is the precision in measurement. Well no doubt there are solid grounds for that reasoning since baking is more of a science and there are certain rules that need to be strictly followed, especially for stuff like bread or certain types of cakes. But there are baked goods that are more forgiving than the others - and brownies is one of them. Of course every small things you changed will still make a noticeable difference in the end products, but in brownies, those differences are often acceptable. Maybe that's why I love making them at home since there's less pressure on getting everything right all the time.

Recipe: Tres Leches Cake

Tres Leches literally means three milks in Spanish, because three kinds of milks were used - evaporated milk , condensed milk and the regular whole milk. We Hong Kongers are more familiar with evaporated milk (花奶/淡奶) and condensed milk (煉奶) for their wide use in local street foods and drinks such as milk tea and toasts, but they are almost as common as a cooking ingredient in many Latin American dishes. So for those from overseas, they should be readily available in supermarkets stocking Asian or Latin American grocery items - try find them in those specialty spots.

Desserterie in Singapore - 2am: dessertbar

I always like the idea of a true desserterie - not just those cafes with a few tarts and macarons on offer, or brunch spot that sells a few bakery items sort of places, but a full service restaurant with focus on desserts and desserts alone. That's why I was interested to check out 2am:dessertbar in Holland Village in Singapore when I was in town last month.

Holland V - as the region was known as by locals - is a vibrant neighborhood with shopping malls, rows of trendy shops, restaurants and bars that open til late. It's accessible by MRT but we opted for a taxi ride after dinner, which was a good 15 minutes from where we were staying. 

Cooking at home: Rum baba

Rum baba is sort of like a hybrid between a brioche and muffin. It's a small yeast cake soaked in rum syrup hence the name. It can be served either hot or at room temperature, and either with dried or fresh fruits, creme anglaise or chantilly, or in my opinion, it's just as good on its own. And my favorite part is that, it can be baked in advance. Prepare it a day ahead and just set aside. Soak it in warm syrup before it's served and it's almost as if it went straight out from the oven to the table.

Food Experiment - 40-second sponge cake

Friends who came to my place for dinner knew I love doing food experiments with them being the guinea pigs - some of them got the better of those experiments, though most are not so lucky. But the one I did last weekend turned out to be quite decent - more decent than I expected.

I got this recipe idea from a book I flipped through which talked about molecular gastronomy. While most of the recipes inside required use of obscure ingredients or funky equipment, this one caught my eye because it sounded easy to make and no special equipment needed other than a cream siphon, which I considered as a piece of ordinary kitchen equipment - in fact I got 2 at home. Anyway it's called 40-second sponge cake, as it only took 40 second of cooking time, in a microwave. It actually came from a recipe from the El Bulli menu a few years ago - how cool is that. Now let me show you how I did it.