Coconut-Mango Tartelettes

It seems like ages have past since i have been here. Though, i was out of action for a few months, it felt like eternity. I have missed following the action of all my favorite bloggers and their ever so ingenious posts.
I have completed my course and am back from Paris, the internship was one crazy ride which has taught me a lot.Updates on this will be followed up in another post.

Today, I would like to share with you a recipe for coconut mango tartelettes. The fun part is that there is a lot of coconut used up here, right from the base to the cream to the garnishing. Every coconut lover’s dream.

Makes 8 tartlettes 6cm.
Ingredients:

Sweet shortcrust pastry:
Icing Sugar 45g
Almond Powder 15g
Coconut Flour 20g
Salt 1g
Butter, softened 65g
Egg 1/2
All purpose flour 100g
Cocoa Powder 10g

Coconut Mousse
Gelatin powder 5g
Water 30g
Coconut Cream 140g
Heavy cream 150g
Sugar 40g

Mango Gel
Gelatin powder 1g
Water 7g
Sugar 10g
Mango Puree 105g

Garnishing:
Sweet desiccated coconut

Instructions:

Sweet Shortcrust Pastry:
1. Sift the icing sugar, almond powder, coconut flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the softened butter and mix with a spatula.
2. Add half of an egg and mix till you obtain a homogeneous mixture.
3. Sift the flour and cocoa powder over the mixture and knead into a dough.
4. Chill for 2 hours.
5. Line the tart rings with the pastry and bake at 170C for 15 minutes.
Please refer to the post on lining tart rings.

Coconut Cream Mousse:
1. Mix the gelatin with water and give it a stir.
2. Pour half of the coconut cream with all the sugar in a pan and heat it till it simmers.
3. Remove from heat and add the gelatin and whisk till it is dissolved. Add this to the remaining coconut cream and whisk.
4. Whip the heavy cream and add it to the coconut cream mixture ensuring there are no lumps.
5. chill for at least 2 hours.

Mango Gel:
1. Mix the gelatin with water and give it a stir.
2. Add the mango puree, sugar and gelatin in a pan and heat till it comes to a simmer.
3. Turn off the heat and pour the mixture in molds.
4. Chill for at least 2 hours.

Coco-Mango Tartelette

Assembly:

1. Sprinkle some desiccated coconut over the tart base.
2. Fill with the coconut cream mousse.
3. Place a mango jelly on the top.
4. Garnish with the desiccated coconut.

Bon Apetit!

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Happy New Year!

I’d like to begin by wishing you all a very happy, prosperous and safe new year! Hope everyone had a great time over the holidays. 😀

2014 was a special year for me. I started to blog and met some amazing people along the way! The journey at school has been challenging and inspiring for me nonetheless. It would have been difficult without your encouragement to say the least!

I’ve made some things I would not have dared to try otherwise. I made the traditional French wedding cake, “The Croquembouche”. Apparently the name means, crunch in mouth. That’s it!
The first step in making the croquembouche is to make the chouquettes, the petit choux.
Next, making the nougatine shapes, to hold the choux tower. Working with nougatine can be quite tricky and one must be careful so as to not burn one’s fingers!

Shaping the nougatine :

Building the tower without a cone:

Ta Da…..

The Christmas special buche:

Buche Coffee: Sponge with coffee butter cream

The traditional Xmas Buche

Buche Maracaibo :
Chocolate sponge with a vanilla cream, chocolate parfait and salted shorbread covered with a chocolate glaze!

Buche Alaska:
Dacquois biscuit, with praline, lemon curd, red fruit jelly covered in milk chocolate mousse and glazed with white chocolate!

Taking these over to Angie’s Fiesta Friday!
Bon Apetit!

Virgin Pina Colada Cupcakes

Hola!

I’m quite excited today not just because it’s the start of another weekend but for many more reasons which I will divulge later on. For now I would like to share with you a truly amazing recipe for cupcakes. These are the Pina Colada Cupcakes..Oops I meant Virgin Pina Colada Cupcakes.

It’s the last month to bask in the warmth of the sun and I’d better make most of it. Being more of a beach person which is rather ironical considering the fact that I’m scared of water. I can swim, but I still am respectful of the ocean. 😉 Anyways, this year has been different and I haven’t had the opportunity to unwind on a white sandy beach with a drink in my hand gazing at the beautiful sunset. Sigh!

I cannot allow this to bring me down. I have had the happiest childhood memories incidentally of them being in summer. Well, If thou cannot go to the beach, thou shall bring the beach at home. If not the beach, at least the experience. 🙂
I have achieved what I was looking for with these virgin pina colada cupcakes! Everyone loved these and I would be lying to say that they were not DE-LI-CIOUS!!!!!! That’s how one of my friends described it. 😉

Virgin Pina Colada Cupcakes

 

Before I get to the recipe I’d like to say that ideally I would have loved to use a coconut frosting. Why did I not?
I was under the impression I definitely had enough coconut cream and desiccated coconut at home, which I later found out I didn’t. Humph!… I didn’t have the time to take a trip to the grocery store and so I just improvised and went with what I had.

Makes 12 cupcakes
Ingredients:

Cupcakes:
100 g Butter, softened
125 g caster sugar
2 eggs
125 ml coconut cream/milk
150 g + 1 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp Cornflour
100 g pineapples, chopped

Mascarpone Frosting :
Mascarpone Cheese 125 g
Heavy Cream 100 ml (optional)
Icing Sugar 40 g
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon, optional
12 cubes of pineapple for garnishing, optional

Instructions:
Cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 190 C. Line a muffin tray with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking powder and cornflour and keep aside. Sift 1 tbsp of flour over the chopped pineapples and keep aside.
Cream butter and sugar with an electric beater until combined. Add the eggs and beat until light and fluffy.
Add coconut cream/ milk and beat until combined.
Add the sifted flour and beat until just combined. Do not overbeat.
Fold in the chopped pineapple and spoon the batter into the cupcake liners until 3/4 full.

Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and cool completely before frosting.

It’s really easy and fun to convert them to Pina Colada Cupcakes as well!
Here’s How?
While the cupcakes are still warm, pierce several holes the cupcakes using a toothpick. Now drizzle over some coconut-flavored rum. Voila!

Mascarpone Frosting:

Beat the whipped cream until it holds stiff peaks.
Beat the mascarpone and half of the sugar until soft and creamy. Taste and add more sugar as desired.
Fold the whipping cream into the mascarpone cheese and beat until well incorporated, for a few seconds only.
Now pipe the frosting in your piping bag and decorate the cupcakes as you please.

I have dusted my cupcakes with some ground cinnamon, it just makes the whole thing pop!

I’m sure these would turn out good as vegan cupcakes by eliminating butter and eggs and adding pureed pineapple and a dash vinegar. Will try it out soon!

Perfect for a BBQ or Pool Party!

I am taking these to Angie’s wonderful Friday Fiesta Party co hosted by the lovely ladies Margot and Saucy! Happy Fiesta Friday friends!

Bon Apetit!

Ice Cream Cake

While I was working in Singapore I would often pass by an Ice cream shop selling ice cream cakes. I always thought it was weird and never gave it a try. I now know what I have missed! Ice cream cakes are perfect for summer, especially after a good feast it will go down really well.

I made this cake for my friend’s actual birthday and everyone absolutely loved it including myself. I sneaked in a piece for myself to enjoy the next day. What can I say, pure Evil! 😉

It is super easy making it the perfect summer dessert. I have used vanilla and mango flavors as no other fruit sings the songs of summer to me than mango! Vanilla ice cream and Mango sorbet with some chocolate chips will transform you in a heavenly place altogether. Sigh!

LESSON LEARNT : Sometimes, rather unfortunately I can have a closed mind. Open up!

Meringue Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients :

Meringue:
100 g egg whites (2.5-3 eggs)
200 g icing sugar
1/8 tsp cream of tartar (optional)

Chantilly Cream:
250 ml heavy cream, chilled
50 g icing sugar, sifted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Vanilla Ice Cream
Mango Sorbet
Sprinkles (optional)
Chocolate Chips (optional)

Instructions :

Meringue:
Preheat the oven at 150°C.Line 2 baking trays with baking paper. Use a piping bag fitted with a plain round nozzle.

Put the egg whites and 30g of icing sugar in a large, clean, grease free bowl and using a hand mixer, beat the egg white at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add 70g of icing sugar , a couple of tablespoons at a time, and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form. Gently, fold in the remaining 100g of icing sugar.

Pipe two 7-inch(18cm) discs in a spiral shape, center out on the baking sheet. You could also use a spatula.
Bake in the preheated oven for 8 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 90 C and bake for another 2 hours.

Turn off the oven and leave the meringues inside the oven to cool completely. This can take about an hour or more.

Chantilly Cream:
Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until stiff peaks form. Chill until ready to use.

Assembling the Cake:
Place a cake ring on one meringue, remove the excess. Repeat with the second meringue.
Place a meringue disc on the cake board. Place the cake ring over it. Cover the meringue with Vanilla ice cream.

Dust with some sprinkles for a fun look.

Freeze for 30 minutes.
Spread a layer of mango sorbet on top. Sprinkle over some chocolate chips.

Place the second meringue disc on the sorbet and press it down gently. Freeze for 30 minutes.

Cover the cake with chantilly cream and smooth with the help of a spatula. Freeze for 2 hours. Decorate as you please.
Freeze again until 30 minutes before serving.

Bon Apetit

Note : You can crush up some oreos, cookies or chocolate wafers instead of using meringue for a no bake, fuss free ice cream cake.