Adios PB, you won't be missed & Chocolate Galore III (Chocolate Cheese Cake)

As letters popping into this page forming words and sentences, my excitement is overwelming! I was told that Psycho Bitch (PB) is leaving! Yes, leaving the school for good!! Well, you might wonder if the screaming matches previously had to do with anything. Honestly, I don't care as long as the news is true and I don't get to see the face of thunder ever again. *fingers crossed* For unknown reasons, she is not coming back from next week onwards to spread her negative energies. Apparently, I was not the only one who is not liking her. The school manager mentioned that "She has no direction in her life"...his words not mine. The supervisor chef started to make fun of her outbursts....mimicking her which I happily laughed along. Ryan said he believes that she got issues at home.

A happy normal person won't have such outbursts. Couple of months ago, when PB brought her husband and daughter to our school "open day", I noticed they hardly talked to each other. The husband was looking bored, ignored the daughter and was on the phone the whole time we were there...And then, all the screamings and outbursts - not from someone who is leading a healthy mental life. However, I just thought she's scare of the upcoming practical and theory exams. Why would a housewife wanted to go through all that exam stress?!! I know it is not nice to judge but who said that I am a nice person anyway...LOL!!! So, in the end everything will be great as long as the news is true!

Chocolate Cheese Cake (in hazelnut crust)

This is my first cheese cake and it is a very nice one! Set oven temperature at 160 degrees C.

Cream Cheese.................................300g
Sugar.................................................75g
Orange rind.......................................1 no or 1/2 no
Lemon rind........................................1 no or 1/2 no
Egg....................................................90g
Whipped cream................................30g
Chocolate, melted............................100g

1. Cream the cheese, sugar, lemon and orange zest in a mixing bowl until fluffy (careful when zesting the orange - avoid the white part of the skin coz it is bitter)
2. Occasionally scrap the side of the bowl to ensure a smooth mixture.
3. Slowly add in the eggs (beat a bit to mix the yolk and white together) a little at a time. Mix well.
4. Melt  chocolate over bain-marie. Add in the warm melted chocolate.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk the whip cream until soft peak.
6. Once the cheese mixture ready, fold in the whipped cream.
7. Pour batter into 6" tin with hazelnut crust baked (refer to below).
8. Fill a larger flat pan with 1" deep water. Bake the cheese cake in this. This control the moisture in the oven so the cheese cake will not crack.

Hazelnut Crust (base)

Blended hazelnut, roasted..................................45g
Cake Flour...........................................................38g
Sugar....................................................................38g
Butter, softened...................................................55g
Egg.......................................................................13g

1. Combine everything in a mixing bowl. Mix well.
2. Spread evenly in a 6" cake tin lined with baking sheet.
3. Bake until golden brown at 160 degree C.
4. Make sure the crust is cool before adding the cheese cake mixture.

*Note: Extra crushed hazelnut can be used to cover the cake sides once fruit glaze (apricot) is applied on the cake top and sides for decoration purpose.

Chocolate Galore I (Brownies)

The last few weeks again were quite uneventful. We got breaks in between which are fine for me but the two boys in our class had a different schedule thus, leaving me with the two girls. Of course, by now you know one of them is the psycho b*tch so the air in the kitchen is not good. Cleaning up is no fun for me since I have to mop and sweep the floor all by myself for one week and clean everyone's dishes all by myself in another! And I bet psycho b*tch purposely use more utensils and leave the dishes extra dirty for me to clean. 

On the other hand, I am surprise by how many people actually love chocolate based products. Personally, I am not a big fan cause since young my mom told me that chocolate gives you constipation! Throughout the last couple of weeks and one week break in between, we made a huge variety of chocolate products. So, instead of putting everything in one entry, I will break them down to a few parts.

Everyone's Favourite Brownies  
Well at least everyone who ate this brownies recipes. For someone who doesn't really like chocolate based products, I really don't mind this brownies. It is very moist and flavoursome! Both brownies I made were gone quickly!
Set temperature at 180 C degrees. Laid a baking sheet on a 7" dia tin. Use a 6" tin for thicker brownies or 8" tin for a thinner one.

D. Couverture.......................................115g (or normal cooking chocolate)
Butter..................................................150g
Egg.....................................................90g
Sugar..................................................130g
Salt.....................................................1g
Vanilla Essence...................................drops
Bread Flour/Cake Flour.........................60g - use bread flour for chewiness and cake flour for softer texture
Walnut (chopped coarse)......................60g

1. Melt chocolate (if a block/bar, chopped into smaller pieces) and butter over bain-marie. Let it cool. Note: To avoid burning the chocolate, control the heat by adding in small quantity of chocolate progressively and on/off the heat necesserily. Also, watch out the steam from bain-marie not getting into the melted chocolate.
2. Mix egg, sugar and vanilla together until well blended. Blend in the chocolate mixture.
3. Sift the flour with salt and fold into the batter.
4. Fold in the walnuts.
5. Pour into cake tin and bake for 45 mins until 80% baked (still moist in the centre).

Sebastopel, a German cookie

If you like a cookie recipe which is not your typical cookie but crispy, chewy and nutty at the same time, Sebastopel will tingle your tastebuds. This week, we also learnt to make two other cookies, Biscotti and Oatmeal cookie which is kinda boring so I won't post them here. The making of sebastopel involves two parts: base and topping. 

Base:
Sugar dough/sugar pastry (set oven temperature to 160 degrees Celcius)

Multi-purpose flour/cake flour**....................................250g
Caster sugar .................................................................125g
Butter (chilled)...............................................................125g
Egg.................................................................................55g (1 medium sized egg)
Lemon zest....................................................................half of lemon

**Note: Multi-purpose flour has protein content slightly higher than cake flour and suitable for half bread, half cake recipes...such as, muffin and cake. Not suitable for bread tho.

1. In a large bowl, add in multi-purpose flour gradually into chilled butter. Rub the two ingredients together with hands to achieve a consistent texture.
2. Add in sugar and continue to rub the ingredients together until even.
3. Add egg and lemon zest. Careful with the egg because by now the mixture should be in a dough form. A perfect dough should be looked and felt like a "playdough". If too dry after adding all the egg, milk/water can soften the dough. If too soft/wet, freeze the dough will achieve a desired consistency.   
4. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll the dough using a rolling pin. 
5. On a baking parchment, roll the dough to 4mm thick and prick a few holes with fork before putting it on a baking tray.

Topping:

Set oven temperature to 200 degrees Celcius

Hazelnuts (crushed coarse)**..................................100g

Caster sugar..............................................................75g

Egg white...................................................................75g

Orange peel (crystalised orange)**........................ 60g (soak in orange juice if too dry)

Cake flour...................................................................10g

Raspberry jam**

**Note: all these ingredients can be substituted. E.g. hazelnuts to almonds, cashews etc..., orange peel to pineapple, lemon etc..., raspberry to strawberry, mixed berries etc...

1. Mix sugar and egg white in a mixing bowl and set over bain-marie and whisk slowly until the sugar dissolves. Control the heat and not to cook the egg white.
2. Add all dry ingredients to above and stir well (make sure the orange juice is drained).
3. By now, the sugar dough in the oven should be 80% cooked.
4. Take out the base and spread a thin layer of jam.
5. Spread the sugar mixture over the layer of jam. Make you leave a 5mm border so the sugar mixture does not overflow.
6. Bake it in the oven until the topping turns golden brown.
7. Cut into desirable sizes and enjoy! 

Mary's bathed, sponged and creamed...

Today is the last day of the first week and we got the chance to do our first baking. Exciting!!! Of course, one of the more interesting terms I learnt this week is Bain-Marie which means Mary's Bath in French and comes from a medieval alchemist who invented a slow heating in a double walled container filled with hot water while cooking his wife named Mary. OK, I made up the last part.

Genoise Sponge Cake
*recipe is for ONE cake.

• Eggs.............................. 280gm (approx. 5-6 medium sized eggs)
• Sugar.............................180gm
• Flour...............................180gm
• Butter (melted).............. 60gm
• Vanilla essence............ a few drops

1. Set the oven at 190 degrees Celcius
2. Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla. Whisk over a "bain-marie" to approx. 60 degrees. This is noticeable when mixture starts to increase in volume. 
3. Transfer to a mixer and whip till "ribbon stage" mixture forms layers of ribbon-like strings when lifted with a wooden spoon.
4. Remove mixer bowl and starts to fold in flour, follows by melted butter. Stir in gradually but no too long as air cells created during the mixing will be lost if stirred too long.
5. Pour batter into cake tin greased with butter & floured. An alternative will be a baking paper cut to shape and place in the bottom of the cake tin.
6. Bake for 30 mins.

Hints for cake when it's ready:

• Poke in tester. The cake is cooked if it comes out clean and dry.
• Softly tap the middle part. The cake is cooked if the part tapped does not sink in.

Of course, we could not end the lesson with just baking. So we got to do our first cake topping using cream. Two types of creams.

1. Topping Cream which we used today is sweetened, non dairy (vegetable extracts) and more stable than the Whiping Cream.
2. Whiping Cream is unsweetened, dairy (cow's fat) and less stable towards heat.

Important: All creams have to be chilled before whipping to achieve great volume.

Today task posts a challenge to my overly-structured mind. My wrist is not as flexible as I hope but after a few shots I managed to completely covered my cake with 3 patterns from the topping cream. The first one is called "shell" mostly applied around the cake edge. Second is called "rosette" which is the most difficult ones for me. Finally, the frilly thing which applied to the cake wall which I have no idea what you call it.