The recipe for these brownies comes from the BAKED: New Frontiers in Baking Cookbook. The batter called for both cocoa powder and expresso powder to be added so the resulting brownie is very dark and rich. Out of all the brownies I've tasted, this one came out the least sweet, a plus for those who like less sweet things but I'll probably add a bit more sugar next time..
I've always wanted to attempt an opera cake, but i didn't want to do the classic coffee version, so I thought of matcha. I was surprised by how easy it was to do and how delicious the results were. Normally, I'm a big hater of buttercream but it paired really well with the green tea joconde and bittersweet chocolate ganache. One word though - when the recipe calls for soaking the cake layers with syrup - make sure to do so liberally - these type of cakes really come alive with moisture. I will definitely do this cake again and Im thinking of a caramel and white chocolate version this time... I also thought the cake was kinda tall, Upon further reading, I found out that an opera cake should not be more than 3 cm in height, so I reduced the quantity of the batter the second time round and this is the result.
These are some recent macaron orders. The purple-black ones are filled with olive-oil and vanilla ganache - a pierre herme recipe I always wanted to try. If you love olive oil, you'll be over the moon. But the taste wasn't really for me, I guess. It tasted good right after being made but the olive oil was so overpowering..
Am I the only person obsessed with the perfect pie crust?? I've found a combination of shortening and butter gives the flakiest results (I don't like the idea of using lard). The recipe for this pie crust comes from http://www.food.com/recipe/the-flakiest-pie-crust-333273. It will be my go to pie crust recipe from now - it's so delicious! The only thing that wasn't delicious were the granny smith apples I used - it was so sour; I think I'll do a sweet-tart apple mix next time. And the crust turned out to be soggy and uncooked on the bottom. so the second time, I baked - i placed the pie pan directly on the bottom of the oven, brushed egg white over the crust and sprinkled cookie crumbs before piling on the filling. this time, it worked like a charm :)
