Quick treats

Uber quick post with recipe.

Having bought too much pumpkin for 2 a couple of days earlier, I turned the surplus pumpkin puree into pumpkin ice cream. It was good, but there's room for improvement (a tad icy due to the high water content, methinks). Then ended up with 4 surplus egg whites. There was a quick twitter convo with Gastronomous Anonymous about what to do with them (macarons were mentioned, but given my 50/50 track record I wasn't ready to tackle them again... yet); conclusion somehow came to steamed milk custard, Hong Kong style.

What the heck. Super easy, kinda quick. As long as the steaming time is right it's pretty much fail safe.

Here goes.

For 1 egg white: 2 1/2 slightly heaped teaspoons sugar (I used raw castor, but you can use white), 150ml milk.

Beat the eggs with the sugar until all the sugar has dissolved and the mix is frothy, but not stiff. Beat in the milk until combined well. Sieve to remove the froth.


Pour into desired bowl, cover (with foil, baking paper, or an upside down plate) and steam on a medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until just set - the centre should have a nice panna cotta like wobble.

Serve piping hot or chilled from the fridge. Up to you.

Obviously for a firmer custard, use less milk. For a more decadent one, add more milk or substitute part of the milk for pouring cream - make sure the cream hasn't got any gums or thickeners though. And adjust the sugar to taste.

Post done, just as my last custard is ready from the steamer. Told you it'd be quick!

Adriano Zumbo 21st May, 2010

Tiramisu: hazelnut sable, flourless chocolate biscuit, mascarpone creme legere, coffee brulee, baked hazelnut creme with a shot of coffee.

I must admit, tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts of all time.

There's something irresistable about the combination of smooth mascarpone and sabayon, the soft lady fingers soaked in rich espresso and liqueur, with a liberal dusting of shaved dark chocolate.

So simple.

Tiramisu was, for 3 years, my birthday cake of choice. In fact, I refused to let my family buy a cake for that day, insisting on making my own tiramisu. It was my annual therapy. The rhythm of whisking eggs and sugar and mascarpone, the anxiety in dipping lady fingers in coffee and hoping they won't break (inevitably cringing when they do, but that's easily fixed), and slipping that little extra bit of tipple for that extra bit of flavour...then some more.

A crowd pleaser, every time. Guaranteed.

Yet, despite its simplicity, it is still butchered and slaughtered by so many. I've lost count of the times I've ordered a tiramisu and was disappointed. Some were thick, others dry. Then there are those which contained no mascarpone--only stiffly whipped cream loaded with gelatin. The final blow came when a family friend dropped off her tiramisu: a sickly yellow concoction that was overly sweet and warm. Warm!

I guess that was the main reason I bought the tiramisu from Zumbo last week, instead of the mandarin and rose (macarons and rose-flavoured food stuffs...they deserve their own stories). That last tiramisu had pushed me over the edge. I needed to be reassured that tiramisus are generally done well. And who better than Adriano Zumbo, patissier extraordinaire?

On presentation, I was not disappointed. It was an adorable thing, with the chocolate circle and disc, perfectly tempered. The baked hazelnut cream was speckled with vanilla, a tad sweet for my taste, but wonderfully nutty. The espresso shot was surprising--one to be experienced, for sure. I admit, the sable was a bit difficult, resisting attack from my fork most of the time, but it was addictive. As was the chocolate biscuit. And the mascarpone.

This has to be one of the better desserts I have tasted from Adriano Zumbo (my favourite remains the dark chocolate Sacher--wonder if it'll be available over the Queen's Birthday weekend?). Like its predecessors, it was a tad too sweet for my taste (more to do with me, love sweets, but can't have them too sweet) but the elements worked wonderfully together. So much so I'm actually looking forward to trying a few more from the current collection this time.

More overwhelmingly, I want more tiramisu now. Perhaps a trip down to Bar Italia, for the best tiramisu gelato next time I'm in town?

zumbo time!

The name Adriano Zumbo meant nothing to me until early this year, when my venture into the realm of food blogging brought page after page of photos and reviews of his "divinely" dessert creations. Talks of cakes, chocolate and macarons made me drool like a fool during my lonely himono onna* net surfing hours, and the Zumbo name refused to go away.

*himono onna: from the J-Drama Hotaru no Hikari, the term refers to young women who prefer to laze around at home, surfing the net, watching TV and reading manga than to go out with friends during their free time.


Cake Box, Adriano Zumbo

Nestled between a bottleshop and a chemist, the actual Zumbo patisserie is a narrow and long space, with just enough room for a shop assistant (or two), the cakes and a handful of customers at any one time: three is, at Zumbo's, definitely a crowd.

While pastries, croissants and bread feature, the cakes definitely steal the spotlight. Each one is an edible piece of artwork, seemingly careless yet deliberate in its execution, a simple, yet provocative both visually and in terms of taste. No sloppiness, no nonsense.


Sacher's sister Blanca

Like the blondie to the brownie, Blanca is the white chocolate and pear reinterpretation of the classic Viennese Sachertorte. The top layer of white chocolate ganache is creamy and vanilla-y, and unbelievably smooth. The sacher cake provides a lovely background for the white chocolate and pear notes, but to me the dark chocolate ganache is a stroke of genius. Where the other flavours are lovely and light, this packs a punch, providing the perfect contrast.



Upside down Cloud

I've been wanting to try out the Upside down Cloud ever since seeing the collection. A rework of the Zumbo classic, it is essentially a baked meringue pavlova with lemon curd, topped with devine sable dust. The lemon curd is what a lemon curd should be: smooth, rich, and very, very lemony. The meringue crust is crisp and melts in your mouth, the centre soft and slightly chewy. The sable dust rounds off the entire experience, with its buttery scent and grainy texture.


Miss Marple, deconstructed.

This is a dessert from the cafe menu. Maple and mascarpone filled crepes in orange butter, with strawberries and frozen orange jellies. While the crepes didn't have the "wow" factor I expected (it was too gooey and rich), the frozen orange jellies were surprisingly good. It was like eating shaved orange ice which slowly turned into a jelly as it melted in your mouth, before exploding and washing your tastebuds with freshly squeezed real orange juice.

While Zumbo is a little expensive (the cakes were around $7 each, and Miss Marple almost $14), they are worth their price. The quality of ingredients and the genius of the creations are unparalleled, each like a refreshing Murakami novel- the familiar is made unfamiliar through imagination, style, and execution. It is best shared with someone close to your heart: each cake is an experience that can, in itself, carry a full conversation, as well as being quite filling.