Custard Cream

Ingredients:

1 tsp plain flour
1 tbsp corn flour

4 tbsp sugar

1 egg

200 mL milk

1 tbsp butter, soften

Chocolate Sponge (scaled up)

Method:

In a small pot, mix together flours, sugar and 2 tbsp milk till smooth.

Whisk-in egg till homogeneous.

Pour-in milk and stir over low-heat to thicken.

Once reach a spreadable consistency, remove from heat.

Stir-in butter to a smooth cream.

Keep in refrigerator till use.

Chocolate Paste I (Vanilla Swiss Roll)

Ingredients:

Chocolate Paste

2⅓ tbsp plain flour

40 mL sugar

1 egg white

80 mL milk, warmed

1½ tbsp cocoa power

10 g butter soften

2 tbsp Nutella/grounded nut (optional)

Vanilla Sponge

3 eggs, room temperature

65 g caster sugar

80 g flour

20 g butter, melted

3 drops vanilla extract

Method:

To Prepare the Chocolate Paste

In a small pot, mix together flour, sugar and egg white till smooth.

Mix-in milk and cocoa powder.

Over low-heat, stir the mixture to thicken.

Once reach a spreadable consistency, remove from heat.

Stir-in butter and Nutella to yield a smooth paste.

Keep in refrigerator till use.

To Prepare the Vanilla Sponge

Line a 23 x 30 cm baking tray with parchment paper, set aside.

Sift flour, set aside.

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs and sugar on high speed till thick, pale and glossy then whisk at low speed for another 1 min.

Fold-in butter and vanilla.

Gradually, fold-in flour to yield homogeneous batter.

Spread batter onto the prepared tray.

Bake for 15 min or until the surface is golden brown and skewer inserted into the sponge and come out clean.

Remove tray from oven and cool sponge/paper on wire rack covered.

Dust a bigger sheet of parchment paper with icing sugar, inverse-on the sponge with brown side down and remove the attached former parchment paper.

Spread-on the prepared chocolate paste and roll-up sponge by lifting up the large parchment paper pressurized outward.

Transfer the Swiss roll with seam side down into fridge and chill for 30 min or more before serving.

Creamy Broccoli Soup with Croutons

Ingredients:

Croutons

6 cup Baguette/hard bread, cubed
4 clove garlic, mashed
pinch of salt
2 tbsp chopped/dried parsley
1/3 cup olive oil

Soup

1 large head broccoli, washed, stem removed & roughly cut
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, roughly sliced
2 cup water/stock
1½ tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
150 ml heavy cream
150 ml milk

Garnish

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 handful broccoli
some water for sprinkling
pinch salt
dash black pepper

Method:

To prepare the croutons:

Preheat oven to 200 °C.

In a large mixing bowl, mix bread cubes with all the ingredients and stir well to coat homogeneously.

Spoon onto a baking tray and spread out evenly into single layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes and stir occasionally about two times during baking.

Remove from oven and set aside.

To prepare the soup:

In a pot, melt butter in 1 tbsp of oil over medium high heat, saute onion until softened with occasional stirring.

Add-in half of broccoli, and stir for short while.

Pour-in stock and bring to boil.

Reduce heat, cover and let simmer until broccoli is tender.

Add-in the remaining broccoli, cover and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove from heat and blend it into smooth puree in several batches (depending on the size of your blender).

Transfer into saucepan/pot, season with salt, pepper and garlic powder, then stir in cream and milk over low heat right before serving.

Garnish with sauteed broccoli and serve with croutons.

To prepare the garnish:

In a saucepan, heat oil over moderate high heat and stir-fry broccoli for shot while.

Sprinkle-on some water, reduce heat and seasoning with salt and pepper.

Cook the broccoli accordingly with occasional stirring.

Streusel Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

Streusel:

1 cup finely grounded cornflakes
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup r0asted salted peanut, grounded
1/2 cup (90 g) butter, mellted

Cake batter:

2 cup cake flour
1 cup sugar
4 tbsp instant coffee powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a cake pan ( 18 cm in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs (or flour) and tapping out excess; set aside.

To prepare the streusel topping:

In a bowl, combine grounded cornflakes, sugar, peanuts and butter.

Stir to mix and form crumbs; set aside.

To prepare cake batter:

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, coffee powder, baking powder and salt, stir to mix.

Add-in butter, eggs and milk, whisk until the mixture is smooth and glossy (about 2 minutes).

To assembly:

Pour half of the batter into the prepared cake pan.

Sprinkle with half of the streusel crumbs.

Pour-in the remaining batter over the streusel layer.

And sprinkle-on the remaining streusel onto the batter layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for at least 10 minutes (allow cake to shrink from cake pan).

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake.

Transfer cake onto a serving plate and ready to serve.

Onion Pie (Torta Insalata di Cipolla)

Ingredients:

Base:

230 g puff pastry (pasta sfoglia)

Filling:

25 g butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 kg onion, sliced
2 eggs
1 cup milk and 90 g butter or 1 cup double cream
2 ½ tsp salt or to taste
1 cup Parmesan cheese

Method:

Preheat oven to 190 °C.

Roll out puff pastry together with the provided parchment paper on a lightly grease pie pan ( 28 cm in diameter); keep in refrigerator till use.

In a large saute pan, heat butter and oil over medium high heat.

Add-in onion and saute covered for about 30 minutes or till onion is softened and cooked (stir occasionally to avoid burning).

With another small pot, melt butter with milk over low heat, remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

Beat-in egg, follow by cheese and salt.

Stir-in cooked onion and spoon the filling into the prepared pie case.

Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, or until filling is lightly set or till surface is browned as prefer.

Best serve warm or at room temperature for party.

Coffee-Nutella Marbled Hot Milk Cake

Ingredients:

110 g butter
1 cup milk
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 cups cake flour
2 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder

4 tbsp instant or soluble coffee powder (I used soluble orzo)
2 tbsp nutella jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 °C.

Lightly grease a chiffon cake pan ( 6 inches in diameter), dust bottom and side of pan with bread crumbs (or flour) and tapping out excess; set aside.

Add butter to milk and heat to boil, remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk egg and sugar till pale, thick and glossy.

Add-in flours, salt and baking powder, whisk thoroughly.

Pour-in the warm milk and stir to incorporate fully.

Divide batter into 2 portions.

Combine 1 portion with coffee powder and nutella.

Alternate the two batters topping and layering till finish.

Bake in the preheated oven for 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of cake comes out clean.

Remove cake from oven, let cake cool in pan for at least 10 minutes (allow cake to shrink from cake pan).

Run a thin flexible knife or spatula around the pan to loosen the cake, invert cake onto a plate.

Dust with powdered sugar (optional) and serve.