Archive for June 2015

Review: La Pâtisserie des Rêves

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This is a pretty backed up review since I've been to La Pâtisserie des Rêves aaages ago while I was still living in London.  La Pâtisserie des Rêves was founded by Philippe Conticini and Thierry Teyssier in 2009, and they quite recently opened up a new branch at Marylebone High Street around 2014, which was the branch I went to since it's only about 15 minutes away from where I used to live. I first heard about the shop thanks to my friend Camila who raved about their iconic Paris Brest, and after taking a look at their website I was hooked on the idea of going. 
On their website, they state that the concept of the stores is to make "Each experience – before, during and after the gourmet moment – is a link to our childhood, an experience to share, a story to tell." Walking into the store, I was pretty much engulfed by a wave of childlike wonder. I felt like I was transported into an imaginary world, a cross between a circus and Willa Wonka's factory. Even though the shop is actually pretty tiny, I still felt pretty overwhelmed by it; the decor, the ambience, the wall to wall pastries and sweets...I even managed to pluck up the courage to ask if I could take pictures to remember this place by even though I'm generally a huge chicken and would have been to self conscious to do something like that normally.



Unfortunately I was still too self conscious to eat alone, so I had my pastries to take away! They were pretty pricey (~£6) so I decided to just go with two pastries first. I had to get their iconic Paris Brest, of course, and one of their seasonal pastries, the Vanilla and Red Fruits Charlotte.

The praline cream in the Paris Brest was really, really gorgeous. It was very light, but at the same time had enough of a substantial feel to it to make it oh so satisfying. The choux pastry was a little bit more disappointing because there wasn't much of a crunchiness from the streusel, which I had come to expect. Perhaps it got soggy on the journey home?  That being said, did not detract from this being absolutely delicious. 4/5 just because of that gorgeous execution of the cream, and because I've always been partial to the combination of choux pastries and cream.
The Charlotte is described as having a "divine lime sponge biscuit powdered with matcha tea, and filled with silky vanilla cream, raspberry mousse, fresh red fruit compote, topped off with a soft raspberry glaze." That sounds divine and all, but really the overwhelming flavour here is the raspberry mousse and the compote. The vanilla and the lime sponge biscuit kind of get lost in the strong tartness of the raspberry and the red fruit, which is not necessarily a bad thing because honestly, I'm really only buying this for the raspberry flavour and not for the subtle nuances of lime and vanilla, so it doesn't really matter to me if the subtlety of the nuances gets lost in translation. 3.5/5 for taste, because of the overwhelming tartiness, but 5/5 for presentation. I mean just look at it! 

Look at the gold lustre! So gorgeous.
See how intricately layered it is on the inside?
I had the chance to visit the place a second time, this time with a friend in tow to help me finish more sinfully delicious goodies hehe. We ordered the Gran Cru Chocolate, and the Coffee Eclair. Okay first of all let me just repeat myself, 5/5 for presentation for EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND STYLISH AND ELEGANT I CAN'T EVEN. Okay, now on to more objective reviews.
First of all,oh my god. The Gran Cru Chocolate. Has to be my favourite chocolate cake, ever, which is saying a lot because I've had a lot of chocolate cakes in my day (self-confessed chocoholic here). It just has the most perfect combination of textures and is an absolute, melt-in-your-mouth treat. 10 out of 5, because it is da bomb, no further explanation needed. 
The Coffee Eclair was another very, very pleasant surprise. Unlike other eclairs, the thin, milk chocolate shell is not just limited to the top of the pastry but wraps around it entirely. Bite into it, and you'll experience the intense espresso flavour of the rich cream within the pastry that contrasts very nicely with the sweetness of the milk chocolate shell. What can I say? It ticked all the right boxes, so 5/5 for taste. 
I loved the pastries here, I really did, and if I had a bigger wallet I would have tried them all. Although I probably won't be going back to London in awhile, at least they have branches in Paris (naturally), so I could definitely still try them out (it'll probably be even better in the original branch maybe?). Writing all this definitely hasn't done much for my midnight cravings, so I'll try to go to bed before my stomach consumes my entire being. Goodnight! x

Baking Adventure: Ispahan Ombre Cake

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I'm back in Singapore! Right after I arrive home and my aunt and mom requested that I bake a cake for them for our 'joint birthdays' since we all have birthdays in June, so I pulled this cake together! I wanted to take this cake as an opportunity to practice more decorating techniques, so I decided to go with ombre sides, and to practice my flower piping skills, I went with more roses on the top in a crescent shape.
I remember trying ispahan out for the very first time at UCL's Bake Off and I remember especially how popular it was with my friends who did try it, so I decided to try attempting the flavour combination out in a layer cake! For the uninitiated, ispahan is the flavour combination of rose, lychee and raspberry. I'm not 100% sure of this, but I have heard that the flavour combination was popularised by the famous Pierre Herme of macaron fame. Since it's lychee season here in Asia, I thought this would be the perfect cake to make to take advantage of that, however I totally underestimated how expensive raspberries can be in Singapore! So, no fresh raspberries on this cake, I had to make do with just regular raspberry jam to get that hint of raspberry in.

To pipe buttercream roses, you'll need a petal piping tip (mine is the Wilton 104, which is medium-small one), and if you're going to place them on a regular layer cake, I would recommend getting a piping nail too. Basically you'll pipe on the nail, and then use a pair of lifting scissors (or clean, regular scissors) to lift the flower from the nail and place it on the cake. You can pipe buttercream flowers directly onto cupcakes without using a piping nail, but for cupcakes I would recommend a petal tip larger than the 104, maybe the 123 and upwards.
Close up of the ombre sides
 To get the ombre sides, you need a round piping tip, preferably a large one. I got my round tip from a random store on Amazon, but it's the equivalent of a Wilton 1A. You'll need three different colours from the same colour family but from a light shade to the darkest shade. Then you'll need to pipe a round dot on the side and use a palette knife to flatten one side of the dot. Then place a darker colour below, and do the same. Continue doing this until you cover the entire side of the cake. When you get to the last dot, there won't be space to flatten it without messing up the other dots, so just leave it as a dot without flattening it.


What a nightmare it was to pipe the flowers! I was almost crying in frustration because the buttercream just kept melting in the insane heat in my kitchen, and I had to keep putting the piping bag in the freezer to cool the buttercream between each flower to make sure the flowers wouldn't melt, but as you can see, some of them still did. In the end, I gave up and started using my Wilton 1M Star tip to create swirly roses to fill up the blank spots. 


My mother insisted on putting more lychees on the top before we brought it over to the BBQ/celebration, hence the difference in design. Flowers also melted slightly in the scorching heat, unfortunately. :( I adapted my recipe from this one by Oh So Sweet Baker , but made a few changes of my own!

Ingredients: 
For the cake (makes enough for two 20 cm diameter layers)
  • 200 g butter, softened 
  • 5 eggs
  • 170 g yoghurt
  • 250 g white caster sugar 
  • 275 g self-raising flour
  • 80 g roughly chopped pistachios
  • 1 tsp baking soda 
  • 0.5 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp rose essence 
For first layer of frosting (to place in between layers)
  • 50 g butter
  • 275 g cream cheese
  • 175 g icing/powder sugar
For second layer of frosting (to decorate with), just use any basic buttercream but skip adding milk! 
For assembling 
  • Chopped pistachios
  • Fresh lychees
  • Raspberry jam 
Method:
For the cake:
  1. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line your 20 cm diameter round cake tins with baking paper 
  2. Cream butter and sugar until soft and creamy, then add eggs one at a time, mixing to ensure eggs are fully incorporated.
  3. Add yoghurt and rose essence.
  4. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate, clean bowl, then add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
  5. Gently fold in pistachios.
  6. Bake for 20-35 minutes (this is highly dependent on your oven! The recipe said 20 minutes but with my oven it took longer, about 30-35 minutes) or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
  7. Leave to cool completely
For the frosting: 
  1. Cream butter until soft, then add cream cheese and then finally icing sugar, until powdered sugar is fully incorporated. If too soft, add more icing sugar.
Assembly:
  1. Level tops of cakes. Spread raspberry jam (heat it slightly in a microwave so its more watery and easier to apply) over first layer, then top with cream cheese frosting and add chopped pistachios. Place second layer on top.
  2. Put thin layer of cream cheese frosting over entire cake (just as a crumb layer)
  3. Carry out decorative aspects, aka ombre sides and buttercream flowers.
  4. Top with fresh lychees (if you have access to cheap raspberries, those too!)
And that's it! Let me know if you have any questions about the recipe/ method! Bye all x

Choux shopping: Maitre Choux

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Since it's one of my last days in London, I decided to finally tick a few things off my food bucket list before I leave, and Maitre Choux is one of them! Maitre Choux is a recently opened patisserie, that, as the name suggests, is dedicated solely to choux pastry, i.e  – éclairs, profiteroles and chouquettes. According to Time Out, Maitre Choux is opened by Joakim Prat, who is from "Biarritz in south-west France, and has a career that sounds as much of a sugar rush as the pastries he now sells. His puddings previously graced plates at L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon. "

With a resume like that, it comes as no surprise that the pastries here are a LEETLE bit on the pricey side- about £5 for an eclair and £3 for a little chouquette. I chose not to eat at the patisserie because there were no seats left, so I can't comment on the atmosphere or decor there and any thoughts here will be based solely on the pastries themselves. 
 First of all, love the packaging. Colourful, fun and sleek at the same time.
From top to bottom: Multi-origin chocolate, Tahitian Vanilla with pecans, Strawberry and Raspberry, and lastly Violet and Wildberries
 I was pretty disappointed that the little signs weren't edible.

 

First of all, let's talk about the pros. There are just SO MANY FLAVOURS! You walk into the store and you're just overwhelmed by the choices; besides the ones that I got there were also flavours such as pistachio, lemon cream, tiramisu and a seasonal special of fresh berries. You won't just find boring old chocolate and coffee eclairs here.  All the eclairs are meticulously designed to delight your visual senses and are just SO PRETTY. Inner bimbo moment here, but really, these eclairs are the pastry equivalent of a Celine bag for the rich and stylish with waspish waists. 

Cons: THESE ECLAIRS ARE FUCKING TINY. Like, half the size of a regular eclair almost, for twice the price. Like, ok, it looks kind of cute and all but are you kidding me? You could eat four of these at one go and it would barely have an effect on your waist line. That being said, nobody's asking you to eat these for breakfast everyday. For an occasional, indulgent treat, I think it's okay to splurge a little.



Taste wise, they're all pretty good. I normally love chocolate, but that was surprisingly the one I was least impressed with. It just tasted really ordinary, nothing special about it at all. My top picks from the ones I've tried would be the Violet and berries flavour, and the Tahitian vanilla. The vanilla because it was far from the same ol' same ol' vanilla flavour we're all used to. It has a much stronger flavour than ordinary vanilla, but at the same time doesn't overwhelm. Take that and sprinkle the nutty goodness of the crunchy pecans on top and you've got a winner. The violet one, just because I've never really tasted anything like it before. There's just the hint of zestiness in it, with the delicate sweetness of blueberries and something else I can't quite put my finger on (the violet maybe?). 

Overall, I'd give these eclairs 4.5/5. Love the concept, love the selection, presentation is flawless and taste wise, it lived up to my expectations. Minus 0.5 because of the  hefty price tag, but I suppose you do get what you pay for.

So that's it! Time to think of what to have for dinner now. #glutton4lyf

Barcelona

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After our sojourn in Lisbon was over, we headed to Barcelona, the city of Tapas! Okay kidding, Barcelona is so much more than that, but for me food is one of the most important factors that make my holiday enjoyable so this was probably the focus of my trip. 

On our first day we just did some shopping so I didn't take any photos, but on our second day we decided to go for a Sandemann Tour. If you're not familiar, Sandemann Tours are free tours operating around most of the big cities in Europe. The tour guides work on a tips only basis so you can give (or not give) the amount of tips you thought they deserved. All the tours I've gone for have been really good, the tour guides are always super knowledgeable and enthusiastic and they're really friendly, so I would highly recommend going for one! It's always nice I think, to do these tours on the first few days so you kind of get a good feel of the city and it's history and culture before you go around and do more in depth exploring on your own. 
Our guide from Sandemann Tours. 

A doodle Picasso made on a napkin being turned into a mural in the centre of Barcelona!

Bullet marks
Catalonian history is fascinating, but also tragic and full of bloodshed. Here was a wall in which Franco would line up his political enemies and execute them firing squad style. The marks  you see on the wall are where the bullets hit the wall.
Gaudi's first commission
In Placa Reial you can see one of Gaudi's first and last commissions for city council, which were these cool looking lamp posts. Unfortunately, he kind of got screwed over by the city council when they didn't have enough money to pay him for his work, in which he proceeded to throw a fit and refuse to ever work for them again. (All his later work were private commissions)
LOVE the street art that's on display in Barcelona. They're clever, political and visually stunning, all things that I LOVE in art (street or not). These were just some that I snapped when our Sandemann Tour paused for a while, but there were others that were even cooler which I didn't have time to snap.

After our tour was over we headed to La Colmena, one of the oldest cake shops in Barcelona. They have a huge selection of pastries and sweets on display, but I got this Corneta de Trufa which honestly tasted just like a Cornetto lol. They specialise in bon-bons, although I didn't get any myself. 
Flower display for the Primavera festival
Afterwards we headed to another famous bakery, Escriba! Escriba was opened by the Catalan pastry chef and chocolate sculptor Antoni Escriba, who was known for his avant garde creations, most notably his 3D recreations of Picasso and Dali's works. The presentation was gorgeous, and the taste was pretty good too. Nothing stunning, but still pretty yummy. Probably would have ordered a bit more if we hadn't been so full.

Afterwards, we headed to Segons Mercat for dinner. We decided to come to this place because it was recommended on Ladyironchef's website, and on the way there we stopped to take a bunch of goofy photos haha.
Duck and Foie Croquettes
Calamari
Baby eels with a fried egg
Ox cheek gnocchi
Razor clams
Prawns with garlic
Seafood paella
It wasn't the best tapas I've ever had, but I would recommend people to try this place anyway just because they have some pretty cool items on the menu, like the duck and foie croquettes and the baby eels that I hadn't really seen elsewhere in Barcelona. My recommendations: the croquettes and the baby eels!

Magic fountains!


The next day we headed to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (Museum of Catalan Art), but we decided to not go in the museum and just explore the parks and the Olympic Stadium. Spammed flower photos because I'm obsessed. 
Welcome to Dorne!

It was lunch time, and we were peckish, so we headed to Carrer Blai for some cheap tapas and on the way I snapped a picture of this gorgeous piece of art.

For dinner, we headed to Barceloneta to try out La Bombeta which came highly recommended by our Airbnb host, but we were distracted by the festivities going on. I think the festival is called the Festa dels cors de la Barceloneta, but whatever it's called, it was SO fun. Atmosphere was amazing, the samba bands were playing Eurhythmics' Sweet Dreams, Michael Jackson songs, etc etc and everyone was just partying along to the songs.
FYI if you do go to La Bombeta (which I highly recommend), try the Bombas! They're basically potato balls with some kind of spicy mayo sauce, but they are just so fxcking yummy I can't even omg. Everything else on the menu (minus the calamari) was super yummy as well. 

No visit to Barcelona is complete without a visit to the Sagrada Familia. IMO probably the pinnacle of Gaudi's works; the photos don't do any justice to how beautiful it is in person. 


Lastly, we headed to Parc Guell, another one of Gaudi's commissions. It was pretty as well, but I personally prefer the Sagrada Familia (though comparing a park to a cathedral is kind of comparing apples and oranges but oh well)
"Insert cheesy Nelly Furtado lyrics here"


End of photospam for Lisbon x Barcelona! In other news, am experiencing serious wanderlust right now looking through all these photos. Hopefully I'll get to go on another trip soon sigh.

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