A year of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

A year of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream

Fen and myself were very fortunate to have one year of Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream and rightfully I think I should do a grand summary of the flavors which I ate this year. Here are my comments of the 12 flavors which I tried. They are ranked according to my preference. (1 being my favorite flavor)

1. Strawberry Cheesecake
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream with Strawberry & a Thick Cookie Swirl. This one is one of the rare flavors without chocolate and nuts. What I really like about this is that it is not too sweet and it cookie swirl resembles the butter shortbread in a cheesecake. The smoothest of the ice cream also makes it a good alternative to cheesecake itself.

2. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Vanilla Ice Cream with chunks of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. This flavor is actually very close to the other 2 flavors (Half baked and A Cookie Affair) I preferred this one over the other 2 as the Cookie is more distinct and there were generous chocolate chips. This is similar to eating cookies and cream with cookie dough.

3. Triple Caramel Chunk
Caramel Ice Cream with Swirl of Caramel & Chocolatey Covered Caramel Chunks. Ben and Jerry's is typically rich and chunky, this one is a must for Caramel lovers. It is caramel, caramel and caramel.

4. Chubby Hubby
Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels in Vanilla Malt Ice Cream with Fudge & Peanut Buttery Swirls. This one is a little closer to a peanut butter flavored Ice Cream. What I liked about it is the Crunchy Fudge Covered Peanut Butter Filled Pretzels. It is liken to having cadbury crunchie in the ice cream.

5. Phish Food
Chocolate Ice Cream with Gooey Marshmallow, Caramel Swirls & Chocolatey Fish. Initially I felt that the chocolate bits which resembles a fish was too hugh but slowly I grew to like it. The combination of caramel and chocolate ice cream was good. This was topped with the crunch from the chocolate.

6. Clusterfluff
Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Peanut Buttery Swirls, Marshmallow Swirls and Caramel Cluster Pieces. This one is similar to eating peanut candy. One thing to note is that it is nicer when it is fresh as the Caramel Pieces are crunchy. After leaving in the fridge for sometime, the pieces become soft.

7. Chunky Monkey
Banana Ice Cream with Fudge Chunks & Walnuts. This is an all time favorite for many. Banana is not as rich as opposed to the other chocolatey flavors,

8. Half Baked
Chocolate and Vanilla Ice Creams Mixed with Chunks of Chocolate Chip cookie dough & Fudge Brownies. The first impression I had was that it was like eating the choco-vanilla cone at Mac with bits of cookie and brownie. I kind of preferred the more pure version of cookie dough. i.e. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

9. A Cookie Affair
Vanilla Ice Cream with a Chocolate Cookie Swirl & Chocolate chip Cookies & Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies. I kind of preferred the half bake kind of cookie rather than this version. It is a little like the ordinary cookies and cream.

10. Dublin Mudslide
Irish Cream Liqueur Ice Cream with chocolate chocolate Chop cookies & a Coffee Fudge Swirl. Used to be my favorite but this time I could not feel the liqueur and it was just too sweet for my liking.

11. New York Super Fudge Chunk
Chocolate Ice Cream with white & Dark chocolatey chunks. chocolatey-covered Almonds & Pecans, Walnuts. You must really like nuts to like this. Almost every other scoop had a nut - almond, pecan or walnut.

12. Chocolate Macadamia
Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams with Fudge Covered Macadamia Nuts. This one is not too sweet and generous with Macadamia Nuts.

Well that raps up my Ice Cream feast for 2011. Of course, as you can see that my preference is bias towards caramel and cookie. Hence you may not agree with my pick but hope it helps when you are considering which yummy flavor to pick when you are at the supermarket. Following a year of Ice Cream, I think my new year's resolution must be to lost weight. Happy New Year to all readers and thanks to the folks at Unilever for a fantastic year of Ice Cream tasting.

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Paris in Winter @ Canele

Paris in Winter @ Canele

The reason why we bought Canele's log cake was because of the triple chocolate cheese cake which I tried earlier this week.Since Chef Christope took over the helm at Canele, the mousse at Canele has improved. I.e. It has become very smooth.

The Paris in Winter ($72.90 for 1kg) contains a layer of chestnut cream and sponge between a thick coat of 75% dark chocolate mousse and filled with Lychee Mousse. The chocolate mousse is no doubt one of smoothest in town. The most outstanding thing about this log cake is the Lychee Mousse with a very strong flavor comparable to eating the fruit itself.


If you have not been to Canele for sometime, we urge you drop someday.

Canele Pâtisserie Chocolaterie
Shaw Centre
1 Scotts Road
#01-01A, Shaw Centre
Singapore 228208
Tel: 6738 9020
Website

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Hilton Singapore 2011 Logcakes

Hilton Singapore 2011 Logcakes

Hilton Singapore new Executive Pastry Chef Romain Laloue came up with 5 logcakes creations for this Christmas. We were honored to be one of the first to sample his creation - The Swirl. The Swirl is a fruity pink cake that captures most girls' heart, presenting a light sponge swiss rolled with refreshing fruit jelly made from fresh fruit puree laced with strawberry and raspberry mousse. This cake is then covered with a velvet Venezuela chocolate for a polish finish. Though the cake was light and refreshing, Yuan found it too sour for his liking.

Would say that this will appeal to those who likes berries or more tang than sweetness in their desserts.

The other flavors are:

1) Cheese: Essentially this is Hilton's renowned American Cheesecake with raspberry jam centre.


2) Jonconde: A traditional French pastry named after the famous Mona Lisa, featuring a cake with a variety of textures to delight the palate. Chef added a modern twist to this almond sponge cake by adding whisky to give a bitter-sweet aftertaste before encasing it with glossy chestnut buttercream.


3) Matcha: Green Tea lovers will definitely be thrilled with this fresh combination of match with chestnut. Savour rich aromatic chestnut cream made from Cuneo chestnuts generously spread between soft layers of ladyfinger sponge cake laced with jewels of glazed chestnuts. Sink your teeth into the light sponge to reveal a specially prepared green tea mousse made from the finest matcha in the cake centre.


4) Sensation: A true indulgence for chocolate lovers, featuring mousse made from premium Manjari cocoa from Madagascar and Caribe chocolate paired with rich vanilla cream made from Tahitian Vanilla Beans. These specially imported beans give the cake an additional sweetness with its natural caramel flavor. And if these are not enough, every bite of this cake is studded with chunks of soft brownies to satisfy any sweet-tooth.

Special thanks to Yen Lin, Marketing Communications Executive for the complementary log cake.

Checkers Brasserie
Hilton Singapore
581 Orchard Road
Singapore 238883
Tel: 6730 3390

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Apple Frangipane Tart

Apple Frangipane Tart

Haven't been baking for some time and realized that almond powder was about to expire. Hence I surf the web and come across the recipe for Apple Frangipane Tart.

Do note that the recipe is taken from Joy of Baking's Apple Frangipane Tart and I have decided to incorporate the Almond Short Dough (taken from Tartlette’s Strawberry Lime Tartelettes) to compare the two types of pastry shells.


For short notes and photos on the almond short dough, please refer to our previous post.

- Short notes on Pate Brisee -
According to Joy of Baking, this is a French short crust pastry made from a mixture of flour, sugar, salt, unsalted butter, and ice water and the video posted by Stephanie is extremely useful. Through the video, I confidently used the food processor to make the dough and everything goes well.


Being an amateur baker, as what Stephanie has mentioned, it is not easy to roll the dough into a nice big round and after making it thin, it was quite a challenge to line it on the tart rings so from the picture, you can see there are many fingerprints and patches of dough.

Recipe (For six 8-cm tarts)
Pie Crust: (half of Joy of Baking's original recipe)
Ingredients needed:
87.5 gm plain flour
7 gm granulated white sugar
56.5 gm salted butter
15 ml ice water

Steps
1. Cut the butter into cubes and chill it in the freezer
2. Place flour and sugar into the food processor. Pulse to combine
3. Add butter into the food processor. Pulse (in quick and multiple times) to combine until coarse meal is obtained
4. Add ice water to the coarse meal. Pulse to achieve crumbs that holds together when pinched
5. Transfer the mixture to a plastic wrap, gather it into a tight ball and refrigerate for an hour or until firm
6. Roll the pastry and cut out six 3-inch rounds to form the base of the tart crust
7. Press in some dough at the side of the tart rings, patting the dough with fingertips
8. Put the lined tart rings into the refrigerator to relax the gluten

P.S. As mentioned, I didn't manage to get a nice big round as what the video has shown and I would prefer to make it into small tarts to reduce the baking time.

***

Frangipane (Almond Cream): (this amount is sufficient to make twelve 8-cm tarts as two type of dough were used in this attempt)
40 gm salted butter
12 gm plain flour
50 gm granulated white sugar
50 gm almond powder
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract



Steps
1. Combine flour, almond powder, sugar in a mixing bowl
2. Rub in butter
3. Mix in egg and vanilla extract to get a paste

***

1. Slice the apples and add some lemon juice to prevent oxidation of apples
2. Mix the sliced apples with cinnamon
3. Remove chilled pastry (in tart rings) from the refrigerator and spread the frangipane onto the crust
4. Arrange sliced apples and sprinkle some icing sugar before baking
5. Bake it for 20 minutes at 190°C

Note: The recipe for the almond short dough can be found here. As mentioned, the tart shells were blind baked for 10 minutes at 175°C. After assembling the tart with frangipane and sliced apples, the tarts were baked for 20 minutes at 175°C.

- Ending Note –
Both type of tart pastry taste just as good with apples but for a lighter taste, I would prefer the pie crust over the almond short dough. The effect of the buttery crust makes it akin to eating a shortbread that is lightly sweetened by the frangipane and tangy apples (due to the use of Grammy Smith Green Apples and the addition of lemon juice). For sweeter tooth, the almond short dough is still an all time favorite and naturally with more sugar and almond powder, this has a richer taste.

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Ben and Jerry's Chunk Fest 2011

Ben and Jerry's Chunk Fest 2011

The much anticipated Ben and Jerry’s ChunkFest 2011 is back again for another year of ice-cream domination. ChunkFest was held this year on October 15th 2011, from 2pm till 10pm at the Promontory @ Marina Bay. Fairness is the theme for this year. Helping to spread the fairness message this year are the Fair booths, and singing about it are local bands who will battle it out fairly for a chance to perform at Sundae on the Common in the UK in 2012!


Anyway since this is a dessert blog, we should focus on the 11 flavors which are specially flown in from the USA and not available yet in Singapore. If you cannot make out from the photo above. The 11 flavors are

(1)Spice chocolate - Chocolate Ice Cream with a Hint of Moroccan-Style Spice and Loaded with Almonds
(2)Late Night Snack - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Salty Caramel Swirl & Fudge covered Potato Chip Clusters
(3)Froyo Choc Fudge Brownie - Chocolatae Low Fat Frozen Yogurt with Fudge Brownies
(4)Coffee - Coffee Ice Cream
(5)Froyo Half Baked - Chocolate & Vanilla Low Fat Frozen Yogurts with Fudgey Brownies & Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
(6)Butter Pecan - Rich Buttery Ice Cream with Coconut & Roasted Pecans
(7)Bonnaroo Buzz - Coffee & Malt Ice Creams with Toffee Chunks & Whiskey Caramel Swirl
(8)Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl - Chocolate Ice Cream with Thick Peanut Buttery Swirl
(9)Coconut Seven Layer Bar - Cococnut Ice cream with Coconut & Fudge Flakes, Walnuts and Swirls of Graham Cracker & Butterscotch
(10)Americone Dream - Vanilla Ice Cream with Fudge Covered Waffle Cone Pieces & a Caramel Swirl
(11)Vanilla Frozen Yogurt - Creamy Low Fat Frozen Yogurt

Yuan's stomach could only manage 4 scoops and his choices in order of preferance are (1) Bonnaroo Buzz, (2) Butter Pecan, (3) Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl and (4) Late Night Snack. Bonnaroo Buzz is one of rare Ben and Jerry's flavors with liquor. Whiskey and Caramel is really unique. On the other hand, the Late Night Snack is a little extreme. Potato Chip with Ice Cream tasted odd. What surprised me was that chocolate and peanut butter complemented pretty well and would be better than their other peanut butter flavors.

Anyway for those who missed out on Chunk Fest 2011, do look out for it next year. Also as the year comes to an end, I will be doing a review on all the Ben and Jerry's which I tried this year. Do look out for it.

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Scoop Cake By Tampopo Deli

Scoop Cake By Tampopo Deli

Though we previously reviewed the scoop cake from Tampopo Deli, we really felt that we needed to review this again as I was rather amused by the presentation. When I received this as a my birthday cake, I really cracked my brain to ask which bakery serve their cake in an aluminum tray. Hence I was surprised to hear that it was the Scoop Cake. Without doubts, it has one of the best cream. The cream has a scent similar to those found in Meiji milk. I later compared with their cream puff and it turned out that the one in their cream puff has vanilla beans. To quote Fen. Having eaten a couple of cream cakes back to back, I think this is really one of the cakes which deserved special mention for its consistency over the years.


I posted this photo as I found it ironic that I literally scooped the cake out with a spatula. Anyway a medium sized scoop cake like this costed $44.80. Quite ideal for around 10 pax.

Tampopo Deli
177 River Valley Road #B1-16
Liang Court Shopping Centre
Singapore 179030
Tel: 6338-7386

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1 Caramel at 1 Rochester

1 Caramel at 1 Rochester

We were invited to tasting at 1 caramel along with some of the fellow bloggers. The location of 1-caramel replaces the former pastry bar at 1 Rochester. The layout is nothing near the former, you will catch a full view of the kitchen before reaching the seating area. Hence if you see the kitchen, don't be alarmed, you are in the right place.


The concept of 1-caramel is different from our last visit. Their cakes are served in petite form and there are more cupcakes in the display. Further, 1-caramel also introduced their brunch menu.


Not to be missed in any brunch menu is the Traditional Eggs Benedict. Poached eggs on toasted English muffin with hollandaise sauce and smoked salmon. 1-caramel's version of the Eggs Benedict is blend but when paired with ebiko and smoked salmon, the effect is quite good.


If you are sharing you can consider The Posh Platter. Smoked salmon tart with creme fraiche and ocean trout caviar, asparagus wrapped in basil and prosciutto, truffled brie and cherry tomatoes on a toasted brioche. An ideal platter for sharing and light snack for the sunday brunch or afternoon tea.


The Miso soufflé with yuzu ice cream is still very consistent and has the unique salty sweet taste in the soufflé. Also available is the Hazelnut soufflé with chocolate Ice-cream and Passion fruit soufflé.


If you cannot make up your mind on which sweet to have, you can consider the 1-Caramel Assiette. The platter contain Petite-sized desserts. Our platter contains the following:
(1)Tropical vodka trifle. Pineapple gazpacho jelly, pineapple sponge cubes with crystallized baked almonds topped with coconut sorbet.
(2)Earl Grey creme brûlée. Infusion of earl grey tea leaves in a traditional French baked custard dessert served with grissini cheese straws dusted with tea and icing powder.
(3)1-Caramel Baked Alaska. Combination of homemade chunky strawberry and vanilla Madagascar ice-cream coated with rhum Italian meringue on top of a nutty chocolate brownie.
(4)Raspberry lychee rose pannacotta, lychee-lemon compote. A combination of 2 exquisite puree scented with the essence of rose in a classic Italian cold pudding served with chunky lychee and lemon compote.
(5)Death by chocolate: Valrhona Sofiato molten cake with dark chocolate sorbet.

Special mention must be made for the Raspberry Lychee rose pannacotta which is pretty similar to the Lychee rose which is our favourite at 1-caramel.


Special thanks to Denyse and Chiew Yen for the invite and hospitality.

1-caramel
1 Rochester Park, Level 2
Singapore 139212
Tel:67741302

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Hilton Seafood Brunch

Hilton Seafood Brunch

Our 3rd visit to Checkers Brasserie and from now till 16 October 2011, Checkers Brasserie introduces a new theme to their Sunday Brunch, The Seafood Sunday Brunch.


For those who are familiar with Hilton Hotel's buffets, one will know about their Friday's Seafood Buffet Dinner. While the Friday's Seafood Buffet Dinner focus more on the fish market, this Sunday Brunch offers not only a luxurious seafood on ice including fresh oysters, mussels, clams and Alaskan king crabs but also a series of hot food which includes a wide array of live stations, presenting seafood hot dishes, prepared a-la-minute.

While more players emerge with buffets priced affordably, Hilton Hotel decided to take a different approach by introducing more live stations. Apart from the brunch items (e.g. Raclette cheese, Japanese teppanyaki, sashimi and sushi, pan-fried Foie Gras and famous roasts such as the Leg of Lamb and Veal) they have introduced previously, the hotel aims to share with their diners some of the more uncommonly seen items such as the Northern Indian street food, Tawa, Iberian ham, Scrambled Egg with Vodka, Pasta prepared by the crew from the hotel's poolside Italian restaurant, il Cielo.


Although the layout of Checkers Brasserie does not permit many live stations, credits have to be given to Indian Cuisine Chef Santosh to introduce Tawa, a Northern Indian street food prepared using convex disc-shaped metal griddle.

With your choice of vegetable or meat (Chicken, Mutton or Prawn), Chef Santosh uses his home-made spices to prepare the curry according to one's preference. According to Chef Santosh, preparing the curry on the spot retains the aroma of the spice in the curry which would otherwise fade with time.

Served to your table, the splendid bowl of curry is perfect with piping hot naan bread (Cheese, Garlic or Plain), making this station one of the main highlights of this buffet.

What we like about the freshly made naan is the "clean" taste unlike some with a "smokey" and charred finishing. In addition, the naans are of a good thickness and are not overstretched.

Cheese naan is soft and chewy, well-stuffed with cheeses while the garlic naan outshines with its garlic buttery herb toppings.


Sunday brunch at Hilton Hotel would mean a bigger spread for Kaspia Bar (which is located outside Checkers Brasserie) opens up to cater more selections.

Unlike the regular Sunday brunch that features Mediterranean food and roasts, this section of the buffet now houses several live stations, featuring Chinese-styled prawns freshly prepared upon order, Seafood Paella, Italian pasta and risotto prepared by the chefs from il Cielo.

I first fall in love with the hotel's risotto when I had it at the Christmas Media Event last year and since then, it has been the best one I have ever come across. In fact, I briefly made a comparison with the ones I had in Italy and have not found one that second to this. The smooth and rich cream-textured base with al dente grains easily earns a mention for this buffet. This station also features Iberian Ham shaved on the spot and a selection of pastas prepared in various style upon order.

Brunch will not complete without eggs and unlike the regular omelette and poached eggs served in most brunches. One can expect Volka in the scrambled eggs. Topped with caviar and sour cream, this is indeed something different.

Grilled Foie Gras has become a permanent feature at Hilton's buffet for its popularity with the diners. Served with balsamic and chips, the foie gras is nicely seared with a meltingly core, making it one of the better ones which we have eaten so far.


Seafood Paella, also available on the Friday Seafood Buffet, is another station that deserves a shout out. As mentioned in my previous post, one can expect this to be extremely flavourful with just the right amount of Australian Mussels, Squid and Prawns. Like the risotto, what I like about the Seafood Paella is that the rice is not exceedingly soft nor mushy.


Live Drunken Prawns in XO Chinese Wine and Large Prawns with Salted Egg are the highlights of the Chinese station. These are prepared upon order and the freshness is of no doubt for the live prawns are kept in a tank and cooked upon ordering, ensuring the prawns serve to be at its freshest.


Black Pepper Flamed Duck is another new introduction to the buffet.


As mentioned in my post on Hilton's Sunday Brunch, the hotel uses slow cooking to prepare their meat and the famous Leg of Lamb and Veal are available at the craving station.

Senior Chinese Chef Aw Yeong also showcases his specialities in this buffet which include 48-hour Braised Baby Abalones and Baked Cod with Fried Ginger and Caviar. While the baby abalones are succulent and juicy, the baked cod is slightly sweetened with a crisp seared exterior.


Rum Baba is the highlight for the desserts. Using a dry dough sponge which is cooked in butter, sugar and orange juice, this dessert is subsequently flambé with the rum. This caramelized dessert has a nice orange tang that finishes with a strong doze of rum.


The selection of desserts, though small but memorable. The hotel makes it a point to present a selection of delicate creations to allow their guests to try the sweets that are not sold at Checkers Deli. For instance, the lemon tart has more sugary crumbles in its tart base while the Strawberry Cheesecake is a lighter variant than the ones available for take-aways. In addition, one can also expect the popular mille-feuille and is often the first dessert to run out.

Checkers Brasserie offers a very unique selection of seafood dishes and to make sure the food is served at its best, the hotel has introduced several hot stations to ensure the food to be served at its freshest. Despite being the third visit to Checkers Brasserie, there are a few items which are my must-haves and I will never mind the multiple helpings, which includes the Raclette cheese, Risotto, Seafood Paella, Roasts, Pan-fried Foie Gras and desserts such as the signature Chocolate Mousse and Cheesecakes.

It has been a wonderful Sunday afternoon to be able to dine with Marketing Communications Manager, Ms. Joyce Moo and we would like to thank her for her time and the complementary meal.

Sunday Seafood Brunch Buffet
Available from now to 16 October 2011, every Sunday from Noon to 3pm.

Prices:
$85++ per person (with free flow of juices)
$110++ with free flow of wine / 3 glasses of Louis Roederer Champagne
$160++ with free flow of Louis Roederer Champagne
$35++ for children aged 6-12 years

Citibank Cardmember gets to enjoy a one dines free for every 3 paying adults for the Sunday Brunch from now to 16 October 2011.

Checkers Brasserie
Hilton Singapore
581 Orchard Road
Singapore 238883
Tel: 6730 3390
Website

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Pastry Demonstation by Chef Stephane Glacier

Pastry Demonstation by Chef Stephane Glacier

This September, Executive Pastry Chef Alejandro Luna of Marina Bay Sands is partnering with world renowned artisanal Pastry Chef Stephane Glacier to bring about a series of chocolate signatures.


Note: The entire set of photos for this post is done by my daddy
A quick introduction, Pastry Chef Stephane Glacier was awarded the prestigious Meilleur Ouvrier de France (MOF) in 2000, making him the Best Pastry Maker in France. In addition, he owned Patisseries et gourmandises located at the fringe of Paris in Colombes (66 rue du progres, 92700 Colombes, France) and a school "patisseries et gourmandises, l'école (20 rue rouget de l'isle 92700 colombes) for amateurs and professionals.

If Paris is out of reach for the time being, his five chocolate-themed desserts, which are served at Patisseries et gourmandises in Paris, are available at three Marina Bay Sands eateries, The Chocolate Bar, Sweetspot and Rise, the buffet restaurant.


Apart from being able to try some of Chef Stephane's signatures, we were elated to receive an invitation to Chef Stephane's Pastry Demonstration. This demonstration focus on the use of Felchlin Chocolates, a Swiss-based chocolate-maker which uses some of the world's finest and rarest chocolate in their production.


Setting aside the technicalities of single origin chocolate, Chef Stephane provided a sampler portion of a freshly-made Chocolate mousse made of Felchlin Maracaibo 65% during the course of the demonstration. The initial taste of the chocolate mousse leaves a distinctive milk aftertaste, which I would labelled it as a strong characteristics of Swiss Chocolates and in general, very balanced, light and pure in its taste.


I may not be a baker myself and don't deny a lack of culinary knowledge but the style of Chef Stephane focus mainly on the use of very basic components such as hazelnut to introduce crispy into chocolates, fruits for some tang in his summer creations, sometimes coffee to bring out the quality of the chocolates used. From making the chocolate mousse to chocolate glaze, it was an eye-opener to see Chef Stephane making the various components of his creations and assembling the cake live.


Chef Stephane shared with us the use of Italian meringue to make his signature pastry, macarons; this type of meringue is generally stable and resistant to mixing using a electric mixer. In addition, he also recommends the use of silicone mats for it will not absorb moisture during the course of baking, thereby maintaining the shape of the shells.

In addition, Chef Stephane is also a man of humour for he relates the application of chocolate glaze to applying make-up. The more rounds one attempts to smooth the glaze using a palette knife, the more smudges one can expect from the chocolate glaze.

Some other tips include the importance in boiling cream and raspberry puree separately for acidity of fruits will break down the cream during boiling. The pointers he gave goes on and on and I am simply astonished by the speed he worked at and also the knowledge he has in every step of pastry making.


While Pastry Chef Alex of Marina Bay Sands consistently pushed the boundaries with each creation, Chef Stephane tends to keep his creations simple to bring out the quality of the chocolates.

The above is the Hazelnut Croustillant Bar with Blood Orange Sorbet and what is splendid about it is the use of

• Praline Croustillant to give a crispy crunch,
• Hazelnut Dacquoise for a soft nutty texture,
• Praline cream for a hazelnut aftertaste to create the "noisette" effect,
• Maracaibo Chocolate Mousse and Gianduja Chocolate Glaze for the finishing oomph factor.

The overall texture is so velvety smooth and that the chocolate sheets used in the decoration of this cake is paper-thin that melt on the tongue, allowing the palette to take in the diversity of aromas slowly.


Le Petit Antoine (a bigger individual sliced is sold at $9.10 at Sweetspot) is a creation Chef Stephane has been making for the past 15 years and is acclaimed to be his best seller. Similarly to the Hazelnut Croustillant Bar, it contains the Praline Croustillant and Hazelnut Dacquoise as its base but instead uses the Maracaibo Cariolait 38%. The use of this chocolate allows one to enjoy the full-bodied milk taste with subtle note of honey and caramel, which is a strong characteristic of Switzerland chocolates (in general).

Similarly to the Hazelnut Croustillant Bar, the beauty of this lies in the extreme thinness of the chocolate sheets and its ability to diffuse the chocolately goodness rapidly across the palette.


Chocolate Tartlets (sold at $6.00 at Sweetspot) is outstanding in its pate sablee pastry dough. The crispy sweet crust with the smooth and rich blend of Maracaibo Cariolait 38% and Maracaibo 65% makes every bite an addictive one and once again, the tart finishes off with Chef Stephane's signature chocolate sheet.


Chef Stephane firmly believes that a good macaron does not only lies in the shells but also the filling and using caramel filling in his macarons, the chewy texture of the filling does bring out another dimension of textures in his macarons.

Praline Tendresses (as shown on the right) is also available at Sweetspot for $6.00.


It was fabulous to be able to spend an afternoon with two world-class pastry chefs, Pastry Chef Stephane Glacier and Executive Pastry Chef Alejandro Luna.

Many thanks to Executive Pastry Chef Alejandro Luna for his warm hospitality and time to share with me his passion and concepts in his pastries. Also our heartfelt thanks to Communications Officer, Ms. Venetia Chung for the invitation to this wonderful chocolate event at Marina Bay Sands.

As mentioned earlier, this is an exclusive collaboration between both Chocolatier Masters and one can expect an exquisite chocolate event from now till the end of September 2011.

Guests can experience a new array of confectionery at the Chocolate Bar, available nightly from 8pm at The Club at Marina Bay Sands.
Website for the Chocolate Bar

During the day, chocolate lovers can enjoy the indulgent bites at Rise Restaurant or pack home these exquisite works of art from SweetSpot.
Website for Rise
Website for SweetSpot

For more information on Rise Restaurant and the Chocolate Bar, please call +65 6688 5525 or +65 6688 8858 respectively.

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Marina Bay Sands Snowskin 2011

Marina Bay Sands Snowskin 2011

Just when we thought we are done with mooncakes for 2011, we received a complementary box from Marina Bay Sands (MBS). For snowskin, there are only 2 flavours available - Dark Chocolate Orange Grand Marnier and Salted-Caramel Almond Crunch. As MBS does not have a Chinese restaurant, the mooncakes come from Sweetspot, the hotel's European Espresso, Bakery and Dessert Bar. Sweetspot is helmed by talented pastry chef Alejandro Luna who has worked in various pastry kitchens in America and Europe.

Chef Alex wants to create a signature for MBS - a flavour which you will associate with MBS just as you would associated Champagne Truffle with Raffles Hotel. Chef Alex feels that one of the best combination is to combine chocolate with orange. I am not a fan of fruity flavors with chocolate but I personally feel that the ratio is just right for this mooncake. The taste of the chocolate is retained but at the same time, you can feel the orange. Further there are chocolate bits which adds some crunch to the chocolate ganache.

These mooncakes were consumed after a chocolate event at MBS and having ate several creations made from Switzerland Chocolate, Felchlin. The quality of the chocolate used in these mooncakes continues to wow and this is of no doubt made from good quality chocolates.

Those who like salted caramel should try the Salted-Caramel Almond Crunch. The caramel is smooth and not too sweet. The outer layer contains almond which is similar to eating the almond snickers bar but the buttery goodness lingering in the palette.


Marina Bay Sands probably has the most elaborated mooncake box for 2011. Designed by Chef Alex himself, this box will certainly impress friends and relatives. With a tiffin-like container housing the mooncakes, this entire thing fits into a lattern-like packaging with a Chinese knot suspending it, making it a perfect decoration for this festive event.


Many thanks to Executive Pastry Chef Alejandro Luna and Communications Officer, Ms. Venetia Chung for the complementary box of mooncakes.

Marina Bay Sands Pte Ltd
10 Bayfront Avenue
Singapore 018956
Tel: 6688 5668
Website for Sweetspot

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Mooncake Galore 2011

Mooncake Galore 2011

This is the last entry for mooncakes 2011 and is a very nice summary for it is a gathering with our foodie friends. Like last year, each pair of us decided to bring a box of mooncakes and under the warm lighting with tea, we savour them all.


White Lotus Paste with Double Yolk and Melon Seeds from Regent Hotel (Courtesy of Phoebe and Chloe from The Food Chapter)
Huge egg yolks with smooth lotus paste and I must say that I liked the contrast between the melon seeds and lotus paste.


Regent mooncake order form 2011



Mandarin Orchard's Mixed Nuts and Jamón ibérico (五仁) mooncake was contributed by Yuan and myself. The reason for selecting this mooncake was because it is our favourite among the mooncakes which we reviewed for 2011. According to a source who is working in the F&B industry, Mandarin Orchard is one of the five hotels in Singapore which still hand-crafts and bakes their mooncake in house.


Mandarin Orchard mooncake order form 2011

Eater Palace (食珍)'s Teochew moon cake (Yam with Salted Egg Yolk and Yam with Pumpkin, Courtesy of Daniel and Lay Sian from Memoirs of Food).
I kind of liked the combination of yam and pumpkin though it is a little oily for my liking.


Jewels Artisan Chocolate Mini Assorted Snowskin Mooncake (Courtesy of Charlene and Zhi Hao from missuschewy).
As usual, the Champagne Truffle is a crowd pleaser and Zhi Hao just gets hook onto the Salted Caramel Snowskin.


Jewels Artisan Chocolate mooncake order form 2011
At the end of the day, the taste of the mooncakes is secondary, what's important is the friendship and to share it with family and friends during Mid Autumn Festival. Looking forward to Mooncake Galore 2012.


The foodies as usual with their big smiles. You may view their reviews here:
The Food Chapter
Memoirs of Food
Missuschewy

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