85g bao flour/Hong Kong flour (add more as needed)
10g sugar
2g instant dry yeast
45ml warm milk or soya milk
(no more than 40 deg C)
½ tbsp salad oil
⅓ tsp salt
¼ tsp matcha powder (optional)
A drop of orange colouring
A few drops of yellow colouring
1 Sift and divide flour into two portions.
2 Combine one portion of flour with sugar and dry yeast in a mixing bowl.
3 Add milk. Mix well.
4 Add salad oil and salt. Add remaining portion of flour and mix well into a dough.
Dough should not be smooth yet. Scrape and transfer remaining ingredients from bowl to floured surface.
5 Portion 5g dough and add orange colouring. Knead well to colour the dough evenly.
6 Portion the remaining dough into 2 equal parts. Add yellow colouring to one portion.
Knead well to colour the dough evenly.
7 Shape into balls. Cover with cling wrap for fermentation.
8 After the first fermentation, punch dough down 3 to 4 times to remove the air.
Reshape plain, orange and yellow dough.
9 On a lightly floured surface, portion plain dough into 3 balls. Portion yellow dough into 3 balls.
10 Position the dough slightly apart and in a circle on the parchment paper.
11 Divide and shape orange dough into 6 small balls. Using a scraper, create an indent to form the beak of the chick.
12 Assemble beaks onto yellow and white balls using a skewer.
13 Place bao in a large steamer and steam for 15 to 17 minutes.
14 Using edible food marker pens, draw eyes and feet to complete the chick character. Serve warm.
matcha popsicles
Makes 4 popsicles
Ingredients
30g matcha powder
200ml milk
2 egg yolks, at room temperature
50g brown sugar
200ml whipping cream
Decoration
Melted chocolate
Oreo cookie crumbs
Edible candy hearts
Raspberry crunch
1 Sift matcha powder into milk in a bowl. Mix well.
Transfer to a pot.
2 Bring matcha milk to a boil over low heat. Lower heat, then simmer for 15 minutes.
3 Turn off heat. Cover with lid and let rest for 10 minutes.
4 Combine egg yolks and brown sugar in another bowl.
Beat at high speed until mixture is pale.
5 Add egg-sugar mixture to milk, mixing quickly to prevent egg from being cooked.
6 Place whipping cream in a mixing bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat at high speed until soft peaks form.
7 Add whipping cream to matcha milk mixture, gently folding with each addition until well combined.
8 Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Using a hand mixer, beat until mixture is smooth.
9 Pour into popsicle moulds.
Place ice cream sticks in matcha mixture.
10 Place in freezer for at least 5 hours until popsicles set.
11 Remove popsicles from moulds and decorate as desired. Serve immediately.
bumblebee doughnuts
Serves 6
Ingredients
1 tbsp melted butter (plus more for greasing) 100ml milk
75g whipping cream
1 egg
2 tbsp honey
5 drops of vanilla essence 150g Morinaga hot cake mix 1 tsp cake flour
1 tsp black cocoa powder or Valrhona dark cocoa powder A few drops of yellow icing colour 1 Preheat oven to 180 deg C. Grease doughnut moulds. Set aside.
2 Combine milk, whipping cream, butter, egg, honey and vanilla essence in a large bowl. Mix well using a hand whisk.
3 Add hot cake mix in 2 to 3 parts, mixing well with each addition to ensure that there are no lumps.
4 Add 4 tsp batter to cake flour in a small bowl. Mix well. Spoon batter into a piping bag.
5 Add 4 tsp batter to black cocoa powder in a separate bowl. Mix well. Spoon batter into a piping bag.
6 Add yellow icing colour to remaining batter. Mix well.
7 Using the piping bag containing black cocoa powder batter, pipe outlines for the bee into prepared mould.
8 Place in oven. Bake for 1½ minutes.
9 Remove mould from oven. Spoon yellow batter evenly into doughnut moulds until 90 per cent full. Level surface with a teaspoon.
10 Bake for 14 to 15 minutes. Allow doughnuts to cool down on a wire rack before removing them from the moulds, so they won’t fall apart.
11 Pipe design for the wings and feelers onto parchment paper.
Bake for 2 to 3 minutes.
12 Using a skewer and a small sharp knife, make small holes and slits in each doughnut. Place feelers and wings into the slits to complete the bumblebee character. Serve.