MakMak Macaron

Macaron ~ The Delicate French Invention

Another reason I went to Baffi and Mo for brunch was because I found out that they sell the Mak Mak Macarons. MakMak Macaron is also available for order online through their Facebook. Baffi and Mo is selling them a bit more expensive ($3 each) and they didn't have the complete flavours for me to buy . So, me and my friend decided to make an order online. You get 12 Macarons for $25 and we had them delivered to us for an extra $5. So, me and my friend had six macarons per person.

I'm not usually a big fan of macaron, but when someone says it's better than the one from Adriano Zumbo, I knew I have to give it a try. What I like about their macaron is, it's not overly sweet and the shell is pretty crisp and delicate. I haven't try Adriano Zumbo's macaron should who am I to judge, but MakMak Macaron definitely change my perception towards macaron, I'm starting to like it. Not just because they taste good but I was having so much fun photographing them as well =)

Salted Caramel: It's salty! and I think it tasted abit weird. Apart from beings salty I cant really taste anything else. Don't think I like this one.

Raspberry and cardamom-scented white chocolate 'rice pudding': What a long name for such tiny dessert. But I quite like this one, there's a raspberry jam covering a chewy white chocolate rice pudding in the middle.

Mocha:  This is probably one of  the less sweet one from the bunch with a bittersweet coffee flavour.

Raisin Toast: Love the flavour, I can taste the cinnamon  in it too.

Black Sesame: A perfect black sesame flavoured macaron!

Peppermint & Chocolate: The shell has a noticeable peppermint flavour and it can never go wrong when it's paired with chocolate filling.

I actually prefer to keep them in the fridge before eating it, I like it when the filling becomes a bit more chewy.

Overall, I think it was a great buy!

Central Baking Depot, Sydney

Tart O Tart, How I Love Thee!

Central Baking Depot located just few steps away from my office (at Erskien St), run by the same company that runs Bourke Street Bakery, I always know there's lots of great stuff to be found inside, from hearty meat pies to freshly baked bread and mouth watering cakes/pastries. I didn't know why I never make a stop there until last week.

Last week, me and my friend (LW) made a trip there because I needed to get some breads. I was blown away by the smell of the freshly baked breads/pastries the moment I stepped into this French style bakery shop. I bought myself  an almond croissant and my friend bought a fig and burberry tart. 

When LW offered me half of her tart, I told her I'll have a quarter and gave another quarter to my other friend. The three of us were WOW-ing  over it. It was so delicious! quarter is not enough. So we made it a point to go back for more this week.

FIG AND BURBERRY TART    $4.40

So this week, I bought one fig and burberry tart for myself. Encased in a delicious buttery pastry is the perfect caramalised fig and some very small blueberry alike fruit (Not sure if it's really called burberry, as I always thought burberry is just a brand). This tart is such a down to earth treat with no complicated flavour. We fell in love!

Then, I got another Plum and pear tart to try. This is definitely another brilliant treat to indulge in. The puff pastry case was pretty flaky, with ripe plum and pear in the middle. There was also a thin layer of custard cream that adds an additional texture to the tart. This is a great dessert without being overpowering.

PLUM AND PEAR TART   $4.40

Central Baking Depot is a must try for bakery lover. 

Such an affordable and simple pleasure that could live up your day.
Other equally delicious treats are the Almond Croissant and the Chocolate & Pear Tart.

Cakes By Helen, Chinatown

  
My Perfect Treat on Saturday Morning


While walking along the Chinatown Night Market on Friday, I couldn't help but noticed this new bakery shop,'Cakes by Helen'. Not sure what really caught my attention, maybe it was the blue signage or the brightness from the shop or maybe because of the cakes on display near the entrance, anyway I was just drawn by it. So I decided to go in and check out if there's anything worth trying.

First impression was everything looks delicious, there were many different kind of breads and cakes to choose from. I was tossing between this and that until I laid my eyes on the colourful mini Swiss Rolls with 8 different flavours. In my mind, I thought,"This would be the perfect treat when I wake up tomorrow morning". 
With a grin on my face I went to the counter and pay, thinking how would these mini rolls taste like.

Just by looking at the colours, it wasn't hard to guess the flavours. There were butter, mango, chocolate, strawberry, taro, coffee, green tea and black sesame. Even though they were not as good as the one I like from Grand Taipei Bakery (Melbourne), they were not bad either. I like it because it was light and soft, but I would prefer if it is just a litte less sweet and has less cream. However, in terms of  flavours they were pretty distinct and tasty.

In conclusion, despite the attractive colours, are these mini rolls any good? Will I buy them again?

Yes, I will definitely buy them again if I'm in Chinatown.

Cakes by Helen

45 DixonSt

Haymarket,Sydney

NSW 2000

Ph: (02) 9212 3818

Dinner @ Sydney Indulgence

Last weekend, my husband and I were invited to a very special dinner. We were really looking forward for the dinner because it wasn't just a simple friends gathering dinner, but it was a special dinner hosted by my fellow dessert blogger 'Sydney Indulgence' and her husband (F and A), who happened to be a very close friend of ours. After salivating over the desserts I've seen on her blog all this while, I was particularly excited for the desserts.

With the cosy ambience of their home as well as a customised 3 course menu printed for the night (just like the one you find in restaurants), I felt like walking in to a private restaurant reserved specially just for us. It was a quite and intimate dinner, not only was the food delicious, the conversation and the company were great too.

Starter: German Brown Sourdough with French Butter. 

What could be better than having a warm sourdough with a quality French butter? The answer is 'Nothing'.

Entree: Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

F told me that this Zucchini Flowers were inspired by Jamie Oliver. Stuffed with Ricotta cheese, parmesan, mint, chillies and lemon, she has definitely made Jamie Oliver proud with this dish, as it was really delicious. My husband who is usually very conservative with his food agreed that this crispy zucchini flower was a 5 star food. I would recommend you guys to try out this dish, I'm sure it won't be hard to find the recipe online.

Main: Organic Duck Fillet Pasta 

The Fettuccine was cooked in duck sauce, accompanied with a well marinated organic duck and ceps wild mushroom. It was the first time me and my husband heard of ceps mushroom. The mushroom was really rich in flavour and creamy in texture.

Side Dish: Caramalised Baby Carrots

F can reads my mind, because carrot is my favourite! These lovely orange vegetables were roasted with thymes and garlics.

Side dish: Oven-roasted Truffle Chips

Everybody loves chips! F has reinvented the traditional chips by adding some truffle oil, which gave a nice earthy flavour to the incredibly crispy chips.
We were surprised by the crispiness of the potatoes and F told us that she bought the potatoes from Eveleigh market, I forgot what's the name of the potato but she told us that there are so many different type of gourmet potatoes available at the market. I think I should really make a trip there to check out all the goodies.

Desserts

**Drum roll** Finally the most anticipated moment of the night, F serving what she is best at...Desserts.

There was not only one dessert, there were two!The desserts for the night were:

Vanilla Creme Brulee with Passionfruit and Pecan & Chocolate Tart.

 

The Vanilla Creme brulee with Passionfruit really suits my taste bud, as it's not overly sweet with a hint of sourness and freshness of passionfruit. It was a refreshing dessert to complete the meal. 

Find the recipe of this sweet and sour dessert here.

Then came the Pecan and Chocolate Tart served with creme fraiche on the side. The original recipe was to use golden syrup but F replaced it with maple syrup which worked really well, as me and my husband love maple syrup. With the goodness of chocolate and nuts on top of a buttery pastry, this was a dessert worthy of those hours spent in the gym.

If you like to try this recipe, you can find it here.

 

Thanks to Sydney Indulgence (F) and her husband (A) for their warmest and most generous hospitality. 

The dinner was excellent and it has certainly inspired me to try out new recipes and open up my abandoned Jamie Oliver cookbook. 

Mochi Dessert Cafe, Kingsford

"Dessert is probably the most important stage of a meal, since it will be the last thing your guests remember before they pass out all over the table". (William Powell)

Still feeling quite full from late lunch, my husband and I just wanted something light for dinner. We thought of the new cafe that opened in Kingsford, the Mochi Dessert Cafe. As we entered , we saw a great selection of mouth watering cakes and Japanese mochi displaying at the counter. Once we were seated, we quickly browsed through the colorful menu on the table. There was a great selection of sweet and savoury snacks/desserts. As a big fan of pizza, we decided to try their pizza waffle, as I never try waffle as a pizza base, so it might be quite interesting to find out and then we ordered one ham and cheese waffle handroll. 

When our pizza waffle came, we thought it looks pretty good, but after tasting it, I won't say it's bad but it wasn't  the best value you could get with your money, the chicken tasted like the supermarket chicken nuggets cut into pieces. I think it's something that you can easily replicate at home with a waffle maker.

BBQ chicken Pizza Waffle  $8.20

 

Then our Ham and Cheese Hand Roll Waffle came,  we were quite dissapointed with what we saw.  We were expecting at least some melted cheese with good quality ham. But the Hand roll waffle was basically just a waffle sandwich with ham and cheese slice that again you can easily get from supermarket. With the same price you can probably make heaps of them at home.

Ham and Cheese Hand Roll Waffle $ 6.80

The staff reminded us that we can have a drink for half the price for every snack/dessert we've ordered. There's a selection of flavoured ice teas, coffees and smoothies to choose from. I didnt want any, but my husband had their grape green tea with aloe vera.

Special Grape Aloe Vera $ 4.60 (full price)

Even though we were quite dissapointed with their savoury snacks, but thank goodness the dessert was good! We were tossing between the tofu pudding and the herbal jelly. After looking at the menu for the longest time, we chose to go with the cold herbal jelly. This refreshing dessert had certainly put a smile on my face. The homemade herbal jelly was served with red bean, pearl, sweet potato and taro mochi, crushed ice and cream. At first I asked them not to put the cream, but the staff convinced me that the cream is what makes this dessert a winner, so she said she will give me the cream in a small cup on the side.

She was right,  the cream was light and it really complimented this icy cold dessert very well. And the sweet potato and taro mochi was chewy and you can taste the flavour very well too. It was just a refreshing lovely dessert.

Cold Herbal Jelly

Like the name of the cafe, I would recommend to only visit this place for the dessert. This Herbal Jelly will be one of the reasons for me to come back and the other reason will be their gelato. This cafe has the gelato from a popular supplier that I know is good. It's the gelato from Bravo. Maybe next time I will try their ice cream waffle or their tofu pudding.

Mochi Dessert Cafe

Shp 1/ 343 Anzac Pde

Kingsford NSW 2032

Ph; (02) 9663 3996

GrandTaipei Bakery & Ganache Chocolate, Melbourne

Sweet Treat From Melbourne
 
"It's not that chocolates are a substitute for love. Love is a substitute for chocolate. Chocolate is, let's face it, far more reliable than a man." - Miranda Ingram

It has become a tradition that my sister will buy me my favourite swiss rolls from Grand Taipei Bakery (Melbourne) whenever she visits me. I fell in love from the first time I had a mouthful of this cotton soft Swiss roll, it is by far the best swiss roll I had. It's so soft with just a little cream in between that allows you to eat more. 

There are many delicious flavours to choose from. There are chocolate, strawberry, butter, blueberry, taro, durian, pandan and coffee. There's no way I can choose which flavour is the best, I just love them all. But this time around my sister bought me mixture of 3 flavours. If Swiss Roll is your thing, then you gotta get some when you are in Melbourne.

From top: Strawberry, Pandan and Coffee Swiss Rolls

Not only my sister brought me swiss rolls, she brought 4 other heavenly cakes from Ganache Chocolate. It has been a very very sweet weekend for me. There's no disappointment but lots of enjoyment on these melt-in-your-mouth cakes. I think most of the cakes in Ganache Chocolate are mousse cakes and every single one has its own distinct character and flavour. But one thing in common for all the cakes is...it is rich...very rich....

If I'm not mistaken below is called Triple Chocolate Mousse, layer of white, milk chocolate mousse and dark chocolate cake at the bottom.

Triple Chocolate Mousse $7.00

Below is Hazelnut Fan Slice, I like this the most out of the four, maybe because I like hazelnut. It has layer of rich hazelnut mousse with crispy bottom where you find bits of Ferrero Rocher and chopped hazelnuts.

Hazelnut Fan Slice $7.00

Below is Swiss Truffle Mousse. Another rich chocolate mousse in the inside and bittersweet chocolate ganache on the outside.

Swiss Truffle Mousse $7.00

Last one is slightly different. It is Spring Lime & Cassis. After three very chocolatey cakes, this is a more refreshing one, still very rich but it's slightly sour with tasty lime flavour.

Spring Lime and Cassis $7.00

And....I woke up  in the morning with Chocolate hang over...

Grand Taipei Bakery

594 Station Street

Box Hill, VIC 3128

Ph: (03) 9898 8866

Ganache Chocolate

250 Toorak Rd

South Yarra, VIC 3141
Ph: (03) 9804 7485