An Afternoon with Daniel Tay

Hubby likes to tease me for my unsatiable appetite for cooking books and cooking classes. Alas, the number of man hours I actually spend in my kitchen is dismal.

Last Sunday, I attended yet another cooking class again. This time, it was a baking class conducted by Daniel Tay (owner of Bakerzin) titled "Japanese-French pastries" The class was fully subscribed with more than 40 participants.

Daniel Tay hard at work (in the classroom)

We learnt how to make green tea macarons, Japanese cheesecake, Japanese chiffon cake and the yummiest choux puffs ever- all within a short time span of 3.5 hours. Daniel Tay is a spritely personality with a wealth of knowledge to share. Whilst his teaching method is a little haphazard at times, I tried to catch up as much as I could by furiously scribbling notes. Oh, did I also mention that Daniel Tay has a legion of cheena auntie fans who ask the cutest of questions?

Japanese cheesecake...a little under-done but otherwise light and fluffy

Cutesy chiffon cakes..the use of smaller cake tins ensures better heat distribution

Macarons and choux puffs...my favorite of the lot, insanely tedious to make but highly addictive

Check out the precise piping of the choux pastry

emerald green macaron shells...don't these look like pretty little buttons?

Here are some things I learnt during the class:

1. Don't buy icing sugar from the supermarket. Make your own by blitzing fine sugar in your blender and sieving it.
2. Almonds bought in Singapore are excessively oily. To get around this, leave the almonds on a piece of newspaper to soak up the oil a few days prior to baking.
3. Good quality flour plays an important role in the taste and texture of the final product. Daniel recommended a special cake flour from Japan which can be purchased from Meidi-ya supermarket.
4. Technique and timing is of great importance. Once a batter is overbeaten, it cannot be salvaged.

After class, we got to take home a box of the baked goodies to share with our loved ones. Hubby particularly enjoyed the choux puffs and pronounced them "the best he has eaten in his entire life". (Unfortunately they don't sell choux puffs in Bakerzin outlets)

I think I should really start cutting down on cooking classes and focus my energies towards making the perfect choux puff.