Steam Egg Custard in Pumpkin

I remember first having this dessert during my very first visit to Bangkok many years ago and fell in love with it ever since. Over the years, I tried creating it but with varying degree of success, mainly due to the custard not able to set properly while the pumpkin is already way too soft.

Much to my delight, I had a module on Thai dessert making during my course and we were given a copy of the recipe from our Thai chef instructor. The Thai uses palm sugar and coconut milk. For my version, I like to use gula melaka for its stronger flavour, and coconut cream to reduce the liquid content.

Sieve the egg mixture through a cheese cloth to get a smooth texture. I don't have one at my new place and had used a fine sieve, hence, resulting in air bubbles in the custard. There is no exact cookin time as it is dependent on size of pumpkin and level of heat. After 45min, check periodically at 15min intervals. The top of the custard will set first and may give a false impression that the whole custard is cooked. As a guide, tap the top of the custard lightly. If it jiggles, it is an indication that the custard is not yet cooked through.

Generally, it takes an hour plus for the custard to set, and the pumpkin is usually pretty soft by then. Hence, let it cool down before cutting to retain the pumpkin shape and to get nice wedge cuts. This dessert may also be served cold.



Sung Ka-yaa Fug Thong - Steam Egg Custard in Pumpkin



Mango Mousse Cake

I made a lot of  mango mousse cake while at the restaurant where I was attached during my baking school days. As they served it for buffet and required large quantity, it was made using commercial sponge pre-mix and mango puree. I find the sponge rather tasteless and usually a tad dry. The puree which was from the same local supplier, I felt it contain too much flavouring and chemicals. The amount of whipped cream was also a bit on the high side, compared to the amount of puree. The overall taste however wasn't too bad and one really couldn't fault them for their choice of ingredients due to their operating costs and the prices charged.

When it comes to making this cake at home, I am more selective in my choice of ingredients. Mango are not always in season and even if they are, they usually differ in taste. To maintain consistent taste in my mango mousse, I usually use a particular french brand of puree which is all natural and contains no additives. For garnishing and decorating, I would choose the ripe ones when buying them from supermarkets as these tends to be sweeter.

I paired this mousse with my usual chocolate sponge, as I love the combination. The top of the cake has a very thin layer of coloured gelatin, to prevent the mousse from drying in the fridge and to create a nice shine. This is more visible in the heart-shape cake below.

This is one of two 4" cake which I specially made for 2 close friends. The bottom layer of sponge is specially left exposed, to show the chocolate/mango combination. As usual, I like to garnish with gooseberry, besides the mango cubes and chocolate deco.



I had some leftover mousse from the two small cakes and made this 5" heart-shape one for myself and my roommates, using leftover cake trimmings which I compressed down to form the cake layers. This one is more cake than mousse, which is fine for personal consumption.



Homemade Ice Cream

One of the things I learned at the restaurant and fell in love with is homemade ice cream. It enabled me to use all natural ingredients, adjust my preferred choice of sweetness and also create my own flavours! Making it at the restaurant and at home, however, produce very different results due to differnt machine used. At the work place, we use paco jet, a high end machine which churns out fine soft texture under 2 mins. At home, I use a small home base version, which is a blessing bestowed on me as the Angels' mum has allowed me to adopt it from them.

For the Angels, I came up with the soya range, after some research from the internet. This range tends to be more icy and sorbet like, without the milk fats from the milk and cream. However, they taste just as good and I even have comments that they are better than some regular ice cream. In terms of texture, the soya range also tends to be harder and very difficult to scoop without defrosting. For this reason, I like to make them as popsicles. They do not melt as fast, compared to the dairy range, which is richer and softer in texture.

Soya chocolate ice cream. A copy of the recipe is posted in an earlier post, "Little Hall of Fame".

Most chocolate manufacturer would without fail, manufacture milk and white chocolate which uses dairy ingredients in the same plant. Hence, extra care has to be taken when buying dark chocolate for non dairy recipes. Always, check the ingredient list and buy from a reputable brand.

Durian and soya strawberry ice cream popsicles. I love this popsicle making set which has cute teddy faces for the handles. The sticks however seems a little flimsy and I worry whether they will break any time soon, especially when we all love to bite into them when eating.  



Cake for the Angels

I finally did it! A non dairy and eggless birthday cake, which is completed with icing decorations and wordings for the Angels!

Ever since I started my course at the culinary school, I have set in my mind to make such a cake for one of my friend's daughters. One of her daughter has some food allergies and hasn't been able to enjoy the usual birthday cake. My friend has also been trying out recipes to make cakes, muffins and cookies suitable for her.

This cake was actually for the younger daughter who does not have any allergy. However, to enable her older sister and other children who have similar allergy in the homeschool group to enjoy the cake together, the cake has to be egg and dairy free.

The chocolate sponge was my usual recipe, minus the eggs and the milk replaced with soya. The result is a denser sponge, more like brownie, but delicious none the less. I didn't want to use non dairy icing to piece the cake together, as most non-dairy version uses shortening or margarine, which I felt is too unhealthy for the amount needed. Hence, I opted a soya pudding, flavoured with orange zest. An earlier version which used orange juice couldn't set, despite overnight, and I had to redo the whole cake all over on the morning itself.




The final cake, which I had to rush to redo on the morning as the first pudding filling couldn't set.



I have never really decorated a kid's cake before, other than the bear and panda cupcake. Did some search online and got the butterfly idea. For this, I had to contend with the shortening icing, with some food colouring. The flower petals are made with small orange pieces. Am very happy that the girls, the children and even the parents enjoyed it, together with the soya ice cream I made as well (view post "Homemade Ice Cream). One point for me to note for the older Angel's birthday coming up in July - make more ice cream as they disappeared so fast, with the children asking for more helpings!






The Angels, together with few of the homeschool children and parents. They sang the Happy Birthday songs in different languages and one of the children even hold the birthday gal's hand. I was almost moved to tears by the sight and atmosphere.

Qing Tang Dessert

I had craving for ginkgo barley dessert today, which used to be prepared at the Chinese restaurant at which I was attached. I specially met my mum for breakfast at the mall, then bough some fresh ginkgo and a pack of soya milk. It is a tedious process to prepare the fresh ginkgo, which had to be cracked, boiled, peeled, bitter stems removed and then boiled again in sugar syrup till soft and sweet. Though time consuming, I prefer these fresh ones than those pre-cooked ones than comes in vacuum packs. Somehow, I think they contain chemical, even if not stated on the packaging. Otherwise, how can they be kept for such a long time, furthermore, without refrigeration?


While the ginkgo nuts were boiling in the sugar syrup, I went to dig out the other ingredients from my pantry. To my dismay, I couldn't find the dried bean curd sheets, which I couldn't remember finishing them before.Not contend with not having my dessert, I dug out other ingredients, to make Qing Tang instead.

The thing about cooking your own is, you get more ingredients than sugared water. Plus, you can add or replace anything you fancy. In this instant, I had to replace sweet potato with pumpkin and the big sago pearls with small ones, since I was using what I had at the time. The end result is more than satisfying, with it's assortment of ingredients. Only thing is, I  missed the chewy big sago pearls, which the small ones could never replace.

One thing to note when preparing this dessert, most ingredients have to be boiled separately as they require different cooking time. For the sago pearls, the residue water is starchy and thus has to be separated. The only two ingredients which do not require cooking are lily bulb and peng da hai  (澎大海). The latter is a seed, which is washed and soaked in water for it to release a thread like membrane. The key to getting a clear soup is to boiled the longans and red dates together, then the soup sweetened according to taste, before mixing in all other cooked ingredients.


Qing Tang, a supposedly cooling dessert, with barley, dried longans, red dates, ginkgo, sago pearls, white fungus, lily bulbs, pumpkin cubes and peng da hai.