Strawberries Workshop By Daniel Tay

23th Oct 2009

I was at Shermay's attending Chef Daniel Tay's Strawberries workshop after a sumptuous dim sum lunch at Shang Palace. The 2 cakes he was teaching on that day were my favourite's Bakerzin cakes and also their signature cakes. The class was full even on a weekday and some of them took leave to attend the class including myself. My leave was well spent as Daniel Tay's classes are always quite enjoyable. He has another cake class in Nov 09 which also falls on a weekday... I'm so tempted to attend but have to give it a miss as I have no more leaves already. The 3 cakes/pastry he demonstrated that day were all quite tedious especially the Frasier. Most of them concluded that they will not try doing it after watching him gone through the process...

A French style strawberry cake made of almond genoise sponge, pistachio butter cream filled with kirsh-soaked strawberries. The tedious part was preparing the pistachio cream which made up of few types of cream.

A classic cake and also Bakerzin's best seller, made of a genoise sponge and Chantilly cream, topped with fresh strawberries.

A simple fruit tart made of sable dough filled with almond cream, topped with fresh strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, finished with an apricot glaze.

All recipes can be found in his cookbook - Just Dessert

It's a long workshop, almost 3.5-4 hours but very interesting and informative. One of the best Daniel Tay's workshop I had attended so far. We got a box of sample to bring home, freshly made from Bakerzin's factory and delivered to Shermay's just before our workshop ended. So only the above cakes/pastry were made from scratch by Bakerzin's CEO - Daniel Tay and he always joked that he has not been doing any hand on for years as now most of the time he is sitting in his office managing his business.

Chef Daniel Tay (Bakerzin CEO) Strawberries Workshop on 23th Oct 2009 at Shermay's.

Just Dessert 1 Workshop By Daniel Tay

27th Sep 09

My 3rd workshops with Daniel Tay - Just Dessert 1. All recipes taught on that day can be found in his cookbook - Just Dessert. I was very tired that day so didn't really pay much attention during the class so also don't know what I have learnt except that I remembered all were quite nice... lol! The class was surprisingly not full, I guess maybe that Sunday was F1 final race. Now, let's see what was demonstrated...

Canelés

A small French pastry with a soft & tender center and a dark, thick caramelised crust. A specialty of France. Made from a liquid batter that is baked in a pre-heated mould coated with bee wax, giving the canelé a caramelised crust and marrowy inside.

Chocolate & Original Soufflé

A soufflé is a light, fluffy, baked cake made with egg yolks and beaten egg whites combined with various other ingredients. A kind of French pudding that can be served as a savory main dish or sweetened as a dessert.

Brioche

A highly enriched French Bread, high egg and butter which gives it a rich and tender crumb. It also has a dark, golden brown and flaky crust.

Bostock

Baked brioche slices with almond cream, topped with almond flakes and icing sugar.

Pain Perdu (French Toast)

A popular breakfast food made with bread, milk, vanilla and spice, served with vanilla ice cream.

Just Dessert 1 Workshop by Daniel Tay (CEO of Bakerzin) on 27th Sep 09 at Shermay's

Bread & Baked Goodies For Home Bakers 4

Attended another Daniel Tay's baking workshop at Shermay last month on 29th Aug 09. Compared to the last workshop, this one was rather heavy in content and there was some mis-communication on the recipes to be demostrated. He never planned to include American deep dish apple pie in his demo but it was being included by Shermay thus the apple pie recipe was not included in the recipe pack. Though he was caught by surprise but being a professional pastry chef for so many years, he definitely can whip up a deep dish apple pie at any time even without any preparation and just used whatever ingredients he was left with in order not to disappoint the class.

Pecan Pie is a sweet custard pie made with toasted pecans, sugar, maple syrup and eggs filling on a crispy tart pastry. This delicious combination gives this pie a wonderful flavor with dense and chewy texture. Though it taste pretty good especially love the pastry but it's just not the kind of stuff that I will bake. Maybe I will consider making it into mini tarts.

A very sweet & rich bread roll made with lots of butter & cinnamon sugar frosted with cream cheese & chopped pecan nuts. This was the attraction of the day and many had signed up this class for this including myself though I didn't even try sampling it. I thought of making this for my aunt who love cinnamon bun but for myself I don't really know how to appreciate anything with cinnamon. The comment given by my aunt was too sweet for her liking especially the frosting though the bun was good.

A traditional crisp Italian cookie that is great for any occasion which goes well with a cup of tea or coffee. It's taste real great with crunchy almond nibs and chewy dried cranberry. This is my favourite recipe for this workshop and especially so when it's easy to make. I had tried baking once at home last week and my family love it. The recipe can be found in Chef Daniel Tay's cookbook - Just Dessert. However, I noticed that the sample we brought home was a bit different from demo. Has to remind myself to check with him when I see him on the next workshop. The different is it on the sugar used???

Another very easy & versatile recipe which is light and satisfying especially great to serve after a heavy dinner. Apple slices fanned on layers of ready made filo pastry and pastry cream, finished off with a glaze & served with vanilla bean ice cream. I will definitely try making this with other fruits instead as I only like apple to be eaten fresh. Chef Daniel suggested using fresh blueberries, raspberry, peaches etcs.

A traditional family recipe that Chef Daniel Tay knew off since young from his dad which used to sell it in his bakery. He made this using the same pastry from the pecan pie and roughly show us how to cook the fillings & dish out the whole pie. It's fine for me even if he omitted this as I never liked apple pie and cinnamon. So was it good, I don't know because I never try the sample. However, we are still waiting for him to email us the recipe as promised.

Refer to Shermay's Cooking School for upcoming class schedules.

Finally managed to finish off another backlog and there's still so many outstanding post waiting to be drafted and posted. Hopefully, I can finish off before my holidays next week...

Bread For The Home Baker 3 By Daniel Tay

Last Saturday, attended a bread making workshop at Shermay's. Hosted by Pastry Chef Daniel Tay. He was cheerful and jovial, cracking jokes on and off to make the class more lively and interesting. He was not only detailed but also seriously keen in teaching us the method and theory of bread making. Bread making was really very complex and sometimes think about it might as well spent a few dollars and just get it from bakery shop. Though I don't think I will be making bread often, still prefer making cakes but really enjoyed his class so I sign up for his next bread class in Aug 09.

Pastry Chef Daniel Tay, CEO Bakerzin

French bread - Pain Levain & Fecile



Pain Levain - A traditional natural yeast bread also known as sour dough.
Fecile - A smaller version of the baguette.


Assorted Soft Bun




Traditional Pizza



This was baked using the pizza oven napoli, it was surprisingly yummy and almost similar to those that was baked from brick oven. Really authentic and impressive.


Bread for the home baker 3 at Shermay's Cooking School