November 2016 class schedule*

 

Hi there!

I am finally back from Japan! Sorry for my absence and not updating you during my stay there… >< Thanks to you all, me and my family had a great time there. I could also see my old friends and my new family member. There were some cold days like winter and I missed the hot weather in Malaysia, but most of the days were sunny and we could enjoy the autumn weather and food in Japan.

By the way, for November class schedule, I will be posting some requested class for now. I will be updating you end of November & December class schedule soon. Thanks for your understanding and hope to catch up with you soon!!

 

<November Class Schedule>

1. Foret Noir (Black Forest) Cake & Hazelnuts Praline Sable – Premier Class – *Request*

Classic black forest cake layered with chocolate mousse, cherry and cream

Hazelnuts cookie sandwiched with praline chocolat

DATE:       November 19th (Sat.) 11:00am-3:00pm     

    FEE:       RM210 (RM169  for members)

 

2. Caramel Nuts Tarte & Sable Mandian – Premier Class – *Request*   

   

Caramel Nuts Tart (middle)

Nutty cookie using cassonade sugar

DATE:      November 23rd (Wed.) 11:00am-3:00pm            

    FEE:      RM210 (RM169 for members)

 

If you are interested in joining the class, kindly email me at caramelmoko@gmail.com (Tomoko).

Thanks and see you soon!

 

 

Cheers,

Tomoko

Class and other updates*

Hi there!

It’s been a few months since I commented my last post ><… Sorry for my late updates and thank you so much for visiting this site meanwhile! I was also happy that so many of my students contacted me asking about the classes and caring for my condition. I’m doing fine^^. And I’m glad to inform you that I will finally be starting my classes again in end of April! I will be updating class schedules at the end of this month, so hope you can check once it’s out!

 

New students are also very welcome! My classes are from beginners and it will all be hands-on workshop. I am limiting the class to 6 students only so the class will be held in intimate style! For the details of class fee & others, I will post together with the schedule!

 

——————————————————————–

 

By the way, I went back to Japan in December to January and spent the New Year with my family. It was almost after 10 years… or more? since I spent my New Year back in Japan. I missed Japanese New Year, but was hesitant to go back in winter because it’s a little too cold there (and we barely had any winter clothes). My parents-in-law and my brother-in-law also came along! Fortunately this year was rather a warm winter and kids also had great fun without falling sick!

This snow photo is from Nagano. My daughter had been asking me to show her the real snow, so we arranged a trip to Nagano with my parents and my sister family. Yes, it doesn’t really snow in Tokyo!

 

Our traditional New Year dish called “Osechi”. – at Karuizawa Prince Resort.

I also tried many Christmas cakes and some festive foods,

 

such as stollen and Galette de Rois,

and visited my favorite pastisserie.

It was a great trip!

————————————————————

 

 

This is Gateau Chocolat. It’s simple and nice. I’ve been baking with this recipe for almost 20years! I am looking forward to baking with you again @ Caramel Factory ^^.

 

Cheers,

Tomoko

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tart Dijion* Molle Chocolat

Today we had our last class of Tart Dijion. Thank you so much for the students who joined this class. Hope you enjoyed this delicious petit gateau! 

By the way, I just realized that I didn’t talk about this class in details. So just for our record (and for future repeat request), I still would like to talk about it.

It’s a chocolate tart with creme de noisette (hazelnuts cream), comported fig, raspberry jam and mascarpone mousse. I love this tart and was delighted when I found the dried fig in the grocery shop the other day (I didn’t know it was quite common item here…). In any case, for many students it was the first time using dried fig in the cakes so they found it interesting and delicious ^^.

As for the mascarpone mousse, we coated with glaze using raspberry puree and agar agar. As I wrote in my blog before, in Japan a lot of the cakes are coated with “nappage”, which gives a nice shine in the mousse or the fruits on top, and this can be made by simply adding water into nappage powder and putting onto boil. It’s so convenient and easy to handle that I missss it! It could’ve been so much easier with that! haha. But baking should have some trials and errors, right?

I always tell my students that tart might seem to take a long time to make and especially those with lots of parts, they feel like giving up at home… but you can always simplify the recipe and start slowly from the parts you can make! Also, my intention is to introduce something new to the class… so I feel that sometimes it’s just worth enjoying a new taste in the class and sharing them with your family ^^*.

We also baked a simple chocolate cake, Molle Chocolat together in this class. It’s a moist chocolate cake with a lot of almond. You can also put chocolate chips if you like. This cake is simple and you can bake for the coming Valentine’s Day!!!

Thank you so much for always supporting Caramel Factory!

Cheers,

Tomoko

Specialty Coffee Shops in Tokyo! vol.2

Bear Pond Espresso @ Shibuya

Located right in the heart of Shibuya,  Bear Pond Espresso, is also worth visiting. It’s not really a Specialty coffee bean place but is specialized in espresso.

The photo is not allowed inside the shop, so I show you the outside^^. We ordered their Espresso and Cappuccino for take away. It was really nice! The coffee was freshly roasted at their shop so we bought back a packet of beans as well!

I have been making lattes with their house blend in my home espresso machine and it taste very nice, well grounded, fruity and not too bitter:)

Sarutahiko Coffee @ Ebisu

Ebisu, 1 stop away from Shibuya on train, there is this another excellent coffee shop called Sarutahiko Coffee.

This shop is very small with a few tables and high chairs, and my family could barely fit in… (my husband had to carry our son on carrier while I squeezed in one person space with my daughter), but their service and coffee was excellent that everything was alright! We went on a rainy day and the shop lady helped us put the stroller outside and fold the umbrella. I know that Japanese hospitality is quite good, but this shop was beyond our expectations. I bet regulars come back because of this.

Like these two senior men.

Excuse me on this photo shot, but I couldn’t help taking them because it was such a heart warming scene of two men, one with a retro hat, chit-chatting over a cup of coffee before they start the day. Sometimes the customers add the scenes to the coffee shop and makes the whole experience nice and memorable.

We ordered their specialty Iced coffee in hand-dripping style. You can see the pour over tools in front of the man in the second photo. Their house roast is rather dark and is suited for iced coffee and it was really nice!

We visited a couple more coffee shops but these are the Specialty Coffee Shops we went. I enjoyed the beans we brought back from Japan, and some with my students! I hope to visit back some of the shop and other coffee shops in my next Japan trip!

Thank you for always visiting my blog & Have a great weekend!

 

 

Specialty Coffee Shops in Tokyo! vol.1

 

Speaking of Specialty coffee, I would like to introduce some of the coffee shops I visited in my last Japan trip!

 

The Roastery @ Omotesando (Harajuku)

 

 

First is The Roastery in Harajuku, Tokyo.

Harajuku, Omotesando and Shibuya areas are known to have nice cafes and coffee shops. Many popular pancake shops are also located here and recently, Magnolia Bakery, the famous NY cupcake shop, opened their first branch in Japan as well! It’s a trendy and hot spot for the cafe lovers!

The Roastery is located in one of the small stretch of road that leads from Omotesando Harajuku to Shibuya.

 

 

 

The shop reminds us of some cozy cafes in the west coast of the U.S., and being part of a large restaurant & cafe group, it’s quite spacious for a cafe in Tokyo.

 

 

They serve New York Ring here! It’s a donuts made from croissant dough and is popular as ‘cronuts’ in the U.S.!

Their coffee menu is quite simple and you choose from Americano, Espresso and Cappuccino from the two types of coffee beans. They change the beans on a weekly basis, more or less. The beans are roasted in the shop itself, as you can see from the first photo, and they share the same Specialty coffee beans with NOZY coffee, another famous coffee shop in Tokyo.

 

 

We tried their cappuccino and espresso, together with the N.Y. Ring! The espresso had a very powerful flavor, and even with cappuccino where normally milk makes the coffee tastes blend, I could feel the strong characteristics of the Specialty coffee beans. We liked the coffee beans so much that we bought back a few packets of COE and Specialty coffee beans that were available in the shop. Price range from JPY1,200/200g to JPY1,800/200g (RM40-RM70).

As for their Americano, they were using French Press and not hand-dripping (pour over) style.

 

Coutume @ Omotesando (Aoyama)

Just 10 minutes walk from The Roastery, in same Omotesando (Aoyama) area, we found another Specialty Coffee shop called Coutume. This shop, which is newly opened in April 2014, is a Paris found cafe. It has various kinds of coffee but especially specializes in French Press.

 

 

Look at this French Press machine! It is completely computerized and looks very stylish!

I honestly don’t appreciate French press as much as the hand dripping style, but some people say that French press can extract the nice coffee oil which the hand dripping will take away from using filter paper.

 

 

In contrast with the wooden feel of previous cafe, The Roastery, Coutume was a bright and white stylish cafe! Fashionable like Paris!

 

 

Even the way they serve was cute and stylish, with some details of the coffee bean explained in the transparent cube that came along with the coffee.

 

 

We ordered their specialty French press hot and ice coffee. My friend ordered their Pour over coffee and it was served in this cute glass pot.

 

Overall we had a good experience! My husband liked the modern and minimalist design and of course the automated French press machine was very impressive! Ok, I will talk about other cafes in my next post! Have a good day!

Thank you for visiting my blog!

 

 

BEAM @ Sri Damansara

The other day, I had a chance to visit a cafe called BEAM at Sri Damansara, thanks to my dear student who recommended me of this newly opened shop! It opened in end of July. I wouldn’t have known of this shop otherwise because the coffee and cafe business in Malaysia is expanding vast in the last couple of years. (My student has joined our coffee & macaron master course, by the way. I am glad to be sharing such information with students lately^^…)

As soon as I entered the cafe, I immediately liked this spacious yet cozy ambience. It seemed that this shop lot was a former warehouse, thus the table and chairs were displayed spaciously and had couple of areas in theme. This corner close to the door caught my eye as I entered, and before I even checked their menu I was impressed by how various coffee items and tools they carry for sale. They had the same kettle, coffee filter, syphon machine and others that I have, and they also had some unique coffee tools. I even found two sets of water-dripping machine on the high table (this was of course not for sale).

And then we came to the counter to order our coffee.

Specialty coffee and… Kopi O?

First, I was surprised that they handle Specialty coffee beans here, which is still quite new and difficult to find in Malaysia. Then I was surprised that they also serve the local coffee as well because normally those two do not exist together in the same cafe. But soon after we order our Macchiato and Hand-drip Specialty Coffee (Papua New Guinea bean), the man who made us a hand-drip coffee explained to us all.

It seems like this cafe was built by a coffee wholesale company who has been supplying local and Arabica coffee beans, and now Specialty coffee beans, to cafes and coffee shops in Malaysia since 70’s.

No wonder!

That explains why they have so much knowledge and sources of coffee beans, not only the local beans but also the other kinds. When he mentioned, “We made this cafe to educate people on Speciality coffee beans”, I was clapping hands in my mind(!) because I was just trying to teach my coffee & macaron course graduates what Specialty coffee beans are and how good the tastes are through my Specialty Coffee class.

He poured the coffee carefully and steadily… very similar to how I make mine, but slower and with more using his whole body.

He gave us a nice and informative talk. Thanks!

Specialty coffee beans are rather limited and hard to get, and in Japan it costs about RM70/200 gram. But now you can get here in Malaysia with around RM28/150gram!

They had various raw beans and a roaster which if we request they will roast for you (it takes about 20-30 minutes) at the shop. Their main roaster factory seem to be just around the corner from this cafe.

Specialty coffee beans are picked carefully so it normally indicates details such as farmer, altitude, the way they dry the beans and the aroma you can taste from each beans. After we carefully looked at the list of beans here, we bought back a packet of Tanzania Specialty coffee beans (Tembo Farm), which was roasted only 2 days ago in their factory.

After we went back home, we straight away made a coffee from this bean. It was really fresh and had a nice fruity flavor…

I really enjoyed the experience there, and although it’s a little bit far from my house, I cannot wait to go back there!

Thank you for always visiting my blog ^^!

Tart au Citron @ L’oiseau de Lyon*Tokyo

We are making tart au citron (lemon tart) this month!

This picture is one of the best tart au citron I’ve ever had – in a patisserie called L’oiseau de Lyon in Yushima, Tokyo. There are many ways to decorate this cake with Italian meringue, and this is one of the sample using Saint Honore piping nozzle. I had this cake a couple of years ago so didn’t remember, but now that I look at it there was lemon macaron^^. How cute!

Thank you for visiting my blog^^.

Back to Malaysia!

We are back home~!

Since I am back to Malaysia last weekend, I have been trying to adjust with this heat again. I thought it was because my body got used to the Japan Spring weather, but people say it’s been hot for the last few days. During our 2-weeks-stay there, Japan was very sunny and breezy (about 10-20 degree C) and it only rained once at night. Some days were cold and we needed a jacket but it was overall an ideal weather!

I didn’t really go out much because of my big tummy and spent most of my days exploring around my house. I honestly wanted to visit some cafes and shops, but we needed to take trains to get around the city so it was too much of a hassle for me… Instead, I spent my time with my family and my daughter. This is one of the days I took her to a walk near my house.

She liked taking a walk and pick up some flowers and stones. We also went to a park to catch some fish! It was a pay pond but the fish there were from the mountain and were really fresh, so we cooked them for dinner!

This is my daughter and my niece in the park. They are the same age and played together. I also met my sister’s newborn baby (nephew)!

 

Couple of cake photos…

 

 

 

yum yum…

 

*I will be posting June schedule early next week. Sorry for the delay!

 

Thank you for visiting my blog^^.

 

 

Strawberry Short Cake * December Basic class

It’s December! Christmas is coming soon, and I’m happy to announce some new exciting classes during this festive season.

This month we will be making lots of Christmas cakes! First, this is a traditional Japanese Strawberry Short Cake. It’s one of my favorite cakes to eat during the winter season in Japan. During my trip to Japan last week, I had the chance to try a few strawberry cakes in some of the best patisseries in Tokyo, so I hope to bring this delightful recipe and introduce it to all my students here! You will learn how to bake sponge cake and the tips to decorate it nicely using turning table. I am excited about this class because this simple and delicious cake is rather difficult to find in Malaysia. I miss having them!

Strawberry Short Cake I found in Japan trip (@ Les entremets de kunitachi)

Strawberry short cake and other cakes (@ Rouge blanche Denen chofu)

Each of you will bake this cake in 15cm size whole (and you also get to bring back 1 extra sponge cake). For this class, I brought back cute Santa Claus all the way from Japan, so let’s decorate your cake nicely and practice for the coming Christmas!

Another item for this class is Raspberry pate de fruits, a traditional French style jelly.

Here is the details of this class schedule.

DATE:       December 15th (Sat.) 11:00am-2:30pm      –> FULL

                    December 22nd (Sat.) 3:00pm-6:30pm      –> FULL

                    December 24th (Mon.) 11:00am-2:30pm    —> FULL

                     January 5th (Sat.) 10:30am-2:00pm <– New!        

                   *Limited to 6 students per class

    FEE:       RM180 (RM135  for members)

To register for classes, please contact me via email or sms: caramelmoko@gmail.com / 012-352-3106 (Tomoko). Thank you for visiting my blog and hope to hear from you soon!

Patisserie Cacahouete Paris*

This is me about 3 years ago at my favorite patisserie – Patisserie Cacahouete Paris!

Next to me is chef Jerome Quesnel, an owner of this patisserie, and I’m holding his newly published book! I love his cakes so00 much that every time I go back to Japan I visit his shop in Nakameguro, Tokyo, Japan. (It’s just 2 stops away from Shibuya station by train.)

This is when I visited his shop during my stay in May this year.

I got so excited that I was staring at the showcase for more than 10 minutes and chose 10 over cakes. One thing interesting about chef Jerome is that he keeps adding new items every season and those are not only the traditional cakes from France but more like his original cakes that combines the ‘elements’ of both Japanese and French cultures… like this strawberry choux cube.

His specialite is chocolate cakes and those glace deserts.

Look at this beautiful form! There is chocolate macaron at the bottom of the glass. The size is big enough for two people to share. Hmm… it was sooo sumptuous!

I cannot wait to visit his shop again!

Thank you for visiting my blog^^.