Our New Vanilla Paste

We are proud to introduce our newest and most authentic flavoring, J-Forte Vanilla Paste. This is the perfect companion for every pastry chef. The J-Forte Vanilla Paste has a thick consistency loaded with real vanilla beans in every drop. It gives an authentic look to your baked custards, ice cream and other desserts. It is made with beans from Bourbon Madagascar, the world’s largest producer of the vanilla orchid itself. The sweet scent and the unmatched flavor of an authentic vanilla bean does not evaporate upon application of heat to the vanilla paste. Made by vanilla experts from Japan, the J-Forte Vanilla Paste is sterilized for you and your client’s safety. To top it all off, not only will you have the convenience of having your beans in an easy, pourable form, but it also significantly costs less than purchasing the bean itself. The amount of seeds found in a vanilla bean is equivalent to just four (4) grams of the paste.

Great Pastry Demos

For the longest time, I wanted to share these videos which demonstrate the uses and the advantages of the non-stick baking pans/moulds from Demarle. The company's talented chefs show that making great looking pastries isn't so hard after all!

The Flexipan is the signature brand for non-stick baking moulds of Demarle. They may come at a high price, but people who are aware of its advantages find it reasonable.


Flexipan Demo

The first segment shows constructing mini cakes using the Flexipan. The fact that a particular mould can be used to make a filling or 'insert' of another larger one shows their expertise in developing many uses for Demarle's wide range of products.

The chef doing the demo is none other than Stephane Glacier. He is a celebrated patissier in France, having won a Gold medal in 2006 as the coach of the French team in the world pastry championship held in Phoenix. Chef Stephane had also written several books on pastry and is a technical consultant for various pastry schools and companies.


Relief Mat Demo

The Relief mat is a unique cousin of the Flexipan. The flat surface makes its detailed design perfect to line the sides of round cakes.

An alternative way of using the Relief mat is by using a stainless steel frame (also from Demarle) and build your cake in it - having the design on top of the cake (take a look at 2:28).


Silform Demo

For artisans out there who want their breads to have a consistent perfect shape, the Silform is the best non-stick baking mould you can find. Heat easily penetrates through the mat and goes straight to the dough.

The chef doing the demo in this video is Pascal Tepper. Just like chef Stephane, he is an awardee of Meilleur Ouvrier de France (M.O.F.). It is an award given in France to recognize outstanding people in the different professions. Chef Pascal got awarded with an M.O.F. in the field of bakery.

He also made a live baking demo in the Sonlie Building on 2009.

Flexipat Demo

The Flexipat is the ultimate tool needed for making layered cakes. Use the Flexipat for making layered cakes.

Silform - Tarts Demo

One of the most frustrating things in making tart shells is having to get the pie crust out of the mould. Especially for the ones with ridged edges, you tend to spend a lot of time forcing the crust out of a piping hot stainless steel mould.

The Silform's unique design makes it very simple to bake tart shells. Unmoulding? It's now a thing of the past.

Journey Flexipan

Demarle, the company that produces one of the most sought after non-stick baking moulds in the world today, showed me awesome ways of appreciating their products. I spent a few days in Tokyo making delicious, not to mention great-looking pastries with Demarle's Kiwamu Kamimura.

Almond Cake

Using the Ingots with a cavity mold, we made this extremely soft (and I couldn't stress that enough) almond cake. Using simple ingredients, enriched with a load of ground almonds, the result was this amazing cake.

Island Coconut

A fusion of the Philippines and French pastry in a cake. The Island Coconut consists of a coconut dacquoise base, a coconut mousse with a slight hint of rum, with a mango and passion fruit puree filling. We used the Savarin mould, Ingots with a cavity mold and the Half-Sphere mold in making this sweet and tart dessert.

Lemon Strawberry Delight

This cake consists of an almond dacquoise with strawberry jam for its base, filled with lemon light cream filling. We used the ever reliable Silpat to make a yellow jaconde sponge as the cake's border.

A compact version of the Lemon Strawberry Delight

One thing that makes Flexipans so exciting is the different pastries and cakes you can make with just one base recipe.



This chocolate mousse cake consists of a biscuit chocolat base, creme brulee filling topped with chocolate mousse and a chocolate glaze. The chocolate mousse and creme brulee gives the cake a creamy filling just right to contrast the sponge-like biscuit chocolat. Good thing i still got to save this slice for pictures. :)

Here are some variations of a chocolate mousse cake:

This is a chocolate cigarette dough topped with a jaconde sponge on a Relief mat (Dome).

Placed around this round chocolate mousse cake.

The same chocolate mousse placed on a Rosette shaped Relief mat.

Savarin Saphir mould


The Savarin Saphirs being coated with chocolate spray.

Some other pastries we made...

Chocolate Tarts

A rich chocolate cream filling with chocolate glaze on top, placed inside a tart shell baked in a Square Flexipan mould.

Dacquoise Tartlette

A dacquoise base with diplomat cream and fresh strawberries. We used Flexipan Rounds to get the 'elevated' edge effect.

Matcha Cake

This one is my personal favorite. A matcha green tea cake baked in a Flexipan Cakes mould. It looks simple yet appetizing.

My thanks to Demarle's Kiwamu Kamimura for giving me an excellent culinary adventure in Tokyo! :)

Home Made Apple Pie

I was going over my pile of recipes and encountered a classic Apple Pie recipe. I remember how it used to make the house smell like Christmas!

I made a tart like shell and placed them in the individual Flexipan Moulds so as to avoid the who gets the biggest slice problem.

No apple pie is complete (for me) without a streusel topping, and served a la mode. But for this case, I had a craving for chef Ariel Manuel's vanilla almond ice cream. :)

My Take on Danish Pastries

I was so amazed with the great looking danish pastries I encountered in my trips abroad that I decided to try making some myself. I tried doing it without the help of a sheeting machine to give me an extra challenge (and because it's broken). All you need is the good old rolling pin and a week's worth of workout.

Ingredients:
Bread Flour - 400 grams
Soft Flour - 100 grams
Water (with ice) - 225 grams
Eggs - 50 grams
Milk Powder - 20 grams
Butter - 30 grams
Salt - 8 grams
Saf Instant Yeast - 8 grams
Magimix Green (bread improver) - 2 grams

Butter (set aside) - 225 grams

The butter set aside is to be placed inside the dough, to be sheeted so that the pastry could attain its flakiness.

After folding, freezing, sheeting for a couple of times, it will be ready to be cut/shaped (easier said than done).


I had to bake it at a high temperature at the beginning to make sure that all the butter gets evaporated quickly for flaky texture. Around 200 degrees Celsius for 5 minutes, then 170 degrees for another 10.

The pastries look almost done just 5 minutes in the oven, but it will still take a while to get it baked all the way inside the dough.

The results:

The Pinwheel, a classic shape for danish pastries

and a less traditional triangle-like shape.

At least there were two that came out okay. :)

Coffee Creme Brulee Tarts

For the holidays, I combined two of the more interesting product lines that we have, Demarle and Martin Braun, and came up with an easy way of making simple yet fancy pastries. Here is an (almost) step-by-step process to make coffee creme brulee on shortbread pastry (tart shells).


Ingredients for the tart shells:

All Purpose Flour - 150 grams
Butter - 60 grams (cut into small cubes)
Powdered Sugar - 50 grams
Eggs - 25 grams (just add the yolk and a small portion of the white)
Salt - 2 grams


Process:
Cut the butter into the flour.
Knead in the powdered sugar, eggs and salt.
Once combined, compress the dough and wrap it in cling wrap.
Place in the chiller roughly 1 - 2 hours.

After chilling, roll the dough between two Silpat mats until 2-3mm thick.

I used this fluted exoglass cutter to cut the dough.

Here's a simple trick I used with the flexipans. Simply invert the moulds and place the cut dough on top of each indent, making sure it is perfectly centered. I used a Mini Charlotte mould for this one.

Works well with the Chinese Spoon mould too.

Bake it in the oven for 8minutes at around 170 degrees. It really depends on how dark you want your tart shell to be. But for this setting, the shells will only have a slight golden brown color.

Now you have your tart shell!

For the coffee creme brulee, I used our instant creme brulee powder from Martin Braun. Makes it a LOT easier. Hehe

Ingredients for coffee creme brulee:

Creme Brulee Powder - 100 grams
Cream - 200 grams
Milk - 200 grams
Instant coffee - 5 grams


Procedure:

Heat the milk, cream and the instant coffee on a saucepan over low heat until it starts to bubble.
Add the creme brulee powder.
Pour into Flexipan Mini Quenelles and Mini Charlotte moulds.

Just fill a small amount for the mini charlottes.

Allow it to cool for 15 - 20 minutes, then place the Flexipan moulds in the freezer for at least 2 - 3 hours. Unmould the frozen creme brulee and place on tart shells.

Coffee Creme Brulee on Chinese Spoons

Coffee Creme Brulee Charlottes