Cruffins

This is the last post for this month. My favorite month of the year is almost over. I baked Mango Macarons +Mango Tarts, S'mores Donuts, my Ombre Birthday Cake and finally I end this month's bakes with Cruffins. I think they are the coolest fusion baked good out right now, Croissant + Muffin = Cruffin. I really wanted to bake some croissants this month but didn't want to deal with waiting three days to laminate the dough. I searched the internet tirelessly for some info on how to bake these and I really didn't find a lot, especially not in english. I just winged it and used my croissant recipe and some trial and error and I produced something that was beautiful and delicious. I also had some lemon curd leftover from the cake last week so I stuffed a couple with that.

Cruffin filled with Lemon Curd

Cruffin recipe

Dough recipe

• 500 g unbleached all-purpose flour + (extra for dusting)
• 140 g water
• 140 g whole milk (you can take it straight from the fridge)
• 55 g sugar
• 40 g soft unsalted butter
• 11 g instant yeast (if you buy those little packets it's exactly two) 
• 12 g salt

Butter layer

• 12oz of european butter
• powdered sugar
• cinnamon sugar
• jams of choice

Combine the dough ingredients and knead for 3 minutes, if you are using a stand mixer, attach your dough hook and mix at low to medium speed, until the dough comes together and you’ve reached the stage of low to moderate gluten development. ****you don't want to over mix this like a loaf of bread, when the sides of the bowl are clean stop after 3 minutes***

Lightly oil bowl and place ball of dough in bowl and cover with towel to rise for and hour

Don't judge me for still using Christmas towels

Tip dough on to a floured surface

That Dough Though

 Cut dough into 6 equal pieces

Working with one piece of dough at a time  roll at as thin as possible

Roll it so thin

Spread softened butter all over thinned dough

It's easier to spread this with your hand, even though it's super messy

starting from one end of the dough roll up tightly

With a sharp knife slice each roll in half lengthwise

Look at those layers

Butter some jumbo muffin tins

Butter those pans you don't want your cruffins stuck

Roll each roll with the cut side out like a rosette and place in the center of each muffin tin

 Cover each tin with plastic and let rise for one hour until doubled in size

place in 400F for 20-25 minutes.

Whisk together some sugar + cinnamon and toss freshly baked cruffins in the sugar mixture.

Cinnamon + Sugar

Cinnamon + Sugar Cruffins

These are so cute

This is where I placed some lemon curd in a pipping bag  and filled some cruffins and sprinkled some powdered sugar on top.

Filled with Lemon Curd

Powdered Sugar completes the look

Ok I think these look wonderful and taste delicious

Ombre Birthday Cake

I'm a tiny bit behind in uploading these posts. My birthday was on March 16th, yay go Pisces. For the month of March the theme of the bakes were Jasmine's choice. I knew I wanted to make my own birthday cake and I wanted to do a few different techniques. I went with an ombre cake, in my favorite color blue.... water sign. I also wanted to use my favorite flavors, so I added a lemon and coconut curd. I left the buttercream just vanilla, and the cake flavor vanilla also. I added silver and gold leaf because I'm extra and I think the cake came out beautifully and delicious.

Finished ombre cake slice

Finished cake, it looks so spring like

look at that ombre cake batter

I love the colors

after blending the frosting colors, sort of like watercoloring

perfect meringue with silver foil and teal stripe

Look at these cute little meringue kisses

Close up of the side of the cake. You can see the details of the edible foils.

This post is a little different because I really didn't take as detailed pictures but I will post the recipe.

Vanilla Cake

• 9 egg whites
• 4 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 1/2 cups butter (room temperature)
• 2 3/4 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 2 1/4 cups buttermilk
• 1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
• different shades of blue gel food coloring

Preheat your oven to 350F and spray 3 8inch round baking pans and set aside.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt and then set aside.

Stir vanilla and buttermilk together and set aside.

In a stand mixer beat butter and sugar on medium high speed using a paddle attachment ( 5 minutes)

Mix on low add egg whites one at a time.

Add in 1/3 of dry ingredients then 1/2 milk mixture, followed by 1/3 dry mixture and last 1/2 of milk mixture and the last of the dry ingredients.

Divide the cake batter into three bowls and add in gel coloring. Pour in prepared pans and bake at 350F for 30-33 minutes. 

Cool 10-20 minutes before inverting pans

Leave on cooling rack to cool completely

Here's a recipe for the Swiss Meringue Butter Cream and Lemon Curd

For the coconut curd I used the same lemon curd recipe just replaced the lemon curd with 3/4 cups of coconut milk.

I finished the cake with macarons and little meringue kisses and gold and silver. 

I will be making better posts, it's just that I've been so busy with a lot of things and my veggie garden.

S'mores donuts

This is the second post for the month of March. The theme is My Choice. I was actually really busy planting a vegetable garden this weekend so I needed to bake something simple. As I looked back on this blog I noticed that I always bake a donut. I then wanted a chocolate flavored donut and decided on S'mores donuts. I added a little graham cracker crumbs to the chocolate batter and then dipped each donut in a chocolate glaze. I made a little meringue and toasted it for that marshmallow taste and finally added a little edible gold leaf ( I ordered a bunch because I need it for my birthday cake). I really like these donuts. Of course they are a chocolate cake donut and they are so moist. I only made 8 donuts and they were quickly scooped up. All in, these took about 20 minutes. These were perfect to make on a sort of lazy Sunday.

S'mores Donut

Here's what you will need

S'mores Donut

3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons of sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 tablespoons melted butter ( cooled to room temperature)
1 2/3 cup buttermilk or  1 teaspoon vinegar added to 1 2/3 cup milk
graham cracker crumbs for garnish
meringue for garnish ( or marshmallows)



Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together and set aside

In a separate bowl mix milk, brown sugar, egg, melted butter, white sugar

add in the dry flour mixture. Mix to combine

Place mixture in a piping bag. Fill donut cavities.

I sprinkled each donut with graham crackers.

Looks yummy

Bake the donuts at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

Let cool in pan for 5 minutes before removing from pan.

I could just eat these like this

For chocolate glaze

Mix 2 cups powdered sugar and 1/3 cup of cocoa powder with about 5 tablespoons of milk. If glaze is too thin add more powdered sugar. If too thick add in a tablespoon of milk at a time.

I glazed each donut and added graham cracker crumbs and piped in the center of each donut some meringue

I then toasted the meringue for that s'mores feel.

gold leaf makes everything looks fancy

Mango Macaron + Mango Tart

We are now in one of my favorite months of the year. I love March so much and it is my birthday month. I decided that the theme would be Jasmine's Choice. So I can literally bake anything that I wanted this month. I decided to go for something with Mango for the first week. I wanted to bake up some Mango Macarons because I haven't baked macarons in a while. As for the tart, I needed to use up the Mango Curd that I had leftover from the macarons. So I think both came out lovely. I sprinkled the macaron shells with some toasted coconut and some with a chile lime seasoning salt. On the tart I added a little lime zest and toasted meringue. 

Mango Tart with Mango chile Macaron

Here's what you will need

Mango Curd

• 1 cup of Mango Puree (just blend chopped mangos)
• 3 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice (1 large lemon or 2 small lemons)
• 4 large egg yolks (keep the egg whites for macarons)
• pinch of salt
• 4 teaspoons of corn starch
• 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter (cut into small pieces)

First I peeled, chopped, and blended one alphonso mango and two little honey mangos until smooth.

this smells wonderful

Next in a sauce pot add one cup of mango puree, 4 egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and a pinch of salt and whisk together.

 Cook over medium heat, whisk the whole time until mixture becomes thick. ( takes anywhere from 5-7 minutes)

Run you mixture through  a sieve to remove any cooked egg or thick pieces.

whisk in butter one piece at at time.

Place plastic over finished mango curd and set in fridge until ready to use. ( I always make my curd a day in advance)

Toasted Coconut topping

• 1/3 cup shredded coconut

Just place your shredded coconut in a small pan and swirl it in a pan over medium heat ( always watching your coconut because it is super easy to burn)

Toasted Coconut Buttercream

• 1/2 cup room temperature butter (1 stick)
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon coconut extract
• 1/4 cup toasted coconut

For your buttercream take your room temperature butter and blend it until pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes) on medium/high speed

Add in your powdered sugar on low speed until incorporated

Lastly add in coconut extract and toasted coconut. I then transfer this mixture to a pipping bag.

Macaron Shells

• 65g almond flour/meal
• 65g powdered sugar
• 50g egg whites (from two eggs) 
• pinch of cream of tartar
• 42g granulated sugar
• toasted coconut for tops
• chile lime for tops
• gel food color (I used 1 drop copper, 1 drop peach)

First sift almond flour and powdered sugar together through a sieve. Then whisk together and set aside.

Whisk your egg whites and pinch of cream of tartar on low speed until foamy (about 2 mins)

Add in your granulated sugar and whisk on medium/high speed until soft peaks form  (whisk for 3 mins)

While egg whites are in soft peak stage here is a good chance to add in your gel coloring

Turn your mixer on high and whip egg whites on high speed until stiff peaks are reached.

Now add in all of your almond meal+ powdered sugar and fold mixture until you reach a lava consistency ( be extra careful not to over mix or under mix)

Place your macaron batter in a pipping bag with a round pastry tip attached. On a parchment or silicon lined baking tray  pipe 1.5 inch circles. Gently tap tray on counter to release any air bubbles that are trapped. 

Preheat oven to 325F.

Place any sprinkles or topping over the top of each macaron. 

Allow macarons to sit on counter to develop a skin over them (you will know they are ready to go in the oven if they are dry to the touch)

Bake in 325F oven for 12-15 minutes.

about to go in the oven

Remove baked macarons from oven and let sit on the pan for a minute and then set macarons on the counter to cool ( I leave them on the silicon mat on the counter to cool completely before transferring to a wire rack)

Pair up each macaron with a top and bottom or matching sizes

ready for fillings

Pipe a ring of toasted coconut butter cream around one macaron shell

Fill the interior of each circle with some mango curd. Then place a top on each. Place in the refrigerator for at least one day. Bring to room temperature to enjoy.

They kind of remind me of an egg

I really love how these macarons look and taste

close up of the mango chile macarons + one toasted coconut with just mango curd filling

For the tarts, I made a simple graham cracker crust and placed the leftover mango curd inside.


I've made mango tarts before, If you want detail pictures and instructions click here.

look how tropical these tarts look

close up of all that lime zest.

I was kind of bored the other day and decided to use up all of the leftover mango things that I had in the fridge. that's how this dessert was created. Also I bought this really cute Vera Wang +Wedgewood plate. I just liked it's simplicity and look.

mango chili sorbet, mango puree, mango tart, mango chile macaron