Celebrity Chef's Cookbook: Cake Temptations and Other (gua.com.my)

by Max Koh
22 March 2008

Title:
Celebrity Chef’s Cookbook: Cake Temptations and Other Desserts

Authors:
Su Chan

Famed for:
Her signature Tiramisu and other cakes and desserts. They can be found at her SuChan®Deli in PJ and Bangsar Village II.

Genre:
Cookbook

Review:
Cake-lovers everywhere must be buzzing with delight at the release of famed chef Su Chan’s first ever cookbook.

Su Chan? Yes, Su Chan of the infamous Tiramisu cake that has enchanted taste buds everywhere (well, in the Klang Valley mostly). And let’s not mention her delightful cakes, pies, pudding and brownies!



Best of all is it is not hard to do. Su Chan guides you every step of the way to ensure that your cake turns out as good as it looks in the book. The cakes look so delicious you are tempted to eat them off the pages.

The book also contains a comprehensive section called Basic Recipes, teaching you how to make the essential sauces (Toffee, Caramel, Chocolate), date paste, sugar dough, and sponges. It’s like a baking 101 for the kitchen-impaired baking aspirants (re: baking dummies) out there.

The health-conscious, gym-going masses with a sweet tooth will be happy to know that most of the recipes here call for no chemical enhancements, use less sugar and are gelatin free. So, the next time your organic flag-waving aunty declines your slice of cake, you can assure her that it is “organically sound and healthy!”





These recipes are the result of years of experience and experimentation by Su Chan to perfect the art of baking. Su Chan who started baking for her friends and family has taken great pains to develop and simplify the procedures so that you will enjoy the preparation as much as delighting your loved ones with your finished work of art.

The recipes are alphabetically arranged and include a very comprehensive methodology for even the most hopeless of bakers. Each recipe comes with a preparation time frame so that you know that you are on the right track when you finish your cake in time.

As the master chef told me in an interview, “Baking is very precise. Just follow the instructions in the book and you’ll get your end result in no time. It’s not hard at all.” Cool! For a bachelor who is hopeless in the kitchen but loves good food, that is good news.






As you flip through the pages, you’ll feel an increasing urge to get down and dirty in the kitchen. It is that inspiring. Although my past attempts at making cheese cake met with less than successful results, I am now inspired to bake again after looking at these mouth-watering pictures of cakes and pies.

In fact, when I passed the book around to my friends who have never baked, they were inspired and wanted to try out the easier recipes for themselves such as the delicious-looking Mexican Brownies that only takes 1 hour 30 minutes to make. As for me, I would love to make the Japonaise or the Strawberry Pavlova – they look so good on paper!

Su Chan’s love for the art started as a hobby. She began her career in timber export before venturing into advertising. Su Chan then left that to pursue her dreams, joining the famous Bon Ton restaurant as a pastry chef in the 90s.

After spending four-and-a-half-years at Bon Ton, she moved on to start a catering business for the US Embassy before opening her own deli, Su Chan Deli in Petaling Jaya. Her hard work saw her landing a spot as the finalist for the Personality Award for Entrepreneurs from the Food & Hotel Industry’s Platinum Award in 2003.

You can sample her cakes and desserts at her deli in Jalan Dato Mahmud (off Jalan University) or at her new branch in Bangsar Village II. Most of the recipes can be found in this cookbook.

The cookbook is also available in Malay. So if you have been thinking about baking but need a kick in the butt, get yourself a copy now. Baking has never been easier.