Back in October last year, I attended a Basic Croissant Workshop at Bakerz@Work Academy. I've always been curious about croissant making; heard that the process is very difficult and tedious. Since my family loves croissant especially the kiddo, I decided to go for the one-day hands-on workshop to experience the art of making hand-rolled croissants.

The workshop started at 10am and ended at 5pm with an hour lunch break. Class size was small with six students and the "classroom" is a comfortable commercial bakery kitchen. The Chef-Instructor was Chef Kel who is very friendly, patient and very willing to share his experience and tips about making croissants in home kitchen.

During the workshop, we learnt about dough composition and lamination techniques, yeast fermentation, gluten development and flavour formation. Chef Kel would go through each topic with theory, followed by demo and then we proceeded to hands-on with supervision and guidance.

That was me, super excited to have finally reached the stage of proofing for my hand-laminated croissants.


Although it's a little daunting at first, trying the grasp the techniques of folding and rolling, but as we proceeded, we began to get the hang of it. It was helpful that we worked in a buddy system where we reminded each other the steps; and Chef Kel was around to render assistance whenever we were stuck and unsure.

Some might feel that all the work that took one whole day just for what? Eight Croissants? Is it worth it? To me, totally! It felt satisfying being able to churn out homemade artisan croissants using the best quality ingredients and serving them to family members. Freshly baked croissants made with love tasted extra yummy :)

Actually the whole day process can be separated into two or even three days so that it's not so tedious. With careful planning and time management, it's not difficult after all. Patience is the key to croissant making as a lot of time is spent waiting between the proofing, folds, rolling and especially if our home kitchen is hot without air-con, the dough has to be put back to the fridge/freezer more times as it turns soft very quickly.

Chef Kel also showed us the process of making Pain Au Chocolat using a laminate machine. Wow, using a machine makes the rolling job a breeze and the layers are more uniform and neat! See how nicely the layers of the Pain Au Chocolat turned out? Beautiful!

I'm afraid it would be almost impossible to achieve such uniform and distinct layers using hand-rolled method, but it's not possible to buy a commercial machine at home lah.



My first practice one week after the workshop. For this very first practice, I must say it was not easy at all since I was working in a hot kitchen without air-con, unlike the workshop where the classroom is fully air-conditioned. There were some frustrations as the dough got soft very quickly and had to go in and out of the fridge and freezer many more times than expected.

Nevertheless, managed to complete the croissant making. The croissants didn't turn out great but hey I was just happy to be able to try it at home. And must keep reminding myself PATIENCE PATIENCE PATIENCE.



A batch I thought cannot make it and wanted to give up halfway as I didn't thaw the butter properly and parts of it broke during lamination resulting in many butter patches. Proceeded half-heartedly anyway, and the croissants were poorly cut, shaped and rolled.

They still looked like croissants and tasted ok, but the crumbs look terrible. A reminder to self, every step in the croissant making is important.



My third practice before my kitchen was closed for my relocation.

Took the time to ensure that each step was followed through meticulously and exercise more patience when it came to resting the dough in the freezer/fridge in between folds and rolls.

Was quite happy with the results, the crumbs turned out nicely, although the shaping and sizing still needed improvement.




My first practice after shifting to Thailand. Glad that I managed to find pastry butter and T45 flour for making croissants at a baking supplies shop in BKK.

A good chance for me to test my oven for baking croissants as well, as this oven at my rental house is an analog one instead of digital which I'm used to.

Tried my best to be patient and rest the dough well between the folds and rolls; the croissants didn't turn out as well as Practice III. Could probably proof 10-15 mins longer, but I was rushing to go out to pick up my kiddo from school ("rushing" is a no-no in croissant making! Could have placed the croissants in the fridge for low temperature proofing while I was out).

Although not totally satisfied, was happy that I could continue to practise on my croissant making here.



My latest practice which was just last week; this batch I really took the time to rest the dough well in the freezer/fridge each time, and took extra care to roll properly.

Just when I thought it's going to be THE perfect batch, alas, life is not perfect.

Crumbs turned out beautiful I believe. But somehow all the shapes came out different, some lopsided and some plain ugly, only the shapes of one or two could make it.

Not sure what went wrong? Was it the weather which was really hot and humid and I over-proofed croissants, was it because I didn't rest the dough enough between the folds and rolls? I think during the final rolling, although I rolled the dough to about 3-4mm thickness, somehow after cutting, it became 5-6mm thick, resulting in bigger croissants. Probably due to the size, it affected the proofing?

Oh well, all I can say is, every croissant making is a new learning experience, and I shall continue to strive for the best possible homemade croissants!

Presenting my first-ever Korean Buttercream Flower Cake!

I must say this was the most tedious cake I have done so far, took me almost two days to complete. Nonetheless I liked how it turned out, given that it was my second attempt at making Korean buttercream and third attempt at practising flower piping. The piped flowers were not perfect yet, as compared to the ones you see on internet or instagram but I'm happy with the current result :)



I couldn't remember, did the Korean buttercream flower cake craze start last year or the year before? I always marveled at how pretty the cakes look, so dreamy and sweet looking right? However, I have somewhat a concern over the amount of buttercream used. First of all, I'm not a buttercream fan, don't really eat much of it as it's too heavy and sweet for my palate, and secondly the aftermath washing up is rather tedious with the tools, bowls, utensils used oily and messy.


So I usually prefer just a simple rose design using a star tip which can turn out quite pretty too (check out those designs at http://megpastrystudio.blogspot.sg). There are customers who asked me whether I could make Korean buttercream flower cakes, which I had to turn down their requests or provide them with alternative of simple rose design.


Well, I know I wanted to learn if given the opportunity, but so far the workshops conducted by some baking schools here cost a princely sum of more than $2000 as they specially fly in Korean bakers to teach the class.

Then recently I chanced upon BakeFresh Studio which offered a basic hands-on class at $200+ which is so much more affordable, with a local baker teaching the class. She had learnt from a Korean baker and perfected her piping skills and hence started conducting classes.


Hence, I jumped at the opportunity and attended the Korean Buttercream Flower Cake hands-on workshop two weeks ago :) The class was 5-hours long and I learnt how to make Korean buttercream which uses Italian meringue buttercream technique with a twist to the method in order to make the buttercream look glossy. And thereafter 3 types of flowers, namely rose, ranunculus and apple blossom were taught, as well as flower bud and leaf. The learning curve was quite steep for me, and it took me a while to grasp the piping technique. Towards the end of the class where we were required to assemble the cake, I couldn't manage to create a proper wreath design as my piped flowers were too big and I make-do with a dome-shaped design. But was really quite disappointed with how my creation turned out :(


Hence within the next two days, I decided to make the buttercream at home as well as practise the piping techniques while I could still remember the steps clearly. Otherwise with my goldfish memory these days, I'm afraid I would forget and the workshop would have been wasted.

Making the buttercream is not difficult with the right tools and technique; however I'm working without air-con and hence the buttercream melted very quickly using piping. After piping a few flowers, I realised that it is important to have the right temperature and consistency of buttercream in order to pipe the flowers properly. After sweating it out the whole afternoon, these were the only more acceptable ones :(

I must therefore think of a better workflow (since there are a few flower designs and colours involved) and work on small batch of buttercream each time and keep the remaining in the fridge.


The following week, I decided to try again. Spent half a day making 3 layers of Japanese genoise sponge cake in ombre colours then fill and crumbcoat with chantilly cream frosting. Yes, I could have made my life easier by making any old cake which is simple, but I really wanted to see how the ombre cake layers would turn out with the flowers.

The next day, started with making the Korean buttercream. Thereafter worked on piping the flowers a few pieces at a time, and made sure to store them in airtight box and chill them in fridge prior to use. Then iced the entire cake with buttercream, chill sufficiently and finally assembly of the cake with touch-ups using flower buds and leaves. Had to chill the cake for 15-20 mins to let it set before I could finally take photos and cut the cake. *phew* really tedious and time consuming, and I haven't even mention the amount of washing and cleaning up!

Funny thing was, both hubby and I as well as the kiddo enjoyed the cake and chantilly cream and scrapped away most of the buttercream :p LOL! We are indeed not fan of buttercream. Managed to eat only 2/5 of the cake and gave the remaining to a friend :)


I guess I would open up this cake for orders, but subject to availability as much more work, planning and time is required. Prices would also be at least 1.5 to 2 times higher than my usual cake due to the effort and amount of ingredients used.

The cake layers would be my signature Japanese-style genoise sponge, made using Japanese cake flour, Japanese sugar, egg, milk and unsalted butter. The cake texture is tender and light, and less sweet.

The cake filling and crumbcoat is chantilly cream frosting, made using dairy whipping cream and mascarpone cheese and snow powder (optional, can be omitted for sugarless version).

And finally the Korean buttercream flowers, made using unsalted butter (French butter, either Elle & Vire or President), caster sugar, water and egg white. The buttercream would be on the sweet side.

This particular cake is 7" round and 3 layers, good to serve 10-12 slices.

Please drop me an email at megtan@singnet.com.sg if interested!