Dorayaki with Honey Crème Pâtissière ぷりんどら焼き、布丁銅鑼燒
I have to admit, I am not that keen on the traditional dorayaki with the sweet red (azuki) bean paste filling. OK, I might eat them once in a while, but I don’t crave for them as I don’t like the combination that much. Don’t get me wrong though because I do love the pancake bit – could easily just chomp on the pancake without the filling! It is lighter and fluffier than the western thick pancake, and with almost a cake-like quality to it. Therefore to my delight, I recently found out that there is actually a dorayaki that is filled with custard called the Pudding Dorayaki (or Purin Dora in Japanese), a combination of custard and pancake – two food dear to my heart – how could I not make it just to have a taste! So that began my quest to make my own version of it!
As a wagashi (和菓子 Japanese sweets), dorayaki is a type of yakigashi (焼菓子) which consists of baked sweets. Apparently, dorayaki made its first appearance in Japan as far back as the Edo period (江戸時代 Edo-jidai, 1600 to 1867). It got its name because its shape resembled the dora, a Japanese gong made from bronze. Another story I read was that a samurai accidentally left his dora behind after hiding in a farmer’s house, later the farmer used the dora as a pan to cook his cakes, and that’s how it got its name. And of course, before I forget, how could I not mention Doraemon here, that cute anime robotic cat who just loves to eat dorayaki.
As I have made dorayaki pancakes a few times before, I already have my own version of the batter recipe after those trial-and-error attempts previously, so it was not a problem. The thing I needed was the pudding filling. To begin with, I started to search for pudding (or purin in Japanese, which actually refers to custard or pastry cream) recipes on Japanese websites. As I searched, I came across one recipe that uses honey to substitute for some of the sugar in the custard for the honey flavour. That raised my interest since the dorayaki pancake batter used honey as well. I thought they would go well together. In the end, I decided to use the basic French pastry cream, Crème Pâtissière, recipe and to add some berries to it as the filling for my dorayaki. Although from a few images of the Pudding Dorayaki I have seen, the pudding filling seemed to be quite solid, I thought the softer pastry cream might taste better texturally. Then I substituted some of the sugar in the Crème Pâtissière recipe with honey to bring out its subtle flavour. However in my rush while making my pastry cream, I stupidly confused myself with the number of eggs needed for it.
So what happened? Well, I decided to make only half the recipe for the batter, which calls for 2 eggs, and to use the full recipe for the pastry cream which needed 3 egg yolks as I intended to use the excess pastry cream for something else. So in my mind, I kept thinking 2 eggs for the batter and confused myself that 2 egg yolks were needed for the pastry cream as well – grrrrr, should have checked the recipe again before rushing into making it – as a result my pastry cream ended up too thin and runny. As I filled the pancakes, it kept being squeezed out, as can be seen in the photo, the pastry cream could barely be noticeable as most of it kept dripping off. That said however, the combination of the pastry cream with the dorayaki pancake is simply divine. The subtle flavour of the honey definitely topped the whole thing off. I think it would have been even better if I haven’t made that stupid mistake and the pastry cream was a bit thicker. I also used frozen raspberries and blueberries to complement the pastry cream and they were gorgeously delicious! Will definitely make this Pudding Dorayaki again, and hopefully not make that mistake again with the cream.
By the way, can someone help me? I am rather curious about the name ‘dorayaki’ in Japanese characters, which to my very, very shallow and superficial knowledge of Japanese (tried to learn Japanese ages ago but failed miserably), shouldn’t it be どら焼 or どらやき? To my understanding, 焼 is ‘yaki’. However on searching for it in Japanese websites, it usually comes up as どら焼き, with the extra き attached – why is that? I hope someone who knows Japanese can enlighten me.
Here’s the recipe, but I won’t publish the 3-yolk version of my Crème Pâtissière recipe which I tried out for the first time here, since I’ve made such a mess of it. However I will adjust my usual recipe I’ve made before to include the honey. The consistency of the pastry cream should be like those used in my Mini Raspberry Éclairs as shown in my next post.
Makes approx. 24 pikelets or 12 Dorayakis.
[Ingredients]
Dorayaki Pancakes:
4 eggs, separated
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
170ml (2/3 cup) milk
60g (2 tablespoons) honey
2 teaspoons mirin 味醂
40ml (2 tablespoons) canola or corn oil
Honey Crème Pâtissière:
250ml (1 cup) milk
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
35g (2 tablespoons) caster sugar, or adjust to taste
30g (1 tablespoon) honey
10g (1 scant tablespoon) plain flour
10g (1 tablespoon) custard powder or cornflour
pinch salt (only if you use unsalted butter)
25g butter
Optional:
Berries, mangoes, apricots etc.
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Dorayaki Pancakes:
1. Mix plain flour and baking powder, sift. Dissolve honey in milk. Whisk together egg yolks, mirin and oil. Fold in milk and flour mixture alternatively.
2. Whisk egg whites until soft peaks formed. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff (meringue).
3. Fold the meringue, do it in a couple of batches, into the egg yolk mixture.
4. Heat a non-stick crepe pan (or a flat-bottom non-stick frying pan), then use a paper towel dipped in a little cooking oil to wipe over the surface of the pan – this is to prevent pancake from sticking – you only need to do this just once before you start cooking.
5. Ladle a tablespoonful (about 20 - 30ml, the size of the pancake is about the size of a pikelet or size of your palm, but of course you can make larger pancake if you desired) of batter into the pan. Cook over low to medium heat until bubbly and starting to dry on the surface. Carefully flip over (the bottom of the pancake might hold fast to the pan slightly, so use your flat spatula to carefully release it from the pan first before you flip over) and cook briefly until golden brown on the other side. Remove to a plate to cool.
Honey Crème Pâtissière:
1. Whisk together whole egg, egg yolk, 60ml (1/4 cup) milk, sugar and honey. Mix in flour, custard powder and salt if using.
2. Bring the remaining milk just to the boil in a saucepan. Pour in the warm milk in small stream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly with a balloon whisk as you pour (very important). Pour back into the saucepan.
3. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until it thickened and firmed up. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. Pour into a bowl and plunge the bottom of the bowl into a larger bowl of iced-water to cool. Once cold, cover the surface of the Crème Pâtissière with cling film to prevent skin forming. Alternatively, fill the Crème Pâtissière into a piping bag fixed with a star nozzle, twist the open end to seal up the cream. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To serve Dorayaki:
Sandwich two pieces of the Dorayaki pancakes with a little of the Crème Pâtissière (add fruit, cut into small chunks if necessary, of your choice to the Crème Pâtissière) and serve.
[Tip]
If you cannot find mirin (sweet sake for cooking), you may just omit it or substitute with a little shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), which will also give the dorayaki a good colour but the flavour will be a little different.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
As a wagashi (和菓子 Japanese sweets), dorayaki is a type of yakigashi (焼菓子) which consists of baked sweets. Apparently, dorayaki made its first appearance in Japan as far back as the Edo period (江戸時代 Edo-jidai, 1600 to 1867). It got its name because its shape resembled the dora, a Japanese gong made from bronze. Another story I read was that a samurai accidentally left his dora behind after hiding in a farmer’s house, later the farmer used the dora as a pan to cook his cakes, and that’s how it got its name. And of course, before I forget, how could I not mention Doraemon here, that cute anime robotic cat who just loves to eat dorayaki.
As I have made dorayaki pancakes a few times before, I already have my own version of the batter recipe after those trial-and-error attempts previously, so it was not a problem. The thing I needed was the pudding filling. To begin with, I started to search for pudding (or purin in Japanese, which actually refers to custard or pastry cream) recipes on Japanese websites. As I searched, I came across one recipe that uses honey to substitute for some of the sugar in the custard for the honey flavour. That raised my interest since the dorayaki pancake batter used honey as well. I thought they would go well together. In the end, I decided to use the basic French pastry cream, Crème Pâtissière, recipe and to add some berries to it as the filling for my dorayaki. Although from a few images of the Pudding Dorayaki I have seen, the pudding filling seemed to be quite solid, I thought the softer pastry cream might taste better texturally. Then I substituted some of the sugar in the Crème Pâtissière recipe with honey to bring out its subtle flavour. However in my rush while making my pastry cream, I stupidly confused myself with the number of eggs needed for it.
So what happened? Well, I decided to make only half the recipe for the batter, which calls for 2 eggs, and to use the full recipe for the pastry cream which needed 3 egg yolks as I intended to use the excess pastry cream for something else. So in my mind, I kept thinking 2 eggs for the batter and confused myself that 2 egg yolks were needed for the pastry cream as well – grrrrr, should have checked the recipe again before rushing into making it – as a result my pastry cream ended up too thin and runny. As I filled the pancakes, it kept being squeezed out, as can be seen in the photo, the pastry cream could barely be noticeable as most of it kept dripping off. That said however, the combination of the pastry cream with the dorayaki pancake is simply divine. The subtle flavour of the honey definitely topped the whole thing off. I think it would have been even better if I haven’t made that stupid mistake and the pastry cream was a bit thicker. I also used frozen raspberries and blueberries to complement the pastry cream and they were gorgeously delicious! Will definitely make this Pudding Dorayaki again, and hopefully not make that mistake again with the cream.
By the way, can someone help me? I am rather curious about the name ‘dorayaki’ in Japanese characters, which to my very, very shallow and superficial knowledge of Japanese (tried to learn Japanese ages ago but failed miserably), shouldn’t it be どら焼 or どらやき? To my understanding, 焼 is ‘yaki’. However on searching for it in Japanese websites, it usually comes up as どら焼き, with the extra き attached – why is that? I hope someone who knows Japanese can enlighten me.
Here’s the recipe, but I won’t publish the 3-yolk version of my Crème Pâtissière recipe which I tried out for the first time here, since I’ve made such a mess of it. However I will adjust my usual recipe I’ve made before to include the honey. The consistency of the pastry cream should be like those used in my Mini Raspberry Éclairs as shown in my next post.
Makes approx. 24 pikelets or 12 Dorayakis.
[Ingredients]
Dorayaki Pancakes:
4 eggs, separated
110g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
240g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
170ml (2/3 cup) milk
60g (2 tablespoons) honey
2 teaspoons mirin 味醂
40ml (2 tablespoons) canola or corn oil
Honey Crème Pâtissière:
250ml (1 cup) milk
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
35g (2 tablespoons) caster sugar, or adjust to taste
30g (1 tablespoon) honey
10g (1 scant tablespoon) plain flour
10g (1 tablespoon) custard powder or cornflour
pinch salt (only if you use unsalted butter)
25g butter
Optional:
Berries, mangoes, apricots etc.
http://cafeoftheeast.blogspot.com/
[Preparation]
Dorayaki Pancakes:
1. Mix plain flour and baking powder, sift. Dissolve honey in milk. Whisk together egg yolks, mirin and oil. Fold in milk and flour mixture alternatively.
2. Whisk egg whites until soft peaks formed. Gradually beat in sugar until stiff (meringue).
3. Fold the meringue, do it in a couple of batches, into the egg yolk mixture.
4. Heat a non-stick crepe pan (or a flat-bottom non-stick frying pan), then use a paper towel dipped in a little cooking oil to wipe over the surface of the pan – this is to prevent pancake from sticking – you only need to do this just once before you start cooking.
5. Ladle a tablespoonful (about 20 - 30ml, the size of the pancake is about the size of a pikelet or size of your palm, but of course you can make larger pancake if you desired) of batter into the pan. Cook over low to medium heat until bubbly and starting to dry on the surface. Carefully flip over (the bottom of the pancake might hold fast to the pan slightly, so use your flat spatula to carefully release it from the pan first before you flip over) and cook briefly until golden brown on the other side. Remove to a plate to cool.
Honey Crème Pâtissière:
1. Whisk together whole egg, egg yolk, 60ml (1/4 cup) milk, sugar and honey. Mix in flour, custard powder and salt if using.
2. Bring the remaining milk just to the boil in a saucepan. Pour in the warm milk in small stream into the egg mixture, whisking constantly with a balloon whisk as you pour (very important). Pour back into the saucepan.
3. Whisk the mixture over medium heat until it thickened and firmed up. Remove from heat and whisk in butter. Pour into a bowl and plunge the bottom of the bowl into a larger bowl of iced-water to cool. Once cold, cover the surface of the Crème Pâtissière with cling film to prevent skin forming. Alternatively, fill the Crème Pâtissière into a piping bag fixed with a star nozzle, twist the open end to seal up the cream. Keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
To serve Dorayaki:
Sandwich two pieces of the Dorayaki pancakes with a little of the Crème Pâtissière (add fruit, cut into small chunks if necessary, of your choice to the Crème Pâtissière) and serve.
[Tip]
If you cannot find mirin (sweet sake for cooking), you may just omit it or substitute with a little shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), which will also give the dorayaki a good colour but the flavour will be a little different.
[Note]
1. Please note this recipe uses 1 standard cup of 250ml, 1 tablespoon of 20ml and 1 teaspoon of 5ml.
2. The size of egg used is about 60g (includes shell) unless otherwise stated.
posted by SeaDragon @ 18.7.05
4 Comments:
Do you mind sharing your recipes for the creme and the dorayaki? :) It looks really yummy!
Jas
Hi Jas,
No worries, will type it up somestimes this weekend. But I will give you my other French pastry cream (successful one) which I normally made, since this 3-yolk version is one I'm trying out for the first time, and I made such a mess of it, better don't give this one out.
hello! your recipes look so reliable, im interested to try out ure dorayaki :D but can i totally omit mirin or jap soy sauce?
thx alot!
Yes you can omit the mirin, but there's no soy sauce in the recipe.
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