The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Well, it has been a looooooooooooooooooooong time since I’ve done a Daring Bakers’ challenge. I guess I can only claim the “I-didn’t-have-time-don’t-bother-me-i’m-a-founder” excuse so many times before it starts to get a bit old.

I got my act together enough this time around to complete the September 2010 DB challenge hosted by Mandy.

Decorated sugar cookies. Been there. Done that. And not very well, either.

Still, I couldn’t let Mandy down so I got to it.

Part of Mandy’s challenge was that we had to create cookies that represented what September means to us.

As far as I’m concerned, what September means to you depends on how old you are. If you are school age, then September means school. For everyone else, September means fall (unless you’re born in September and then it’s your birthday!).

I’m a fall baby so it’s all about chilly mornings, the harvest and fall colours for me.

I’ll be honest, I knew right off the bat that I wasn’t going to go in for anything very refined and precise because I just don’t have the steady hand for it. Instead, I went for a, shall we say, more “natural look”. I used sprinkles and food colouring to transform my sugar cookies (cut into leaf shapes) into a colourful display.

Then, remembering an idea for a cookie wreath that I saw in a book once, I made a sugar cookie round and used the royal icing to attach my decorated cookies to it. I added some ribbon to finish the wreath.

I love my cookie wreath so much that I’m bringing it to work to bring some autumn spirit to my office.

Thanks to Mandy for an inspiring challenge! Please take a moment to check out what all the other amazing Daring Bakers have created!

Ciao!

August 2010 is going to be a big month in baking land as Sugar High Fridays is joining up with The Daring Kitchen to bring you a joint event!

SHF #68 is being hosted by the talented Elissa of 17 and Baking (her blog is gorgeous!). The theme is Browned Butter or Beurre Noisette. Elissa has all the details on her blog.

SHF is an event started by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess and it’s an honour for The Daring Kitchen to be part of this month’s edition. So how does the DK figure in, you ask?

Simple. If you’re a Daring Baker, then when you check the private forum today, you’ll see that there’s a very special challenge for August.

The world won’t know what it is until reveal day on August 27th, but it promises to be big!

If you’re not a Daring Baker already, no worries. You can always join The Daring Kitchen and while you won’t be able to participate in this month’s DB challenge (the deadline for joining in time for this month is passed), remember you can still take part in the SHF challenge!

Ciao!

Note: To catch up on this event and other food events, check out a great site called The Food Blog Diary run by Jacqueline. You can submit any events you like to Jacqueline at tinnedtomatoes{@}gmail{dot}com.

Today is Daring Bakers day and as you can see I am delinquent yet again.

But do not the judge the Daring Bakers by the negligence of moi … please. There are some daring, daring people out there and none moreso than Esther of The Lilac Kitchen who challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using … suet for the April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge.

That girl is daring!

I will dare myself to make this challenge … just not yet. In the meantime, please do visit The Daring Kitchen blogroll to see how steamed up Daring Bakers can get.

Ciao!

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

In my ongoing and valiant efforts to catch up on all The Daring Kitchen challenges I’ve missed over the past year, I now bring you the February 2010 challenge presented by Aparna and Deeba, two most enthusiastic Daring Bakers. They chose the Italian dessert Tiramisu as the challenge.

Tiramisu, literally translated, means pick-me-up and in theory, it isn’t the most complex of desserts. However, when your hostesses challenge you to make all the components from scratch, including the mascarpone, well, let’s just say it changes things.

Yes. You read that correctly. The Daring Bakers are now also cheesemakers, among other things.

Even though my background is Italian, tiramisu is not my favourite. It’s not that I don’t like it - how could one not possibly like such a creamy, boozy dessert that packs a coffee-kick to boot?

It’s just that growing up, tiramisu became the ubiquitous dessert. Every birthday, every family dinner, every baptism, every confirmation, every wedding party dinner and just about everything else inevitably showcased a tiramisu.

To make matters worse, in the 80s and early 90s, mascarpone was not the easiest ingredient to find in Toronto. And even when you did find it, it was ridiculously expensive, moreso than it is even today. As a result, people (and I’m ashamed to admit some of my own family members) resorted to some very strange mascarpone substitutions the worst of which was fake “whipped cream”.

Ugh.

I prefer not to think of those horrible days! Happily, we have all seemed to move on and on the few occasions when we do make Tiramisu, it’s mascarpone all the way.

Over the years, I have shared my family’s Tiramisu recipe with numerous people and it remains my standard for the dessert.

However, Aparna and Deeba laid down the gauntlet and in the spirit of the Daring Bakers, I accepted the challenge.

There were two elements to this challenge that really intrigued me and that I enjoyed tremendously, even though I wasn’t all that successful with them.

The first element was the recipe for homemade mascarpone. I would have never attempted this on my own but Aparna and Deeba pointed everyone to a post on the blog Baking Obsession that belongs to Vera, a most talented baker. Even if you don’t make the mascarpone, you have to visit her site to see how beautiful her creations are!

The making of homemade mascarpone involves heavy cream, heated to a certain temperature, and the addition of lemon juice. The mixture is then allowed to drain in the refrigerator for a period of time after which you should end up with a thickened cream that is, in essence, a form of mascarpone.

My lack of patience reared its ugly head again and I did not allow my cream to heat to the right temperature before I added the lemon juice. I’m not sure what the issue was but after more than 40 minutes in the double boiler, my cream seemed to stop heating up. Finally I got so tired I mixed in the lemon juice and proceeded with the recipe.

My end product was delicious, but not nearly as thick as it should have been. Still, though, I wasn’t complaining. It was so good that we could all just imagine eating it in the summer over fresh berries. I cannot wait to try it again!

The second element of the challenge that I found most intriguing was the making of the savoiardi biscuits. Savoiardi (often referred to as Ladyfinger cookies) are an Italian biscuit that form the base of Tiramisu. However, savoiardi are quite popular beyond this dessert and are used for many other sweets and are also enjoyed on their own.

I have never actually made savoiardi so I was more than pleased to try them.

Like the mascarpone, things didn’t go perfectly for me. I’m not sure if I didn’t whip my egg whites enough but the biscuits didn’t quite rise as much as they should have. Still, though, the cookies were delicious and I can’t wait to try them again.

The rest of the challenge was quite involved. We had to make a zabaglione and a pastry cream, as well as prepare the espresso and whip up some cream to finish off the filling.

The end result was a very detailed dessert with lots of components. It was delicious, but also a lot of work. In Tiramisu’ world, this to me was the equivalent of a “supermodel” Tiramisu. For a very special event, I would consider trying it again, but for a Tiramisu’ fix, I’d probably stick with my family’s recipe.

For me, what distinguished this challenge was the unabashed enthusiasm displayed by Aparna and Deeba. They were the very embodiment of the spirit of The Daring Bakers. They cut no corners and pushed everyone. I have to admit sometimes I get a little lazy with these challenges, but not this time. Faced with the efforts that Aparna and Deeba displayed I could not, in good conscience, do anything but my very best.

Ladies, I thank you for being an example to us all and picking me up for an awesome challenge!

Ciao!

For a copy of the challenge recipe, click here.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

The busy past few months have meant that I haven’t been able to fully participate in the Daring Bakers’ or the Daring Cooks’ challenges.

That’s okay. I’m allowed. Foundership (not just membership) has its priviledges!

Having said that, however, I don’t plan on slacking off and the first order of business was to complete the March 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge hosted by Jen of Chocolate Shavings.

Jen chose a dessert called Orange Tian as the challenge for the month.

The dessert consists of a pastry base, orange marmalade, a cream (stablized with gelatine) filling and segmented oranges in a caramel sauce.

To be quite honest, I’m not sure I would ever have tried this dessert had I come across it on my own.

It’s not that it was difficult, just time-consuming. And while I do like orange, I don’t necessarily like desserts that are predominantly orange-flavoured.

Plus I really dislike orange marmalade. I’m just not a fan of candied orange and the marmalade was too reminiscent of that.

Nevertheless, I am a Daring Baker so I perservered with all elements of the recipe, including the marmalade, and knocked out a fairly nice dessert if I may say so myself.

Actually, I ended up liking it a lot more than I thought. The frozen cream part of the dessert definitely has potential. I imagined making something similar in the summer with fresh berries.

For those of you interested in giving the recipe a go, you can find it here.

Be sure to check out the other Daring Bakers’ and their efforts with the Orange Tian.

Ciao!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Okay. So I’m exaggerating just a bit. The Daring Bakers aren’t actually physically going to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver but we’re definitely going in spirit with the January 2010 Daring Baker’s challenge.

Lauren, who is one of the sweetest girls, decided to put her Canadian pride on display by choosing a very “Canadian” treat for the DB challenge. As a proud Canadian myself, I cannot wait until February 12th when the world’s focus will shift to Vancouver.

While I don’t know what will happen over the two weeks of competition, I have no doubt that the world will see what good, caring and friendly people Canadians are. And I also have no doubt that we will have our fill of drama, joy, thrills, tears, beautiful moments and reminders of why sport, amateur sport in particular, is such a worthy pursuit.

With all the compelling stories that the Olympics promise, I was so happy that this first challenge for 2010 was relatively straightforward.

The best part of the challenge was learning to make graham crackers. Nanaimo Bars use graham cracker crumbs in the recipe for the base of the bars. Lauren very creatively challenged us to make our own graham crackers, and not just regular graham crackers, but gluten-free graham crackers at that. She also generously provided some links to recipes for regular graham crackers for those who didn’t want to try the gluten-free version.

I was surprised at how easy it was to make graham crackers. Considering how much I love to eat them out of hand and how regularly I use graham crackers in baking, I can’t thank Lauren enough for thinking of this part of the challenge.

As for the Nanaimo Bars, if you’ve never seen one or tried one, you should definitely attempt them. They’re an easy bar cookie to make (if you use store-bought graham crumbs there’s actually no baking involved) and I have yet to meet anyone that doesn’t like them.

I made basic Nanaimo Bars (no variation) as I’d never tried them before so I wanted to make the original. When I served the bars, I cut them into very small squares because they are quite sweet.

I want to thank Lauren for her efforts in hosting the challenge and for making all Daring Kitchen members honourary Canadians just in time for Vancouver 2010!

Ciao!

For the challenge recipe, click here.

Click here to visit The Daring Bakers’ blogroll.

If you’re interested in following the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, visit the official site here.

At this time of year, it’s very easy to become lost in the great big commercial machine that the holidays have become.

So it’s precisely at this time of year that I like to look around and think that even though we live in a big city in a big province in a big country in a big world, in some ways, we also live in our own little villages of space. And the best way to feel full and warm and loved, is to inhabit that space fully and brightly.

I hope that wherever you are today, you have loved ones close by and much light in your life.

From Cream Puff and family, a very Merry Christmas to all!

Ciao!

The gingerbread scene you see above is my take on the 2009 December Daring Bakers’ challenge hosted by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. I cheated slightly (I’m allowed … right … ) by not quite making a house but rather making a little village (house facades only) based on an idea from Joanna Farrow’s book Gingerbread: 24 Inspirational Houses and Decorative Gifts to Make.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook: As Compiled by Artie Bucco by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone. She also added her own modifications and changes.

Can I just say that I completely LOVED this challenge!

After missing the last two Daring Cooks challenges and not having much success with the October Daring Bakers’ challenge, it was such a pleasure to try making cannoli.

This was a first for me. I’ve never tried cannoli at home mainly because, to be honest, I’m not a huge cannoli fan. They’re okay, but they wouldn’t be my first choice when it cames to Italian desserts.

And I think I now know why.

After making the cannoli shells on my own, I can see that most of the cannoli shells that you buy at the store and even at bakeries, pale in comparison.

The recipe that Lisa provided created a shell that was crispy and light, with a faint hint of Marsala that was so pleasing.

And the filling was rich and luscious.

Perhaps what made this most worthwhile is that I finally got to use the cannoli molds that I purchased several years ago. I purchased them to use in making rolled cookies like tuiles, but I think in all this time I’ve only used them once.

While I considered rolling out the dough myself, I wimped out and used my pasta machine (thankfully Lisa included that in the instructions).

It was a breeze to roll out the dough with the machine. I wrapped the circles of dough around the molds and fried those babies up.

They looked so lovely coming out of the oil that I had to resist the urge to remove them from the mold right away. I found that if you let them cool down a bit, they slide of easily.

I didn’t do anything really fancy with my filling. I flavoured it with cinnamon and vanilla extract and as for the shells, I dipped the edges in melted bittersweet chocolate and then in ground pistachios.

These were just so delicious. The shells were so crispy they shattered when you bit into them. The filling was creamy and perfect and the chocolate and pistachios were just the right touch.

In the course of frying the cannoli shells, a few came off the mold because I hadn’t secured them properly but no worries, I used the shells to make cannoli stacks as Lisa suggested.

Thank you so much to Lisa for hosting. That’s another challenge to cross off the list!

Ciao!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Before I left for Italy, I knew that Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon would be hosting the September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge and that she would be putting forth vol-au-vents (and puff pastry) as the challenge for DBers everywhere.

In the flurry of getting ready for my trip, I didn’t really think much about it until … ummm … yesterday when I was like, “Oh yeah. Vol-au-vents. Puff pastry. Yeah. I should get on that.”

I could look it up but am, quite frankly, too lazy and tired to do so right now but I believe that vol-au-vents means something like flying in the wind or on the wind. Or something like that. Someone will correct if I’m wrong, I’m sure.

In any event, I made like the wind yesterday and threw together a batch of puff pastry and can I just say that I was thanking Steph all along because truly, I adore making puff pastry.

It’s not that I think my puff pastry is all that great. I mean it’s good, but I’m by no means an expert and I’m sure that my puff pastry would be judged as serviceable, at the very best.

But the act of making it is one of the most beautiful baking experiences. All afternoon long, as I rolled and turned, I kept thinking to myself: “This is what I love.”

A quiet Saturday afternoon, a hot cup of tea, flour, butter and a rolling pin. It’s the best day I’ve had since I got back from Italy.

I decided to fill my little puff pastry nests with a cold, dessert filling. For that I chose Italian Chocolate Mousse from Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan. I chose this chocolate mousse because it’s actually a recipe that I’m making along with my new friends in a new group that I joined.

Love new groups!

I actually found out about this group, called Cooking Italy, from Simone of Junglefrog Cooking (Love Simone!!!). On Simone’s blog I read about this group that cooks recipes from Marcella Hazan’s Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking. The group was created by the lovely Angela of the blog Spinach Tiger.

Once upon a time when I first started this blog, I remember thinking that I wanted to spend a lot of time really studying Hazan’s book. Of course, that hasn’t happened. While I do refer to it time-to-time, I haven’t used it nearly as much as I should and that’s a shame because Hazan is truly a treasure when it comes to Italian cooking.

I e-mailed Angela and she very graciously said I could join the group. So expect to see a lot more Hazan around here!

I’m going to do a separate post about the chocolate mousse but in the meantime, it was lovely in the little pastry nests. I caramelized some sugar and let it harden and then added some crushed caramel pieces to the top just for a bit of crunch.

So thank you so much to Steph, for choosing this challenge and for helping me remember why I love baking so much. And thanks to Simone for introducing me to Angela who’s helping me rediscover Marcella.

Ciao!

Here’s a photo journal of my vol-au-vent efforts. You can find the recipe on Steph’s blog.

We begin with a mass of flour, butter, salt and water … and a game of tic-tac-toe.

Bash a block of butter. Say it 20 times really quickly.

One day I would like to receive a love letter filled with butter.

My first turn. So pretty.

Dough rings.

And voila! Vol-au-vents!

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of The Food Network.

I wrote a post a little while ago about how things just seemed to be a bit off for me in the kitchen. Unhappily, that trend has continued.

I don’t really know what’s wrong, but it’s really bothering me. It seems as though lately, when I bake or cook something, it’s just off. Recipes don’t turn out the way I expect or even worse, I make mistakes while preparing something.

For example, just a few days ago, I made a silly mistake that cost me one-and-a-half pounds of butter, six eggs and a whole lot of almond flour.

That one hurt. Maybe I’ll work up the will to tell you about it soon. Maybe not.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what’s wrong and I’ve came to the realization that when your heart’s not in it, it just doesn’t work.

And my heart just hasn’t been in it lately. I’m tired. I feel like I’ve spread myself a bit thin in certain areas and it’s all manifest in the fact that I haven’t felt much like baking or cooking.

You can’t force desire. If you do, you end up with mediocrity.

So I’ve just let myself be. I’ve simplifed things. I’m not going to force myself to test eight different recipes in one weekend when all I really want to do is sit outside with these books.

When it’s DB challenge time, I almost always try the recipes on the weekend and I’ll cram in tonnes of other baking at the same time.

I’ll push out four or five different products and bring them all to work on a Monday.

Not this time.

This time, I just focussed on one small thing. I made the Milan Cookies and the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies that were the challenge put forth by this month’s host: Nicole of Sweet Tooth.

I mixed and stirred and piped and baked and snapped some photos. And wouldn’t you know, they turned out really well.

I still don’t feel like I’m my usual self in the kitchen, but these cookies turned out nicely.

I was happy. I even started thinking about what to bake next and I haven’t felt like that in quite a few weeks now.

No matter what, you have to keep the faith.

Ciao!

The original recipes for the Milan Cookies and the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies are Gale Gand via The Food Network.

The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

For the first time in the two-and-a-half year history of the Daring Bakers, I’m late.

Between being a bit under the weather and overwhelmed with some other things that are going on, I missed the 27th deadline for my Daring Bakers’ post.

Mea culpa. Mea culpa. Mea maxima culpa.

I’m feeling particularly shoddy about the whole thing given that the June 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by my sweetest of sweeties Jasmine and the lovely Annemarie.

Not to mention the fact that they’ve chosen a challenge that’s been on my list of top 10 things to bake for quite some time: the Bakewell Tart.

I don’t know where it was that I first read about the Bakewell Tart, but I know that somewhere around the time that I first discovered it, I knew I wanted to bake it. I’ve read all sorts of “facts” about the Bakewell Tart and its origins but as is often the case with these sorts of desserts, a lot of it is probably more fiction than fact.

Suffice to say that the Bakewell Tart is probably one of the desserts that can be recognized as singularly British. And for this alone, I love it. I’m in a bit of a British mood these days for various reasons (one of which has to do with Mr. Nazca … more on that another day but if you want to take a moment to send Mr. Nazca an e-mail yelling at him for not blogging more feel free to do so …) so the opportunity to bake something so … British … did have me excited. Honest.

It just took me awhile to get to it.

Not much else to say, really. Jasmine and Annemarie have provided a most straightforward recipe that yielded a most delicious Bakewell Tart. Ladies, you are the epitome of Daring Bakers’ hostesses. My thanks!

Here’s a little photo journal of my adventures in Bakewell Tart baking:

Is there anything more beautiful than pastry dough?

The frozen crust, ready to be filled.

A lovely cherry jam layer.

Frangipane!

Behold … the Bakewell!

Ciao!

Check out The Daring Kitchen for links to lots of other Daring Bakers’ who made the Bakewell Tart!

The recipe is here.

Lis and I have realized recently that there’s some confusion about reveal dates for The Daring Bakers and The Daring Cooks so we’re taking to the Internet (you can read about this at The Daring Kitchen as well - in the forums) to clear things up.

It’s really very simple. If you’re a Daring Baker, the new host/hostess reveals the challenge on the 1st of every month in the private forum. Then, on the 27th of every month, you can publically reveal the challenge on your blog or, if you’re a non-blogger, on the DK site.

The 1st and the 27th … those are the key dates for Daring Bakers.

If you’re a Daring Cook, it’s slightly more complicated only because we go mid-month. But the host/hostess reveals the new challenge on the 17th of every month in the private forum. Then, on the 14th of the following month, you can publically reveal the challenge on your blog or, if you’re a non-blogger on the DK site.

The 14th and the 17th … those are the key dates for Daring Cooks.

For those of you who do not belong to The Daring Bakers or The Daring Cooks, I have one question … WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU!!!

Hurry up and join already!

And while you’re at it, take a look at our lovely store. Summer’s here and it’s time to stock up on some new kitchen apparel and accessories!

Ciao!

I just love saying the word strudel. It brings out my inner Austrian and brings back many happy memories of four precious days spent in Vienna, in December 2006.

I was so happy when Linda of make like sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks announced that they would choose Apple Strudel as the May 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge. When I first read the recipe, for some reason I thought that it would be a first for me. But then I remembered that last year, I made an apple strudel from Carole Walter’s Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More: 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets for Morning to Midnight. I remember loving the dough and the filling so I could only hope that this challenge would be up to par.

My love of Rick Rodgers’ Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague is known far and wide. Or at least I think it is. I love the book so much I actually took it with me when I went to Vienna.

Who else brings cookbooks along as travel guides?

I’m not going to give you the painfuly long version of my adventures in Apple Strudel Land. Suffice to say that most parts of the recipe worked out successfully, except for the stretching of the dough. I developed some holes very early on and no matter how much I tried, I could not get it to the two feet by three feet specified in the recipe. I think I made it two feet by two feet before this happened:

Not a pretty sight.

Perhaps the greatest quality of strudel, though, is that it rolls. In baking, rolling means hiding, whether the hiding be a cracked sponge or an incredibly holey piece of strudel dough.

While my holes were significant and not all that well hidden, in the end, it still looked like a half decent strudel. Right out of the oven, it was quite good. The crust was crispy and the filling was juicy thanks to the apples and raisins. A day later, though, the dough had softened and the filling was a bit on the dry side. This is definitely a dessert to be served the day it’s baked.

It was fun to try strudel for a second time, although thus far, I have to say that the recipe in Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More: 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets for Morning to Midnight is superior.

Ay yay yay … another Daring Bakers’ challenge come and gone. Where does the time go???

Ciao!

Click here for the Apple Strudel recipe.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest, and Pragueby Rick Rodgers.

In case you hadn’t noticed and just thought that everyone in the foodblog world suddenly decided to make Apple Strudel for some inexplicable reason, today is Daring Bakers’ reveal day!

I did make the apple strudel, thank you very much to our lovely hostesses Linda and Courtney, but it’s been a crazy week so I’m not giving you the fill post … today.

Just a little tease until I can give you the rest of the details …

Ciao!

I recently tried two desserts that I’d previously made for a second time and I wanted to blog about it, because they were both, if possible, even better the second time around.

The first dessert in quesion is Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake, which was the April 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge. I made the cheesecake but didn’t get to try it because I gifted it to some coworkers that helped me through a particularly busy period at work. After reading about how everyone loved the cheesecake, and loving it myself, I decided to try it again so that I could taste it.

In one word, this cheesecake is sublime.

It really and truly is the best cheesecake I have ever made. I followed the recipe without making any alterations (recipe below), and I made a very quick strawberry sauce using fresh strawberries, lemon juice, lemon zest, sugar and water.

I am not ashamed to say that I ate 97.6 per cent of the cheesecake on my own. The other 2.4 per cent is unaccounted for.

I suspect Mama Cream Puff.

The second dessert that I recently tried again is the Triple-Layer Lemon Cake that I made for my Zia Don’s 50th birthday late last year. When I made it for the birthday party, I had to increase the cake size and make other variations to the recipe so that it would feed a much larger group of people. This time around I made the cake as per the recipe and it was just delicious. The recipe is from Issue #63 of Fine Cooking, unfortunately, it’s no longer available free on the Fine Cooking site. However, you can sign up for a free trial and print a copy of the recipe.

I sometimes find that recipes don’t stand up to second and third attempts. In this case, these are two recipes that will likely stand up to the test of time.

Ciao!

Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake

For the crust:

2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

For the cheesecake:

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker’s choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you’re looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don’t want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won’t crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil “casserole” shaped pans from the grocery store. They’re 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

What is it about cheesecake that is so enthralling? Is it the creamy texture? The fascinating base? The endless ways to top it?

I don’t know. I just know it’s good.

And yet, even though it’s one of my most favourite desserts, I hardly ever make it.

Perhaps that’s because I can very easily eat an entire cheesecake myself. Oh, yes.

Been there. Done that. Have the t-shirt. (Speaking of t-shirts … have you bought your DK t-shirts yet???)

But I’m always happy to try a new recipe for cheesecake so I was pleased to see that Jenny of Jenny Bakes, our lovely hostess for the April 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge, chose a cheesecake recipe as this month’s test.

While the recipe itself is straightforward, the challenge for Daring Bakers was to find new and interesting ways to interpret and flavour the cheesecake.

I’ll be honest. I didn’t have a lot of time to execute some of the more fanciful ideas that came to mind (let’s just say one involved silicone and cherry blossoms). Thankfully a lack of time and some timely prudence both conspired to prevent such plans.

In the end, I made your standard nine-inch cheesecake but I challenged myself by trying some flavours in a cheesecake that I’d never tried before.

For starters, I flavoured both the crust and the cheesecake with a healthy dose of rose water, which I have come to love.

Secondly, I added the flavour of Meyer lemons. While I know what Meyer lemons are, I’d never actually tasted one before April of this year. I found them in a local supermarket and bought two sacs because I was so excited. So I used some of the Meyer lemon juice and zest in the cheesecake as well.

I then made candied lemon slices with more of the Meyer lemons and used that as a topping to the cheesecake, spooning the candied lemon juice over the top to add shine and some sweetness.

While I did not taste the cheesecake myself (I brought it to a group of people that I work with who were particularly helpful to me during a big project earlier this year), from what I understand it was a creamy, luscious cheesecake that disappeared very quickly. And it was a pretty cheesecake too.

I can’t wait for Ontario strawberries to come in. I’m going to be making this again topped with a fresh strawberry sauce.

And I will call it, Le Cheesecake.

Ciao!

For the cheesecake recipe, please visit Jenny’s blog.

Unless you happen to live in Emilia-Romagna, in whose towns and cities there are still a few shops selling pasta made by hand, you can make far better fresh pasta, either by the rolling-pin method or the machine method, than you can buy or eat anywhere.

– Marcella Hazan, Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking

Truer words were never written than those above. Homemade pasta is the epitome of creating beautiful food at home. And contrary to what many people thing, making pasta at home is not difficult, even if you make it entirely by hand and roll it yourself!

The Daring Bakers had the opportunity to do this thanks to our March hostesses.

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

These lovely ladies threw down the pasta gauntlet by challenging us to make lasagne typical of the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy; a region renowned for its citizens’ abilities to make the most beautiful homemade pasta..

To see the challenge recipe, you can visit The Daring Kitchen and view the recipe archive, or you can visit Mary, Melinda and Enza.

The recipe, the main challenge being hand-rolling the pasta, was for a spinach dough, a country-style ragu and a bechamel.

So I should tell you right off the bat that I had to make amendments to each section of the recipe. Normally, I love all of these elements but Famiglia Cream Puff has been struggling with various forms of flu and the thought of a heavy, albeit delicious, lasagne didn’t sit very well with the stomach.

Instead, I made a basic pasta dough, a plain tomato sauce and a bechamel that I used for a mini-lasagne. I used the rest of the dough to make a larger and plainer lasagne that was enjoyed throughout the week for work lunches.

I began by creating my dough. Using the method Mama Cream Puff taught me, I created a ring of flour and dropped in my eggs. Using a fork, I slowly incorporated the flour into the egg until I had a thick mixture that I gathered into a ball. I kneaded the dough for about 10 minutes (by hand) until it was nice and smooth. I then let it rest for about an hour.

I used the longest rolling pin that I had to begin rolling out my dough. It was tough work, especially because at a certain point I had to divide the dough in half. Our counters are very small and there was no way that I could roll the dough out thinly without cutting it into two pieces.

At a certain point, I will admit, I gave up. It was hard work rolling that dough and I probably could have gone a bit thinner, but I was satisfied so I cut my dough into segments, floured them and placed them on a baking sheet to dry out a bit.

I then went ahead and made a half portion of the bechamel. Because I couldn’t stomach the idea of eating bechamel since I was under the weather, I made a mini lasagne with the bechamel. I began with a layer of bechamel, followed by a layer of cooked lasagne noodles topped with sauce and grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

I repeated these steps several times and ended with a slathering of bechamel on top.

The end result looked lovely. While I didn’t try it, my family ate it right up, which is, of course, the best compliment a cook can get.

I went ahead and used the rest of my dough to make a simple lasagna of noodles, sauce and grated Parmigiano, which was also delicious.

My mother’s lasagne is the standard by which I judge all others. While this lasagne was good, it’s certainly not Mama Cream Puff’s, although I did take many liberties with the recipe.

I do want to thank Mary, Melinda and Enza for challenging us to step out of our comfort zones and get rolling!

Ciao!

When I write a blog post, I usually have a good idea of what I want to say. It’s as though I pre-write my post in my head before I sit down to type out the words.

But right now, I have no idea what to say.

Partly because of exhaustion. Partly because of disbelief. Partly because of pure joy.

I guess I’ll just come out and say it.

After what feels like 1,000 years of work, countless e-mails and phone conversations with my buddy Lis, endless consulting with Scott and Patricia, The Daring Bakers have a new home.

I give you: The Daring Kitchen.

Ain’t it pretty?!

The Daring Kitchen is the culmination of the dream that Lis and I have developmed since November 2006 when The Daring Bakers first started. Today, The Daring Kitchen officially becomes the home of The Daring Bakers and … The Daring Cooks!

That’s right, we have finally launched a group to challenge all the cooks out there, as well as the bakers.

And to celebrate, we have an unbelievable new look. Our logo, designed by the amazing Patricia Furtado, represents this venture’s new direction. Each of the characters in that logo (yes … they all have names and personalities but you have to be a member to know about them …) represent a facet of our members. Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks will be able to save our logo, and badges of the individual characters, and upload them on their respective blogs. Eventually, they’ll even be able to put those images on merchandise.

What can I say? Go visit the site. If you’re already a Daring Baker, register again and get cracking in our new forums. If you want to become a Daring Cook as well, great! For those of you that aren’t members, here’s your chance to find your daring side.

And even if you don’t want to join as a member, you can still head over to The Daring Kitchen and enjoy the articles and the pictures.

All that’s left is thank you. Thank you, Lis! This has been tough and stressful but also fun and joyful. I can’t wait to see where this ride takes us next!

Thank you, Patricia! Thank you, Scott (and all Scott’s helpers)! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Ciao!

Greeting Cream Puffs in Venice readers,

If you are awake and/or own a computer, you will already know that today is the reveal day for the February 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge. The individual known to you as Cream Puff is unable to post today so she has arranged for the delivery of a text message from her cell phone via this blog and the autmated blog posting team she has set up for just such emergencies. Please see below for the text of her message:

Hi all my BFFs! Can’t post 2day. Workasaurus attacking again. Help! Send George. Or Brad. Or 007. Didn’t make cake. Made cupcakes 4 u. Yum! Was so good & … oh … wait … Workasaurus on prowl. Hav 2 go. No … wait … wasn’t Workasaurus. That was stomach growling becuz was hungry. LOL!!! OK … TMI … BTW … want 2 thank Wendy & Dharm. Cupcakes EZ to make and delish. Ice cream soooooo good! GRATZ on gr8 challenge! OK now really have 2 go. Luv u 4ever! Will b back when Workasaurus gone. Ciao!

Cream Puff has advised our team to inform you that she prepared Chocolate Valentino Cupcakes with Wendy’s version of the ice cream with the addition of coconut and caramel. Cream Puff has further advised us to tell you that she will provide a recipe when she returns to her regularly scheduled blog posts.

Thank you Cream Puffs in Venice readers. This is an automated post. Please do not reply.

Regards,

Cream Puffs in Venice Automated Blog Posting Team

Note: The February 2009 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s Blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They chose a Chocolate Valentino with ice cream on the side. They provided two versions of a basic ice cream recipe for adaptation. Thank you so muhc to Wendy and Dharm for a fabulous challenge!.

How many ways can you pronounce the word “tuile”? As it turns out, many ways. Fortunately, the pronunciation is about all I struggled with when it comes to the January 2009 Daring Bakers‘ challenge.

This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Apparently, the word tuiles means tile in French and the cookies are named tuiles because after they’re shaped, they resemble a type of tile used in France.

I’d never made tuiles before but I have always found myself enchanted by both the shape of the cookie and the apparent lightness of the cookie. Karen and Zorra offered two sweet variations: one that makes a smooth cookie and one that makes a lacy cookie. They also provided a savoury variation.

I chose to make the sweet variation only and I flavoured mine with vanilla and lemon. The second part of the challenge was to shape the tuiles and combine them with something light and airy.

As I pulled my tuiles out of the oven, I rolled them around a spoon handle and then made a filling of whipped cream and dulce de leche. Some of my tuiles were a bit thick so as I rolled them, they cracked slightly. But once filled and stacked on a pretty plate, you couldn’t really notice any of the cracks.

These were delicious. I have to admit that I enjoyed them by sucking out the filling first and then munching the remaining tuile.

Thanks so much to Zorra and Karen for starting 2009 in such a light and pretty way!

Ciao!

To see a copy of the challenge recipes, please read Karen’s post and Zorra’s post.

If I had to pick one thing to say to sum up the December 2008 Daring Bakers’ challenge, not to mention all the other challenges that we faced this year, it would be go big or go home!

Our lovely hostesses Hilda of Saffron & Blueberry and Marion of Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux threw down the gauntlet big time by challenging Daring Bakers everywhere to make a French Yule Log. Their inspiration for the challenge comes from Flore of the site Florilege Gourmand.

Not to be confused with the Yule Log that the Daring Bakers tried last December, a French Yule Log is very reminiscent of an ice cream cake. For this particular challenge, our log had to have six distinct components: a dacquoise layer, a mousse layer, a creme brulee layer, a praline crisp layer, a ganache layer and an icing layer. The layers are assembled and then the entire creation is frozen. Hilda and Marion very kindly provided us with numerous variations for each element and also gave us the freedom to create whatever shape we liked.

As you can imagine, trying to juggle the preparation of such a dessert in the midst of all the preparations for the holidays was challenging to say the least. While I did find the time to make the French Yule Log, I’ll be honest, I rushed it and didn’t put the amount of effort into it that I would have liked.

As a result, I chose the very basic versions of each of the component recipes. My dacquoise was the original almond version. I made the chocolate mousse and the dark chocolate ganache insert. I went with the basic creme brulee layer and I used Rice Krispies to make my praline crisp layer. For the icing, I used a mixture of chocolates that I had left over from other baking endeavours this month which means there were bits of dark chocolate and bits of milk chocolate in there.

One day I’d love to own a proper French Yule Log mold but I used an 8 x 4-inch loaf mold instead. Because I rushed everything, my layers (while they’re all there) were not nearly as defined as the layers that you’ll see in some of the other amazing logs out there.

Also, my icing layer just wouldn’t set for me. I ended up having to soften more gelatin, which I added to the icing to help it along. To further complicate the icing, my chocolate pieces didn’t melt very well so you can see some chocolate lumps in the finished product.

It’s a shame and certainly a poor reflection on me as far as this month goes because in the end, the log was truly delicious. Everyone loved it and when you slice into it, you can’t help but be impressed by the look of the layers. I walked away thinking that I really would like to try this one again when I have the time to take each step slowly and seriously.

Hilda and Marion are featuring the recipe on their respective blogs. I’d like to extend my thanks to both of these wonderful women who really came up with an exclamation mark for 2008 for the Daring Bakers.

I’d also like to extend my thanks to a few other members who are invaluable. First of all, Helene of Tartelette is a constant source of patience and knowledge. Whenever we’re stumped with a baking question, we know we can turn to her.

Without Natalie of Gluten a Go Go, I don’t know what our alternative bakers would do. Lis and I would probably end up in a corner somewhere crying. With infinite patience, Natalie just keeps coming through for us.

And then there’s Mary of Beans and Caviar (and her son) who have dramatically changed the way that this group operates with the blog-checking program. Mary has also been invaluable in sorting through any discrepancies.

I’d like to give a shout out to Courtney of Coco Cooks who is our “events coordinator”. She very generously posts any events that Daring Bakers’ might be interested in and keeps us all up-to-date.

And then there’s Lis. Where would I be without my co-founder and partner in this crazy and wondrous thing we call The Daring Bakers?! Thanks, Lis!

To all our DBers out there, we love you! We would be nothing without you! Keep up the daring spirit and let’s make 2009 our best year yet.

And finally, a thank you to all of you! Without the thousands of readers who show their appreciation each month for the bravery shown by Daring Bakers everywhere, it just wouldn’t be the same.

Here’s to a great year for the DB in 2009 (something tells me it’s going to be incredible … )!

Ciao!

Early on in my blog career, I wrote a post about conquering my fear of caramel. I received a very thoughtful and helpful comment to that post from none other than Shuna Fish Lydon, the chef behind one of the most accomplished and informative blogs out there: eggbeater.

When the hosts of the November Daring Bakers’ challenge, Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity; Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray of Food, announced that they would be venturing into caramel territory, I was so excited!

After embracing my fear of caramel, I’ve come to embrace the joy of making it. Mostly because I love the stuff but also because it’s the essence of a Daring Baker: face your fears in the kitchen!

The recipe they chose is Shuna Fish Lydon’s Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting. As an added element, they invited Daring Bakers to try their hands at Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert.

Before I begin discussing the challenge, I want to first thank Dolores, Alex and Jenny for forcing Daring Bakers everywhere to embrace their inner caramel-maker!

And I want to especially thank Shuna who has been so gracious throughout this challenge, not only for letting us use her recipe, but also for taking the time to answer the many questions that people have had. It’s an honour to have you with us, Shuna!

Every Daring Bakers’ challenge is different. Some have elements that are very new to me and others have methods that might be different from something I’ve tried before.

Some months I feel the need to provide a step-by-step account of what I’ve done and other months I don’t.

In this case, I would have to say that the key is the caramel. While I love caramel, I’m not a fan of dark caramel. I prefer the flavour of a lighter caramel so I didn’t cook mine quite as long as the recipe indicated. This meant that my caramel syrup wasn’t as dark and thick as some others, but that’s okay. The flavour was still gorgeous and I’m enjoying the leftover syrup on everything that I can pour it on!

For me, the best part of this challenge was the icing. This frosting for this cake is made with melted butter! I have never made a frosting with melted butter and to say I was intrigued would be an understatement. And not only is it melted butter, it’s browned butter which has to be one of my favourite flavours. When you brown butter, it takes on a nutty essence that is divine. Everyone adored the frosting! I can’t wait to try it in other recipes.

In deference to the chewy caramels I used to eat as a child, I had to try the recipe for the Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Alice Medrich. I was not able to obtain ground golden vanilla beans so I used pure vanilla extract instead. Because I love caramel and salt, I added a liberal sprinkling of fleur de sel to the finished product. It was like being a kid all over again!

Embrace your inner caramel-maker and be sure to visit all the other daring bakers to see what they made.

Ciao!

Daring Bakers, take a bow because today is your second birthday!

It’s incredible but true. Two years ago today, Lis and I had a crazy idea to bake pretzels and now look where we are.

It has been two amazing years for us as we watched this group grow from two people to well over 1,000 bakers from all over the world.

While organizing The Daring Bakers certainly presents its challenges, I think I can speak for both Lis and myself when I say that I cannot imagine my blogging life without our little (big) group.

So Daring Bakers, everywhere, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Ciao!

This past July, the Daring Bakers lost one of our dearest members with the sudden passing of Sherry Cermak, known to many of us as Sher of the blog What Did You Eat?

To say that I was shocked when I found out would be an understatement. Only weeks before, I had been chatting with Sher via e-mail about the October 2008 Daring Bakers’ challenge as she was to be one of the hosts.

After I started blogging, way back in December 2005, Sher was one of the first food bloggers that I “met”. I read her blog regularly and quickly grew fond of her. Her attitude in both her blog posts, her e-mails and her comments was always a positive and open one. She was funny and sweet and always brought a smile to my face.

Over the last year or so, unfortunately, I haven’t made much time to do a lot of blog reading. Often, finding time for my own blog has been a chore. As I began to read other blog posts less frequently, I also began to visit Sher’s blog less frequently. While she was always on my radar, I didn’t spend as much time visiting her blog and so, when she agreed to be the host of the October 2008 Daring Bakers’ challenge, I was thrilled. Mainly because it meant I’d be in contact with Sher again. I was so very shocked and saddened to find out that she had passed on.

In the weeks after her passing, Lis and I wondered how to proceed with handling the hosting of the October challenge. Out of respect to Sher’s cohosts Glenna (one of Sher’s closest friends) and Rosa, we decided to leave it up to them and let them decide how best to see through the DB challenge.

In the end, Glenna decided to take time to dedicate to her friend. I just want to say how supportive we are of Glenna and that we stand by her. And if you didn’t know Sher and want to know what an incredible person she was, then read Glenna’s tribute to her. You’ll understand why we miss her so much.

So it came to be that our dearest Rosa of Rosa’s Yummy Yums took the reins of the October 2008 DB challenge and we are forever thankful to her. It’s not easy hosting a challenge by yourself when that challenge involves over 1,000 bakers. Yes. You read that right. Over 1,000 bakers!

But Rosa has been unfailingly patient, polite, sweet and generous and has done an amazing job. Her choice for the October challenge is one that I’m sure Sher would have approved of: pizza.

And as part of the challenge (I know Sher would have loved this!), we actually had to toss our pizzas like an honest-to-goodness pizzaiolo standing in front of a wood oven in some Naples alleyway would toss a pizza.

Here’s what I can tell you about pizza tossing: I will never be a champion pizza tosser and Mama Cream Puff, who helped take the photos whilst I was tossing the pizza, is unlikely to become a photographer any time soon.

Still, though, it was tremendous fun.

The recipe we followed comes from the always reliable The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart (you can find the recipe on Rosa’s blog). I made six 8-inch pizzas, in the following five variations:

Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil (I made two pizzas with these toppings):

Herb-infused olive oil, caramelized onions, shiitake mushrooms, blue cheese:

Herb-infused olive oil, Yukon Gold potatoes, mozzarella, sage:

Tomato sauce, black forest ham, preserved tomatoes, Cambozola:

Butter, brown sugar, bittersweet chocolate, sea salt (sometimes you need something sweet):

I had so much fun making this pizza. I got to use that pizza stone that’s been sitting in the basement for years. My mother and I had quite a few laughs as we “tossed” our pizza.

But I also had fun because I thought a lot about Sher.

You know, sometimes I find myself scanning the DB blogroll or going through comments left on DB challenge posts and I think to myself, “How did all these people get together?”

Do you ever wonder that?

How did so many of us find each other? And I don’t just mean in terms of the Daring Bakers but in terms of food blogging and blogging and just life itself, how do we make these incredible connections?

And they really are connections. I get angry sometimes with people who suggest that you don’t really know anyone through blogging. That somehow sitting behind a computer screen insinuates a barrier that no human can get across, no matter how long you’ve been reading someone’s blog posts.

But I don’t believe that.

If that were true, then people all over the world, calling themselves daring, wouldn’t get together once a month to bake something.

If that were true, then a woman named Sher from California would never have impacted us the way that she did.

What we do is real and special and worthwhile. And I just know that when my mother tried to toss a pizza and it landed against the window and then dropped to the window sill, Sher was looking down and smiling.

Because that’s what it’s all about.

Ciao!

Have you seen the film Stranger Than Fiction, featuring Will Ferrell and Emma Thompson, where Ferrell’s character walks around while hearing his life narrated out loud by the author played by Thompson?

I’m not sure why or how, but I sort of felt like my attempt at making lavash crackers was being narrated by some otherworldly Daring Bakers’ entity with the last line of the film being: “And she burns her crackers! The End.”

But before I tell you the whole, sad story, let us begin at the beginning with the real stars of the show, our hosts: Shel of Musings from the Fishbowl and Natalie of Gluten A Go Go.

These two leading ladies conspired to give us a Daring Bakers’ first this month: our very first alternative, fully vegetarian challenge in the form of lavash crackers with accompanying toppings.

While I can’t give you an exact count, a significant number of Daring Bakers are what Lis and I affectionately refer to as “Alt DBers”, which means that they in some way or other are alternative bakers. These are members who adapt recipes to be gluten-free, nut-free, vegetarian and everything in between.

When it comes to our Alt DBers, Natalie has been a tireless champion of the cause. Without her Lis and I would be quite stumped when it comes to answering so many of the questions that we get from Alt DBers. So we’re thrilled that both Natalie and Shel have the opportunity to put the spotlight on alternative baking and the challenges faced by those who can’t just open up a cookbook and have a go at it without substituting ingredients.

And now back to our story.

The recipe for lavash crackers is based on the one from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. As recipes go, this was probably one of the easier ones in recent DB memory.

We begin with our ingredients. The Cream Puff places together bread flour, salt, yeast, honey, oil and water in a bowl.

Let us move to Chapter 2.

With a mighty wooden spoon, the Cream Puff mixes the ingredients to form a ball of dough. And my, what a ball of dough!

The action continues with the ball of dough and the Cream Puff engaged in a violent battle otherwise known as kneading. After five minutes, the ball of dough has been somewhat tamed.

After ten minutes it’s as meek as a mouse. Cream Puff is able to stab it with a thermometer. Ouch!

But the lavash dough gets its revenge. Its unwieldy nature results in the Cream Puff’s somewhat irregularly shaped dough.

The Cream Puff attempted to exact revenge by using a sharp object otherwise known as a cookie cutter. Feeling somewhat guilty, she piled on some lavender buds in an effort to make amends.

She really went for the sympathy vote by sprinkling thyme, rosemary and sea salt on part of the lavash dough as well.

The lavender chapter seemed to end well.

The thyme, rosemary and sea salt chapter … not so much.

And she burns her crackers!

Does this sad story end here?

No.

There is a happy ending in the form of a Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic Dip used to camoflauge the crackers.

And there’s even a sweet ending in the form of Lavender Lavash Crackers drenched in the Cream Puff’s newest discovery: agave syrup.

And so this story ends. With burned crackers and knowledge gained.

Ciao!

For the challenge recipe, please visit Shel’s blog and Natalie’s blog.

Here’s the recipe for the Red Pepper and Roasted Garlic Dip:

1 cup roasted red peppers, cut into strips
3 cloves, roasted garlic
1 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. tahini
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tbsp. lemon juice
3 basil leaves, torn into pieces
1 sprig of rosemary, finely chopped

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until desired consistency. Taste and ajdust seasoning. Serve at room temperature.

Home is many things.

Home is where you make chocolate éclairs thanks to Meeta and Tony.

Home is talking to Lis.

Home is saying hello again to all of you after a long absence.

Home is the Daring Bakers.

It’s good to be home.

Ciao!

Wait.

Is it already time for another Daring Bakers‘ challenge?

I swear sometimes I think there’s an evil little elf somewhere pressing the fast forward button about halfway throught the month so that the last two weeks just fly by and next thing you know it’s time to start all over again!

In case you haven’t already been dazzled by the entries of other members, here’s what you need to know: our lovely hostess this month is Chris of Mele Cotte who chose a Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream from Carole Walters’ Great Cakes.

I’m heading out on vacation in a few days and so for the last month I’ve been trying desperately to clean out my pantry. As a result, I did not use filberts (hazelnuts) for this dessert but rather almonds.

The cake starts with a sponge base that is made with ground nuts (in my case almonds). It’s a very tasty and delicious (and surprisingly sturdy) base for the cake.

The other elements of the cake were all familiar to Daring Bakers. We’ve certainly made buttercream before! But in this case we made a praline buttercream which began with a praline paste. I have numerous recipes that call for praline paste that I’ve avoided making because I’ve never had a recipe for the paste. Well now, thanks to Chris, I have one.

Again I made mine with almonds but it was simply delicious and the buttercream … one of the best I’ve made in awhile.

And of course, cover anything in a chocolate glaze and how can you go wrong?

I’m keeping this post short but I just want to thank Chris and urge all of you to visit the Daring Bakers’ blogroll to see what all the other great bakers did.

Ciao!

For the cake recipe, please visit Chris’ site.

There are numerous advantages to being a Daring Baker.

You get to meet new people and visit new blogs. Once a month you get to try a recipe you might not normally try.

But the one advantage to being a Daring Baker that most people might not be aware of is that being a Daring Baker results in a monthly occurrence whereby incredibly delicious aromas emanate from the vicinity of your kitchen.

Unfortunately, we don’t do dishes, but beyond that The Daring Bakers pretty much rock.

And that certainly goes for Kelly and Ben who are the hosts for this month’s edition of The Daring Baker’s challenge. Kelly and Ben decided to throw down the gauntlet and challenge everyone to make danish dough with an apple and cardamom filling.

I must tell you, my kitchen has rarely smelled as lovely as the day that I made this pastry. Even though I don’t necessarily crave apples in June, the aroma of the cardamom-laced apples was incredible!

Unlike some past challenges, I didn’t photograph the process because I’ve made danish pastry before. I simply enjoyed the recipe for what it was and for what it yielded: a soft, sweet and buttery bread that and a spicy apple interior.

In baking, simple and beautiful need no lengthy explanation.

Instead, I send you to Kelly’s site and Ben’s site for the recipe and to our blogroll to see what all the other Daring Bakers created.

Ciao!

If you hear music in the air it’s because Daring Bakers the world around are posting their tribute to one of the world’s great confections: Opéra Cake or L’Opéra as they would say in France.

For the May 2008 Daring Bakers‘ challenge, I have the privilege of hosting with my incredible co-founder Lis and with two of our newer Daring Baker members: Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea of Whiskful.

The challenge chosen is the aforementioned Opéra Cake, but with a twist. We decided that in honour of spring, we’d attempt a lighter version of the cake and by lighter I don’t mean reduced calories. What I mean is we wanted to create cakes that were light in flavour and colour.

While we did our best to research the origins of this cake, we were unable to find out much beyond the fact that the creation of the cake is attributed to a gentleman by the name of Louis Clichy who first presented it in the early 1900s in Paris. Dalloyau, the great Parisian pâtisserie, is also attributed with offering a version of the cake that is considered by many to be the definitive version.

Traditionally, L’Opéra consists of layers of almond-based cake (joconde) that are moistened with syrup and then filled with buttercream. The cake is then topped with a mousse or ganache and followed by a glaze. Usually the flavours tend towards coffee and chocolate.

For our version of the cake, we relied on two sources: Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle’s and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

The building blocks of this cake, namely the joconde and the soaking syrup, were relatively straightforward. I didn’t have jelly roll pans that were the size required so I ended up using my trusty old sheet pans, which were slightly larger. The resulting joconde was a bit thinner than what the recipe intended but I was extra careful in handling them and cutting them to size so I didn’t have any troubles there.

For the soaking syrup, I decided to flavour it with a lovely liquid called Talea Amaretto Cream Liqueur. I wanted my cake to have a very strong almond flavour (to mirror the almond meal in the joconde) so I chose a liqueur that was very almondy (and delicious!).

Having the joconde and soaking syrup ready, I proceeded with the buttercream. This buttercream begins with a syrup of sugar, water and flavouring (vanilla in my case) that is cooked to a certain stage and then added to a whipped mixture of egg. The trick is to add the syrup very slowly because if it hits the spinning whisk it can create threads and strings that will ruin your buttercream. Once all the syrup is in, you add butter. I also added a liberal amount of almond extract to help with the flavour.

I adored this buttercream! It was silky and buttery. It was rich without eaving a greasy taste in your mouth as buttercream sometimes does. And it was a dream to spread.

While I was anxious to build my cake, I decided not to skip one of the components that is often found in Opéra Cake: the mousse or ganache layer that goes on top of the cake before the glaze is added.

The mousse was basically a mixture of melted white chocolate, heavy cream and more Talea. The heavy cream is whipped to a fluffy consistency and then mixed with the chocolate and refrigerated until ready to use.

Finally, it was time to start building my cake!

I began by cutting the pieces into the appropriate sizes with the first piece being a rectangle. I brushed it liberally with soaking syrup and then topped it with most of the buttercream. I fit two square pieces of joconde over the first layer of buttercream and brushed those with more soaking syrup. I then used the remainder of the buttercream. I ended with the final piece of joconde which I dampened with the remaining syrup.

When I build cakes with many layers, I like to take breaks in between to referigerate the cake. I think letting it get cold helps to stabilize it and it also gives me a break to ensure that I don’t rush and make a mistake or a mess, which is often what I do. Patience is not one of my virtues in the kitchen!

So after letting the cake sit in the fridge for about thirty minutes, I took it out and added the white chocolate mousse layer. I then popped it back in the fridge while I made the glaze.

The white chocolate glaze was simply melted white chocolate mixed with heavy cream. The key is to let the glaze cool so that it’s still spreadable but not too hot (or it will melt your mousse layer).

Of course I got a bit impatient and poured the glaze on a bit too soon. Some of my mousse melted into the glaze (or vice versa) and I ended up with not the prettiest of top layers. To resolve my blunder, I melted some candy coating (in pink) and used it to create a squiggly design on the entire top of my cake. This effectively hid the “ugly melty spots” as I came to call them and gave my cake a very colourful and light look.

I used the remaining melted candy coating to pipe out musical symbols, which was a lot of fun. I let the cake and the symbols chill for several hours before trimming it. As careful as I was, parts of my cake were a bit uneven and I wanted a cake with perfectly even sides. So I trimmed off the uneven bits and thoroughly enjoyed eating them!

The rest of the cake was given a few final touches and photographed. I brought it to work the next day where everyone loved it. While it was sweet, the cake is not meant to be eaten in huge portions. A little goes a very long way.

Overall, I was very happy with my first attempt at Opéra Cake!

The most important thing I can tell you about this month’s challenge is that it’s dedicated to Barbara of winosandfoodies.com. Many of you know may know Barbara from her blog and many of you may also know her for her support and efforts for LiveSTRONG, the Lance Armstrong Foundation. As part of her efforts for LiveSTRONG Day, Barbara hosts A Taste of Yellow, which is an event that unites food bloggers everywhere in the fight against cancer.

Barbara was a member of the Daring Bakers for awhile but had to resign for personal reasons. But as Lis so eloquently put it, she’ll always be a Daring Baker because she represents the very qualities that we all work hard for: she’s is strong, she is passionate, she’s a fighter.

Barbara, this cake is for you!

Ciao!

The Daring Bakers’ Opéra Cake
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle’s and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

For the joconde:

6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) ground blanched almonds
2 cups icing sugar, sifted
6 large eggs
½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.

Preheat the oven to 425◦F. (220◦C).

Line two 12½ x 15½- inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or using a handheld mixer), beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until the peaks are stiff and glossy. If you do not have another mixer bowl, gently scrape the meringue into another bowl and set aside.

If you only have one bowl, wash it after removing the egg whites or if you have a second bowl, use that one. Attach the paddle attachment to the stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer again) and beat the almonds, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes.

Add the flour and beat on low speed until the flour is just combined (be very careful not to overmix here!!!).

Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly to cover the entire surface of each pan.

Bake the cake layers until they are lightly browned and just springy to the touch. This could take anywhere from 5 to 9 minutes depending on your oven. Place one jelly-roll pan in the middle of the oven and the second jelly-roll pan in the bottom third of the oven.

Put the pans on a heatproof counter and run a sharp knife along the edges of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmold.

Carefully peel away the parchment, then turn the parchment over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

For the soaking syrup:

½ cup (125 grams) water
⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. of the flavouring of your choice (i.e., vanilla extract, almond extract, cognac, limoncello, coconut cream, honey etc.)

Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.

Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

For the buttercream (The recipe for the buttercream that is listed here is based on the original. When testing the buttercream, we tested a slightly modified version that had 2 cups sugar, ½ cup water and 1¾ cups butter. The eggs remained the same. We ended up with a very creamy buttercream. But we don’t want anyone to be afraid of our modified version so you have the option of using the original above or the quantities we’ve listed here in this note):

1 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar (Used to say 2 cups but should be 1 cup)
¼ cup (60 grams) water (Used to say ½ cup but should say ¼ cup)
seeds of one vanilla bean (split a vanilla bean down the middle and scrape out the seeds) or 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ sticks (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature (Used to say 1¾ cups of butter but it should be 1¾ sticks).
flavouring of your choice (a tablespoon of an extract, a few tablespoons of melted white chocolate, citrus zest, etc.)

Combine the sugar, water and vanilla bean seeds or extract in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves.

Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225◦F (107◦C) (Note: The original recipe instructs to heat the syrup to 255◦F (124◦C). We heated it to 225◦F and it worked just fine. However, if you are concerned, then by all means heat your syrup to 255◦F.) on a candy or instant-read thermometer. Once it reaches that temperature, remove the syrup from the heat.

While the syrup is heating, begin whisking the egg and egg yolk at high speed in the bowl of your mixer using the whisk attachment. Whisk them until they are pale and foamy.

When the sugar syrup reaches the correct temperature and you remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin slowly (very slowly) pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment. Some of the syrup will spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to stir it into the mixture as it will harden!

Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).

While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.

With the mixer on medium speed, begin adding in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been incorporated, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.

At this point add in your flavouring and beat for an additional minute or so.

Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).

For the ganache/mousse:

7 ounces white chocolate
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. heavy cream (35% cream)
1 tbsp. liquer of your choice (Bailey’s, Amaretto, etc.)

Melt the white chocolate and the 3 tbsp. of heavy cream in a small saucepan.

Stir to ensure that it’s smooth and that the chocolate is melted. Add the tablespoon of liqueur to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool completely.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form.

Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate to form a mousse.

If it’s too thin, refrigerate it for a bit until it’s spreadable.

If you’re not going to use it right away, refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

For the glaze:

14 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream (35% cream)

Melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream. Whisk the mixture gently until smooth.

Let cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the chilled cake. Using a long metal cake spatula, smooth out into an even layer.

Place the cake into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set.

Enjoy!

Unto the life of every Daring Baker, there must be some fun.

We can’t always be about puff pastry, meringue and caramel. Not to say that those elements of previous challenges haven’t been “fun”, it’s just that every once and awhile I want to channel my childhood days when there were no rules and it was all about playtime!

As though they had read my mind, Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms brought the perfect challenge to the April table: Cheesecake Pops from the cookbook Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth by Jill O’Connor.

Now I could go on and on about all the steps involved and give you an indepth look at the world of lollipop sticks. We could debate the merits of using real chocolate or candy coating to cover the pops and we could argue endlessly about decorations.

But that would spoil the fun.

Here’s what you need to know:

Bake a cheesecake.
Let it get very cold in the refrigerator.
Stick your hands into the cheesecake and scoop out mounds of it.
Turn the mounds into balls.
Stick a lollipop stick in each one.
Freeze them.
Dip them in chocolate.
Make them pretty.
Eat them.

NOW GO HAVE SOME FUN!!!

Ciao!

For the Cheesecake Pops recipe, please visit Deborah’s site or Elle’s site.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers created, please visit The Daring Bakers’ Blogroll.

Technorati tags: daring bakers, cheesecake

I heard a rumour that there was a huge Daring Bakers’ party happening on March 30th so I arrived early in the hopes of not missing it.

You haven’t witnessed a true party until you’ve attended a Daring Bakers’ fête.

This month’s party was hosted by Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts who chose Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake from the book Baking: From My Home to Yours.

For a change, I actually got to the challenge early in the month as I decided to bake it for my coworkers as a way of celebrating the arrival of spring and the end of several months hard work on a huge project.

About a week before trying the recipe, I quickly scanned it and thought, “Eh, no problem!”

When I first made the cake, I used cake and pastry flour and buttermilk. The recipe gives the option of using whole milk instead of buttermilk. I put my batter together quite quickly and sent my little cakes off to the oven to do their thing. When I pulled them out, however, the cakes had not risen at all.

Okay.

I figured I must have somehow made a mistake while putting the recipe together so since I had extra ingredients on hand, I decided to try again. Once again I sent the cakes off to the oven only to pull them out a short time later in utter dismay as I looked down at two cakes that had not risen. They were as flat as pancakes.

Okaaaaaaaaaaay.

I’ve been baking for a very long time and I can’t remember when the last time was that I’d baked cakes that didn’t rise. I knew it couldn’t be my ingredients because I bake so often that I turn over my ingredients very quickly. I made the decision to try the cakes a third (and final) time but this time I used slightly different ingredients.

As luck would have it, in between my second and third try, Lis and I received an e-mail from Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas who explained that Dorie Greenspan herself and gotten in touch with Brilynn about this very recipe. Apparently others were having problems with cakes that wouldn’t rise so they e-mailed Dorie to ask her what the problem could be. Dorie indicated that the problem is likely the flour.

This particular cake was tested with a brand of flour called Swans Down, which is apparently an exceptionally fine cake flour. Whenever I bake recipes that require cake flour, I always use what’s referred to as cake and pastry flour and I’ve never had any problems. But these cakes just wouldn’t rise for me.

In her e-mail to Brilynn, Dorie explained that people could make the cakes with all-purpose flour as long as they used the right amount. When substituting all-purpose for cake flour, you have to remove two teaspoons of flour per cup.

I decided to go out on a limb and make the cakes with all-purpose flour and whole milk. The other adjustment I made was that once my batter came together, I switched from the paddle attachment to the whisk attachment and beat my batter at high speed for a good four minutes in an effort to work some air into the batter and increase the volume.

With fingers and toes crossed, I put the cakes into the oven and hoped for the best. When I pulled the cakes out later, while they had risen a bit, they did not rise nearly as much as the recipe indicated they would.

Okaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay.

At this point I was in no mood to try them again and it was too late to try and source some Swans Down in an effort to recreate the results from the cookbook. Instead, I put my baking experience to good use and perservered with what I had.

While slicing the thin cakes in half was a bit tricky, I managed well enough. I slathered my layers with raspberry preserves and buttercream (the buttercream part of the recipe came together well and was delicious but it didn’t yield very much - I had just enough buttercream to fill and frost my cake). I had entertained ideas of trying variations but the frustration of baking the cakes three times sapped me of any desire to try something different.

I decided to decorate my iced cake with shredded coconut, white chocolate shavings and raspberries. It looked pretty good but I still couldn’t help but feel disappointed.

That mood didn’t last long, however, as my coworkers demolished the cake in record time. While the cake layers may not have risen much, that did not affect the final result. The cake was incredibly delicious. It had a light lemony flavour that combined beautifully with the raspberry.

Everyone knows I love Dorie. I had the opportunity to meet with her last summer and she struck me as a truly gifted and generous person. I’ve never had any problems with her recipes but I must be honest, this one stumped me a bit.

I’m going to definitely try the cake again as the end result was too good not to. But here’s hoping I have better success with those cake layers!

Thank you to Morven for choosing a cake that was truly, truly challenging!

Ciao!

For the recipe for this cake, please visit Morven’s blog.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers have created, please visit the blogroll.

Technorati tags: daring bakers, dorie greenspan

Daily bread.

That’s what pane quotidiano means and that’s what I kept thinking about as I had the lovely experience of making French bread thanks to Mary of The Sour Dough and Sara of i like to cook.

They were the hostesses of the February 2007 Daring Bakers challenge and they chose French bread as the task we were all to attempt.

I’ve told the story many times that growing up, a meal could not begin in our house unless the bread and wine were on the table. And I’ve also shared with you the joy I’ve discovered ever since I started baking bread on a more regular basis.

Mary and Sara decided to throw the French bread challenge at us and they chose the great Julia Child’s recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume 2, as the starting point.

One of the truly dynamic things about this baking group is the variety of reactions to each month’s challenge. While I think Mary and Sara chose wisely, there was some consternation among members of the group over the length of the recipe and the instructions that came with the recipe. Some people appreciate lots of instruction and advice, while others just want to cut to the quick.

To be honest, I have so much respect for Julia Child that I’ll happily read whatever she advises. However, having had some experience baking bread, I also wouldn’t be intimidated by getting straight to the recipe.

Either way you cut it, I loved the end result of this recipe. I chose to make three small baguettes out of my dough. The bread had a lovely crumb and beautifully golden, crusty exterior. In fact, I was quite impressed with the results that I got from my humble home oven.

Here’s a little photo essay of the making of the bread.

The dough after the first rise:

Shaping the dough into a pillow for the second rise:

Shaping the baguettes:

Ready to go into the oven:

So what did I do with the bread? Well I’ll be honest, most of it was eaten with butter.

But I did save one baguette to finally try a lovely appetizer recipe from Tyler Florence’s Tyler’s Ultimate: Brilliant Simple Food to Make Any Time. There’s an incredible recipe for Caramelized Onion Toast that features a butter-slathered baguette covered in caramelized onions, anchovies, thyme, olives and Parmigiano Reggiano.

I made do without the anchovies and also made a few other changes but the end result was fabulous! And it was even better because the bread had come from our own oven.

Mary and Sara, I thank you!

Ciao!

As usual, if you want to see what all the other Daring Bakers did, please visit the blogroll.

For the full French Bread recipe, please visit Mary and Sara.

Here’s the recipe for my version of the Caramelized Onion Toast:

1 baguette
1/4 cup butter, softened
a few tablespoons of unsalted butter (for sauteeing the onions)
a few tablespoons of olive oil
3 onions, sliced thinly
several sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of olives, pitted (any olives will do)
a handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano
extra olive oil for drizzling

In a large pan, heat the few tablespoons of butter and olive. Once hot, add the onions and thyme and cook slowly over low heat (uncovered), until the onions are golden and wilted. You’ll have to stir the onions every now and then to ensure they don’t burn. This could take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on how low the heat is.

Once cooked, add salt and pepper to taste and remove the thyme branches (the thyme leaves will have fallen off while cooking).

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Slice the baguette in half lengthwise and spread the quarter cup of softened butter equally over both halves of the bread.

Pile on the caramelized onions and then dot the onions with the pitted olives. Sprinkle with a bit more salt and pepper and then drizzle lightly with olive oil.

Bake for 15 minutes or until the bread is golden and toasted.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle liberally with grated Parmigiano Reggiano.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

Technorati tags: daring bakers, bread, french bread

Welcome to the first Daring Baker challenge for 2008! Wow! It seems like yesterday that we were just getting ready for the holidays and it’s hard to believe that the first month of the new year is already almost over.

This month’s host is one of our longest standing members, the lovely Jen of The Canadian Baker. As those of you who follow the Daring Bakers’ exploits know, we’ve had some significant challenges in the past including croissants and bagels. I was understandably quite pleased when I saw that Jen had chosen the lemon meringue pie as the challenge for January 2008.

I’ve made lemon meringue pies many times before but I’m always happy to try a new version. Jen’s version was quite straightforward as it featured an all-butter crust, a creamy lemon curd and a very light meringue topping.

Jen gave us the option of making a large pie or smaller tartlets. I, of course, chose the tartlets because I’m always happy to try something mini.

All the separate elements of the tartlets came together very well for me. So I instead set my mind to the challenge of assembling the tartlets and decorating them.

Once I’d baked my pastry rounds for the base, I decided to create a shell border on each one with the meringue. Not only would this be decorative, but it would help keep my lemon curd in place.

I carefully spooned as much lemon curd as I could into the confines of each meringue border and then, using a pastry bag, I decorated the tops of the tartlets with various designs in meringue.

Once the tartlets came out of the oven after browning the meringue, I thought they looked cute but that they needed an extra touch. During the week, I’d visited one of my favourite Toronto stores, Harvest Wagon, which just happens to sell edible flowers. I splurged and decided that the flowers would look lovely with the tartlets.

But I wanted to give them some sort of extra touch so I sugared them. If you’ve never sugared fruit or flowers, it’s very easy. All you need is a clean paint brush, an egg white and some sugar. I beat the egg white until frothy and then used the paint brush to dab egg white on the petals of the flowers. I then very gently sprinkled them with sugar and let them air dry for a couple of hours.

Not only were the flowers a tasty and unusual treat, I thought they looked very pretty with the tartlets.

So how did the tartlets taste? They were pretty good. While I don’t think this version of lemon meringue pie is as good as the one I like to make, it was still tasty. And best of all, working with the bright taste and scent of lemon just reminded me that spring isn’t all that far away.

Was it the most daring of challenges for me? Not really. Was it fun? You bet. And that’s what baking is supposed to be about.

Thank you to Jen for a wonderful challenge. Please take a moment to visit the other Daring Bakers to see how they did. Have a wonderful week!

Ciao!

For the lemon meringue pie recipe, please visit Jen’s site.

‘Tis the season to enjoying the best things in life: family, friends, lots of baking and of course, the Daring Bakers!

We come to you a bit earlier than usual this December on account of the fact that in another day or so most of us will be busy celebrating with family. For the December 2007 Daring Baker challenge, I’m happy to say that I have the opportunity to host with the one that started it all with me, my lovely Lis.

It didn’t take Lis and I long to decide that the challenge for this month had to be a Yule Log. Popular in many baking traditions, we did some research on the origins of the Yule Log and found that it has a very rich history (to match the richness of the dessert)!

The Yule Log as a symbol dates back far into history. It’s associated with the tradition of celebrating the Winter Solstice in Northern Europe. Through the centuries, the tradition lived on in many cultures. As Lis and I explained to our fellow Daring Bakers, we liked the image of light associated with the Yule Log. Regardless of whether you celebrate Christmas, everyone wants a bit of light in their life!

While I don’t want to get all mushy on you, as 2007 draws to a close I must say how thankful I am for the Daring Bakers and for everyone who follows the exploits of the Daring Bakers so closely. Every month is a new challenge and a new opportunity for fun in the kitchen.

Here’s to the Daring Bakers and to the year to come!

Ciao!

Yule Log

The genoise and the buttercream for the Yule Log is from Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Cakes.

The meringue mushrooms are from The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert.

The recipe for the Yule Log is below. Here is a picture gallery of my making of the Yule Log.

Making the genoise:

Making the buttercream:

Making the meringue mushrooms:

Assembling the Yule Log:

The Yule Log Recipe

Plain Genoise:

3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
¾ cup of sugar
½ cup cake flour - spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off (also known as cake & pastry flour)
¼ cup cornstarch

one (1) 10 x 15 inch jelly-roll pan that has been buttered and lined with parchment paper and then buttered again

1.Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 400 degrees F.

2.Half-fill a medium saucepan with water and bring it to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat so the water is simmering.

3.Whisk the eggs, egg yolks, salt and sugar together in the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer. Place over the pan of simmering water and whisk gently until the mixture is just lukewarm, about 100 degrees if you have a thermometer (or test with your finger - it should be warm to the touch).

4.Attach the bowl to the mixer and, with the whisk attachment, whip on medium-high speed until the egg mixture is cooled (touch the outside of the bowl to tell) and tripled in volume. The egg foam will be thick and will form a slowly dissolving ribbon falling back onto the bowl of whipped eggs when the whisk is lifted.

5.While the eggs are whipping, stir together the flour and cornstarch.

6.Sift one-third of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Use a rubber spatula to fold in the flour mixture, making sure to scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl on every pass through the batter to prevent the flour mixture from accumulating there and making lumps. Repeat with another third of the flour mixture and finally with the remainder.

7.Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.

8.Bake the genoise for about 10 to 12 minutes. Make sure the cake doesn’t overbake and become too dry or it will not roll properly.

9.While the cake is baking, begin making the buttercream.

10.Once the cake is done (a tester will come out clean and if you press the cake lightly it will spring back), remove it from the oven and let it cool on a rack.

Coffee Buttercream:

4 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
24 tablespoons (3 sticks or 1-1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 tablespoons rum or brandy

1.Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water and whisk gently until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

2.Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip with the whisk on medium speed until cooled. Switch to the paddle and beat in the softened butter and continue beating until the buttercream is smooth. Dissolve the instant coffee in the liquor and beat into the buttercream.

Meringue Mushrooms:

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ cup (3-1/2 ounces/105 g.) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (1-1/3 ounces/40 g.) icing sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

1.Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Have ready a pastry bag fitted with a small (no. 6) plain tip. In a bowl, using a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar until very foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar while beating. Increase the speed to high and beat until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Continue until the whites hold stiff, shiny peaks. Sift the icing sugar over the whites and, using a rubber spatula, fold in until well blended.

2.Scoop the mixture into the bag. On one baking sheet, pipe 48 stems, each ½ inch (12 mm.) wide at the base and tapering off to a point at the top, ¾ inch (2 cm.) tall, and spaced about ½ inch (12 mm.) apart. On the other sheet, pipe 48 mounds for the tops, each about 1-1/4 inches (3 cm.) wide and ¾ inch (2 cm.) high, also spaced ½ inch (12 mm.) apart. With a damp fingertip, gently smooth any pointy tips. Dust with cocoa. Reserve the remaining meringue.

3.Bake until dry and firm enough to lift off the paper, 50-55 minutes. Set the pans on the counter and turn the mounds flat side up. With the tip of a knife, carefully make a small hole in the flat side of each mound. Pipe small dabs of the remaining meringue into the holes and insert the stems tip first. Return to the oven until completely dry, about 15 minutes longer. Let cool completely on the sheets.

Marzipan Mushrooms:

8 ounces almond paste
2 cups icing sugar
3 to 5 tablespoons light corn syrup
Cocoa powder

1.To make the marzipan combine the almond paste and 1 cup of the icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on low speed until sugar is almost absorbed.

2.Add the remaining 1 cup of sugar and mix until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

3.Add half the corn syrup, then continue mixing until a bit of the marzipan holds together when squeezed, adding additional corn syrup a little at a time, as necessary: the marzipan in the bowl will still appear crumbly.

4.Transfer the marzipan to a work surface and knead until smooth.

5.Roll one-third of the marzipan into a 6 inches long cylinder and cut into 1-inch lengths.

6.Roll half the lengths into balls. Press the remaining cylindrical lengths (stems) into the balls (caps) to make mushrooms.

7.Smudge with cocoa powder.

Assembling the Yule Log:

1.Run a sharp knife around the edges of the genoise to loosen it from the pan.

2.Turn the genoise layer over (unmolding it from the sheet pan onto a flat surface) and peel away the paper.

3.Carefully invert your genoise onto a fresh piece of parchment paper.

4.Spread with half the coffee buttercream (or whatever filling you’re using).

5.Use the parchment paper to help you roll the cake into a tight cylinder.

6.Transfer back to the baking sheet and refrigerate for several hours.

7.Unwrap the cake. Trim the ends on the diagonal, starting the cuts about 2 inches away from each end.

8.Position the larger cut piece on each log about 2/3 across the top.

9.Cover the log with the reserved buttercream, making sure to curve around the protruding stump.

10.Streak the buttercream with a fork or decorating comb to resemble bark.

11.Transfer the log to a platter and decorate with your mushrooms and whatever other decorations you’ve chosen.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers have created, please visit the blogroll.

Technorati tags: daring bakers, yule log

As much as I’ve enjoyed all of the sweet escapades the Daring Bakers have been on, secretly, I’ve longed for something savoury. Trust the beautiful Tanna to answer my wishes!

For November, she chose our first non-dessert baking challenge: Tender Potato Bread from the book Home Baking by Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford.

This has been a tough month for me between work and personal life and I’ll be very honest, for a split second I contemplated missing my very first Daring Baker challenge.

But I thought about Lis, and her determination to show up for each event (and the fact that she’d probably kick my butt if I didn’t do the challenge). I thought again about Tanna and the effort that she put into choosing a recipe. And I thought of bread baking, and how everytime I pull a loaf out of the oven, I feel renewed.

With this in mind, I set about making my very first bread that featured mashed potato as a main ingredient.

I wasn’t up to documenting the process as I often do. Something about snapping photos all along the way just didn’t appeal to me this time around. As much as I enjoy food photography, there was something about this bread that demanded my full attention. It was as though by me breaking away every few minutes to snap a photo, I’d be missing something important.

Instead, I mashed my potatoes and mixed them with water. I added yeast and flour. I waited patiently as my dough rose in our warm kitchen. While I would normally be running around trying to get a photo of the dough at just the right angle, I flipped through Home Baking and bookmarked a number of recipes I’d like to try.

Once my dough was ready to go, I opted for the simple loaf and was able to produce one 9 x 5-inch loaf and two 8 x 4-inch loaves. I let them rise a second time until they were puffy and beautiful and adorned them with butter and rosemary.

After a short visit to the oven, I pulled out three beautifully browned loaves.

I enjoyed the bread in the way that all warm bread should be enjoyed: slathered with butter. Tender, fresh and fluffy, this bread was delicious. It made me think of simplicity and wholesomeness. The bread that’s left will be used for sandwiches throughout the week.

I’d like to thank Tanna so much for pushing us once again past another obstacle. And I’d like to thank all the Daring Bakers for breaking bread in the month of November.

Ciao!

For the Tender Potato Bread recipe, please visit Tanna’s site.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers have done, please visit our official blogroll.

When it comes to defining moments, it’s funny how they never seem defining as they’re happening. You don’t realize you’re in the right place at the right doing the right thing until it’s all done.

When I think back to last November 19th, I could never have imagined that one simple post about pretzels would have sparked the birth of one of the most incredible things to happen in food blogdom: the Daring Bakers!

None of this could have been possible if not for a person who I have come to call one of my dearest friends (even though we’ve never actually met in person!). Lis of La Mia Cucina has found a place in my life and I could not imagine not knowing her.

So how did it all start? After a few e-mail discussions, Lis and I decided to try making pretzels at home, something that we’d never done before. We thought it would be fun if we both tried the same recipe and blogged about it on the same day. On November 19th, 2006, we put up our posts.

The reaction was tremendous! So much so that we quickly decided to try the idea again in December, except this time we were making biscotti. As word spread, people began e-mailing us and asking to take part in the next baking “challenge”.

Today, we number more than 300. Together, we have woken up at 4:00 a.m. to roll croissants, we developed a passion for fourless chocolate cakes, we have invested in red velvet, we have built monuments to crepes, we have made St. Honoré our patron saint, we have paid homage to bagels, we have looked at ourselves in the mirror, we have tarted ourselves up with caramel and chocolate, we have girded our buns with cinnamon, we have conquered bostini and this month … well … that’s still a secret.

So now that a year is behind us, what lies ahead in the year to come? For starters, Lis and I are hoping to give the Daring Bakers a proper Web site. We currently have a blogroll that lists all of our members but it’s time for the DBers (that’s what we call ourselves) to get a spiffy new site. Toward that end, we’re asking for your help. If anyone is interested in helping us with a new site design, please get in touch with us (lamiacucina67@gmail.com or creampuffsinvenice@gmail.com). Unfortunately this won’t be a paying gig (although perhaps we can arrange the delivery of some baked goods … ), but it would be a great opportunity and would offer great exposure. Beyond that, Lis and I hope to watch this group continue to grow and explore the possibilities of baking.

To be sure there have been some growing pains, but the incredible experiences of the last year have far outweighed those. And it goes without saying that the last year has been made easier with the help of a few individuals who must be acknowledged. Every Daring Baker is special but without the tireless work of our blog administrator, Mary of alpineberry, I just don’t know how this group would function. Mary oversees our private blog and she handles the huge task of communicating with every new member of the Daring Bakers. Mary, I bow to you!

Lis and I also owe a huge thanks to Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen. She took it upon herself to approach Ximena of Lobstersquad about designing a logo. Thanks to her the Daring Bakers have an emblem that it all ours. Veronica also takes on the job of sending the logo out to every new member. Many thanks, Veronica!

Having come full circle, Lis and I decided that we would honour the occasion with … what else … pretzels.

Happy Birthday to the Daring Bakers! Many happy returns!

Ciao!

Note: Pictured above are Pistachio Pretzels from the the December 1999 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Technorati tags: daring bakers

No. Don’t worry. It’s not a typo. Bostini (not Boston) is, in fact, the capital of Daring Bakersville.

As the month of October arrived, Mary of Alpineberry let us know that our challenge for the month would be our very first plated dessert, one called the Bostini Cream Pie. The dessert is a take on the infamous Boston Cream Pie and is one of Mary’s favourites. Considering she first had it more than 12 years ago, I would have to say it must have been a most memorable dessert indeed.

Because I bow to Mary both for her beautiful blog and her tireless (and I mean tireless) work as the main administrator for The Daring Bakers, I approached this challenge with gusto.

When describing the recipe, Mary indicated that it yields eight generous servings. Wisely, Mary gave us the option of halving the recipe, which I did. It wasn’t easy, mind you, especially when it came to the custard but I think I did a reasonable job.

I began with the first element of the dessert, which was the custard. Made of whole milk, cornstarch, egg, heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract, the custard was easy to pull together. Surprisingly, my attempt at halving the recipe worked quite well and my custard thickened very nicely. After straining it, I poured some of it into regular-sized ramekins and some of it into very tiny ramekins (pictured above). I set the custard in the refrigerator to chill and firm overnight.

After having completed the custard, I prepared the second component of the dessert which is an orange-flavoured chiffon cake. Once again I had a bit of a challenge in dividing the recipe. I also challenged myself further by baking the cake in a sheet pan (as opposed to molds as the recipe indicated) so that I could cut out pieces of cake to fit the different sizes of ramekins that I’d used.

The cake baked beautifully and looked gorgeous. I would have happily eaten it on its own if not for the fact that I had to use it for the dessert!

When it came time to assemble the dessert, I was able to easily cut out rounds to fit the ramekins. I quickly melted chocolate and butter for the glaze and rather than drenching the tops, I thought it would be best to spread a smaller amount of glaze on each. I topped each little dessert with a piece of candied orange zest to mirror the orange flavours in the cake and to contrast the flavour of the dark chocolate.

The desserts looked very pretty and certainly everyone that tried them enjoyed them. I found the custard to be a bit bland but this may be due to the fact that I halved the recipe and perhaps went a little too lightly in the flavour department. I didn’t use a vanilla bean as originally directed and used vanilla extract instead so perhaps that affected the flavour a bit.

The cake portion of the dessert was by far the best. This chiffon cake is light and so tasty! I’m looking forward to making it again. The chocolate glaze was a nice final touch but I would caution against drenching the dessert in glaze as the chocolate would overpower everything.

It certainly was fun to try my hand at a plated dessert and while I can’t see myself making this exact recipe again, I did really love the chiffon cake. I also appreciated the fact that Mary gave us the opportunity for some creative room with this challenge, which hasn’t always been the case with past challenges.

Many thanks to Mary for inspiring Daring Bakers everywhere this October!

Ciao!

For Mary’s original recipe for the Bostini Cream Pie, please click here.

To see what beautiful desserts the other Daring Bakers created, please visit the official Daring Bakers’ Blogroll.

Because I fiddled with the recipe quite a bit, here’s my version of the Bostini Cream Pie.

For the custard:

1/2 cup whole milk, at room temperature
1-1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 large egg, lightly beaten
4 egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the cake)
2 cups less 1 tbsp, heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tsp. sugar

Mix together the milk and cornstarch in a bowl. Make sure there are no lumps.

Add the beaten egg and the yolks. Whisk until well mixed.

In a saucepan, heat the cream, vanilla extract and sugar. As soon as it comes to the boil, remove from the heat.

Carefully add a ladleful of the cream mixture to the egg mixture, whisking while you add it. (This is called tempering.)

Once mixed, pour the egg mixture into the saucepan with the remainder of the cream and whisk. Return to the heat.

Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens so that it coats the back of a spoon (this means that when you drag your finger across the spoon, it leaves a trail).

Remove the custard from the heat and pour through a fine mesh sieve. Pour the custard into the molds or custard cups that you’re using. I used 4 6-inch ramekins and 4 2-inch ramekins.

For the chiffon cake:

3/4 cup cake and pastry flour
1/2 cup superfine sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup less 1 tsp. canola oil
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 tbsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
4 egg whites (use the reserved egg whites from the custard)
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease a half sheet pan (mine is 13 x 9 inches) and line with parchment paper. Grease the parchment paper and set the pan aside.

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla and stir until smooth.

Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 18 minutes. The cake is done when it springs back lightly after being pressed with your finger.

Let cool on a wire rack before unmolding.

Flip the cake onto a large piece of waxed paper and peel off the parchment. Cut the cake into the appropriate sizes to fit your molds.

For the chocolate glaze:

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
2 ounces unsalted butter

In a small pan, melt the butter.

Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted. Use immediately.

To assemble the dessert:

Cut out cake rounds to fit your molds. Place the rounds on the custard in each mold.

Top with chocolate glaze and serve.

Technorati tags: daring bakers, bostini cream pie

There was once a group called The Daring Bakers,
Who for a challenge were always takers.
Each month they baked something new,
And as a result were never blue.

Marce of Pip in the City is September’s host,
I’d certainly say she has the most.
Cinnamon and sticky buns she chose,
Because those are the best everyone knows!

As usual the Cream Puff was late,
No not because she had a hot date.
September was oh-so-busy,
And a wedding last night threw her into a tizzy.

For the Cream Puff woke on the morning of the post day,
With her head feeling as thick as hay. (okay I never said I was a good poet)
The wedding last night was a bit rowdy,
All Cream Puff remembers is saying howdy.

So the Cream Puff set about preparing the dough,
Happy because for once on a Sunday she had nowhere to go.
The happy little ball of dough rose and rose and rose,
And became a big ball of dough that made Cream Puff happy to her toes. (see brackets above)

The Cream puff divided her dough into two,
So she could give both cinnamon and sticky buns their due.
She started with the cinnamon and made them small,
They were so pretty that you could smell them in the hall.

For the sticky buns she decided that walnuts and dried cherries she’d use,
And she even soaked her cherries in Kirsch because Cream Puff likes booze.
She rolled those as best she could,
They looked so good that they would melt wood. (once again, see brackets above)

But before Cream Puff could put her sticky buns to bed,
She made a caramel glaze that went straight to her head.
The glaze was to line the baking pan,
Let’s just say that Cream Puff became a big fan.

Patience is a virtue so they say,
Cream Puff let her buns rise again while keeping hunger at bay.
As the recipe directed they rose very nice,
They certainly looked better than a bowl of plain rice. (once again, see brackets above)

Into a hot oven the buns went,
And the smell of the baking was like they were from Heaven sent.
The entire house smelled so cinnamony and pretty,
Cream Puff wished she could have a taste - just a little bitty!

But Cream Puff remained as patient as could be,
She knew she’d get her reward - you see!
The cinnamon buns came out first,
They looked so good they’d even quench your thirst. (brackets. above.)

Quickly they were covered in glaze,
Cream Puff would go anywhere to eat these, even a maze.
She shared some with everyone and they all agreed,
Those cinnamon buns were some darn good feed!

And as for the sticky buns they soon came out of the oven too,
They smelled so good that they’d make any cow go “moo”. (brackets. above.)
After 20 minutes, Cream Puff flipped them out of the pan,
These were so pretty that these buns you could never ban!

Marce, I thank you for such a great recipe,
It was so good you should charge a fee.
Cinnamon and sticky buns are in my future now that I can make them,
This recipe is like a precious jem!

So the Cream Puff is happy with her buns all done,
They were so delicious they’d even impress a nun.
And so the Cream Puff is to bed now heading,
To sleep off the effects of a Big Fat Italian Wedding!

Ciao!

For the recipe for these delicoius cinnamon and sticky buns, please visit Marce’s blog.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers have created, please visit The Daring Baker Blogroll (what … were you expecting it to rhyme???).

Technorati tags: daring bakers, cinnamon buns, http://www.technorati.com/posts/tag/sticky+buns

It’s nice to share good news so Lis and I are thrilled to share this little tidbit with you. Earlier today I received an e-mail from the very sweet Katie of the blog Other People’s Food.

Katie very kindly let me know that the Daring Bakers had been featured in an article on Epicurious.

Amy Sherman has a nice write-up about our little group of bakers who will let nothing stop them from one baking challenge after another.

Hip hip hooray for the Daring Bakers!

Ciao!

Technorati tag: daring bakers

Some months, I wait anxiously for the day to post the Daring Baker challenge. And then other months, like this one, I wake up one morning only to find that the month is almost gone and the Daring Baker challenge is about to escape me.

My friends, it has been a busy and frenzied month to say the least.

Luckily, however, things have calmed down just in time to celebrate another Daring Baker challenge. And this time around, we’re getting all tarted up!

The hosts for this month’s challenge are the lovely Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen and Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen. They took pity on our Daring Baker souls and decided to choose a challenge recipe that didn’t feature forty steps and didn’t require that we start baking a week in advance.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve loved all the challenges up until now, but they have been quite involved. It was more than pleasant to settle down to baking a most elegant and simple Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart.

As with most tarts, this one begins with a great tart base. The tart pastry consists of butter, icing sugar, ground hazelnuts, cinnamon, eggs, cake flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. I usually make crusts by hand but I decided to try this one in the bowl of the stand mixer and it worked out very well.

After creaming the butter, sugar, ground hazelnuts and cinnamon together, I added the eggs and then the dry ingredients. I gathered the dough into a ball and refrigerated it for eight hours (the recipe instructs you to refrigerate overnight but I made the dough in the morning and baked the tart late in the day).

When it came time to roll out the tart dough, I ran into a few problems in that the pastry cracked quite a bit. It seemed a bit on the dry side. However, after a bit of work I managed to line all my tart pans with the lovely cinnamon-scented dough. The recipe yields quite a bit of pastry so I was able to make a 9-inch tart and six 4-inch tarts.

I blind baked the tart shells (baked them with parchment paper filled with dried beans) for 15 minutes before removing them from the oven while I made the caramel filling.

Usually when I make caramel I begin with a sugar and water mixture. This particular recipe calls for a dry caramel, which means that you simply put sugar into a pot and slowly melt it until it turns the desired colour. I’d never made caramel this way before and was a bit worried as caramel can be tricky.

However, it worked out very well. I had to really watch it as it would have been quite easy to burn the caramel. As soon as it reached the desired colour, I added heavy cream and butter and set it aside to cool a bit. While it cooled, I mixed together eggs and flour, which I then added to the caramel mixture. This was poured into the waiting tart shells. I then put the tarts back into the oven for another 15 minutes.

By this time, the tart shells were a lovely golden colour and the caramel filling was firm. I could have easily dug in at this point but the tarts weren’t quite finished.

After the tarts were completely cooled, I put together the final layer which was a milk chocolate mousse. I whipped heavy cream and poured in melted milk chocolate. I spread the mixture over the tops of all the tarts and then refrigerated them for several hours.

Wanting to decorate my tarts simply yet elegantly, I drizzled the tops with melted white chocolate and made some chocolate curls with some leftover milk chocolate.

Finally, it was time to try one.

The first sensation I experienced when I sampled the tart was the deep flavour of cinnamon against the lighter, sweeter flavour of the chocolate. At first I didn’t notice the caramel but after a few chews, the caramel texture came through. Combined with the lightness of the mousse topping, it was a very interesting flavour experience. The tart was spicy and cool all at the same time.

I decided to bring the tarts to work for my coworkers and judging by how quickly they were gobbled up, I knew they were a great success.

I enjoyed making a layered tart using caramel having never made a tart like this before. It was a straightforward recipe and the results were more than worth it. I would like to thank Veronica and Elle for choosing such a classy recipe!

Ciao!

For the recipe for the Milk Chocolate Caramel Tart, please visit Veronica’s blog or Patricia’s blog.

To see what all the other Daring Bakers did with their tarts, please check The Daring Bakers’ Blogroll over the next day or so!

Technorati tags: daring bakers, tarts, milk chocolate, caramel

Mirror mirror upon the wall,

Who is the fairest of all?

Hmmm … good question. This is the question that all Daring Bakers attempted to answer this month as we tackled our latest challenge: Strawberry Mirror Cake. Our host for the month is the prolific, brilliant and talented Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Not only is Peabody one of my very favourite blog bakers, she’s also a kindred hockey spirit. Being a good Canadian girl, I know I can turn to her whenever I need comfort.

I’m a Leafs fan. Trust me. I need lots of comfort.

Anyway, back to the Strawberry Mirror Cake. Prior to this challenge, I’d never heard of a mirror cake. Some lightweight searching on Google didn’t reveal very much so I decided to just go ahead and jump in and not worry too much about the details.

The one good thing about waiting until the very last minute to complete these challenges is that I get to read about the experiences of other Daring Bakers on our private blog. In particular, Lisa and Helene provided some excellent guidance.

The mirror cake started with a very basic sponge cake made of eggs, flour, vanilla extract, cream of tartar and sugar. The cake was baked in a jelly roll pan. Once done, I cut out two 8-1/4 inch disks of cake and wet them with a simple syrup flavoured with Kirsch. Based on the end result, I suspect I did not wet the cakes enough as they were a bit dry.

Once the cake disks were ready, I began preparing the strawberry Bavarian cream that would be the “filling and frosting” of the cake so-to-speak. The Bavarian cream consisted of unflavoured gelatin, strawberry puree, egg yolks, sugar, milk, lemon juice, red food colouring and heavy cream. It took me awhile to make the cream because I first had to puree strawberries and strain them. Then, I found that it took quite a while for the strawberry base of the cream to thicken. I began to panic a bit so started to add more ice cubes to the bowl of ice water that the cream was sitting in. This backfired on me as all of a sudden, the strawberry cream thickened too much. I proceeded with the recipe and whipped some heavy cream, which I then folded into the strawberry base. But my sense from the recipe, and also from other bloggers, is that the Bavarian cream should have been a bit more “pourable”, whereas mine was like a frosting.

No worries, though. It still tasted good. I placed one cake disk in the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan and covered it with half of the Bavarian cream, making sure to fill in all the gaps in the pan. I topped with a second cake disk and spread the remaining cream over and around the cake disk. I then popped my creation into the refrigerator to sit overnight and set.

The next morning, I had some errands to run so I actually asked my mom to help me out by preparing the strawberry juice for the mirror part of the cake. What are moms for, after all?!

Essentially the strawberry juice involved cooking a heck of a lot of strawberries with water and sugar and then straining the end result. What you end up with is a lovely red juice that smells strongly of … what else … strawberries!

Making the mirror is actually quite easy as you combine the strawberry juice with unflavoured gelatin and place the mixture in a bowl of ice water to cool. Once it attains the thickness of syrup, you pour the mixture over the top of your set cake.

I actually found the mirror-making to be my favourite part of this cake. It was pretty cool to pour it over and then put it back in the refrigerator to set up. And it did look like a mirror!

After a few hours, it was time for the moment of truth and the unmolding of the cake. I followed the instructions very carefully and wrapped a hot towel around the pan for a few minutes. I also used a small knife with a hot blade (I kept running it under hot water) to carefully separate the mirror edge from the edges of the springform pan. When I felt confident, I released the springform and removed the ring. Surprisingly, it was quite easy.

I lifted the cake off the springform bottom (the recipe instructs you to wrap a cardboard round the same size as the pan bottom in foil and then put that on top of the pan bottom to make cake removal easier) and placed it on a cake plate. I didn’t want to overdue the decoration of the cake so I added a border of strawberries and mint and placed a flower in the middle.

So far, the cake looked pretty good.

But now came the taste test. Using a knife with a hot blade (kept running it under hot water), I cut a nice wedge from the cake. Once I cut into it and removed the edge, I must admit that appearance-wise it looked impressive.

So how did it taste?

Meh. It was okay. My cake layers looked pretty, but they were a bit on the dry side. I don’t think I wet them enough with the syrup. The Bavarian cream looked pretty as well, but to be honest, with all the strawberries we had to use, I thought there would have been a stronger berry flavour. I also don’t think it was sweet enough.

For me, the best part of the cake was the mirror. It looked pretty and eating it was certainly a different experience. It had a cool, gel-like texture and it was fun to see your reflection in the top of the cake!

Overall, the cake was enjoyed by all who tried it but not enthusiastically so. In many ways, I found this cake to be like Martha’s crepe cake, an awful lot of work and expense for a so-so result.

Still, though, it was nice to try something different. Thanks so much to Peabody for challenging us this month! Stay tuned to see what untravelled territories the Daring Bakers venture to next month …

Ciao!

For the recipe, you can see it listed on Peabody’s site.

To see what the other Daring Bakers did with this challenge, please visit our official blogroll!

Technorati tags: daring bakers, strawberries, mirror cake

I have to be very honest with you. I’m a little nervous.

As you may have noticed from the picture above and from the title, the June challenge put to the Daring Bakers by our hosts Quellia of All Things Edible and Freya of Writing at the Kitchen Table is bagels.

Eeek!

Why so nervous, you ask?

Bagels scare me. Bagel purists scare me. People who raise their eyebrows and sneer when you tell them where you buy your bagels scare me. I have never known a carboydrate that causes as much acrimony and dissent. I have seen lifeling friends practically come to blows over bagels.

So please, be gentle with me. Here is my bagel story.

When I first read the challenge and the recipe, I felt scared (see above), but also hopeful. I’d made bagels once before in my Breakfast Breads baking class so I’m somewhat familiar with the process.

On the morning that I made my bagels, I began by proofing the yeast in warm water sweetened with honey. I did not use hot water as directed because I’ve learned in my baking courses that hot water can damage and kill yeast. After ten minutes of proofing, the yeast was foamy, creamy and you could definitely smell it.

As directed by the recipe, I then added three cups of flour and the salt. However, I was careful to cover the yeast with the flour first and then sprinkle the salt on the flour. Another tip that we picked up in baking class is that salt added directly to yeast can drastically reduce the yeast’s effectiveness and even kill it. Unlike sugar, which yeast feeds on, salt alters the yeast’s ability to work properly. So if you’re adding flour and salt to yeast, be sure to add the flour first as a buffer.

At this point I removed my watch and and my ring and I got right into it! When people tell me that they don’t like to bake, I always think of this moment. Anyone who sinks their hands into a creamy, floury mixture just waiting to be turned into a dough will immediately feel the joy of baking! Keeping one hand clean (as Quellia recommends), I used the other hand to work in the flour and salt. After a minute or two I had a mushy, wet, yeasty blob! I love mushy, wet, yeasty blobs!!!

At this point, I began adding the remainder of the flour to my blob one cup at a time. As the mixture became drier, I reduced the flour to about half a cup at a time. Once I’d incorporated about six cups of flour, I had to remove my blob from the bowl and begin working it on the well-floured counter. I stopped adding flour after I added about seven and a quarter cups. I felt that the blob was sufficiently dry and I was ready to knead.

I won’t wax poetic about kneading … again. You all know how much I love it. Let’s just say I spent the following ten minutes getting a great upper body workout as I worked my blob into a beautiful dough!

Quellia and Freya’s recipe indicated that the dough should be placed in a well oiled bowl and allowed to rise until doubled in size. I would have preferred that the recipe also give a timeframe for that (”… until doubled in size, which should take an hour to an hour and a half …”), but that became a moot point when my dough absolutely ballooned after only thirty minutes!

In fact, this is what my dough looked like after thirty-five minutes.

Well there’s no rest for the wicked (or weary) so I got right down to forming those bagels! I placed a large pot of water to boil and then added malt syrup.

The recipe indicated that the bagel yield would be 15. Well I looked at this massive piece of dough and envisioned 15 bagel cakes growing right out of my oven. If I’d only divided it into 15 bagels they would have been huge. Instead, I divided my dough into six pieces and then further divided those six pieces.

I decided to try both ways of forming a bagel. For the first few bagels, I rolled dough into a round and then poked a hole in the middle with my finger. I then used two fingers to roll the dough around making the hole in the centre bigger.

For the second formation method, I rolled a piece of dough into a rope and then joined the ends rolling them slightly so that they held together. I eventually settled on this method and formed most of my bagels this way. After forming the bagels, I let them sit for ten minutes before heading to the malt/water bath.

When we made bagels in baking class, we boiiled them for a few seconds. But this recipe requires that you boil the bagels for three minutes on each side. I found this part of the recipe a bit confusing because my bagels went in nice and smooth but came out a bit lumpy and not so pretty. But never one to argue with a Daring Baker challenge, I perservered.

After all my bagels were boiled, I began the fun part of the recipe: how do I top them bagels???

I chose four options: the classic poppyseed, the yummy sesame seed, the even yummier caraway seed with Maldon salt and the not-so-traditional Cheddar cheese. To customize the bagels, I made a wash of egg white and water, which I brushed on to the boiled bagels. Then, each bagel met its topping fate.

The recipe indicated that the bagels should be baked at 400 degrees F. for 25 minutes and then turned and baked for an additional ten minutes. But I found that my first batch of bagels almost burned. So I reduced the oven temperature to 390 degrees F. and baked them for 20 minutes on one side and five minutes on the other side.

The end result was mixed for me. My bagels certainly didn’t look like bagels. This worried me a bit as I could already hear the snickers and criticism. They weren’t puffy like bagels should be. Or at least that’s how I think bagels should be. I think this is my fault in that I divided my bagel dough too much. In other words, I made too many small bagels when the recipe was meant to yield fewer and larger bagels.

I also suspect that the ten minutes of resting time the bagels need between being formed and boiled isn’t enough. I think that I would probably let them rest for 20 minutes should I make these again. This would give the bagels more time to rise.

So appearance-wise, I wasn’t too happy. But taste was another matter altogether.

These bagels were delicious! The exterior was firm but not hard and definitely yielded to the bite. The interior was bready and soft. Once they were cool, we immediately sat down and enjoyed them in our favourite way: with smoked salmon and cream cheese.

My personal favourite were the caraway seed and Maldon salt-topped bagels. I had this combination in one of my baking classes where we made bread topped with caraway and salt. I fell in love with it and often find myself craving it. I thought these bagels were delicious.

And as far as the disappointing disappearance goes, I must admit that the Cheddar cheese-topped bagels didn’t look all that bad. (Stop sneering at me!!!)

All in all, it was a very pleasant June challenge. I made bagels on my own for the first time and while my bagels will not be impressing any of the purists any time soon, we certainly enjoyed them.

I think I acquitted myself admirabley. I just hope that no one who knows me and recognizes me will be throwing bagels at me!

Ciao!

Please check Quellia’s post for the recipe we used.

Technorati tags: bagels, daring bakers

It was bound to happen. It was only a matter of time before the Daring Bakers adopted a patron saint.

Saint Honoratus of Amiens was a bishop of the town of Amiens, located in the North of France. He is believed to have died on May 16th, 600 A.D. While it doesn’t appear that Saint Honoratus was into making panna cottas and baking pavlovas, those that followed him did build a church in his name. In 1400, the bakers of Paris created a guild based in the church named after Saint Honoratus. Every May 16th, a feast was held in his honour and to this day, May 16th remains Saint Honoré Day. But perhaps even more than the day, Saint Honoré is known for the cake named for him: Gâteau St. Honoré.

After last month’s crepe cake, the hosting duties for the Daring Baker monthly challenge fell to Helene of Tartelette and Anita of Dessert First, both very accomplished followers of St. Honoré. Accordingly, they chose to challenge the Daring Bakers to bake the very famous gâteau.

When I first learned of the challenge for May, I ran to my room, hid under the covers and immediately began praying to St. Honoré himself for strength. This cake, you must understand, is made of some very lofty elements. To begin with, you have puff pastry.

That’s homemade puff pastry.

The puff pastry is followed by a pastry cream, which is then followed by cream puffs. While pastry cream and cream puffs may not be so bad, did I mention that there’s homemade puff pastry?

Oh, yes. For good measure, throw in a bit of caramel.

But St. Honoré must have felt that I was worthy because he sent some inspiration. Surely, I can do this. I’ve made croissants from scratch for heaven’s sake! So I printed the recipe, read it through, felt better and then promptly forgot about it for three weeks. But Saturday morning, I awoke and immediately began to worry … and pray. A recipe that had seemed straightforward and manageable three weeks earlier, was suddenly quite daunting.

So let’s begin at the beginning.

I started with the puff pastry, which involved making a dough and then preparing a butter packet. I have decided that I very much like butter packets and that if someone wanted to give me the gift of a butter packet, I would consider it a great gift.

But back to the puff pastry.

After enclosing my butter packet in the dough, I began the process of rolling and turning. Turning the puff pastry dough means rolling it out to a certain length and width (20 inches by 9 inches), and then folding the dough up in thirds, the way you would fold a letter. The seam of the letter will be facing you. After refrigerating the dough to let the butter cool down a bit, you remove the dough and begin rolling it out again with the seam facing to the right. That’s called a turn.

After repeating that process five times, I had a rather lovely (if I may say so myself) packet of puff pastry, which I left in the refrigerator overnight.

Before going to bed, I also decided to get a start on the cream filling for the gâteau. Helene and Anita chose what is called Rapid Chiboust or Diplomat Cream. I have no idea why it’s called that but I have to say I found the Rapid Chiboust name very entertaining.

Every time someone asked me what I was doing I barked, “Do not bother me! I’m making Rapid Chiboust!” We Daring Bakers have to amuse ourselves somehow!

Any way, the cream was quite easy to pull together. It involved combining sugar, flour, salt, egg yolks, vanilla extract and whipping cream to which was added unflavoured gelatin. Just before filling the cream puffs and spreading the cream on the gâteau, I added stiffly beaten egg whites.

Allow me to say that this cream was divine! I had a lot left over, which I was sorely tempted to eat with a spoon!

On the morning that I was ready to assemble and bake the gâteau (okay I’m not kidding anyone … it was this morning), I divided my puff pastry packet in half and rolled that half into a 12-inch square. From that 12-inch square I cut out four 6-inch circles. While the circles chilled in the refrigerator, I made the pâte à choux and this is where I encountered my first problem.

Clearly I had angered St. Honoré because I ended up having to throw out my first batch of pâte à choux and make a second one. When I make cream puffs, I’m used to mixing butter, water and salt and letting it come to a boil. I then add flour, all at once, and begin mixing together the ingredients to form the dough. This particular pâte à choux recipe requires that the flour be added slowly. I ended up with a lot of lumps, which I had to try to smush with a wooden spoon.

I hate smushing.

To make matters worse, because the quantity of eggs listed in the ingredients list was shown as “1 cup of eggs or 240 ml of eggs”, against my better judgement I ended up beating eggs and actually measuring out the liquid amount. I was so flustered about this that I didn’t read the instructions properly and poured in all of the liquid at once. The eggs are to be added one at a time, which posed a bit of a problem in that it wasn’t clear how many eggs were required. Needless to say I ended up with a liquidy mushy mess, which I very gladly dumped in the food bin.

After starting again, I decided to add the eggs individually and beat the mixture until it looked like thickened mayonnaise (as the directions indicate). I actually only used 3 eggs and the pâte à choux looked great.

Moving on to the assembly of the gâteau, I piped four rings of pâte à choux onto the puff pastry circles and used the rest to make little cream puffs. This is where I made my second mistake. The recipe indicated that we should pipe four concentric rings on the puff pastry.

Now when the Cream Puff hears the word “concentric”, for some reason she thinks of math and the Cream Puff was never very good at math. From reading other Daring Bakers’ posts, I gather that what I was supposed to do is pipe four rings with pâte à choux leaving a gap between each ring so that the pastry cream could then fall into the gaps. I didn’t do this.

Hey. I wasn’t good at math alright!

I piped the rings so that they touched each other and was left with a border all around the edge of the puff pastry circle. I didn’t realize my error until after the puff pastry and cream puffs were baked so at that point I realized I’d have to do some improvising with either the pastry cream or some whipped cream.

Mistake aside, I was delighted with how the puff pastry circles baked up as well as the cream puffs. While I think I made my cream puffs a bit too small, they were a lovely colour and the puff pastry was, if I may say so myself, just gorgeous!

After letting everything cool down, I filled my cream puffs with the Rapid Chiboust (never get tired of saying that) and then spread as much of it as I could on the puff pastry rounds. Unfortunately because of the way that I piped the pâte à choux on, I couldn’t get a lot of cream on there or it would fall over the sides. This is likely why I had so much pastry cream left over.

Oh, well. Live and learn!

I placed everything in the refrigerator for a few hours and then finally set about the process of gilding the cream puffs with caramel. I’ve made caramel many times before and I’ve always made it the same way. I’ve cooked a bit of water with sugar until a molten liquid develops and it turns the shade that I’m looking for. In this case, the recipe indicated that we should just cook sugar in a pot.

I had some difficulty with this method as it seemed that the sugar turned dark right away. I frantically started stirring it so that it wouldn’t burn but then it clumped up. I had to add a bit of water to help it along. While this was very quick, I disliked not having the control over how dark the caramel turns as I do when I follow my usual method.

All in all, though, the caramel worked out well and dipping the cream puffs in the caramel was fun. Once done, I used the extra caramel to drizzle over the cream puffs and to attempt to make some spun sugar.

To assemble, I began by piping whipped cream sweetened with sugar all around the edge of the puff pastry (that had no pâte à choux on it). I followed this by piping larger rosettes on top of the pastry cream. I set one cream puff in each of the large rosettes. I also piped rosettes around the base of the gâteau. I garnished with more cream puffs and also with raspberries. I dropped a few raspberries into the centre of the gâteau (on the pastry cream) and topped with some of the spun sugar.

I was very happy with the end result, my mistakes notwithstanding. I thought my little cakes looked very elegant. As I stood back and surveyed my work, I felt that all the effort was worth it. I’m already looking forward to trying the gâteau again very soon.

I’d like to thank Helene and Anita for pushing the Daring Bakers to even greater heights this month. This challenge was stressful, tiring and complicated. I had to sand blast my kitchen counter to get rid of the hardened caramel and I somehow managed to get pastry cream into every tile groove and cranny. But it was all worth it.

Clearly my prayers were answered.

Ciao!

Note: Helene and Anita have decided to post a round up of the Daring Bakers’ accomplishments this month. They’ve divided the group so that they will each list links to half of the Daring Baker blogs so be sure to check in with them regularly to see what everyone else has done. For the recipe, you can also visit Helene’s blog as she has kindly listed it.

One more thing, membership for the Daring Bakers is closed for the month of June. So many of you have e-mailed us asking to join that we’ve had to close the doors. But for those of you that do want to join, don’t worry, July membership is open. If you’re interested, send an e-mail to my lovely co-founder Lisa (tesla67@roadrunner.com) of La Mia Cucina or to me (imellozzi@sympatico.ca).

Technorati tags: gateau st. honore, st. honore, puff pastry, cream puffs, caramel, daring bakers

Move over, Martha. The Daring Bakers are claiming your territory!

Well, perhaps we’re not quite claiming your territory but we are all over a dessert you showcased. And it’s a good thing too as judging by my own experience and that of most of the other Daring Bakers, your recipe could do with a bit of help.

As many of you know, back in November Lis of La Mia Cucina and I decided to challenge ourselves to bake (or create) foods that we would normally not try. Since November, the little group that we affectionately named The Daring Bakers has grown to close to thirty members!

Each month our challenges have been exciting and we have been pushed to try new recipes and expand our creativity. But along with the growth spurt we’ve had some growing pains. Voting on our monthly challenge became a bit of a headache due to the number of people involved. As a result, we made a decision to move to a hosted event. Part of the duties of being hostess (or host) is that you must choose a challenge for the month, supply the recipe (and post the recipe on your own blog) and pick a date for the challenge.

The April edition of The Daring Bakers features Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas as hostess. Brilynn had her eye on a Martha Stewart confection called Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake. Martha’s own creation is based on a famous crepe cake from the New York bakery, Lady M Cake Boutique.

This particular dessert consists of four components:  crepes, filling, glaze and decoration. While I have some experience with crepes, I was very intrigued by the idea of making chocolate crepes, which I’d never done before. The crepe batter, which included semisweet chocolate, was fairly straightforward to pull together. As I went to actually cook the crepes, however, I was a bit concerned as I know that some of my fellow Daring Bakers had experienced some difficulties.

While the first few crepes had their lives tragically cut short after tearing and generally not cooking properly, I found the rest of the crepes easier to produce. The only drawback to this part of the recipe was that it took so very long to make the crepes. This was partly my fault as I decided to make mini crepes. After some research, I "invested" in a $9 egg fry pan that has the most adorable handle ever! I don’t usually eat a lot of fried eggs but the pan was so cute that I couldn’t resist.

While the crepes were good, I didn’t find anything particularly exciting about them. So I looked to the filling to offer the pizazz factor for this dessert.

I studied the recipe for the filling in the original but knew right away that I didn’t want to make it. Have you ever looked at a recipe and thought, "You know what. I just don’t want to go to the trouble"? That’s precisely how I felt when I looked at the filling recipe. Did I really want to buy Hazelnut Cream? Did I really want to use six egg whites? Did I really want to use almost a pound of butter just for a filling? For some reason I just felt uninspired by the filling and decided it just wasn’t worth using up precious butter.

Instead, I decided to go the simple route by spreading Nutella on the crepes. I figure you just can’t go wrong with Nutella! After having filled and built my little crepe cakes, I put them in the refrigerator to set. While they rested, I made the chocolate glaze. This particular glaze was quite easy to make and definitely good, but again, there wasn’t anything spectacular about it. It had a great pour quality that definitely covered a multitude of crepe sins, but other than that it was your average chocolate glaze.

For some strange reason, the further into the recipe I got the less interested I felt.

The final step before putting it all together was the decoration. The original recipe includes instructions on how to make candied hazelnuts with a decorative effect. Initially I wasn’t going to make these as it seemed a lot of trouble, but I changed my mind. I reminded myself that part of being a Daring Baker is pushing yourself so I went ahead with caramelizing the hazelnuts. I’m glad I changed my mind. The hazelnuts were probably my favourite part of the recipe. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t great fun creating strings of caramel sugar all over the kitchen.

The fun of the hazelnuts aside, at this point I was just eager to put the cake together and see the final result (and get it over with). I cloaked the crepe cakes in the chocolate glaze and let them set for a few minutes before transferring the cakes to a serving dish and then finally cutting into one of them.

The cakes were sweet with a nice touch of hazelnut from the Nutella. And the caramel decorations were a big hit. However, if I were to make this again, I think I would make a cream filling. As good as the Nutella was, I think some creaminess would have helped to lighten the cake just a bit.

But to be very honest with you, I just don’t see myself making this particular crepe cake again. It was uninspiring. It tasted alright, but the taste doesn’t match the visual appeal of the cake. It’s hard to put my finger on it, but the end result just didn’t live up to the hype.

Having said that, my Daring Bakers have all acquitted themselves admirably. In fact quite a few of them have given Martha a run for her money! To see what incredible confections the other Daring Bakers produced, you can check their blogs by clicking on the links under The Daring Bakers category in the sidebar to the right of this page.

And stay tuned … The Daring Bakers will be back for more next month!

Ciao!

Note:  For those of you interested in trying this dessert, there is a video demonstration that you can watch from the Martha Stewart site.

Technorati tags: crepes, crepe cake, daring bakers