A Daring Bakewell Tart of a Farewell

This month’s Daring Baker Challenge, the scrumptious Bakewell Tart

as hosted by my friend Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar, marks my twenty-second Daring Baker Challenge and the perfect way to say so long and farewell to my career as a Daring Baker.

I’ve been a Daring Baker since March 2007, starting with the Red Velvet Cake.

Some of the highlights of my Daring Baker sorjourn were the Gateau St. Honore

where I mastered my fear of puff pastry (and managed to burn myself for the 100th time with hot sugar), the Potato Bread challenge

where I made that really awesome wheat sheath bread from the world’s stickiest dough, and my stint as co-hostess with my twin of different mother sister, Sara of I Like To Cook, where we made over 600 people spend 12+ hours in the kitchen and read twenty pages of recipe making Julia Child’s French Bread.

I lived through the frustrating and infamous Martha Stewart Crepe Cake

and burning myself yet again with hot molten sugar

the bounce like rubber Mirror Cake

and the Milk Caramel Tart that landed on the floor of my car while I was transporting it.

When I was asked to join by the incomparable Lisa and Ivonne there were less than twenty Daring Bakers and most of us were located in North America. Now there are over 1,000 members world wide! I’ve become good friends with some of my Daring Baker Sisters and Brothers: Elle, Helen, Veron, Dharm, Jenny, Tanna, Ilva, Peabody, Brilynn, Mary, Christina, and Kelly to name but a few of the incredible people I met because I was a Daring Baker. Without this fantastic group called Daring Bakers, I would never have been exposed to so many fellow food bloggers. Thank you one and all for two and almost half fabulous years!

So, what did I think of this month’s challenge, my farewell challenge, the Bakewell Tart?

Well, if it is any indication of how good it was, only the Danish Braid

was demolished by my office taste testers faster! It lasted less than 10 minutes and I could make the frangipane to eat straight from the bowl, raw eggs be damned!

Since this a traditional British tart and it is strawberry season right now both here and at Wimbledon, I decided to use a very British jam, Hartley’s to spread on the bottom of the sweet shortcrust

and sprinkled slivered almonds on top the frangipane before baking the tart until golden brown.

It was so easy and quick that I’m going to be making another one of these this week while on the sailboat but I think I’ll use fresh Michigan cherries and apricots for part of the filling.

Thanks Jasmine and Annemarie for a British staple that will now be a go to staple in my kitchen. It was the perfect challenge on which to go out with a bang!

To see my fellow Daring Bakers tarts you can visit some of them here.

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.

Bakewell Tart

Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin, One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows), Bench flour (AP flour for dusting your rolling surface),250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz))jam or curd warmed for spreadability, One quantity frangipane (recipe follows),
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it’s overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking. The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It’s a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn’t have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry
Prep time:15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside. Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes: I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar. If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane
Prep time:10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar (confectioner’s sugar)
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour. Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you’re grinding your own almonds or if you’re mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

Making Dough Stretch The Daring Baker’s Way!

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 Prague by Rick Rodgers.
mmmmm……

Apple Strudel. Serve it warm with a big ole scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Trust me.

You’ll be going “mmmm…..apple strudel” all day long.

To see other scrumptilicious strudels get your lederhosen on and check out my fellow Daring Baker’s creations. Thanks Courtney and Linda for a fun challenge.

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips
– Ingredients are cheap so make a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn’t come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try;
– The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster;
– Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;
– To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;
– Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

Daring Cheesecake Math

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

Tricky math here at The Sour Dough today, courtesy of the Daring Bakers.

What does one bag of crushed Chips Ahoys

plus one infamous cheesecake recipe plus one double shot creme de cacao plus one half bag of mini chocolate chips plus a batch of frozen chocolate chip cookie dough equal?

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake, that’s what!

There will be lots of different cheesecakes out there today as we were given liberty to make the base recipe our own. So, get your milk and go check out my fellow Daring Bakers creations.

Daring Bakers February Challenge: Chocolate and Snow Ice Cream

First, a little business for the Daring Bakers:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Now that we have that “blog checker” stuff out of the way….

Yes, I know it is March 2 and February has come and gone but I’m late posting this.

OH, who am I trying to kid, I’m just late even doing it. In fact, I had already told our two founders Lis and Ivonne as well as my really good buddy, Dharm that I wasn’t going to be able to make this month’s challenge. Too much work and then some family things popped up at the end of the of the month and since February is so darn short I just couldn’t get one more day to do the challenge.

BUT, last night the weather Gods smiled upon me and dumped over 8″ of snow on top of my little part of Connecticut meaning I was working at home today.

That also meant I had access to my kitchen! So, in between answering a ton of emails from that certain project/architect that has led me to start think about drinking at 8AM on most days AND is making me want to join a cult in a foreign country, I was able to put together February’s challenge; which really wasn’t that time consuming, especially when you adapt the baking instructions for the microwave.

Yes, you read that right, I said baking and microwave in the same sentence.

You may remember that about two years ago, I was living in a room in Fairfield for work Monday – Friday and commuting back home to Cambridge, MA on the weekends. The only thing I had to cook with was a microwave and I got pretty good at adapting real food recipes from a few cookbooks for the microwave. Well, there was also a little help from Barbara Kafka’s really awesome microwave cook book, Microwave Gourmet.

So, this afternoon when I got a wild hair and decided to go ahead and do this month’s challenge, the flourless chocolate cake, I thought heck, let’s see if this baby will microwave. And you know what?! It will.

It is a little bit drier I’m sure than if I had baked it but it worked out surprisingly well and was really dense and chocolate tasting.

Great, part one of this month’s challenge down. Now, on to the ice cream part.

When you grow up in a place that averages over 100″ of snow a year, you get really creative with how to use the stuff. One of the things I loved best about days we got lots of snow when I was growing up was when my Dad would trudge out into the yard, way down by Lake Superior and scoop up a bucket full of snow because that meant only one thing, he was going to make snow ice cream!

Snow ice cream is super simple and quick. The ice cream you make with snow is the consistency of soft serve ice cream but depending on if you use whole cream or not and how much cream to snow ratio, it can be really rich.

You can flavor it by adding things like melted chocolate, fruit juice, extracts and cordial liquors to it. I’m fond of Bailey’s snow ice cream but don’t let my folks know that because they sure didn’t introduce me to that flavor…

Anyways, to make snow ice cream, place two large bowls in the freezer or if it is snowing when you decide to make the ice cream, place one of the bowls outside to catch the snow. You will need about 8 cups of clean, fresh snow.

This is really important.

It has to be clean (no yellow or brown snow please) and it has to be fresh, like less than 8 hours old. Basically just scrap off the top layer of snow but don’t dig down too deep because you don’t want twigs, dirt, and leaves either.

Leave the bowl outside while you do the next step. Snow melts really fast and you don’t want it to melt until you are ready to use it.

Next, take the other bowl out of the freezer and add about 2 cups of whipping or heavy cream (you can use 1 cup of whole milk and 1 cup of cream too but it won’t be as rich). Whip the cream until you have froth.

Add 1 cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp of vanilla and any flavoring until it is sweet and the flavor strength you want. Whip it to until you have a firm whipped cream.

Now, go get the snow and work fast! Fold into the whipped cream the snow until you have the consistency you want.

The snow will begin to melt while you are doing this so be quick, quick, quick.

Place the ice cream back outside or into the freezer for about 10 – 15 minutes. Scoop into bowl and serve. Trust me, it tastes great and it makes a great topping for Chocolate Valentino Cake!

Thanks Dharm and Wendy for picking a challenge that let me relive my favorite childhood winter treat.

To see all the other wonderful Daring Baker Chocolate Valentino Cakes and myriad of ice cream flavors go check out our blogroll. To get the “real recipes” for the cake or the ice creams, go check outWendy’s or Dharm’s blogs.

Chocolate Valentino Cake For the Microwave
*Note about my microwave: My microwave is a small 600w unit. You times may vary depending on the size and wattage of your microwave. Also for cakes/baked goods to come out the best they can in microwave, you need have a carousel.

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a 2 quart microwave bowl (I used my 8 cup Pyrex measuring cup) and cover with microwave proof plastic wrap. Melt on medium high for 4 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir to finish melting chocolate and butter. Allow to cool to finger touch (about 4 – 8 minutes)

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter a deep 2 quart microwavable dish. (Note: Mine was full of something else so I use a 7 x 7 x 2″ square pan for mine. Worked fine but resulted in a bit thicker cake)

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the dish 3/4 of the way full. Cover with plastic wrap.

9. Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and microwave on high for an additional 2 minutes or until the middle of the cake is firm and looks like a brownie.

10. Cool cake on a rack for 3 minutes then unmold. It is important that you unmold quickly because microwave cakes get gooey if they are left in the container.

Snow Ice Cream

8 cups fresh, clean snow
2 cups heavy cream
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 cup sugar

Put two large mixing bowls in the freezer or outside to get cold. Fill one bowl with snow and leave outside. In other bowl, whip cream until foamy. Add vanilla and sugar and whip cream until firm. Working quickly, fold in snow until ice cream is soft serve consistancy. Place ice cream outside or in freezer for 10 – 15 minutes to refirm and serve immediately.

You can flavor the ice cream with any liquid flavor or chocolate syrup. Ice cream does not hold solids like fruit or nuts well.

Leftover snow ice cream can be frozen but should be eaten immediately for best results.

Daring Bakers Shape Up for the New Year

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.

When my fellow Bread Baking Babe, Karen and good bread baking friend, Zorra were announced as the co-hosts for this month’s Daring Baker Challenge, I was all excited because I was pretty sure we would making bread and you know how I feel about bread.

So, imagine my surprise when I logged onto our private Daring Baker forum and found out that we were making tuiles!

While from a recipe standpoint tuiles aren’t really that difficult, the shaping is a bit tricky and takes some practice. You have to form or mold the slightly baked dough while it is warm and then finish baking it and let it cool completely.

Believe me when I say you will have asbestos fingers when you are done making tuiles.

Karen and Zorra gave us the options of not only forming our tuiles into any shape we desired but to make either sweet or savory and to adapt the recipes to our particular flavor tastes. I chose savory and, using Thomas Keller’s wonderful recipe but omitting the black sesame seeds and adding a small palm full of finely grated parmesan cheese, I used one of the large scallop shells I have for Coquilles St Jacques as a mold.

Then I made the chickpea puree from “Adventures of an Italian Food Lover”, steamed some shrimp in stock and thyme, and used the Scallop Tuile for the top shell of my seafood treasure.

Yum!!

To see sweet and other savory versions of these wonderfully flexible treats, go visit my fellow Daring Bakers.

Savory Parmesan Tuile
Adapted From Thomas Keller’s “The French Laundry Cookbook”

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons AP flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
2 large egg whites, cold
2 tablespoons finely shredded Parmesan Cheese

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt and cheese. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the softened butter by thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary and whisking until the batter is creamy and without any lumps. Transfer the batter to a smaller container, as it will be easier to work with.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

To make them shaped like a cornet:

Make a 4-inch hollow circular stencil. Place Silpat on the counter (it is easier to work on the Silpat before it is put on the sheet pan). Place the stencil in one corner of the sheet and, holding the stencil flat against the Silpat, scoop some of the batter onto the back of an offset spatula and spread it in an even layer over the stencil. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. After baking the first batch of cornets, you will be able to judge the correct thickness. You may need a little more or less batter to adjust the thickness of the cornets.

There should not be any holes in the batter. Lift the stencil and repeat the process to make as many rounds as you have molds or to fill the Silpat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cornets.

Place the Silpat on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the batter is set and you see it rippling from the heat. The cornets may have browned in some areas, but they will not be evenly browned at this point.

Open the oven door and place the baking sheet on the door. This will help keep the cornets warm as you roll them and prevent them from becoming too stiff to roll. Flip a cornet over on the sheet pan and place 4-1/2 inch cornet mold at the bottom of the round. If you are right-handed, you will want the pointed end on your left and the open end on your right. The tip of the mold should touch the lower left edge (at about 7 o’clock on a clock face) of the cornet.

Fold the bottom of the cornet and around the mold; it should remain on the sheet pan as you roll. Leave the cornet wrapped around the mold and continue to roll the cornets around molds; as you proceed, arrange the rolled cornets, seams side down, on the sheet pan so they lean against each other, to prevent from rolling.

When all the cornets are rolled, return them to the oven shelf, close the door, and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes to set the seams and color the cornets a golden brown. If the color is uneven, stand the cornets on end for a minute or so more, until the color is even. Remove the cornets from the oven and allow to cool just slightly, 30 seconds or so.

Gently remove the cornets from the molds and cool for several minutes on paper towels. Remove the Silpat from the baking sheet, wipe the excess butter from it, and allow it to cool down before spreading the next batch. Store the cornets for up to 2 days (for maximum flavor) in an airtight container.

Fill them with any savory filling like smoked salmon mousse and serve.

Daring Bakers Present a Log Yule Love or Hate

This month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand

Thanks for hosting Ladies! It was challenging….

If you dare to do this month’s challenge with the Daring Bakers one thing is for sure, Yule also Log HOURS in the kitchen and dirty every single pot you own.

And the results may or may not be worth it depending on a few things.

A. Do you like really rich desserts?
B. Do you have the patience of a saint?
C. How much unflavored gelatin do you have on hand?

We were required to make all six elements of the Yule Log: Dacquoise Biscuit, Mousse, Ganache Insert, Praline (Crisp) Insert, Creme Brulee Insert, Icing

See!! I got all six but despite my best efforts, the layers still slipped and slid around in the mousse and I was definitely not liking this recipe for Creme Brulee.

In my house the results were well worth the time I spent in the kitchen even if my log isn’t exactly the picture of perfection (See Letter C above). My dad adored the dessert and has asked every night since Christmas dinner when am I going to make it again.

I hate to tell my dad that I probably won’t be making this exact version as I found the effort to make it not worth the results (a little over the top, HATED the crisp) but I’m keeping the mousse and dacquoise biscuit recipes because they were quite tasty.

This month is my return after a couple month hiatus from Daring Bakers to deal with some personal things going on in my life. Go check out my fellow Daring Bakers to how they fared with the challenge.

Daring to Eclair My Love of Pierre Hermes

It is that time of the month again when that colassal herd of bakers thunder across the blogosphere depositing all over the plains of foodblogging our monthly contribution to create a global sugar shortage.

In other words, today is the Daring Bakers posting day.

This month, in case you’ve been hiding under a rock this morning, we are making Chocolate Eclairs from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme.

In the course of my eighteen months as a Daring Baker I have had the pleasure of making pate a choux, pastry cream, and lots and lots of chocolate glaze but I hadn’t been able to put them all together, until this month that is. Thus using one of Lisa’s husband’s Sharpies to cross off my baking bucket list, eclairs.

The Culinary Institute of America defines chocolate eclairs as “Loaded with a creamy filling and its delicate, flaky pastry glossed with chocolate icing, the dessert eclair has withstood the test of time as a pastry favorite.” And if those eclairs are from the genius of Pierre Herme from a cookbook written by patron saint of Daring Bakers, Dorie Greenspan then that is even better!

I’m not going to bore you with a step by step and blow by blow play of how the recipe went together and/or any kitchen disasters/triumphs as there are over 1,000 blogs of my fellow DBers to provide that entertainment. I’m just going to tell you that these eclairs were pretty easy to make and resulted in a mind blowing impressive dessert, just ask Erica and Chris who shared some with me one evening.

The pastry cream alone is worth doing this recipe for and I guarantee you will want to find a million uses for it, including facials and well….this is a family blog so I won’t go into details but trust me, you and your partner could have a lot of fun with it! And for a late night post fun raid of the fridge, you can have leftover eclairs!!

You know what they say about the way to a man’s heart right? (wink)

Meeta of What’s for Lunch Honey and Tony from Tony Tahhan are hosts for our challenge this month and you can find the recipe on their blogs if you want to give the king of desserts a try. Or, if you want to oogle hundreds and thousands of eclairs without putting inches on your hips I suggest you head over to the Daring Bakers Blogroll and get your fill.

Also, a heads up, I’m taking a break for a few months from Daring Bakers to take care of some personal and professional things going on in my life as well as to refocus my baking/cooking.

For those of you “checking” on the DB posts for participation, our glorious leaders Lisa and Ivonne know and are being super supportive. So, as my alter-ego Norma Shearer

sings in the reel version (he-he) of “The Women” (not that drivel they are showing in the movie theaters this summer/fall), “Don’t talk about me while I’m gone….”

Daring Bakers:Haiku for a Fine Filbert Gateau

Yup, it is already that time of the month.

Today you will see hundreds and thousands of these masterpieces all over the web, courtesy of the Daring Bakers. To make Carole Walter’s incredible tasting but time consuming Filbert (Hazelnut) Gateau from her excellent book Great Cakes: Over 250 Recipes to Bake, Share, and Enjoy , go visit Chris at Mele Cotte for the recipe and make sure your AC has a setting called morgue! Because you are going to need it (he-he!). Now on to the first Sour Dough poetry slam….

Haiku for a Fine Filbert Gateau

Fussy Buttercream

Pretty Cake Shared With Neighbors

Tastes Divine All Gone

The Daring Bakers Do Danish…

You know, I realized as I typed this title for this post, that given the recent exploits of The Bakeanistas and some of my previous Daring Baker posts, you are going to be wondering if The Sour Dough is turning a bit risque! Not too much I promise you. But you have to admit when it comes to yeast breads, there is plenty of room to make the obvious jokes about stumps of dough and things rising…

This month’s challenge, Sherry Yard’s Danish Braid from her book, The Secrets of Baking: Simple Techniques for Sophisticated Desserts was presented to us by fellow Bakeanistas Kelly of Sass and Veracity and Ben of What’s Cooking. This challenge made us make a laminated dough and in keeping with Ms. Yard’s premise of the book, the concept of a laminated dough is to make a dough that incorporates quite a large amount of butter that is layered via a series of turns (folding over) of the dough and butter layers. The result is a flaky dough that is the basic dough used in croissants, puff pastry, palmiers, and the ilk.

I made this challenge three times. Once with my other twin sister from the north, Ivonne the night before the group that Kelly and Ben invited to bake together met on Skype resulting in a very delicious apricot preserve danish. Again the next day with Kelly, Ben, Sara, my yeast weedhopper John, Lis, Helen, and Chris (who just chatted with us) when the dough made a hugemungous raspberry cream cheese danish that was devoured in the record time of two minutes in my office the next day. Finally, last weekend on Sunday while I was doing the Garlic Knots with the gang because I was having so much fun with the challenge dough I wanted to use the Apple filling that recipe called for. I only made half the dough recipe and the formed danish is currently in my freezer waiting for the first touch of fall to be unthawed for its final rise.

The first time I made the dough I didn’t particularly like the dough. I thought it was too soft and never really got solid even after the 30 minute rest in the fridge the recipe called for between turns and the overnight rest in the fridge and the softened butter technique yielded butter squishing out of the ends of the turned dough when I was rolling the dough out for the next turn. The second time I made the dough, I increased the rest time between turns to 45 minutes and the dough was more firm but still pretty soft. For the final time, I followed the method of building the butter block that Cook’s Illustrated Baking Illustrated: A Best Recipe Classic details in it’s recipe for croissant and danish dough. This small change in method resulted in dough that not only firmed the way other danish doughs I’ve made did but also resulted in a far flakier and crispy danish.

Now, while time consuming, making this danish was pretty straight forward, after making the dough you roll out the dough into a large rectange and on two-thirds of the dough spread the butter block.

Then you fold the unbuttered third over the center buttered part and then the last buttered top on top. This is the first turn.

For this recipe, three more turns will be needed. Each turn consists of rolling out the dough (this dough was really springy and required several rests between rolls) and folding the dough the same way. After each turn, the dough rests in the fridge (remember 45 minutes was better than the 30 minutes in the recipe).

After the overnight rest in the fridge, you roll out the dough into a very large rectangle in preparation for cutting the braid fringes and filling the danish with either the apple topping or with another topping of your choice.

Of course, ever the engineer, I had to bring out some tools to make sure I was able to have a perfectly balanced braid. Then you cut strips into the rectangle to form the braid, the braid fringe if you will.

If you look close enough, you can see the markers for the place to quit cutting into the braid and leave enough dough to fold over the filling, the demarcation line of filling, and yes, the 1 1/4 inch width for the braid fringes. I’m such a dough nerd….

After spreading the filling in the center third and folding over one end, you just alternate the fringes so you have a nice, pretty even braid.

You let the braid rise until it gets double and puffy

I brushed the braid with an egg wash and then sprinkled baker’s sparkle sugar on top. I think most danishes are sweet enough without adding a glaze or frosting. You bake the braid until it is golden brown. In my oven that was about 25 minutes. When it comes out, you have a gorgeous flaky danish.

The perfect coffee partner in the morning, or if you can get it to last that long later in the afternoon over a cup of tea with friends and gossip!

To see how the hundreds upon hundreds of Daring Bakers fared this month with their laminated doughs and danishes, go check out our Blogroll.

Thanks Kelly and Ben! I had a blast with this recipe and baking with the gang.

Daring Bakers Party with Dorie

This month’s Daring Bakers Challenge is brought to us by one of my favourite Daring Baker sisters Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts!

To boot, Morven picked a recipe from one of my all time favourite baking cookbooks, Baking: From My Home to Yours by the esteemed Dorie Greenspan, The Perfect Party Cake.

I’ve been baking out of this book since I was given the opportunity to review this wonderful book in November 2006. Even back then, this cake recipe caught my eye. I’ve just not had a chance to make it for anyone until now. When Morven announced this was the recipe, I decided I’d be making it for a good friend at work, Courtney.

I would like to say that I loved this cake. I really and truly would because I haven’t had one recipe of Dorie’s that I didn’t like and I own three of her cookbooks! But like all of us, even one of my favourite cookbook author can have an off day. Unfortunately, this cake just didn’t work out the way the recipe described that it would.

The day before I baked the cake, I read on our Daring Baker private blog that Dorie had found out that we were doing this cake and sent Brilynn of Jumbo Empanadas giving us all some tips as others had reported to her similar problems with the cake in the past. She cautioned us to make sure we weren’t using self rising cake flour (I wasn’t) and Dorie even gave us the secret to her success, Swan Down Cake Flour (My preferred and the flour I used). How cool that Dorie would want to make sure we all had success!

Despite using Dorie’s suggested flour and the called for buttermilk, another rising agent in cake, the thing just didn’t rise to the levels that were expected, especially since we were instructed to divide the two cakes into half to make a four layer cake. I ended up only making two layers from it because I was fearful for that if I tried to cut the two cakes in half I would end up with nothing but crumbs.

Other than that I had no other issues with the cake. It just wasn’t….well spectacular the way the other recipes I’ve made from Baking From My Home to Yours has been. In the end, it was just nice white cake with coconut and raspberries. I think I’ll stick to my tried and true recipe for birthday and special occassion cakes in Baking Illustrated: A Best Recipe Classic from the folks at America’s Test Kitchen.

And Dorie, I still love your cookbooks, despite my cake failure here and everyone in the office loved the cake and Courtney that it was grand that I would bake her cake.

And in the end, isn’t that what a party cake is all about?

To join the party going on in the food blogosphere, go check out the hundreds and hundreds of Perfect Party Cakes out there on my fellow Daring Bakers blogs.