make life sweeter!

A quick post from our vacation in the Netherlands to bring you this month's Daring Bakers challenge. A pretty cake to make indeed this month! Even though I've made a similar cake 2 years ago (without ice cream but with mousse) I was looking forward to making a similar cake again. I used my own recipe for the Swiss roll as I wanted to do it like I did 2 years ago: cut the cake into two layers and thus creating a thinner and more flexible cake to roll. The filling was a apricot cream which turned out not to be orange enough. I served this cake on the day the Netherlands played the football (soccer) final, unfortunately the orange semi-ball shape didn't help much ;) We had friends with children staying with us so I made the ice cream filling child friendly: vanilla, banana and strawberry. Everybody loved the cake. I loved the look of the cake but as I'm not much of an ice cream fan (except for coffee ice cream), I wasn't too excited about the inside.
I loved the look of the cake that I made for my birthday 2 years ago more than this one because of the pretty colours and decoration. But the fresh fruit (with red currants from our garden :) made the cake look pretty too.

Here's a picture of the cake I made 2 years ago for my birthday:



The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Finally a Daring Bakers challenge that I made before the reveal date :) This month's challenge was to make a Piece Montée (also called croquembouche).
I made the cake for my middle son's birthday party so I wanted to go with a more child-friendly decoration than caramel. Instead of caramel to build the tower, I used molten white chocolate (with a little coconut fat added). I submerged the puffs completely to get a uniform white chocolate look. Besides the white chocolate I also used toothpicks to keep the puffs together. Being naughty I didn't use the required crème patisserie to fill the puffs but used raspberry whipped cream that I stabilized with gelatin. I needed to have the cake ready on a schoolday at 9:30 a.m. so I didn't have the time to finish filling and building the cake in the morning. Besides that I was afraid that the crème patisserie wouldn't give as good a result the next morning as the whipped cream would, in other words I was hoping for a less soggy result. After building the puffs into a tower I wasn't too sure that the cake would look decent. Fortunately after the chocolate hardened in the fridge it already looked much better. The decoration was made out of marzipan that I just moulded into various shapes (the little guy loves snails and worms so I made those). As there were lots of girls coming to the party I added some little flowers too. I let the marzipan dry a bit overnight and painted the shapes with slightly diluted gel coloring (first time doing that and liked the end result a lot). I must say that I was very happy with the outcome, they looked pretty (though maybe yucky to some too ;) The birthday boy was really smitten with the cake :)

No real challenge's for me personally this challenge but I loved doing it anyway. If I ever make one again I'll do the traditional one and do a little spun caramel around the tower too :)

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Recipes:
For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk 2 Tbsp. cornstarch 6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar 1 large egg
2 large egg yolks 2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter 1 Tsp. Vanilla
Directions:
1. Dissolve cornstarch in 1⁄4 cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.
2. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.
3. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking. 4. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream
thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.
5. Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.
For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring 1⁄4 cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.
For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 1⁄2 teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 1⁄2 teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.
Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
3⁄4 cup (175 ml.) water 6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter 1⁄4 Tsp. salt 1 Tbsp. sugar 1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour 4 large eggs For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Preparing batter:
1. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.
2. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.
3. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.
4. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. 5. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.
6. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.
Piping batter:
1. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.
2. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.
3. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).
Baking:
1. Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.
2. Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool. Can be stored in an airtight box overnight.
Filling:
1. When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.
Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.
Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)
Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.
Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar 1⁄2 teaspoon lemon juice
Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.
Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.
Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place)

Late again for the Daring Bakers challenge but not as much as last month ;) Last weekend friends from the Netherlands stayed with us. Wanted to have the Dobos torta ready before they came on Friday but only managed to finish it Sunday afternoon... but at least I finished it! I followed the recipe but made 2/3 instead of the whole recipe. My cake had a 15 cm (6 in) diameter. The only thing I did differently was the buttercream. The cake was going to be eaten by my children too so I didn't want to use the buttercream recipe issued that used partially cooked eggs. Instead I went with the original buttercream that's in Rick Rodgers' book that uses butter, cocoa, chocolate, confectioner's sugar and vanilla.The cake wasn't difficult to make but a little time-consuming. To cut the 6 cake layers I used a pizza cutter, worked like a charm. I loved making it as this cake was on my to-do list. The cake was good but just not really my taste so I'm sure I won't be repeating it.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

You can find the recipe at A Spoonful of Sugar and Not Quite Nigella.

The heat was a bit less the last few days here in Croatia so I managed to make this loaf cake for Got Milk? to celebrate World Breastfeeding Week. I'm glad that my little shmoopy isn't too bothered with the heat and that my milk production is up and running to supply him with enough liquid and nutrition in the hot weather :) Yay for breastmilk!
There is still time for you to join in, you have til Saturday to post a sweet dish that uses milk (dairy or non-dairy) as an ingredient. Check out my Got Milk? post for details on the event.

Tomorrow my three boys and I, together with my mum will fly to Vienna. A already returned last Sunday by car to meet the movers on Monday and Tuesday (yes, the house I mentioned came through). From Friday onward there will be a lot of unpacking and shlepping of furniture to create a new home in Vienna. I don't know when our internet connection will be up and running so if I don't reply to emails etc. you know why. I will try to post a round-up of Got Milk? as soon as I can :)

Lemon loaf cake with rosemary and honey syrup (adapted from this recipe)

Syrup
1 1/2 cups water
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
juice of 1 lemon

Cake
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
125 g butter, softened
zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups self raising flour
1/2 cup of milk

Preheat the oven to 170°C (350°F). Butter a loaf pan.
Mix the water, brown sugar, honey and rosemary and heat on low until the sugar is dissolved. Add the lemon juice and bring to a boil. Return to low and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Cream the brown sugar, white sugar and butter with an electric mixer. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Add 1/3 of the flour and mix on low. Add 1/2 of the milk and mix on low. Repeat with flour, milk and end with flour.
Pour the cake batter into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes to one hour.
Remove the cake from the oven and spoon over the syrup and allow it to soak into the cake. Turn it out and let it cool thoroughly on a wire rack.

Serve with some unsweetened whipped cream.

Another recipe I made to use up some of the egg whites I had left-over after making sirnica. Never tried financiers before and I was pleasantly suprised how good they where. The pistachio's together with the beurre noisette gave a wonderful nutty flavour. The little cakes were soft and moist. The little drop of rhubarb compote gave a pleasant tart note to the sweet cake.

No serious signs that no. 3 is coming soon :( Still 3 more days till due date... Hope he won't wait too long after that...

Pistachio financiers with rhubarb compote (adapted from www.joyofbaking.com)

makes about 12

½ cup (50 g) pistachio nuts
⅓ cup (5 tbs / 85 g) beurre noisette (made from ½ cup (115 g) unsalted butter)
¼ cup (35 g) flour
¾ cup (90 g) icing sugar
⅛ ts salt
3 large egg whites, lightly beaten
½ ts vanilla extract
about 2-3 tbs rhubarb compote, sweetened to taste

Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Spread out the pistachio nuts on a baking sheet and bake about 8 minutes. Allow to cool to room temperature. Ground the pistachio's in a food processor until finely ground.
Increase the oven temperature to 400°F (200°C).
To make the beurre noisette: Melt ½ cup unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium low heat. Once the butter has melted let it come to a boil. Continue to cook until it looks clear and the milk solids have dropped to the bottom of the pan and have turned dark brown. Remove from heat. Spoon away the foam that's on top. Let the milk solids settle at the bottom Carefully pour out the clear butter, leaving the milk solids at the bottom. Let the beurre noisette cool to room temperature before using. Measure out ⅓ cup of beurre noisette (you'll have some left-over). Use the remaining beurre noisette to grease a 12 capacity mini muffin pan.
In a large bowl whisk together the flour, ground pistachio's, icing sugar and salt. Fold in the lightly beaten egg whites, vanilla, and the ⅓ cup beurre noisette. Fill each mold almost to the rim and bake for 4 minutes. Remove from the oven and place about ¼ - ½ ts of the rhubarb compote on top of each. Return the financiers to the oven and bake a further 5-7 minutes or until they have become light brown on top and are springy to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. They are best eaten the same day.

If you don't use up all of the batter (like I did), it will keep a few days in the fridge.