Fraisier

 

Fraisier, the classic French cake, was last month's Daring Bakers' challenge.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to participate due to some prior baking commitments, but I figured better late than never, right?

My interpretation of a fraisier is pastry cream and fresh strawberries layered between chiffon-style vanilla cake, topped with a cream cheese flavored whipped cream and finally covered with a fresh strawberry coulis. 

Yeasted Coffee Cake

As I've mentioned before I love carbs, especially for breakfast.  So this month's Daring Bakers challenge, yeasted coffee cake,  was definitely calling my name.  There really isn't anything better than a warm slice of cinnamon swirl bread chock full of nuts to start your day.  To gild the lily even further you can't forget the icing. 

Whenever yeast is involved I get a bit apprehensive but no need to be concerned this time. The dough came together really easily and worked like a dream.  I strayed from the recipe and opted not to fill the cake with meringue.  In its place I used cinnamon, brown sugar and pecans.   

The recipe yields two coffee cake rings.  Even I can't eat that much, so after making one ring I used the remaining for cinnamon rolls.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. 

Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge brought back wonderful memories of Lake Como for me.   My friends and I travelled there to attend our friend Christine's summer wedding in the charming town of Varenna.

You can't imagine how breathtakingly beautiful this place was - right out of a postcard.   Sun, lake and amazing Italian food...what could be better?  Unfortunately no sightings of George Clooney!

The best panna cotta I've ever had was at the restaurant of the hotel where we stayed, Hotel Villa Cipressi.  Creamy and silky smooth with lots of fresh berries -  I practically licked the glass clean it was so delicious.  This version comes pretty close - all that's missing is the Italian scenery.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Crostata for the Daring Bakers

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was to make a crostata, an Italian tart made with pasta frolla (a sweet short crust pastry dough).  

Crostata is a great dessert for novice bakers to try because it's so easy to make and the finished product looks and tastes really delicious.  All you need to do is line a tart tin with the pasta frolla, spread some jam and, if you're feeling adventurous, cover it with strips of the pastry dough arranged in a lattice design.  Bake for about 30 minutes and there you have it!

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Daring Bakers Baked Alaska

Fire and ice....I think that pretty much sums up the essence of the Baked Alaska.  I've never made it before so I was looking forward to completing this month's DB challenge.: brown butter pound cake and pistachio ice cream enrobed in a cloud of meringue and then brûléed to  perfection.  

Baked Alaska seems so retro, doesn't it?  Couldn't you just picture Mad Men's Betty Draper, in her finest 60s garb, proudly presenting the Baked Alaska at a dinner party for one of Don's prospective clients?   

The quickest way to brown the meringue is by using a propane torch.  No I'm not a pyromaniac but when you need instant flames that's the only way to go in my opinion.  Don't even bother using those rinky dink torches they sell at houseware stores for making crème brûlée.  They don't have enough BTUs to toast a marshmallow.   Trust me, I've tried them.  Just be careful when using the propane torch.  You might get a bit overzealous like me and burn some of the meringue.  Oh well, still tastes good!

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Daring Bakers Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was something I could really sink my teeth in to... ice cream cake!  And how fitting considering that it's National Ice Cream Month. 

The dessert is comprised of swiss roll cake slices encasing fudge sauce and two different flavors of  ice cream.  Decided to go a bit architectural with the cake component .  Rather than roll it up, as is tradition, I stacked the layers.  I really like the striped effect of the finished product.  

I used the mint chip and dulce de leche ice creams that I made recently for the filling and whipped up a quick fudge sauce to complete the dessert.  What a great challenge!

 

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.-

Croquembouche

I was really excited when I read that this month's Daring Bakers challenge was the French masterpiece croquembouche.  I've never made  it before but have always admired its regal stature in the pastry world.  This would be a real test of my baking skills.

It seems only fitting that croquembouche is normally found at French weddings.  I see it as the perfect marriage of pastry and architecture.   Cream filled pâte à choux arranged in a tall tower with the aid of amber caramel....amazing!

I'm no stranger to pâte à choux  and have made it many times in sweet (cream puffs, eclairs) and savory (gougères) forms.  The challenge for me this time was working with caramel.  I tend to shy away from any desserts that require handling molten sugar.  Mainly because I don't want to burn myself.  On top of that clean up is a pain.  And those who know me know I hate cleaning up.  

My hesitation with the caramel wasn't unfounded.  The first batch I made ended up as a burnt mess whose fate was at the bottom of the compost bin.  The second and third batches turned out much better, but I still used plastic gloves when I was assembling the croquembouche.  Better to be safe than sorry.

The tops of each choux were dipped in caramel and some were then rolled in Swedish pearl sugar I found at IKEA.   Once I assembled the tower I added some jordan almonds to give it that festive touch.  I'm quite happy with the final product and am looking forward to making it again.

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.  

Cherry Squares Done Two Ways

 I love London.  Several people in my inner circle either live there or have lived there so visiting this city has always been more about connecting with friends than being a tourist.  While there are so many great things about London (Wimbledon, Harvey Nicks, TopShop, the Tube and Pimms, to name a few) I have to admit that British cuisine hasn't necessarily made it to the top of my list.

I can hear my friends protesting as I write this, but I will concede that English food has improved greatly over the years, beyond the ubiquitous fish and chips, which is one of my favorites btw.  But when it comes to baking I think most would agree that  English desserts  haven't reached the same echelons as the Frenchies, and I daresay, us Yanks!

So when I read that April's Daring Bakers challenge was to make a British pudding I definitely felt some hesitation.  There are different types of puddings in the UK, savory or sweet.  Anyone care for steak and kidney pie?  No thanks!  I chose to go the sweet route since I don't really like savory puddings.  We were tasked use suet, a type of animal or vegetable fat, and also to steam the pudding.  I've never heard of suet before and my local market doesn't carry it but based on what I've read it's similar to lard or Crisco.

I ended up using a recipe for cherry squares, which is essentially a Victoria sponge cake topped with cherry pie filling.  Using suet didn't sound too appealing in the batter so I stuck with butter.  Since I failed at using the required fat, I instead focused my efforts on the  challenge's baking technique: steaming.  I've never steamed a dessert before so I was very curious to see what the end product would be compared to one made in a conventional oven.  

I split the cake batter in half and steamed some and baked the rest.  To my surprise the cakes cooked in the steamer rose as high as the one in the oven.  But the main difference between the two versions was the crust.  With steaming there wasn't one.  The cake was perfectly cooked but lacked the golden brown color and crunchy texture I was looking for.  Let's face it, the crust is one of the best parts of any baked good.

I'm glad I did this month's challenge.  I learned a new baking technique that I never thought of before.  But to be honest, steaming just isn't for me.   However, if my oven continues acting up as it has been recently I now have an alternate approach I can use.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.    

Tiramisu...The Daring Bakers' Way

I'm a total slacker because I didn't participate in the last two Daring Bakers' challenges.   I was super busy baking for the holidays in December and I was going to be traveling for most of January.  Can you blame me?  But now it's February and I'm back!  Just in time to make the classic Italian dessert tiramisu.

Tiramisu.  If you've ever made it before you're probably thinking "it's not that hard," and I would agree with you on that point.  A normal tiramisu is pretty simple to put together.   But this  was tiramisu done the Daring Bakers' way, which meant that the majority of its components had to be made from scratch.   So the mascarpone cheese, zabaglione, pastry cream and savoiardi biscuits were made by yours truly.   Not so simple when you throw that doozy into the mix, is it?  

Let's start with the mascarpone.  Who the heck makes cheese from scratch?   Duh, cheesemakers do, but I'm no cheesemaker.    I've eaten many cheeses in my day and never in a million years would I have thought to make it myself.  Little did I know how easy it was.  Mascarpone is essentially whipping cream heated up with lemon juice that's poured through a cheesecloth-lined sieve and left to cool and set in the fridge.  Yep, that's it.  Now I'm  kicking myself for paying so much for those tiny tubs of mascarpone they sell at the supermarket when I could have made it at home. 

   

The recipe for the savoiardi/ladyfingers is a real gem.  It's true gastronomic alchemy at its best when you can take four simple ingredients: eggs, granulated sugar, cake flour and powdered sugar, and turn it in to such a delicious biscuit.  I couldn't believe how much better they tasted than the store bought versions I've used in the past. 

If you already know what type of pan you'll be using for the tiramisu I recommend piping the savoiardi batter in the same dimensions so you get a custom fit biscuit.  That's the lazy woman's trick because it saves you a lot of trouble when you're assembling the dessert.  I only had to dip a few large biscuits in the coffee mixture versus a ton of tiny ones.  For this challenge I managed to fill two pullman-loaf style pans (9" x 3").  With the extra savoiardi batter I spread it out on a 1/4 sheet pan and once it was baked and cooled I cut out rounds that would fit in the plastic coffee cup for the individual serving shown in the picture.

This tiramisu was definitely labor intensive but molto delizioso.  I daresay it could rival what you'd find at your local trattoria and highly encourage you to try this recipe.  Buon appetito!!

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.

Holy Cannoli! The Daring Bakers Go Italiano....

I must admit that when I found out that this month's challenge was cannoli I didn't get the warm and fuzzies. If you couldn't already tell from reading past posts I'm a big fan of all things fried, but for some reason I've never been attracted to the cannoli. Even in my travels throughout Italy it's never been top of mind as a must-have treat. I always steered towards the simply delicioso gelato. But I guess that's the whole point of this baking group; make things we wouldn't necessarily do on our own. So despite my reservations I persevered and ventured onward...

The recipe and overall preparation of the dough was very straight forward. Trouble started brewing when I had to bust out the jug of vegetable oil to fry the cannoli. I stupidly decided to let it get to temperature unattended on the stove while I was in my office surfing the net. Mamma mia..big mistake! When I ran back to the kitchen to check on the oil temperature the marker on the candy thermometer was all the way to the top where there were no numbers. Not good! I threw a piece of dough into the oil to test how hot it really was and as soon as I did the glass bulb on the bottom of the thermometer shattered.

Long story short, my cannoli shells came out a bit more tan than I would have liked. Who am I kidding? Those suckers were burnt to a crisp! But I wanted to complete the challenge so I ended up filling them with some vanilla bean pastry cream and chopped pistachios.  Will I make cannolis again? Never say never, but based on this last experience it's definitely going to be a long time coming.

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 Ktichen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michele Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Daring Bakers tackle French Macarons

This month's Daring Baker's challenge, French Macarons, brought things full circle for me.   I initially started this blog to chronicle the trials and tribulations that go with making these little cookies.  Frequent readers of this blog know that macarons have been an obsession of mine as of late and I've made them numerous times; some ended in success, some not worth mentioning.  For the past few weeks I've taken a bit of a hiatus from macaron making because it seemed like they were the only things I was baking.  I'll admit, these treats are so finicky that I was fanatical about getting a consistent result.  But I guess that's what makes macarons so coveted and addictive to make..you don't always get it right, but when you do, you're on cloud nine. 

Vols-au-Vent & Pâte Feuilletée with the Daring Bakers

This was my first challenge with the Daring Bakers and it definitely wasn't for the faint of heart..we were tasked to make pâte feuilletée from scratch and use the dough to form vols-au-vent. You've probably seen vols-au-vent in your local supermarket, you just didn't know it. Pepperidge Farm makes a version called "Puff Pastry Shells".

Pâte Feuilletée belongs to the laminated dough family, which essentially means a water-based dough is layered with a block of cold butter. Croissants and danish are other examples of laminated doughs. To achieve the "puffiness" and height that is synonomous with puff pastry the dough is folded, or "turned", repeatedly with the butter so that you end up with lots of alternating layers. Once the cold dough hits a hot oven, steam is created from the water in the dough/butter evaporating. This causes the dough to lift and rise.

The pastry didn't rise as high as I would have liked, which I think was because I rushed the process. Unfortunately, good pastry requires a lot of patience, of which I didn't really have. Nevertheless, the pastry still tasted good! I filled the vols-au-vent with chicken pot pie filling and made mini tartlets with heirloom tomatoes, basil and parmesan with some of the leftover dough.

Looking forward to next month's challenge!

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.

Daring Bakers

I recently joined an online baking group called The Daring Bakers that I'm really excited about. What exactly is it, you might ask? Basically it's a bunch of baking fanatics from around the world who convene once a month and try out the same recipe. A member of the group is picked each month to host the challenge and choose that month's recipe. Each baker interprets the recipe in their own way so the end product won't be the same; think that's what I like best about this idea.

My first challenge will be for September. Unfortunately I can't reveal what the recipe is or what my interpretation looks like until the end of the month. That's the rule...members find out the recipe on the 1st of the month and the reveal date is the 27th. See you then!