Daring Bakers June challenge: Battenberg cakes

The June Daring Bakers challenge was so yummy, and was one of the challenges that showcased individual bakers' kitchen personalities to the hilt.  Choose a flavor, choose a color, choose a shape...

Blog-checking lines:
Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

Battenberg cakes are essentially a charming combination of two or more types of cake, presented in a neat little checkerboard pattern, with a choice of filling and a firm covering wrapped around. For my first attempt, I made a pink and yellow Battenberg, covered with my first attempt ever at making a fondant.  The cake was so pretty, and the apricot glaze between the layers was super tasty in combination with the almond and vanilla cakes.

My second attempt was a chocolate and coconut rendition of an Almond Joy candy bar.  I simply altered the original recipe by adding some unsweetened toasted coconut to the cake batter, and then adding some unsweetened cocoa powder to one half of the batter.
Yum.

This post has taken just short of three hours to put up. It was due a month ago, but I had do many problems I gave up.  Since I'm hosting Daring Bakers in August, I decided I'd better get caught up. This has been just short of hell.

I'm not in love with Blogger. 

I am in love with Daring Bakers and Battenberg Cakes!

It's not the height that counts...continued!

With so much work going on around the house, this French Fridays with Dorie selection was a pretty little light beckoning my return to the fold.  I've missed my Doristas!

Quartre-quarts is a simple, tasty, almost-rustic cake.  It's similar to the American Pound Cake in that the old-timey way to make it consists of incorporating equal weights of eggs, butter, flour, and sugar into a batter.  Vanilla (if you remember to add it, which I didn't!) adds more flavor, baking powder adds to the loft provided by beaten egg whites, and a sprinkle of brown sugar over the top adds color and an extra little hint of sweetness.

This is a snacking cake.  The recipe called for an 8" pan, and I baked it in a 10" pan, so the finished version is even easier to eat out of hand.  I'm going to claim that I planned it that way.  You'll forgive me my delusion, yes?

This weekend we're finishing the demolition of the hall bathroom, and I'm sure lots of snacking will be called for.  This is the PERFECT little cake for that!

Be sure to visit the other Doristas and see their (much more stunning) versions of this sweet little french treat. As with the other French Friday concoctions, we've been asked not to share the recipe. However, many versions are available all over the internets, and I'm sure you can find a recipe to suit you!

A few shots from the yard

I know, I know--this is supposed to be a French Fridays with Dorie post. I missed last week, and now I'm shrugging this week off as well.

Excuses? A few--it's been a really *BIG* week at work, culminating last night, and I'm just tired of all the demands. This week's challenge just felt like one more demand, one more obligation, one more thing I had to do. I don't want my baking to become a chore. So, I didn't do it.

In fact, I've done almost nothing today! A few loads of laundry, a brief discussion with the chickens telling them to start laying more eggs, and a whole lot of tea (earl grey, hot).

I did take a few pics of the hoar frost that is chillingly clinging to everything in town today. Usually, the frost melts off rather early in the morning. No sun (again!) today, so no melting frost.

Aren't kitties funny creatures?

Hope you all have a fun weekend...start December off with whatever makes you happy!

FFwD: Caramel-topped Semolina Cake

Like the Vietnamese soup we made last month, this week's French Friday's with Dorie recipe is a recipe I wouldn't have ever tried unless dared to. I wasn't a bit scared this week, though, since that soup was the best soup I've ever made. If you haven't made it yet for yourself, would you please go out and buy Dorie's book and make that soup? Thank you.

Essentially, a semolina cake is a cross between a flan and something else--maybe a bread pudding as someone else suggested? It's moist and it's eggy, and just the tiniest bit rubbery.

Or maybe that was just mine. This dessert was not a stellar success. As much as I love Dorie, and as much time as I've spent captivated by this book, I'm beginning to notice the flaws. Now, don't get me wrong! Flaws are the mother of uniqueness, and there isn't anything creepier in my mind than an air-brushed makeup model in bigger-than-life size on the back of a magazine. I relish the flaws in my life--maybe even more-so than the perfections at times. But, that doesn't mean they don't exasperate me as well!

So, the instructions for this recipe call for the addition of Cream of Wheat cereal to hot milk, and cooking until thickened. Anyone knows, or at least anyone who's ever made cooked cereal knows, that the process starts as a liquid and can be taken all the way to a solid.

So.

At what point is it "thickened?" I wish the book contained more clarity in its instructions, especially in recipes that are most likely unfamiliar with her audience. Do I stop cooking the cereal when it still pours off the spoon, or when it sticks to the spoon, or when the cereal will support the spoon standing straight up out of the pot?

Here's where I stopped:


This cake has a caramel top. Rather, this cake has a caramel bottom. Wait. This cake is baked with caramel on the bottom, but is flipped over for presentation, so the top is caramel.

Duck's Ditty! How'd that go? Ducks' tails, drakes' tails, yellow feet a quiver, yellow bills all out of sight, busy in the river... Something like that? Good ol' Grahame!

To ease the dispersal of the caramel evenly over the entire bottom of the pan, the pan is first heated in the oven. This idea is so brilliant. I could have used this idea before, and will definitely use it again.

(Sticky buns, I'm talking to you!)

The batter is dumped over-top the caramel, and the whole mess baked about a half hour.

Not the most stellar-looking dessert ever... and not the tastiest dessert ever.

Somehow, though, I'm a bit inspired to try it again. I'd like to see the difference between the regular sugar version and a brown sugar version. I also think a bit of orange flavor would help a lot. I see this recipe heading in a lot of directions, but the first stop ought to be a re-write of it's own directions.

Next week's challenge is Potato Gratin. A dish I'm more familiar with, a dish where the vagaries are old friends. I can't wait!

Good Enough!

Not the prettiest...

 Not the tastiest...

 Not the most creative use of chocolate...

 

But, you lucky girl...

Wow...

I hesitsated to enter this contest.

I'm so glad I just jumped in and tried!

79 out of 80 miniature sourcream chocolate cakes with

cream cheese peanut butter frosting

and peanut butter ganache were devoured.

And after this shot was taken...

none remained.

FFwD: Marie Helene's Apple Cake

This week's French Fridays with Dorie challenge was Marie Helen's Apple Cake.

I can't tell you how wonderful my house smells right now....

Three features set this cake apart from any I've tried before.

First, there are no spices in this cake. At. All. How can you have an apple *anything* without cinnamon and cloves? Seriously, what gives?!

Second, the recipe call for rum. Due to a night in college taking care of a friend who had drunk too much rum, and therefore had rum coming out of every orifice with great velocity, I just can't get anywhere near the stuff. I substituted cognac, with sublime results.

Third, the ratio of batter to apple was disproportionate minute compared to other apple cake recipes I've used. In fact, due to having a plethora of teensy leetle apples, and my inherent laziness when it comes to peeling and coring apples, I think I used a smaller amount of apples overall than the recipe called for. Still, it was a lot of apple to a little batter.

As the cake cooked, my kitchen was filled with a deep, flavorful, soul-stirring aroma. Sans spices, so go figure!



I ate my piece outside, enjoying a little bit of late-autumn sun.

I love autumn. And this cake.

Yeah, okay. Especially this cake!

For the recipe, please buy Dorie's Book, Around My French Table. Per her request, members of the challenge decline from posting the recipe online.

July Daring Bakers Challenge: Swiss swirl ice cream cake (by Kat)

Blog checking lines: 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.

As you know by now, each month a different Daring Baker poses a challenge to the rest of us. It's our mission--and we dare not choose to accept it--to complete whatever challenge is thrown our way. This month, Sunita threw a really fun challenge our way. Each of us Daring Bakers made our own flavor of swiss swirl ice cream cake. While many components are required for the assembly, each piece was relatively simple to do and could be modified to suit any taste. Also, it's a frozen dessert, so how perfect is that for summer?

Actually, many DB'ers live in the southern hemisphere, especially Australia, and even though summer is gone for them, some of their creations were the most astounding.

The dessert is comprised of a jelly roll cake (any flavor cake, any flavor filling), two flavors of ice cream (or sherbet, or gelato, or ...), and a fudge sauce (or vanilla, or caramel, or mango, or...).

See? Free reign to grab the bombe by the horns and flavor it as you see fit. The most challenging part of this confection is deciding what flavors to use. The second most challenging is the waiting for the various parts to either cool off or warm up, depending on which part it is.

The cake must cool off before the creamy filling is applied, then the cake should be frozen before continuing. Except that I didn't, and it came out okay, so there's obviously room for error (thank goodness!).

In my case, the ice cream bases had to be heated to make the custard, but cooled before going into my ice cream maker. Subsequently, the ice cream had to go into the freezer to harden off, but then left on the counter to warm up slightly before going into the mold. Likewise, the fudge sauce was cooked to create, but cooled before pouring into the mold.

So, yes, a good deal of time is spent waiting, but that waiting was soooooo worthwhile!

My version used the chocolate swiss roll recipe straight from Sunita's challenge, including the vanilla cream. I also used her fudge sauce recipe. I didn't use the chocolate or vanilla ice cream recipes she provided, however. I wanted to make something a little more reminiscent of a Mounds candy bar. You know, coconut on the inside, chocolate on the outside, in the prettiest little blue wrapper?

Are you drooling? I am.

Anyway, I turned to the first gentleman of ice cream, David Lebovitz. I used his caramelized white chocolate ice cream for one layer, and his toasted coconut ice cream recipe (via the amazing Tartelette) for the other layer.

Some of you just clicked on those links and I'll never see you again. I just know it. I don't blame you either. Please come back???

The verdict on both those recipes?

YUMMY!!!!!


We had company over celebrating the evening I made this. I hastily snuck out the back door to snap a few quick pics and then the bombe was devoured. I wish now I had a few more to show you...but you can always type the blog chekcing lines way up there at the top of the post into Google, and you'll see hundreds of completed challenges from all over the globe.

Here's the recipe as presented to us. As always, feel free to ask any questions! And, as always, Go Sign Yourself Up!!!


Preparation time-

For the 2 Swiss rolls-

30 mins each + cooling time (at least 30 minutes) before filling and rolling. The filling can be made while the cakes cool.

-For the ice creams- 5+10 minutes + freezing time

For the fudge topping- 5 minutes + cooling time

Assembly- At least an hour of freezing time between each layer (I took much more)

The Swiss rolls-

Preparation time- 10 minutes

Baking time- 10-12 minutes

Rolling and cooling time- at least 30 minutes

Filling-5-8 minutes

Filling and rolling- 5-10 minutes

Ingredients-

6 medium sized eggs

1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling

6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together

2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water

a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling-

2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream

1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

Method-

1. Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
   
2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
   
5. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
   
7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
   
10. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
11. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
    
12. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
    
13. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

The vanilla ice cream

Preparation time 5 minutes+freezing

I have made the ice cream without an ice cream maker.

Ingredients

2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract

½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar

Method-

Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.

Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

The Hot fudge sauce- I made this just after adding the layer of vanilla ice cream to the cake.

Preparation time 2 minutes

Cooking time 2 minutes

Ingredients

1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar

3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch

1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water

1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter

1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract

Method

1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
   
3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

The chocolate ice cream

Preparation time 5 minutes + freezing

Ingredients

2C/ 500 ml whipping cream

1 C/230gms/8 oz caster sugar

3 tblsp/ 24 gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Method

1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .
   
2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
   Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
   
3. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.
4. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Assembly

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)
5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour)
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

Pucker-up Sorbet (by Kat)

For my birthday at the beginning of the month, my dear sweet wonderful husband gave me a very fancy ice cream maker--a Cuisinart ICE-30BC series ice cream maker, to be exact. It was a bit of a selfish gift, really, since he couldn't stand the noise of our old maker. And he eats way more ice cream than I do. WAY more than I do...

He's also as skinny as a rail...a string bean...a long cool drink of water...who can eat all the ice cream he wants and not show any signs of indulgence. Let's all take a moment to hate on that, shall we?

Oh, but wait, the sweet guy gave me a really fancy kitchen toy. He's forgiven!


Our old maker required salt and ice and a safe place for all the ice and salt to slosh out. It was a back-deck kind of machine. Except that it was a machine--i.e. a motorized piece of equipment--needing electricity to drive the motor. Our deck ain't got no 'lectiricty, though, so I'd just sit in in the kitchen sink and we'd retreat to the furthest point possible and put in ear plugs.

My new maker has a bowl that stores in the freezer. It requires no salt, no ice, and almost no time! I was concerned about giving up the freezer space for the bowl. You see, we bought half a cow and a full lamb this past fall, and we have so very little room in the freezer. This is actually good from a conservation perspective, as a full freezer requires less energy to keep cold than a partially full freezer requires. But from an ice-cream maker bowl perspective, I admit to having qualms. But, when I realized the bowl was just the right size to corral the Ziploc bags of frozen huckleberries from the woods and strawberries from the garden I realized that this bowl was a welcome multi-tasker!

The first recipe I made was "Simple Chocolate Ice Cream." This did not taste simple, and will be my go-to recipe for chocolate ice cream from here on.

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups whole milk
3 1/4 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla

Combine sugars and cocoa in a very large bowl. Add milk and whisk until smooth. Add cream and vanilla, mix well, and freeze according to your maker's instructions.

Now, you know very well I can't follow a recipe to save my life. So, I used a combination of half and half and 2% milk to make the whole milk. Also, I added some espresso grounds to the mix. Oh, and when I added the vanilla, I didn't' use a measuring spoon, and a cat ran underfoot, and I used a heckuva lot more vanilla than called for.

I'd bet you like to see pictures, eh?

Sorry. I made you a chocolate ice cream but I eated it all up.

So, I went to make another batch, because this is fast and easy cooking, people! But I didn't have enough dairy. What I did see in the fridge were three lemons who had been de-zested earlier in the month. Those needed to be used! I looked through the recipe booklet and found "Fresh Lemon Sorbet." Perfect! Well, almost perfect. The recipe calls fro 2 1/4 cups of fresh lemon juice. I figured I could get about half that from my lemons. Okay, half batch--perfect!


Except that I forgot to cut the water and sugar in half...

So, I decided to add a cup of bottled lemon juice. Except I didn't have a cup. But I did have lime juice!


So here's the "recipe."
3 cups granulated sugar
3 cups very hot water
2 1/4 cups of citrus juice (from freshly squeezed lemon juice, bottled lemon and lime juice)

Dissolve sugar into the very hot water. You might need to put it on the stove or in the microwave for a minute to completely dissolve the sugar. Add the juice, stir well, and freeze according to your maker's directions. I strained mine into the freezer to catch any seeds I might have missed. I'm glad I did!

straining out the seeds

after 10 minutes

after 15 minutes

after 25 minutes--done!

This came out very puckerish! I think it would have been okay to leave the juice at half strength, or maybe three quarter strength. It's good, but wowza!


Oh, and one more thing. I never showed you the cake my daughter decorated for me. I made the cake from Smitten Kitchen, and frosted it myself. Then my daughter stepped in and took it over the top!