Saturday, August 27, 2011

Candies!!.


The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge

I just had time to make one type of candy, and sorry for the short post!..
The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Maple Mousse in an edible container & a Prize!!

Maple Mousse served in a edible container of sugar cookie dough glass.

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge 

Evelyne chose to challenge everyone in Daring Bakers to make a maple mousse in an edible container. And the most creative and innovated container and filling will be voted and given a price. Maple mousse was very easy and yumm to make but to make a creative and unique edible container was not as there are so many amazing Daring Bakers with such creativeness!! being busy this month and thinking for the container was hard, like if i thought of one and decided to do that and when visiting the DB's it’s there so this is what i came up with my cute helper.


My darling helping niece, who filled her container by herself an wanted to pose as well.  As my niece was recently diagnosed with diabetes I didn’t wanted anything sweet while she wanted to help me so I cut down on the maple syrup and used diabetic chocolate.

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com/!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake

Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake


The March 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge


This month the sweet ladies Jamie of Life’s a Feast and Ria of Ria’s Collection challenged us to make one of the most versatile Coffee Cake not any other but the yeasted meringue coffee cake. So as I would be really busy later this month I thought to get it done in the first week and I did. I made 2 variations one with chocolate & orange candy citrus’ and the other was coffee meringue with nuts and chocolate chips.
The recipe was easy to follow and the dough was very good in the beginning stretching well I really liked working with it but when I rolled it started to tear slightly and the filling oozing out other than that there was no problem at all. Oh yes I ask everyone how was it at tea time they just said please stop asking us every time...no one said anything =(
It did finish off at evening tea time though! so all was good. =)

Recipe:


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.


A coffee cake is a sweet, leavened quick-bread like cake often made or topped with nuts, raisins, fruits, cinnamon and glazed with melted sugar, frosting or streusel, traditionally served for breakfast and brunch with coffee, hence the name. The American word "coffee cake" is thought be coined during the time period of 1875 -1880. Coffee cakes may also be classified as coffee breads, coffee rolls/ buns and Danish pastry coffee cakes etc.
Coffee cakes are categorized primarily as two main baking types: leavened by baking powder or leavened by yeast. The cakes made with baking powder or baking soda, involve a creaming process or muffin/ quick bread method (stirring ingredients together separately and then combining quickly etc.) The yeast raised cakes are prepared with a fermentation process and involve several mixing methods: Sponge Method, Straight Dough Method and Danish Butter Method.
There is a fine line between coffee cake yeast dough’s because the same dough may be made into sweet buns, rolls and assorted pastries. Danish pastry dough is one particular kind of sweet yeast dough made into various pastries and coffee cakes. Coffee cakes are so versatile and may be baked in any type and size pan.
Source baking911.




Saturday, March 19, 2011

Cake Journal: PDF tutorials

Cake Journal and the amazing tutorials by Louise.



I really wanted to try sugar paste and decorating cookies, but had no idea how to go about it and that’s when I came across Cake Journal and the amazing tutorials. They were with such detail and graphics are amazing. And now the wonderful Louise is offering them in PDF format for free, be enchanted by her work and to get the PDF tutorials for free just drop over to her blog for all the details of rules and regulations. =)

Friday, March 11, 2011

On The Voyage Of Discovery For All Things Sweet!


 Nigella's Chocolate Orange Cake




I’ve started to try and bake cakes, cupcakes or cookies that I have never baked before but have tasted on my trips. Greedily discovering new tastes and ideas..

Just recently I was in Dubai and I had this amazing chocolate orange cake which was so good it just melts in the mouth then and there I decided to try and ask the recipe but the owner was not willing to let on the delicious cakes and after returning so wanted to try something like that and I stumbled upon a recipe on Jamie’s blog…Immediately I made up my mind to try Nigells’s Chocolate Orange Cake hoping that this will be something like that cause I could taste almonds & orange but the one in Dubai had flour and butter so I thought why not try this and let’s see, following the recipe provide on Jamie’s blog I made it on the same day…Was quite easy and I cut some thin slices of orange and put it on the base of the pan for decoration purpose then poured the batter it turned out great but I don’t know if the cake was supposed to be this bitter due to the peel or not but I found it a bit bitter and less sweet, the cake was moist and the texture was really good.

I took it with the evening tea to my family for the real acid test mmmmmm and it failed miserably with the family, they all took really big slices (as they always do) and I was waiting impatiently for the results after few minutes I saw everyone slowly putting their plates down and not looking towards me as if I was there horrible headmistress, I asked well? How did you guys liked the cake? They said Haa its fine! I was like mmmmmm just fine? Please be honest. My mom was like yah it’s ok!...my sister-in-law said I think you forgot to put sugar in it!..my sister ummhmm!..My brother said what is wrong with you could you not make just a simple gooyee luscious chocolate brownies!!.



Looking at them I said well just say it! And they all said together we hate it!! Except for my mom who said I don’t hate it yes it does tastes a bit bitter but has good texture and im sure this will taste better if I have it with some cream...I was very much expecting something like this!! Picking up my cake I said Fine!! You guys are not at all adventurous!!...My brother said how about a little adventure with some heavenly gooyee chocolate cake? I said huh!..And left with my cake…Hehe

In my head I was thinking the cake in my opinion was fairly ok was moist the texture was great and as for the bitterness I was wondering if this was supposed to be this bitter and less sweet? So I covered it and kept. The other day at evening tea I took a slice and drizzled a little cream and tried it OMG!! It tasted amazing! The bitterness was gone and it had gotten so moist and it was Delicious. I gave a slice to my mom and all they all said yah ok it’s a bit better but still we’re not a fan of it!.

Anyways if anyone knows of a Chocolate Orange Cake that just melts in your mouth with a wow! Factor tried and tested…Kindly send me the recipe or link. Thanks! =)



Recipe:
Adapted From Jamie

Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life cookbook

NIGELLA’S CHOCOLATE ORANGE CAKE

2 small or 1 large thick-skinned orange, makes between 1 – 1 ½ cups (@250 ml) purée
6 large eggs
1 heaping tsp (about 10 g) baking powder
½ tsp (2 g) baking soda
1 ¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar (or superfine)
2 cups (200 g) finely ground blanched almonds
½ cup (50 g) unsweetened, good quality cocoa powder
1 tsp fleur d’oranger (orange flower water), optional
½ tsp ground cinnamon, optional


Early in the day or, better yet, the day before, place the whole orange in a large saucapan and cover with cold water. (The orange will float and bob up at the surface of the water, but don’t worry about this.) Bring the water to a boil, lower to a simmer, cover and cook for 2 hours until the orange is soft. Drain and allow the orange to cool completely to room temperature. When cooled, cut the orange into quarters or eights, remove any seeds/pits and then purée (all of it, the peel, flesh, everything) in a food processor or grinder. Don’t worry if there are lovely little chunks or strips of peel visible. If doing this the day before, place in a clean bowl or jar, cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and butter an 8-inch (20 cm) springform pan or one of similar volume. Line the bottom with parchment paper, allowing the parchment to come up about an inch or so up the sides.

Place the puréed orange pulp, the eggs, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, almonds, cocoa and the orange flower water and cinnamon if using, in a food processor or, as I did, in a large mixing bowl. Run the motor or beat the mixture until the batter is cohesive, well blended and smooth. It will be grainy because of the ground almonds and puréed orange. Scrape the batter into the prepared cake tin and bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out pretty clean. I used a taller, narrower tin so the cooking time was longer, so check often near the end. And you may have to cover the top of the cake with a piece of aluminum foil to prevent it from burning or cooking to fast.

Remove the cake from the oven and allow to cool on a wire cooling rack. When the cake is cool, carefully take it out of the tin. I decorated the cake by drizzling warmed Bitter Orange Marmalade on the top (pretty and also heightens the orange flavor) and topping it off with sugar-rolled strips of candied orange peel.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

PANNA COTTA & FLORENTINE COOKIES

Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookie.
The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge



This month’s 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, as I have already made quite a few panna cottas I decided to make it in the first week but was I wrong!!, I did not get a chance to make it sooner as I got really busy throughout this month I just got last night to make the challenge and I could not do anything fancy or try any experiment as I was going to be busy today as well so it’s all plain and simple with just few photos nothing fancy

Both the recipe was easy but my cookies did not have the lace affect. Sorry for such a short post, as I have to run. As for the photos, I kept one glass so I could take photos in the morning with good light but my brother who raids fridges at night got to it!

Thank you Mallory and The Daring Bakers for this wonderful challenge I am sure going to try the Florentine cookies again until I get the lacy affect.

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.


Thursday, January 27, 2011

Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entremet

 Joconde

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge

This month challenge was to make the biscuit joconde imprime, to cut and fit it into a mold. With that we were allowed to be creative and use any filling we wanted. The JOCONDE IMPRIME is this outer layer of sponge where you can create the amazing unique designs.
Entremets (French baking term)- an ornate dessert with many different layers of cake and pastry creams in a mold, usually served cold. Joconde imprime is the outside cake wrapper of the Entremets dessert

While reading the recipe and all the procedure I though it can be hard and tricky, hard it was not but yes tricky it was. I used the biscuit joconde recipe provided but used my own pattern. Reading all the tips and suggestions from all the fellow DB’s saying that we should half the Décor Paste but I did not as I thought it will be enough for my family as I wanted to make this as a thank you for my uncle who recently got some stuff for me from dubai as I wanted them for so long.

Following the recipe was easy the only little problem I had was peeling off the parchment paper and a little spill from the molds. I made 2 kinds of fillings: 1 dark chocolate panna cotta and white chocolate mousse (that’s how I used the left over egg yolks), used 4 different molds, a circle, a square, oval and mini palsies.

Usually I really enjoy and have fun while baking and I used to make sure I tell me niece and she used to help but now I have to make sure my niece is not around while I bake! she loves chocolate and tasting everything I make but I have to keep her away cause of her diabetes. =(

My first taster was my mom and she loved it (she said so!) then my sister-in-laws and my sisters and their family they all loved it. The best complement I got was from my uncle and his wife which made me jump with joy, my uncle told my mom that it looked and tasted very good much better than the one he had in Dubai at Burj Al Arab. yahhOOOo!! =D

Thank you Astheroshe for this fantastic challenge!! And DB for bringing us all together!..

 
The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Equipment required:

• Silpat
• ½ baking sheets or a 13” x 18” jelly roll sheet (rimmed baking sheet)
• Mixer (optional)
• Bowls
• Knives
• Offset spatula
• Regular spatula
• Pastry comb (optional)
• Rulers
• Spring form pan
• Biscuit cutter (or ring mold, or cut PVC pipe, or whatever else you can think of to mold individual desserts)
• Torte/ Entremets mold/ Springform pan/ Trifle dish (for larger desserts)
• Cling wrap
• Parchment paper
• Gel, paste or liquid food coloring (optional)

Joconde Sponge

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients:

¾ cup/ 180 ml/ 3oz/ 85g almond flour/meal - *You can also use hazelnut flour, just omit the butter
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons/ 150 ml/ 2⅔ oz/ 75g confectioners' (icing) sugar
¼ cup/ 60 ml/ 1 oz/ 25g cake flour *See note below
3 large eggs - about 5⅓ oz/ 150g
3 large egg whites - about 3 oz/ 90g
2½ teaspoons/ 12½ ml/ ⅓ oz/ 10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar
2 tablespoons/ 30 ml/ 1oz / 30g unsalted butter, melted

*Note: How to make cake flour: http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2009/09/how-to-make-cake-flour/

Directions:

1. In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.
2. Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)
3. On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )
4. Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.
5. Fold in melted butter.
6. Reserve batter to be used later.

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

YIELD: Two ½ size sheet pans or a 13” x 18” (33 x 46 cm) jelly roll pan

Ingredients

14 tablespoons/ 210ml/ 7oz/ 200g unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups plus1½ tablespoons/ 385ml/ 7oz/ 200g Confectioners' (icing) sugar
7 large egg whites - about 7 oz / 200g
1¾ cup/ 420ml/ 7¾ oz/ 220g cake flour
Food coloring gel, paste or liquid

COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 6 oz / 170g. Add 2 oz/ 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Directions:

1. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)
2. Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.
3. Fold in sifted flour.
4. Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Preparing the Joconde- How to make the pattern:

1. Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 1/4 inch (5 millimeter) thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan.

2. Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.

3. Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.
4. Remove from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely
cover the pattern of the Décor paste.

5. Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully.

6. Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.
7. Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat.

Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)