Daring Bakers Challenge: Just Say Cheesecake

Lately I have started to suspect an ugly truth about myself. No matter how much I like to think the opposite, it is possible that my heart is not into being a Daring Baker. (Note the very important capital letters. I will forever be a daring baker--many burned pans and discarded desserts will attest to that--but I have my doubts about my membership in this baking group.) I just haven't been excited about the monthly challenges lately. I skipped last month, and I was strongly tempted to skip this month as well. Which, if you are familiar with the stringent DB rules, is kind of a big no-no, without a doctor's note or a phone call from Mom. So, out of a sense of guilt and obligation, I decided to participate in this month's challenge: Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake.

I would describe my general attitude towards cheesecake as profound apathy. If cheesecake was a pupil of mine, I would give it a solid C, maybe a C+ if it put in some extra credit at the end of the semester. If cheesecake was a contestant on American Idol and I was Randy Jackson, I would say it was "aiiiiight, dawg." If cheesecake and I were stranded on a desert island, I would first eat all the tropical fruit I could shake down from the surrounding trees, then eat the cheesecake, then begin eyeing any fellow unfortunate castaways. You get the idea. Add to this the fact that my usually hungry hungry hubby hates cheesecake, and it just never makes an appearance in my kitchen.

However, for this challenge we were given a lot of creative freedom and told to go crazy with our cheesecake flavors, so I sat down and did a little cheesecake math.

And you know, I actually think the end product was fairly tasty! High praise, I know. But keep in mind this is a major upgrade from cheesecake's usually "moderately passable" status.

My first change was to cut the recipe by 1/3. I hate, hate, hate really tall cheesecakes. It's so overwhelming to be served this massive slab of rock-hard cheesecake as big as my head. Maybe it's the baker in me, but I end up looking at these wedges of mile-high cheesecake and calculating how many ounces of cream cheese must be in there...and how many calories that adds up to...and pretty soon I'm carrying ones and moving decimal places and ending up with really, really big numbers that put me off dessert for the night. So! A slim, trim cheesecake it is.

Next order of business is to give it some flavor. I know there are purists who love the unadulterated taste of cream cheese, maybe with just a little lemon juice or vanilla, but unless that stuff is slathered on a hot toasted bagel, I need me some flavorings. I decided to do a twist on a turtle cheesecake. I added chopped Mexican chocolate to the crust, and I swirled melted bittersweet chocolate, cinnamon, and cayenne into half of the cheesecake batter. I topped the whole thing with a creamy caramel sauce and sweet and spicy candied pecans.

The end result was really, really nice. I liked that only half of the batter had the flavoring, so that it wasn't overwhelmingly chocolatey or spicy. But there was enough chocolate and spice to add depth and just a little bit of a kick. The caramel added a dark sweetness, and the pecans brought a much-needed crunch to the silky cheesecake. (A note about the texture--this is a really beautiful, smooth cheesecake. I used a food processor to make it, which I think helps eliminate any lumpiness, but I think the water bath and the cream also contribute. It's a really solid recipe.)

And also, I know this is superficial, but it photographed beautifully. The swirls turned out nice (although not as nice as I imagined them in my head, sigh), the caramel sauce was workin' its way down the sides like a champ, and the pecans were, as my friend Tyra Banks would say, fierce. And let's face it, these challenges always have an element of the beauty pagent to them anyway, so why not embrace it?

Work it, girl.

So, I guess I'm Daring for at least another month. Thanks to Jenny from Jenny Bakes for choosing this recipe and allowing me to reconsider my cheesecake apathy. I would give this here cheesecake at least a B+ on its final exam. If this cheesecake was on American Idol and I was Paula Abdul, I would say, "You can't put a porcupine in a barn, light it on fire, and expect to make licorice." (Well, it's not my fault Paula never makes sense.) I might even eat it before the tropical fruit on the desert island.

Boilerplate: The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. Keep reading to get all the recipes...



Sweet & Spicy Candied Pecans

2 cups raw pecan halves or pieces
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1. Spread the nuts on a baking sheet and roast in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes, stirring once for even toasting.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together the melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, cayenne, and maple syrup. Add the warm nutsand salt, and stir until the nuts are completely coated.

3. Spread the mixture back on the baking sheet and return to the oven for 10 minutes, stirring twice during cooking. Remove from oven and cool completely, separating the nuts as they cool.

Creamy Caramel Sauce
Adapted from Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking

1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 T light corn syrup
1/2 cup heavy cream, heated to 100 degrees
1/4 cup full fat sour cream
1 T sugar
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice
Pinch of salt

1. Wash and dry your hands. Combine the water, 1 cup sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan. Stir them together with your fingers, making sure no lumps of dry sugar remain. Brush down the inside of the pan with a little water.

2. Cover the saucepan and place over medium heat for 4 minutes. Then, remove the lid, increase heat to high, and bring to a boil. Do not stir. The mixture should be very bubbly. When sugar crystals appear on the side of the pan, brush them down with a clean, wet pastry brush.

3. The bubbles should get larger as the sugar cooks. When the temperature reaches 300 degrees on an instant read thermometer, reduce heat to medium to slow the cooking process. Continue cooking until the caramel reaches 350 degrees, and then remove from the heat and let sit 1 minute, or until the bubbles have subsided.

4. Add the cream very carefully as it will bubble vigorously. Whisk to combine. Vigorously whisk in the sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, and salt. The sauce can be served warm or cool.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake
My changes are in bold, and I used 2/3 of the recipe to get a smaller cheesecake, but I've included the full recipe here.

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 ounces finely chopped Mexican chocolate (I used Ibarra brand)

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
3 ounces melted bittersweet chocolate
Dash cinnamon
Dash cayenne

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. [I used a food processor]. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream and vanilla and blend until smooth and creamy. Separate the batter in half and mix half with the melted chocolate, cinnamon, and cayenne to taste.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust in batches and swirl together with a knife. Tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Bread Pudding

My name is Elizabeth, and I'm a bread pudding-holic.

Hi, Elizabeth!

I first experimented with bread pudding in college, at a cozy restaurant called The Press in Claremont. I enjoyed it and ordered it on a regular basis, but I was able to control my intake and considered my bread pudding consumption to be at a healthy level. I was what you might call a recreational bread pudding eater.

My actual addiction started a few months ago, when we introduced bread pudding to our menu at the bakery. Our bread pudding is made with toasted croissants, soaked in a vanilla and almond-scented custard and baked with semi-sweet chocolate chunks until golden and crunchy on top, and moist inside. Making bread pudding involves mixing the bread in with the custard by hand, so I constantly found myself elbow-deep in huge bowls of soaking croissants. The first time I made it, I gave myself a little taste, purely as a quality-control measure, you understand.

I was immediately hooked. When first mixed, the croissants retain much of their texture, so you get buttery, slightly crunchy bread soaked with a sweet vanilla-almond liquid. The contrast of tastes and textures is amazing. I had one, two, three bites at a time. I literally couldn't put it down...and this was the unbaked mixture! Soon all I could think about was my next bread pudding fix. If I didn't have any for several days I became nervous and irritable, jonesing for my next bite of that sweet sweet nectar.

I would like to say that I've recovered, but the truth is that I'm still in the throes of addiction, and this week's TWD recipe didn't help matters. I love bread pudding so much, I'm not even put off when it comes out of the oven looking like the vomit of Satan:

Seriously, could there be a more unappetizing picture in the history of desserts? Matters improve only slightly with a cosmetic dusting of powdered sugar:


On to the recipe itself. In my extensive bread pudding baking experience, I would say that this recipe is in the Top 5 of those I have tried. It's much wetter than most bread puddings I've made in the past, and I thought the addition of a water bath was unique (and maybe unnecessary?). If I were to make it again, I'd cut the liquid by at least 1/3 and try omitting the water bath, to simplify the recipe. I added chunks of chocolate to the bread, and I liked the resulting pockets of chocolate in the pudding, but I wished for more texture, so next time I might add toasted pecans or walnuts.

Dorie recommends eating it cold, but I liked it much better warm, actually--and it reheated like a dream. I used croissants in mine, since they were easier to find than brioche, but I think brioche might have kept its texture better with all that liquid, so I'll try and track down brioche next time. Still, the croissants performed admirably:
I tried to eat as much of this bread pudding as possible, going by the theory that I would get so sick of it, it would cure my addiction. I am sorry to report that this course of action didn't work, and I was left with an empty bread pudding dish, a full stomach, and an intense craving a mere 12 hours later. However, I am currently 2 days clean and am trying to live one day at a time. Thank you all for your support.

[Confidential to my fellow LA-ites: I must warn you about the worst bread pudding I've ever had. Last month I had the misfortune to try some from a Santa Monica restaurant that shall remain nameless, but it starts with an "H" and ends with an "uckleberry Cafe," and it is, believe it or not,well known for its bread pudding. Unfortunately, the bread pudding was more like a bread flan, it was so extremely eggy. And it was not sweet, at ALL, so the end result was like the mutant baby of a sponge, an omelet, and chewy paste. Am I conveying how awful this was? To add insult to injury, nearby tables were happily gumming their way through this bread pudding, and no doubt rushing home to yelp about how rad and retro it is and lure more innocents into paying for the privilege of not eating it. Consider yourselves warned.]

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Amaretti Torte

Today on Wild Culinary Kingdom, we study the elusive Amaretti cookie. Amaretti cookies, being naturally shy, are difficult to spot in the wild. Their endangered status makes them a rare sighting indeed, especially in the bustling metropolis of Los Angeles. If you are lucky enough to find one, approach it with caution, and do not make any sudden moves or loud noises. Once you are within touching distance, quickly reach out and grab the cookie package, and purchase it immediately. You will find that these rare Italian cookies make a truly wonderful chocolate torte.
Yes, this week's recipe was my first introduction to amaretti cookies. I traveled many a frustrating mile looking for a store that sells them, finally ending up at a random Italian deli in Burbank that carried not one, not two, but a half-dozen different brands. I decided to shell out the big bucks for the pricier, but recommended, Lazzaroni brand. I can't say how they compare to other amaretti, but I will say that they have a really strong almond flavor and a great crunchy texture. I didn't particularly like them on their own, but I certainly liked what they added to the cake!

This cake was, as promised, very fast to prepare. Just a few minutes in the food processor was all it took to bring the batter together. Because it was so slim, the baking time was fast, and even the process of glazing and decorating only took a few minutes.
It doesn't have the showiness of a towering layer cake, but I think this thin, sleek cake has a certain sophistication of its own. I especially loved how shiny the glaze was, giving the top a mirror finish that really enhanced the photos. This cake is still in the running towards becoming America's. Next. Top. Dessert.

I finished the top with a sprinkling of gold luster dust. I've been dying to get some gold leaf to decorate my chocolate cakes with (love that effect) but I can never bring myself to pay for it. Newsflash: gold leaf is seriously expensive! Go figure.
And the taste! I was afraid it would be way too almondy, as the cookies had almost an overpowering almond (or almond extract) taste. But I thought the balance between chocolate and almond was actually quite nice. The texture was dense and silky smooth, not too fudgy or sticky, just like a good flourless chocolate cake should be. Next time I might serve it with more whipped cream on the side, to lighten it a bit, but overall it was just about perfect.

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Baby, You Can Eat My Car

In these troubled economic times, people just want to save money. They shop at discount stores, quit frivolous spending, and drive teensy, fuel-efficient vehicles. Oh yes, and commission giant cakes in the shape of said vehicles. Ah, America.

It was recently the first anniversary of Smart Car's introduction to the American car market. A celebration was held that involved a parade of hundreds of the smallest, cutest cars you've ever seen, and this big (but equally cute) Smart Car cake.

Most of it is covered in fondant, but some of the details are actually plastic--the wheels, for instance, and the rear view mirrors.

You expected anything less from a Beverly Hills-based party?

I wish I could take credit for the car, but my boss, Esti--fondant fairy extraordinaire--actually did all the work. I served as creative muse, cheerer-upper, and birthday-plaque-writer-oner. All vital jobs!

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Tuesdays With Dorie: Banana Cream Pie

Banana. [Pastry] Cream. Pie. Three things that I'm not usually psyched to see on my dessert plate. But, through the alchemy of Dorie Pixie Magic and a limitless love of sweets, no matter how mediocre, I ended up thinking this pie was pretty darn good.

I made a half recipe and made two mini deep-dish pies, because I was expecting us not to like this much and didn't want to commit to a whole full-sized pie. I've actually never made a banana cream pie before (see above re: not liking the ingredients) but I gather that this recipe was fairly typical. The only changes between this and a typical banana cream pie were that the pastry cream was slightly spiced, and the whipped cream topping had a little sour cream to give it tangy richness.
I'm not a custard person, but I did like this pastry cream. It was made with brown sugar and cinnamon and nutmeg, and had a great flavor. I halved the cornstarch (because seriously, that was WAY too much cornstarch!) and the resulting texture was gorgeously smooth, like a rich pudding. (Also gorgeous? The daffodils that have remained in bloom for the better part of the week. They have nothing to do with banana cream pie and everything to do with adding a bit of eye candy to the photos.)

I added a layer of melted chocolate to the bottom of the pie crust, because a) when does chocolate not improve things? and b) these pies were so deep, I could have stuck a whole pan of fudge and a pint of ice cream in there and there would still have been room for the cream and bananas.

So after all was said, done, and tasted, we liked it pretty well. I still had my usual complaints about custard and cream-based desserts (not enough texture, too slimy in the mouth) but the flavors were great, and the pie crust is consistently excellent. So I would bookmark this to make for a banana cream pie lover, but probably won't be revisiting it for myself any time soon.

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut Butter Thins

I will be the first to admit that these Coconut Butter Thins aren't going to win first place in any beauty pageants.
However, I think they have a good shot at winning Miss Congeniality (the award, not the Sandra Bullock movie). I made these after reading a lot of feedback from my fellow TWD'ers, which was a unanimous group tonguebath over how great these cookies were. I made the dough, and tasted it. Fine, not outstanding. Just to be sure, I had several more spoonfuls of dough over the course of the two hours it was chilling, and each time found it to be pretty average. But then...I baked the cookies.

Do not be deceived! These are tasty in a super-sneaky way. Like, I had one, and thought, that was pretty good, and went about my business. Two minutes later I found myself at the table, mindlessly cramming more of these cookies into my gaping maw, with no memory of how I got there. A cookie-induced coma, if you will, that happened on a regular basis until I wised up and put them all in a tupperware container, out of temptation's way.

The puzzling thing is that this is really not the kind of cookie I usually go for. I'm a chocolatey, gooey-chewy kind of girl, and these are the exact opposite. Very light, crispy, and buttery, with a subtle chew and sweetness from shredded coconut, a crunch from salted macadamias, and just a hint of lime and cardamom. No flavor is strong enough to really assert itself, but they work together beautifully. Many people mentioned that their turned out "lacy," while mine retained their square shape fairly well. You can see from the picture of the back of the cookie, though, that it does have a fairly delicate texture on the inside.

I don't think these cookies will ever be my go-to comfort cookies, but I can see them working beautifully as a tea cookie or an after-dinner cookie with coffee or hot chocolate. I also think they would be amazing as an accompaniment to a fruity sorbet like coconut, lime, or mango. With summer coming up, cookies and sorbet are sure to be on my dessert short list, so I expect these will make regular appearances throughout the season.

If you haven't already, be sure to check out my Easter candy giveaway, and enter before midnight on Wednesday!

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Easter Candy Giveaway!

Update: we have our winners for the giveaway! The random number generator picked comments from Danielle and Matzoh Fairy. Congratulations, you guys! Your candy will be in the mail soon!



So one of the (many) perks of my job as the candy guide at About.com is that people send me candy for promotional consideration and review. All the time. It's a hard life, coming home to find a big box of gourmet chocolates or licorice on the stoop. Sigh. Usually I have no problem polishing it off myself--it's my job, after all! And if I can't finish it, my husband bravely steps in to help.

However, this most recent box has bested us. I just got a huuuuge box of assorted Easter candy, and we're up to our eyeballs in sweets at our house already. We just can't eat it all! This is where you come in. There is some good stuff here--chocolate from Lindt, Toblerone, Mars, and Hershey, and sugar candy like Peeps, jelly beans, Hot Tamales, and licorice. Also some really random candy I've never seen before!

Want to win a box of Easter candy? Today's your lucky day! Leave a comment to this blog entry before midnight on Wednesday, April 1st, Pacific time, and tell me what your favorite Easter candy is. I'll use the random number generator to pick two winners--yes, two, because there really is a lot of candy. I'll try and split it up so that the two winners get equal parts chocolate and sugary stuff. And, many apologies, but I'm going to limit it to folks in the US, for shipping reasons. Good luck!

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple Crumb Cake

Riddle me this: how is it that I can be completely unimpressed with a dessert and still eat half of it, standing up at the kitchen counter? THAT is a mystery for the ages.[Another mystery for the ages is why it is so difficult to photograph powdered sugar without it becoming an electric-white eyesore. Please enlighten me immediately.]

So yeah, this was another 'meh' entry for me, but I can't write it off entirely. I think with a few tweaks, I could grow to love it.

A few problems were of my own creation. I didn't have walnuts for the crumb topping so I used almonds, which I didn't like at all--way too strong. And instead of blueberries, I used sauteed apples that were caramelized with some butter and brown sugar. I thought apple cake seemed way more salivation-worthy than blueberry cake, but I was apparently mistaken. The apples were plentiful, but didn't add enough flavor, or moisture. The cake just wasn't exciting and it was a bit dry...
...which brings me to my next point. The 8x8 pyrex pan I baked this in (the recommended pan, no less) was insane. These were some mondo, honkin slices of cake. And the pyrex caused the edges and bottom to get really, really brown before the center was done. Next time I'd do it in a 9x9 pan (not pyrex!) to make a cake that doesn't resemble the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and that doesn't get extra tasty crispy around the edges.
But with all that being said, I compulsively nibbled the moist center in between taking these photos, so I obviously can't complain too much. In fact, I could go for some apple crumb cake right now...

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Wedding Cake Fever

People. People. I have been so busy. Apparently mid-March brings not only spring fever, but wedding fever as well. Here's a glimpse at what I've been up to lately:

This was a cake we did at work. The bride was allergic to corn syrup, so instead of fondant and gumpaste we used chocolate plastic to cover the cake, and royal icing for some of the embellishments.

Most of this cake was actually styrofoam. The top tier was real, and a small chunk of the bottom tier was real (so the bride & groom could cut it for the photos.) The rest was fake. We did do two sheet cakes for them as well, to feed the guests. It was a chiffon cake with vanilla pastry cream and vanilla-poached pears.

The H's were cut out of chocolate plastic and painted gold with luster dust.


This is a wedding cake I did at home. The bride and groom met through their cats, so they wanted to incorporate their cats into the cake.

The paw prints actually go all the way around and climb down the back of the cake.

Each paw and claw, individually cut and molded from fondant, with love.

This is how the finished cake looked. The florist added the flowers at the location. The cake itself was a lemon cake with lemon cream and fresh strawberries.

I also did the favors for this wedding. Each guest got two truffles (milk and semi-sweet chocolate) decorated with the heart and the couple's monogrammed initials.

Stay tuned, because this week we're working on a Smart Car cake that promises to be awesome. Hopefully I will be back on the regular blog-posting train soon. Life is still crazy busy, so I can't guarantee anything. In the words of Homer Simpson, "I can't promise that I will, and I can't promise that I'll try. But I promise that I'll try to try."

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Tuesdays With Dorie: In Which I Invent A New Word

[Editor's Note: I've been feeling like a TWD slacker recently. Life has been so hectic, I've had to skip a week here or there, and I haven't been able to visit and comment on everyone else's blogs like I've wanted to. Apologies and air kisses all around! With vows to do better, it is onward and upward.]

I'm back in the game this week with Lemon Cup Custard...except, it's not your usual custard. Prior to making it, I read a bunch of grumbles on the TWD blog about this dessert. The consensus seemed to be that it was way too eggy, and multiple people mentioned that it was more like a flan in taste and texture. So, rather than make a disappointing custard, I decided to flan-ify it.

That's right, I made Lemon Cup Flan-Custard, or as I like to call it:

Lemon Cup Flustard!

To make a proper Flustard! (yes, the exclamation mark is mandatory) first begin with a mediocre custard recipe. Add lots of extra lemon zest and lemon emulsion (or extract) to boost the flavor and mask the egginess. Make a dark caramel and coat the inside of your ramekins with it.

Follow baking directions, while wondering what purpose the paper towel in the water bath serves. (Anyone know? Bueller?) Cover your pan with foil while it bakes, but don't take into account the fact that this might make your Flustard! bake faster. Check it after 35 minutes to find a very well-baked Flustard!, with nary a jiggling belly in sight. Assure yourself that more baking time equals more deliciousness. Since it is late at night, and nothing but glorious natural lighting will do for your precious photographs, refrigerate the Flustards! until the next day.

Unmold the Flustards! on your serving dish of choice. Take comfort in the fact that they look flan-ish, if nothing else. Although you're dying to take a bite to see how they taste, control those ants in your pants until you get a few photographs. At last, tell yourself you need a photograph of the inside "for the blog," so take a big bite of that Flustard! for professional purposes only.

...

Yes, a bit too eggy. And not very flavorful otherwise. And the texture is too rubbery, although that may have had something to do with the, uh, generous baking time provided.

Give your husband, the human garbage disposal, the remainder of the Flustard! to gauge his reaction. Observe his unimpressed look. Sigh. Comfort yourself with the fact that even though the dessert was lacking, you have added a valuable word to the English baking lexicon. Sleep the sound sleep of the victorious.

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Lemon and Raspberry Bird Cake

My friend KT is having a baby, and I volunteered to make the cake for the baby shower. We decided on a bird theme, and since she likes "anything but chocolate cake," I chose a lemon cake with layers of lemon and raspberry curd. The cake is covered in fondant, with a gumpaste bird and flowers, and chocolate plastic nest and branches. I got the design idea from this cake by Sugar Syndicate, who have some beautiful, beautiful cakes in their portfolio. About 15 minutes before I had to leave my house to deliver it to the shower location, the cake actually looked like this, with a smaller red bird:
Once it was all put together, I couldn't stop obsessing over how the bird was too small, proportionally, to the nest and the egg. I really didn't have much time, but as soon as I noticed, I couldn't stop staring at it and it started to really bother me. It's like when someone tells you not to think about pink elephants, and you immediately have pink elephants on the brain.

Anyhow, I tried to trim the nest down, but I didn't want to mess with it too much since I liked the overlapping twigs look. Instead, I decided to make another bird, cutting the design freehand with my trusty razor blade. Since the gumpaste couldn't harden in such a short period of time, I glued it onto a thin sheet of chocolate plastic and cut the plastic to fit, to give it more body. In retrospect I think all of this drama was unnecessary, as it looked okay the first time, and the second bird looks sloppier, but I'll blame sleep deprivation and too much sugar on my poor decisions and OCD tendencies!
I also had a small panic attack while I was hurriedly taking pictures before I had to drop the cake off. I went to turn the cake to the side and shoved the doily up into the "congratulations" banner, smearing the frosting and slightly tearing the banner. ETD: 5 minutes! Eek! Of course I'd already rinsed out the piping bag and tossed the colored buttercream, but fortunately I had some more white buttercream, so I quickly mixed another batch of the blue and (mostly successfully) covered the mistake. Lesson learned: don't sacrifice the cake for the sake of a few pictures!
The sad part of this story is that I wasn't able to be at the baby shower, since I had to work. But my friends were nice enough to grab some pictures of the cut cake for me, and I was pleased to see that it all held up and was nicely layered on the inside.

Over the weekend, I decided to make a trifle using the leftover lemon and raspberry curds. I had never actually tasted all the cake components together, since I couldn't be at the shower, so I was curious to see how it all worked together. (Not like I could have made any changes if it was nasty. But at least I would know not to make such a gross cake for the next baby shower...assuming I got invited to any more.)
I made a white chocolate-buttermilk cake from Sherry Yard, and threw strips of cake in a bowl layered with lemon and raspberry curds, and topped it with a little whipped cream. The result was pretty awesome! (Whew.) It was actually fairly tart, which I liked, and I think (hope?) that the sweeter buttercream and fondant on the shower cake balanced out the tartness for anyone who prefers a sweeter cake.

In addition to letting me taste the fruits of my labors, the trifle was awesome because it introduced me to a great new cake recipe. Yes, the white chocolate-buttermilk cake is fabulous. I didn't actually taste either white chocolate or buttermilk in the finished product, so I guess they must balance each other out. It's probably one of the best white cake recipes I've ever tried. It stays moist, and has a nice, tender crumb and a great flavor. It's a little fiddly but it's worth it to find a white cake that doesn't taste like cardboard. The recipe is under the cut!





White Chocolate-Buttermilk Cake
From Sherry Yard’s Desserts by the Yard

2 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon slat
3 ounces white chocolate
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
1 3/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk


Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350F. Spray a 12 x 17" half sheet pan with pan spray and line the bottom with parchment paper. Spray the parchment.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Melt the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl at 50% power for about 2 minutes, stirring halfway through. Be careful — white chocolate burns easily. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with 1 1/2 cups of the sugar on high speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the bowl and beaters and beat for 3 minutes more, until the mixture is light and creamy. Whisk 2 tablespoons of the whipped butter into the melted white chocolate until blended. Scrape this mixture back into the butter and beat on low speed until well blended. Add the egg yolks in 2 additions, scraping the bowl and beaters after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.

On low speed, alternating wet and dry ingredients, add the buttermilk and flour mixture in 4 additions, beginning with the buttermilk and ending with the flour. Scrape down the bowl.

In a large, clean bowl, and with clean beaters, beat the egg whites on medium speed until they form soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, continuing to beat at medium speed. Beat until the egg whites form stiff, glossy peaks. Fold half the egg whites into the cake batter, then gently fold in the rest.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth into an even layer with an offset spatula. Bake, rotating the pans from front to back half way through, until golden brown and firm to the touch, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

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Daring Bakers: Fashionably Late Valentino Cake

Yes, it's March, and I'm just now posting the February Daring Bakers challenge. I could make excuses about my busy schedule, but I prefer to blame the tardiness on the month of February itself. Only 28 days! Two days less than every other month! HOW can I be expected to keep on top of everything in such a short month?

And the really ridiculous part is that I finished this challenge on February 2nd, the earliest I've ever completed one. I've been waiting a whole month to post about it, and then I can't get my stuff together at the last minute.

Ah well, this Valentino cake is definitely worth the wait. The cake itself is a simple flourless chocolate cake, with an additional requirement that we make our own ice cream to go along with it. My valentine loves all things caramel, so I decided to make David Lebovitz's salted butter caramel ice cream, and some caramel sauce, to accompany it.

The cake was lovely, as most flourless chocolate cakes are. I can't say that it was the most amazing flourless chocolate cake ever, but it had all the hallmarks of a good one: a dense, moist, fudgy interior, and a deep, true chocolate taste unfiltered by other ingredients or flavors.

The real showstopper, though, was the ice cream. The ice cream base consisted of a caramel, cooked to a very dark amber, so the cream was intensely flavored, with a good dose of salt to balance it out. The recipe also called for a salted caramel praline that was made and ground fine, then added to the ice cream at the end. Once it was freshly churned, the bits of crunchy, sweet and salty caramel burst in the mouth in between ice cream bites. As it sat longer, they started to dissolve and leave gooey caramel patches in the ice cream. Both sensations were amazing. This was, without question, the best homemade ice cream I've ever made, and probably in the Top 5 ice creams I've ever eaten. So. Good. Make it immediately.

The whole dessert was kind of a heart attack on a plate, but in the best way possible. It was incredibly rich, and try as I might, I couldn't finish my serving in one go. (And I did try mightily.) I loved how the warm, fudgy cake melted the soft caramel ice cream and the whole thing dissolved into a puddle of the caramel sauce. It was definitely a dessert worth of the month of love.

Official Boilerplate: 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.

Recipe under the cut!


Valentino Flourless Chocolate Cake
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
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 heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
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. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.


Salted Butter Caramel Ice Cream from David Lebovitz
One generous quart (liter)


For the caramel praline (mix-in)

½ cup (100 gr) sugar
¾ teaspoon sea salt, such as fleur de sel


For the ice cream custard

2 cups (500 ml) whole milk, divided
1½ cups (300 gr) sugar
4 tablespoons (60 gr) salted butter
scant ½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cups (250 ml) heavy cream
5 large egg yolks
¾ teaspoon vanilla extract


1. To make the caramel praline, spread the ½ cup (100 gr) of sugar in an even layer in a medium-sized, unlined heavy duty saucepan: I use a 6 quart/liter pan. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or brush it sparingly with unflavored oil.

2. Heat the sugar over moderate heat until the edges begin to melt. Use a heatproof utensil to gently stir the liquefied sugar from the bottom and edges towards the center, stirring, until all the sugar is dissolved. (Or most of it—there may be some lumps, which will melt later.)

Continue to cook stirring infrequently until the caramel starts smoking and begins to smell like it's just about to burn. It won't take long.

3. Without hesitation, sprinkle in the ¾ teaspoon salt without stirring (don't even pause to scratch your nose), then pour the caramel onto the prepared baking sheet and lift up the baking sheet immediately, tilting and swirling it almost vertically to encourage the caramel to form as thin a layer as possible. Set aside to harden and cool.

4. To make the ice cream, make an ice bath by filling a large bowl about a third full with ice cubes and adding a cup or so of water so they're floating. Nest a smaller metal bowl (at least 2 quarts/liters) over the ice, pour 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk into the inner bowl, and rest a mesh strainer on top of it.

5. Spread 1½ cups (300 gr) sugar in the saucepan in an even layer. Cook over moderate heat, until caramelized, using the same method described in Step #2.

6. Once caramelized, remove from heat and stir in the butter and salt, until butter is melted, then gradually whisk in the cream, stirring as you go. The caramel may harden and seize, but return it to the heat and continue to stir over low heat until any hard caramel is melted. Stir in 1 cup (250 ml) of the milk.

7. Whisk the yolks in a small bowl and gradually pour some of the warm caramel mixture over the yolks, stirring constantly. Scrape the warmed yolks back into the saucepan and cook the custard using a heatproof utensil, stirring constantly (scraping the bottom as you stir) until the mixture thickens. If using an instant-read thermometer, it should read 160-170 F (71-77 C).

8. Pour the custard through the strainer into the milk set over the ice bath, add the vanilla, then stir frequently until the mixture is cooled down. Refrigerate at least 8 hours or until thoroughly chilled.

9. Freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10. While the ice cream is churning, crumble the hardened caramel praline into very little bits, about the size of very large confetti (about ½-inch, or 1 cm). I use a mortar and pestle, although you can make your own kind of music using your hands or a rolling pin.

11. Once your caramel ice cream is churned, quickly stir in the crushed caramel, then chill in the freezer until firm.

Note: As the ice cream sits, the little bits of caramel may liquefy and get runny and gooey, which is what they're intended to do.

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