Daring Bakers May 2009 Challenge: Raspberry strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I have to say that I was initially quite hesitant about attempting this challenge. Stretching dough paper thin, in fact even thinner, given my misfortunes with rolling out dough in general, seemed impossible. But my friend and fellow Daring Baker Shirley of What About Second Breakfast? tried the challenge early on. And then she made it again, and again and again. She raved about it and claimed it wasn't so hard. So I had to give it a shot. And she was right!
I would never have imagined it, but once I rolled it out about 15 inches square and began stretching the rest came easily. It practically stretched itself. I do recommend trimming any thick edges, as they tend to turn out a little tough or chewy.
I went with a simple filling of 12 oz raspberries tossed with 1/2 cup sugar. I sprinkled the dough with about 1/3 cup of almond meal, in line with the apple version, which has breadcrumbs.
And you know what, I ended up making the apple version, and a cherry cheese filling from Martha's Baking Handbook. I was planning to take them to work, but my husband pouted, so I left it home. That means I will probably make this again soon to take to work, using all those wonderful cherries California is getting now.
I think this may be in my regular repertoire now. The effort compared to the wow factor is well worth it!

My creation

Type rest of the post here

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Don't forget to check out the other Daring Bakers' wonderful creations.

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Daring Bakers February Challenge: Chocolate Valentino!

What's challenging about chocolate cake, you say? Well this isn't any old chocolate cake, it's a flour-less chocolate cake... rich and decadent. And part of the challenge is to make your own ice cream to pair with it (believe me, as rich as this cake is, you need ice cream to help it go down!)
So, I've been off the blogging wagon for a while, but I'm hoping with this post I can get back on!
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They've 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.
Do check out other Daring Bakers amazing takes on this challenge!

Since I was determined to get back on the wagon, I made the cake, though I had no time (or equipment) for the ice cream.
I made the cake in a 6-inch round spring form and saved some of the batter and baked it in these heart-shaped foil cups (ostensibly for jello) that I had found on sale.



The recipe is super easy:

Chocolate Valentino
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.



If you are so inclined, here is one of the ice cream recipes:

Dharm's Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways. Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up. Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy. 3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

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not quite danish...

Of all the crazy things I have done, this has to be the craziest. Trying my luck at danish pastry in the middle of Indian summer (did I say trying, oops, i meant pushing!). But then that's what the Daring Baker's are all about. Making you do things you won't normally even think of. I do make croissants sometimes, but never never in summer. I also happen to have bad case of hot hands. And man, did this challenge drive me up the wall or what! If the heat and humidity don't kill you, they sure can finish off your Danish.

Ok, I guess am exaggerating, but the result wasn't anywhere near perfect. But it was good. And it did fill my kitchen with a nice aroma! I used peaches instead of apples.

As soon as I braided it up, the juices started leaking, so the poor braid was in a pool of its juices, which later got burnt black in the oven.

I managed to roll up some extra pastry croissant style. Just for fun.

Thanks to Kelly of Sass & Veracity, and Ben of What’s Cookin’? for a fun and challenging challenge.

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Daring Bakers May Challenge: Opera Cake

When I read what the Daring Bakers challenge was for this month was, I mentally said "yeah, right" and thought I'd be sitting this one out, leaving Aamena to do her creative work. But she's tied up in final exams so it fell to me.
The challenge was chosen by lovely hosts Ivonne and Lis, along with co-hosts Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie  and Shea of Whiskful.



An Opera Cake consists of the joconde - an almond sponge; the syrup, to wet the cake, buttercream, ganache (optional) and a final glaze. I'm not good at complicated things, so I read the recipe about five times, but I only made it today because I was away for a week visiting in-laws. I only got back yesterday, and I was too tired to even think about making even the base. So I had to do everything today. A recipe for disaster, or at least some last minute problems. Like the store being out of blanched almond meal, so you end up using unblanched. And not finding the right size jelly roll tins and not having any two of the same size at home.




A Taste of Light: Opera Cake

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Paris Sweets and Tish Boyle and Timothy Moriarty’s Chocolate Passion.

Joconde
(Note: The joconde can be made up to 1 day in advance and kept wrapped at room temperate)
Ingredients:
6 large egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp. (30 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (225 grams) blanched almond meal
2 cups icing sugar, sifted (220 gm)
6 large eggs
½ cup (70 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp. (1½ ounces; 45 grams) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Divide the oven into thirds by positioning a rack in the upper third of the oven and the lower third of the oven.
2. Preheat the oven to 425◦F. (220◦C).
3. Line two 12½ x 15½- inch (31 x 39-cm) jelly-roll pans with parchment paper and brush with melted butter.
4. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Add the granulated sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Set aside.
5. In another bowl, beat the almonds, icing sugar and eggs on medium speed until light and voluminous, about 3 minutes.
6. Add the flour and beat until just combined (do not overmix).
7. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg white into the almond mixture and then fold in the melted butter. Divide the batter between the pans and spread it evenly.
8. Bake until light brown and springy to the touch, 5 to 9 minutes.
9. Run a sharp knife along the edges of the cakes to loosen. Cover each with a sheet of parchment or wax paper, turn the pans over, and unmold.
10. Peel off the parchment, then turn the paper over and use it to cover the cakes. Let the cakes cool to room temperature.

Syrup
Ingredients:
½ cup (125 grams) water
⅓ cup (65 grams) granulated sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. of a flavoring of your choice (I used lemon zest)

1. Stir all the syrup ingredients together in the saucepan and bring to a boil.
2. Remove from the heat and let cool to room temperature.

Buttercream
Ingredients:
1 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60 grams) water
seeds of one vanilla bean or 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract (I used a vanilla bean paste I found at Surfas)
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1¾ sticks (7 ounces; 200 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
Flavoring of your choice (I used lemon zest)

1. Combine the sugar, water and vanilla in a small saucepan and warm over medium heat just until the sugar dissolves.
2. Continue to cook, without stirring, until the syrup reaches 225◦F (107◦C) Remove the syrup from the heat.
3. While the syrup is heating, whisk the egg and egg yolk at high speed until pale and foamy.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low speed and begin very slowly pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup into the path of the whisk attachment.
5. Raise the speed to medium-high and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and the mixture is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes or so).
6. In a bowl, mash the softened butter in a bowl with a spatula. 
7. Add the butter in 2-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been added, raise the mixer speed to high and beat until the buttercream is thick and shiny.
8. Add flavouring and beat for an additional minute or so.
9. Refrigerate the buttercream, stirring it often, until it’s set enough (firm enough) to spread when topped with a layer of cake (about 20 minutes).

White chocolate ganache/mousse (this step is optional – I skipped it)
Ingredients:
7 ounces white chocolate
1 cup plus 3 tbsp. heavy cream (35% cream)
1 tbsp. liqueur of your choice (Bailey’s, Amaretto, etc.)

1. Melt the white chocolate and the 3 tbsp. of heavy cream in a small saucepan.
2. Stir and add the tablespoon of liqueur to the chocolate and stir. Set aside to cool completely.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream until soft peaks form.
4. Gently fold the whipped cream into the cooled chocolate to form a mousse.
5. If it’s too thin, refrigerate it for a bit until it’s spreadable and you're ready to use it.
6. If you’re not going to use it right away, refrigerate until you’re ready to use.

The glaze
(Note: It’s best to make the glaze right when you’re ready to finish the cake.)
Ingredients:
14 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ cup heavy cream (35% cream)

1.Melt the white chocolate with the heavy cream. Whisk the mixture gently until smooth.
2.Let cool for 10 minutes and then pour over the chilled cake. Using a long metal cake spatula, smooth out into an even layer.
3.Place the cake into the refrigerator for 30 minutes to set.

Assembling
(Note: The finished cake should be served slightly chilled. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 1 day).

Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.

Working with one sheet of cake at a time, cut and trim each sheet so that you have two pieces (from each cake so you’ll have four pieces in total): one 10-inch (25-cm) square and one 10 x 5-inch (25 x 12½-cm) rectangle.
Obviously, I didn't need to to do this, since I used 9-inch round tins.
Step A (if using buttercream only and not making the ganache/mousse):

Moisten a layer of the cake with the flavoured syrup.

Spread about one-third of the buttercream over this layer.

Top with the two rectangular pieces of cake, placing them side by side to form a square, or whatever shape. Moisten these pieces with the flavoured syrup.

Spread another third of the buttercream on the cake and then top with the third square of joconde. Use the remaining syrup to wet the joconde. Spread the remaining buttercream on top of the final layer of joconde and then refrigerate until very firm (at least half an hour).

Make the glaze and after it has cooled, pour/spread it over the top of the chilled cake. Refrigerate the cake again to set the glaze.

Serve the cake slightly chilled. This recipe will yield approximately 20 servings.


As is clear from the long instructions, this is was quite a challenge. But truthfully each step went quite smoothly. My only problem was was that the buttercream was a bit runny, after I put on the glaze, the top layer of buttercream started to slip a bit. And the layers of joconde are a bit thick, I wish i had had a fourth 9 inch tin to make thinner layers.

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Daring Bakers April Challenge: Cheesecake pops

I was excited by this month's challenge, chosen by our lovely hosts, Deborah of Taste and Tell and Elle of FME, especially because my husband loves NY style cheesecake. But I've only made cheesecake three or four times in the last seven years, it's always seemed a little complicated and time-consuming!

Well, I actually started on the challenge yesterday. Things got off to a great start, the batter looked, and tasted, divine. I took the recipe down by 1/5th as I happened to only have 32 oz of cream cheese. I still got a lot of batter! I filled one 7-inch springform tin almost full, and had more than enough for a mini 4-inch cake with crust for hubby dear.

The white center should have been clue no. 1

The cake appeared done in about an hour, it wasn't jiggling and I let it cool for a while, but i think here is where I made mistake No. 1, I popped it into the fridge while still warm before I headed to work, because I didn't trust the other adult in the house to remember to. Anyway, I come home about 9 hours later, ready to scoop out, and I found that the top and sides were fine, but the center was liquidy! Panic set in. I managed to scoop out the liquidy bit and then make about 12 with the firm parts. I plan to use the liquid part to make individual cakes as shown here. I'm not sure whether this is because I overfilled the pan, whether the water bath somehow retarded the cooking (the parts done were mostly the ones above the water) and of course the genius of refrigerating the cake while still warm.

The scooping needless to say was not easy. As you can see they weren't so smooth!

Anyway, this afternoon I took them out of the freezer and finished them up. My husband needless to say loved it. My 4-year-old liked the chocolate and sprinkles, but wasn't too keen on the cheesecake... she's very fussy.

Well, I think I might try this again, when I have a larger freezer, and my husband has more self-control!

Be sure to check out the really creative and beautiful pops from other, more Daring Bakers!

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I Heart Buttercream!

Yeah! That too Swiss Meringue Buttercream!
OK, I'm sure I don't need to make it plainer that I got the coolest, lightest buttercream! It was fab :) When I saw this month's challenge by Morven, I thought "oh wow! the buttercream has come back to haunt me again," which was followed by a frantic mail to the very helpful Helen. Apart from other questions that I bugged her with, I wanted to know if you can make this particular buttercream with churned butter, because that's the only kind of unsalted butter I have access to. Helen had a simple answer, "you will have to try!" And try I did, once again. I have made this one twice earlier, but both the times I had been too nervous, too sure of failure, too sure that churned butter just wasn't the right kind of butter! The moment it started looking curdly or runny I would start trying all sorts of fixes to get it right. But this time I just kept a cool head, didn't even keep looking at the recipe, when I started adding the butter by spoonfuls to the super shiny white marshmallow cream, it did look slightly curdly and runny, but I just kept beating it with the paddle attachment, and suddenly it all came together in the lightest mass possible, I was on cloud nine!

This was followed by another quick mail to Helen! This time with the picture of the success, to which she said a very apt thing: 'Recipes are like animals, they know when you are nervous.'

I haven't even talked about the cake! What can I say... My mom said that we'd never need to buy a cake anymore, to which my Dad said, 'Even if we do, where will we get one as good as this!' That about sums it up! Though the cake was slightly on the sweeter side, I guess that was because I didn't have preserves and used some homemade guava jelly. Oh by the way, during the cooling I mishandled it and managed to break one of them, but you cant see it in the finished product!

The super shiny marshmallow cream.

The super fluffy buttercream! yeah!

The recipe and the yield.

That looks lopsided... (well it was actually) :)

No coconut. :( That's because I had been oh so sure that there was some desicated coconut in the fridge. As you can see, it just wasn't there.

Do check out the host Morven's blog for the recipe (it might not be up yet though) and the other Daring Bakers for more Perfect Party cakes!

Note: Since I didn't have cake flour, I used the microwave plus cornflour technique.

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Daring Bakers' January Challenge: Lemon Meringue Pie

This is truly one recipe I would never have tried had it not been for the Daring Bakers! A tart filled with egg yolks and topped with egg whites didn't sound like a very good idea! The host for this month was Jen, and its because of her I baked my first Lemon Meringue Pie! Though am still not not too sure how I like this, but my folks sure liked it. So I might have another go! Also the video posted by Aparna was helpful! Reading on the DB blog a few incidents of 'pools of butter' I decided to cut down the butter by one third, and it wasn't a good idea, because the crust was as far from having a shortbread like texture as could be! It was somewhat hard rather than flaky or crisp. And I also cut the lemon juice by half because I knew no one at my place would like it so tarty, and it tasted just fine. Just that I felt despite the vanilla extract and lemon juice and zest, there still remained a somewhat eggy smell :( But nobody else complained so I guess it was just me. And also, this has nothing to do with taste, but I wonder why my filling looks so pale? Otherwise it was just fine, no runny filling luckily, it set very well. Just have to be careful about the butter the next time I bake this!

Do check out the other Daring Bakers for some more Pies!

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Daring Bakers December Challenge: Yule Log

This was my first challenge and it was hosted by Lis and Ivonne, the founders,  and the recipe chosen by 'em was for a Yule Log, which was basically genoise and swiss meringue buttercream. Anybody who remembers my first attempt at meringue buttercream would understand why I was abit nervous. My genoise was just fine. I spread chocolate ganache over it before rolling it up, and decided to tackle the buttercream the next day. It turned out that I was both, luckier and otherwise in comparison to my last time.

The buttercream was fine till I decided it looked runny and refrigerated it for a while (special thanks to Helene of Tartelette for all the tips for buttercream gone awry). What came out was a deflated curdled mass. Whisking it didn't help. So I tried melting 25% of it and adding it back to the lot and whisking again, it did get slightly better, but only slightly. I was tired and frustrated and was quite sure I didn't want to have another go, starting from the beginning, so I just put the curdled mass in a mixer grinder along with icing sugar and pulsed it. Viola, it got better, I added some more icing sugar and pulsed some more, and the buttercream came together! I thanked my stars! Though it wasn't light and fluffly but it was atleast spreadable!

Since I didn't get the time to take pictures while making, am posting a few of the finished thing which was liked by all! So here it is, with a few marzipan mushrooms and some cocoa.

Do check out the other Daring Bakers for some more logs!

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