Tuesdays With Dorie: Catch up July 17, 2015

As usual, I have been making most of the recipes and forgetting to post.  Maybe I should just use my Instagram account for picture because my mind has not wanted to blog lately….sorry.  I actually took a month off, well not really because I still baked but didn’t eat anything, to do Whole 30 and it turned out well.

So without further ado, here is a picture of items that I have made between May and July.  Not in any order: Chocolate Cherry Brownies, Nutella Buttons, Peach-Raspberry Tart, and Strawberry Shortcakes French Style.

Tuesdays With Dorie: A Buche and a Nightcap… December 30, 2014

Came into a bar.

I swear the title sounds like something from a bad joke.

I am a little behind with regard to posting.  I made the Chocolate-Mint Nightcaps (Baking With Julia, page 309) for my husband to take to work, and I actually made them on time.  I ended up making the Gingerbread Buche de Noel (Baking Chez Moi, page 86) for Christmas.

For the nightcaps, I ended up not putting the cap on them because 1) transport would be difficult and 2) piped brown icing ALWAYS looks like poop.

I am sorry.  It really does, and I know I wasn’t the only one thinking it. But I might have been the only one that typed it 🙂

The cookies actually turned out really good.  I think I would have preferred a peppermint oil or extract in the chocolate ganache instead of boiling mint leaves in cream.  It was one of those, what is that interesting flavor and it is throwing me off because I was expecting chocolate and not mint leaf flavor. I ended up rolling the edges in some chocolate sprinkles that I had left over.  I should have rolled them in crushed up candy canes, but then I would have had to smash candy canes.  That would have alerted the villagers that mommy was making cookies and had the chocolate out.

The Gingerbread Buche de Noel surprised me at how many steps there were. I have made rolled cakes before and this is the first time that I have had to pre-roll the cake while warm. I was happy when the cake plopped right out of the pan and onto the powdered sugared towel.  I didn’t expect it to be that easy and it rolled nicely too. With regard to the actual recipe, I was surprised there was no sugar in the filling so I added about 1/2 cup of powdered sugar to sweeten it a bit.  For the icing it threw me off 1) that I was making an Italian Meringue and 2) there was cream of tartar in it.  I usually make an Italian Buttercream for the outside of my Buche de Noel’s anyways.  Well I followed the directions, and I didn’t like the icing.  I LOVE meringues so I am thinking it was the addition of the cream of tartar that just made it taste off. So when I eat the gingerbread cake, I just scrap the icing off the outside and I am good 🙂

Tuesdays With Dorie: Mocha Brownie Cake March 18, 2014

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is the Mocha Brownie Cake, which is located on pages 282-283 in Baking With Julia. This recipe is essentially a cake brownie that is filled and iced with a Chocolate Ganache. I decided to add a Saint Patrick’s Day twist to it and add Irish Cream flavoring to the cake and ganache. The idea was to serve it yesterday, but I started a little late in the day while running errands and running herd on 2 little ones.

So, yesterday, I baked and assembled the cake and this morning I reheated the ganache and iced the cake aka I poured the ganache over. Through the years I have become really good at pouring ganache over a cake.

How is that, you ask.

A few years back, I worked at a bakery and one of my jobs almost everyday was to pour chocolate ganache over our Chocolate Disaronno Cake and then decorate them. So, I actually got pretty good at it 🙂

Finally, the children are in bed and I have been able to slice into the cake (with a hot knife, of course) and taste it. I found it to be very good and the Irish Cream flavor was perfect. I ate this straight out of the fridge and the cake was firm, but moist and the ganache was smooth and melted once it hit your mouth. I would definitely consider making this for a birthday cake for anyone that LOVES chocolate, but remember to use a good quality chocolate.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Boca Negra February 19, 2013

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Boca Negra, which is located on page 253 in Baking With Julia.. This recipe is being hosted by Cathy of A Frederick Food Garden.

I actually made this recipe for my 31st Birthday, which just happens to be Valentine’s Day. The recipe calls to use Bourbon (cake and topping) and I was afraid that Mike wouldn’t appreciate it if I used the good stuff. So I used rum in the white chocolate cream, and Chambord in the cake. With the Chambord I was hoping for a raspberry flavor, which it did impart a hint. For the white chocolate cream, which was pretty much a ganache, I didn’t feel comfortable using alcohol since I am 7 months pregnant. I still wanted the flavor so I decided to boil the rum with the cream so that the alcohol could cook out. Once the cream had cooled it had thickened but not enough for my liking, so I poured the cream into a mixing bowl and whipped up the cream to stiff peaks. I preferred the cream this way and it photographed better.

For the cake, I baked it in an 8-inch pan instead of a 9-inch and baked it for 40 minutes (recipe calls for 30 minutes). I was afraid that I might not have baked the cake long enough, especially since it was in a smaller pan. I decided to wait a bit before flipping it out on a serving plate, just in case.

And….

I was right, the cake probably could have used 5 more minutes in the oven because one of the sides wasn’t completely set and when I turned it out onto a plate one side slide out just a little. Which actually made it the shape of the Star Trek Enterprise ship. The fact that I noticed that makes me a complete nerd.

Mike and I ate the cside that slide out and it tasted great, but it is very rich. It was like eating straight chocolate ganache, and the cream on top was nice and cut the richness a bit. Next time I make this I will probably only make half a recipe of the cake and a quarter recipe of the cream because a little of both goes a long way.

My 30th Birthday Cake Pie February 14, 2012

For my 30th birthday, I decided that instead of making the usual crazy decadent chocolate dessert (You know because it is Valentine’s Day, just saying, and everyone is a chocolate addict today) or the usual chocolate chip cookie cake that I have had for almost every birthday; I flipped through Vegan Pie In The Sky and made a decision.

Boston Cream Cake Pie

Yes, I said Cake Pie. Who doesn’t like a Boston Cream Cake? Then add Pie to the end and who could not resist it.

This cake pie consists of four layers: vanilla cookie crust, vanilla cream/pudding, vanilla cake, and chocolate ganache. It does take some time to make. I think it might have taken me 1 1/2 hours from start to finish. Which isn’t bad for a dessert. After making this, I knew it was for my birthday but I couldn’t resist trying it so we cut into it 2 days before my birthday. I couldn’t help it, it was calling to me.

SURPRISE, SURPRISE!!!!

I loved this dessert and Mike actually really liked it too. Which is saying something because he usually stays away from vegan desserts that I make because I tricked him into eating tofu one time when I made a vegan chocolate mousse pie 🙂 Probably one of the funniest things for me is when I told him there was tofu in it. Classic!!!

He knew there was tofu in the pie this time, so there was no tricking involved. I usual replace all the soy milk in dessert recipes for rice milk because of the strong flavor of the soy. However, this time I decided to stick with soy milk and it worked out great. Since the cake pie has a lot of strong individual flavors, they mask the taste of the soy perfectly.

It is very strange for me to say that I am 30 because I feel the same. Last year on my Birthday we found out we were having a little girl. Now my little girl is 8 months old. I know the time is going to pass by in the blink of an eye, and I am just trying to hold onto all the moments I have with my smiling monkey.

Happy Birthday to me!!!!!

Daring Bakers: Candylicious August 27, 2011

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!

This months Daring Bakers’ Challenge we were given the opportunity to try our hands at making candy.  The mandatory items were as follows:

You must make TWO candies

The first candy must be ONE of the following CHOCOLATE candies:

1) A truffle, dipped or not dipped in chocolate OR

2) A cut (square) dipped chocolate/bonbon OR

3) A filled chocolate/bonbon using a chocolate mold

The other candy can be any CHOCOLATE OR NON-CHOCOLATE candy you like

I wanted to try something new and maybe try my hand at the Fruit Gels, but they never came to pass.  Mainly because I didn’t have the right ingredients on hand.  Since we were given the option of a truffle and then any other chocolate candy, I decided to stick with the basics.  I made a basic dark chocolate truffle flavored with Kalua and rolled in cocoa power, and for my second candy I made the Milk Chocolate and Hazelnut Praline Truffles, but used dark chocolate instead 🙂

Both turned out particularly yummy, but the Hazelnut Praline Truffle was by far the favorite because I am partial to Hazelnut and Chocolate.  Can we say Nutella?

Tuesdays With Dorie: Tarte Noire and Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes July 6, 2010

Okay, this post is going to encompass last weeks recipe Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes and this weeks recipe Tarte Noire.

Wendy of Pink Stripes chose Dorie’s Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes which are located on pages 226-227 in Baking: From My Home to Yours. For this recipe, I only made half and made them into cupcakes.  Which worked out to exactly 12 muffins.  I actually really enjoyed these muffins.  They were soft and moist, and with the rum syrup they actually had the flavor of tres leches cake.  One night, I split a muffin opened and top it with sweetened ricotta cheese, peaches, and raspberries.  It was fantastic 🙂

Dharmagirl of bliss: towards a delicious life chose Dorie’s Tarte Noire which is located on page 351 in Baking: From My Home to yours.  I had some luck with this recipe because I had 1/2 a recipe of Sweet Tart Dough hanging out in my freezer, so I had one less thing to do 🙂  I decided to pop out 1/2 a recipe in small tart form, which came out to 4 tarts.  The flavor on these was great, and the ganache was smooth and just all around perfect.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart March 16, 2010

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Rachelle of Mommy? I’m Hungry!.  She chose Dorie’s Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart, which is located on page 354 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.  This tart is essentially a thick chocolate ganache poured over raspberries in a tart shell.  So, of course, it is going to be spectacular.

For this recipe, I used straight up Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips.  I guess you could say it is house rules 🙂  Whenever I bake anything with chocolate, I  always use a dark chocolate because both Mike and I prefer it to milk chocolate.  I might add that it was a wonderful choice because it matched the raspberries so well.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes February 2, 2010

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Kristin of I’m Right About Everything.  She chose Dorie’s Milk Chocolate Mini Bundt Cakes which is located on pages 188-189 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

First thought, mmmm chocolate 🙂

Second thought, crap I don’t have a mini bundt pan.

Final thought, CUPCAKES!!!!

Daring Bakers’ Challenge: Macarons October 27, 2009

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.  I love macarons.  They don’t take long to make, but it takes patients and knowledge about the process to get the perfect macaron.  I have made them a few times, but I haven’t taken the time to perfect them yet.  I have been lucky enough to get little feet on them every time, but I think I have over worked the batter because they are more flat than the traditional almost boxy look.

Since Halloween is on Saturday, I decided to make them a little festive.  I made the macaron chocolate and dyed it black with black powdered color, and then I made a white chocolate ganache filling that I dyed orange.  They turned about pretty good, but I think next time I will use a higher quality white chocolate.  To get the pretty swirl design set aside a small amount of the batter before you add the cocoa powder and dye to it.  Once you have the macarons piped out take a toothpick and swirl the white into the piped macarons.

Macarons

Source: Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern

Ingredients

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)

Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)

Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)

Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature)

1 tbsp Black Cocoa Powder

1 tbsp powdered Black food coloring

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t overfold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip (Ateco #806). You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.