Tuesdays With Dorie: Savarin June 4, 2013

For the week of June 4, the recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie was Savarin which is located on page 416-417 in Baking With Julia.

For this recipe , I actually didn’t have a Savarin pan so I used my doughnut pan and made 6 mini Savarins. This recipe was actually really easy to make and the rise time for the dough was really short. I made some modifications to the recipe based on ingredients that I had in the house. The recipe called for pear water, which I didn’t have so I left it out of the recipe. For the raspberry puree, I didn’t see the point to making it when I only needed 2 tablespoons, so I tossed fresh raspberries with heated raspberry preserves. I think it turned out just as good. The Savarin dough did have a very yeasty flavor, but it wasn’t anything that bothered me since the simple syrup (rum), whipped cream, and raspberries balanced out the flavors.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Berry Galette August 7, 2012

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie is being hosted by Lisa of Tomato Thymes in the Kitchen and Andrea of The Kitchen Lioness. The recipe they are investigating is the Berry Galette, which is located on page 377 of Baking With Julia.

I decided to mix it up this week and most stick with just berries. The peaches at the market have been simple perfect lately, and that has to be one of my many favorite things. I am hoping that Mike will plant some freestone peach trees in the next year. We just planted some apple trees, which will take about 4 years to start producing. Which will be just in time for Emma to be old enough to start helping in the kitchen.

Back to the peach situation.

To keep with the berry theme, I decided to add a few raspberries.

Who doesn’t love the combination of peaches and raspberries. Peach Melba, yummmmm.

The Galette dough was very easy to put together and I accidentally made a full batch of dough. So I guess I will be making the Tomato and Cheese Galette tomorrow, especially with the fresh tomatoes and basil growing in the garden.

I did have a little leakage while baking the galette so I was unable to plate it because the bottom was compromised. But the taste was simple and perfect. The sweetness of the peaches and the tartness from the raspberries was a perfect match. The cornmeal in the galette dough gave the crust a nice texture and flavor.

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: Chocolate Cream Tart April 28, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Kim of Scrumptious Photography.  She chose Dorie’s Chocolate Cream Tart located on pages 352-353 in Baking: From My Home to Yours. This month has been full of all things chocolate and when all the members started to post on the message board about the recipe I got a little worried.

I really like chocolate but I think by the end of the month I was getting a little chocolated out.  A lot of members said that the chocolate crust with the chocolate filling was a little over powering.  Because of this I decided to use Dorie’s regular Sweet Tart Dough instead.  Also, because of temptation I decided to only make half of the recipe into mini tarts, which made 4.  To dress them up a little I added some fresh raspberries and whipped cream piping.

I thought that these little tarts were fantastic.  I am really glad that I decided to go with the sweet dough crust, and the raspberries really complimented the flavor of the chocolate.

Adventures in Wilton Cake Decorating Course 3 Class 4 Final January 29, 2009

I finally finished the Wilton Course 3 class.  Next month, I start taking the fondant and gum paste class.  So I am not done yet, and rumor has it there will be two new classes coming out 🙂  I guess they really want my money 🙂

Final class went by pretty smoothly.  I didn’t random scream any cuss words 🙂

I have been preparing for this cake since Saturday/Sunday.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Berry Surprise Cake January 20, 2009

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Mary Ann of  Meet Me in the Kitchen, she chose Dorie’s Berry Surprise Cake located on pages 273-275 in Baking: From My Home to Yours.

For this cake I actually decided to kill two birds with one stone and use it as my cake for my Wilton Course 3 Class.  I ended up baking it in a 8 x 8 x 3 inch square pan.  The first cake didn’t rise enough so I baked a second cake and it rose enough for me to divide into two layers.  I brush each layer with the Chambord syrup and  I piped a buttercream border and then filled it in with the cream cheese filling and fresh raspberries.  I covered the cake in Italian Buttercream because I am boycotting the Wilton Buttercream because it is just not as good 🙂  I took the cake to class, covered it in fondant, decorated, took pictures, and then took the fondant off and decorated it all pretty in buttercream and raspberries.

I think the cake tasted great.  I am glad I didn’t add anymore sugar to the filling then the recipe called for because the buttercream made up for the sweetness.  The cake was awesome.  The only thing I would change is that I would have divided the top layer of cake into two layers to make it a four layer cake.  I think the top layer was just a little too thick.  It was actually the first cake that I baked that didn’t bake up high enough.

Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte August 26, 2008

This weeks Tuesday with Dorie…

Drum Roll Please….

was chosen by Amy of Food, Family and Fun. She chose Dorie’s Chocolate Banded Ice Cream Torte located on pages 288-289 in Baking:From My Home to Yours. Just looking at the picture in the books makes me want to dig in. It is so beautiful. I only hope that mine will look even remotely close. The entire week I have been contemplating making the entire recipe or halving it and making mini ice cream tortes. I think I am just going to bite the bullet and make the entire recipe 🙂 .

Another Anniversary Another CAKE!!!! July 30, 2008

I called my Nanny up the other day and asked her if she wanted a cake for her anniversary. I had every intention of making her one it is just a matter of my PaPa, he is a very picky eater. She told me that I didn’t have to do that, but thank you and that she loved me. Well, later that night she talks to my mother and my mom convinces her to call me back and ask for a cake.

This gives me a chance to try my hand at something I have never made. I have found the perfect recipe; the Party Cake from Baking: From my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I am kind of iffy about making the cake, just in case someone chooses it for their Tuesday’s with Dorie entry. But I guess I can always make it twice. It looks like something yummy that I don’t think anyone would mind eating it twice :).

I am making it a two day adventure since I don’t have too much time in one day because of work. I could always cook it late at night. Late night cooking is the best. The kitchen is clear. You don’t have to worry about bumping into anyone or the pups because they are usually passed out on the couch or bed. This is especially important when you have an extremely tiny apartment kitchen.

Millions of Peaches, Peaches for Me July 19, 2008

I had yesterday all planned out.

08:00 wake up and make a peach and raspberry cobbler

09:00 run to the grocery store to get a few items that I needed for baking later in the week

10:00 bake more zucchini bread and the spicy avocado and bean salad – which I will post later in the week

Of course my butt was behind by an hour all day. I also wanted to do some laundry but that went out the window. I actually didn’t get up on time. I continued to hit snooze like I usually do and when I woke up it was 9am…CRAP. I laid in bed with my two little monsters and they looked so adorable. My oldest was sleeping on a stack of pillows and my youngest was chilling at the bottom of the bed. I wish I could have taken a picture but by the time I would have gotten up to grab the camera they would have been attacking each other in the living room.

You’re a Tart July 10, 2008

…a Fresh Fruit one

About a week ago I had 4 egg yolks left over from making a meringue and was trying to decide what to make. I found a recipe for pastry cream that used exactly 4 egg yolks. Now I had to make the decision of what to make. Do I want to make chocolate éclairs or a fresh fruit tart?

After asking a few people the answer was a tart. The end product was very pretty but the recipe needed some modifications.

This fruit tart has a lemon shortbread crust with a pastry cream filling and an apricot jelly glaze.