Crossroads

It's been that kind of week. No, I think it's been that kind of month. I feel like I can't keep up with much of anything. (School starting this week has definitely added to that feeling.) One of the things I feel like I can't keep up with is the Daring Bakers. I should be posting the August challenge today, and I haven't made it. Since I missed last month, I really need to if I'm going to continue to be part of the group. Which leads me to the question that's been sitting in my brain all week. Is it time for me to leave the Daring Bakers? I know it's only once a month, but it seems like I always end up leaving the challenge until the last minute and then stressing myself out trying to get it done. TWD and the BBA Challenge take up a lot of my time (no plans to quit either of those--I love both too much), and I want to bake other things as well. I joined the Daring Bakers to expand my baking skills and try things I wouldn't do otherwise. The recipes I've made have helped me with both of those. And I hate letting go of something that I've been a part of for a year and a half. But part of me is ready to move on (plus I get a lot of challenge from my other baking groups, too). I just can't decide what to do.

I don't have to work this weekend, so it's possible that I may be able to make the August recipe, though late. Guess we'll see...

Proof that I can bake well...

...at least according to Gillian. =)

It's been an interesting week of vacation. Vacation mainly in the sense that I wasn't at work at all this week. Thank you to everyone who's been sending well wishes for Jamie. (My husband who had his tonsils removed last Monday, for those who haven't been following the whole saga...) Thursday afternoon and Friday morning were the worst, but he seems to be starting to feel a bit better. Drugs are your friend...

One thing that has been good about this week is that I've been able to do a bunch of baking. I made a new batch of bagels (part whole wheat this time) to restock the freezer. I made another batch of cinnamon chip scones and shared them with Brianna's day care teachers. I made some more milk loaves (also some whole wheat in those), which I will get around to blogging one of these days. Of course I didn't get to everything that I wanted to (like challah), but I have more baking planned for today and tomorrow.

One of the things that I had deliberately left until this week was my June Daring Bakers recipe. I knew I'd have the whole week to get it done. So naturally, I waited until the last day again... =) It wasn't really deliberate, it just kind of happened that way. This week turned out to be somewhat emotionally draining, between Jamie not feeling well and having to deal with Brianna and Gillian (who were taking advantage of the fact that only one adult could really keep tabs on what they were doing, or not doing...). Wednesday went by, then Thursday. Before I knew it, it was Friday morning. I realized I needed to get my act together and took another look at the recipe...

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I wasn't really familiar with Bakewell Tart, but I did recognize all of the components. Sweet tart crust, I've made that before. Jam--no problem. I didn't have the time or energy to make my own, but fortunately I have access to some really wonderful store-bought stuff. Frangipane, that's a cool word to say. =) Actually, I've made that before, though it wasn't specifically called that. The "almond cream" in Dorie Greenspan's French Pear (or apple) Tart is basically frangipane. So I was hopefully that I wouldn't have too much trouble putting everything together to get the tart done before the day was over.

I started off making the sweet tart dough, which is similar to shortbread. I did it all by hand, as recommended. For adding the butter, the recipe suggests grating frozen butter into the dry ingredients. Yeah, not going there, since I had a bad experience the last time I tried that. I grated my well-chilled butter, though, which worked reasonably well. I tossed the butter and dry ingredients together, rubbed the butter in a bit, and then added the egg yolks and some cold water. I held back and didn't use all the water, since I didn't want the dough to be too sticky. I stopped when I could press the dough clumps together and have them stay. I formed the dough into a round, wrapped it in plastic and stashed it in the fridge to chill. It was only about 11:00 am at that point, so I figured I was doing pretty well.

Yeah, so much for that. I finally pulled the dough back out around 8:30 pm. At that point I had to let it warm up a bit before I could roll it out. The rolling went okay--this definitely isn't my favorite dough, though. It kept wanting to break when I was trying to put in in the tart pan. I probably should have added just a bit more water. But I got it done and popped it in the fridge to rest while I finished feeding the girls and chasing them to bed.

Next up was the frangipane. But first I moved the tart crust to the freezer so it could chill further while I made the filling. (I'm guessing so the jam wouldn't make it too soggy.) I took the easy route--I had picked up ground almonds the week before. I creamed the butter and confectioner's sugar together, then added the eggs one at a time. Even though I remembered to warm up the eggs, the mixture definitely looked curdled after I added them. But once the almonds and a bit of flour were mixed in, the batter came together nicely.

I took the tart crust out of the freezer and placed it on a baking sheet. Then I spread about a cup of my favorite raspberry fruit butter over the bottom of the tart shell (just eyeballed the amount). I put spoonfuls of the frangipane batter all over the raspberry butter and carefully used my little offset spatula to smooth the batter out to cover the jam layer. Then the whole thing went into the oven to bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F.

When I checked the tart at about 25 minutes, it was puffed up a bit but looked like it needed to be a little more browned on top. So I left it in for the last 5 minutes. Then I took it out and set the pan on a rack to cool. The puffy top settled quickly into an even layer. It looked perfect. But at that point it was late, so I realized that I'd be waiting until morning to dig in and take pictures. While I was drinking my tea and winding down toward bedtime, I figured I'd check out some of the posts on the Daring Bakers forum to see how others did with this one. That's when I started to scare myself. It's really hard to tell with a big tart whether the middle is really done. I worried that the bottom crust wouldn't be cooked enough or that the frangipane wouldn't be cooked through. I finally decided that there wasn't anything I could do at that point and went to bed.

The verdict? My tart was perfect! The bottom crust was done enough. The frangipane was cooked nicely. The tart raspberry butter was a great foil for the other sweet components. To quote Gillian, "Mmm! This tastes delicious." Gillian really did love it--she quickly polished off a (small) piece and asked for more. Brianna decided that she liked the raspberry part and the tart crust, but not the almond topping. I thought the whole thing was wonderful. I was kind of worried about making the full 9" tart, since I won't have a chance to take any to work or the daycare until Monday. But we've already eaten almost a third of the tart, so we'll see how much makes it through the weekend. I'll have to see how long I can store a piece in the fridge (or maybe freezer) so that Jamie can try it. It's going to be a while longer before he's up to eating something that solid.

I really enjoyed this month's challenge. It wasn't that difficult, but it was something I probably wouldn't have tried on my own. Be sure to head over to the Daring Kitchen to see lots of other amazing Bakewell Tarts. And visit Jasmine or Annemarie for the full recipe.

A tale of two strudels

When will I finally learn not to wait until the last minute to make my monthly Daring Bakers recipe?  Once again I found myself in the kitchen on the day before the post is due, finishing baking so I could take pictures and put a post together.  But hey, at least I'm not doing it on posting day this month! =)  I had originally planned to make this month's recipe while Jamie's parents were here, but that didn't happen.  Then I was going to do it on my day off last week, but I got sick.  And this past weekend got away from me, between bagels and brownies.  Fortunately I had this afternoon off, so there was one last chance.

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.  

My first thought on reading the selection at the beginning of the month was "Wow, now that will definitely be a challenge!  Strudel kind of scares me."  But that's why I joined this group, right?  Once I read the recipe, it didn't seem as scary, and it promised not to be too time-consuming.  Which turned out to be a really good thing, since I waited so long!  There really weren't any special ingredients needed.  In fact, the only requirement was that we had to make the strudel dough--the filling was completely flexible, sweet or savory.

As I was driving home after working this morning, I was still trying to decide what to make.  I've had some apples sitting in the bottom of my fridge for a while, and I figured I'd just use them.  But then I started trying to figure out what to make for dinner, and it hit me.  Why not make two strudels--one savory and one sweet?  I could divide the dough in half.  I was kind of worried about having too much strudel anyway, and I didn't think it would keep well.  

I mixed up the dough, which didn't take all that long.  It was very easy to work with, and quite nice to knead.  Since I knew it had to rest for a while, I left it covered on the counter while I went to pick the girls up from schools.  (It rested for about 2 hours.)  I was kind of afraid of trying to stretch out the dough successfully with the two of them underfoot, but I was running out of time.  And it actually worked out a lot better than I expected.  Before I started playing with the dough, though, I prepared my filling ingredients.

For the savory version, I sauteed some leeks.  Then I diced some red potatoes (skin on) and sauteed them as well.  I didn't cook either of them completely, but wanted to give them a head start to make sure they would cook through in the oven.  I also chopped some fresh thyme leaves and shredded some fontina cheese.

I got out my rolling pin, but didn't even use it.  As soon as I divided the dough in half, it started stretching.  I transported it over to my kitchen table, which I'd prepared with a floured tablecloth.  I stretched the dough a lot like I stretch pizza dough, working around the edges, and stretching it over the backs of my hands.  It got really thin really quickly, but I managed to keep it from developing a lot of holes.  I was pretty impressed that I could see the pattern of the tablecloth so clearly through it!

Once it was big enough, I drizzled the dough with some melted butter which I smeared around (carefully) with my fingers.  Then I scattered crisped bread crumbs over the whole thing.  I layered my filling ingredients across one end of the dough and trimmed the thick edges from all sides of the dough. (Brianna had fun playing with the scraps.)  

Then, as instructed, I used the tablecloth to help roll the strudel over on itself until it was all rolled up.  

I carefully transferred the roll to a parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzled a bit more melted butter on top.  Then it went into a 400 degree F oven for 30 minutes.

While that one was baking, I mixed up ingredients for the sweet version.  I diced a bunch of fresh peaches and put them in a bowl.  Then I added some sugar, a bit of freshly ground nutmeg, some ground ginger and a teaspoon or two of cornstarch.  I didn't really measure anything, sorry. =)  I repeated the assembly process and soon had the second one ready for the oven.  Brianna tried some right after dinner when it was still pretty warm, while Jamie and I waited until after the girls were in bed (our reward for surviving the bedtime shenanigans).

The verdict?  My mom is surely looking down on me and laughing.  This is probably revenge for all the dinners I complained about as a child.  Even though she tasted and claimed to like all the components that went into the savory strudel, Brianna refused to eat the finished product.  She picked some of the peaches out of the fruit version, but left most of that on the plate, too.  Gillian wasn't much better.  Jamie and I really enjoyed both.  The combination of flavors in the savory version was similar to other dishes I've made, so it wasn't surprising that we liked it.  The texture was very nice as well.  The fruit version was a bit softer, probably from the excess juice, but still very tasty.  

If you want to give this one a try, head over to Linda's blog for the recipe and instructions.  It really was much easier than I expected.  And be sure to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll for lots of other great strudel creations.

Dough scraps make great playdough. =)

Berry good cheesecake

So it would seem that April is cheesecake month for the Daring Bakers. =)  Last year, we had fun making cheesecake pops.  This year we have a different cheesecake to play around with.  The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes.  She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.  We had to use the basic cheesecake recipe provided, including a crust, but were free to play around with flavorings of both the filling and the crust, as well as toppings.  In fact, we were encouraged to be quite creative. =)

I've made cheesecake quite a few times, so I wasn't too concerned about the process.  The cheesecake recipe provided was fairly straightforward, though a bit different than the one I usually make.  My favorite one is from Rose Levy Beranbaum.  It uses sour cream, while the one for the challenge uses heavy cream.  And I usually use just egg yolks, rather than whole eggs.  I always use a water bath, so I was comfortable with that as well.

The big question was how to play around with the recipe.  I knew that I'd be making the cheesecake near the end of the month.  As I've mentioned before, I tend to be the maker of birthday cakes wherever I work.  One of my employees has a birthday on the 28th, and cheesecake is his favorite.  But when I asked him what kind he likes, he said plain!  Or maybe I should say, classic. =)  With strawberry sauce.  So I kept things simple.  The big challenge for me was actually making different sizes of cheesecakes at the same time.  I wanted to make a 7-inch cake to take into work, and planned to make several 4-ounce ramekins with the remainder of the batter.  

One thing I knew I wanted to do was to use a pastry crust, rather than crumbs.  I never seem to have good luck with crumb crusts.  The butter leaks out of the bottom of the springform pan, and it seems like half the crust always stays in the pan when I try to remove slices.  So I turned to my trusted source, Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours, and made the Sweet Tart Dough for the crust.  I used it to line the springform pan and four 4-ounce ramekins.  I wanted to make sure that the crusts wouldn't get soggy, so I baked them pretty well, until they were getting brown around the edges.  While I let the baked crusts cool, I worked on the filling.

I like the bit of tang that sour cream usually gives my cheesecake.  Since I wasn't using it for this one, I increased the citrus a bit.  I used the juice of one lemon and one lime in the filling, about 3 tablespoons total.  I reduced the vanilla to one teaspoon, and added about a tablespoon of rum as well.  Other than that, I stuck to the basic filling recipe.  Oh, and did I mention that I had the great luck to find Philadelphia cream cheese on sale for $0.99 a package?!  The filling was enough for the pans I'd prepped with a little left over, so I filled two little 3-ounce ramekins as well (no crust).  One of the difficulties with using a springform pan in a water bath is the chance that water will leak into the pan and make the bottom of the cheesecake soggy.  Part of my plan to prevent that was using the pastry crust.  Some people have mentioned wrapping the pan with plastic wrap and then heavy duty foil (the water bath keeps the plastic from getting too hot).  Instead of that, I put my springform pan inside one of the disposable liners I use for my slow cooker (I trimmed it down a bit), and then wrapped it in heavy duty foil to hold it in place.  The ramekins, of course, didn't need anything like that.  

I knew that my larger cheesecake would take the longest to bake, so I gave it a head start.  I put it in the water bath in my roasting pan and put it in the oven.  After it had been in for 20 minutes, I added the ramekins to the pan and set the timer for another 20 minutes.  At that point, none of the cheesecakes looked done, so I gave them another 10 minutes.  The ramekins all seemed pretty done then, so I took them out of the pan.  The 7-inch pan seemed to take forever.  I gave it another 15 minutes.  It was still jiggly in the middle, but that was expected.  I turned off the oven and left it in for 45 minutes.  The ramekins were pretty firm after cooking on the counter for a bit, so I just moved them to the fridge.  I let the larger pan cool to room temperature and then refrigerated it as well.

The verdict on the big cheesecake will have to wait.  But we did sample one of the little ones.  I briefly considered trying to take the cheesecake out of the ramekin, but quickly decided that wasn't going to work.  So we just attacked it with a couple of spoons.  For the topping, I diced some strawberries and sprinkled them with sugar.  I added a splash of rum and a bit of lime zest to echo the flavors that I added to the cheesecake.  The verdict?  This is a really good cheesecake recipe.  The texture is firmer than the one I usually make--not a bad thing, just a bit different.  That's probably due to the whole eggs instead of just yolks.  I'm glad I went with a simple approach--it really let the flavor of the cheesecake come through, which paired nicely with the strawberries.  Guess there's a reason why that's a classic combination, huh? =)  Jamie and I really enjoyed it.  The buttery crust was good as well, though a bit hard to get out of the ramekin.  It should be easier to deal with on the larger cheesecake.  All in all, definitely a recipe that I'd like to make again.  (Oh, and I lied--we ate two.  We had one of the extra 3-ounce ones to see how the cheesecake tasted on its own.  Really good.)

The recipe for the tart dough can be found in this article.  For the cheesecake recipe, head over to Jenny's blog.  And be sure to check out the blogroll over at The Daring Kitchen to see what everyone else came up with this month!

Daring to wait 'til the last minute

This month marks the completion of my first year as a Daring Baker.  I'm happy to say that I've managed to make all but one challenge recipe so far.  And I was really excited when this month's challenge was revealed.  A flourless chocolate cake.  It's been a very long time since I've made one (more than ten years), and that one didn't turn out all that well.  My baking skills were quite good back then, but have improved so much in the past year as I've tackled recipes for the different baking groups that I belong to.  However, despite all my experience, I still manage to leave things to the last minute...  Like this month, when I ended up making the recipe on the actual posting day.  (In my defense, I lost most of the past week due to tending a sick child...)

Fortunately, it doesn't get much simpler than the ingredient list for this cake--chocolate, butter and eggs.  A pound of chocolate, 10 tablespoons of butter, and 5 eggs.  So no, this is not a low-fat dessert. =)  I went with my usual brand of baking chocolate, El Rey, but chose a percentage that I don't often use.  I was afraid that the 58.5% Bucare would be a bit too sweet, but didn't want to go with the bittersweet 70% Gran Saman.  So I decided on the 61% Mijao.  Since the recipe calls for the chocolate to be coarsely chopped, I actually didn't chop it at all.  I usually buy the chocolate in discos, so I just broke them into smaller pieces.  I really dislike chopping chocolate--I hate how the finer bits end up everywhere, including melting all over my hands.  

The cake batter is actually pretty straightforward to put together.  I started by lining the bottom of my 8-inch springform pan with non-stick foil to make it easy to remove the finished cake.  The chocolate and butter get melted together.  The eggs are separated and the yolks are whisked into the chocolate and butter.  The whites are beaten until stiff peaks form and then they are gently but thoroughly folded into the chocolate mixture.  The finished batter is poured into the pan and then placed in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees F.

The recipe says that the cake will be done when the temperature registers 140 degrees F in the center.  Mine did after the 25 minutes was up, so I took it out of the oven and place it on a rack to cool for 10 minutes.  Then I removed the outside ring of the springform pan and inverted the cake onto a rack.  It seemed soft in the middle, but I didn't think that much of it until a few minutes later when I heard something plop onto the counter.  The middle of my cake was oozing out all over the place!  I quickly inverted the cake again onto a platter and tried to salvage what I could of the part that had leaked out.  I then promptly put the cake in the fridge, hoping it would firm up as it cooled.  Fortunately, it did. =)

While the cake was cooling, I worked on the ice cream to accompany it.  I've made ice cream quite often in the past, so I wasn't too concerned about this part of the challenge.  I did want to make something I hadn't tried before, though.  I turned to my trusted volume, Baking From My Home to Yours.  I've been wanting to try the Burnt Sugar Ice Cream, and thought this would be a good time.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, but added half a teaspoon of kosher salt along with the milk and cream, since I love the taste of salt with caramel.  I'm amazed how far I've come with things like caramel--I routinely multitask while making it these days, something I never would have done when I first tried it.

The verdict?  Yummy, both the cake and the ice cream.  Actually, particularly the two together.  The cake by itself is almost too much--it needs something to contrast with the chocolate.  The ice cream was fantastic--a great balance of sweet and salty.  I can definitely see myself making both of them again, though I'd probably save the cake for an occasion when lots of people would be around to help eat it.  Gillian really liked the cake.  Brianna did at first, but then decided she didn't.  I think she was expecting it to be more cake-like, and didn't like the texture.  

For the record:  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.

The cake recipe can be found here on Dharm's blog or here on Wendy's.  The ice cream recipe can be found in various places online, including over here at Jaime's blog, Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats.  And don't forget to check out the blogroll to see how the hundreds of other Daring Bakers did with this month's challenge.  

Tuiles

I seem to be waiting until the last minute with everything this month!  Though I think my TWD gingerbread is as last minute as it gets... =)  I deliberately waited until this week to make this month's Daring Bakers challenge, though.  I knew I'd be on vacation and I'd have more time available.

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

They wanted to give us something that could be easily mixed up from ingredients already in our kitchens.  I'm sure I'm not the only one who has been meaning to try my hand at tuiles, but just haven't gotten around to it.  We were required to use a specific recipe, shape the tuiles in some way, and pair them with something light.  

I knew I wanted to make some sort of cup out of mine to meet the shaping requirement.  I made some delicious sorbet last week that I could put in the cups, and that fit the requirement that we pair our tuiles with something light.  After mixing and chilling the batter, I took part of it and tinted it pink with some gel food coloring.  I used my small offset spatula to spread large circles of batter on my sheet pan that I had lined with non-stick foil (I love that stuff!).  Then I had some fun decorating them with spirals and dots.

I think I had the batter a bit too thick, and it took about 9 minutes for the tuiles to start turning a faint brown around the edges.  I think I baked them too long, because when I tried to shape them over a ramekin, they cracked.  So I made some more, baking them for a couple minutes less.  They were okay to shape, but I wish I'd been able to get them a bit more brown, for better flavor.  Later I had the idea to make some thinner freeform tuiles for a garnish, and I was able to get them much more brown.  

The verdict?  I found that although the formation of the tuiles looks fairly simple, getting a good result can be a bit more difficult than it at first appears.  I definitely want to try this again to see if I can get a better result.  I'd also like to try another recipe to see if I can get something that's more crisp while still flexible enough to shape.  Brianna and Gillian seemed to enjoy eating the pieces from my broken first attempt, and Brianna asked if I could make bowls like that again some time.

If you want to try your hand at this month's challenge, head over to Karen's blog or Zorra's blog for the recipe.  And be sure to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll to see what everyone else came up with!

2008: The year in review

Happy New Year, everyone!  Here's hoping that 2009 will be a happy and healthy year for all of you.  I've been fortunate enough to "meet" and become friends with some really wonderful people during this past year.  I really appreciate all of you who read and comment on my blog.  

In my Blogiversary post, I mentioned that I wanted to highlight some of my favorite posts from the past year.  Since I started my blog a week before the start of 2008, it works out for me to do a year-in-review post for the calendar year.  I had fun looking back, seeing how much I've progressed in the past year.  My photography has gotten much better--finding the macro button and indoor light setting on my camera helped a lot!  I realized that this was going to be a baking blog, rather than a general cooking blog.  I didn't really plan it that way, but baked goods are what I really enjoy writing about.  I also defined my writing style somewhat.  I tried some posts with process pictures, but I prefer to photograph the finished products.  And I've had fun figuring out how to plate and garnish things.

Some months I only picked one recipes, others I picked two or three.  I wanted to get some of my favorite pictures in, as well as the recipes.  So here goes...

January marked the first appearance of my kiddos on my young blog.  Brianna, in particular, likes to help me with things like cracking eggs and drizzling icing.  And sampling the finished products, of course. =)  Here we made her favorite Coffeecake Muffins.  

February is when I joined Tuesdays with Dorie, after seeing one of the great recipes from Baking From My Home to Yours on Peabody's blog.  To date, one of my favorite recipes that we've made is the Almost Fudge Gateau.  

February is also when I stumbled across the Daring Bakers.  I sent in my request to join, but my first recipe wouldn't be until March.  But I did try my hand at an earlier challenge, Bagels.  

March included some great new accomplishments.  I had my first experience with butter-laden yeast dough and flaming fruit with alcohol in the Brioche Raisin Snails.  

And my first Daring Bakers challenge was also a Dorie recipe--the Perfect Party Cake.

More Tuesdays with Dorie baking for April.  I started to play around with the recipes more.  A good example is when I made mini Lemon Cream Tarts.  I love the way the filling looks, swirled into the mini tart shells.

And I had a lot of fun decorating Bill's Big (or Small) Carrot Cake.  The cream cheese frosting worked well for the decorations.

May gave me an excuse to buy new bakeware.  Who could pass up an adorable mini madeleine pan? =)  I got to play around with the flavoring on these, adding some spices.  

And I picked up a new 7-inch springform pan to make a smaller version of the Peanut Butter Torte.  More fun with piping, too!

In June, I got to pick a recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie!  French Chocolate Brownies seemed like a great idea, since we hadn't had many chocolate recipes.  And it gave me another chance to make rum raisins. =)

I also started following the blog from King Arthur Flour, which is where I found the recipe for this wonderful Stuffed Cheese Bread.  Yes, it tasted as good as it looks. 

And I can't forget about my favorite Daring Bakers challenge of the year, Danish Braids.  It's probably a good thing I haven't made one since--I'd be tempted to eat the whole thing.  

For July, I want to highlight another Daring Bakers challenge, the Filbert Gateau.  I got to try several new things this month.  Like figuring out how the heck to get the skins off hazelnuts.  =)  I played with dry caramel (I'm used to starting with water and sugar, not just sugar) to make praline, which was used to make some of the best buttercream I've ever tasted.  Wow.

August was a month for ice cream, including this delicious Chocolate Ganache Ice Cream.  

I love reading other food blogs to find new inspiration.  In September, Mary the Food Librarian blogged about these amazing Breakfast Buns, and I immediately decided I had to make them too.

And I got to make my first Tuesdays with Dorie post away from home.  I made these decadent Chocolate Chunkers while we were in Pennsylvania for my sister's wedding.

I made my biggest mess in October, while making caramel for the Caramel Peanut Topped Brownie Cake.  The cake itself was so-so, but the caramel is a keeper.

And we celebrated Gillian's birthday with Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes.

November brought pumpkin.  (Okay, actually it started in October.)  And my favorite pumpkin recipe this year was this Pumpkin Cheesecake.

Which brings us to December.  I actually made Dorie's All Occasion Sugar Cookies a couple of times.  They were a big hit with Brianna's kindergarten class.

Well, if you've made it this far, thanks for reviewing 2008 with me.  I can't wait to see what 2009 brings.  More bread, for sure.  And hopefully croissants.  And macarons.  And who knows what other delicious baked goods.  Happy New Year!

Delays and cancellations

Check back later...  My Tuesdays with Dorie cheesecake is still chilling in the fridge.  I'll be able to take pictures and finish my post this afternoon.  

And if you're looking for the Daring Bakers December challenge, well, no yule logs here.  I just couldn't find the time to do it with all the holiday craziness.  Be sure to check out the blogroll for some amazing creations.  And I'll be daring again in January. =)

Sweet Caramel...

...Good times never seemed so good...

Thanks to this month's Daring Bakers challenge, now you, too, can have Neil Diamond stuck in your head all day. =)  After a couple months of savory challenges, we're back to sugar.  More specifically, caramel!  

I recently discovered the joys of salted caramel, so I was happy with this month's challenge.  We had to make Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting from a recipe by Shuna Fish Lydon.  Aside from having to make both the cake and frosting recipes, we were given a lot of freedom in this challenge--we could choose any shape, size, flavorings and decorations that we wanted.  I thought about making cupcakes, but in the end, decided to make a traditional layer cake.

The first step was to make caramel syrup, since it was an ingredient in both the cake and frosting.  After my past misadventures with caramel, I was particularly careful while making the syrup.  After reading Shuna's additional tips on the Daring Bakers board, I went ahead and added a bit of corn syrup to the water and sugar mixture for a little added insurance.  And when it came time to add the water to the caramelized mixture, I used a tip from Linda of Linda's Window.  She recommended cutting a hole in a sheet of aluminum foil, laying the foil on top of the pan, and pouring the water through the hole.  Worked like a charm to avoid being splattered with molten sugar.  Once I was done, I realized that I probably should have let the syrup get a bit darker, but it had a lovely caramel flavor.

On to the cake...  The batter was pretty straightforward to mix.  The recipe cautions that all the ingredients should be at room temperature, so I made sure to take everything out of the fridge ahead of time.  I baked my cake in a 9" x 3" round pan coated with baking spray (Pam for Baking is my friend) and lined with parchment.  I baked it for a total of 40 minutes, and it came out great.  The cake was a bit domed when I took it out of the oven, but as it cooled, the top settled until it was level. 

Next came the frosting.  A major component of the frosting is browned butter.  I melted my butter in a heavy saucepan, watching carefully so I wouldn't burn it.  Once I could see the bits of milk solids on the bottom of the pan turning golden, I turned off the heat and let it sit until it got just a bit darker (the residual heat of the pan is enough to keep it going for a bit).  Then I poured the butter through a coffee filter into a heat proof bowl.  I knew that I wanted a firm frosting rather than a looser icing, so after the butter had cooled on the counter a bit, I put it in the fridge so it would solidify.  Then I put it in my stand mixer and used the paddle to beat in the other ingredients.  I ended up using the full amount of powdered sugar (16 ounces), 4 tablespoons of heavy cream, 3 tablespoons of caramel syrup, about a teaspoon of vanilla, and a scant teaspooon of kosher salt (sounds like a lot, but it tasted great).  

To assemble the cake, I used my serrated knife to carefully slice the cake in half.  I put a thin layer of frosting between the cake layers and then frosted the top and sides of the cake, again not making the frosting too thick.  My decorating skills need some work, but it came out okay. =)

The verdict?  I only got a small taste of the finished cake, since I gave it away.  I took it to Gillian's daycare as a treat for all the teachers right before Thanksgiving.  They cut into it immediately and offered me a piece.  The cake was delicious.  Very moist, and with a dense texture.  I expected that, since the ingredient proportions were very similar to a poundcake.  Although a number of other Daring Bakers thought the cake was too sweet, I thought it was fine.  The frosting was definitely very sweet, but in a small piece, it complemented the cake nicely.  The browned butter gave it a wonderful flavor, and I loved the mix of salty and sweet.  I would happily make both again, although I'd probably use less powdered sugar in the frosting.  

Oh, and I forgot to mention...  The leftover caramel syrup is wonderful in tea. =)

Be sure to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll for more wonderful caramel cakes.  Shuna Fish Lydon’s recipe can be found here.  And thanks to this month's hosts, Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex of Blondie and Brownie, and Jenny of Foray into Food (plus assistance with alternative baking questions from Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go).