Work in Progress

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.


I wish it was otherwise, but unfortunately this turned out a disaster for me. When I saw the challenge initially, I had fabulous plans for a whole range of beautiful little jocondes, filled with an array of ice creams, mousses, creams and fruit. Of course, as I normally do, I dawdled too long, and didn't have any time left to do half of what I planned. Then a heat wave struck Melbourne, and it was so stinking hot, I couldn't turn on the oven. The problem is my oven. Apart from being super tiny, it's thermostat dial has fictional numbers on it. I have a separate thermometer inside, but usually it takes me at least an hour's fiddling with the stupid knob to get the temperature where I want it to be. And in this heat, having a hot oven blasting for hours on end wasn't an option.

Cute little flower and dots

At the same time I had a sneaking suspicion that the challenge might not turn out the way I want it to. I've read other people's versions, and if they were having trouble, I knew I definitely would. And I was really reluctant to give up one of my Saturdays for something that might not even work. (The Fabulous Man takes our Little Girl out for the day so I can at least have a shower in peace).  But I did it anyway. And maybe I brought it on myself, but I was right. It was a disaster. Not the joconde bit, mind you. That turned out almost as good as I wanted. It was the inside bit. I decided to make life easy for myself and just make a simple chocolate mousse. The recipe I chose was Nigella's from Domestic Goddess. You know the one which is actually a cake, but she says if you want a mousse chill it instead of bake it? Unfortunately this did not work our for me at all. It was one big mess. It didn't set very well, and when I unmoulded my joconde, it all collapsed in one big sorry-looking puddle. It didn't even taste nice. Horrible gooey texture, tasting suspiciously like raw cake batter. I'll try the joconde recipe again soon and try to make it right, because it looks fabulous. This is not over.

Batter poured over design

Then I looked at the date yesterday, and realised that my blog is one year old! I felt I had to postpone my post about my disastrous jocone, and make something nice for the anniversary. Something nice, and something that cannot possibly fail. You see, for some reason, I have had a lot of mishaps in the kitchen recently. I'm not entirely sure what's happening, but I have obviously lost my cooking mojo. Not that I've ever been great, contrary to my lovely little nephew's opinion. His mum told me that he thought I should definitely enter Masterchef, and would it be okay if they give me my welcome home party when I leave the competition? But then added that it probably won't be necessary, because I will obviously win the competition. Don't you just love the ignorance of kids? I recently saw one of the Junior Masterchef episodes, and I'm telling you, there are 8 year olds who can cook me under the table.

Fresh from the oven

So, considering the fact that these days I do well if I make Nutella toast without burning the toast, I decided to stick with my Daring Bakers disaster for my anniversary post. Because I think this is the best example of my cooking at the moment. I have lofty ideals and grand plans, but  they seldom work out. Mostly I buy my food at the supermarket and cook something super easy for dinner. But, hopefully, I will get better, and the disasters will get less and less. It's a work in progress.

Finished Joconde

Patterned Joconde-Décor Paste

This amount of paste is a lot, so I suggest you make half the amount, at most.

 200g unsalted butter, softened
 200g Confectioners' (icing) sugar
7 large egg whites - about 200g
220g cake flour
Food coloring gel, paste or liquid


COCOA Décor Paste Variation: Reduce cake flour to 170g. Add 60 g cocoa powder. Sift the flour and cocoa powder together before adding to creamed mixture.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy (use stand mixer with blade, hand held mixer, or by hand)

Gradually add egg whites. Beat continuously.


Fold in sifted flour.

Tint batter with coloring to desired color, if not making cocoa variation.

Spread a thin even layer of décor paste approximately 5 mm thick onto silicone baking mat with a spatula, or flat knife. Place mat on an upside down baking sheet. The upside down sheet makes spreading easier with no lip from the pan. (I wasn't sure that it was completely necessary to turn the sheet upside down)

Pattern the décor paste – Here is where you can be creative. Make horizontal /vertical lines (you can use a knife, spatula, cake/pastry comb). Squiggles with your fingers, zig zags, wood grains. Be creative whatever you have at home to make a design can be used. OR use a piping bag. Pipe letters, or polka dots, or a piped design. If you do not have a piping bag. Fill a ziplock bag and snip off corner for a homemade version of one.

Slide the baking sheet with paste into the freezer. Freeze hard. Approx 15 minutes.




Joconde Sponge


85g almond flour/meal - *You can also use hazelnut flour, just omit the butter
75g confectioners' (icing) sugar
 25g cake flour
3 large eggs - about 150g
3 large egg whites - about  90g
10g white granulated sugar or superfine (caster) sugar
30g unsalted butter, melted

In a clean mixing bowl whip the egg whites and white granulated sugar to firm, glossy peeks. Reserve in a separate clean bowl to use later.

Sift almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, cake flour. (This can be done into your dirty egg white bowl)

On medium speed, add the eggs a little at a time. Mix well after each addition. Mix until smooth and light. (If using a stand mixer use blade attachment. If hand held a whisk attachment is fine, or by hand. )

Fold in one third reserved whipped egg whites to almond mixture to lighten the batter. Fold in remaining whipped egg whites. Do not over mix.

Fold in melted butter.

Remove the decor paste from freezer. Quickly pour the Joconde batter over the design. Spread evenly to completely cover the pattern of the Décor paste.

Bake at 475ºF /250ºC until the joconde bounces back when slightly pressed, approx. 15 minutes. You can bake it as is on the upside down pan. Yes, it is a very quick bake, so watch carefully. (I baked mine for 7 monutes at 230ºC)

Cool. Do not leave too long, or you will have difficulty removing it from mat.

Flip cooled cake on to a powdered sugared parchment paper. Remove silpat. Cake should be right side up, and pattern showing! (The powdered sugar helps the cake from sticking when cutting.)

Line the sides and base of your lined mould, and fill with your chosen filling.



Daring Bakers: Simple Chocolate Tart

I don't know about you guys, but to me, the sight of a patisserie with shelves full of fruit tarts is enough to make me swoon with pleasure, and want to jump on the first plane to Europe. Crisp tart shell, sweet pastry cream and fruit arranged beautifully on top. This month, thanks to the Daring Bakers, I learnt what the Italian  term is for this: Crostata di frutta fresca. How cool is that? Doesn't it make you want to say it over and over again? Preferably while eating some of said crostata? Also, sweet short crust pastry is called pasta frolla. I don't think I'll say short crust pastry ever again, when I can say pasta frolla.

Easy to make too. Tart shell, pastry cream, or even some sweetened mascarpone, topped with beautiful fruit. Except I've never actually made one. And I'll tell you immediately why not: it's the blind baking bit. I once made a chocolate pecan tart which required blind baking. It turned out absolutely delicious, except it was so fiddly I wasn't keen to repeat the experience anytime soon.

Then I came across somebody called Jamie Oliver. Baby Brother and I were in Amsterdam, taking a break from drinking coffee and looking at Van Gogh, and found ourselves in an english bookstore. The title caught my eye: The Naked Chef. I'm sorry to say I couldn't take the book off the shelf quickly enough. After the initial disappointment of not seeing any beautiful naked men, I realised that the recipes are actually pretty good, and I bought the book. Back home I realised the man is actually world famous, his recipes are great, and I started cooking. One recipe I've always wanted to try, but somehow never got around to, was his Simple Chocolate Tart. Chocolate, pastry, cream. Say no more. And to make things better, he believes that if you put your pastry in the freezer before baking, you don't have to do the whole baking paper-and-beans-thing. I was sold. And when this Daring Bakers challenge came around, I decided to make, among others, this chocolate tart. I also wanted to do the whole mascarpone cream and beautiful fruit tart, as well as a cooked pastry cream one featured in the challenge. Then I sort of lost track of time, and this morning realised with a shock that posting date is today. Hence, I present you Simple Chocolate Tart. And nothing else. Hopefully I'll get round to them sometime soon.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.


Pasta frolla

1/2 c. minus 1 tablespoon [105 ml, 100 g, 3 ½ oz] superfine sugar, or a scant 3/4 cup [180ml, 90g, 3 oz] of powdered sugar
1 and 3/4 cup [420 ml, 235 g, 8 1/4 oz.] unbleached all-purpose flour
a pinch of salt
1 stick [8 tablespoons / 4 oz. / 115 g] cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
grated zest of half a lemon
1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten in a small bowl
Whisk together sugar, flour and salt in a bowl.

Rub or cut the butter into the flour until the mixture has the consistency of coarse crumbs. You can do this in the bowl or on your work surface, using your fingertips or an implement of choice.

Make a well in the center of the mounded flour and butter mixture and pour the beaten eggs into it (reserve about a teaspoon of the egg mixture for glazing purposes later on – place in the refrigerator, covered, until ready to use).

Add the lemon zest to your flour/butter/egg mixture.

Use a fork to incorporate the liquid into the solid ingredients, and then use your fingertips.

Knead lightly just until the dough comes together into a ball.

Shape the dough into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill for at least two hours. You can refrigerate the dough overnight.

Line your tart tin with the chilled dough, making sure it is as even as possible. Wrap the tin in plastic, then put in the freezer for at least an hour.

Bake the tart shell straight from the freezer at 180°C for 15 minutes. Cool.

Simple Chocolate Tart

1 tart shell, baked blind
300ml  double cream
2 tablespoons caster sugar
115g softened butter
450g dark chocolate, broken up
100ml milk
cocoa powder for dusting

Place the double cream and sugar in a pan and bring to the boil. As soon as the mixture has boiled, remove from the heat and add the butter and chocolate. Stir until it has completely melted. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, stirring in the cold milk until smooth and shiny. Scrape all the mixture into the cooked and cooled pastry shell with a spatula. Shake tart to even it out, and allow to cool for around 1-2 hours until room temperature. Dust with cocoa powder. Ultimately the pastry should be short and crisp and the filling should be smooth and should cut like butter.

Brown Butter and Coffee Baked Alaska

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alasa or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I remember making Baked Alaska when I was little. I can't remember much about it, except that the recipe I used always made too little meringue (this was before I realised that you just double a recipe if you don't have enough). Years went by, and this challenge was the first I thought about this recipe again. Cake, ice cream and meringue. Can't go wrong, can you? Plus I don't need much of an excuse to make ice cream these days, after my roaring success with the chocolate ice cream with chocolate covered pecans.

I also remember once making brown butter biscuits. For some reason I was not impressed. A lot of trouble with not much of a result. I'm not sure what I did wrong. Probably I didn't heat the butter long enough (I usually err on the side of safety when it comes to possibly burning something). This time I did better. In fact, it was so good, I wonder if shouldn't just use brown butter whenever I need butter in a recipe from now on. Brown butter chocolate chip cookies, anyone?

For the ice cream, I initially thought about making a maple syrup flavoured one, but realised I didn't have enough after making some dessert the other night, which I'll tell you all about later. It happens to me a lot these days. I look for inspiration to use up an ingredient, then find so many good things I want to try that I end up having to buy more of the stuff. Like maple syrup. Watch this space.

Anyway, looking for inspiration in this wonderful book, I came across coffee meringue, and remembered a recipe I bookmarked ages ago. Vietnamese Coffee ice cream, recipe from The Master courtesy of Cafe Fernando. Except I forgot to add coffee to the meringue in the end, so this version has only plain meringue. Not that it was a problem. This ice cream is so bloody fabulous, I cannot urge you enough to get up, get in your car, buy some condensed milk and good coffee if you don't have any, and make this ice cream as soon as you can. It is that good. And easy. No fuffing about trying to make a custard with a one year old hanging onto your legs.

Also, this recipe had no problem with too little meringue. In fact, there was so much left over, I made some extra. Coffee (to make up for the previous forgetfulness), rose petal and vanilla. They were delicious, as meringues tend to be. Don't you just love leftovers?

Thus, revisiting a childhood memory, I bring you Brown Butter and Coffee Baked Alaska. A lot better than I remember. (Honestly, don't bother with the meringue. Just make the ice cream.)

David's Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream

Recipe from David Lebovitz
1 tin (400g) sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ( 1.3 oz or 40 g) + 1 tbsp dark roast ground coffee, divided
1/3 cup whole milk

1.Brew a very strong coffee with 1+1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of ground coffee. With a paper filter, that will yield 1 cup of very strongly brewed coffee. You can substitute with a cup of strongly brewed espresso.

2.Whisk together the condensed milk, espresso, milk and ground coffee. Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream machine according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Brown Butter Pound Cake

275g unsalted butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. (I used a round cake tin)

2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.

5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.
 
Meringue

8 large egg whites
½ teaspoon (3g) cream of tartar
½ teaspoon (3g) salt
1 cup (220g) sugar

Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar gradually in a slow stream until stiff peaks form.

Assembly Instructions
 
1. Line four 4” (10cm) diameter tea cups with plastic wrap, so that plastic wrap covers all the sides and hangs over the edge. Fill to the top with ice cream. Cover the top with the overhanging plastic wrap and freeze for several hours, or until solid.

2. Level the top of the brown butter pound cake with a serrated knife or with a cake leveler. Cut out four 4” (10cm) diameter circles from the cake. Discard the scraps or use for another purpose.

3. Make the meringue (see above.)

4. Unwrap the ice cream “cups” and invert on top of a cake round. Trim any extra cake if necessary.

5. Pipe the meringue over the ice cream and cake, or smooth it over with a spatula, so that none of the ice cream or cake is exposed. Freeze for one hour or up to a day.

6. Burn the tips of the meringue with a cooking blow torch. Or, bake the meringue-topped Baked Alaska on a rimmed baking sheet in a 500°F/260°C oven for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Serve immediately.

Daring Bakers: A Tasting Platter of Steamed Puddings

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Oooh, I love pudding! For ages I wondered what to make. The beauty of the steamed pudding (like ice cream), is that it's a blank canvas for whatever your heart desires, and the variations are endless. In the end I couldn't decide, so I thought I'll make a few. I initially wanted to make both the sponge pudding and the crust pudding, but decided that I'm not going to make life difficult for myself (more than I already am by deciding to make four different puddings). The Little Girl is cutting her teeth at the moment, and not sleeping that well, so I thought it's best to get in and out of the kitchen as quickly as possible. You never know when she might wake up and want some mummy time. Luckily this is one of those forgiving desserts. Abandoning it at any stage for an unforseen time is perfectly okay, and if it steams for a few minutes more, that's perfectly okay as well. My kind of recipe. As it turned out, the Little Girl is still sleeping soundly, even after making, photographing and eating the puddings, and now writing about them.

The four puddings I made were: White Chocolate and Raspberry, Dark Chocolate and Pear, Pistachio and Rose Petal and Pecan Nut, Treacle and Bourbon pudding. I loved all of them. The Fabulous Man loved all of them. But our favourite favourite was the raspberry one. I've always loved the combination of tart raspberry and sweet white chocolate, and this time around I wan't disappointed either.

I found that the 6 to 8 tablespoons of milk in the original recipe wasn't near enough. I ended up using about 12, and after dividing the batter into 4, I added some more milk to two of the batches. These two ended up a bit spongier (is that a word?), so next time I'll do the same. Alway go with your instinct.

I'm really glad with how well this all turned out. Steamed pudding isn't something I would've considered making before this, so thanks to the Daring Bakers for pushing me out of my comfort zone. Can't wait to see what's next.

Steamed Pudding Four Ways

100g flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
100g breadcrumbs
75g caster sugar
75g suet
1 large egg
10 tablespoons cold milk

1 tablespoon dried rose petals
4 drops rosewater
2 tablespoons chopped pistachio nuts

1 tablespoon cocao
4 tinned baby pears

1/3 cup pecan nuts, toasted
2 teaspoons treacle
1 teaspoon bourbon

1/2 cup frozen raspberries
20g chopped white chocolate

30g chopped white chocolate
3 tablespoons cream

30g dark chocolate
3 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons rose petal syrup (or make your own by heating 2 tablespoons water, 2 tablespoons caster sugar, 2 ml rose water and a drop of pink food colouring together in a saucepan over low heat until the sugar has melted)
extra rose petals for garnish

• Butter 4 ramekins, tea cups or pudding dishes thoroughly. Keep aside.
• Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Add breadcrumbs, suet and sugar. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk. If the batter isn't soft enough, add more milk until you're happy with the consistency.
• Divide the batter into 4.

For the chocolate and baby pear pudding:
Mix the cocao into one quarter of the batter. Place the baby pears into the bottom of the dish, and cover with the chocolate batter.

For the raspberry and white chocolate pudding:
Place the frozen raspberries into the bottom of the dish. Fold the chopped white chocolate into another quarter of the batter, and spoon over the raspberries.

For the pistachio and rose petal pudding:
Place the chopped pistachios in the botton of the dish. Fold the rose petals through another quarter of the batter, and spoon over the nuts.

For the treacle pecan nut pudding:
Spoon the treacle into the bottom of the ramekin dish. Pack the pecan nut halves to form a single layer on the treacle. Mix the bourbon into the leftover batter, and spoon over the pecan nuts.

Cover the ramekins securely with greaseproof paper and string, and steam for 1 hour.

Turn the puddings out onto a big  tasting platter. Spoon the white chocolate sauce over the raspberry pudding, the chocolate sauce over the chocolate and pear pudding, and the rose petal syrup over the pistachio and rose petal pudding. There should be enough treacle over the pecan nut pudding to form a sauce.

To make the white chocolate sauce:
Melt the white chocolate and the cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water until smooth.

To make the dark chocolate sauce:
Melt the dark chocolate and the cream in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of boiling water until smooth.