DB August 09- Dobostorte!

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

I've made a Dobostorte before and didn't like this one better, so I'm going to stick to the other recipe if I ever make it again. I did use the chocolate buttercream from my recipe because I already had it in the fridge. It's a whole-egg buttercream made with a boiled sugar syrup, and made even better with the addition of melted dark chocolate. I really like it and use it for other things as well. I'm using it for a wedding cupcake tower in just a couple of weeks.

I made mine rectangular because it's faster. I lined two sheets with parchment, divided the batter between them, and baked them for 10 minutes, switching racks halfway. I cut each sheet of sponge into four and stacked it with the buttercream. I cut it into six pieces and arranged them on a cake plate for serving. I covered long, thin triangles of sponge with the caramel and put them on top to decorate. I think they looked pretty fantastic, and tasted fine, although I wasn't a fan of this sponge recipe.

July DB

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

This month's challenge was great. The cookies turned out beautiful, unfortunately my camera hasn't been working. I needed cookies for a church event, so I made the Milans. They were really easy and I will definitely make them again. I made mine round, as it was easier to make them all the same.

June DB- Bakewell Tart Bars

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 decided to make mine with seedless raspberry jam (from the supermarket) and to make mine in a rectangular pan. I cut them into bars to serve at a lunch buffet tomorrow and plan to dip them in chocolate. I topped mine with a florentine cookie batter and re-baked for a caramel-y crunch.

Shortdough Crust
225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks (I used one whole egg)
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional) (I used vanilla extract)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water
Blitz flour, sugar, and salt in food processor. Add butter and pulse until it become fine crumbs. Lightly beat the egg with the extract. Add to processor, pulse to combine. Keep processor running while slowly pouring in water until just combined (I didn't need all the water)
Wrap in plastic and chill 30 minutes before rolling out and fitting in the bottom of an 11x7" cake pan coated with pan spray and lined with baking paper.
Spread with jam. Chill while making frangipane.


Frangipane
125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs- room temperature!
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour


In a standing mixer beat butter and sugar until fluffy and pale yellow. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each. Add almond extract. If your eggs aren't cold it will form a smooth paste. Add almonds and flour and mix until well blended. Pour into jam covered pastry shell.
Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes. While it's baking make the florentine batter.


Florentine batter:
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
3 T honey
3 T heavy cream
2 cups sliced almonds

In a heavy sauce pan combine all but the almonds, bring to a boil and boil until thickened. Quickly stir in almonds, spread over baked frangipane filling and bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until browned.

I let mine cool and then froze it to make it easier to cut into perfect bars.

May DB- 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 Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

This is the first of my DB challenges that disappointed me. I did not like the dough. I've made strudel dough before but this recipe was definitely not a keeper. First, the smell. I don't know why but it smelled like playdough, even after if was baked. Second, it was a pain to work with. I should have used bread flour and knew it, but the recipe said all purpose. Third, ingredients for the filling I'd planned on got eaten by someone, probably little brother, so I was left scrambling on the last day to come up with a filling and decided on sweetened cream cheese with lemon zest and juice, bound with an egg, as I had all four ingredients in the fridge. It did not get eaten and I felt bad for wasting food. Here's a picture of the horrid thing.

Cheesecake!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge. I added melted dark chocolate since we were having it for my dad's birthday and he loves chocolate. It turned out fine, but with a huge crack in it! I've never had a cheesecake crack like that before. The crack was 3/4" deep and several inches long, so I made ganache and poured it over the top. The edges were higher than the middle so the ganache didn't go over the sides but stayed in a nice round pool.
I'll post pictures soon, but they aren't on my computer yet.

YAY! for Lasagne!!

This month's challenge was a little out of the ordinary, but still delicious!
The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.
I've been baking for ages and this is one of the few times I've felt like I failed at something.
I don't have a pasta machine, so I rolled it by hand and it was taking far too long, so I gave up and used boxed no-boil noodles for half. I added a ton of mozzarella to the bechamel and added a ricotta layer because that's what my family wanted.
Mostly I made it up as I went, as I tend to when cooking. To make the meat sauce I first cooked a chopped onion and a few cloves of garlic, added a pound of bulk sausage, cooked it up, added a can of tomato sauce, a can of tomato paste, and a cup of water. For the bechamel I cooked a roux, added hot milk and cooked until thick, then added a lot of grated mozzarella cheese (I don't know how much, but I'd guess about a pound). I also mixed a couple of eggs into a pint of ricotta, then stirred in a couple of handfuls of grated parmesan. I layered it all in a pan, topped it with more mozz and parm, and baked. I've only made lasagne one other time, and it was several years ago and I don't remember how it turned out, but this one was good. I'd make it again, but never again will I make my own noodles without a pasta roller, even if it's just one from the craft/hobby store.

DB Flourless Chocolate Cake

YAY! for flourless chocolate cake
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

I made my chocolate cakes in heart shaped pans and served them with spiced ice cream and salted vanilla caramel sauce.
I used David Liebovitz's vanilla ice cream recipe, first flavoring the cream with the zest of one orange, a few whole cloves, two cinnamon sticks, and a few pieces of fresh ginger before making the custard.