Sugar Chef

CASSIDY'S 10TH BIRTHDAY CAKE

2011-08-20T12:42:00.000-07:00

Another fun topsy turvy cake for an adorable 10 year old. Her favorite colors are purple, yellow, and pink and she loves polka dots. Her mom surprised her with this cake and her eyes almost popped out when I brought the cake into her party. That's why I do what I do.

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY 2011

2011-07-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

I made these fun 4th of July cookies. My husband said they looked like fireworks!!

BABY SHOWER CAKE FOR FAITH

2011-06-25T17:17:00.000-07:00

Cake

Art Piece

This cake was for a baby shower. They gave me a piece of art that would be put on the wall in the baby's room and asked me to re-create it on the cake. And here it is!! with the addition of the baby's name on the cake. It was not an easy task to make the cake look like the art! Lots of cutting and pasting with fondant.

The flavors of the cake were chocolate cake with raspberry mousse and fresh raspberries. Chocolate ganache around the edges to resemble the frame.

13TH BIRTHDAY CAKE

2011-06-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

This cake was for a darling 13 year old with many interests. Soccer, i-pod, mac makeup, so I made all of them out of gumpaste. She was so excited when I delivered the cake and had a great birthday party with all of her friends.
The flavors of this cake were chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and a layer of hazelnut crunch.

COCONUT CAKE

2011-06-07T17:14:00.000-07:00

This is the yummiest cake!! Coconut cake with Coconut Pastry Cream filling, Buttercream frosting and pure white coconut pressed into the buttercream. A coconut lovers dream.The Happy Birthday plaque is made out of gum paste, left to dry then stenciled. I love that technique!!

The flower holding up the plaque is rice paper dusted with luster dust, cut out and put on a Popsicle stick.

This cake would be a great Easter cake too!!

TOOL BOX CAKE

2011-05-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

The theme of this birthday party was Tool Time, so I made this "tool box" and some tools. It needed to feed 50 people so I made two cakes and stacked them on top of each other then covered all of it with the fondant. I used Ace of Cakes fondant and did not like it at all. I prefer Satin Ice but did not have enough red so I bought Duff's fondant and sorry Duff but I really don't like your fondant. I do like your food colors though.
Anyway, the flavors of this cake were chocolate and hazelnut. I received a text from one of the party goers that I am doing a cake for in two weeks and she said she wants these same flavors in her cake. It really was delicious.

HOLLYWOOD CAKE

2011-04-17T14:52:00.000-07:00

This cake was a referral from a very good pastry chef friend of mine named Yasmin. She works with Danny who wanted a Hollywood theme cake for a birthday party. This is what I came up with. When I got to Danny's home to deliver the cake his house had been transformed to Hollywood 1936. He had the red carpet leading into the house with bar tables, candles, and a photographer to take pictures of the guests arriving on the red carpet. The backyard had a white piano set up, tables with black and white musical motif tablecloths, a screening room for showing a movie and a huge Hollywood sign on the hill. Everyone was dressed in Tuxes, needless to say he had thought of everything. The caterer was Scott from NewLeaf Catering and it was great to see him again.
This was an opera cake inside the fondant and decorations. Love opera cake!!!

Update:
I just received this from Danny:
Oh PAM!!!

That cake was SOOO FABUOUIS!!!
I was shocked when you told me the top layer WAS a cake!
These are the kind of cakes i want from now on!

June 2...my Birthday!!

THANK YOU SO MUCH PAM! So happy to have you in my circle of friends!!!

XX OO XX

CUPCAKES & A CAKE FOR A BABY SHOWER

2011-04-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

This cake and cupcakes were made for a couples cocktail baby shower. They did not want traditional baby shower fare. Their colors were dark blue, light blue, dark grey, light grey and lime. I had a great time making the cupcakes and if you look close you will notice that each one is different. It was time consuming to make them but enjoyable just the same. The flavor of the cake was chocolate mocha crunch and some of the cupcakes were lemon with lemon curd and some were chocolate with a crunchy center. Both had vanilla buttercream icing covered with fondant.

ALLISON & JASON'S WEDDING CAKE

2011-03-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

chcI love this cake!! I just delivered it a couple of hours ago and it will be enjoyed soon. The flavors are: bottom tier, red velvet with cream cheese frosting. 2nd and 4th tier, chocolate hazelnut crunch, and the 1st and 3rd tier, white cake with vanilla buttercream.

The flowers were supplied by Joey from artisanevents.net

He is the best!!

I also loved doing the stenciled monogram. It is such a classy look, and perfect for this cake.

LILY'S 1ST BIRTHDAY CAKE

2011-03-20T20:23:00.000-07:00

This cake was for Lily the daughter of the Chef owner of Cooking With Class where I teach a class or two a month. She is adorable and I created this cake just for her. She was amazed by it and stared at it for the longest time. The top tier was her "smash" cake and I heard she had a great time eating and playing with her very own cake.
The flavors were: white cake with lemon buttercream filling and raspberry buttercream filling. I put a lemon simple syrup on the cake layers to enhance the lemon flavor. The cake was yummy.

GOLF BALL CAKE

2011-03-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

I live in an area where there are a lot of golf courses so when I was asked to do a huge golf ball I knew it would be a best seller. The flavors of this cake were chocolate cake with hazelnut buttercream. I baked two cakes in stainless steel bowls to get the rounded shape. I still had to do a little carving to get the perfect round. The golfer that ordered this was thrilled and said it looked exactly like she envisioned.

TRISH & JOHNY'S WEDDING CAKE

2011-03-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

This is a simple and elegant wedding cake that I did this past weekend. The colors of the wedding were pink and black and the cake blended in perfect with the room and table linens.
The flavors of this cake were white cake with vanilla bean pastry cream and fresh strawberries. I also put a very thin coat of strawberry jam on each cake layer.
I always like to take a picture of the cake at the venue after I set it up. I went to do it this time and my camera said "no card". Yikes, I had to run all the way back (about a half hour round trip) and retrieve the card out of the computer. I will be sure and check the camera from now on.!!

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE

2011-02-25T10:00:00.000-08:00

This cake was for a 90th birthday. I delivered the cake to Ruth Chris Steakhouse in Palm Desert. It was a chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and raspberries. I even snuck in some of those crunchy pearls I like.
I received a call from the woman who ordered the cake and she was thrilled with the look and taste of the cake. I just love it when someone calls after the party is over to tell me how the cake was received and that the guest of honor loooooved it.

POST VALENTINE

2011-02-19T11:25:00.000-08:00

This plated dessert was done for the Valentine dinner at Cooking With Class. It was a Hazelnut Crunch Heart Shaped Cake, Chocolate Ganache Truffles and Fortune Cookies. All handmade by Sugar Chef.

These are Red Velvet Cake Pops that I did for
Valentine day too. I also demonstrated how to make them at the Palm Desert Library for the Chef's at the Library series.

POLKADOT BABY SHOWER CAKE

2011-02-07T21:21:00.000-08:00

Another Baby Shower Cake!! This one was carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. I made the baby booties and block out of gumpaste. It turned out really sweet just like the new baby boy.

CUPCAKES

2011-01-30T09:04:00.000-08:00

SPARKLY CUPCAKES

Soon I will be teaching at Cooking With Class and this order was for one of their clients. It was a special order of red velvet cupcakes and vanilla cupcakes. The request was for "sparkly, girly, pink cupcakes". I made the bows out of gumpaste and found some silver heart shaped edible glitter, pink and white edible glitter plus those adorable scalloped cupcake liners.

Update: The client was thrilled and here is her comment:

"They were PERFECT!!!! Thank you so much! Everyone LOVED them, especially the birthday girl!"

WEDDING CAKE TASTING

2011-01-23T09:36:00.000-08:00

When you come to Sugar Chef for a wedding cake tasting this is what I do. In this picture is Red Velvet cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, Hazelnut Crunch Cake, Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake, and White Cupcakes with Vanilla Buttercream. The couple I did this tasting for loved it all and picked a different cake for each tier of their wedding cake.

ME & THE "ACE OF CAKES"

2011-01-21T16:07:00.000-08:00

I just returned from the Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and while I was there I had a chance to visit with Duff from the television show The Ace of Cakes. He was super nice and had a beautiful display of all of his new products. A couple of his assistants were working on cakes for demonstration purposes. The work they do is truly amazing!!

GIRLY CAKE

2011-01-14T13:17:00.000-08:00

Another pretty little cake by Sugar Chef. It makes me happy to look at this cake. So sweet and girly.
The flowers are made out of gumpaste and I added the ribbons just to make it a little more feminine.
The panels are embossed fondant and painted with pearl dust.
Those are Pink dragees placed next to the fondant pearls on top.

PANSY CAKE

2011-01-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

The Pansy's and Johny Jump Ups on this cake are from my garden. I grow them every year free of pesticides so I can put them on my cakes and desserts. It has been very cold recently at night and I have worried that my precious flowers may freeze. As you can see they are doing quite well thanks to the sun that comes out during the day in the beautiful southern California desert.

The flavor of this cake was lemon, with lemon curd, lemon buttercream and lemon mousse. One of my favorites.

BUCHE DE NOEL

2010-12-26T15:27:00.000-08:00

I love to make Buche de Noel's. This one was made from a chocolate roll cake and filled with hazelnut buttercream. I frosted it first with ganache then made it look like a log with chocolate buttercream that I combed with a combing tool. The holly leaves and berries are made from gumpaste and the mushrooms are meringue. The santa and trees are molded chocolates.

Merry Christmas!!

DOUBLE LAYER CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

2010-12-19T10:48:00.000-08:00

This recipe is for Rae and Cheryl and anyone else that wants a super brownie bite.

These make great gifts for any holiday and the leftover bits that you will have after cutting them out with a biscuit cutter will be perfect for serving over or in ice cream.

Enjoy!!

For the bottom layer

115g Unsalted Butter

70g Semisweet Chocolate (chopped)

1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

1 Teaspoon Instant Espresso Powder

Pinch of Salt

207g Sugar

2 Large Eggs

70g Unbleached All Purpose Flour

170g Toasted Walnuts (chopped)

For the top layer
225g Semisweet Chocolate (chopped)
115g Unsalted Butter
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
Pinch of Salt
1 Teaspoon Espresso Powder
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Large Egg
4 Large Egg Yolks

METHOD
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

For the bottom layer:
2. Melt the butter and chocolate together over a double boiler. Whisk & remove from heat
3. Stir in the vanilla, espresso powder, & salt.
4. Whisk in the sugar.
5. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition.

6. Stir in the flour and nuts.

7. Scrape into a 13" X 9" pan that has been lined with parchment paper.

For the top layer:

1. Melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler. Whisk & remove from heat.

2. Whisk in the sugar, cream, salt, espresso powder and vanilla.

3. Add the egg and egg yolks one at a time, whisking well after each addition. Stir until smooth.

4. Spread evenly with an offset spatula over the bottom layer.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. A toothpick inserted in the center should have a bit of moist batter clinging to it. Do not over bake.

6. Cool to room temperature then cover and refrigerate to make cutting easier.

WHITE LILLY WEDDING CAKE

2010-12-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

This cake is very similar to the Yellow Rose Wedding Cake.

The two top tiers were red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. The third tier was chocolate cake with chocolate mousse, fresh strawberries, ganache with crunchy pearls and the fourth tier was white butter cake with pastry cream and fresh strawberries.

I highlighted with pearl luster dust the lacy icing work on the second and fourth tiers. The light caught it and really made it pop.

This cake was really heavy but I lifted it myself into my VW, delivered it to the venue and it made it there in one piece. Whew!! It is always nerve racking delivering wedding cakes.

HOLIDAY PARTY GOODIES

2010-12-10T09:23:00.001-08:00

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

DOUBLE LAYER TRUFFLE BROWNIES

MINI APPLE PIES

These are a few of the items people have been ordering for holiday parties. I love this time of year even though it gets crazy busy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE.

QUINCEANERA CAKE

2010-12-06T09:48:00.000-08:00

This cake was done for a Quinceanera which is a party for a girl turning 15 in the Hispanic community.

Her colors were gold and pink and when I delivered the cake the birthday girl had on the most gorgeous gold gown.

The flavors of two of the cakes were chocolate with chocolate mousse and fresh raspberries and the other two were lemon cakes with raspberry mousse and fresh raspberries.

The party was outside at night so the cake was delivered when the party was in full swing. They were having a great time and I got to see the reaction of all the guests when they saw the cake. It was really fun.

San Diego Charger's Cake

2010-11-27T10:12:00.000-08:00

Did this cake for Becky who is a real San Diego Charger's fan. It was a lemon cake with lemon curd and lemon buttercream.

I don't follow football but I heard the team won after she received her cake.

Quilted Wedding Cake

2010-11-26T21:27:00.000-08:00

This cake was for a wedding at a winery two hours away from here. I was a little nervous about driving it that far in my VW. I took the long way around so I could stay away from the winding road of the mountain. It arrived in one piece, no problem!!

The bottom tier was marble cake with vanilla buttercream and chocolate buttercream. The middle tier was chocolate cake with chocolate ganache and crunchy pearls. The top tier was white cake with vanilla buttercream. I covered it with Ivory fondant and quilted it. The dots were lapis colored fondant. The bride and groom like to fish so they found this cute topper for the cake.

The Oak Meadows winery was a perfect place for a wedding.

BABY SHOWER CAKE

2010-11-13T13:21:00.000-08:00

This cake is for a baby shower. The hostess gave me the invitation which was the inspiration for the stripes. She also said she would like baby booties on top of the cake. So this is what I came up with. I hand made the booties and the block out of gumpaste.

The flavor of the cake is chocolate with vanilla buttercream tinted blue. I also made 50 mini cupcakes. Half were chocolate with caramel filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. The other half were vanilla with caramel filling and vanilla buttercream frosting. All the frosting was tinted blue and the vanilla cupcakes were tinted blue as well.

PINK CASTLE CAKE

2010-11-10T17:46:00.001-08:00

I did this cake for a little 3 year old and all she wanted was a pink castle cake. I heard she was thrilled and she and the other kids at the party were eating everything on the cake even the rice paper flags.

It was a marble cake with ganache and hazelnut buttercream fillings. I also put the crunchy pearls in the ganache for a little surprise crunch.

The cake only needed to feed 13 people so I made a 9" X 4" which would feed about 22 people.

It was fun to make and for my first castle cake I was happy with the outcome.

HALLOWEEN PEANUT BRITTLE

2010-10-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

I have been making lots of peanut brittle. 99 pounds of it to be exact for a Halloween order and here are pictures of the way I am packaging it this year. If anyone else wants some just respond to this post or send me an e-mail at pastrypam@hotmail.com and I will be happy to make some for you too.

MINI WEDDING CAKE

2010-10-15T08:42:00.000-07:00

This cake was done for Nicole who works at the beauty shop where I get my hair done. She was married quite some time ago but never got a wedding cake on her wedding day. So for her anniversary she wanted a wedding cake to celebrate with her husband. She had a very romantic dinner and evening planned and I hope this cake helped to make it extra special.
The flavors are vanilla cake, vanilla bean pastry cream with fresh strawberries. The roses are hand made by me out of gumpaste. I told her to save them as they will keep forever if stored properly.
This cake is so sweet I just want to squeeze it!!

FAYZIE'S TOPSY TURVY CAKE

2010-10-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

This cake is very similar to another Topsy Turvy cake I did but in completely different colors. I was a little nervous about the colors because I only had a bad e-mail picture to look at for the color palette. When I got to the venue I was happily surprised to see just how well the colors matched the table linens. There was even a gold underlay that matched the gold numbers and letters on the cake.

The cake was chocolate with a chocolate mousse filling and crunchy pearls. Covered with chocolate buttercream and fondant.
With all my fretting over the colors I am very happy with the way it looks.

Here is a nice thank you I received from the hostess:

"thanks for everything pam, the cake was beautiful AND delicious. and we LOOOOOVED the candy and peanut brittle."

HALLOWEEN COOKIES

2010-09-21T13:07:00.001-07:00

I love this time of year, the fall flavors like pumpkin, apple and cranberry, the spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, & allspice, the holiday cheer and these Halloween cookies I made last year.

So much fun!!

PEANUT BUTTER INGOTS

2010-09-05T11:56:00.000-07:00

This weeks Heavenly Cake Bakers project is Gold Ignots but I decided to do the Peanut Butter Ignots as the recipe was basically the same and I thought the peanut butter would be better. I think these Ignots lacked flavor so I doctored them up with a peanut butter buttercream rosette and chocolate transfer's left over from the cake in the previous post.

I took them to the beauty shop and they liked them. Most of the recipes in Rose's Heavenly Cakes are great just not these Ignots.

BANANA CHOCOLATE CAKE

2010-09-04T12:51:00.001-07:00

This cake was so good!! The cake was banana and the filling was chocolate pastry cream with fresh bananas in it. It was covered with chocolate ganache and homemade transfer sheet decorations. I put a little gold luster dust on the transfer sheet as I was making them and then I found the perfect gold candles to bring it all together.

The gentlemen I made the cake for was thrilled and called me the next day to tell me just how much he and his guests loved the cake. His inspiration for the cake was a childhood memory of his grandmother's banana cake and being the gracious man that he is he told me mine was better than his grandmother's. Now that is a compliment.

OCEAN THEME CAKE

2010-08-16T12:25:00.001-07:00

The flavor of this cake is by far my most favorite of all!! 4 layers of lemon chiffon cake with three different filling layers; lemon curd, lemon buttercream, and lemon mousse. Can you tell I like lemon?
The birthday girl loves the ocean and ocean themes. I made the shells, pearls, and grass out of gumpaste, the coral out of royal icing, and the pebbles are chocolate candies.
The cake is covered with three colors of fondant (green, blue, white) swirled together and is supposed to resemble the movement of the ocean.
Sure wish I had some leftovers of this cake!!

GOLF THEME BIRTHDAY CAKE

2010-08-07T21:58:00.000-07:00

This cake was done for a surprise 50th birthday for a man that loved to play golf but wasn't very good at it. His wife bought the golf cart figurine and I designed the cake around it. It was a fun cake to make. The cake was chocolate with my homemade raspberry jam, chocolate mousse with fresh raspberries in it. Chocolate and raspberries are just a perfect match.

TOPSY TURVY CAKE

2010-07-25T15:34:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for my accountant's wife's birthday. It was a surprise so I had to sneak it over to their house while they were out.

The bottom tier is a 9" chocolate cake with hazelnut buttercream and ganache fillings. I put callebeaut's new crunchy pearls in the ganache to give it a crunch. The middle tier is a 6" marble cake with chocolate buttercream and ganache fillings, and the top tier is a 4" white cake with vanilla buttercream.

I have decided I love 4" cakes. They are so cute!! I never used to make them because they were hard to cover with fondant but I just love their petite size and I think they balance out the whole cake better than 6" toppers.

I love how this cake turned out. The birthday girls' favorite colors are mint green and peach and she also likes gold. I added the lavender because I thought it went well with the other colors. I used an ivory colored fondant over the cakes.

I sure hope she was surprised when she came home to find this cake, I know I would have been.

CHOCOLATE BANANA STUD CAKE

2010-07-18T21:51:00.001-07:00

This weeks Heavenly Cake Baker project is the Chocolate Banana Stud Cake. We were supposed to "stud" the top of this cake with upside down chocolate chips. I decided to shave some chocolate onto the top instead. I had a wedding cake tasting today and decided to use this one as one of my cake offerings. I baked the cake in two 6" cake pans because I needed to put a filling in it for the cake tasting. The bride wanted strawberries, I like banana and strawberries together so I thought this would be a good choice. The flavor of the banana is very subtle and I didn't even tell them it was in there at first. The other cake choices were white cake with pastry cream and fresh strawberries and my all time go to chocolate cake with vanilla bean buttercream.The couple chose the white cake pastry cream combination. They did not love this chocolate banana cake, they thought it was dry. They preferred my regular chocolate cake and I will agree, it is more moist.I noticed after making the chocolate banana cake and refrigerating it overnight that the crumb was a bit crumbly upon torting it. Maybe that is why Rose's suggestion was to make the cake in 1 - 9" round cake pan. I didn't think it was dry just more dense than my other chocolate cake.My husband is eating the leftover Chocolate Banana Stud Cake right now and thinks it is great.

MINI VANILLA BEAN POUND CAKES

2010-07-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

After a long time away and many challenges I am happy to be back to participate in this weeks Heavenly Cake baker's project. They are Mini Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes. I wanted to try out this new mini loaf baking pan and this was a good time to use it. The cakes baked up heavenly as do all of Rose's recipes. The cakes have a wonderful taste and vanilla aroma and were very easy to make. The recipe called for a Vanilla Cognac Syrup. I made a Triple Sec syrup because that is what I had on hand.
Check out Rose's Heavenly Cakes for the recipe.

YELLOW ROSE WEDDING CAKE

2010-05-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

I have been away for a while, because my little dog Babycakes had to have hip surgery. We had it done in Reno, Nevada by a wonderful doctor that specialized in hip surgery. I have been giving her water therapy by taking her in the pool or bathtub and letting her swim. It is time consuming because after her swim I have to dry and comb her long hair. We do this three times a day. She is getting along nicely, in fact today we went on a long walk and she used the leg like nothing ever happened. I am so happy and relieved that the surgery worked.

I came home to make this wedding cake. It is 4 layers of white cake with 2 layers of coconut mousse and 1 layer of passion fruit bavarian for the fillings. The tiers were covered with fondant. The decoration on the first and third tiers is a copy of the wedding invitation on rice paper. I love the yellow roses!!

ANNIVERSARY CAKE

2010-05-07T17:25:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for a client's tenth anniversary. It is a tiny version of the original wedding cake I made for her ten years ago. Her father who is a chef instructor hired me for both cakes. I hand made (out of gumpaste) all the flowers on the first cake and he saved them, wrapped very carefully, and gave them back to me to put on this tiny cake. What a special memory for the happy couple.

The picture below shows a picture of the original wedding cake.

The flavor of the cake and filling is lemon. Yum! one of my favorites.

COWBOY CAKE

2010-05-01T12:54:00.001-07:00

This cake was for two little boys and they were having a cowboy themed birthday party. I borrowed a cowboy hat from my friend Laura of Paleo Women http://www.paleowomen.com/ to use as a model for the hat. Just in case you haven't tried Laura's Paleo Women granolas and cookies you should order some. They are delicious and very healthy.

The flavors of this cake were chocolate and raspberry. I spread seedless raspberry jam onto chocolate cake then top it with raspberry buttercream. This type of cake does not have to be refrigerated so can sit out on the table during the party with no problem. If there is any leftovers I would refrigerate the cake covered just to keep it as fresh as possible.

I put a little heart at the back of the hat and one of the birthday boys saw it right away. That made my day.

TWO FAT CATS WHOOPIE PIES

2010-04-19T00:19:00.000-07:00

This week's project for the Heavenly Cake Bakers is Two Fat Cats Whoopie Pies. I have been very busy lately and unable to participate in the HCB's but now I'm back and excited to take part.

I love whoopie pies, have made them for years, and these are very good. The cake/cookie holds it shape after baking and is moist and tender. I made mine mini using a truffle scoop and they turned out to be a two bite little bit of heaven. The filling is dreamy. I doubled everything because I wanted to pass them out to friends and clients. This recipe is definitely a keeper, try making these, they are easy, fun and fast. To guild the lilly these could be made with different ingredients added to the buttercream such as raspberry puree, caramel sauce, ganache, mint etc.

BALLET SLIPPERS CAKE

2010-04-09T10:35:00.000-07:00

I made this cake for a little 13 year old ballerina. Her mom used to do some cake decorating and could really understand and appreciate the time it takes to make a cake like this.

I sculpted the slippers by hand out of fondant. It is really hard to get two sculpted items to look the same. I started the second slipper about 5 times before I could get it to look the same as the first one.

The cake inside was chocolate with vanilla buttercream.

The little girls favorite color was Tiffany blue so I incorporated a little of it in the flowers. I think it turned out very sweet in appearance.

SUPER SIZED CUPCAKE

2010-04-08T11:45:00.001-07:00

The super sized cupcake is banana with vanilla buttercream. The little cupcakes are chocolate with the same buttercream and banana. This was for a very feminine little gal that loves cupcakes!! The little cupcakes were frosted first and then covered with fondant. I love the smooth finished look of these.

JUNGLE CAKE

2010-04-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

Wow!! This cake was a lot of work but I love the outcome. The 6" top tier was white cake with cream cheese buttercream, the 8" middle tier was carrot cake with cream cheese buttercream, and the 10" bottom tier was marble cake with cream cheese buttercream. The client loves my cream cheese buttercream so we designed the cake flavors around the buttercream.

REMOTE CONTROL CAKE

2010-03-27T13:13:00.001-07:00

This was a fun cake to make. The flavors
were chocolate cake with a filling of raspberry buttercream and fresh raspberries. I covered it with grey fondant and painted it with super pearl luster dust to make it look metalic.
It is one heck of a remote control, must be for a manly man!!

ST PATRICKS DAY CUPCAKES

2010-03-17T20:45:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone. Sorry for my absence, I've been busy baking but also exercising/dieting to get ready for summer.

I made these cupcakes for an Irish client's party. I used Rose Levy Berenbaum's marble cake recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. Frosted them with vanilla buttercream and covered them with fondant. The polka dots are royal icing.

The pansies are from my garden. We are now entering my favorite time of year SPRING!!!

DAISY CAKE

2010-02-17T18:27:00.000-08:00

This cake was ordered by the nicest man for his wife's 40th birthday. He found me on the internet and he lives locally so I was able to make the cake and deliver it to him at his work. From talking with him over the phone, to plan the design of the cake, I got the feeling he was a loving father and husband. He was so excited to do something special for his wife. I love meeting nice people.

It was a white cake with white chocolate mousse. The flowers are gumpaste. His wife loves the fleur de lis symbol so I put them on the side of the cake and dusted them with luster dust to make them pop.

I love the way this cake turned out, I love the colors and the design. Thanks WR for letting me make this cake.

FIRST BIRTHDAY CAKE

2010-02-13T21:11:00.001-08:00

My Grand Niece had her first birthday party today and this is the cake I made for her. It was white cake with white buttercream frosting. There were about 25 kids and their parents at the party and it was held at My Gym in Palm Desert. The theme was rock and roll baby so I decorated the cake with guitars, records, stars and music notes.

Here she is getting ready to dig into the cake.

BIRTHDAY CAKE W/HANDMADE TRANSFER SHEET

2010-02-02T13:13:00.000-08:00

I have been doing a lot of experimenting with cocoa butter painting to make my own transfer sheets for decorating cakes and truffles etc. For the one you see here I painted white and red cocoa butter onto acetate, let it dry then spread tempered dark chocolate over the painting. I let the chocolate partially set up then marked off squares with a sharp knife. I sandwiched the scored acetate between two sheetpans and refrigerated them for about an hour.

I really like the way it turned out. Making your own transfer sheets can save money and it is much more fun to make your own. The possibilities are endless.

BABYCAKES BIKE RIDE

2010-01-29T18:48:00.001-08:00

Just had to share this picture of Babycakes on our last bike ride. I love riding bikes either a Road Bike or the Beach Cruiser and now I have a companion to go with me on the beach cruiser. She absolutely loves riding. As we are sailing through the air she bites at the wind, it is just too cute.

I have her strapped in so there is no chance of her jumping out. The basket can be removed from the bike so if we stop for coffee she can go with me after we lock up the bike.

NANAIMO BARS

2010-01-27T00:01:00.000-08:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and http://www.nanaimo.ca/.

We had the option to make these non-gluten free and that is what I did. I did not want to buy all the different ingredients for a one time shot of gluten free baking.

These bars are very good but a little time consuming because you must first make home made graham crackers. The remainder of the recipe is quite easy. I cut them in small pieces because they are very sweet.

I took mine to the beauty shop and a Canadian woman was there. She tried the Nanaimo's and said they were really good and just like she used to buy in Cananda.

Here is the recipe the way I made it:

Graham Wafers

2 ½ Cups plus 2 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Pastry Flour

1 Cup Dark Brown Sugar, Lightly packed

1 Teaspoon Baking soda

3/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

3 ½ Ounces Unsalted Butter (Cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen)

1/3 Cup Honey, Mild-flavoured such as clover

5 Tablespoons Whole Milk

2 Tablespoons Pure Vanilla Extract

Directions

1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal. No chunks of butter should be visible.

2. In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Add to the flour mixture until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky.

3. Turn the dough onto a surface well-floured with flour and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours, or overnight.

4. Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be quite sticky, so flour as necessary. Cut into 4 by 4 inch squares. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place wafers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.

5. Adjust the rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit .

6. Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more sweet rice flour and roll out the dough to get a couple more wafers.

7. Prick the wafers with toothpick or fork, not all the way through, in two or more rows.

8. Bake for 15 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the touch, rotating sheets halfway through to ensure even baking. Might take less, and the starting location of each sheet may determine its required time. The ones that started on the bottom browned faster.

9. When cooled completely, place enough wafers in food processor to make 1 ¼ cups of crumbs. Another way to do this is to place in a large ziplock bag, force all air out and smash with a rolling pin until wafers are crumbs.

For Nanaimo Bars

Bottom Layer

4 Ounces Unsalted Butter

1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar

5 Tablespoons Unsweetened Cocoa

1 Large Egg, Beaten

1 1/4 Cups Graham Wafer Crumbs (See previous recipe)

1/2 Cup Almonds (Any type, Finely chopped)

1 Cup Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)
Middle Layer

4 Ounces Unsalted Butter

2 Tablespoons + 2 Teaspoons Heavy Cream

2 Tablespoons Vanilla Custard Powder (Such as Bird’s. Vanilla pudding mix may be substituted.)

2 Cups Powdered Sugar
Top Layer

4 Ounces Semi-sweet chocolate

1 Ounce Unsalted Butter
Directions:

1. For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

2. For Middle Layer: Cream butter, cream, custard powder, and powdered sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

3. For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

4. Cut into desired size bars.

CHOCOLATE TWEED ANGEL FOOD CAKE

2010-01-25T11:17:00.001-08:00

This weeks heavenly cake baker project was the Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake. It is your basic angel food cake with unsweetened chocolate folded into the batter before baking. The cake is then cut into 3 layers and filled and frosted with whipped cream. Rose suggested we put bittersweet chocolate and ground almonds into the whipped cream and then stud it with chocolate chips. I decided to frost it with plain whipped cream and decorate it with chocolate vermicelle because I think it made a more attractive presentation.

In my opinion as well as my husbands this cake was just OK. If I ever made it again I think I might add some orange zest to the batter and use bittersweet chocolate instead of the unsweetened. A little espresso powder might be nice too.

DIAMOND & PEARL CAKE

2010-01-17T11:53:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest cake. The client's theme was diamonds and pearls. The flavor of the cake was Carrot. Everything was edible on the cake except the crown on top of the pillow.

50TH BIRTHDAY CAKE

2010-01-14T10:10:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to show a picture of this 50th birthday cake I did recently. The flavor of the cake was banana with a pastry cream filling and fresh bananas in it. I love the pink and brown colors with the pearls.

TENNIS COURT CAKE

2010-01-09T14:40:00.001-08:00

Delivered this cake today to the Country Club where I used to work. It is a chocolate cake with hazelnut crunch, vanilla buttercream and french silk mousse as the fillings. Covered it with Vanilla buttercream and fondant. The tennis racquets and tennis balls are made out of gumpaste.
The netting is royal icing and the poles are gumpaste. Piped the net, let it dry over night and the next day I turned it over and piped it again just to make it extra strong

WHIPPED CREAM CAKE

2010-01-04T07:56:00.000-08:00

This weeks Heavenly Cake is the Whipped Cream Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. It was fast and easy to make with a light moist crumb. It has a vanilla flavor and needs no icing accept a dusting of powdered sugar. The fat in it is whipped cream that you whip before adding the eggs and vanilla. I used 40% fat Manufacturers Cream which Rose recommended. It also calls for cake flour which helps to make it even more tender. Many of the other heavenly cake bakers used beautiful bundt pans. I only had a generic one so I didn't even take a picture of the baked cake right out of the pan. I had just bought some berries so I cut them up, added a little sugar and vanilla and served them with the cake.

In the name of research I had a slice this morning with my coffee just to see if the cake dried out. It did not, so I guess I will have to try it again this evening to see how it is aging? This really is a wonderful cake to have any time of day. Hubby loved it too!!

WHITE CHOCOLATE CRANBERRY COCONUT TARTLETTES

2010-01-03T12:54:00.000-08:00

These tartlettes are white chocolate, dried cranberry, mineola zest, & coconut. I zested two mineolas and infused the zest with heavy cream by bringing it all to a boil and covered it for about 1/2 hour. After that I brought it to a boil again and poured it over white chocolate and stirred to melt the chocolate. I then added chopped dried cranberries and toasted coconut to taste. The recipe for the white chocolate ganache/glaze is here.

The tartlette shells are made from a standard short dough recipe but could also be made from pie crust. Bake the shells, let them cool then fill them with the filling while the mixture is still liquid. The filling will set up to a truffle like consistency when left at room temperature for a few hours.

These are a great petit four as they do not need refrigeration and are fast and easy to make.

BABYCAKES

2009-12-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

This is our new puppy Babycakes. She is a babydoll faced Maltese, she weighs in at a whopping 2 1/2 pounds and she is 15 weeks old. I have been waiting a long time to get another maltese and now Babycakes is here and taken over our lives.

FRUIT CAKE

2009-12-20T19:33:00.000-08:00

Well this is the kind of fruitcake I really like. It won't last as long as the traditional fruit cakes made this time of year, but in my opinion it tastes way better!!! I made this cake last week for my hairdresser. She was giving it to the owner of the shop where she works for his birthday. It was a chiffon cake with pastry cream filling. Frosted with whipped cream and decorated with fresh fruit. The berries this time of year are not as flavorful as they are in the summer so I glazed them with a sweet neutral glaze.

They were thrilled with the cake and even called me from the beauty shop as they were eating it to tell me just how good it was.

CLASSIC CARROT CAKE

2009-12-13T18:24:00.000-08:00

The Classic Carrot Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes was simple to make and has a lovely white chocolate cream cheese frosting that is easily made in a food processor.

The kumquats are from my garden, I candied them a couple days ago.

I make carrot cakes all the time so I was anxious to try Rose's recipe. My recipe calls for crushed pineapple, Rose's uses raisins. My carrot cake has some spices like cinnamon, allspice and clove, Rose adds cinnamon and cocoa powder.

The flavor of the cake is great, my husband loved the raisins. I put walnuts around the outside and on top because he loves them too.

We both enjoyed this cake, I don't think I will abandon my regular recipe but this is a nice alternative and I loved the white chocolate cream cheese frosting.

CHRISTMAS COOKIES

2009-12-12T20:03:00.001-08:00

Getting into the Christmas spirit making decorated sugar cookies.

FRUITS FROM MY BACKYARD

2009-12-05T13:18:00.000-08:00

Just picked this beautiful Mineola off my tree in the backyard. They are sweet and delicious and I feel so nutritious eating one right after plucking it from the tree.

Next I need to candy some of these kumquats.

PURE PUMPKIN CHEESECAKE

2009-11-29T18:45:00.000-08:00

The Heavenly Cake Bakers project this week was to bake the Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes on page 247. I bought some sweedish gingersnap cookies to make the crust from and added an extra ounce of cookie crumbs to the crust recipe. It seemed a bit wet without the extra crumbs plus it was hard to cover the sides and bottom without them.

The cheesecake batter comes out very smooth because a food processor is used. Great idea that I will use in the future.

After baking and chilling the cheesecake I made the caramel topping. I did double the recipe just to have a little extra. I love caramel sauce and this one is very good.

I would suggest cutting the cheesecake before putting the caramel topping on.

Cheesecake is not my favorite but all in all this cheesecake is very good and I love the caramel sauce.

BABY CHOCOLATE OBLIVIONS

2009-11-09T08:37:00.000-08:00

I love it when things just work out. I met with some clients at the restaurant about their dessert for a party. They wanted a tasting plate and one of the items to be part of the plate was a flourless chocolate cake. This weeks baking project from Rose's Heavenly Cakes and the Heavenly Cake Bakers were these Baby Chocolate Oblivions, which is really a flourless chocolate cake. Rose suggested we use a silicone muffin pan which I do not have so I decided to use this mini brownie silicone mold instead. I wanted my oblivions to be small for this tasting plate and they turned out the perfect size. I used a 64% extra bitter chocolate so these babies are rich. Rose suggested 60 - 62% chocolate. The recipe only has 4 ingredients, chocolate, butter, sugar and eggs and was very simple to make. After 5 minutes of baking in a water bath, Rose suggests putting another roasting pan over the oblivions and bake another 10 minutes. Because my mold was shallow I just put another sheetpan over the oblivions and baked them another 5 minutes. They came out perfect.

I chilled them overnight. To unmold them I dipped them in hot water for a minute and they lifted right out of the mold. They taste best eaten at room temperature.

When I serve them as part of my tasting plate I will put a small rosette of ganache on them and a little chocolate decoration but for this post I just sprinkled them with powdered sugar.

ROSE & MANZANETA WEDDING CAKE

2009-11-07T21:40:00.000-08:00

Delivered this wedding cake today and when I got to the venue all the power was out. Luckily I had asked my husband to come with me to help and he had to carry the cake up two flights of stairs in the dark!! He also kept me from completely loosing it, love that man!!

This cake was designed to match the centerpieces on the tables at the reception. They were manzaneta trees with red roses on them. With all the confusion I forgot to take a picture of the centerpieces but they were impressive. A company called Arrangements made them. I have worked with them for years and Ramon, the owner is the best.

The mother of the bride came in to the banquet hall as I was setting up the cake. She was thrilled and said it was exactly what they wanted. That is the best compliment ever.

PUMPKIN CAKE W/BURNT ORANGE SILK MERINGUE BUTTERCREAM

2009-11-02T00:37:00.000-08:00

This week the Heavenly Bakers made the Pumpkin Cake with Burnt Orange Silk Meringue Buttercream from Rose's Heavenly Cakes page 125. The pumpkin cake was a breeze to make but the buttercream is another story. There are three steps to making the buttercream, 1. Creme Anglaise, 2. Italian Meringue, 3. Put it all together with creamed butter, orange juice concentrate, orange zest and a little food color. I decided to double the recipe because it is just too hard to take the temperature of such a small amount of sugar syrup and I had a feeling I would need more buttercream to frost my pumpkin. I did have some left over but I am glad I made extra. This cake was not easy to frost. The little specks you see in the frosting are orange zest so it was impossible to get a smooth finish.

I used a 10 cup bundt pan and cut the cake down to resemble a pumpkin. I reduced fresh orange juice to make my orange concentrate and it worked out quite well. The cake is flavorful, has a nice texture, not too sweet and worked nicely with the orange buttercream.

I made my leaf and stem decorations out of gumpaste.

MACARON

2009-10-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

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 make macarons all the time and love them, in fact the picture below is on my menu right now. The macaron is the decoration and meant to be eaten by the lucky diner that orders the cookie plate. The filling for the macaron is passion fruit buttercream.

The macarons that I made for this challenge have a ganache filling in the yellow one, a caramel filling in the green one and an orange buttercream in the orange one.

They can be a little tricky to make so don't be disappointed if they aren't perfect the first time, just keep trying and they will eventually turn out the way they should. It's all in the folding of the dry ingredients into the egg white sugar mixture. Under folding will produce a macaron that is not perfectly smooth on top and over folding will not produce the "feet". I also like to let the piped unbaked macarons sit at room temperature for about an hour before baking.

Ingredients

2 1/4 Cups Powdered Sugar

2 cups Almond Flour

2 Tablespoons Granulated Sugar

5 Egg Whites (Have at room temperature)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F . Combine the powdered 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 over fold, 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 at 200 degrees. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F. 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.

Fillings

Passion Fruit Puree & Buttercream mixed to taste

Caramel

Ganache

APPLE UPSIDE DOWN CAKE

2009-10-18T21:13:00.000-07:00

My kitchen smells heavenly because I just baked a heavenly cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. The cake I baked is the Apple Upside Down Cake on page 9 of the book. I am a member of the Heavenly Cake Bakers and we are baking our way through Rose's book.

I decided to use Golden Delicious Apples which was one of the choices Rose gave. We were to peel, core and slice the apples and put them in a bowl with lemon juice and some brown sugar. They were to sit for at least 1/2 hour so they had time to release their juices. I let them sit for about an hour and only a few juices were at the bottom of the bowl. I decided to cook them a little so more juices would come out. It worked, and I drained the apples, added the juice to the pan with the butter and more brown sugar to make a caramel. Then I put the caramelized juices in the prepared pan and layered the apples over the caramel.

I put my baking stone into the oven and heated it up to 350 degrees while I made the cake batter. The batter was easy to make, using Rose's technique of adding the butter to the flour mixture, instead of creaming the butter first. I love cake batter, so in the name of research I took a spoonful of it. Yum!! The rest of the batter was plopped on the top of the apples and spread to even it out. I baked the cake right on top of the stone in a regular oven for 45 minutes. As soon as I took it out of the oven I inverted it onto the platter. I lifted off the cake pan and was left with a perfect cake. I put on the toasted walnuts, cut into it and ate the most heavenly piece of warm Apple Upside Down Cake.

BARCELONA BROWNIE BARS

2009-10-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

This is my first Heavenly Cake Baker challenge. The choice for this week is Barcelona Brownie Bars on page 367 of Rose Levy Beranbaum's new book "Heavenly Cakes". They are in the oven right now as I am typing this.

The brownies were a breeze to make, you could make them by hand if you don't have a mixer. For the chocolate I used Valrhona Caraibe which is a 66% chocolate. For the pinch of salt I used Fleur de Sel a French sea salt that I love. To add the cream cheese I took a small amount of the batter and mixed it into the cream cheese then returned the mixture to the remaining batter. This helps to incorporate the cream cheese better into the batter.

I did not have a financier mold, (go figure a pastry chef without a financier mold), but I did have that nifty Wilton brownie silicone mold. I bought that mold to use for other dessert preperations but it came in handy for this challenge. I used a mini muffin pan for the extra batter. The mini muffin pan baked the brownies in exactly 15 minutes but the silicone mold took 17 minutes.

I did put the ganache plugs in after baking which was optional but I thought it was a good idea.

The brownies are moist and delicious!!! Lots of chocolate flavor!!!

The recipe made 34 pieces of chocolate, pecan heaven. Thanks Rose for another great recipe!!

HEAVENLY CAKE BAKER

2009-10-03T21:30:00.000-07:00

I just joined a new group, "The Heavenly Cake Bakers. We will be baking from Rose Levy Beranbaum's latest book Heavenly Cakes. Marie at Heavenly Cake Place started the group and I was one of the lucky bloggers to get a free autographed copy of the book. I will be baking at least two recipes from the book each month and posting pictures and a story about my experience. Marie chooses 4 recipes each month that we can pick from.
It should be a lot of fun so stay tuned for some scrumptious pictures. We won't be publishing the recipes because they are all in Rose's book and you just must get your own copy. I have all her other books and they are very good, well written and the recipes work. You can also join the Heavenly Cake Bakers just head on over to Marie's blog for the rules and to sign up (just clic on the widget below). When you get there you will see a little video clip of Rose promoting her book and the Heavenly Cake Bakers. She plans on visiting our blogs to see how we like her recipes.

CARROT SHEETCAKE

2009-09-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Just want to show a cake I made last weekend. It was a carrot cake to feed 40 people. Filled it with cream cheese frosting and frosted it with vanilla buttercream. The flowers are made out of gumpaste with royal icing centers. The sides have toasted chopped walnuts pressed into the buttercream.

VOLS-AU-VENT

2009-09-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

I made my puff pastry early in the month and baked off a little of it just to see if it rose properly. It did so I froze the rest to use at a later date.

So the night before the reveal date in the middle of making a half sheet cake and 200 truffles I remembered that I needed to finish my challenge. Luckily I remembered I had some peaches in the freezer that my husband had cut up. I pulled them out along with some white peach puree and let them thaw. Then I cut the peaches into 1/4" dice. I put about 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan, 1/2 cup peach puree and 1 half vanilla bean. I let this come to a caramel then threw in the peaches. I cooked them for about 5 minutes then deglazed the pan with a little more peach puree. Then I squeezed about a quarter of a lemon in the mix.

I baked off the vols-au-vent and put the peaches and sauce in it, sprinkled a few pistachios on the plate and when my husband gets home from work he will have this dessert waiting for him. He will be one happy camper because it tastes and smells heavenly.

Check out the host's site above for a printable version of the recipe and how to make the vols-au-vents.

Below is the recipe for making the puff pastry that we were given

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour

1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)

1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water

1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter
plus extra flour for dusting work surface

Mixing the Dough:
Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.
Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)
Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

INCORPORATING THE BUTTER:
Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.
Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.
To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.

MAKING THE TURNS:
Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).
With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.
Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

CHILLING THE DOUGH:
If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.
The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Above is the finished puff pastry and you can see the layering.

FOCACCIA

2009-09-19T19:42:00.000-07:00

I made this beautiful tray of Focaccia this evening. I just had to share it. Nothing smells better than fresh baked bread right out of the oven. I can't wait for my husband to get home from work. He will probably eat half of what you see here.

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast or Instant Yeast

1 Tablespoon Sugar

2 Cups Warm Water (105 - 115 deg) If using instant yeast have water at about 70 degrees

16 1/2 Ounces Unbleached Bread Flour

1 Tablespoon Salt

6 - 8 ounces Unbleached All Purpose Flour

Can add garlic and herbs to the dough

METHOD

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand 10 minutes. If using instant yeast you can skip this procedure.

2. Add 16 1/2 Ounces Bread Flour and beat with paddle attachment for about 3 minutes or until smooth.

3. Switch to the dough hook and add unbleached flour 1/2 cup at a time until desired consistency. Dough should be slightly tacky.

4. Knead for 5 minutes or until proper gluten development. Do a window test.

5. Round dough and place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise to double. 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

6. Punch dough down and allow to rise again, then punch down.

7. Oil a sheetpan with olive oil and place dough onto it stretching it to fit the sheetpan. Let it rest and stretch some more. When it is the size of the sheetpan brush with oil and put caramelized onions and any other toppings and let it rise a little, no more than 1/2 hour.

8. With your fingertips dimple the dough and spread with olive oil.

9. Bake at 450 degrees until bottom is nicely browned.

Toppings: Any combination of Caramelized Onion, Sundried Tomatoes, oregano leaves, chives, garlic, rosemary, sage, coarse salt, basil, olives, parsley, sauteed bell peppers, shallots, parmesan cheese etc.

CHOCOLATE COVERED HAZELNUT COOKIES/CANDY

2009-08-31T16:50:00.000-07:00

This recipe is adapted from Pierre Herme's Chocolate Covered Crunchy Hazelnut Cookies from his book "Chocolate Desserts". They are really a cross between a cookie and a candy. My husband definitely thinks they are candy and he loves them. When you bake these cookies they spread a little. So I cut off the excess gave it a whirl in my food processor and sprinkled this on top of the cookies/candy after dipping them in tempered chocolate. They are really yummy and worth making.

HAZELNUT COOKIES/CANDIES

INGREDIENTS
1 Tablespoon Instant Espresso
1 Tablespoon Boiling Water
3 Large Egg Whites (room temperature)
400g Powdered Sugar (sifted)
400g Blanched Hazelnuts (toasted and coarsely chopped)

METHOD
1. Dissolve the instant espresso into the water and set aside to cool.
2. Put all of the ingredients into a stainless steel bowl and set this over a pan of simmering water. Heat the batter, stirring until it reaches 138 degrees.
3. Pour into spacer bars 8" X 12". Batter should be about 1" thick. Cool to room temperature.
4. Cut the block of cooled batter into 3/4" squares and place them on parchment lined baking sheets about 2" apart.
5. Bake at 275 degrees in a convection oven for 18 - 22 minutes turning, half way through the baking time. When done the cookies should be golden, dry and uniformly dull. Remove from oven and cool to room temperature.
6. Dip the cookies in tempered chocolate and sprinkle a little of the *hazelnut dust on top of the chocolate. Put the cookies in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes to set the chocolate then store them at room temperature in an airtight container.

DOBOS TORTE

2009-08-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

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 Kaffeehause: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Caffes of Vienna, Budapest and Prague.

In culinary school we had to make this torte before we could graduate. I didn't like it then and I still don't like it. It is easy to make but just not my bag. This recipe called for too much lemon juice when making the caramel for the top so if any one decides to make this just to check it out please reduce the lemon juice. I think 1 teaspoon would be enough.

A better recipe for this torte is listed here. I had to make it a couple of times at my last job and that is the recipe I used.

When I make a daring baker recipe I like to do it and record it as it was written for us. If I decide to make the item again that is when I will tweak the recipe to my liking. As you may surmise, I won't be making this one again.

The one element I did like was the chocolate buttercream, just be sure to whisk it long enough after all the butter is incorporated so it comes together and looks and spreads like a buttercream frosting.

Sponge cake layers

6 Large Eggs, separated at room temperature
1 1/3 cups (162g) confectioner's (icing) sugar, divided 2/3 Cup & 2/3 Cup

1 teaspoon (5ml) vanilla extract

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (112g) sifted cake flour (SUBSTITUTE 95g plain flour + 17g cornflour (cornstarch) sifted together)
pinch of salt

Chocolate Buttercream

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup (200g) caster (ultrafine or superfine white) sugar

4oz (110g) bakers chocolate or your favourite dark chocolate, finely chopped

2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (250g) unsalted butter, at room temperature.

Caramel topping

1 cup (200g) caster (superfine or ultrafine white) sugar

12 tablespoons (180 ml) water

8 teaspoons (40 ml) lemon juice

1 tablespoon neutral oil (e.g. grapeseed, rice bran, sunflowe

Directions for the sponge layers:

NB. The sponge layers can be prepared in advance and stored interleaved with parchment and well-wrapped in the fridge overnight.

1. Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F (200C).
2. Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit the baking sheets. Using the bottom of a 9" (23cm) springform tin as a template and a dark pencil or a pen, trace a circle on each of the papers, and turn them over (the circle should be visible from the other side, so that the graphite or ink doesn't touch the cake batter.)
3. Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup (81g) of the confectioner's (icing) sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes. (You can do this step with a balloon whisk if you don't have a mixer.)

4. In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 2/3 cup (81g) of confectioner's (icing)sugar until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remainder, leaving a few wisps of white visible. Combine the flour and salt. Sift half the flour over the eggs, and fold in; repeat with the remaining flour.
5. Line one of the baking sheets with a circle-marked paper. Using a small offset spatula, spread about 3/4cup of the batter in an even layer, filling in the traced circle on one baking sheet. Bake on the top rack for 5 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the centre and the edges are lightly browned. While this cake bakes, repeat the process on the other baking sheet, placing it on the centre rack. When the first cake is done, move the second cake to the top rack. Invert the first cake onto a flat surface and carefully peel off the paper. Slide the cake layer back onto the paper and let stand until cool. Rinse the baking sheet under cold running water to cool, and dry it before lining with another parchment. Continue with the remaining papers and batter to make a total of six layers. Completely cool the layers. Using an 8" springform pan bottom or plate as a template, trim each cake layer into a neat round. (A small serrated knife is best for this task.)

Directions for the chocolate buttercream:

NB. This can be prepared in advance and kept chilled until required.

1. Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.
2. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.
3. Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit. Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.
4. Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.
5. When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons/30g) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.

Lorraine's note: If you're in Winter just now your butter might not soften enough at room temperature, which leads to lumps forming in the buttercream. Male sure the butter is of a very soft texture I.e. running a knife through it will provide little resistance, before you try to beat it into the chocolate mixture. Also, if you beat the butter in while the chocolate mixture is hot you'll end up with more of a ganache than a buttercream!
Directions for the caramel topping:

1. Choose the best-looking cake layer for the caramel top. To make the caramel topping: Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. Place the reserved cake layer on the paper. Score the cake into 12 equal wedges. Lightly oil a thin, sharp knife and an offset metal spatula.
2. Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved into a smooth syrup, turn the heat up to high and boil without stirring, swirling the pan by the handle occasionally and washing down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet brush until the syrup has turned into an amber-coloured caramel.
3. The top layer is perhaps the hardest part of the whole cake so make sure you have a oiled, hot offset spatula ready. I also find it helps if the cake layer hasn't just been taken out of the refrigerator. I made mine ahead of time and the cake layer was cold and the toffee set very, very quickly—too quickly for me to spread it. Immediately pour all of the hot caramel over the cake layer. You will have some leftover most probably but more is better than less and you can always make nice toffee pattern using the extra to decorate. Using the offset spatula, quickly spread the caramel evenly to the edge of the cake layer. Let cool until beginning to set, about 30 seconds. Using the tip of the hot oiled knife (keep re-oiling this with a pastry brush between cutting), cut through the scored marks to divide the caramel layer into 12 equal wedges. Cool another minute or so, then use the edge of the knife to completely cut and separate the wedges using one firm slice movement (rather than rocking back and forth which may produce toffee strands). Cool completely.

Angela's note: I recommend cutting, rather than scoring, the cake layer into wedges before covering in caramel (reform them into a round). If you have an 8” silicon round form, then I highly recommend placing the wedges in that for easy removal later and it also ensures that the caramel stays on the cake layer. Once set, use a very sharp knife to separate the wedges.
Assembling the Dobos

1. Divide the buttercream into six equal parts.
2. Place a dab of chocolate buttercream on the middle of a 7 1/2” cardboard round and top with one cake layer. Spread the layer with one part of the chocolate icing. Repeat with 4 more cake layers. Spread the remaining icing on the sides of the cake.
3. Optional: press the finely chopped hazelnuts onto the sides of the cake.
4. Propping a hazelnut under each wedge so that it sits at an angle, arrange the wedges on top of the cake in a spoke pattern. If you have any leftover buttercream, you can pipe rosettes under each hazelnut or a large rosette in the centre of the cake. Refrigerate the cake under a cake dome until the icing is set, about 2 hours. Let slices come to room temperature for the best possible flavour

MOLDED TRUFFLES

2009-08-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to play with my chocolate molds. All these molds came from Chef Rubber a company in Las Vegas that I visit whenever I am there. I treat myself to a new mold each time I visit. I love making candy and the techniques used here were an experiment. I sprayed the molds first with colored cocoa butter. I started with yellow, then red, then white. Except the hearts and they were sprayed with red only. The cocoa butter has to be in temper before spraying. After spraying I let them sit in the wine cooler to set up before filling them with tempered chocolate. After filling with tempered chocolate I turn them upside down to drain out the excess chocolate so I am left with a cavity to fill.

The hearts were made with white chocolate and a caramel bittersweet chocolate ganache.

The other shapes were made with 64% bittersweet chocolate and filled with caramel bittersweet chocolate ganache that I folded caramelized and salted pistachio nuts into.

My husband is already to sell these so I will have to get packaging right away.

MALLOWS & MILANOS

2009-07-27T00:05:00.000-07:00

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.

I really loved the Mallows (marshmallow cookies). My husband remembered them being called Pinwheels. I made them three times for different people and everyone was amazed that it was possible to make marshmallows. Don't be afraid, it is really easy. The glaze that goes over them is far more difficult to master. You must temper the chocolate first then add the oil or you will get bloom. The recipe did not state this and my first batch bloomed, tasted good but looked awful.

The Milano cookies are good they just don't look as nice as I would like, but they tasted great.
Here are the recipes:

Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 10 min
Inactive Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Serves: about 2 dozen cookies

• 3 Cups (375grams/13.23oz) All Purpose Flour
• 1/2 Cup (112.5grams/3.97oz) White Sugar
• 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 3/8 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 Teaspoon ground Cinnamon
• 12 Tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) Unsalted Butter
• 3 Eggs, whisked together

• Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows
• Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1. In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.
2. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.
3. Add the eggs and mix until combine.
4. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
5. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.
6. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.
8. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.
9. Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.
10. Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.
11. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze.
12. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.
13. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.
Note: if you don’t want to make your own marshmallows, you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base. Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly, it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Homemade marshmallows:
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1/4 Cup Light Corn Syrup
• 3/4 Cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) Sugar
• 1 Tablespoon Powdered Gelatin (or 3 gelatin sheets softened in ice water, omitting the water in the recipe)
• 2 Tablespoons Cold Water
• 2 Egg Whites , room temperature
• 1/4 Teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract

1. In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.
2. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.
3. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.
4. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.
5. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.
6. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Chocolate glaze:
• 12 ounces semisweet chocolate• 2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil
1. Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.
The above is how the recipe was written. I tempered the chocolate first then added the oil and they turned out beautiful.

MILAN COOKIES
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 1 hr
Serves: about 3 dozen cookies

• 12 Tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) Unsalted Butter, softened
• 2 1/2 Cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) Powdered Sugar
• 7/8 Cup Egg Whites
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
• 2 Teaspoons Lemon Extract
• 1 1/2 Cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) All Purpose Flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 Cup Heavy Cream
• 8 Ounces Semisweet Chocolate, (chopped)
• Zest of 1 Orange

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.
2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.
3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.
7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.
8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.
10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

FOURTH OF JULY COOKIES

2009-07-19T14:13:00.001-07:00

I know July 4th has come and gone but I wanted to post the picture of these cookies I made. This blog started out as a way to chronicle my dessert presentations so when I was under the gun for an idea I could just go to my blog and remember what I had done in the past for inspiration. It has turned into much more, now with recipes as well as pictures and of course all my Daring Baker challenges. It has also become a marketing tool for people to look at when they want to order a dessert or cake from me.

For these cookies I used my standard short dough recipe and royal icing. The stars were cut out of fondant with a very small cutter.

WORLD PASTRY FORUM & LAURENT LE DANIEL

2009-07-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

For the past 9 days I have been in Phoenix Arizona at the World Pastry Forum assisting Laurent Le Daniel. He taught 5 days of classes on Petit Gateau. It was intense work. The first day we prepped for 12 hours. Each day thereafter we shaved off some time as the prep became more familiar. During the classes we had an interpreter as Laurent's English is minimal. Laurent is the nicest man and was very generous with his recipes and knowledge. All of the petit gateau he taught, and gave recipes for, he sells in his 3 shops. If you want to drool over his website it is www.patisserieledaniel.fr/.

Laurent was able, one on one, to speak some english to me (my french is almost non-existent). I found out that he is married and has a 7 year old son. Upon his return to France he was starting work on a 50th wedding anniversary cake for his parents.

In one of our last conversation's he told me that he loved my passion for patisserie!! That meant allot to me.

These are the 4 desserts we made each day and taught the procedure to the students. You can see how beautiful they are and I can tell you they tasted fabulous.

BAKEWELL TARTLETTES

2009-06-27T09:37:00.001-07:00

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 chose to make tartlettes with my homemade Raspberry Rose Jam. These are great in the morning with coffee (don't ask me how I know), they are not too sweet and would make a nice hostess gift.

SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

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
2.5ml (½ tsp) Almond Extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) Cold Water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.
Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.
Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

FRANGIPAN
Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula
125g (4.5oz) Unsalted Butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) Powdered Sugar
3 (3) Eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) Almond Extract
125g (4.5oz) Almond Flour (Trader Joes)
30g (1oz) All Purpose Flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the almond flour and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow color.

RASPBERRY ROSE JAM

ASSEMBLING THE TARTLETTES
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, cut out rounds with a biscuit cutter and place into the individual tartlette molds. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
Remove tartlettes from the freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of Raspberry Rose Jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tartlette. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking (optional).
The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.
When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Graduation Cakes

2009-06-17T08:01:00.001-07:00

This graduation cake was made for a graduate of La Quinta High School. It was white chiffon cake with fillings of vanilla bean white chocolate mousse with fresh strawberries, strawberry jam, and vanilla buttercream. The cap was made of the same cake with a white chocolate brim. I sprayed acetate with navy blue cocoa butter then spread tempered chocolate over it and cut it to size. I covered the cake with white chocolate ganache then spray painted it with the same colored cocoa butter. The tassel was made with grey gumpaste and painted with super pearl luster dust. The diploma was just rolled up fondant.

These cupcakes were red velvet with cream cheese frosting and they were delivered to the same party as this chocolate graduation cap.

This cake was made for a Palm Desert High School graduate. It was chocolate cake with hazelnut crunch, ganache, french silk mousse, chocolate buttercream and vanilla buttercream. The brim was tempered callebeaut chocolate. The tassel was gumpaste painted with gold luster dust.

GIFT BOX CAKE

2009-06-10T14:37:00.001-07:00

I made this cake for a clients 10 year old daughter's 1st Communion. What a lucky girl she was to receive this for her party. When I delivered it her eyes lit up and she was jumping up and down in delight.
Her parents told me later that some of the guests at the party thought it was a present and did not know it was a cake until they cut into it. Mission accomplished!!

The bottom tier was 8 layers of vanilla chiffon cake with grand marnier syrup, fillings were - raspberry rose jam, white chocolate ganache, raspberry buttercream, fresh raspberries, and vanilla buttercream. The top two tiers were chocolate cake with fillings of hazelnut crunch, ganache, chocolate buttercream & french silk mousse.

All tiers were covered in fondant and the pearls were made out of fondant and painted with pearl dust to shine them up and make them look real. The bow's on top were made out of gumpaste.

It was a fun cake to make!!

APPLE STRUDEL

2009-05-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

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.

I usually make a "fake" strudel by using puff pastry or phyllo as the dough so this months challenge was going to be fun trying to stretch the real strudel dough. Believe it or not it was very easy to do and it came out quite good. Give this a try you will be surprised just how much fun it is.

APPLE STRUDEL

From “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 Tablespoons Myers Rum

3 Tablespoons Golden Raisins

1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

1/3 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon Sugar

4 Ounces Unsalted Butter (melted & divided)

1 1/2 Cups Fresh Bread Crumbs

Strudel Dough (recipe below)

1/2 Cup Walnuts (coarsely chopped)

2 pounds Granny Smith Apples (peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Melt 1 1/2 Ounces of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the breadcrumbs and cook while stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 1 1/2 Ounces of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

STRUDEL DOUGH

From “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet wide and 3 feet long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Tips- Ingredients are cheap so the daring bakers recommend making a double batch of the dough, that way you can practice the pulling and stretching of the dough with the first batch and if it doesn't come out like it should you can use the second batch to give it another try. The tablecloth can be cotton or polyster. Before pulling and stretching the dough, remove your jewelry from hands and wrists, and wear short-sleeves;- To make it easier to pull the dough, you can use your hip to secure the dough against the edge of the table;- Few small holes in the dough is not a problem as the dough will be rolled, making (most of) the holes invisible.

MIXED BERRY GALETTE

2009-05-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

MIXED BERRY FILLING
2 Cups Blueberries
2 Cups Raspberries
2 Cups Blackberries
Pinch of Salt
1/2 Ounce Lemon Juice
3/4 Ounce Cornstarch
4 Ounces Sugar or to taste (depending on the sweetness of the berries)

Mix the berries together in a bowl. In another bowl mix the salt, lemon juice, cornstarch, and sugar together. Pour over the berries and allow to macerate 1 hour.

GALETTE DOUGH
Adapted from "Pie & Pastry Bible"
Rose Levy Beranbaum
4 Ounces Frozen Butter (cut into 1/2" pieces)
6 1/2 Ounces Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1/8 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
3 Ounces Cold Cream Cheese (cut into 1" pieces)
3/4 Ounce Ice Water
1/2 Ounce Cider Vinegar

Place the flour, baking powder, salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine ingredients. Add the cream cheese and pulse to combine. Add the frozen butter and pulse until the butter is the size of large peas. Combine the ice water and cider vinegar and add it to the above mixture pulsing to combine. Remove the dough from the processor, shape it into a disk and wrap in in plastic. Refrigerate it at least 1 hour.

To make the galette:
Roll out the dough into a 14" circle. Brush the edges of the dough with egg wash. Place the berry mixture into the center of the dough. Fold the galette dough up by pleating it all around the outside of the berries. Brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with crystal or granulated sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees until the dough is medium brown and the berries have released their juices and thickened up. Allow to cool 15 minutes before serving.

For serving: Sprinkle with powdered sugar and cut into wedges.

GRADUATION DESSERT

2009-05-24T09:28:00.000-07:00

There are graduates everywhere these days and 20 lucky ones received these on Prom Night. A client hired me to come up with a graduation dessert for her son and 19 of his friends. They had a dinner at her home before going to prom. She told me they started off by eating the fondant "tassel". Love it!!
The "graduation cap" was made of chocolate cake, raspberry jam, ganache, chocolate buttercream and chocolate mousse.
The school colors are red and gold so I held the gold fondant tassel on to the chocolate brim with a little red royal icing.

CORAL ROSE WEDDING CAKE

2009-05-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

Simple but elegant is how I would describe this wedding cake. The coral roses were lovely against the cream fondant. The only frustrating part of this set up was that the rented table was wobbly and not level. We tried to level it but it just became more wobbly. The venue could not supply another table so I had to leave it as is. The cake itself was very heavy so unless someone ran in to the table hard I am sure it stayed in tact.
The layers were 15", 13", 11", 9" round. The flavor was chocolate cake, ganache, chocolate buttercream and chocolate mousse.

UPDATE: They loved it. Here is the testimonial:

"Just wanted you to know EVERYONE said they had NEVER had a wedding cake this GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you so!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! much wanted you to know how much everyone Loved it and I want you to know there was only a handful of peanut brittle left..............I hope all is well with you ............and your haircut looked fab!!!!!!!!!!!!!xoxoLloydette"

SHOWCASING MY HANDMADE TRUFFLES

2009-05-05T16:50:00.000-07:00

As a professional pastry chef we sometimes want to showcase items that we make on a display piece. There is hardly enough time because of all the responsibilities we have but when its possible I like to make something fun like you see here. This was part of my Mother's Day display last year. I love making handmade candies and truffles and wanted to show them off on this special display. The base was made by pouring tempered chocolate onto large bubble wrap and they were the perfect indentations for the candies to sit in.

RASPBERRY BAVARIAN & CHOCOLATE

2009-05-03T10:18:00.000-07:00

This dessert was made for a client's dinner party at her home. It was a raspberry bavarian cream layered between chocolate cake and wrapped with a chocolate band.
A light but intense in flavor dessert, perfect after a heavy meal.
The picture here is of an extra dessert I put on a paper plate for the caterer to taste. Yummy!!

COCOA CAKE
15 ½ Ounces Granulated Sugar
9 Ounces All Purpose Flour
3 ¾ Ounces Cocoa Powder (sift after measuring)
1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda1
½ Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1 Cup Whole Milk
½ Cup Canola Oil
2 ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
7 Liquid Ounces Boiling Water

METHOD
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray and line with parchment 2 - 1/2 sheet pans.
2. This should be done by hand. No mixer necessary.
3. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Place all wet ingredients except water into another bowl and mix together.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
6. Boil water in microwave, add and stir to combine.
7. Pour into prepared pans.
8. Bake 30 to 40 minutes.

RASPBERRY BAVARIAN CREAM
1 Cups Milk
5 Ounces Sugar
5 Egg Yolks
4 Gelatin Sheets
1 Cups Raspberry Puree
12 Ounces Heavy Cream

METHOD
1. Soften Gelatin in ice water. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle a little of the sugar into the bottom of a saucepan and pour the milk over it. Bring to a boil.
3. Mix the remaining sugar into the yolks and temper the yolks and milk.
4. Cook the mixture to 180 degrees. Remove from heat and strain.
5. Add the gelatin and stir to melt it.
6. Add the raspberry puree and stir over an ice bath until cool to the touch but not set.
7. Whip the cream to soft peak and incorporate it into the raspberry mixture.

To assemble the desserts:
Line PVC pipes, cut to the desired size, with acetate. Cut out a cake round and place it in the pvc. Pipe the raspberry bavarian cream on top of the cake, place another cake round over the cream then pipe the cream all the way to the top and level off. Freeze.
Unmold the desserts, temper semi sweet chocolate, spread it over a transfer sheet that has been cut to size and wrap it around the frozen dessert. Place in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Peel off the plastic and plate up.

CHEESECAKE CENTERPIECE

2009-04-27T00:01:00.000-07:00

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I have made many cheesecakes in my lifetime and to be perfectly honest cheesecake is not one of my favorite desserts. If you like cheesecake this is a nice and easy recipe.

I substituted ginger cookies for the graham crackers in the original recipe because I love lemon and ginger together. I followed the recipe for the cheesecake to the letter. I put meyer lemon juice in the cheesecake and meyer lemon curd on top with a border of whipped cream. The flowers on top are rice paper flowers, I have described how to make them here.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

CRUST:

2 Cups Graham Cracker Crumbs (I used gingersnap cookies)

4 Ounces Butter, melted

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

CHEESECAKE:

24 Ounces Cream Cheese (room temperature)

1 Cup Sugar

3 Large Eggs

1 Cup Heavy Cream

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

1 Tablespoon Liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Bake the crust for 8 minutes in a 350 degree oven. If any butter seeps to the top of the crust, blot it dry. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with two layers of foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

LEMON CURD

Yield 1 Quart
INGREDIENTS
6 Eggs
6 Yolks
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Meyer Lemon Juice
1/4 Cup Meyer Lemon Zest (use Microplane)
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
4 Ounces Butter (room temperature soft and cut into 1 inch pieces)
METHOD
1. Whisk the eggs and yolks together. Add all the ingredients except the butter. Whisk over a double boiler constantly until the mixture reaches 180 degrees F.
2. Strain through a chiniox into another bowl set over an ice bath.
3. Stirring occasionally let cool to 100 degrees F..
4. With the immersion blender slowly blend in the butter piece by piece until it is completely incorporated.
5. Cover and put in the refrigerator.

The next day remove the cheesecake from the springform pan. Spread the lemon curd over the top of the cheesecake. Pipe a border of sweetened whipped cream, decorate and serve.

PINK & BLACK BIRTHDAY CAKE

2009-04-24T21:05:00.000-07:00

Since getting laid off from the Country Club I have been called back to make some cakes and desserts. Here is one I did recently.
It is very strange to return to a place where I worked for so long and see that so much has changed. It is really sad for me as I genuinely cared about that job. But I must move on and look for new opportunities.

BLOOD ORANGE & CRANBERRY ANGEL FOOD CAKE

2009-04-19T18:15:00.000-07:00

This was a popular cake for Easter. The Blood Oranges are in season and I stashed some fresh cranberries in the freezer last year when they were in season.
The spring flowers are from my garden. They are such happy little flowers and remind me of the beauty of having time to enjoy them.

ANGEL FOOD CAKE WITH BLOOD ORANGE & CRANBERRIES

12 Ounces Egg Whites
1 Teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
6 Ounces Sugar
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
4 Ounces Cake Flour
6 Ounces Sugar
Zest of 1 Blood Orange
1 Cup Chopped Fresh or Frozen Cranberries

1. Sift together the cake flour and 6 ounces sugar.
2. Whip egg whites until foamy and add cream of tartar and salt. Whip to soft peak.
3. Continue whipping and slowly add 6 ounces sugar.
4. Add Vanilla and whip to firm peak. Do not over whip.
5. Remove from mixer and transfer to a large bowl.
6. Gently fold in flour sugar mixture.
7. Gently fold in zest and cranberries.
8. Pour into ungreased parchment lined tube pan and bake at 375 degrees for about 45 minutes.
9. Cool in inverted pan. When completely cool run a knife around the cake to release it from the sides of the pan.

GLAZE
Juice of 1 blood orange and enough powdered sugar whisked in to make a thick but still pourable mixture. Pour this mixture over the cooled cake. Let dry several hours before cutting.

GONE TO THE DOGS CAKE

2009-04-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

I was asked to make a cake for someone who dog sits 13 dogs. Each dog on the cake has his or her name written on it. I put a fondant picket fence around the bottom of the cake and little hearts on top.

The flavor of the cake was carrot with cream cheese filling and the size of the cake was 10" X 14".

SPRINGTIME RICE PAPER FLOWERS

2009-04-16T10:18:00.000-07:00

These flowers are made out of rice paper. I punched out the shapes in three sizes by using scrapbooking paper punches, dusted them with luster dust and put them together with royal icing on a lolly pop stick. They made great additions to springtime cupcakes.

MY FAMOUS PEANUT BRITTLE

2009-03-19T18:07:00.000-07:00

My Peanut Brittle is now available for sale. Please hit the comment button below and leave your order. It will be directed to my e-mail and I will respond with a confirmation of your order. The peanut brittle sells for $16.00 per pound + shipping.

It can be packaged in 2, 4, & 8 ounce packages. The package above is the 8 oz. package.

APPLE APRICOT TART

2009-03-18T12:36:00.000-07:00

I was invited to a Tea and the spotlighted tea was Apple Apricot so I made this Apple Apricot Tart to complement the Tea. It was a success and I have made it several times since for various clients. It has a cream cheese crust which is very flaky. I got the idea to make the apples look like a flower from Rose Levy Beranbaum's book The Pie & Pastry Bible.

Here is my recipe for 1 - 9" tart:

APRICOTS
1 Cup Dried Apricots
1 Cup Apple Cider
1 Slice Lemon
Cut the dried apricots in 1/4's and put into a small saucepan with the cider and lemon. Bring to a boil, lower the heat to a simmer and poach covered for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, strain the apricots and set aside.
CREAM CHEESE DOUGH
4 Ounces Frozen Butter (cut into 1/2" pieces)
6 1/2 Ounces Unbleached All Purpose Flour
1/8 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
3 Ounces Cold Cream Cheese (cut into 1" pieces)
3/4 Ounce Ice Water
1/2 Ounce Cider Vinegar
Place the flour, baking powder, salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine ingredients. Add the cream cheese and pulse to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is the size of large peas. Combine the ice water and cider vinegar and add it to the above mixture pulsing to combine. Remove the dough from the processor, shape it into a disk and wrap in in plastic. Refrigerate it at least 1 hour.
Roll out the dough and put it into a (sprayed with release agent) 9" deep dish pie pan. Trim the edges. Place the dough filled pie pan in the refrigerator for 30 minutes before blind baking.
With the remaining dough make leaves to go around the edge of the crust. Set these aside in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
To blind bake:
Heat the oven to 425 degrees. Use coffee filters to put on top of the pie crust then fill with beans or rice. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes. Remove the coffee filters and continue to bake 5 more minutes or until golden brown.
APPLE FILLING
6 Large Granny Smith Apples (peeled, cored, thinly sliced & halved)
Juice of 1/2 Lemon (strained)
2 Ounces Sugar
3 Ounces Light Brown Sugar
1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 Teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg (freshly ground)
1 Ounce Unsalted Butter
1/2 Ounce Cornstarch
Mix the apples with the lemon juice, sugar, brown sugar, salt, cinnamon, & nutmeg. Cover and let sit overnight. The next day strain the apples and cook the reserved liquid with the butter to a thick syrup.
Put the apples in a bowl and toss with cornstarch then pour the thickened syrup over the apples.
To make the tart:
Put half of the apricots into the blind baked tart shell. Lay the apple slices over the apricots in concentric circles adding more apricots as you go. End with a solid layer of overlapping apple slices (no apricots) to make the flower. Reserve 1 tablespoon of the apple juices and pour the remaining apple juices over the apples.
Brush the edge of the tart shell with the apple juice and place the reserved dough leaves around the edge.
Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, then cover with foil and bake another 30 - 40 minutes or until you see juices bubbling from the tart.
Let the tart cool slightly then brush with simple syrup or apricot glaze.
Posted by Sugar Chef at 12:36 PM

2 comments:
Tartelette said...
So...tonight I finally decided to go through my spam filters and email folders and found the email you sent me a couple of month ago. So sorry....really am! If there is anything I can help with, please let me know.That tart looks absolutely fabulous!
7:43 PM
Y said...
Gorgeous tart! I love the look of that pastry too.
9:22 PM

BRIDGE BIRTHDAY CAKE

2009-03-05T16:31:00.001-08:00

The birthday girl loves to play bridge, thus the inspiration for this cake. The flavors were chocolate cake, raspberry bavarian cream, raspberry jam and chocolate ganache.
Here is the ganache, cake & raspberry bavarian cream recipe. I used a good quality raspberry jam to spread on each layer of cake before applying the filling.

GANACHE
1 1/2 Pounds Semi Sweet Chocolate
24 Ounces Heavy Cream

METHOD
Bring the cream to a boil and pour over the chocolate. Stir with a whisk until the chocolate is completely melted. Cover and leave at room temperature. Make this one day in advance so it sets up to an icing consistency.

COCOA CAKE
Makes 2 9" round cakes.
15 ½ Ounces Granulated Sugar
9 Ounces All Purpose Flour
3 ¾ Ounces Cocoa Powder (sift after measuring)
1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Powder
1 ½ Teaspoon Baking Soda
1 ½ Teaspoon Salt
2 Large Eggs (room temperature)
1 Cup Whole Milk
½ Cup Canola Oil
2 ½ Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
7 Liquid Ounces Boiling Water

METHOD
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray and line with parchment 2 - 9" round cake pans.
2. This should be done by hand. No mixer necessary. When making X2 or X4 use a mixer.
3. Place all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
4. Place all wet ingredients except water into another bowl and mix together.
5. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and stir until well combined.
6. Boil water in microwave, add and stir to combine.
7. Pour into prepared pans.
8. Bake 30 to 40 minutes.

RASPBERRY BAVARIAN CREAM
2 Cups Milk10 Ounces Sugar
10 Egg Yolks
8 Gelatin Sheets
2 Cups Raspberry Puree
24 Ounces Heavy Cream

METHOD
1. Soften Gelatin in ice water. Set aside.
2. Sprinkle a little of the sugar into the bottom of a saucepan and pour the milk over it. Bring to a boil.
3. Mix the remaining sugar into the yolks and temper the yolks and milk.
4. Cook the mixture to 180 degrees. Remove from heat and strain.
5. Add the gelatin and stir to melt it.
6. Add the raspberry puree and stir over an ice bath until cool to the touch but not set.
7. Whip the cream to soft peak and incorporate it into the raspberry mixture.

CHOCOLATE VALENTINO CAKE & STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM

2009-02-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They chose 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 chose to make strawberry ice cream. I bought some beautiful strawberries from our local farmers market and they were getting very ripe and needed to be used fast.
I followed Emily Luchetti's strawberry ice cream recipe from her book A Passion for Ice Cream. It is good but I had a heavy hand on the salt so next time I will use a small pinch instead of a large pinch as her recipe instructs.

The pansies in the picture are from my garden. Now that I am not working 14 hours a day at the Country Club I have time to garden and enjoy my beautiful flowers. Life is beautiful!!

The Valentino cake is very easy to make and only has 3 ingredients. It is a flourless chocolate cake without the addition of sugar. So the cake is only as sweet as the chocolate you use. I used Callebeaut 811 which is about 55% cocoa liquor.

Here are the recipes:

CHOCOLATE VALENTINO
Preparation Time: 20 minutes

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of Semisweet Chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of Unsalted Butter
5 large Eggs, separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter.
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

STRAWBERRY ICE CREAM
Adapted from A Passion For Ice Cream by: Emily Luchetti

1 Pint Fresh Strawberries (hulled & quartered)
6 Tablespoons Sugar
1/2 Teaspoon Lemon Juice
Pinch of Kosher Salt
2 Cups Heavy Cream
1 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Sugar
1/8 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

In a medium saucepan cook the strawberries, sugar, lemon juice & salt over medium heat for about 20 minutes or until it reaches a jam like consistency. Stir often. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature before covering and putting in the refrigerator. Chill overnight.

In a medium saucepan bring the cream, milk, sugar, & salt to a simmer. Stir occasionally. Remove from the heat and chill over an ice bath. Cover and place in the refrigerator overnight.

When ready to make the ice cream, stir the strawberry mixture into the cream, milk mixture and churn in an ice cream machine for 20 minutes or follow manufacturer's instructions.

Place the ice cream in a freeze safe container and freeze for at least 4 hours.