it's not over, 'til the....

last bite is eaten?




This month's daring baker challenge was to make an Opera Cake. The challenge (other than having to put together this complicated cake) was to make it with light flavorings, invoking thoughts of summer and dedicated to Barbara of Winos and foodies dot com and her sponsorship of A Taste of Yellow a way of celebrating LIVEStrong Day.



An Opera Cake consists of layers of syrup-soaked joconde (almond sponge cake), separated by buttercream and covered by a thin glaze (generally chocolate). I understand that a ganache can be involved as well but I did not make ganache, mainly because I am running late in the completion of the challenge.

I wish that I had given the flavorings more thought because I made everything almond flavored. It is a bit overpowering. I loved reading of everyone else's flavor concoctions. If I made it again, I might make lemon & raspberry or peanut butter and jelly (weird, but it could be cool, right?) They all sounded yummy! To see the other Daring Bakers Opera cakes, see the Daring Baker blogroll.

I wasn't pleased with the way my cake rose. Otherwise, it was pretty easy. I lined my jellyroll pans with parchment paper sprayed with Baker's Joy spray, so that they wouldn't stick. It was pretty, but next time I'll get extra chocolate to make shapes to decorate the cake. That would have been the icing on the cake!

If you would like the recipe, check the blogroll or send me a comment and I'll be happy to send it to you. It is rather long, so be prepared! Don't worry. It isn't too difficult!

Daring Bakers- April: Cheesecake Pops

I've missed the last few Daring Bakers challenges. They have been some interesting ones, too. I definitely want to try to make french bread on my own and homemade white cake with buttercream frosting, but ran into too many obstacles these last few months. Mainly, I've been having trouble with my oven temperature. I finally got an oven thermometer and calibrated it properly, so I'm back in the kitchen!

The April recipe is for Cheesecake pops from “Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey” by Jill O’Connor, and the recipe was picked by Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah from Taste and Tell. I was really excited to make these pops. The recipe was surprising easy. I thought of the endless possibilities in decorating them. Unfortunately, I did not have much time to put into decorating. I just went with a love theme and sprinkled them with multi-colored hearts. One of them ended up looking like a heart, so I picked that one for the picture. I tried the sanding sugars, but they just melted in with the chocolate. I probably should have used more. I think that they would be great rolled in any kind of nuts (walnuts, almonds, salted peanuts), but my husband doesn't really like nuts so I didn't try it. Maybe I'll try it for supper club sometime. These would be a good finger food for a cocktail party. They were a great treat after a long day outside at Jazz Fest!

I didn't have any lollipop sticks so I used toothpicks and made the pops with a small ice cream scooper. I've noticed that other Daring Bakers used cocktail stirrers, which I thought was very cute and creative.

Here is the recipe:

Cheesecake Pops
Makes 30 – 40 Pops
5 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening
(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)
Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional
Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.
Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Lemony Bliss!

I love lemon meringue pie! What's not to love - lemon curd, pie crust and fluffy clouds of meringue. Lemon meringue pie is one of my favorite desserts, but I've never made one on my own. I was delighted to see it listed as the January Daring Bakers challenge.

I was a little apprehensive about this challenge, though. I've never made a successful pie crust. They are either too crumbly to form anything resembling a crust or so sticky that I can't get it from the counter to the pie pan. I was pleasantly surprised about this pie crust. It was easy. Not just easy - simple! I used the food processor method and had no problems at all.

So far, it looks great! I'm saving it for tomorrow when my dear husband returns home. I did sneak a taste of the lemon curd bowl and it was wonderful! I'll update the post tomorrow with the DHR (Dear Husband Rating).

Recipe:
Lemon Meringue Pie

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:

¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces

2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour

¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar

¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt

⅓ cup (80 mL) ice water


For the Filling:

2 cups (475 mL) water

1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar

½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch

5 egg yolks, beaten

¼ cup (60 mL) butter

¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice

1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract


For the Meringue:

5 egg whites, room temperature

½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar

¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt

½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract

¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar


For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.


For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated.

Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.


For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

I made one pie and 4 little tartlets! I wish that I would have had time to make them this weekend while my in-laws were here. I think that they would have enjoyed it, too.

Thank you, Daring Bakers!

DHR: Very tasty!
He loved the pie! It almost made him forget that he is sick with bronchitis.

Note: I had problems with weeping meringue. My mom says it is because I did not let the sugar dissolve. More tips for weeping meringues here.

Yule Stump

To be a Daring Baker! I have been so excited about being brought into the fold of daring baker bloggers all over the world. I planned and plotted my first challenge. Before it was over, I would call my challenge disastrous, delightful, dangerous and delicious. Daring, it is, to be a blogging baker!

I gathered the ingredients and started early. We were planning to go to a special Christmas supper club and I had told everyone that I would bring a yule log. I didn't tell them it was a blogger challenge. I just committed to bringing the dessert.

So, the day came. I thought "genoise, schmenoise -- it's nothing more than a jelly roll cake". I guess that I stopped thinking there because I doubled the recipe due to the evite guest list for supper club increasing rapidly. When I got to the part of the recipe that says, "Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.", somehow I interpreted this to say "smooth TO THE TOP" of the cookie sheet. My double batch wouldn't fill 2 cookie sheets (or jelly roll pans as my Mom likes to call them - {more from Mom later}). So, I thought that maybe I didn't beat the genoise long enough. Maybe I needed to put the double batch in 1 pan to bake. It baked beautifully. I turned the cake out onto another pan.

Now, the buttercream. I wasn't too worried about it. I've made buttercream before. Mom has several cake mixes that have different flavored buttercreams as frosting. Egg whites, sugar and butter - the mixer was doing beautifully. Fluffy buttercream - yum. Then, I added the espresso powder, which had been dissolved in rum. I had doubts. Alcohol in my fluffy buttercream, won't it separate? I added it anyway. I set the mixer to beat it in. It still looked funny. Taste - very yummy. Oh well, on to the filling.

I had plans to use this caramel frosting (store-bought) to fill the cake. I pulled it out and the plastic container cracked while in the pantry. It was as hard as a brickbat. Microwave for 30 sec - still hard. What else could I use? Coffee buttercream and raspberry preserves didn't sound good to me at all. Lemon curd - no. fig preserves - no way. Ok, just use the buttercream. So, I filled it with buttercream, being sure to leave enough to frost the yule log.

On to the rolling! I helped my granny roll jelly rolls many times. This would be a cinch. I remembered that granny used to use a clean dish towel sprinkled with sugar for rolling. I started to roll. Something is not right. The genoise is too thick and already cracked with the first turn of the roll. More cracks - crack, crack for a splintered yule log and buttercream mess! Maybe I could cover it up with the rest of the buttercream.

And then, a knock at the door! Mom & Dad arrived to pick up a picture that my husband took at Thanksgiving for their Christmas card. I answered the door with a mixture of embarrassment and relief. My mom can fix any kitchen disaster. She has been known to burn the bottom off a pan and still get dinner for 12 on the table. I say, "I'm making a yule log!". Mom says, "I've always wanted to make a yule log!". Great, today is your lucky day, I think to myself.

I explain how I've ended up with a great big yule mess in my refrigerator and how I am just going to cover it with buttercream frosting to mask my great mistakes.

Of course, she wouldn't hear of it.
Mom: Where is your recipe?
Me: Daring Bakers blog.
Mom: What's that?
Me: Never mind, Mom. It's on the computer.
Mom: Why didn't you cut the double-batch genoise in half lengthwise when I realized it was too thick?
Me: I don't know. Too late now.
Mom: We'll make another genoise.
Me: Do we have to?
Mom: Of course! I've always wanted to make a yule log!

I made a single batch genoise. Mom starts juicing satsumas (seedless oranges of Japanese origin, also called mikan) for her favorite son-in-law. Satsumimosa recipe post to follow. Glass breaks all over the kitchen floor. My crystal stirrer for the martini pitcher has gotten loose, fallen to the floor and broken in a million pieces. This really makes me want to give up on the whole yule log. Mom insists that we carry on. All yule log ingredients remain safe and without glass bits.

Mom says that I didn't beat the buttercream long enough, which is why the frosting appeared to separate. Mom scraped the filling from yule mess in the frig to use as filling in the new genoise cake. Beat the buttercream more. We filled and rolled the genoise with coffee buttercream. It reminds me of granny and helping her get ready for her pokeno games.

The yule log looks pretty good. We arrange it with a piece jutting out from the main branch and it looks almost real. One problem: not enough frosting to cover the log. I explain to Mom that it would be a violation of Daring Blogger rules to vary from the recipe to frost the log. She doesn't understand any of that. I don't have another 3 sticks of butter to dedicate to another batch of buttercream, so we improvise.

I think that the frosting that we used consisted of:
powdered sugar
cocoa
butter (only one stick)

I made the marzipan while Mom put together the improvised frosting. We shaped the mushrooms and I put together holly to garnish the top of the log. We dusted the mushrooms with cocoa powder as they all fell over on their sides. We covered it with toasted almonds to look like wood chips. Off to the party!

Everyone seemed to like the yule log. It is certainly festive-looking. The next day I had a cookie swap and used my leftover log - the yule stump - as a dessert.

This is the yummy yule log that I ordered at Todd English's restaurant, Riche, a week later. I bet that they didn't have nearly as much danger and delight making their log as I did with mine.

Looking back, I'm glad that it was a disaster at first. Making my second yule log and Mom's first yule log together will be a holiday memory that I will remember for years to come.

The yule log recipe, taken from Nick Malgieri’s Perfect Cakes. Since this post is so long, I'll just link to Cream Puffs in Venice for anyone interested in getting the recipe. Please visit the blogroll, to see other blogger's attempts (hopefully, less disastrous) at this holiday treat!