Holy cow am I late on this one. This was actually supposed to be for the Daring Bakers challenge last month. Jenny Bakes supplied a simple enough cheesecake recipe to follow, but I just couldn’t do it. I can’t handle another cream cheese, brick-in-my-stomach-after-eating cheesecake experience. It’s good going down, but an unruly house guest to my stomach later.

So I hemmed and I hawed all month long….what the heck was I going to do? I want to participate in the challenge, but the thought of cream cheese brick syndrome left me nauseous. I know that some of the other DBers had similar issues with cheesecake and did some tweaks, so I began a search for a light alternative. Then I remembered Martha. That’s right, the woman who started it all for me and the very first baking book I bought offered salvation in a ricotta cheesecake *cue the angels singing with light shining down from the heavens*

(To appease the DB powers that be: The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey’s Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.)  

Every day I look at cookbooks. I page through and wonder, “What do I want to make?” Not that my oven isn’t already full, but there’s always tomorrow. When contemplating this month’s DB adventure I vaguely remember coming across a drool-worth pic in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook for a ricotta cheesecake. The thought of ricotta didn’t necessarily jazz me, not that I have anything against ricotta but it never occurred to me to use it in a cheesecake. The key for me was the description of the cheesecake in the book, “Although rich, this cake is lighter than traditional cheesecakes because it calls for ricotta instead of cream cheese.” Sounds good to me. My stomach is appeased. Not only that, I didn’t have to worry about using some store-bought chemically laden cookies for a crust since the recipe didn’t call for one…a crust that is.

But hey, this is a Daring Bakers challenge right? This recipe is self-described as have a fifteen minute assembly time with no worry about crust preparation since there is none…where’s the daring in that? What could I add to a cheesecake to make it more daring? Some exotic fruit…big deal. Thanks to the interlibrary loan system, I was able to find inspiration in Bo Friberg’s Professional Pastry Chef. While perusing the pictures I came across a chèvre cheesecake topped with vanilla bean cream (pictured top right here). Great idea! My only issue was the cream was made with sour cream…another brick-in-the-stomach inducing substance for me. So what to do?

I’m not sure what made me think of panna cotta. It was probably a subconscious memory of yet another Martha concoction she highlighted last month on her show. I wish it was a conscious memory because then maybe I wouldn’t have run into any problems…more on those later. *ugh* Instead of using the vanilla bean cream on top, I thought it would be great to use vanilla bean panna cotta.

The last element I decided on was a fruit. Despite my desire to go for something unconventional like mango or apple, after going through all the fruits under the sun in my head, I gave in to the typical strawberry. It’s not that I’m not open to new flavors, but they were on sale. Cheap rules. I rounded the cheesecake agenda with a clear glaze, from the book Professional Baking, used to coat the strawberries. Thanks to a little ingenuity, what started out as a simple cheesecake turned into an elaborate production.

So I had everything planned out. But you know what they say about best laid plans…

I started with the cheesecake first, of course. This was probably the easiest part of my day. The only thing I think I would change is either making a smaller recipe or getting a larger cake keeper. I ended up having to use a 10 1/2 instead of a 9 inch pan because I was worried about fitting not only the cheesecake batter, but also the panna cotta in the pan. Once I finally had the cake finished I couldn’t cover it with anything because it was just way too big.

I got the pan prepared and decided to wrap it with aluminum foil even though the recipe didn’t call for a water bath. You’ll see later why this is a good idea. Then I mixed everything together but the egg whites, then beat those until they looked like the Himalayas. The next step was folding in those egg whites.

Pour everything into the pan and shove in the oven. An hour later I took a peak. I was looking at something that looked more like a soufflé than a cake. The cake had risen above the top of the pan. At this point I thought, there goes the panna cotta idea. Not only that, mine looked a heck of a lot darker and cracked than the one pictured in the book. My instincts were that the cake would sink when cooling and thankfully, this time, they were right. By the time I had taken the cake out of the oven and took this photo it had already sunk quite a bit and still had further to go.

Some of you may be saying that the idea of having a panna cotta topped cheesecake is something only to be found in some bizarro parallel universe, but I found out that I’m not the only one to think of this, which could have really come in handy during assembly if I was a smarter baker. After coming up with this idea on my little own-some, I discovered in the same Bo Friberg’s Professional Pastry Chef that gave me the idea to top it with something actually included a panna cotta topped cheesecake. In this case it was a recipe for a mascarpone cheesecake topped with cassis panna cotta. The cassis is credited to crème de cassis, a black currant liqueur. I was making a ricotta cheesecake with a vanilla bean panna cotta, but figured that the assembly instructions would essentially be the same.

The instructions in the book talked about using a strip of acetate to facilitate the panna cotta topping staying on top, but I didn’t have any acetate and frankly didn’t really know what he was getting at in how to use this implement at the time. I was rereading it just now, and I think I might have an idea on how to use it in the future. Here’s what it says, “Place a strip of acetate, 1 to 2 1/2 inches wide, around the inside perimeter of the cake, pressing it down 1/4 inch (6mm) between the baked cheesecake and the side of the pan.” I think I get it now, AND I think if I had used that I wouldn’t have ended up with a floating cheesecake, but more on that later.

So I whistled my way into the dark without the acetate and started the panna cotta recipe. Initially I was going to use the vanilla bean panna cotta recipe that was in Bo Friberg’s book. I’m not sure why, but when I saw that the recipe called for 7 cups of heavy cream I didn’t think twice. For some reason, I wasn’t born with any sense of measurement. My sense of direction isn’t too bad, but if you want me to tell you whether it’s one or fifty miles from my house to the local grocery store I really couldn’t tell ya. The same thing goes for cups, tablespoons, teaspoons, etc. It’s not as bad as my sense of distance, but it’s not far off. So 7 cups….it’s a lot, but it might as well have been 50. At least I thought better of it and decided to go with a half recipe. You really should be laughing by now because I am.

I measured out 3 1/2 cups of heavy cream and I started to get nervous. That’s a HUGE amount of heavy cream. And I’m supposed to add another cup of milk to that? No way! The milliliter conversion in the book (680 ml to 7 cups – ha!…you’ll see why in a moment) should have tipped me off that there was a big typo somewhere here, but I had no idea how many milliliters were in a cup (236 per cup by the way…ha! is right since the proper conversion should have been over 1652 ml). It took me maybe fifteen minutes of going back and forth between the kitchen, the book, and the computer to finally decide that this wasn’t going to work. A better baker would have realized the mistake and corrected the recipe herself, but I am not that baker. It was Professional Baking to the rescue. With measurements of quantities under 2 cups sounding more reasonable I was reassured.

As I had already wasted a bunch of time figuring out that I couldn’t work with the original recipe, I went with someone else’s. I don’t want to taint anyone’s opinion of this book, because it looks good otherwise and has great reviews to boot, but that was a bad mistake. Freaked me out. But you have to roll with the punches in the kitchen….if you can’t take the heat…as they say, and my cheesecake was getting cool.

According to Friberg’s book, I needed to let my “cake cool until it is just slightly warm; do not allow it to cool completely” before pouring the panna cotta on top. Time was a wastin’ and I needed to get this panna cotta show on the road. I found the use of gelatin to be another esoteric ingredient, which like yeast seems to possess magical properties. You’re in a situation where you know that you should end up with something resembling a solid once cool. The only thing required of you is trust that the element of gelatin will work its magic and turn the liquid you are stirring into a creamy solid. I was a bit lacking in the trust department, and kept waiting to see some mystical thickening process to take place. I waited so long that my cake was really quite cool by the time I put the concepts of cold and gelatin together and decided that I was going to have to dump the pot on the cake and just chill it already. So that’s what I did.

I’m not sure if it would have made a difference if the cake was on the warmer side in what happened. For the first 10 to 20 seconds everything appeared to be ok. It actually stayed on the top of the cheesecake and I breathed a sigh of relief as I got my camera and started taking pictures. Then it started to happen. The panna cotta mixture started to disappear.

Initially I thought that it was actually being absorbed by the cheesecake which was disconcerting. By this time I gave up on the idea of a success and just hoped that it tasted acceptable. Then the panna cotta was completely gone.

Or so I had thought. I took a bunch of pictures and decided to get this thing in the fridge so it could do whatever it was going to do. That was when I realize what happened to the panna cotta….it sunk to the bottom of the cheesecake. Yep, this is where that “floating cheesecake” comment comes into play. The cheesecake was floating on top of the panna cotta in the pan. I thought that it could work…hopefully. I wasn’t happy with the way the top looked, but if I could still get a layered look out of this cake I was happy. I couldn’t wait to see how it was going to turn out.

The next day I went to take the cheesecake out of the fridge to release it from the pan. This is about where I was really happy that I wrapped the pan in tin foil despite no water bath. I could feel it when I took the pan out of the fridge, the bottom was spongy. I knew that some of the panna cotta had seeped out of the pan. I pulled back the tin foil and found…

Not a good sign, but maybe it could still be salvaged. I pressed on and removed the sides of the pan to reveal…

Woo-hoo, it worked….sort of. It wasn’t exactly what I was going for, or what I expected but it still looked pretty cool. I wasn’t happy with the overall aesthetics, but ultimately the only thing that mattered was whether it tasted good. Still, I ended up throwing together some vanilla bean whipped cream to pipe all over the cake. The only thing I had left to do was a strawberry rehearsal and the glaze, before I could finish the assembly.

I finally got the thing put together in a visually pleasing assemblage. It was a ton of work, but I think the effect was worth it.

“How did it taste already?!” you ask. It was phenomenal! I never really liked cheesecake but this was fantastic. No brick in your stomach syndrome, just a light, almost custardy cloud in your mouth, and finally your stomach. And I loved the panna cotta and whipped cream with it. I’m glad that the panna cotta didn’t work out as planned because I might have not included the whipped cream and the three together were great. That said, if you don’t want to go to that much work, just make the cheesecake and you’ll still have a happy tummy.

So if you ever wondered if a cheesecake floats, I think this baking adventure answered that question. Here’s a slideshow with more pics of the process:

Ricotta Cheesecake with Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta, Whipped Cream, and Strawberries

Notes on assembly:
I’m going to repeat some of this later, but I thought I should give you a basic plan of attack from the beginning. Start with the cheesecake. Give the cheesecake a little time to cool down before you start the panna cotta because you don’t want it to be too hot when you pour it on. It’s up to you if you want the panna cotta on the top or bottom of the cheesecake.If you want it on the top you’ll have to use the acetate method, “Place a strip of acetate, 1 to 2 1/2 inches wide, around the inside perimeter of the cake, pressing it down 1/4 inch (6mm) between the baked cheesecake and the side of the pan.” I can’t vouch that it will work out as planned as I haven’t tried this myself. If you want your cheesecake to float and have the panna cotta on the bottom then I suggest letting the cheesecake cool completely before pouring the panna cotta on. I think that that probably contributed to the panna cotta going on the bottom.

Whatever you decide to do, once the panna cotta is on, chill the whole thing in the fridge for at least 4 hours or, preferably, overnight. The day you are going to serve this, I would slice up the strawberries next. I had two containers, but only used probably half of one. It’s a good idea to do a strawberry rehearsal of sorts. Basically on the bottom of a similarly sized pan, plan out the pattern of the slices. This way you know how it’s going to go when it’s time for placement on the cake, and you don’t have to worry if you have enough of the right size/shape of slices. Then put together the clear glaze for the strawberries. After that, it’s time to whip up the cream. You can just slather that on with a spatula, or fill up a piping bag with a star tip like I did and pipe your heart out. Once the cake is covered, dip your strawberry slices into the glaze, shake off the excess, and place in your rehearsed pattern on top of the cake. Congratulations! You’re done!

Ricotta Cheesecake

adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

3/4 cup sugar, plus more for pan
1 1/2 pounds fresh whole milk ricotta cheese, run through a blender or food processor until smooth
6 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Generously butter and sugar a 10 1/2-inch springform pan. Wrap the outside bottom and sides of the pan with a double layer of aluminum foil. In a large bowl, whisk together the ricotta, egg yolks, flour, half the sugar, and salt until combined; set aside.

In another bowl, mix the egg whites on low speed until foamy. With the mixer on high speed, gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until whites are stiff and glossy, 3 to 4 minutes.

Using a rubber spatula, fold a third of the egg-white mixture into the ricotta mixture until combined. Gently fold in the remaining egg-white mixture until just combined. Pour into the prepared pan, and bake until center is firm and the top is a deep golden brown, about 1 hour.

Notes on assembly: Let the cheesecake cool a bit before starting the panna cotta.

If you’re just going to make the cheesecake without any of the other elements I have here follow these instructions: Transfer to a white rack to cool 10 minutes. Place another wire rack on top of the pan, and invert the cake onto the rack to remove from pan. Reinvert cake and cool completely, top side up.

Vanilla Bean Panna cotta

adapted from Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen

1 1/4 cups milk
1 1/4 cups Heavy cream
1/2 cup  granulated sugar
2 1/2 teaspoons gelatin
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

Heat the milk, cream, vanilla bean and sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Bring to a simmer. Remove from heat, and let stand for 10 minutes.

Soften the gelatin in cold water. Add the softened gelatin to the hot milk mixture and stir until dissolved. Strain the mixture and pour on top of the cheesecake. Allow to cool completely before chilling in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably, overnight.

Notes on assembly: You could slice the strawberries up now, but I would wait to do it right before you whip the cream. They’ll look better if they’re sliced the same day they’re served. Again, I suggest doing a placement rehearsal on the back of a pan.

Vanilla Whipped Cream

2 cups (16 oz) heavy cream
1/3 cup confectioners sugar (or to taste)
1 vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

If you’re not using a vanilla bean you can skip this first step. Place cream in a bowl. Cut the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape seeds into cream. Add bean to cream; whisk to combine. Cover mixture and refrigerate for 1 hour. Strain cream mixture into a chilled bowl.

Make sure the cream and all equipment and utensils are well chilled.

Beat the cream on medium until it forms soft peaks. Add the sugar (and vanilla extract if using). Continue to beat until the cream forms stiff peaks but is still smooth. Do not over-beat or the cream will become grainy and then separate to form particles of butter.

Notes on assembly: Once cheesecake has chilled, release sides of the pan from the cake. Cover the cake with the whipped cream using an offset spatula or a piping bag with your choice of tip, in my case it was the star tip.

Clear Glaze

adapted from Professional Baking by Wayne Gisslen

1/4 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Mix the ingredients together and bring to a boil. Stir to ensure the sugar is completely dissolved. Apply while still warm but not hot.

Notes on assembly: By now you have your slices of strawberries all ready to go. Dip them in the glaze and place them in your chosen pattern on top of the cake. Enjoy!

My first true visual disaster in a Daring Bakers challenge. Who knew that I could screw up a three ingredient recipe? What you see here is actually an illusion. I know, it looks pretty appetizing (at least I think so). However, I had to perform radical surgery to get the cake to look so appealing. Despite that fact, I am IN LOVE with the taste of my visually disastrous cake. I have to add that while I love the cake, the coconut ice cream (recipe below) and strawberries really put this dessert over the top.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

While our hosts were kind enough to include two recipes for vanilla ice cream, we had the freedom to choose any flavor our little hearts desired. As luck would have it I just picked up Dessert FourPlay (nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more! Sorry, but I couldn’t help the Monty Python reference) by Johnny Iuzzini. While perusing this tome of sugar porn, the stars aligned, doves took flight and silver trumpets rang out when I came across a DIVINE recipe for coconut ice cream. It was meant to be. Thoughts of tropical islands, Polynesian gods, and creamy coconut ignited my imagination and the genesis of a rich chocolate, coconut and strawberry confection was conjured in my mind’s eye.  

The instructions we were given mentioned that, “the finished cake will taste exactly like the chocolate you use.” I went with a conglomeration of favorite chocolates (that I can buy locally).

I included 2 bars of Lindt Milk Chocolate, 1 bar of Green & Black’s 70% Dark Chocolate, approximately half a bar of Cadbury Milk Chocolate, what was left of a bag of Green & Black’s Milk Chocolate, and I made up the rest of the weight with Guittard Milk Chocolate chips. I’m sure that there’s some pastry chef out there laughing his/her ass off from reading this list, but I never said I was a professional.

Everything melted beautifully and tasted pretty darn good considering the mutant-style mixture I came up with. The batter came together with no apparent problems, “apparent” being the operative word here. A couple of pan options were thrown out by our hosts, but I decided to go with a plain round, since I thought it would be easy to unmold. I also decided to throw a bit of the batter in a diminutive loaf pan, with hopes of creating some sugar porn of my own.

If someone could please explain to me what went sooooo wrong with this cake I would love you for it. I realize that some other people had some trouble with some dipping in their cake. A few people even referenced the word “crater“, but mine actually collapsed into itself like the house at the end of Poltergeist, a radical difference in my opinion. Just look at the small one.

Besides a possible poor selection (ha!) of chocolate, I think it was at the point of baking where I also may have gone wrong. The instructions were to bake for 25 minutes in a 375ºF oven, or until an instant read thermometer reads 140ºF. Lacking an instant read thermometer (curses!) I had to go by the time. I decided to peek in at around 20 minutes. Low and behold both pans had a balloon of chocolate cake rising toward the heavens. I’ve run into this problem before, but generally only when I’ve filled my cake pan to the gills with batter. I followed the instructions and only filled my pans 3/4 of the way full. Still, I had my beautiful balloons.

I waited another 5 minutes and checked again, and the balloons had already deflated some. I shut the oven off and left the pans in for another 5 or so minutes praying for the best. By the time I actually removed the pans each had already started to crater. After waiting the required 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pans, they had collapsed in on themselves completely as you saw in the small loaf. The larger round cake was more of like a plateau surrounded by the grand canyon.

The vision before my eyes at that moment caused a similar collapse of pride in my baking skills and I was at a loss for what to do. I thought, “Well, I suppose I’ll get them out of these pans and see if they settle into a more pleasing shape of some sort.” What started out as a disappointment rapidly turned into a disaster when I foolishly tried to remove the cake from the pan. I was still reacting to my bruised ego, and wondering “Where did it all go so wrong?” to myself when I completely lost my head and just flipped the pan over in an attempt to remove my cake catastrophe from the pan.

Despite its misshapen appearance, the cake tastes pretty good. I probably should have let the cake cool completely in the pan before attempting removal. Also, I would probably only make this cake in a springform or removable bottom pan in the future. It will make it much easier to remove. I realize that some people actually got a cake-looking cake rather than a collapsed torte (if any of you are reading, tell me your secret!), but for those of you who don’t seem to have the cake-looking-flourless-chocolate-cake skill then it’s pans with removable bottoms all the way. All that being said, check out these cross section pics. I tried to capture the beautiful color. It almost looks like there are layers.

I had to include a pic of it in the sunlight. Look how it shimmers!

While those pictures are great, due to the unattractive condition of my cake as a whole, I wracked my brain for an agreeable plating concept to display my creation. What did I come up with? Coconuts. That’s all I came up with. Coconuts. I went out and bought one. Unfortunately I bought a bad one, so I couldn’t actually eat it, which was what I was planning on doing with my tasty prop after I was finished with it.  I was wondering why I had a HELL of a time getting the damned thing to split in half properly. I believe it was due to said “bad-ness” but who knows. Coconuts are notoriously hard nuts to crack. Yes, a coconut is in fact a nut. Don’t break out the nutcracker just yet though, according to some botanists, it’s also a fruit (or a dry drupe, but it depends on the botanist your run into). Apparently nuts fall under the fruit umbrella because they are the part of a plant that carries the seeds, the coconut being the seed…the whole thing. So, grains are even considered fruits. Weird huh? That really puts the whole food pyramid (or is it stepladder now) the USDA touts out of whack.

I was looking at the thing in the supermarket wondering how the heck I was going to split it open so I could use it as serveware. I decided to check the handy-dandy internet for advice. Turns out I’m not the only one in need of a good nut-cracking technique (get your minds out of the gutter!) because there were several articles written up as well as videos on the subject. I feel the one I’m including here gives the best explanation of what to do, but I would suggest using the back of a hammer, unless you have the knife of Thor, God of Thunder, and the strength to match. I finally resorted to the hammer after banging on my coconut with the back of my crummy cleaver for about 10 minutes without making a dent. It still didn’t really want to break open, but I do think it was due to the bad nature of my coconut and not necessarily the technique.

While I didn’t end up plating the whole dessert in the coconut, I did take a few snaps of the coconut ice cream melting in it.

So there you have it folks. I hope I’ve provided you with some semi-informative ramblings on how you too can screw up a three ingredient recipe. One thing that did come out beautifully in every way was the ice cream. The Daring Bakers were kind enough to include a link to David Lebovitz’s instructions on how to make ice cream without an ice cream maker which came in handy since that’s another item my kitchen is lacking. The only thing I would add to his instructions are be prepared to spend more than 3 hours finishing this stuff. Maybe it’s my freezer, but it took me a heck of a lot longer. I think I’d probably mix it every 45 minutes in the future rather than half hour. Enjoy!

Coconut Ice Cream

(from Dessert FourPlay by Johnny Iuzzini)

1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon (372 G) Whole milk
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (210 G) Heavy cream
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (45 G) Nonfat milk powder
2 tablespoons (30 G) Invert sugar (see below for recipe – woops, forgot it! Don’t stone me! I’m adding it now.)
4 teaspoons (24 G) Light corn syrup
1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (90 G) Granulated sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225 G) Canned coconut milk

Set up an ice bath in a large bowl.

Put the milk, cream, milk powder, invert sugar, corn syrup, and granulated sugar in a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring to dissolve the milk powder and sugar. Bring to a boil. Mix with an immersion blender and pour into a medium bowl. Set into the ice bath and chill completely, stirring often. Add the coconut milk and mix thoroughly with the immersion blender. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight for the flavors to mature.

Freeze in an ice cream maker (or if you don’t have an ice cream maker follow instructions here). Pack into a plastic container and freeze for at least 2 hours before serving.

Some Tips For Making Ice Cream and Sorbets
* Make the base the day before for all the infused ice creams and sorbets. That way the flavors have a chance to ripen and develop in the refrigerator overnight.
* Make sure the base is very cold before you start churning it in your ice cream maker.
* For best results, churn the ice cream or sorbet the morning you plan to serve it. These ice creams and sorbets should cure in the freezer for at least 2 hours before serving, but they will be at their best when they’ve had a few more hours in the freezer.
* Move the ice creams and sorbets to the refrigerator 10 minutes before serving, so they soften a little before you scoop them.

Invert Sugar

2 1/4 cups (450 G) Sugar
1 cup less 1 tablespoon (225 G) Water
2 teaspoons (10 G) Fresh lemon juice

Combine the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring almost to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat and cook at an active simmer for 30 minutes. If you taste the mixture at this point (careful, it’s hot!), there should be no hint of acidity.

Transfer to a heatproof jar and let cool completely before using. Store in the refrigerator. Like simple syrup, it lasts for months in the fridge. Invert sugar creates a smoother texture and softer mouth-feel in ice creams, sorbets and other frozen desserts. It helps the ice cream from becoming too dense and rock hard.

It is ironic that what appears to be the simplest of tasks turns into a laborious challenge. That was the big lesson I learned attempting January’s Daring Bakers Challenge.

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

They also supplied a recipe for savory tuiles from Thomas Keller from the French Laundry and his cookbook of the same name. I ended up trying the basic sweet and savory recipes. (Scroll down for recipes and food porn.)  

Upon first hearing about the challenge I was non-pulsed about it. The batter is simple enough to get together, although some DBs had some trouble. Some found that the butter actually separated from the batter when adding the egg whites in the sweet recipe. Audax Artifex solved this problem, “The next time I added the egg whites in very small batches and used a spatula all the while – no problem.” So I guess when the recipe say to add the egg whites “gradually” they really mean it.

If my troubles with this challenge were as such I would be counting myself lucky, but alas, no. My trouble came when I attempted to actually shape the tuiles, but let’s start at the beginning. Unlike many of the DB challenges there was quite an allowance for freedom and creativity. While strict adherence to the actual cookie recipe was expected, the field was wide open when it came to shaping and pairing. For some reason I had raspberries on the mind, I think it was due The Art and Soul of Baking and its drool-worthy picture of a raspberry soufflé. Instead of soufflé though I thought a nice mousse would be a good pairing for the sweet tuiles. For the savory I decided on a salmon mousse.

Now it took some time to discover the right recipes for the mousses. All the while I kept having this nagging feeling that the simplicity of this recipe was deceptive. I don’t claim any powers of clairvoyance but I did seem to have an “ides of march” foreboding about actually attempting this recipe. So much so that I kept putting it off.

Other small things came up, like finding ingredients, then constantly eating batches of raspberry mousse while waiting to find said ingredients. Sesame seeds for the savory tuiles were difficult to come by. I ended up finally finding them in the grocery store closest to my house because it was the last place I looked, go figure.

Another thing that preoccupied my mind in this challenge was the shaping. How the heck was I going to do it? With comments about how if bakers ever wanted to embark on a life of crime they could do so, since after shaping the tuiles their fingerprints had been burned off…..needless to say I was intimidated. Andreas from Delta Kitchen was kind enough to provide a link to a great post by a woman who actually cooked all the recipes in the French Laundry Cookbook at home. The post includes a video where Thomas Keller himself shows you how to shape cornets. The video would be more helpful if you actually have cornet molds, which I don’t. So I spent a lot of the month looking around the house for things that I could use to mold my tuiles.

The only things I found were an extremely large pastry tip that I bought to make the Cardinal Slice recipe from Baking with Julia, which I’ve just never gotten around to. You’ll never believe where I got this nice metal…pole I guess, that I used to create little rolled shapes….an old printer that I took apart about a year ago. Thankfully I kept the parts

Shaping these things was the trickiest thing to get the hang of. The savory tuiles were much easier to shape than the sweet. I think that was probably due to the extra butter. I do want to mention that all of the people on the DB boards are truly the salt-of-the-earth. Everyone was super helpful with ideas and info. For instance, Cupcake Muffin gave everyone a super resource in this post on making the same savory cornets we were attempting. Check it out for some great pics as well as instruction.

If you ever want to give these a try there are a few things to keep in mind during the shaping process. First, contrary to what some DBs have said, you can spread these too thin. I did, and had some trouble with them browning too quickly. The first thing I used as a template was made out of the cardboard from a gift box which was waaaay too thin. Using the cardboard from a standard USPS shipping box turned out to be the perfect thickness for me. I spread the batter just under the line of the cardboard.

Second, don’t bake them all the way through. Here’s why…

The only way you’d be able to properly shape a tuile that has really started to brown is by giving yourself second degree burns inside your oven. I baked the tuiles for maybe six minutes. Basically I was looking for only a hint of browning on the edges. Here’s a hint…

Third, keep your oven door open letting the tuiles stay exposed to the heat as much as possible. It doesn’t take much for these babies to cool down and once they have they’re practically set in stone. So don’t touch the tuiles until you are positive that you’re ready to shape. I know some DBs had success softening them up in the oven to reshape, but I didn’t. Check out inventive use of printer parts…

Once you’ve shaped the tuile you’ll need to put it back in the oven. You want them to get a bit more brown. I never could get a consistent all-over color with the sweet. I’m not sure why. If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them.

Again the savory were much easier to work with. The only trouble I had here was not with the tuiles but with the mousse. I didn’t end up making it. I had everything ready with some ingredients already mixed, opened up my smoked salmon and peeeehew! Bad salmon. TOTALLY sucked. I still have to return it to my store because there’s no reason for that to have been bad. So no salmon mousse for my savory tuiles…

Despite the blow with the salmon mousse that was not I gave some Philly cream cheese a go and this is what remain after about five minutes of munching…

Here’s the recipes:

Sweet tuiles:
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. If you’d like to color your shapes a bit, mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa or food coloring and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on your cookies.

Bake in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown (don’t forget to check my lengthy instructions about baking and shaping that I outlined previously in this post.) Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm. I strongly recommend you start by baking them one at a time until you get the hang of it.

Raspberry Mousse:
Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion

3 cups (one 12-ounce bag) unsweetened frozen raspberries
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons unflavored powdered gelatin (see note on this in instructions)
1/4 cup (2 ounces) cold water
1 cup (8 ounces) heavy cream
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar

Bring the frozen raspberries, sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer over medium heat. Remove from heat and press fruit through a fine strainer; discard the seeds and solids, reserving the purée. Set it aside to cool to room temperature. You should have at least 1 1/2 cups.

In a small heatproof bowl or measuring cup, combine the gelatin and cold water. One thing to note about the gelatin, this recipe actually came from another recipe for a cake where this was meant to be the filling. I found that using a full 1 1/2 teaspoons made the mousse a bit too tough, so I scaled it back each time I made it (which turned out to be a couple because I couldn’t stop eating it). I think that one teaspoon should suffice in making something that holds together, but not like actual jello. Unfortunately I didn’t realize this in my last batch of the mousse when I used less than a teaspoon which turned out to be too little gelatin to keep the mousse together, so go with a full teaspoon.

Let the mixture sit until all of the water has been absorbed (this only takes a minute or so). Whip the cream and confectioners sugar until soft peaks form; set it aside. Heat the gelatin-water mixture over low heat until it becomes a clear liquid. Stir this into the raspberry purée, then fold in the whipped cream. Refrigerate mousse for about 90 minutes, to let it set up.

Savory tuiles/cornets:
From Thomas Keller’s the French Laundry Cookbook

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (65 grams/2.1/4 ounces) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt (= 2/3 teaspoon table salt)**
8 tablespoons (114 grams/4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
2 large egg whites, cold
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the softened butter by thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary and whisking until the batter is creamy and without any lumps. Transfer the batter to a smaller container, as it will be easier to work with.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Make a 4-inch hollow circular stencil. Place Silpat on the counter (it is easier to work on the Silpat before it is put on the sheet pan). Place the stencil in one corner of the sheet and, holding the stencil flat against the Silpat, scoop some of the batter onto the back of an offset spatula and spread it in an even layer over the stencil. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. After baking the first batch of cornets, you will be able to judge the correct thickness. You may need a little more or less batter to adjust the thickness of the cornets.

There should not be any holes in the batter. Lift the stencil and repeat the process to make as many rounds as you have molds or to fill the Silpat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cornets. Sprinkle each cornet with a pinch of black sesame seeds.

Place the Silpat on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the batter is set and you see it rippling from the heat. The cornets may have browned in some areas, but they will not be evenly browned at this point.

Open the oven door and place the baking sheet on the door.*** This will help keep the cornets warm as you roll them and prevent them from becoming too stiff to roll. Flip a cornet over on the sheet pan, sesame seed side down and place 4-1/2 inch cornet mold at the bottom of the round. If you are right-handed, you will want the pointed end on your left and the open end on your right. The tip of the mold should touch the lower left edge (at about 7 o’clock on a clock face) of the cornet.

Fold the bottom of the cornet and around the mold; it should remain on the sheet pan as you roll. Leave the cornet wrapped around the mold and continue to roll the cornets around molds; as you proceed, arrange the rolled cornets, seams side down, on the sheet pan so they lean against each other, to prevent from rolling.

When all the cornets are rolled, return them to the oven shelf, close the door, and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes to set the seams and color the cornets a golden brown. If the color is uneven, stand the cornets on end for a minute or so more, until the color is even. Remove the cornets from the oven and allow to cool just slightly, 30 seconds or so.
Gently remove the cornets from the molds and cool for several minutes on paper towels. Remove the Silpat from the baking sheet, wipe the excess butter from it, and allow it to cool down before spreading the next batch. Store the cornets for up to 2 days (for maximum flavor) in an airtight container.

I’m not including the salmon mousse recipe because I didn’t end up making it and can’t vouch that it’s a decent recipe.

After an insane amount of work, here’s some of what I ended up with….

Yep, those were the exact words that left my lips the night (or was it morning?) when I finally finished the assembly of this challenge. I just joined the Daring Bakers group last month and while last month’s challenge wasn’t too difficult for me, seeing as I had made a caramel cake a couple of months earlier, December was certainly a doozy.  

Not only was I dealing with five separate elements, several of which I considered challenges in their own right, but I was handicapped by a lack of equipment. That’s right, I managed to complete the entire challenge armed only with my trusty blender and hand mixer. The extra hand mixer my Aunt Nancy had given us when we first moved here certainly came in handy. Initially when we received it my Mom and I didn’t really appreciate it seeing as we already had one. When I was trying to complete Element #2, the Dark Chocolate Mousse, having a second mixer on hand was a boon, otherwise I don’t think it would have come out right.

This month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

These were my choices: Element #1 Hazelnut Dacquoise, Element #2 Dark Chocolate Mousse, Element #3 Dark-Milk Ganache Insert, Element #4 Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert, Element #5 Vanilla Crème Brulée Insert, and Element #6 Milk Chocolate Icing.

My favorite element hands down was the Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert – HOLY COW! That was deeeelicious! I happily had some of that left over and have been nibbling a bit each day. Does anyone have any ideas on how to incorporate this delectable little item in something else? It’s great on it’s own, but I’d love to enjoy this in something else? Anyone?

Honestly I’m not sure if I would make this again. It was a HELL of a lot of work. Don’t get me wrong, the results were great, but I’m just not sure. Maybe it’ll be a once-a-year, only-around-the-holidays type of thing.

One way or another, organization  and planning are key in this “recipe” which really could be more of a book or at the very least a collection. The first thing I started with were my hazelnuts. I toasted them and then went on to removing the skins which was a surprisingly time consuming task. It took FOREVER to get all those skins off. Some were easy, but others I actually needed my grater to get off. For some reason I decided I didn’t want to go all the way upstairs to check the internet for tips on skinning nuts so a couple of hours later…Presto-chango – bare-naked hazelnuts! Next time I won’t be such a dope and just schlep myself upstairs. Joe Pastry has a nice post on stripping your hazelnuts you may want to check out anytime you need naked nuts.

Once I had my bare hazelnuts I decided to make the hazelnut meal I would need for the Dacquoise. Initially I was thinking about using my blender to grind my nuts into a meal since I am food processor-less. Then I thought of my last experience using the blender in this way and decided against it. So, I actually grated each nut individually into a fine meal. Although time consuming, it turned out lovely.

I think at this point I started the Vanilla Crème Brulée. I have had this cache of vanilla beans that I just love looking at each day. Credit is due to The Traveler’s Lunchbox for my vanilla bean source. She had an amazing post on making your own vanilla extract that everyone really has to do. Whenever I saw a recipe that required vanilla beans I would sigh longingly and deeply prior to discovering Vanilla, Saffron Imports. Now I have so many beans I don’t know what to do with them – it’s awesome! I have been wanting to make a crème brulée seeing as the one and only time I ever had it was probably in the top three of my dessert ecstasy experiences. I don’t remember the restaurant but it was near Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. It was a raspberrry crème brulée. This of course was after seeing Amélie (fav movie!) and it was simply magical cracking the hard sugar crust!

So I’ve wanted to make Crème Brulée for-ever, but I didn’t have a blowtorch and heard mixed results using a broiler. I now have a blowtorch (thank God for Home Depot!) but did not need it for this recipe since the crème brulée is actually a layer in the “cake”(? – is this considered a cake or pastry or what? Good Eats ‘N Sweet Treats was kind of enough to answer my question in her post. Apparently it’s called a entremets in french, or a cream dessert.) Apparently I’m not the only person who had some trouble getting the crème brulée to set. I don’t know how long it finally took to cook (seemed like ALL day), but I think I’m going to follow Alpine Berry’s advice and cook it at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. Regardless, it did finally set up and I stuck it in the freezer after it cooled.

While the crème brulée was cooking I decided to make the Praline Feuillete. First I needed the praline which we could take from the July DB challenge. Let me tell you, while making a praline paste can probably be done in two shakes of a lambs tail with a food processor, you can get it done with a certain amount of personal satisfaction using a blender and a heavy rolling pin. I started by grinding the sugar-hazelnut clusters in the blender. I kept on checking it and swirling the stuff around until I realized that the blender did all it could but could do no more. This left me with a coarse meal, not a paste. I looked to my heavy rolling pin made out of green marble (it’s a beaut!) and dumped the praline meal between two sheets of waxed paper and just kept rolling, picking up and rolling the mixture until it resembled a paste-like substance.

I think I did quite well considering the lack of tools. Regardless, the paste I managed to roll out worked fine for the praline feuillete.

I know I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating – this stuff is incredible! Seriously, I need to come up with something else to do with this. It’s sooooooo good!

After all that I called it a day.

When I got up the next day I checked the little list of elements I needed to complete to see what was finished and what still needed to be done:

Element #1 Hazelnut Dacquoise
Element #2 Dark Chocolate Mousse
Element #3 Dark-Milk Ganache Insert (right before assembly)
Element #4 Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert
Element #5 Vanilla Crème Brulée Insert
Element #6 Milk Chocolate Icing (after unmolding)

That’s basically where I was at. I decided to work on the hazelnut dacquoise next. This pretty much came off without a hitch. I have to say that the flavor of this didn’t seem to come through in the final product, but maybe I made it too thin, not sure.

Next was the dark chocolate mousse. This element did prove to be a bit of a problem and unleashed a bombardment of curses about my poverty. The difficult arose nearly at the start with the preparation of the Pate a Bombe. From the recipe: A Pate a Bombe is a term used for egg yolks beaten with a sugar syrup, then aerated. It is the base used for many mousse and buttercream recipes. It makes mousses and buttercreams more stable, particularly if they are to be frozen, so that they do not melt as quickly or collapse under the weight of heavier items such as the crème brulee insert. The steps for making the pate a bombe are to beat some egg yolks until they are nearly white in color, then cook some sugar and corn syrup to the soft ball stage after which you beat the sugar into the egg yolks. This is seriously not easy to do with a hand mixer. I ended up having to do this twice because I didn’t add the sugar fast enough before it actually cooled and hardened onto the ends of my beaters. Embarassing, but I’m going to show it.

You see I made the mistake of putting the mixer down to try to spoon every last bit of syrup into the yolks. By the time I got the mixer back up and running the syrup had cooled and started sticking to the beaters. If you ever want to try this at home, forget about getting everything out of the pan and just keep pouring into the bowl and mix, mix, mix. Make sure that you keep the mixer moving while the syrup is pouring in. This will make sure that the syrup is actually mixed into the yolks before it gets a chance to harden. It’s not easy, but it can be done.

The second mixer came in handy when I needed to whip the heavy cream that was to be folded into the rest of the mixture. I didn’t encounter any other problems with the mousse despite the rocky start.

Next was the dark-milk chocolate ganache. This was pretty easy. This is the first time I encountered a ganache recipe that called for a caramel. I’m not sure why, I’m guessing for stability.

After all that came the assembly. This was a little tricky and the tip I used to pipe the mouse in was probably too big because I had to stretch the last bit around to make it cover. I popped it into the fridge and I have no idea exactly what time it was, all I know is that it was after midnight and I swear the first thing I said when I finally closed the freezer door was, “Wow…I feel like I just ran a marathon.” Not that I have or probably will ever run an actual marathon, but the way I felt after running that gauntlet of a challenge is what I imagine what marathon runners feel like after they are finished.

The next day came unmolding and the icing. I had trouble getting my log out of the mold. I used a glass bread pan as the mold. I kept tapping and even sticking a dull knife along the side trying to pry it loose. Finally I stuck the damn thing in the microwave for six seconds. I turned it upside down on the counter and gave it a good whack and it finally popped out. The icing came out fine, but I think I could have used more of it. I don’t know certain (oh…) Daring (my…) Bakers (…God!) get their icing to look like one glossy, unblemished sheet, but I certainly didn’t have enough icing to manage it. I think I’d probably double the recipe next time and come up with something (hmmm, I wonder) to do with any extra. Either that or I’ll do what Apple Pie, Patis and Pâté did, talk about a “Wow” effect!

This was a fabulous challenge! While there were some hair-pulling times, I really loved doing all of this. It’s challenges like this that teach you how to organize your kitchen and process. What a great learning experience! Thanks to all the hostesses!

So, I was so THRILLED in October to get the news that I was accepted into the Daring Bakers group. So thrilled in fact that I made the November challenge, took pictures even, but never got around to actually post my results because I got hives from my computer for around a month for some reason. Actually this is the WORST time of year for me to try and keep any kind of schedule. Between taking care of my Mom, the house, preparing for the holidays and trying to keep up with all the baking – AAAAHHHH! Excuse my meltdown. Anyways, I hope this somehow makes up for November because that’s when I actually made this cake.

Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater brings us a sugar-high to last through the holidays with a Caramel Cake. Hosting helpers are Dolores from Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Alex from Blondie and Brownie, Jenny from Foray into Food, and for those alternative bakers Natalie from Gluten-a-Go-Go. (I think I have this right to get credit for this, but if I’m missing something please let me know!)  

I must have done something wrong with the cake part because it came out like a pound cake wrapped in a brick. The weirdest thing was that sometimes the thing had a Play-Doh like taste. Not sure why. We still finished the damn thing. It was the frosting, it was all because of the frosting. I don’t know if you remember my first discovery of brown butter, but this month’s challenge included a magical concoction of BROWN BUTTER FROSTING!

Holy yum! I realize she calls it “Caramelized Butter Frosting” but the strong flavor that came through for me was that magical brown butter. Still, I would love to come across a frosting recipe that doesn’t make me feel like I just shoved a spoonful of sugar in my mouth. While I am addicted to sweets and enjoyed every bit of the frosting, I still would have liked to turn that sweetness from a 15 to a more manageable 11. Frosting is the bane of my baking existence and I’ve yet to accomplish a recipe that I was really proud of. But don’t get me wrong, this is the best frosting I’ve ever made. I know there has to be something out there that matches the flavor that I have in mind and I’ll just keep trying.

Apparently some people had trouble with the caramel phase. This didn’t intimidate me too much since I had made a Caramel cake a couple of months ago. The steps were a bit different as well as the consistency of the Caramel but I have to admit there were no great catastrophes. Here it is just starting to brown:

I did have to do two batches because I overcooked the first. It smelled a bit too burned when it reached this amber phase. The second time was perfect though. What a beautiful color!

I decided to accent the cake with some Caramel dots from Martha Stewart’s recipe for Dobos Torte. I made some sticks too, but just couldn’t figure out how to place them in some cool artistic way so polka-dot cake it is. One thing I do have a question about, if anyone knows, the dots started to actually melt when left out – why is that? Is there a way to prevent this from happening? I love to watch those sugar sculpture Food Network Challenge shows and there must be a way to keep these dots from melting at room temperature – anyone know?

Caramel Sticks and Dots:
Non-stick cooking spray
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice (I used juice from a bottle. Could that possibly be the reason it melted? I don’t think so, but what the heck do I know.)

Lightly coat the underside of a rimmed baking sheet with cooking spray; place it, coated side up, on a work surface covered with parchment. Place a non-stick baking mat on the work surface.

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, 1/4 cup water, and the lemon juice. Cook over high heat until sugar just begins to turn light golden around the edges, about 8 minutes. (The caramel will continue cooking in the pan, so watch the color carefully.) Immediately remove from heat, and swirl gently to color evenly. Let stand until caramel has thickened and cooled slightly, about 8 minutes.

To make sticks, use a metal spoon to drizzle caramel across the inverted baking sheet, using quick zigzag movements. Let stand until firm, about 5 minutes. Trim the ends so they are straight.

To make dots, drop spoonfuls of caramel to form rounds, ranging in size, onto the baking mat; let stand until firm about 5 minutes. Once firm, remove with a small offset spatula.

You can get creative with this stuff and make any shapes you like. If the caramel becomes too tough to manipulate, heat on a medium flame for a few seconds at a time. Don’t try to stir it or you’ll get bunches of air bubbles. Push a bit at the sides to check the consistency. Once the caramel is more malleable you can use again to make shapes.