Can you believe that I actually baked this on Wednesday last week? You’d think that since I baked so early, I’d have this thing written before the weekend, let along before 7pm today. You’d've thought that, but then you’d been wrong, just like the Bride. Nope, I got it in my head that I had to get my savory cupcake baked this weekend, and that’s what it took to get it done…all weekend. And prior to Saturday I was trying to play catch up with my Recipe Round-Ups which I’ve only managed to get last week’s out. Busy, busy, busy.

But who cares. You’re mad about mangos and want to know how they faired in a quick bread. I can tell you they faired well, but got a bit lost in the cinnamon. Apparently it was her ardent love of fruit that brought Kelly of Baking with the Boys to select the Fresh Mango Bread from Dorie’s tome of baked goodness.  

The mango, considered the “apple of the tropics”, is a drupe that you can find in multiple varieties. Containing a plethora of vitamins and minerals, including 17 amino acids, and antioxidant vitamins A, B, C, and E, the mango is marketed as a “superfruit“, a savvy choice for the health conscious. There was some question by TWDers on picking and cutting up the mango. I suggested this post from Coconut & Lime on signs of a good mango. Amy Ruth from Amy Ruth Bakes provided a link to At Home With Vicki Bensinger who outlined a couple of ways to cut a mango. I have to say that Lifescript also offered an informative and comprehensive article about the mango that includes health benefits and cooking and storage methods.

This was a good recipe, but I have to say that the mango got lost in the cinnamon for me. As written, the recipe included ginger, raisins, and lime zest, all of which didn’t sound appealing to me so I omitted them. Maybe if I had included them they would have brought out the flavor of the mango…I don’t know.

This recipe is super easy to make. The only thing that many of the TWDers, myself included, seemed to run into was that we couldn’t get 2 cups of fruit from one mango. Thankfully I bought two mangos when I went to the store. While preparing the batter I kept wondering how in the world were all those ingredients going to fit in that itty bitty pan.

At one point I thought I was going to have a bread explosion in the oven, but thankfully it behaved and stayed in the pan…for the most part.

I have to say that this was a beautiful bread. When you slice it you’ll see the beautiful mango color speckled throughout the bread. This is also the one time you won’t have to worry about hair in your food because if your mangos are a bit overripe, their hair will show up. Despite a lack of mango kick, this was one tasty bread.

I couldn’t resist this picture with my love, Arlo, in the background.

We revisit the golden lemon this week with Babette of Babette Feasts. She chose Dorie’s Tartest Lemon Tart which, as written, uses the WHOLE lemon, “zest, pulp, and juice.” This zesty combination truly gives you one of the tartest lemon tarts you’ve ever tasted.  

I’m going to start right off by telling you that I didn’t like this…as written. Unfortunately I didn’t read the TWD post prior to baking this. If I had, maybe I would have foreseen the probable bitter and disappointing end. The thing looks beautiful, I have to say. My mouth was watering to try a slice while I was taking my pictures. While it was a feast for the eyes, it didn’t gratify the stomach or rather the tongue…at least for me. The inclusion of the pith, which Dorie does not exclude in the book, resulted in one of the few things I just couldn’t eat. Can you believe it? Check out how good it looks….it’s unfathomable! Something that looks so good but tastes so bitter. I’m sure there’s some kind of relationship joke that would be appropriate here, but at near 2am it’s escaping me.

Bungalow Barbara was kind enough to clue everyone in to another whole lemon recipe from Dorie, a Creamy Lemon & Raspberry Tart, that you can find on Serious Eats. In this one she suggests the removal of the pith. I STRONGLY suggest you do this, unless you are crazy for bitter stuff, then pith away. Steph from A Whisk and A Spoon also pointed us to the comments section of this post on Dorie’s blog where she suggests blanching the lemon slices before using to remove some of the bitterness. I say kick the pith to the door and you should be fine in the bitter department. I think I could have eaten this if I piled on an obscene amount of whipped cream, but I couldn’t qualify the calorie intake for something that I didn’t really enjoy. It’s not like I’m never going to bake again…this week…ok tomorrow. If I’m going to put something in my mouth, I’m sure as heck going to relish it.

Bitterness aside, I would try this tart again….WITHOUT the pith. The worst thing about the bitterness was that it was a bitter aftertaste. This is why I think that this would have been fine without the pith because initially it tastes good, but then it turns ugly bitter. And do realize I’m talking bitter, not tart. There is a difference. If you make this tart with the pith, that difference will be crystalized for you in your mouth and you’ll never mistake the two ever again.

One thing I will include here is a recipe for candied lemon slices. I actually am using one I came across on Tastespotting a couple of weeks ago for candied kumquats of all things. Go to Cook Oui Chef Blog 1.0 to learn how to make Kumquat Glass and Rhubarb Ribbons. While you’re there you can take a gander at some of the most gorgeous pics of kumquats you’ll ever see.

Candied Lemon Slices

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
2 lemons, sliced as thin as you can, the thinner the better…don’t forget to remove the seeds! (also, I’d suggest using organic lemons and a decent silpat because the silcone baking sheet I got from Target for two bucks left a creepy aftertaste, not that you’re supposed to be downing these things like Lemonheads or anything)

Preheat oven to 170˚F.

Put the sugar and water in a pan. On medium heat stir until sugar is dissolved. Set aside to cool.

Place a silpat on a baking sheet.

Dip the lemon slices into the syrup, well coating both sides. Shake off any excess, and lay on silpat leaving space between each otherwise they will stick to each other.

Bake for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until dry to touch but still slightly sticky.

Flip the slices over and bake for another 10-20 minutes or until the opposite side is dry as well. Remove and allow to cool. They will harden as they cool. Store in an airtight container.

Buongiorno! Megan of My Baking Adventures leads us to Italy, the land of Tiramisu with Dorie’s Tiramisu Cake. In an attempt to be faithful to the recipe, I’ve been all over town trying to find mascarpone cheese. My last ditch effort was at a natural food store on Tuesday, but no luck. I know some people have been able to find it at Publix, Walmart (gah!) even, but I did not. Thankfully I came across a great website that gives (somewhat cryptic at times) substitutions for mascarpone cheese, as well as others.  

The site is aptly named Cook’s Thesarus and really is a gold mine for those of you, like me, who have trouble find those (sometimes not so) difficult to find ingredients. The entry that was particularly helpful in my current conundrum was that for Fresh Cheese. You’ll find the substitutions for mascarpone cheese a little more than halfway down the page. There are a couple of options, but I chose to use ricotta since I had some left over from my DB cheesecake (which I still have to post!). I used around 7 ounces of ricotta, then got up to the 8 ounces with some whipped cream cheese. I added two tablespoons of heavy cream, and threw it all in the blender until smooth. It may have been a bit too smooth because my frosting was more of a dripping icing.

Obviously this recipe is a tiramisu inspiration, and not a strict illustration of the classic. You might imagine that the history of this Italian favorite stretches as far back as the French Madeleine. That’s what I thought until I did a little searching. It turns out tiramisu was born in the ripe old year of 1983 (approximately, some say ‘81, and others ‘71…talk about ancient).  As with the Madeleine, tiramisu has a hotly debated past. Some say it was in the watery alleyways of Venice, others somewhere in Greece, and the most credible seems to be credited to an Italian immigrant in Baltimore. Whatever happens to be the truth or what you choose to believe about its origins, tiramisu is a favorite enjoyed the world over.

This recipe called for using chocolate chips in the middle which kinda turned me off to the whole thing. I love chocolate chips, but I’m funny about textures and I can do without having a crunch to my cake. I decided to go with a dusting of cocoa powder. Then at the last second I was inspired to finely grate some chocolate to sprinkle on top of the cocoa powder. Good idea! It gave the needed extra chocolate flavor (to make up for an exclusion in the frosting) yet without the crunch.

I’ve been having sink trouble. The last two days the sink with the garbage disposal has been backed up (I’m getting a plunger specifically for the sink tomorrow…if anyone has any ideas for an unclogging operation I’m all ears!). The whole “state of the sink” was disturbing my calm the entire time I was trying to complete this cake. For the most part everything with the cake went fine, except when it came time to make the frosting. First off, no mascarpone, which no matter what you try and substitute it with doesn’t taste like mascarpone…go figure. Still, I’m thankful for the substitution ideas otherwise I wouldn’t have attempted this at all and I really enjoyed the cake.

I encountered my second problem when blending my cheese substitution…I got a little carried away. I could actually pour the frosting over the cake like a glaze. I don’t think it was supposed to have this kind of texture. My last snafu was an omission. When assembling the cake, you put some of the filling in the middle and save the rest to use as frosting for the outside of the cake. That went fine. However, when I came to the part of adding a tablespoon or so of the espresso extract to the filling to make the frosting, I almost forgot it. Actually, I had to make more since I had unintentionally thrown out what I had previously made. So I made some more. Then forgot to add it to the frosting. Oops. Good thing this cake calls for the coffee syrup otherwise it wouldn’t taste like coffee at all.

I don’t know what possessed me to make the TWD stencil. The process was easy enough. I printed the letters, cut them out with an Exacto, then placed them on top of the frosting and dusted away. I had some trouble getting the D off as you can see. Otherwise it was simple enough to make in a properly working kitchen. I strongly recommend giving it a try. Definitely a winner, without espresso flavored frosting and all.

Shesh, has another week gone by already? Some weeks I’m not all that jazzed about the TWD selection, sometimes I’m in excitement mode, and then there are weeks where I’m neither jazzed nor excited. This week initially started out jazzed, then turned lukewarm. When I initially heard the title, “Chocolate Cream Tart” (selected by Kim of Scrumptious Photography) I got excited because who doesn’t get excited when they hear the word, “chocolate”. Then I looked at what was entailed, don’t ask me why, but the technique seemed like a bit of a let down. I have no idea what I expected when I heard “Chocolate Cream Tart”, but I do know it didn’t involve what sounded like a glorified chocolate pudding thrown in a tart shell. Well, sometimes it’s good to have low expectations, or none really to speak of. This was PHENOMENAL!  

Seriously, this was hella good. I did use some of Dorie’s playing around options, hence the inclusion of the recipe since it’s not exactly to speck in the book. I decided to go with using a layer of coconut cream, but I didn’t make a pie. The combination of chocolate and coconut…oh…my….god….a, yum. And considering the fact that I’ve been trying to use up the old Ghirardelli that I’ve had lying around and it still tasted great, well, this recipe is a definite keeper. I know some of you out there love Ghirardelli, but after having some Scharffen Berger…. I just don’t want to go back, but granted, it costs a HECK of a lot more. For now I’ve got a five pound bag waiting for me. When I run out of that I’ll worry about the cost of procuring some more.

Please, please do try this recipe. One thing though, don’t change a damn thing here. I know you may see some other successful experiments across the TWD universe that don’t include all the elements I have here, but really give it a try with the chocolate, coconut, and whipped cream. Oh, and don’t forget the toasted coconut!

Chocolate Cream Tart

As a plan of attack, I’d start off with the tart dough, move on to the chocolate cream, the coconut cream, and then the toasted coconut. I wouldn’t make the whipped cream topping until right before you’re ready to assemble.

Chocolate Shortbread Tart Dough:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cake flour (if you don’t have cake flour, just use all-purpose flour)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons) very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

A couple of caveats, I don’t have a food processor so I tend to over mix things. I needed something to offset the over mixing and make it more tender, hence the cake flour. If you have a food processor you probably won’t need to use the cake flour, so just use all-purpose flour for the entire amount.

Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.

Put the flour, cocoa, confectioners’ sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and using a whisk sift the mixture together until blended (or if using a food processor: pulse a couple of times to combine). Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry ingredients (or if using a food processor: pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in) — you should have pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and cut this into the dough (or if using a food processor: add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition). When the egg is in, continue to cut the yolk into the dough — until the dough comes together, forms clumps and curds (or if using a food processor: process in long pulses — about 10 seconds each. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change — heads up.).  Those of you who are using their trusty pastry blender should realize that this step will take some time. Initially it will look like nothing is happening and that you don’t have enough liquid for the dough to come together…keep mixing! Eventually you’ll get a nice moist dough. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and very lightly and sparingly knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

Press the dough into the buttered pan. Press evenly over the bottom and up the sides, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Dorie says, “Don’t be too heavy-handed — press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but no so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture.” I’m heavy-handed, another reason for using the cake flour to tenderize. Even though I suck at rolling out dough, I suck at this “press the dough into pan” method more. Maybe someday I’ll get the hang of it. I wish I had some words of wisdom for how NOT to have an uneven tart crust, but I don’t….good luck. Freeze for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially or fully bake the crust:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit (190° Celsius, Gas Mark 5).

Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, patch the crust as necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack (keep it in its pan).

To fully bake the crust:
Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. Keep a close eye on the crust’s progress — it can get too dark in a flash. Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

To patch a partially or fully baked crust, if necessary:
If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to take the rawness off the patch.

Chocolate cream:

2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
1/4 teaspoon salt
7ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces, at room temperature

Bring the milk to a boil.

Dorie suggests using another saucepan for this next step, but I used a stainless steel mixing bowl. One way or another you’ll have two things to wash, but I have more mixing bowls than pots, so bowl it is. If you want to see the original instructions please view this Scrumptious Photography’s blog.  Meanwhile, in a medium stainless steel bowl, whisk the yolks together with the sugar, cornstarch and salt until well-blended and thick. Whisking without stopping, drizzle in about 1/2 cup of the hot milk — this will temper, or warm, the yolks so they don’t curdle — then, while whisking, add the tempered yolk mixture back to the pan that has the remainder of the milk in a steady stream. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking constantly (make sure to get in the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.

Whisk in the melted chocolate. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky. You can press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the custard to create an airtight seal and refrigerate the custard or, if you want to cool the custard quickly, put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and stir the custard occasionally until it is fully chilled, about 20 minutes. (If it’s more convenient, you can keep the custard, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.)

Coconut cream:

1 1/3 cup heavy cream
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Put the heavy cream and coconut in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened.

Once I finished this procedure I found the coconut to be a bit too….stringy? Stringy, chunky…it was too much of a texture that didn’t seem appropriate for a cream tart. If you have the same reaction, through the mixture into a blender or food processor and run it until the mix has reached your desired consistency. I wanted it to have as little texture as possible, so I kept checking my blender for about a minute…it’s up to you.

Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and cool to room temperature.

Toasted coconut:

about 1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325F. Spread the coconut out over a parchment lined pan. Bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until lightly tinged with gold (or forget to take it out of the oven after your timer goes off and have it get totally tinged with gold like I did).

Whipped cream:

1 cup cold heavy cream
4 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the cream until it just starts to thicken. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the cream holds firm peaks.

When you are ready to assemble the tart, spread the coconut cream in an even layer over the bottom of the crust. Whisk the chocolate cream vigorously to loosen it and to bring back its velvety texture. Spoon the cream into the tart shell, stopping just short of the crust’s rim (you may have some left over) — you want to leave room for the topping. Smooth the top and, if you are not serving the tart immediately, press a piece of plastic wrap against the cream and refrigerate the tart until needed (or up to 6 hours).

You can decide how elaborate you want to make this tart. You can either spread the whipped cream over the tart and smooth it with a metal icing spatula or, if you prefer swirls, go for them. I actually filled a piping bag with a star tip and piped little stars across the top. It’s up to you.

Serve the tart now or refrigerate it for up to 2 hours before serving. When you are ready to serve the tart, scatter the toasted coconut over the top.

I had high hopes for this weeks selection of “Four Star” Chocolate Bread Pudding (brought to us by Lauren of Upper East Side Chronicle) but alas, my hopes were dashed along soggy rocks of toooo stale brioche.  

One thing to note, this is a ridiculously easy recipe to make so if at first you don’t succeed try, try again. That said, this first attempt didn’t really work for me, but yet again I think the inedible result was due to user error rather than recipe architect. My brioche was too stale. Yes, you too can make brioche at home WITHOUT a standing mixer. One of these years I’ll have to post some advice about that enterprise among other things. My bread was at least a week old *gasp* and not kept very well so it really tasted stale. The stale taste didn’t go away after baking. So, I ended up with something that tasted like stale brioche that had been doused in chocolate milk and allowed to solidify…seriously unappetizing…at least for my tastes.

Some signposts for those of you who are thinking about trying this one…I’d go with fresh bread that was stale-ized in the oven for 10 minutes at 350, as Dorie suggests, if perfectly stale bread isn’t to be had. I think I may have used a wee too much bread as well. It’s not like I added a huge amount extra, but my suggestion is to just follow the recipe. Also go with a nice strong dark chocolate, probably at least 70% cocoa. Being the sugar freak I am, I decided to mix bittersweet with a bit of milk and it just didn’t end up with a good chocolate flavor. I used a round pan which was fine. After being in the fridge it was solid enough for me to actual make cutouts which is how I was able to do the plating you see in the picture above. I’m not sure if it’s meant to get that solid, but mine did! Here it is ready to go in the oven:

Our TWD selection this week is brought to you by Holly of Phe/MOM/enon. It’s the 15 Minute Magic: Chocolate Amaretti Torte! The “15 minute magic” part really only applies if you have a food processor. If you are food processor-less, and as temporally challenged as I am then this may take you quite a bit longer. That being said, this was relatively easy to make.  

The first challenge I encountered when contemplating this torte was sourcing the Amaretti di Saronno cookies. I don’t remember how many stores I checked, but I couldn’t find any in my area. No big surprise there, but I was crossing my fingers and toes that I might get lucky…oh well. I did get lucky with some Scharffen Berger chocolate on ebay no less (SCORE!), but that story is for another time. Jennifer from Keep Passing the Open Windows was kind enough to supply everyone with a recipe for the cookies. Amanda from Amanda’s Cookin’ supplied the precise weight of cookies needed. This is what I love about the TWD group…everyone is uber helpful! I really need to get more involved!

Please forgive the slideshow, but I really loved the way this turned out. I couldn’t stop taking pictures. I know, I make myself sick.

If you search around you’ll see a plethora of amaretti cookie recipes. I have a feeling that mine didn’t come out quite right, but they worked for the torte at least. Out of the oven the cookies were great, but given a day or two, they turned into something you might want to use when building a house. Maybe they’re supposed to turn into rock after a day? Somehow I doubt any successful recipe is supposed to turn into a rock after a day, but denial can be a wonderful thing. Now these beauties done by Amanda look NOTHING like the ones I made. They look delicate and beautiful, while mine on the other hand are worthy of violence. But hey, the torte came out fine so who cares. Right?? The only thing I can remember doing differently (other than doing this in a blender rather than a food processor) is I rolled mine in sugar, rather than sprinkle it on.

If you decide  to make this, know that you will need 2.75 ounces of cookie for the recipe. For those of you who are decrying the measurement given by weight….get a scale! Seriously. If you’re passionate about baking, then get one. Once you have one, experiment with measuring out a cup of flour a couple of times and you’ll see how the “dip and sweep” method can really screw your recipe over.

One thing I wanted to note was how to tell the done-ness of the cake. Dorie says to bake it for 25 to 30 minutes. My oven seems to be a gremlin from hell and while a few things actually get overdone once in awhile (don’t ask me why, that’s the reason for calling it a gremlin), it almost always takes at least an extra third of the original time extra. In this particular case it took an extra 10 minutes. BUT, this is my freak oven, so when baking this in your, hopefully angelic, oven check the thing after 25. Dorie did add the caveat to the 25 to 30 minutes of, “or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out almost clean.” I used a toothpick. This is when I took it out of the oven:

Dorie also mentioned that the cake, “will dome slightly and the top will look dry; it might even crack.”

What she doesn’t realize is that almost every cake I bake domes, and generally it’s more than slightly. Of course there’s the odd disaster as well, but we don’t really want to remember that. Let’s focus on the positives, and this time according to the directions my cake turned out as planned because after Dorie describes what normally is considered grounds for harakiri in cake-dom, she says, “don’t worry” and she was right. Woo-hoo!

Speaking of positives, this is my first successful enrobe-ment! I have never been able to cover anything with chocolate neatly. My experience has always ended as a partially covered item that I later try to patch up while the chocolate is hardening before my eyes, only to give up and go for that messy, spikey look. I believe I owe my current success to two things. One, I decided to make an extra half of the recipe. This extra half gave me a little more product to work with in that initial pouring stage. And two, Dorie provided a great recipe for the glaze. It poured beautifully and didn’t set up too fast so I could pour a little more where needed. So, if you haven’t had any success with pouring a chocolate glaze over your cakes in the past like I have, try Dorie’s recipe and making a little extra while you’re at it. One thing to note about the recipe – follow it. Go figure. I did not. That’s why I have those little air bubbles in the chocolate, not that it mattered for me in the final result, but if you were looking for the glistening chocolate lake effect then you definitely should follow the recipe exactly. See, I didn’t wait for that full minute after pouring the cream over the chocolate. I just started stirring away like a monkey on a drum. I ended up have some tiny chunks of chocolate that were refusing to melt. I decided to get out my whisk, which solved the bits of unmelted chocolate issue, but introduced a chocolate bubble conundrum. A more patient person would have thought to give the glaze a rest for a few minutes to work the bubbles out itself, but….I guess I’m not a very patient person. Hence the bubbles.

I didn’t get the idea of decorating the top of the cake the way I did from Dorie. While she does recommend sprinkling the top of a slice with crushed amaretti or toasted almonds, she doesn’t mention anything as time consuming as what I decided to do. I actually got the idea from another cookbook, Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow. She has a recipe for a bitter almond chocolate tart (that I’ve never made) that’s decorated much more beautifully than my torte. She must have some kind of special sliced almond hunting squirrel’s like Willy Wonka because I had trouble find enough “pretty” slices to cover my torte. Even with some defective almond slices I still think it’s one of the prettiest things I’ve ever made.

You will want to make some kind of creamy accoutrement for this dessert. It is rich as hell and you will want some kind of milk product to chase the chocolate with. I chose a improv-ed vanilla whipped cream. I took a cup of heavy cream and added a couple of tablespoons of homemade vanilla syrup. There’s probably a better, more professional way to make vanilla whipped cream, all bespeckled with vanilla seeds but I was in a rush and the syrup was handy. If you don’t want to go to all that trouble, then a nice vanilla ice cream would work.

So to sum up, this will satisfy the chocolate freak in your family, but make sure you supply the milky chaser or they will feel like they entered that milk commercial with the guy in Hell.

This weeks pick of Coconut Butter Thins is from Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch whose post for said cookies is the kind that makes you want to have kids. Unfortunately I didn’t have the lime or the macadamia nuts (for the cookies not the kids). I think they would have probably turned out way better if I had used the proper ingredients and technique. As it stands, I did the best I could with the provisions on hand and the results were….meh.  

Since I didn’t have everything required and was feeling a wee bit unmotivated I decided to forgo the chilling and cutting phase. I took Dorie’s shortbread comparison a bit too much to heart and just threw the dough in a 9 x 9 pan which is what I do with my favorite shortbread recipe. This was a mistake because they weren’t meant to be this thick (hence the name thins, go figure). I think if they were thinner they would have tasted better. I can’t say that they are bad, just….dry? I know, I know, shortbread cookies are on the drier side of the cookie spectrum. But shortbread is dry in a good way, these weren’t. My suggestion is to follow the damn recipe. I’m going to try to follow my own advice and give these another try with the proper ingredients.

GOOD GRIEF! Hello all. I’m so sorry for the delay. The accursed state of my blog for the past month has been due to some mysterious issue that has yet remained a mystery despite being magically fixed with the latest version of code from DiyThemes. According to the Thesis theme creator, “your server is handling URL-based variables differently than pretty much everyone else’s server that I’ve ever encountered”…lucky me. Unfortunately this isn’t the first time that I’ve blighted with a rare problem that afflicts an astronomically limited number of the populous. The week-long eyes-glued-to-the-computer-screen bender I endured in an attempt to fix my blog produced a copious amount of stress that triggered a spondylitis episode that left me nearly bedridden for the last couple of weeks. Arthritis sucks. I’ve had it since I was 18, and let me tell you it isn’t any easier to deal with before your 65.

So, that’s the reason for the crazy delay in posting. Shesh, I’ve got to stop writing posts like this. I know prior to this last pause in posting I was finally feeling like I was getting into a groove, and almost caught up with where I wanted to be with the blog. Oh well. Sorry about that. If at first (or second, or third, or fourth, or…) you don’t succeed try, try again right??

But I digress, you came here to hear about this intriguing cake from Dorie that apparently is a staple in the repertoire of every family in France. This selection is brought to you by Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction. According to both Chocolate & Zucchini and Foodbeam, in France this is most likely the first cake that you are taught as a child.

I believe that the traditional recipe is for a simple, unadorned cake which is what is given in Dorie’s book. Dorie being the outside-of-the-box kind of lady she is, did provide a “Playing Around” option for a layer cake that I decided to try. Alton Brown’s lemon curd along with Nick Malgieri’s fluffy white icing rounded out my experiment. (If you want the recipes, stay tuned for my Iron Cupcake-but-not post later this week.)

Chocolate & Zucchini describes the cake as, “a fluffy, cloud-like and moist affair, not too sweet…” I guess my lack of French genes is showing again because while I had a not too sweet moist affair, fluffy and cloud-like it was not. The cake tasted fine enough, although not sweet enough for me, go figure. The lemon curd and icing made up for it though. My only issue was that it tended to sit like a rock in my stomach after eating. Mom loved it though and couldn’t get enough. Maybe I don’t have a refined enough palate, or perhaps (and most likely) I did something wrong yet again.

Someone finally picked the recipe for the picture that is most likely responsible for over half of the sales of this book. Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater picked the jaw-dropping Devil’s Food White-Out Cake.

Despite appearances, this cake is actually pretty easy to make. The thing you want to remember when making cakes, at least for creamed butter and sugar batters,  never cheat on your mixing time in those initial stages. Creaming sugar and butter can really make or break your cake. It can mean the difference between discovering a brick or a fluffy cloud of sweetness in your oven.  

Do you really even need to ask if this was a winner for me? I mean, look at it.

Doesn’t that just scream, “Eat me! I’m fluffy and delicious!” Believe it or not, I’m not that into chocolate cake, Devil’s Food especially. While this wasn’t an epiphany in terms of Devil’s Food, it was really good. The frosting was a real winner for me. I’m always searching for good frosting recipes since, for the most part, I haven’t found one that really hits it out of the park. While this frosting isn’t one for my record book of culinary experiences, it definitely will be one that I see myself turning to again and again. One thing to note about this frosting is that this isn’t a frosting that keeps for days on end. Ideally eat this the same day because it seems to deflate a bit with time. Go figure since it’s mostly egg whites.

One thing I tried with this recipe is using real dutch process cocoa. I’ve been meaning to really price cocoa and chocolate online but I haven’t had the time, so I ended up making a last minute stop to my local kitchen gadgetry and gourmet oasis, the Rolling Pin. Ideally I would do all my shopping there since I like to patron small business, but since I’m unemployed I have to look for the best bang for my buck. I’ve been unemployed so long I’ve actually started shopping at Walmart again. I hate myself every time I go in there, but what else can you do.

Anyways, did the dutch process cocoa make a difference? I think it may have because I did enjoy that cake more than I normally would when it comes to chocolate cake. I can’t be sure unless I make two cakes one with dutch process, and one without to be sure – talk about a decadent experiment! I should find a more reasonable recipe to test the difference with.

Here’s some pics:

I should have really titled this, “Everything you ever wanted to know about creme anglaise but were afraid to ask.” This week’s challenge was selected by Shari of Whisk: a food blog. Floating islands. I remember coming across a recipe for these a while ago and wanting to make them but of course I never did. Thanks to TWD I finally got to do it.

What the heck is a floating island? No, this isn’t some time-jaunting funhouse of disturbia, or part of the 50th state in the union. We’re talking about a little cloud of sweet meringue floating in a pool of creme anglaise.  

The verdict: I’d say a winner. It isn’t a dessert, at least as written, to write home about. However, when you’re looking for something light and fairly easy to make this certainly fits the bill.

Reading the comments that TWDers left helped when it came time for me to attempt this. For example Steph from a whisk and a spoon suggested poaching the meringues before making the creme anglaise. If you do it this way, you don’t have to waste the milk from the poached meringues. I strained the milk after poaching (due to small bits of meringue sometimes breaking for it when I try to fish them out, and also some skin that developed on the milk) and just added some more to bring it up to the two full cups I needed for the creme anglaise recipe.

I’ve made both creme anglaise and creme patisserie (pastry cream) before. Thankfully I didn’t run into the problems that some TWDers had when making the creme anglaise. I think part of the reason for this is because I wasn’t trying to reach a particular temperature, but rather a particular consistency. I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start at the beginning of how I approached this.

I think custards of any type can be tricky but according to this article titled, “Custards Last Stand” at ChefTalk, creme anglaise is one of the trickiest. Not only creme anglaise, but also creme patisserie (known also as pastry cream) and creme brulee are all discussed in detail. According to the article, the tricky thing about creme anglaise is thickening the creme without curdling. Unlike creme anglaise, pastry cream contains cornstarch. The cornstarch’s roll is to thicken and protect against curdling, enabling the pastry cream to be boiled. Without this cornstarch, creme anglaise must be slowly cooked on a low heat until it reaches the proper consistency. (If you’re interested in a recipe for pastry cream as well as a photo essay of the technique check out Joe Pastry and his How to Make Pastry Cream posts.)

I’m stating this as, “the proper consistency” since I’ve read conflicting reports regarding an exact temperature to look for when cooking this custard. According to our fearless leader, Dorie, her recipe calls for the mixture to reach 180°F. The article at ChefTalk says to look for a temperature between 170-175°F, with 180°F being the temperature at which the creme curdles. Taking into account the trouble many of the TWDers who had trouble reaching the 180°F mark without curdling I’d have to say to ignore the temperature and just look for the consistency. If you work as a pastry chef maybe you look for the exact temp when working your magic, but I think those of us at home can just look for the consistency. (If any pastry chefs happen to read this (yeah, like you need to be reading my little blog), I would love to hear how the professionals approach creme anglaise.)

“What’s all this consistency crap she keeps harping about?” you ask. I’m talking about getting a feel and an eye for the creme itself while you’re cooking it. What you’re looking for is a thickening in consistency while you’re stirring. In the end, you’re looking for a consistency that coats a spoon and holds a line well. What do I mean by that? Check out this awesome video from Epicurious:

Remember this is creme anglaise, not pastry cream. It’s supposed to be more of a sauce, something you pour over rather than stuff pastry. Be prepared to take your time because cooking this properly takes a while. If you try to rush it along it will curdle. I ran into just a touch of curdling because I tend towards the impatient kind and kicked the heat up a notch. If you do have some curdling just make sure you run the creme through a sieve, but then again you should do that no matter what.

One thing I do highly recommend is using a real vanilla bean whenever making a custard that calls for vanilla. It really makes a big difference. There’s not too much of an excuse in not using them since there are online suppliers that sell them so cheap that Spice Islands should be in jail for the price they charge in the grocery store. I personally buy mine from Vanilla, Saffron Imports. They have the best price per bean I’ve been able to find. (If someone has a cheaper place let me know.) In all disclosure they aren’t particularly good at answering emails, as I asked a question before ordering that was never answered. I decided to order anyway. I can’t complain because I got a crazy amount of beans for less than thirty dollars. They ship quick and with a great price per bean. You can’t ask for much more than that.

I think the vanilla bean was the only real change in ingredients for me. I used to make creme anglaise with a mixture of milk and heavy cream, but this time I followed Dorie’s recipe and used all milk. This is by far the best creme anglaise I’ve ever made. It was perfect really. I’m not sure if it was due to using milk, or the brand of milk. I try to only use organic milk in general. I buy whatever is on sale or whatever I have a coupon for, in this case it was Stonyfield Farm. Maybe brand makes a difference too because this creme anglaise was really amazing. (Also, I let the milk and the vanilla bean simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes. Don’t forget to fish out the vanilla bean, but don’t throw it away. Leave it to dry for a week or so, then use it to make vanilla sugar. Or make your own vanilla extract.)

The rest of the recipe came out fine although I did have some trouble making nice drips of caramel across the islands. I ended up with a nest on top of one of them as you can see from some of the pictures. If you’re curious about the difficulty of making shapes, it’s super easy. I used a cookie cutter to cut the shape out of the poached meringue. Then I cut some squares with a knife. It couldn’t be simpler.

In the future I’d like to try and flavor the meringue a bit. I came across some pictures in an internet search of hazelnut and chocolate islands. I think a little creativity in the flavor of the meringue will probably put this dessert over the top of just good to wonderful.

Here’s some pictures of my process: