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Cake candy


Today I feel again like the little child wit the pockets full of caramels…
I care my cakes like candies and childhood unwraps in front of my eyes…

This was my twist of Shuna Fish Lydon’s (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/) Caramel cake (here).

The hosts for this month’s Daring Bakers challenge were: Dolores (http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/), Alex (http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/) and Jenny (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/).

The recipe recipe can be found here.


November 30, 2008 | Filed under cakes, muffins and madeleines, custards, fillings, sauces, and glazes | 31 Comments 

The gift

“I want all the hands of men
to knead mountains
of bread and gather
all the fish of the sea,
all the fruit
of the olive,
all the love yet unawakened
and leave one gift
in each of the hands
of the day.”

Pablo Neruda, The gift

Carrot, nuts and white chocolate cakes

125 g self-rising flour
1 tsp cinnamon
185 g brown sugar
80 g carrot, finely grated
85 g nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, Brasil nuts, hazelnuts)
90 g white chocolate, grated
30 g coconut, grated
2 eggs, slightly whisked
90 g soft butter

Pre heat the oven to 180ªC.
Grease a rectangular pan and line with parchment paper.
In a bowl combine all the dry ingredients.
Add butter and eggs and mix well.
Pour the mixture into the pan or small individual pans.
Bake for 30 minutes on the large pan or for 20 minutes on the individual moulds.
Let it cool down before unmould.

Mascarpone frosting:

250 g mascarpone
40 g caster sugar

Whisk mascarpone and sugar until creamy.
Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag and decorate.
Finish with nuts.
Refrigerate.

September 25, 2008 | Filed under cakes, muffins and madeleines, custards, fillings, sauces, and glazes | 13 Comments 

Looking for the lost marble

What could be more perfect than a marble cake than a marble cake over a marble stone… ?!…

That’s how I’ve spent my afternoon, on an unstoppable search on stone shops looking four the yin yang of our background, that looks lost in the middle of so many and so expensive samples!!!
The effort is always rewarded and our cause was embraced by a super employee that have offered all the choices…

More perfect than a marble cake over a marble stone, only a marble cake over a marble stone and a smile…

Thanks to everyone who takes their jobs as seriously as we do! :)

Marble cake

Serves 8-10:

125 g soft butter
200 g sugar
4 eggs
100 ml whole milk
200 g self-rising flour
140 g chocolate

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC.
Grease a 23 cms cake tin and sprinkle with flour.
Beat the butter and sugar together until white and light.
Add the egg yolks while mixing, then the milk.
Fold through the flour and whipped egg whites.
Divide the mixture between two bowls.
Melt the chocolate and pour into the mixture in one of the bowls.
Take 2 spoons and use them to dollop the chocolate and the plain cake mixes into the tin alternately.
Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Top with chantilly and melted chocolate.

Chantilly

200 ml cream, chilled
25 g icing sugar
vanilla sugar

Whip the cream.
Add sugar and whip until stiff.

September 16, 2008 | Filed under cakes, muffins and madeleines, custards, fillings, sauces, and glazes | 12 Comments 

Hand made berliners…

After a whole morning making berliners (from 9:00AM to 3:00PM!) I was in need of the delicious yellowish portuguese filling that I always miss…
I’ve started my research and I wasn’t able to find a single recipe of this filling, or even similar, to what I was used to see in the portuguese pastries’ windows… Well… At last I was able to find one single recipe and with a picture of a yellow filling!!!

Despite my fears I’ve tried really really hard to trust the result and I’ve started…

Even with all the changes needed to turn that thing into something realistic (I’ve tried everything from sweet soft eggs with custard to sweet soft eggs with cream or custard with 20 egg yolks…) I ended with lots and lots of egg boxes and a filling far awaaaay from the “original”…

(I’m always sadly surprised by made up recipes, untested, without making any sense and pictures that aren’t true at all, I feel angry with impossible things published without any love or care).

In the end I’ve done a standard pastry cream, without the “coulourant yellow”, powdered yellow, the powder used on almos every filling of the portuguese pastry.

As a convicted supporter of top grade ingredients (a nice chocolate, a nice wine and only butter!!!) I was tremendously disappointed when I discovered that the taste I’ve kept from my childhood comes in a bag and is mixed with water…

Now I wait for another insight on this…

Berliners

Makes 25:

Starter dough:
5 g fresh yeast
275 g All-purpose flour, sieved
180 ml mineral water (at 20ºC)

Dough:
250 g all-purpose flour, sieved
11 g fleur de sel
65 g caster sugar
5 egg yolks
60 g fresh yeast
60 ml whole milk
65 g butter, diced
2 kitchen cloths and flour
Icing sugar or caster sugar to dust

1 l grapeseed oil

To the starter dough:
Dissolve the yeast in mineral water. Combine well with flour.
Bulk ferment the dough about 1h30/ 2 hours, covered with wrap film or until bubbly.

To the dough:
Combine the starter dough with all the dough ingredients and the yeast dissolved in milk.
Mix on medium speed for 20 minutes, or until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
Add butter and keep mixing until homogeneous.
Bulk ferment the dough until nearly doubled. Fold gently.
Divide the dough to make 25 balls and place on slightly floured kitchen cloths (5 cms spaced). Cover with another kitchen cloth until nearly doubled.

Carefully transfer the dough balls , a few at a time to a deep fryer (160º C) and fry until golden brown, 5-6 minutes each side.
Lift the fritter from the oil with a spider or basket, allowing the oil to drain away over the fryer.
Drain on paper towels.

Fill with pastry cream, jam, chocolate ganache, dulce de leche… I’ve used Pastry cream.

Sprinkle with caster sugar mixed with cinnamon or icing sugar.

Pastry cream:

300 ml cream
600 ml milk
200 g sugar
80 g cornstarch
3 egg yolks
Orange and lemon zest, cinnamon stick, vanilla

In a bowl mix together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and a bit of milk (enough to dissolve the mixture).
In a saucepan bring the milk with cream to boil with orange and lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla.
Pour the milk and cream into the egg mixture stirring constantly.
Sieve.
Place the pan over the heat again and stir constantly to thick (without boiling).
Remove from heat and strain.
Place into a bowl and cover directly with plastic wrap to stop a skin from forming on the cream.
Chill.

September 10, 2008 | Filed under custards, fillings, sauces, and glazes, fried doughs | 11 Comments 

Daring Bakers éclairs

I’ve just finished Pierre Hermé’s éclairs for the monthly daring bakers challenge!
It was my first DB challenge and I’m over-excited about all this!
As I have Pierre Hermé’s book that features this recipe, I’ve followed the original PH’s recipe instead of that on Dorie Greenspan’s book.
After seeing lots of images from other participants, now it’s time to share mine…

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 190 degrees C. Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 1,4 cm plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, about 11 cm chubby fingers.
Leave about 5 cm space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 35 – 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

125g whole milk
125g water
115g unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
140g all-purpose flour
5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé

500g whole milk
4 large egg yolks
75g sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
200g bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
40g unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:

1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 300g)

80g heavy cream
100g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
20g unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
110 g Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 525 g)

130 g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
250 g water
125 g crème fraîche, or heavy cream
70 g sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

My changes:

Before I bake the éclairs, I’ve brushed them with a mixture of egg yolk and water.
I’ve made a caramel custard with dark chocolate and another one with white chocolate.
Instead of spreading the glaze over the tops of the éclairs using a metal spatula i’ve preferred to put the éclairs upside down into the glaze.

Caramel custard:

300 ml cream
600 ml milk
200 g sugar
80 g cornstarch
3 egg yolks

In a bowl mix together the egg yolks, cornstarch and a bit of milk (enough to dissolve the mixture).
In a saucepan prepare a caramel with the sugar sprinkled with water.
Slowly add milk and cream and bring to boil.
Pour the milk into the egg mixture stirring constantly.
Place the pan over the heat again and stir constantly to thick (without boiling).

I’ve divided the custard in two equal parts. I’ve added 80 g of dark chocolate to one of them and 240 g of white chocolate to the another.

While the custard is still hot, I’ve added the chopped chocolate and stirred well until perfectly combined.

August 31, 2008 | Filed under chocolate, choux pastry, custards, fillings, sauces, and glazes | 40 Comments 

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