Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

Okay, so to anyone actually reading this blog, I admit that I have done a horrible thing. I never posted my July 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge (gasp). That may not seem like as big of a deal as I make it out to be in my brain, but I wish you understood the guilt coursing through my veins (or whatever). I know, I know, I can blame it on the shoddy internet connection that I am borrowing from my neighbors. But mostly, I didn’t post this challenge because I was too lazy to make all the adaptations necessary. I didn’t really follow the challenge this time and used mainly adapted recipes. The idea of typing up my own changes seemed too large of a task. So here I am now, about three weeks too late, submitting this for anyone who reads this blog. But mainly I’m doing it to clear up my feelings of shame. The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home. I thought that the overall cake was absolutely delicious, but so rich that I could only eat a little bit of it at a time. The idea was really a novelty to me, which is kind of surprising considering that my mother, the professional cook, has made this kind of cake before. But anyway, here’s the recipe! Note: I made the custard for each ice cream at the same time just by doubling the recipe. I then separated the mixture into two separate bowls and added the individual caramel syrup/coffee.

Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

(inspired by the recipe of the same name from the Taste of Home website)

The Swiss rolls:

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Baking time: 10 - 12 minutes

Rolling and cooling time: at least 30 minutes

Filling: 5 - 8 minutes

Filling and rolling: 5 - 10 minutes

Ingredients: 6 medium sized eggs 1 cup sugar + extra for rolling 11 tablespoons of all purpose flour 2 tablespoons of boiling water 1 teaspoon vanilla a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling (I actually found some chocolate ganache in my freezer and then just added leftover mascarpone cheese from the last challenge, but I included a recipe for ganache + mascarpone cheese):

Ingredients: ¼ cup heavy cream ¼ cup whole milk 1 tablespoon sugar 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped or grated 1 teaspoon vanilla mascarpone cheese

Directions: 1. Pre-heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans (11 inches by 9 inches) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds. Beat in the vanilla

3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.

4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.

5. Place a pan in the center of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch.

6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.

7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.

8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

9. Repeat the same for the next cake as well.

10. Combine the cream, whole milk, sugar, and butter, bringing to a boil. Remove from the heat

11. Add the chocolate and then whisk until smooth. Whisk in the vanilla. Cool.

12. Add the mascarpone cheese and beat until smooth. (I did this in my Kitchen-Aid).

13. Open the rolls and spread the chocolate mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of 1⁄2 an inch should be fine).

14. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

Caramel Ice Cream

Preparation time: unknown

Ingredients: 1 ½ cups whole milk ¾ cup sugar + ¾ cup more sugar, separated 1/8teaspoon salt 2 large egg yolks 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup half-and-half ¼ cup water

Directions: Combine the milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring as to dissolve the sugar. Beat the egg yolks and add in about ½ of the milk mixture to them, beating to make sure you don’t curdle them. Add the egg-milk mixture back into the pan and heat on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Combine the ¾ cup left over sugar and water, heating until the sugar is dissolved. Bring the heat to high, cover, and boil for 1 ½ minutes. Continue boiling until the caramel is an amber color. Stir the caramel mixture into the custard immediately to make sure it does not harden. Cool the caramel custard for at least 2 hours and then add the cream and half-and-half. Pour into an ice cream maker and then operate according the the manual.

Hot Fudge Sauce

Preparation time: 2 minutes (I made this just after adding the layer of coffee ice cream to the cake.)

Cooking time: 2 minutes

Ingredients: 1 cup of caster sugar 3 tablespoons of natural unsweetened cocoa powder 2 tablespoons of corn flour/cornstarch 1 1⁄2 cups of water 1 tablespoon of butter 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions: 1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, corn flour and water.

2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).

3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool.

Coffee Ice Cream

Preparation time: unknown

Ingredients: 1 ½ cups whole milk ¾ cup sugar 1/8 teaspoon salt 2 large egg yolks 1 cup heavy cream 1 cup half-and-half instant coffee to taste (I don’t remember how much I used, but I think it was about one tablespoon dissolved in ¼ cup of water

Directions: Combine the milk, sugar, and salt in a saucepan, and bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring as to dissolve the sugar. Beat the egg yolks and add in about ½ of the milk mixture to them, beating to make sure you don’t curdle them. Add the egg-milk mixture back into the pan and heat on medium-low heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture thickens and coats the back of a spoon. Add the coffee and then cool for at least 2 hours, ideally overnight. Add the cream and half-and-half and then freeze according to your ice cream maker’s operating procedures.

Assembly:

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices (approximately 2 cms each).

2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

4. Soften the caramel ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm (at least 1 hour)

5. Add the fudge sauce over the caramel ice cream, cover and freeze till firm. (at least an hour)

6. Soften the coffee ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set.

7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water

.

Daring Bakers Heart Attack

Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge (I'm a little late in posting this, sorry) was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.It was so rich that a group of six couldn't even finish off two of the pavlovas. Of course, they were having some ice cream, too.
I halved this recipe, but even then we had way too much mascarpone cream, so I recommend that you find another use for it. (It's good with brownies, for sure)
It didn't occur to me to put fresh fruit on this or anything, but raspberries or strawberries definitely would have been good. Still, this is a dessert that you whisk out only in times of dire emergency when you need to get over a breakup or deal with other serious problems. It's far too rich to have as a regular dessert.

Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse
Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard(I took the recipe straight from Dawn, without any changes)

Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

Ingredients:
3 large egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp (110 grams) white granulated sugar
¼ cup (30 grams) confectioner’s (icing) sugar1/3 cup (30 grams) cocoa powder

Directions
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200º F (95º C) degrees. Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside.Put the egg whites in a bowl and whip until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)

Sift the confectioner’s sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white. (This looks like it will not happen. Fold gently and it will eventually come together.)
Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon.
Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

(as you can see, I caught my pavlovas just as they were going into the oven. not a very flattering picture, huh?)

Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse (for the top of the Pavlova base):

Ingredients:
1 ½ cups (355 mls) heavy cream (cream with a milk fat content of between 36 and 40 percent)
grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
9 ounces (255 grams) 72% chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups (390 mls) mascarpone
pinch of nutmeg2 tbsp (30 mls) Grand Marnier (or orange juice)

Directions:
Put ½ cup (120 mls) of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.
Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the Grand Marnier and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)
Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse. Again, you could just free form mousse on top of the pavlovas.

(omigosh, i'm so embarrassed by this picture )

Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling):

Ingredients:
1 recipe crème anglaise
½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
2 tbsp (30 mls) Sambucca (optional)½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Directions:
Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the Sambucca and let the mixture cool. Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed. Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

(this is the overall product of the drizzling cream)

Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream above):

Ingredients:
1 cup (235 mls) whole milk
1 cup (235 mls) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp (75 grams) sugar

Directions:
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.

Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.

Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.

Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Assembly:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

tada

Croquembouche!

The photos are finally published! :)
(or should I say...photo. I forgot to take a lot of them this time)

I have loads of experience with choux paste and making cream puffs because I made my mom teach me when I was in elementary school. Still, I have never made a croquembouche...
The caramel glaze sucked for me. Like actually. I had a lot of trouble with it because as soon as it was cool enough for me to touch it, it started hardening. I eventually had to put it into the microwave because I could actually touch that bowl. In the end, I just dumped it over my cream puffs and let that be my glue, rather than dunking the cream puffs individually. Also, I doubled the creme patisserie recipe because I didn't have enough to fill my cream puffs and had to use vanilla pudding instead. -sigh- my life is so hard.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.


Preparation time: You will want to use your puff pastry batter and chocolate glaze or caramel as soon as it has been prepared and as close to serving time as possible. This is not a dessert that stores well and it may be a bit temperamental in humid areas as the glaze needs to harden to hold the choux together. The crème patissiere can be made a couple of days in advance and stored in the fridge until ready to use.

You will need approximately 10 minutes to prepare the puff pastry, 10 minutes to pipe and about 30 minutes to bake each batch. The crème patissiere should take about 10 minutes to cook and then will need to be cooled for at least 6 hours or overnight. The glazes take about 10 minutes to prepare.

Equipment required:
• several baking sheets
• parchment paper
• a whisk
• a pastry brush (for the egg wash)
• a pastry bag and tip (a plain tip or no tip is best for piping the puff pastry; you can use a plain or star tip to fill the puff pastry with the cream)
• a flat surface such as a baking sheet or cake board/stand on which to assemble your piece montée
• some of the items you may want to use to decorate your piece montée include ribbons, Jordan almonds, fresh flowers, sugar cookie cut-outs, chocolates, etc.

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere
2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
1/2 stick butter unsalted butter
2 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.

Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.

Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking.

Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.



Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.

For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)
¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.



Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny.



As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.



It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide.

Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.


Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.



Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Use one of these to top your choux and assemble your piece montée.

Chocolate Glaze:
8 ounces/200 g. finely chopped chocolate (use the finest quality you can afford as the taste will be quite pronounced; I recommend semi-sweet)

Melt chocolate in microwave or double boiler. Stir at regular intervals to avoid burning. Use the best quality chocolate you can afford. Use immediately.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Daring Bakers FTW

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Orange Tian--not a dessert I'm familiar with. I certainly learned something about it, though, after preparing this decadent tart. The recipe calls for making six individual portions, but I used a nine-inch removable bottomed tart pan and had enough for my extended family, which was great. It is the kind of dessert that should be started on at least a day beforehand; I found myself pressed for time when I was told that we had to have the dessert the virtually the day I was making it. My favorite part was definitely the pâte sablée; it smelled so good and was so much fun to make.

If you plan to make a family-sized dessert, it probably serves at least eight--that's what previous experience tells me. It's also quite delicious to smother the orange tian in chocolate sauce and then eat the whole thing, but I managed to avoid doing that.

Below are a few adaptations, but this recipe is basically the same as Jennifer's original recipe.

For the Pate Sablee:

Ingredients

2 medium-sized egg yolks at room temperature
granulated sugar 6 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon; 2.8 oz; 80 grams
vanilla extract ½ teaspoon
Unsalted butter ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams ice cold, cubed
Salt 1/3 teaspoon; 2 grams
All-purpose flour 1.5 cup + 2 tablespoons; 7 oz; 200 gramsbaking powder 1 teaspoon ; 4 grams

Directions:
Put the flour, baking powder, ice cold cubed butter and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.

In a separate bowl, add the eggs yolks, vanilla extract and sugar and beat with a whisk until the mixture is pale. Pour the egg mixture in the food processor.

Process until the dough just comes together. If you find that the dough is still a little too crumbly to come together, add a couple drops of water and process again to form a homogenous ball of dough. Form into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.

Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface until you obtain a ¼ inch thick circle.

Take your 9" tart pan's removable bottom and cut the dough to fit it. Bake for about twenty-five minutes.

For the Marmalade:

Ingredients
Freshly pressed orange juice ¼ cup + 3 tablespoons; 3.5 oz; 100 grams
1 large orange used to make orange slices
cold water to cook the orange slicespectin 5 grams
granulated sugar: use the same weight as the weight of orange slices once they are cooked

Finely slice the orange. Place the orange slices in a medium-sized pot filled with cold water. Simmer for about 10 minutes, discard the water, re-fill with cold water and blanch the oranges for another 10 minutes.

Blanch the orange slices 3 times. This process removes the bitterness from the orange peel, so it is essential to use a new batch of cold water every time when you blanch the slices.

Once blanched 3 times, drain the slices and let them cool.

Once they are cool enough to handle, finely mince them (using a knife or a food processor).

Weigh the slices and use the same amount of granulated sugar . If you don’t have a scale, you can place the slices in a cup measurer and use the same amount of sugar.

In a pot over medium heat, add the minced orange slices, the sugar you just weighed, the orange juice and the pectin. Cook until the mixture reaches a jam consistency (10-15 minutes).

Transfer to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and put in the fridge.

For the Orange Segments:

Ingredients
eight oranges

Cut the oranges into segments over a shallow bowl and make sure to keep the juice. Add the segments to the bowl with the juice.

For the Caramel:

Ingredients
granulated sugar 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
orange juice 1.5 cups + 2 tbsp; 14 oz; 400 grams

Place the sugar in a pan on medium heat and begin heating it. As the sugar starts to bubble and foam, slowly add the orange juice. When the mixture starts boiling, remove from heat and pour half of the mixture over the orange segments.

Reserve the other half of the caramel mixture in a small bowl — you will use this later to spoon over the finished dessert. When the dessert is assembled and setting in the freezer, heat the kept caramel sauce in a small saucepan over low heat until it thickens and just coats the back of a spoon (about 10 minutes). You can then spoon it over the orange tians.

[Tip: Be very careful when making the caramel — if you have never made caramel before, I would suggest making this step while you don’t have to worry about anything else. Bubbling sugar is extremely, extremely hot, so make sure you have a bowl of ice cold water in the kitchen in case anyone gets burnt!]

For the Whipped Cream:

Ingredients
heavy whipping cream 1 cup; 7 oz; 200 grams
3 tablespoons of hot water
1 tsp Gelatine
1 tablespoon of confectioner's sugar
orange marmalade (see recipe above) 1 tablespoon

In a small bowl, add the gelatine and hot water, stirring well until the gelatine dissolves. Let the gelatine cool to room temperature while you make the whipped cream. Combine the cream in a chilled mixing bowl. Whip the cream using a hand mixer on low speed until the cream starts to thicken for about one minute. Add the confectioner sugar. Increase the speed to medium-high. Whip the cream until the beaters leave visible (but not lasting) trails in the cream, then add the cooled gelatine slowly while beating continuously. Continue whipping until the cream is light and fluffy and forms soft peaks. Transfer the whipped cream to a bowl and fold in the orange marmalade.
[Tip: Use an ice cold bowl to make the whipped cream in. You can do this by putting your mixing bowl, cream and beater in the fridge for 20 minutes prior to whipping the cream.]

[Author Note: The gelatin didn't help the whipped cream stabilize as much as I would have liked it to; I might recommend using Mascarpone cheese instead. I tried that as well and it seemed to work much better.]

Assembling the Dessert:

Make sure you have some room in your freezer. Ideally, you should be able to fit a small baking sheet or tray of desserts to set in the freezer.

Set out your 9" tart pan.

Drain the orange segments on a kitchen towel.

Have the marmalade, whipped cream and baked circles of dough ready to use.

Arrange the orange segments at the bottom of of the pan. Make sure the segments all touch either and that there are no gaps. Make sure they fit snugly and look pretty as they will end up being the top of the dessert. Arrange them as you would sliced apples when making an apple tart.

Once you have neatly arranged one layer of orange segments at the bottom of the pan, add the whipped cream a few spoonfuls at a time and gently spread it so that it fills the pan in an even layer. Leave about 1/4 inch at the top so there is room for dough circle.

Using a butter knife or small spoon, spread a small even layer of orange marmalade on the pâte sablée circle of dough.

Carefully place the circle of dough over the tart pan (the side of dough covered in marmalade should be the side touching the whipping cream). Gently press on the circle of dough to make sure the dessert is compact.

Place the dessert to set in the freezer to set for 10 minutes.

Using a small knife, gently go around the edges of the tart pan to make sure the dessert will be easy to unmold. Gently place your serving plate on top of a dessert (on top of the circle of dough) and turn the plate over. Gently remove the pan, drizzle caramel sauce over it, and serve immediately.

[Author Note: Try using chocolate sauce as well for a different taste experience.]

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Espresso Whirlwind

I had lacrosse practice last Friday, and before going, I had an urge to bake something to celebrate the weekend. Somehow, my addled mind told me to bake cupcakes to encourage our family to have more sugar lying around the house. I listened to it and became a whirlwind of frosting and aprons to keep my new shirt from getting caked in cake batter.
The original recipe came from here, but I made a few changes, so feel free to take your pick of recipes.

6 Cupcake Batch

ingredients for cupcake making
3/4 cup cake flour
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/3 cup milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with six liners.

First you will want to add all your dry ingredients, mixing the salt, baking powder, sugar and cake flour so that it's all combined and so that there are no lumps. If it proves necessary to sift it, do so.

Next, add the egg and butter to a mixing bowl and mix until nice and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and keep beating until it is thoroughly mixed in, on medium speed. Add the dry ingredients in in thirds, mixing thoroughly before adding each part.

Divide your batter among your cupcake liners and fill until about two-thirds of the way full, unless you want spectacularly large cupcakes. Bake for about 22 to 25 minutes, then insert a toothpick. If it comes out clean, then you're ready.

Let the cupcakes cool all the way before frosting.

For your frosting,

3 to 3.5 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons of milk, or however much proves necessary
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

Start out by beating the butter until fluffy on medium speed, about 1 minute. Add the confectioners sugar and keep beating until entirely mixed. Add the vanilla extract and a pinch of salt, as well as the espresso powder. Next, add the milk in, 1 teaspoon at a time. Keep adding until it appears to be nice and fluffy.

Side note: If you make the executive decision to add hot water to the espresso powder, replace that with the milk so as not to end up with runny frosting. I prefer to have little flecks of coffee,but you may choose differently.

Use food coloring to change colors and make it look slightly deadly, if you'd like. As you can no doubt tell, I used blue.

Frost the cupcakes and then store them in an airtight container to be used to win someone's heart...er--something like that. I used them to convince my mom to let me avoid doing my homework, but I'm sure that there are better issues upon which you could bribe someone with these.

Spanish Bombs

I made hot chocolate this morning--the most basic kind possible, save that from a mix. It called for cocoa, sugar, and milk. Stupid me, I had the idea of adding some water to it, because I was under the mistaken impression that we were out of milk. As it happens, the watery taste of it was not the most enticing flavor ever. Never. Ever. Again.
Still, I've got big plans to make bagels tomorrow, and this time, I plan to follow the recipe. (No, I'm serious. It's not funny, either)
So once I make those, I'll post pictures and a good recipe. So far, I'm leaning towards using this, but I'm not entirely sure yet, so if anybody has any ideas, I'd be much obliged.
On the bright side, we've got a five day weekend and my parents are heading off to some place somewhere, so I have five days of doing nothing and avoiding my homework.

I've got some pictures to post of my cupcakes, if you want to see them. The recipe will also follow shortly, I expect.
For now, I'm going to watch House.