For Heavenly Cakes Sake

Baking on the Backburner...

2010-02-09T21:25:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a break from the Bake-Along as I have just returned to work and am learning to juggle being a mom with my work schedule. Obviously, baking is not a top priority at the moment, so I will live vicariously through the other great bloggers of the bake-along -- although when I get a chance, I will chime in and share some of my results! Take care and have fun with the upcoming cakes.

Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake

2010-01-25T07:31:00.001-07:00

This cake was supposed to be my son's 2nd birthday cake for the birthday that was supposed to happen
yesterday. This cake did not happen, mostly because my son was rejecting (unwillingly) everything that went in his mouth -- if you catch my drift. The icing on the cake was the blizzard that moved in, making it undesirable for any of our family to attend as well. Needless to say, the cake was the last of my concerns this weekend...however, I have made it before, but with no pictures. It's a breeze to put together, delicious, and I liked it. Although, I should add I didn't add the ground almonds to the whipped cream -- not enough time (why I don't have a photo either) -- but it was yummy, none-the-less. The guys at the stag my hubby took it to agreed. He had to fight to bring me a slice home!

And...I was totally surprised about being the feature baker...especially with my less than spectacular Tres Leches! Thanks for the commnents! Hope to visit more of the great blogs soon!

Tortas de las Tres Leches

2010-01-17T21:02:00.000-07:00

Eat your heart out ShamWow! There is a new super-absorbent material on the block -- Biscuit de Savoie! This cake is amazing and the next time I have a disastrous spill in the kitchen, I can pull my 1st attempt out of the freezer to the rescue. That sort of sums up my relationship with sponge cakes.

This cake is pretty simple, as far as Rose's cakes go. Compared to the Lemon Luxury cake it's a breeze, but I suppose if it's compared to a box cake, there are a few more steps. TCB has been a huge inspiration for most of my cake baking adventures and I've come to appreciate all of the detail Rose provides in her recipes -- in particular, the finished height measurements. That is my one complaint about RHC and I will further explain.

As mentioned, I have issues with sponge cakes and have a knack for ruining them. This cake looked deceivingly easy to prepare -- there is the rub! I follow directions to the letter (or so I think!). On my first attempt at the Biscuit, I did all of the key steps -- heat eggs/sugar/salt/vanilla, beat for 5 min., sift once sifted flour over mixture, fold gently until almost all of the flour is incorporated, fold remaining twice sifted flour into the mixture until no flour remains. I've watched the "folding" techniques videos and even own the giant Matfer whisk...nothing helps. Now, I'm not talking a huge disaster here, the cake goes into my once used Magic Line 9 x 3" removable bottom cheesecake pan (coated with BJ and lined with a parchment round). I use a DOT 2 oven thermometer, and baked on the appropriate rack.

The batter did not fill the pan to even half full. I suspect that's not a good thing. But I had no option but to see what happens and perhaps learn from this somehow. According to the directions, the cake sides should rise up to the top of the pan and the centre should be slightly domed during baking. As I fear, the cake never reaches more than 2.5" in height during baking and as the timer loses seconds, I am as deflated as my cake. Also, the cake bottom is as pale as my Canadian butt, inspite of being fully baked (it pulled away from the sides of the pan and did not dip upon cooling). Where do I go wrong?

I take a sacrificial slice to inspect the cake. It's slightly denser at the bottom -- perhaps inadequate folding -- or too low of a temperature?

Trial #2 -- I opted for using my not so balloony whisk, but really sparse whisk that sails through most batters because it only has 6 or 8 tines. I noticed very little reduction in the egg volume until I added the second addition of flour. It went from about 2/3 of the bowl to 1/2 half of the bowl. Should this be happening? I also opted to use the next lowest rack to perhaps brown the cake more on the bottom.

In the end, the 2nd attempt was slightly better, but still nowhere near the 2.65" in height I deduced from the photo in RHC. I decided to carry on with the cake as I had invited my running friends over for cake and running, so I needed to serve something!

I prepared the milk reduction using my microwave as I couldn't be watching the stove and it took around 45 minutes or so to reduce to 2 1/2 cups. The skins that formed were fascinating and I could only think of how they could be used for paper or something like that! I added the cream and s.c. milk and poured it onto my specially wrapped cake (note: it is in a 2.5" pan -- I didn't want to use the loose bottomed pan for this). I could not believe that 4+ cups of liquid were soaked up by this cake.

Here's the final product with some of the caramel sauce left over (in the fridge...no worries) from the Pumpkin Cheesecake.

See how short it is...

This is one of the most refreshing cakes I have tasted. The cool wetness of the cake demands that it be served on a hot summer's evening -- but I too enjoyed it in my balmy winter temperatures of 0C -- really it was so nice to go running in temperatures above -20C! However, the texture was less airy than it could have been with the added height. The carmel milkiness is divine and definitely cake I must learn to master.

Whipped Cream Cake

2010-01-03T20:34:00.000-07:00

I am feeling a little guilty about this post. The Whipped Cream Cake from RHC is the first cake I made from the book....waaay back in September. This is a simple, easy, and delicious cake that makes for a great way to use up that extra whipped cream sitting in the fridge. It is also my favourite photo from RHC. I don't have any great recollections of what I did...only that it was simple (but I didn't have high butterfat cream...infact...the best I can get here is 36% ...although I can get Creme Fraiche which is 40%...perhaps an interesting experiment in the future??) Regardless the cake turned out and I took it to a mommy party and served it with raspberry curd that I made as a test for the wedding cake I was working on, and it was a hit!

Back in awhile

2009-12-18T17:53:00.000-07:00

I really, really wanted to do the chocolate pinecone...but with the holidays approaching and my cookie bakefest almost done (I'm doing about a dozen cookie gift boxes comprised of over a half dozen different items), plus the 3 pies I'm taking to Christmas, I don't think I will be posting for the next couple of weeks...I don't want to experiement with freezing the fondant cake and with other goodies around, I'm not sure the gingerbread cake will be a hot item. So...I'm taking a break from the bakealong and will be back in the next decade. Enjoy your holidays, fellow bakers! Best wishes to you all.

Carrot Cake

2009-12-14T18:43:00.002-07:00

I suppose I am putting the icing before the cake. I've already baked the Carrot Cake from RHC, but it was for a dairy free cake, so I've never actually made the Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting...hence the reason I've signed up to do my second version of the carrot cake.

As far as the frosting goes...it's simplicity in a nutshell. Take the butter, cream cheese, and creme fraiche (I splurged) and process, then add the melted white chocolate (cooled). Now simplicity is becoming a challenge for me these days. Take for instance adding the white chocolate while no longer warm but fluid... it is very, very cold here...
Thermometer in Metric

Thermometer in Imperial

Note the interior temp is about 15C or about 58F (that's by the window, but it's not loads warmer in the kitchen). By the time the chocolate would cool, the outside of the bowl was already getting hard, inspite of my stirring. I opted to add it warm and perhaps paid the price. I tried to process it and get the slightly curdled appearance to emulsify, but no luck. Perhaps I needed to chill it.

I added vanilla since there were no beans in my chocolate:

When I removed the frosting the next day, it was a hard lump, so it sat in the microwave with the OTR light on so it could be at a "warm" room temperature rather than wine cellar temperature. I thought using the immersion blender would help...no luck. I even pulled out the gutless Toastmaster hand mixer, and even though the frosting was quite soft at this point, the piece of junk I was using was smoking and barely mixing faster than I could by hand (it was a wedding gift that I pulled out of the depths of the basement a few months ago). I guess I'd have to resign myself to a less than dreamy creamy frosting until summer :(

Onto the cake. Simple, really. I wanted an extra 6" cake, so I scaled up the recipe accordingly. My baking goes in waves sometimes I get on a roll, and other times I should stop and take a break. Generally everything went well with the cake baking, although I think I should reduce the oven temperature by 25F as I find the Chicago Metallic Professional pans I use always seem to bake fast even though: Rose says not to, my oven temp is good, and I use baking strips. In this case the 9" cakes were done the same time as the 6" cake in the aluminum pan. Mental note for the next cake.

I didn't follow the recipe exactly, I omitted the raisins since the cake's for my hubby's family and they don't like raisins. Also, I used Saigon cinnamon and didn't use the full amount since it's got a bit more kick than Korintje.

Bye, bye Mr. Carrot.

You may recall, or not, that I have a livid fear of unmolding cakes. I reinforced this fear by smushing the carrots out of one of the 9" cakes. It was salvageable, but here's the damage:

The other, perhaps pan related issue, I'm having is some major sloping sides on my cakes. The CM-Pans are straight, yet I end up with the tops sloped inward. This is a major pain when it comes to frosting the cake -- and I suspect part of the reason why I barely had enough frosting even though I used 500g of cream cheese and scaled up the recipe accordingly. I had wanted to do a basket weave design on the cake, but resorted to my usual, boring motif. I may try not spraying the sides of the pan -- that could be a horrible disaster though...we'll see.

I will not be serving this cake until next Monday. But... the carrot cake, from previous experience, is mildly spicy and dusky. I like it! From the licking of the bowl tests I did, the frosting is not very sweet and has a great tang ... but not from lemon as usually is the case. I think the creme fraiche makes a difference in this regard. I love the cocoa butter nuances, although some may scoff at the idea. I did improve the texture of mine, but I suspect in warmer climes, it would be dreamy creamy. I will have to try again!

I did nuke some of the frosting remnants and it did improve the texture -- unfortunately this was after most of it ended up on the cake. I will be making both the frosting and cake again.

Football and how to use a full can of pumpkin

2009-11-28T15:06:00.003-07:00

I am starting to feel the effects of the bake-along...mostly around my waistline. It's time to start making smaller cakes and giving away as much cake as possible! With the CFL (Canadian Football League) West final party on the schedule for last Sunday...I thought PERFECT! A great opportunity to pawn off some of my cheesecake. Problem is, several of the attendees have dairy allergies so cheesecake isn't going to be a hot item. Read on, read on...

I must diverge for a small moment to explain why my post is early. I come from Saskatchewan, Canada. Regardless of your thoughts on professional sports and football, EVERYONE who hails from this province of just over 1 million people is a Saskatchewan Roughrider fan. The Roughriders are the only professional
team in our province and we love them dearly. We've endured many, many bad seasons and this year we hosted our first home division final playoff game since 1976. If you are an NFL fan...you should really check out the Grey Cup final this Sunday. We only have 3 downs instead of 4, the field is larger, and the fans (green and white) are going to fill McMahon Stadium in Calgary -- just 8 hours from Regina and Saskatoon -- and also the host stadium of the team we beat in the West final. I urge you to watch it if you can. I cannot guarantee what the game will be like...the Montreal Alouettes have dominated this year, but, anything is possible and our TEAM (they really are a team...no isolated superstars) has pulled off some amazing wins this season. OK...back to cake and enough football rant.

On to the Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake...

I decided to bake only a 6" version of the cake and I had just received my Magic Line 3" removable bottom cheesecake pans (one that was 6" in size) which I wanted to try out. I scaled the recipe by .44 and baked the cheesecake in a 6" pan.

I made the crust the night before and covered with plastic wrap. I did goof and use turbinado sugar instead of white sugar for the crust, but I didn't notice it being gritty or having altered the flavour. When I was looking for something flat and cylindrical, it struck me that the cap for my spray oil would work just peachy... and it did! I was worried that my crust wasn't high enough and tried to scootch it up more and more, eventually I called it good.

I assumed the Swedish flag was Swedish enough for the ginger wafers.

I left my room temperature ingredients out overnight. The cheesecake is simple to mix up, although I missed the bit about processing the pumpkin and sugar for 1 minute. Actually, I started and then tried to find where I read that it was supposed to process for a minute, and when I couldn't find it, I stopped. Found it now though! Into the pan goes. My worries about the crust not being high enough were unfounded as it ended up sticking up past the cheesecake in a few places.

Mixing the pumpkin and sugar

Missed the intermediate photos...here it is in the oven

I started out by baking the cheesecake for 2/3 of the recommended time for the 9"...but I find even with my 9" cheesecakes that I need to bake them longer. I baked the cheesecake until it registered 150F (about 40 minutes -- keep in mind, when I bake non-cheesecakes, the recommended time seems adequate). I left it sit in the oven with the oven off for another hour. The cake came out lovely with no major jiggle in the middle. I popped it in the fridge overnight.

Baked Cheesecake...notice the mar on the surface from the thermometer...Oh well...rather have it properly baked.

The one concern I had about the removable bottom pan was how I'd get the cake out of the pan. The sides were away from the pan, so I just ran a wrung out wet towel around the sides for added assurance. The cake popped out ok. I recall reading in The Cake Bible that oiled plastic wrap can be used to invert cheesecakes. I placed some on the top of the cake and inverted it onto a plate, then using the wet towel loosened the bottom pan and eventually it slid off revealing this:

I reinverted the cake:

Not sure if you can see it, but there are tiny orange flecks...likely due to the poorly pureed pumpkin. I thought it was kind of pretty and wasn't noticeable on the tongue...so not a horrible mistake.

I opted to make the full batch of caramel piping glaze as there would hardly be any syrup in the pan if I didn't. Usually sugar syrups frighten the jeepers out of me, so I don't take pics, but here are a couple:

I overapplied the caramel glaze and should not have tried a border with it, but what the heck, it tastes yummy.

Now, since I made .44 of the Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake, I still had lots of pumpkin (small can, not big one either), I needed to find a use for the remaining 314g of pumpkin. I also didn't have a dairy free dessert option, so I decided to do the Pumpkin Cake in 6" pans. Since this was made for bundt type pans, I wasn't sure how much to make, so I made .88 of the recipe there. It would use up all of the pumpkin that way. I didn't play with the baking powder/soda amounts either. I should add that I used canola oil instead of walnut oil and I didn't add walnuts as we have some aversions in our family.

Dry ingredients

Prepped pans

Oil, sugar, and vanilla

Flour mixture ontop of liquids

Very thick batter...looks pumpkiny

Now here is where I ran into problems. I filled one of my pans and it was almost full... far too much batter for a 6" pan. So I took some out and put it in ramekins and made muffins. I used about 370g per cake pan and about 100g per ramekin (2 cakes, 2 ramekins).

The cake pulled away from the sides of the pan but was still a bit gooey, so I baked until it tested done.

Frosted with thawed Tofutti cream cheese-like icing I had left-over from the wedding cake I made a few weeks ago.

Verdicts:

Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake....I was a bit skeptical as I thought the cheesecake would miss something without the spices (although the crust adds some spice). It was excellent and my favourite of the two. My sister-in-law liked it but said she wouldn't guess pumpkin at first bite...it takes awhile to come through. My hubby liked it as it was "not too sweet" (his way of saying it's good).

Pumpkin Cake...to be fair, I didn't bake according to directions. I liked the flavour and that it was moist, but I found it a bit coarse in texture (perhaps it was overbaked). My husband loved it...again, not too sweet. Of course, the dairy free folk gobbled it up...they don't get cake very often, or good homemade non-shortening based cakes very often either. I was also pleased that the frosting held up in the freezer. BUT...I am dying to try the Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting....I will be back to do the Carrot Cake even though I've made it once ...just so I can do the frosting.

Buns Heavenly Buns!

2009-11-18T19:57:00.003-07:00

It would seem that I'm a cake baker at heart...but my first love (baking anyway) has always been bread. First, it's more sustainable to eat bread than cake. Second, is there anything better than the smell of a house with freshly baked bread just out of the oven?

My introduction to Rose was at a local bookstore. I was leafing through bread books when I landed upon The Bread Bible -- I could not put it down. I was infatuated. It was like a reading a really, really good novel -- only about bread. I could tell the author was passionate about the topic and Rose, in her friendly and guiding way, made me want to hone my bread baking skills and learn as much as I could about the subject. I bought it on the spot. To this day I haven't looked back. It pains me when I have to buy bread from the store -- especially now that I can make fabulous bread myself. Further, I live in the bread basket of the world, Saskatchewan! So I have a connectedness to the grain, so to speak - I grew up on a grain farm and remember making "gum" by chewing grain right off the truck!

I get wiggy if I don't bake bread for awhile. And by wiggy, I mean that itchy, antsy, something's not quite right feeling. I've been so busy cake baking that I had to get back to the Earth -- and today was bun day!

My absolute favourite recipe for day-to-day bread or buns is Rose's Golden Honey Oat Bread. It is slightly sweet, hearty, and soft. I have altered the recipe by using upwards of 50% freshly ground whole wheat flour and 50% unbleached, and it still works wonderfully (tally up the masses of wwflour and ubapflour and set your percentage). I bake it as bread, but most often buns as I find buns keep better. They have "sealed" sides which allows them to not dry out as quickly. Although, really, neither stay around very long in my house.

It doesn't take long to make and the flavour is outstanding. If you have some browned butter milk solids, throw them in...they give it such wonderful flavour. I also love this recipe because I only need to use 2 bowls. I put the flax (blend in the blender if using whole) and oats in the mixer bowl and soak.

I set my other bowl on top and use my family grain mill attachment to grind the whole wheat flour (from my parents' farm). I like it fairly fine.

First I cover the oats/flax with my pyrex bowl cover -- the bowl has since passed on, but the lid fits perfectly over my Artisan's bowls -- I love that I don't have to use plastic wrap!

Then I add the unbleached flour, gluten, milk powder, yeast.

Back to the oat/flax mixture and add honey and oil.

Pouring the flour mixture in.

I can do about 1.3x the recipe in my Artisan before it creeps up and over the dough hook. I still like to put some spray oil on the top of the hook to prevent it from doing this.

Mix for about 3 mins.

Let it rest -- the autolyse technique.

Then add the salt. I used to be on a low sodium diet...anyway, I find I still like lower salt food, so I only add about 1/2 to 2/3 of the recommended salt. I usually don't notice any ill effects. In this case I would have had to use 2.5 t, but instead used about 1.5 t. Mix for about 4 mins. No pics...sort of forgot at this point : (

Into the ice cream pail. Rose notes to not let this rise more than 1.5x as the bran cuts the gluten if allowed to double. Then form into rolls. I use a 9" x 13" pan and an 8" x 8" pan -- in the bigger pan I make 12 - 60 g buns and in the smaller 9 - 55g buns. I use my microwave as a proofbox -- turn the over the range light on low and it's nice and warm!

I don't usually time them, but I bake them on a stone at the bottom of the oven and add ice to a pan on the oven floor. I don't mist with water as I prefer to glaze with butter -- I don't go through the work of clarifying, but instead melt the butter and try and avoid the solids.

I bake them until they are more than 190F -- usually around 15 minutes.

Take them out and coat again with butter :)

Sooo yummy and the smell is intoxicating! My almost 2 year old ate 1.5 buns and would have had more if I'd have let him. He usually doesn't do that with store-bought buns...go figure!

Woody's Luxury Lemon Layer Cake

2009-11-15T21:38:00.009-07:00

I must admit that 90% of most of my baked goods contain chocolate (not white chocolate, either). I'm sure I am missing out on some fantastic desserts, but I know what I like and most of the time it's chocolate.

In the wake of my oblivion disaster and since there was no chocolate cake in the forecast, I decided to plunge into the Woody's Luxury Lemon Layer Cake (from this point known as WLLLC). I was actually excited to make this cake for 3 reasons:
1) I had a schwack of lemons -- I repeat SCHWACK -- to use up.

2) I had never made Rose's lemon curd before. I actually feel guilty about this as it has received so many rave reviews, but I've never had the occasion to make it. I've made orange curd, raspberry curd, and even devised my own rhubarb curd recipe -- but no lemon curd.
3) I love custard and the thought of a custard based buttercream is very intriguing.

Lemon Curd

This is a very simple recipe and I was also able to use up some egg yolks in the freezer...just had to reduce the sugar by 1/2 tsp. or 4 g per yolk. Now my one peeve is that I always end up using more eggs or juice from more lemons than indicated in a recipe. I don't know if I have brutal extraction technique, but I rarely match up to the recipe's guidelines. However, Rose is a genius and tells you how much by volume/mass you should have regardless of the number of lemons/eggs used. The curd came together nicely and is very thick (which is a good thing -- provided it's not curdled), but I have one small request...having used Rose's recipes and having developed her high standards, I was surprised that she didn't indicate the temperature to bring the curd (which I am sure is in The Cake Bible -- I was in a rush and did not pull it out). Mind you, she gave several detailed visual cues...I am always second guessing myself and always like to know when I've gone too far.

I am also not sure if I like the texture of the lemon zest in the curd. The flavour is fantastic, but I was surprised by the texture (even though I knew I put it into the curd). I wonder if substituting a small amount of lemon oil would work if you didn't want the zest in the curd?

Lemon curd has the most gorgeous color:

I also adore how the spoon leaves marks in the curd...you can tell that it is thick, but still a spreadable soft consistency.

The Cake

The cake was simple and just a variation of her white luxury butter cake. It is a good thing I got the batter into the pans and oven before I sampled it...too yummy. I use the Chicago Metallic pans recommended by Rose. I always check at the minimum recommended bake time as cakes baked in them usually finish at the earlier time. I checked if the cake would spring back, and it didn't, infact it still seemed wet under the crust. I must admit that baking with a toddler can be a bit of a challenge...of course, as I was watching the cakes during the last minutes (looking for the slight dip) he was into something and I thought...well, I've got a bit of time (as the cake seemed underdone just seconds ago) I'll check on him...and voila when I came back (literally a minute or 2 at most) the cake had pulled away from the sides of the pan -- just as it wasn't supposed to. Arrghh ....so I had an overbaked (although mildly) cake.

Buttercream

Alright, here's where the fun starts...the custard. I didn't use Green and Blacks, but added 1 Tbsp. of Neilsen Massey Vanilla Beans. I was not prepared to deal with the clumps of vanilla bean seeds, so this worked out very well. It sounds like a lot, but the jar says 1 T = seeds from 1 pod. I loaded up a sauce pan with white chocolate and butter and on LOW used my induction cook top to melt the two.

Here is the embarrassing part...about halfway through I decided to take some photos, but I wasn't able to stir as well as usual and I got a curdled mess and blurry pictures. Think ... think... think.... I was not about to give up on 300 g of white chocolate...I figured if it was bad enough, I would redo it and waste 4 extra eggs at this point. I really wish I would have taken a shot of the curdled goo...just so you could see it.

To the rescue.....

Lo and behold it started to come together. It looked more or less like chocolate plastic right after it's mixed, but it was smooth and not grainy.

Adding the eggs proved to be a bit more difficult. I decided to add some of the mixture to the eggs as it was quite warm and then the eggs back to the chocolate. I brought the mixture to 140F and upon licking the spoon the sweet vanilla flavour was joined by ultra smooth texture. Whew!

This was cooled in the refrigerator and stirred at 15 minute intervals. I took up running this past summer and now that I'm doing the Heavenly Cake Bake Through, I'm VERY glad I did...but what's cool is my watch timer works awesome for 15 minute interval warnings:

For some odd reason, I never get things to cool as fast as the recipe indicates -- even though I know my fridge is very cold (1-2C). This took much longer to cool...

Alas, whip the butter, and then add the custard gradually.

Let the buttercream set for about 1.5-2 hrs and get spongy (I can't say mine really got spongy), but even so, I added the curd after that:

What you get is the most divine tasting substance known to man that isn't chocolate. This stuff is good and it alone warrants Rose naming her new book Rose's Heavenly Cakes. One word of caution, I found it to be very soft even though it was at the indicated temperature. I would suggest refrigeration before frosting a cake with it (unless I missed this in the directions...quite possible).

I don't have any pics of the process, but here is my rather sloppy end result. The frosting was soooo soft, I could barely get it to stick on the cake, but it managed to gather crumbs quite well. Anyway, I didn't have loads of time, so this was the birthday cake for my hubby (made him a pie too -- since he's not crazy about cake...or at least prefers pastry).

The verdict on the WLLLC:

As I suspected, my overbaked cake was dry, but OMG!!! The curd and frosting were fabulous. I need to redo this cake with a moister base...I really should have syruped it, but of course, I can't do that now. Here's the bday pie too.

Baby Oblivions and Tempting Fate

2009-11-15T20:49:00.001-07:00

I had this most of this post ready to go for the "due date" but without pictures and a taste... read on...

I really need to learn to quit tempting fate. Last night, following my crazy wedding cake weekend, and after almost falling to sleep with my son at 9 pm, I decided that the logical thing to do was bake some Baby Oblivions. After all, I wanted to keep up with the Heavenly Cake Bake Through and I don't think anything chocolate was on the agenda for awhile. Besides, I wanted to clean up my kitchen, and it seemed that if I did the baking today, well I'd have two messes to tackle.

I've made the Chocolate Oblivion from TCB before and I know that is absolutely DECADENT! How could I resist trying to make little baby versions of this? Not having silicone cups, I pulled out 8 ramekins and gave each a squirt of spray oil. This meant making only 2/3 of the recipe so I was happy about that too.

The Oblivions are actually quite easy to make. My hubby got me an Induction cooktop for my birthday, and like Hector from Rose's Blog, I am loving it. I tossed the butter and Lindt Piccoli (which I am loving...no more chopping!!!) into a stainless steel bowl and set it on low and melted the two that way.

My absolute favourite application of the induction cooktop is for heating eggs in my mixer bowl. It works like a dream!

After 5 minutes of egg whipping, the foam is ready and in two batches I folded it into the chocolate and butter. Just a note: I had 58% chocolate, so I didn't add any sugar.

I forgot to weigh my bowl, so I was left to portion out the batter freestyle!

Done.

Into the oven for 5 minutes in a water bath.

Here is where my tiredness crept in...I forgot to set the timer, so it is quite possible the babies baked for longer than 5 minutes. I then had to cover the babies with a pan...the 9x13 was too small so I used a cookie sheet that rested atop the ramekins. Luckily, this didn't stick to the batter.

After 10 minutes, I took the temperature, which was supposed to be 150F and mine were 170F...much too hot! I could tell they were a bit overdone and had a tough rather than creamy looking texture.

To make matters much much worse, while I was transporting ramekin # 5 from the water bath to the cooling rack, it slipped from my hand and splashed back into the bath showering ramekins #6,7, and 8. I don't believe these needed syruping.

I dumped them out (on a plus they unmolded fabulously) so they could "dry" out but anywhere they were hit with water, they crumbled. Sigh... I should have left well enough alone.

I tried ramekin #5s contents while it was still warm and the oblivion seemed a bit curdled (reminded me of the cheesecake I once made and overbaked). The wet parts were not pleasant either. This is the "wet" oblivion...

The "dry" oblivions were exactly that...not truffely moist...ho hum. Although I was surprised to discover that they weren't curdled.
I think I need a baking break....But I have lots of lemons in my fridge and guess what is next?? (Plus hubby's birthday is next week...although he'll probably be getting a pie since he's not much of a cake dude!)

There is no one to blame for this disaster but myself. Honestly girl...follow your tired little head and not your gut!

*Apologies for the blurry photos...the batteries were getting very low...

The Making of a Wedding Cake

2009-11-08T23:30:00.012-07:00

Before you start reading this you should brew a cup of tea, find a comfy chair, relax, and be prepared for a lengthly post... Or scroll through and look at the pics and call it a day!

The making of my third wedding cake began about a year ago when my sister-in-law asked me to do her wedding cake. I began to think of all of the amazing possibilities and soon after began baking "test" cakes at every opportunity. If there was a family gathering, I would come to it with a cake in tow for all to try...I won't bore you with the details so here is what was ultimately decided upon:

6-9-12" stacked wedding cake composed of Rose's new German Chocolate Cake and filled with Raspberry Ganache and frosted with White Chocolate Mouselline Buttercream

14" round White Butter Cake filled with Raspberry Neoclassic Buttercream and frosted with White Chocolate Mouselline Buttercream..this cake was also encased with Chocolate Plastic leaves -- it was going to be a birthday cake for my grandmother, but she fell ill and was unable to attend the wedding

9" round Dairy Free Carrot Cake (from Rose's Heavenly Cakes) and frosted with a tofu "cream-cheese" icing

Where to begin??

Raspberry Sauce...this crucial sauce is used to make the ganache and raspberry buttercream...plus I was also using this as an adornment for the cakes, so I figured this was the first step. This sauce is the best! Anything I've ever made with it is fantastic. I could have saved a day of thawing/pressing/straining 3 kg of raspberries by purchasing a premade jam/sauce, but it is honestly worth the effort.

Of all the test cakes I made, I did not bake a single chocolate cake until I landed my copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes. I knew she had a new recipe for a chocolate cake and I was eager to try it out. I made one chocolate test cake and the new German Chocolate Cake beat out the Moist Chocolate Genoise (still one of my favourites). I had no complaints! Compared to any genoise, the German Chocolate Cake is so easy to prepare and it has a wonderful flavour -- it's dark and chocolatly, but not dense or dry (but you must use the syrup). I haven't tried it with anything but Green and Black's cocoa, so I imagine that would alter the flavour of the cake. May I also add it bakes up so incredibly level that I was giddy with excitement...no trimming. Unfortunately, I can't do more than two cakes in my oven at a time. So that meant 4 different batches!

For me, one of the least pleasurable tasks of cake making is syruping the cakes. I decided to torte each cake layer to make a total of 4 cakes per tier (3 layers of filling) -- part of the reason was to better distribute the syrup. I dislike soggy sections of cake or when the top part of the cake is wet, but the middle isn't. Needless to say, this involved lots of mess, flipping of cakes, and sticky syrup everywhere. Keep in mind this meant syruping 24 surfaces of cake!

After all of this, I stacked the cakes and filled them with raspberry ganache, wrapped them very well and froze them.

Next up was the white butter cake. I used Rose's chart in The Cake Bible and, honest to goodness, this was the nicest white butter cake I've made in a long time. I think I've finally figured out the idiosycrasies of my oven and with the aid of a flower nail and the magic cake strips, I baked two beautiful, level 14" round cakes! Once again the fun task of torting and syruping the layers. And since I didn't have room for 4 -14" cakes in my kitchen, I whipped up the Neoclassic Buttercream using the leftover egg yolks from the German Chocolate Cake, filled the cake, and wrapped it well for the freezer.

At this point, all I had to finish preparing was the White Chocolate Mouselline BC. I needed to make 2 batches using 1.5 lbs of butter per batch. I actually prefer the old method of making the mouselline BC -- I've never had a problem with it. But, I like a higher meringue to butter ratio, so I used the proportions of Rose's new recipe, with the method of the old one and it turned out wonderfully. I froze these batches, however, upon thawing and rebeating, there was a slight granular texture to the buttercream. I wonder if it was the chocolate? But, I did not notice when I ate a piece of cake...perhaps it dissolved, or was unnoticeable.

Both batches of MBC mixed together to balance out variations in taste and color

The decoration on the cake was to consist of ribbon around the base of each tier with starburst motif design in MBC piping. This looked simple, but I can't draw so I needed a template of sorts. I decided to draw out the designs, adhere them to sponge board, and then use sequin pins to create the "dots." I was seeing circles after an evening of this!

I always like to do something a little special for "plating," so in addition to the raspberry puree, I wanted to make a white/dark chocolate monogram of the couple's initials. I also, at this point, still thought my grandma would be in attendance, so I decided to encase the white butter cake in white chocolate plastic leaves and adorn the top with a single white rose.

The leaves were cut easily using rose leaf plunger style cutters.

The day before D-Day (decorating day) I was going to prepare the carrot cake. I didn't know if I would be able to freeze it as I was going to make a tofu-based cream cheese icing -- and, not having worked with tofu before, I was't going to chance it by putting the completed cake in the freezer. I also did not do a test cake for this either. The cake batter tasted awesome and baked up perfectly, despite my fears it was looking a bit uneven in the oven. Way to go Rose, you did it again. The icing was my proudest creation because it involved more risk than I usually take. I wasn't working with one of Rose's recipes and I was working with new ingredients. Usually, the dairy allergic guests are forced into eating shortening and confectioner's sugar based frostings. I wanted to give them something better. My Tofutti (tofu cream cheese) supplier ended up not getting the Tofutti in time, so I found a restaurant, The Upstairs Restaurant, which was able to provide me with enough to do the cake. Thank you! I adapted the cream cheese icing recipe from The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread and used Earth Balance vegan butter and Tofutti in place of the cream cheese. The unique aspect of their recipe is that they use poured fondant as a sweetener. I ended up using more fondant than the basic recipe called for, and some vanilla and lemon oil, but the result was very good...especially considering there wasn't a drop of dairy in it!

At this point, I think almost all of the cake components were prepared. I hoped one day would be enough to assemble, frost, and decorate the cake. I have discovered some wonderful die cut cardboard rounds. They are so smooth on the edges. If you decide to use a bench scraper to smooth the sides, this helps trememdously and having your cake larger than the turntable (so the scraper can go below the edge of the board) is a must. It took me awhile to figure this out so I spent a better part of the day smoothing the cakes.

Decorating was a slow process. I had to chill cakes before stamping the templates on the cakes, then pipe the designs, rechill to do the ribbon. I had to attach parchment to the back of the ribbon so it wouldn't absorb grease from the frosting. And, honestly, is there anything more nerve wracking than trying to place one tier on the other...nothing like a wee bit of stress. You've got one shot and one alone to get it in place! Thankfully, I got the tiers placed pretty much where I wanted them. I must also express my gratitude to Fusion for selling me some bubble tea straws.

Finally, after a bit of Navan myself, it was 4:59 am when the lights went out:

Ok...slightly more nerve-wracking than stacking the tiers is driving the cake to the site. I posted my Wedding Cake on Board sign and drove like granny and gramps coming home from Sunday mass. I got attention from one driver who had quite a laugh at my over-cautious nature. But I was a bit daring and opted not to stake the cake. First of all, the laminated chip board I used seemed too hard to pound a stake through, so I decided to forgo the stake and I did not cut a hole in the centre -- also what if it didn't line up?? The wedding site was literally 5 minutes from my home. And I made it!

Here is the cake that was supposed to be for my grandma's birthday (also wedding cake, but for her too):

Thought I'd share this nifty little cake board I used to help portion the cakes:

The served cakes:

Every cake was very well received and I figure that if I am getting good feedback from people I don't even know, then it must be ok. The other true test is how much cake is left sitting on tables uneaten...I found maybe one piece. Thank you Rose...a real testament to your recipes, expertise, and amazing directions that enable even a home baker to produce fabulous results...so long as you follow directions.

I've concluded that one does not build wedding cakes unless you love doing it and/or you love who you are making them for. I don't think I could do this professionally unless I got much, much faster. For now, I will do this once a year for people I care about and that is all...I don't think I could handle 5 am nights every week (I do have a toddler though and I came out of it much better than expected). Now it's time to get some sleep!

No Post For 2 Weeks...

2009-10-25T23:03:00.002-06:00

Thought I'd give fair warning that I won't be doing any bake along cakes for the next two weeks. I'm building my sister-in-law's wedding cake and I will be busy. The cake will be a 6-9-12" round stacked cake with the new German Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Syrup and layered with Raspberry Ganache.
The frosting will be White Chocolate Mouselline Buttercream with Navan. Also will be making a 14" round White Butter Cake filled with Raspberry Buttercream (I think Neoclassic) and frosted with the same Mouselline. I will also be a making a dairy free carrot cake with tofu "cream cheese" frosting. I promised no photos until after the wedding.

So far I've made raspberry sauce from 3 kg of raspberries without mechanical aid. I think the worst is over...

Will be back to do the Chocolate Oblivions...

Almond Shamah Chiffon

2009-10-25T22:57:00.002-06:00

If a recipe typically calls for the use of my two Kitchen Aid mixer bowls, a food processor, and more, I usually avoid it like the plague unless it is chocolate and Rose's Triple Chocolate Cake (those of you who have had it know what I mean.) However, I decided to give the Almond Shamah Chiffon a go since most of the recipes inspired by David Shamah over the years have been worth the effort (take, for instance his Jumbles in Rose's Christmas Cookies).

This recipe is not overly difficult, but it requires a fair amount of preparation. Take the almonds, for instance. I was sampling some of the blanched almonds from my freezer only to realize they paled in comparison to the fresh whole almonds I was previously snacking on. There was no way I would bake a cake with such vile ingredients, so I had the "added fortune" of blanching and slicing my own almonds. I discovered, by laziness, that placing the whole (shelled) almonds in a cup with some boiled water from the kettle, and then into the microwave for 2 minutes does a fantastic job. The skins slid off and in a reasonably short time, I had FRESH blanched almonds. After a few chop chop chops, they went into the toaster oven.

I don't know if my almonds were finely ground enough or not, but when Rose warns about becoming pasty, I figured it's better to err on the side of caution.

I love whipping egg yolks, the color is just amazing and they develop such gorgeous texture -- whites are ok too, but can't compare to yolks. The rest is just about moving quickly--not too many pictures. I always get a wee bit stressed making sponge cakes as I fear the eggs will collapse on me. The words "fold in the flour, almonds, and whites into the yolks quickly but gently" always bring intensity to my kitchen. This was a very, very thick batter, but it had a lovely aroma from the almonds and almond extract. The house smelled great while this baked.

The cakes were looking a bit lumpy while baking but turned out alright in the end. The thing I love about sponge cakes is that the crusts come off so you can sample them without marring the cake for serving. And the crusts had great flavour and even decent texture of what I could tell for the cake.

Making the syrup is easy, but just requires time to cool.

Now here is my dillemma. I really really dislike dry cakes, but I don't really like heavily syruped cakes. I always find syruping a bit of a challenge. As directed, I used all of the syrup and waited a day before assembling. I knew when opening the plastic wrap that the cake was too wet. It stuck to the removable pan bottom in wet lumps. But what to do? Not sure if it was because my almonds were too coarse or the syrup applied unevenly, but that is what happened. Anyway, the cake had to be assembled, so it was.

I love whipped cream. It is the best frosting...simple and easy and it goes with almost anything. I also love the simplicty of the recipe for the raspberry whipped cream. Jam and cream. But I must add a caveat that a good good raspberry jam is essential. I bought what was seedless and available S?U*K#R@, and it has a funny taste. Not gone bad taste, but just off, not a pure raspberry flavour. I have made Rose's Cloud Creams, and they are wonderful. This was ok, but definitely in need of a high quality jam.

I really wanted to like this cake, but I personally found the cake to be way too wet -- the flavour was good, but I think it may have been linked to coarser almonds and/or syruping technique. I wish I had sliced a piece of cake before it was syruped. The whipped cream would have been wonderful if I had used a better tasting jam. My husband thought the whipped cream was off too. My mother, on the other hand, loved it and liked that the cake was not dry like most white cakes, but she too found it a bit too moist. Didn't have a huge taste panel for this but, given the effort, I don't know that I would be baking it again soon.

Barcelona Brownies

2009-10-12T12:00:00.022-06:00

Brownies are my go-to baked good. They are simple, satisfying, and oh so yummy. The Barcelona Brownies are no exception. While slightly more complex to prepare than traditional brownies, they can still be made by hand and if all of your ingredients are at the correct temperature, they will come together in a snap.

All good brownies should be moist, have a deep, dusky chocolate taste, and have the right balance between fudgy and cakey. The Barcelona Brownies meet this criteria and then some (especially if you use the ganache plugs). And then there are nuts...there is nothing more disheartening than to be tempted by brownies at a funeral luncheon only to discover they contain -- what my husband calls "pecan's ugly cousin" -- WALNUTS. I share this view, partly because I've had one too many BAD walnuts, and also because there are other, better nuts to use in the place of a walnut, such as the lovely pecan. These brownies have pecans, and that made me smile.

I tend to avoid nuts in baking because I have a tendency to burn, rather than toast them. I always think, "Oh, I only have to bake them for 5 minutes" and casually avoid setting the timer and begin working on the rest of the recipe. 20 minutes later the smoke alarm goes off and I remember, "Oh, nuts!" Not this time, I set the timer for 7 minutes and forgot about the nuts. 7 minutes later, after wondering why the stove was beeping, I remembered the nuts and they were perfectly golden even though I didn't stir during baking as recommended by Rose.

I am a firm believer in reducing the quantity of dishes one uses, so I made some slight modifications to the recipe. I combined my Lindt Piccoli (58% instead of suggested 60-62%, but close enough, I say) and butter in my mixing bowl and melted the chocolate and butter using 10 second intervals in the microwave (instead of double-boiler). Rose uses the microwave for chocolate melting, so I figured it was ok.

The recipe is really simple from here...keep adding ingredients and whisk.

Here's the Green and Black's Cocoa:

Followed with the sugar.

Next the eggs and vanilla are whisked into the batter. The recipe says to whisk "until the mixture becomes thick and glossy." I remember thinking, "Is this enough?" when my arm suddenly got tired. At that very moment, the sugar crystals in the batter dissipated, it became ultra thick, and of course, it became glossy. Perhaps it should read, "Whisk until your arm feels like it's about to fall off!"

After that, change your implement and use a wooden spoon instead of a whisk and add the cream cheese, followed by the flour and salt, and then the nuts. Simple!

My reservations about baking the brownies were related to not having the appropriate pan. I only have a Wilton silicone baking mold that has 6 hearts. Each heart holds 1/4 cup of batter, so that at least was the same as indicated by the recipe. But the shape is much wider than the financiers mold, but what's a girl to do?

I portioned out 45 g or so into each mold and popped them in the oven. It was apparent after 15 minutes, that these were going to take longer to bake. After about 25 minutes they were ready. Hallelujah, Rose! She even gives a temperature for the baked brownies. How useful is that?!

Because my hearts are wider than the finaciers, they didn't bake up as high and were quite difficult to remove until I inverted the pan. Voila!

I wasn't worried about the pile of batter that was still in the bowl. Since brownies don't contain leavening, this wasn't an issue. I simply covered the bowl with plastic wrap. I did find I was a bit short of batter,though -- I should have made 14 brownies at the 45 g portion size, but I only was able to get 12 (I added a little extra batter to the last 6) -- and no, I was not helping myself to unbaked brownie goodness.

The recipe gives directions for making ganache plugs. I planned to use up some of the Caramel Ganache I made a couple of days ago (caramel and pecans are a perfect fit!), so I just put that in a zipper bag and snipped a corner to pipe it. In the recipe, Rose states that the brownies should be kept in the pan if making the ganache plugs. I didn't have time to let them cool, as I was using only one pan. Instead, I just set the brownies on the counter after cooling for 10 minutes and made my depressions with a cake dowel. I didn't have any problems with this method, except that I sometimes hit a pecan and my holes wouldn't be very deep. I suppose this may be trickier with the financiers as they are not as wide and would need the exterior support.

A word on the Caramel Ganache. It's been awhile since I've made caramel, so when I was adding the cream to the sugar syrup, I forgot how vigorously it bubbles. I thought it was done bubbling and added more cream, but it wasn't done bubbling, and I ended up with a huge mess on my stove. (Sorry, no pics, way too intense). I lost a fair amount of cream and sugar in the mishap. I was running out of time as my 1.5 year old was napping and caramel and kids don't mix, so I just added what remained to the chocolate. Wow! What an intense ganache. It used 99% chocolate and I didn't have all of the cream and sugar to add to it. It was very thick and quite bitter, so I improvised and added some heated cream and corn syrup. Not exactly as written but it worked. I suspect the corn syrup is responsible for the sheen.

Thoughts on the brownies...

I think what I like best about the brownies is the flavour and texture. Whenever I eat a cocoa based brownie, I think, "next time I should try a chocolate based brownie." And of course, when I eat a chocolate based brownie, I think, "next time I should try a cocoa based brownie." This recipe contains some of each. The cocoa really gives the dusky flavour and color (more noticeable on the inside). The chocolate provides more subtle flavours. The cream cheese is indiscernible, and does help create a moist brownie. And the texture is really a cross between cakey and fudgy. I recall Rose stating somewhere that her brownies don't need to be chased with a glass of milk, and I do believe it's true. But I still like to do it anyway.

My husband said, "Not too sweet." Which is as close to a complement I can get from him when I bake something other than pastry.

My mom thought they would be cakey looking at the appearance, but after tasting it she loved that it was fudgy too. And my chocolate loving sister only wished the brownie was bigger :) I served them slightly chilled and it really accentuated the fudgy texture (my favourite), but also enhanced the chocolate flavours. The caramel ganache went extremely well with the brownie, especially since pecans were used. A very, very good brownie recipe that will be made again and again. I will have to try it in an 8" x 8" to simplify it even more.

The Moment I've Been Waiting For...

2009-10-09T12:22:00.002-06:00

My personalized and autographed copy of Rose's Heavenly Cakes arrived yesterday...oh the giddiness!

Well, here's what I could fit in...

Still smiling about it!

Am I Crazy?

2009-09-29T11:16:00.000-06:00

I just signed up for the Bake-Along with Marie and am starting to wonder if it was a good idea. I've already made the Whipped Cream Cake and the German Chocolate Cake (only the cake -- not topping) from Rose's Heavenly Cakes, but I just don't know if I can fit it all in. I will admit that I was swooned by the autographed copy of the book. I decided when I got the book that I would just bake from it and use it...in spite of the absolutely stunning photography. All of my favourite cookbooks are covered in ingredients, but that's how it is. The best cookbooks are the messiest.

My favourite photo is of the Whipped Cream Cake...I just love how the photo captures the sugar falling onto the cake. And this is the photo I ruined by baking the cake. I am not a neat baker, usually because I am in a rush and don't have my kitchen in an orderly state before I begin. Somehow I managed to get egg? on the page and now a chunk of the black background is missing. So...it's easy to understand how I was convinced to join the bake along...I could have my own baking copy AND my own copy to admire sans the ingredients stuck to the page!