Daring Bakers Challenge 5 - Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

No Daring Bakers challenge this month which was Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream
From Great Cakes by Carol Walter and I am putting the blame firmly on family and friends who love me so much they can't be without me.

Please check out the blogroll here as there are some truly gorgeous cakes out there that are too good to be missed.

Ciao rachx

Daring Bakers Challenge 4 - Danish Braid

This months Daring Bakers Challenge of a Danish Braid has been my favourite so far. I love love loved it!!!!! We made danish pastry which was something I had never done before and it was fantastically exciting to watch it take shape and then produce something as delicious as an apple strudel inspired danish braid. I also made fresh croissants which my husband was VERY excited about and croissants are one of my favourite foods all fresh and warm from the oven with a wonderful flakiness and the scent of cardamom and orange wafting through the house on the warm breeze (sounds all tropical doesn't it, not near it though just a day of no rain but no summer sunshine here in the Emerald Isle).

I made a couple of changes to the recipe to make it my own but not straying too far from the original so here they are:

• I used 2 medium eggs and 1 egg yolk instead of 2 large eggs
• I added a whole tsp of cardamom as I love it so much I just couldn't help myself
• I had no vanilla pods so I just used the vanilla extract
• I needed to add at least another 1/2 cup of flour as my dough was super sticky, this may have been due to the changing of the eggs but it all worked out fine in the end and the dough was a dream to work with
• I added All Spice to my apple filling as opposed to cinnamon and vanilla, for those of you who don't have All Spice as I'm not sure it it's an Irish thing or an international/european thing it's a pre-blended mix of nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves
• I also added 125g sultanas to my apple mixture.
• I used a sugar almond crunch on top of my braid as my husband thinks he "doesn't like" nuts but I use them all the time without telling him and he never leaves anything behind!!!
  

I made my braid with the aid of the wonderful photos from Comida De Mama and found them extremely helpful in pointing me in the right direction in terms of tucking in the end etc, the YouTube video that Kelly posted was also very helpful in terms of advice in keeping the dough rectangular etc.

The pastry was in a word - Divine, I love cardamom and it gave the dough (and the kitchen) the most amazing scent. I think my pastry cooked very well and was flaky and not too crispy and I could really see the layers which was pretty impressive (I thought anyway).

Thank you so much to Kelly and Ben for hosting this months challenge, it's been the most enjoyable and most challenging challenge for me so far and I loved every single second of this, I will definitely be making this again as it's such a versatile dough and I even have the leftovers defrosting down stairs at the moment for todays dessert.


Just to advise you, I have kitchen measuring cups and use them anytime the recipe says cups, apologies to anyone who doesn't have these to hand but as far as I know there's 8 ounces in 1 cup and I'd go with this, so after all that here's the recipe:

Danish Braid inspired by Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking

DANISH DOUGH:

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.


BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.


DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.


Also make sure you check out the other Daring Bakers challenges on the Daring Baker Blogroll here

*Update*: I also made my version of mille feuille using the very end of my pastry, filled with a lemon curd cream (using the recipe from here with the juice of 2 lemons and the zest of 1), sweetened with 1 tbsp honey and whipped and as many strawberries as I could fit in, in a word DIVINE!!!

Daring Bakers Challenge 3 - Opéra Cake

So here we are again, it's Daring Bakers time, and this month I really was daring. An opéra cake is something I would NEVER have made, in my wildest dreams no matter how much I would have wanted to and read the recipe. I can now make my own nut flours - I made pistachio for this. I can make a sugar syrup, which hile not the most technical of recipes is something I have never made before. I have finally found a butter cream that I like aswell.

I'm not going to post the full recipe as it's posted on plenty of other blogs and you can see it here on Ivonne's blog Cream Puffs in Venice but here's what I did that make my cake different:

• I made pistachio flour - ground pistachios pulverised with a tsp flour for each 100g pistachios - smells AMAZING and everyone should try this!!!! I will definitel be making nut flour again.

• I used rose flavouring for my buttercream so 3 tbsp rosewater in total but to be honest I could have used more, I also coloured my buttercream with some cochinelle colouring to make it the rose pink.

• I made a cardamom sugar stock which is amazing, I still have some left and keep smelling it in it's little airtight container in the fridge. Smells like pure heaven for a cardamom addict like me!!!
  

Initially, I wasn't mad about the mousse/ganache or the glaze as I thought they over powered the cake slightly on the first day, the next day however, everything blended together perfectly and the flavours had time to develop. The joconde (read cake here gor those not intiated to the opéra cake layers) had a lovely firm texture which I really liked and the pistachio flavour was gorgeous, really fresh and with the cardamom and hints of rose made me think of exotic far off places!!!


Special thanks to Lis, Ivonne, Fran and Shea for hosting this months amazing challenge - Bring on the June challenge I'm ready!!!!!

Daring Bakers Challenge 2 - Cheesecake Lollipops

So this is my second month as a Daring Baker, and to be honest I think it hasn't gotten off to a very good start!

I intended to make these cheesecake lollipops 2 weeks ago and it didn't happen due to being out on the lash for my birthday. I intended to make them last week and it didn't happen due to extreme illness in the form of a crazy virus!! So this weekend was my last chance - late in the day but thankfully the cheesecake was a breeze to make taking about 50 minutes to do it's thing in the oven and with my history in cheesecakes I wasn't overly positive when it went into the oven but came out very well and is definitely be a recipe I use again as I loved the texture of the finished cake. I'm so glad I didn't have the problems with it some other people did with the cheesecake not setting as this would have most likely ended with me not making a second one and completing the challenge.

After couple of hours in the fridge the cheesecake was ready to form into balls, overnight in the freezer and the balls were ready to cover with chocolate, this is the finished product and as I write this I am STILL singing the Chocolate Salty Balls song from South Park - classy wha??????


So this months challenge was picked by Deborah from Taste and Tell and Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms and is from a book called from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O’Connor which I've never heard of before but if this recipe is anything to go by the recipes in it are yum and fun!

I haven't given the full recipe as it's on Taste and Tell but I couldn't recommend this enough and if you don't want to make the pops then just try the cake. I made half vanilla and then I added some lemon extract just to change it up, I think I preferred the lemon as it was fresher with the chocolate but the vanilla tasted like ice-cream which was good aswell and the husbag loved.

Daring Bakers Challenge - Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

So this is my very first Daring Bakers Challenge, I was due to start last month but due to a combination of time and a cat who shall remain nameless I didn't manage to complete the chanllenge of Julia Child's French Bread. So here I am a virgin Daring Baker and this month it's all about cake, cake and more cake!!! If you asked the girl I sit near at work one thing about me she'd say "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm caaaaaaaaaaake", this is a statement I come out with on a regular basis as Friday is treat day and I get myself some super fancy salad from Avoca on Suffolk Street and the most divine piece of bakewell to go with my afternoon tea, every Friday I say the same thing "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm caaaaaaaaaaaaaaake". I am all about the cake baby!!!

I loved making this recipe, I did it on bank holiday Sunday, the day before Paddy's day and it was a lovely day of relaxation, the sun was shining and it wasn't freezing for once!!! Everything about this cake went well, the making, the baking and the creating. I'm not a big fan of butter cream but decided to stick with the original recipe this being my first challenge and meringue buttercream sounded lovely to me, I'm not normally a buttercream fan and still wasn't but I enjoyed this and even more on the second day as the lemon flavours had taken hold over night and cut through the buttery flavour. I still think if I'm making this again and I'll definitely make the cake part I would would fresh cream and fresh raspberries, but this is just a personal thing.


Here's the recipe with some amendments to allow for the conversion and any changes I made:

For the Cake
1lb 4oz flour (I used tesco organic plain white flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
310ml cups whole milk or buttermilk (I used buttermilk)
4 large egg whites
3/4lb cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (I used 3 as I like a lot of lemon)
4 ounces unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
8 oz sugar
4 large egg whites
3/4lb unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
Raspberry jam warmed gently until spreadable

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350/180/Gas 4. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a 1/4lb at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.



To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake.
You can use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top if you want, I didn't as I am not a big fan of iced cakes but you'll have enough left to do this.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Many thanks to Morven for picking this lovely cake and to the DB's for the challenge, roll on next month!!!