Cake Experiments - Marshmallow Fondant

Webcam Cake
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I hadn't ever played with fondant on cakes, but watching Cake Boss on TLC put me over the top, needing to get my fingers into a complicated project before the creative energy caused my body to spontaneously combust. Seriously, that is what it feels like might happen sometimes if I don't bake or play the piano (both seem to do the trick, but I don't have a piano at home, you see).

I did quite a bit of reading beforehand, both online and in a few cookbooks. Next time I'm going to try homemade fondant using Zoe's recipe, because it looks like "real" rolled fondant. The first time I made it, I wanted it to be easy(er). So I went with the marshmallow fondant recipe I had seen several places. Peggy from What's Cooking America had directions that seemed pretty straightforward, so one evening last week I mixed up the marshmallow fondant and made the cake pieces.


Another thing I've been wanting to experiment with is Meyer Lemons. I bought a bunch and made a lemon layer cake as well as lemon curd using those lemons. They are very fragrant, and I could smell something like tangerine as well as lemon, which made for a delicious cake!


The most important thing to realize about Marshmallow Fondant is that it is MESSY. First you melt marshmallows, and then dump powdered sugar onto them. Some recipes have you mix this in the mixer, but this one had me mixing and kneading it with my hands from the beginning after spreading the counter and my hands with Crisco. I started laughing maniacally as I slathered everything with shortening and started trying to make a dough out of the messiest ingredients I had ever encountered.


Eventually, without absorbing nearly as much powdered sugar as was in the recipe, it turned into a smooth, shiny, kneaded, bright white ball. I wrapped it tightly and let it sit out overnight. The next day I put the cake layers together with a thin layer of buttercream and filled with the Meyer lemon curd. I kneaded the fondant out and rolled it out, trying to make it as even and smooth as possible.


At this point, if I had been paying more attention to the directions, I would have a circle about the size of the diameter of the cake plus its height, plus another inch for good measure. But I lifted the entire sheet of fondant up and tried to smooth it onto the cake. As a result it never got as smooth as I wanted, because first I had to try to smooth it down the sides and then cut off the extra. I wasn't really sure how much icing to put underneath either, and may have overdone it. It is really a balancing act - any less and the layers would have shown through quite a bit more, but any more and it would have squished out everywhere (it did a little on the bottom as it was).


The remaining fondant got divided in half, and I added food coloring to each, making ball blue and the other neon green. That was slightly precarious, trying to keep the food coloring off of the counter and my hands, and a lot of handwashing was involved. The colors were vivid, but I definitely wish I had made the base of the cake one of these colors, rather than going with the basic white. I excuse myself by saying that this was all an experiment anyway!


The final design is not life changing - just to show that I could put a band around the bottom and shapes on the sides and top (just using water). I left it overnight and was pleased to see that the colors had not bled into each other, and took it to work that morning. Most of it was consumed that day (thanks to a post in Facebook featuring me in my office holding the cake up to my webcam, which is the first picture in this post), but several days later the marshmallow fondant is STILL holding up and soft. Cutting through it was no trouble. I personally didn't care for the taste, as it was way too sweet for my tastes. But in my reading I found that the commercial fondant is most often peeled off of a cake before eating, and this was definitely edible, melding nicely with the buttercream underneath. I liked the possibility for smoothness, for finesse, that fondant affords - I just need to play with it more.

Categories: Cake, Lemon

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

A few days ago, a friend who was actually my locker partner in 7th grade posted that she was going to make strawberry balsamic ice cream. I wanted the recipe, she didn't have one "yet," so I decided to try making my own.

It all started with a trip with to Beechwood Farms in Marietta to pick strawberries with two of the amazing foodies I happen to work with. I wanted to make fresh strawberry ice cream, but I have struggled with getting to the right texture.

While I researched strawberry balsamic recipes, I came across a little tidbit that said that adding alcohol to ice cream helps it not get as hard. I imagine this has something to do with ice crystals, but I won't pretend to understand it exactly. I was willing to try anything.

I did not find a recipe that was all that inspiring, so I decided instead to adapt one from Alice Waters, since I have been trying to make the recipes from her cookbook, "The Art of Simple Food." The end result was interesting. I probably should have mashed the strawberries finer because the bigger pieces wrapped around the spinning parts of the ice cream maker, but I loved the texture in this ice cream. The balsamic I added (probably a bit too much) added so much depth of flavor, and the alcohol added both depth and did help the hardness issue. However the ice cream didn't make pretty scoops, so I still have more experimenting to do.

Strawberry Balsamic Ice Cream
Adapted from Alice Waters' recipe for Strawberry Ice Cream, and a marvelous idea from an old friend.

In a small bowl whisk briefly, just enough to break up:
3 egg yolks

Measure into a heavy-bottomed pot:
3/4 cup half-and-half
1/2 cup sugar

Set a strainer over a heat-proof bowl. Heat the half-n-half over medium heat, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. When hot, whisk a little of the hot half-and-half into the egg yolks and then whisk the warmed yolks into the hot mixture. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and coats the back of the spoon. Do not let it boil. Remove from the heat and quickly strain.

Add:
3/4 cup heavy cream

Cover the mixture and chill.

Wash, dry, and hull:
1 1/2 pints strawberries

Mash with a potato masher or puree in a food mill. Stir in:
1/4 cup sugar
1-2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp kirsch

Let the strawberries macerate in their own juices, stirring occasionally until the sugar has melted. Add the berries to the cold cream mixture and flavor with:

A couple drops of vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Chill thoroughly, and freeze in an ice-cream machine according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Categories: Balsamic, Ice Cream, Strawberry

Daring Bakers May 2009 - Strudel

Stretching the dough
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I have made strudel before, but it was back when I was a freshman in high school and doing a project on Austria, including a meal with traditional food. I remember thinking the sachertorte was far tastier than the strudel with its dense dough. I have suspected for a long time that I simply did not handle the dough appropriately, and was excited to see this challenge.


I knew from the beginning that I wanted to make two batches of strudel after seeing a recipe for Curried Fruit Strudel in G - The Magazine of Greenville, the May/June issue. The hosts also said it might take more than one batch to get the hang of stretching the dough to a thinness of tissue paper.


They were right! I ended up with a huge tear in my first batch that no patching would repair. I decided to go ahead and use it as it was with the original apple, raisin, and walnut mixture. The only change I made was substituting vanilla for rum, not that I'm against rum, but it was Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and I knew I had two days where I couldn't buy any, and didn't want to wait. As you can see, the bread crumbs are prominent on this dough. I didn't like how much you could see and taste them in between the layers without filling, so decided that the next time I would only sprinkle them on the areas of the dough that would have direct contact with the filling.


The end result was pretty good. Something about the dough made Nathaniel think of pizza, and while I didn't get that exactly, the breadcrumbs made me unhappy. Okay, okay, I admit it! I bought pre-made breadcrumbs! Maybe if I had made my own they would have been softer and more buttery, less like sawdust. Live and learn.

You can find the recipe for the original apple strudel at either host's site, as well as the recipe for the dough. What follows is the recipe I made, adapted from the recipe found in G Magazine for curried fruit strudel.


Curried Fruit Strudel Filling
2 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 pears, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 bananas, sliced at the last minute
3 tbsp dried tropical fruit (I used diced mango, papaya, and pineapple), soaked in 1 tbsp vanilla and 1 tbsp banana liqueur
1 tsp cinnamon
6 tbsp brown sugar
4 tbsp curry powder
6 tbsp butter, melted, separated

Heat 3 tbsp butter, sugar, curry powder, and cinnamon in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add apples and pears, stirring to soften. Remove from heat and stir in bananas, almonds, and tropical fruit. Use as filling in your favorite strudel dough, or use phyllo dough as a shortcut. Brush with butter and bake at 400 for 30 minutes or until browned.


The second time around, the dough was much more successful - only tiny tears, it rolled and stretched out more evenly, and I would not hesitate to try making another strudel another way. I thought the curried fruit combination was really interesting - sweet, spicy and delicious. I almost left the bananas out but they were really good with the curry. The dried tropical fruit was a last minute inspiration as I stared at the dried fruit section of the grocery store, and I thought it was a good way to include the flavors of those fruits without the water their fresh counterparts would contain! The change of only putting breadcrumbs on dough directly touching the filling made a big difference in the taste and texture of the final dessert, and I would recommend making this change in the future.

I sometimes go to YouTube for inspiration on baking technique, and came across this wonderful baker in Vienna, taped by a tourist, at an event that I can only imagine was created for tourists to begin with. Baking can be entertainment!




You may access my other Daring Bakers challenges here, or check out what the other bakers have done through The Daring Kitchen.

Categories: Apples, Curry, Daring Bakers, Pastry, Strudel

Bakery Review - Baked - Charleston, SC

Scone and Cupcake
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

We stopped by Baked in Charleston, SC, on our way back home from a cruise. I'd been looking forward to it because I have this way of idolizing New York City bakeries and was excited when I learned this particular Brooklyn institution decided to open in Charleston as well.

The first thing I noticed when we walked in was the number of people sitting outside on their laptops, an even bigger mystery when you realize how much seating is available inside and how humid it already was outside. I love the space they have, and they have a good location downtown. The second thing we noticed is that they take up more space selling merchandise than baked goods - an entire wall of t-shirts, cookbooks, and other paraphernalia; while some of the baked good selection was on the slimmer side. To be fair, it was already 10:30 AM on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend and the start of the Spoleto Festival, and they might have been a bit cleaned out.

Since it was morning and we had iced mochas from Metto Coffee (in Mt. Pleasant, where we always stay), I got a scone, but then wanted to try one of their cupcakes since they sell a lot of cakes and cupcakes. The scone was okay, a little on the dry side despite the glaze, although the pecans inside were delicious. The cupcake wasn't the best texture (a little dry), and while I don't want to use this particular bakery review to rail against a trend I hate that is going on in baking right now, I might as well take the opportunity. When candy makers started adding sea salt to caramels, I was into it. The super sweetness of a caramel has an incredible depth added to it with a little sprinkle of salt. Everything else just tastes SALTY. Quit it!

I think almost everyone would get something tasty at Baked in Charleston. The biggest hurdle with me was the sneaking suspicion that everything was similar to my baking style, but that I felt my versions were a little better. I can't fault them for having my taste though, and think you will enjoy it. I love how there is space to sit and enjoy their goods or the company of others, and it isn't just a walk-in/walk-out bakery. I hope they do succeed in their venture outside of NYC, and will keep following them on Twitter to cheer them on.

Categories: Bakery, Cupcake, Scone

Soby's White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie

Soby's White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I just had friends here from Oregon, and wanted to cook a southern dessert. Red velvet cake seemed too heavy, and I got great suggestions like pecan pie and sweet potato pie, but then I started thinking about banana pudding. Banana pudding is the quintessential southern dessert, particularly when one is having collards, grits, and pork from Henry's Smokehouse like I was planning. But I couldn't just make banana pudding!

Luckily I recently checked out the Soby's New South Cuisine cookbook from the library and found this gem, the white chocolate banana cream pie. According to the book, it has been their top selling dessert since they opened in 1997. Soby's is one of our favorite restaurants in Greenville, in a beautiful building downtown. They always have good service and excellently prepared food, but it does tend to be busy (and louder). This dessert seemed like a classier take on banana pudding or banana cream pie (because actually this is a tart), so I decided to give it a shot.

This is typical of restaurant recipes because so much of it can be made ahead of time. I made the crust and pastry cream two days in advance, so the night we ate, I only had to whip the cream, slice bananas, and mix a few things together. This was sweet, pillowy, and delicious. The banana flavor was prominent, and the vanilla flecks throughout were pretty.

Soby's White Chocolate Banana Cream Pie
(Serves 8-10)

Tart Shell:
1 3/4 cups flour
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 lb butter, cut into 1-inch pieces, chilled
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract

White chocolate pastry cream:
1 vanilla bean, whole
1 cup milk
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
3 Tbs cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs

Pie:
2 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup Creme de Banana
1 cup white chocolate pastry cream, chilled
6 ripe bananas
1 11-inch tart shell, baked and cooled
White chocolate, thick piece, for garnish
Cocoa powder

For the tart shell: Place the flour and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. On low speed, add half the cold butter and mix for 30 seconds, then add the remaining butter. Continue to mix until all the butter is cut into the flour and the mix resembles sand. Lightly beat together the egg and vanilla in a small bowl and add it to the flour and butter. Continue to mix until a dough ball is formed. If the dough does not form a ball after 1 minute, add a few drops of water. Remove the dough from the mixer. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Have ready an 11-inch removable-bottom tart mold. On a floured surface, roll out the dough into a 1/8-inch thick circle large enough to fit the mold. Press the dough into the tart mold. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. Bake the crust for 16-18 minutes or until it is golden brown and crisp.

For the pastry cream: Pour the milk into a heavy bottom 2-qt saucepan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds with the back of a small knife. Add the seeds and pod halves to the milk. Heat the milk until it is about to boil. While the milk is heating, whisk together the cornstarch, sugar, salt, and eggs until smooth. Tempter the egg mixture with one-quarter of the hot milk and then add it back to the pan. Whisk to combine. Continue to cook on medium heat stirring constantly. When the custard thickens, remove it from the heat and whisk in the white chocolate. Pour the pastry cream into a container and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on top of the cream so no skin forms. Refrigerate until completely cool.

For the pie: Whip the heavy cream until soft peaks form. Add the sugar and creme de banana and whip to very stiff peaks. Place the cold pastry cream into another bowl and soften by mixing it with a rubber spatula. Slice the bananas into the pastry cream and stir to combine. Fold in the whipped cream. Mound the filling in the middle of the tart shell and smooth it down to the edge. Carefully cut the pie into 8 or 10 slices before garnishing. Using a vegetable peeler, shave enough white chocolate curls to cover the pastry cream. Dust the top with cocoa powder. Serve immediately or refrigerate.

Categories: Bananas, Cream, Pie, Tart, White Chocolate

Iced Coffee Obsession

There is a little Vietnamese place that I love to go to in Greenville called Pho Noodleville. Granted, the service is always, always terrible. Not just bad - terrible. And the chairs are super uncomfortable. But there are rarely many people there (possibly a bad sign) and if you have a lot of time and patience, I think the food is worth it. It is sometimes hard to find good vegetarian food in the south, and they have enough options that I have not yet tried everything. My favorite are the tofu dishes which are well seasoned and filling, and are served with rice that I hope is intentionally greenish.

My actual secret, however, is that I really go there for the coffee. The most recent waiter we've had makes fun of me for ordering it because it isn't served with dinner in "his country" (aka Vietnam), and I often have to get it to go because it really does take that long to brew or he forgets until we are ready to pay. The jury is still out on that one. But I realized that they were simply using coffee from Cafe du Monde in New Orleans, which is technically coffee with chicory. They brew it in individual servings, into a cup that already has condensed milk in it. Once it is brewed and stirred together, it is served over ice. Words can't begin to explain how good it is.

This idea of iced coffee is not unique to the Vietnamese, of course. A trip to Saigon Market, also in Greenville, gave me an opportunity to buy a bottle of coffee concentrate from Cofe Thai, which is what they use at Thaicoon Ricefire and Sushi Bar, the Thai restaurant closest to the campus where I work.

When we were in Jamaica, we bought some of the famous Blue Mountain Coffee. The place where we bought it sold it black or with condensed milk (surprise surprise!). So even hot, this combination of coffee with condensed milk was nothing new.


I have mentioned Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz before, but when I saw his recipe for Vietnamese Iced Coffee Ice Cream, I felt like I had stumbled across a kindred spirit. I adapted the recipe to make Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee instead, and added chocolate chips. It used a different technique, and much of the dairy in the recipe is actually condensed milk, true to the original.

In all of my iced coffee experiments, I came across the recipe for cold-brewed iced coffee, in the New York Times, blogged about and photographed beautifully by Smitten Kitchen. Since I had all these coffees floating around, of course I had to try it!

The mixture ahead of time does not look very encouraging. But you simply stir together ground coffee with water, let it sit on the counter covered for twelve hours (or more, as I discovered), and then strain it a few times. Voila - your own coffee concentrate. For true iced coffee, you would add ice and water to the cool concentrate, but I prefer to use milk, meaning soymilk, and 1-2 splenda packets. I feel like I have saved so much money that would normally go to Starbucks or local coffee shops by making my own iced coffee! I realize it isn't an iced latte, and this is not espresso, but if you have coffee that is high quality like the Jamaican Blue, or interesting enough in flavor like the coffee with chicory, you just can't go wrong.

I was told by a lovely online friend from Wish I Were Baking that the reason this works is caffeine is water soluble, and the bitter taste in coffee is from the oils, which require heat. Cold brewing coffee should always make for a mellow, flavorful taste. And I really thought it did! Enough where I went a little outside the baking realm to wax poetic, all about iced coffee.

Now that we are headed into summer, if you give it a try, let me know what you think! Thanks to the NY Times and Smitten Kitchen for doing it first, and to David Lebovitz for his inspiring ice creams.

Categories: Coffee, Ice Cream

Roasted Strawberry Season

Roasted Strawberries with Crepes
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

Strawberries are in season so much earlier in South Carolina than they were where I grew up in Oregon. I have actually missed it before, but not this year. This has been a great year for local berries, and I have been experimenting with new ideas and recipes.

Since I created a Twitter account just for baking, I have had a window into the daily lives of other bakers with Twitter accounts. When @glamah of Coco Cooks posted that she was roasting strawberries, I eagerly asked for the method, which she gracefully shared.

It is a simple method, but I just hadn't ever thought of roasting strawberries. She hulls them, sprinkles with sugar, drizzles with balsamic, tosses the berries and cooks until soft and carmelized. Balsamic and strawberries, if you haven't ever tried it, has this amazing result of not tasting vinegary but bringing out the flavor of the strawberry even more. Of the various toppings I'd prepared for crepes, this was by far the best.


I liked the flavor so much that when I made Nick Malgieri's Lemon Ginger Pound Cake (from The Modern Baker), I knew it deserved an awesome sauce. My youngest sister is always adding the word sauce at the end of various words, so as a tribute to her, the roasted strawberries mashed up became known as Awesomesauce. The cake by itself was flavorful, and the strawberry was a lovely pairing with the lemon and ginger. I brought it in for my student workers and anyone else passing through the music library, because it is finals week and sugar is essential.

Categories: Cake, Crepes, Ginger, Lemon, Strawberry

Daring Bakers Challenge April 2009 - Cheesecake Centerpiece

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.


Oh wait, that's me. That's right! For the past month, I have been willing hostess to the bunch of bakers known as The Daring Bakers, consisting of over 1,000 bakers all over the world who unite once a month to make the same recipe. I know we all made Cheesecake Pops last April, but I wanted to pick a recipe that people could take and really make their own, letting the creativity flow. And wow, have they ever. If you want to see for yourself, head over to The Daring Kitchen and click on the blog roll. I've seen everything from people making their own cream cheese to vegemite cheesecake. And what did the vegans do? You need to check it out.

The recipe I pick comes from my friend Abbey T. who loves to bake. I called it "Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake," and the grammar police think it should be "Abbey's Famous Cheesecake," or "Infamous Abbey's Cheesecake." Whatever you want to call it, the basic recipe alone is to die for - I have never had a creamier cheesecake! But the instructions to the group were to do whatever they wanted with it, as long as the basic recipe was followed. And if they felt secure in their cheesecake making, to focus on really making their dessert look beautiful, like a centerpiece.

Of course, by needing to taste the recipe ahead of time, I've been making cheesecake for two months. Some were more successful than others, and my co-workers don't seem sick of cheesecake yet, but I'm ready to move onto something else for a while. Ha!


Here is the recipe. I would say that it can be made without a water bath, but if you take the trouble, it is even creamier, and completely worth the effort.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a springform pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

Some variations from the recipe creator ("Infamous" Abbey):

** Lavender-scented cheesecake w/ blueberries - heat the cup of heavy cream in the microwave or a saucepan until hot but not boiling. Add 2 tbsp of lavender flowers and stir. Let lavender steep in the cream for about 10-15 minutes, then strain the flowers out. Add strained cream to cheesecake batter as normal. Top with fresh blueberries, or make a quick stovetop blueberry sauce (splash of orange juice, blueberries, a little bit of sugar, and a dash of cinnamon - cook until berries burst, then cool)

** Cafe au lait cheesecake with caramel - take 1/4 cup of the heavy cream and heat it in the microwave for a short amount of time until very hot. Add 1-2 tbsp. instant espresso or instant coffee; stir to dissolve. Add this to the remainder of cream and use as normal. Top cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce (I usually find one on the food network website - just make sure it has heavy cream in it. You can use store-bought in a pinch, but the flavor is just not the same since its usually just sugar and corn syrup with no dairy).

** Tropical – add about a half cup of chopped macadamias to the crust, then top the cake with a mango-raspberry-mandarin orange puree.

** Mexican Turtle - add a bar of melted dark chocolate (between 3 and 5 oz., to taste) to the batter, along with a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of cayenne pepper (about 1/8 tsp.). Top it with pecan halves and a homemade caramel sauce.

** Honey-cinnamon with port-pomegranate poached pears – replace 1/2 cup of the sugar with 1/2 cup of honey, add about a teaspoon or more (to taste) of cinnamon. Take 2 pears (any variety you like or whatever is in season), peeled and cored, and poach them in a boiling poaching liquid of port wine, pomegranate juice/seeds, a couple of "coins" of fresh ginger, a cinnamon stick, and about a 1/4 cup of sugar. Poach them until tender, then let cool. Strain the poaching liquid and simmer until reduced to a syrupy-glaze consistency, then cool. Thinly slice the cooled pears and fan them out atop the cooled cheesecake. Pour the cooled poaching syrup over the pears, then sprinkle the top with chopped walnuts and fresh pomegranate seeds.

Some variations from Jenny (from JennyBakes):

**Key lime - add zest from one lime to sugar before mixing with cream cheese. Substitute lemon juice, alcohol, and vanilla with key lime juice.

**Cheesecakelets - put in muffin tins, ramekins, or custard cups. Try baking 20-35 minutes, or until still a little jiggly, and cool as before.


During my two months of cheesecake baking, my favorite version was the coffee cheesecake with caramel sauce (the first one in this post). A close second were the key lime cheesecakelets baked in ramekins (so creamy!). The Mexican chocolate cheesecake that I made just wasn't chocolatey enough for me, and then I had two moments of cheesecake fail. The first happened when I replaced the graham cracker crumbs with Oreos (which have a lot more fat in them) and it spewed all over the bottom of my oven and smoked up my house. The second was this idea that was brilliant in conception but not so great in practice - the Smores Spectacular Cheesecake. I actually ended up throwing it away. But I'm definitely going to file away what worked well for everyone else and pull this recipe out the next time I need something to bring to a party!

A huge thanks to Abbey T., and a heartfelt applause to the many Daring Bakers out there, whether this was your first cheesecake or one thousandth. You all made hosting this challenge a blast!

ETA: P.S. For those of you who tweet, I added a second Twitter account just for my baking. Now I can tweet about my thoughts on recipes or ideas, and not just blog once a week!

Categories: Caramel, Cheesecake, Chocolate, Coffee, Daring Bakers, Lime, Raspberry

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

On our way back from Asheville yesterday, I was shocked to see local strawberries already for sale. Where I grew up, strawberry season was early to mid June, and the long growing season here in South Carolina leaves a smile on my face. (Can you see it? I'm still grinning).

These particular strawberries didn't travel as far as the ones I buy in the grocery store - they were from Strawberry Hill U.S.A., where I've been just to buy strawberries in the past. We buy a lot of local produce from a place north of Travelers Rest called the Cider House. It is open year round, seven days a week, offering local produce, other food (canned goods and cider line the walls, and the fridge is full of Happy Cow products!), and boiled peanuts. It is easy to buy local when you have such great options! These are the "Sweet Charlie" variety.

I was going to make a strawberry rhubarb pie. Boring, perhaps, or at least typical, but I've never made that particular type. But I was looking for something where we could enjoy the deliciousness at breakfast instead. A fruit crisp has breakfast-like elements to it - fresh fruit, oats, nuts, even orange juice! So I was happily able to justify serving it for the first meal of our day.

The recipe comes from the March 2005 issue of Bon Appetit Magazine, and can be accessed on Epicurious.com. It is nicely accented with spices - cardamom and nutmeg - making it atypical and delicious.

My ramekins appear a little shrunken, but I didn't want them boiling over, and they were pretty full when they went into the oven. It seems like you could easily vary the ratio of rhubarb to strawberry, but I liked the way the recipe had it.

Categories: Crisp, Rhubarb, Strawberry

Signs of Spring - Rhubarb Pecan Muffins

Rhubarb Pecan Muffin
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

Seeing the first rhubarb of the season always makes me a bit giddy - spring! It is here! Soon to follow are the strawberries and peaches and apples, oh my.

The question always is, what can I do with rhubarb that I haven't already done? I was scouring through my tourist cookbook collection the other day (some people buy magnets, some buy shot glasses, I buy cookbooks!) for an oven-baked french toast recipe, and found that all the cookbooks from Black Hills, South Dakota, had multiple recipes for rhubarb muffins. I picked this one because it didn't have buttermilk like all the rest.

Rhubarb Pecan Muffins
from Black Hills Rosemalers Recipes, recipe credited to Jo Hoar and Engie Overweg

2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup chopped pecans
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp grated orange peel
1 1/4 cups finely chopped rhubarb
3/4 cup orange juice

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nuts. In another bowl, combine egg, oil, orange peel, and orange juice. Add to dry ingredients all at once and stir just until moistened. Stir in rhubarb. Fill 12 lightly greased muffin cups almost to the top. Bake at 375 F. for 25-30 minutes.

The only change I made was to substitute brown sugar for the white, since I was out. They were delicious!

Welcome spring!

Categories: Muffins, Pecans, Rhubarb

Cranky Cake

Orange-Glazed Almond Cake
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

Sometimes, you just have to bake, to get it all out. I know I'm not the only one! I was having a bad morning, so I spent my lunch hour making this cake - the Orange-Glazed Almond Cake from the July 2006 issue of Vegetarian Times. I've had it sitting around begging to be made for almost two weeks now.

It is amazing what baking can do for your spirits, not even eating anything, just being able to pour energy into creation of something... anything. I used to deal with stress by playing the piano but until I get one of my own, baking is a great alternative.

I have come across several recipes lately depending on ground almonds, orange, and olive oil instead of butter. I want to make several different recipes to find which one I like best. This is a nice cake to have at the end of a heavier meal - it is light but full of flavor. The crunch of the ground almonds is throughout the cake, and the light spice of cinnamon blends nicely with the orange scent of the zest and orange syrup that gets poured over the cake after baking. It called for yogurt, so this time I used a Greek yogurt.

The recipe can be found here. It uses a lot of bowls and appliances, but is still really quick to make. This seems like a perfect summery cake, simple and flavorful.

Categories: Almond, Cake, Orange

Twitter Brownies

Dark Chocolate and Cherry Brownies
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I get recipes from all sorts of places. I recently signed up for Twitter, and one of the people I follow posted, "...Need stuff for dark choc cherry brownies and chocolate sauce. Wonder when liquor store opens-need kirsch." I had kirsch in my pantry, and was intrigued so I contacted her for the recipe.

It comes from Cooking Light, and there wasn't any kirsch in it, and while I think I have figured out that she put it in her chocolate sauce and possibly not her brownies, I decided to substitute the water for kirsch in this recipe. And whew, it was strong, but between the jam and alcohol you end up with a nice fruity flavor. But the texture and flavor of these, for a light brownie, definitely delicious.

The recipe can be found here, but I'll included it in the blog since I altered it a bit.

Twitter Brownies

* 3.4 ounces all-purpose flour (about 3/4 cup)
* 1 cup sugar
* 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/3 cup cherry preserves
* 1/3 cup kirsch, or water
* 5 tablespoons butter
* 1 large egg, lightly beaten
* 1 large egg white
* 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
* Powdered sugar (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper; coat with cooking spray.

3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine cherry preserves, 1/3 cup water, and butter in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Add preserves mixture to flour mixture; stir well. Add egg and egg white; stir until smooth. Stir in semisweet chocolate chips. Scrape batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool in pan on wire rack. Garnish with powdered sugar, if desired.

I'm interested in following you if you are in Twitter. I have found a few bakers so far - CakeSpy, Baking Soda, and Ice Cream Guru David Lebovitz. For those of you who don't know, Twitter is one more social networking site where users update their status in 140 characters or less. Some of it can be pretty mundane, but others use it creatively. It is a fun way to follow famous people or friends in their daily lives. My account is the place I stick all the quotations I come across in books or music.

Categories: Baking light, Brownies, Chocolate, Cherry

Bakery Review - The Sisters McMullen Cupcake Corner

Vanilla Latte Cupcake
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

Most of the time when I pass by The Sisters McMullen in Asheville, NC, I manage to be around when it is closed. This past Friday I had the day off and as we wandered up the street from the Black Mountain College and Arts Center, I saw that it was open. The Sisters McMullen Cupcake Corner is a tiny spot, with just a few tables, but there are many baked treats, often including vegan options. It looks like there is a companion cupcake corner in Mars Hill, NC, but I have not personally experienced that shop.

Cupcakes are their specialty, but they had pastries, muffins, cookies, sandwiches, and hot drinks as well. I picked a vanilla latte cupcake. The cupcake itself was moist and slightly chewy on top (in a good way), and the buttercream tasted like the Italian kind - light, airy, and delicately sweet, not the powdered sugar or food coloring bonanza goo you often find. The guy behind the counter said that the bakers have creative freedom and are always coming up with new flavor combos for the cupcakes. That is what I love to hear, and I hope I manage to be back when they're open.

My suggestion - grab a cupcake to go, and walk down the street to the Double Decker Coffee Company for a Mayan hot chocolate and a great people watching spot from the upper level.

Categories: Bakery, Cupcake, Vegan

Coffee Caramel Cheesecake

Coffee Caramel Cheesecake
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I have been experimenting with a cheesecake recipe from my friend Abbey. The possibilities are endless! The first one I tried was a coffee cheesecake with homemade caramel sauce. For the caramel sauce, I used a pretty simple one by Ina Garten, and it may be the first time in my life where a caramel recipe didn't completely destruct on me.

I'm not going to post the recipe for this cheesecake.... yet. Stay tuned. I may have another variation in the oven as we speak.

Categories: Caramel, Cheesecake, Coffee

Key Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Coulis Ribbon

Key Lime Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Coulis Ribbon
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

The danger in reading other blogs is constantly finding recipes that you want to try. When I saw this cake over at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody, I knew she had ensnared me once again into trying her recipe. This is an adaptation of an Ina Garten recipe, and I think it is probably the lemon one I've seen a million times. I wanted to try this so much I went out of my way to buy key lime juice, and raspberries in winter.

I consider myself an okay baker, but for some reason, quick breads evade me. I feel like they are always too dry, or get burned on the edges by the time the middle cooks. And while she is calling this a cake, I have deemed it a quick bread, because we ate it for breakfast in my house. This recipe is the farthest from dry that you can get. The batter starts out with yogurt and mascarpone cheese, and after it is baked you douse it with a syrup.


This results in a decadent, flavorful, moist breakfasty cake. The possibilities are wide open - I'm dying to try it with blood orange juice, or maybe meyer lemons. You can also see that my raspberry coulis made more of a patchwork pink pattern than a ribbon like hers, but it still tasted good. I also had neglected to buy limes at the store (although I remember looking at them and trying to remember why I needed them), so I added a bit of key lime juice to the batter as well. There was no shortage of lime here!

Please visit her blog for the recipe. You will NOT be disappointed.

Categories: Bread, Breakfast, Lime, Raspberry

Daring Bakers Challenge - Flourless Chocolate Cake with Deeply Chocolate Gelato

Flourless Chocolate Cake with Deeply Chocolate Gelato
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I have made flourless chocolate cake before, and was excited that making ice cream would be part of this challenge. I am still not a master of ice cream. I don't know exactly what consistency I'm looking for when I transfer the mixture from the ice cream maker to the freezer for the solid-freeze. I feel like the mouth feel just isn't right. It almost ends up like a gummy texture, rather than smooth. I would welcome any pointers or reassurances!


I decided to make this for Valentines Day, and I wanted to make a decadent ice cream. I had watched Ina Garten make this deeply chocolate gelato and knew I had to try it. And wow, this is the richest, darkest, chocolate ice cream or gelato that I have ever had. It made the flourless chocolate cake seem mild, and it was actually incredibly rich itself. Both my husband and I went through multiple glasses of milk just to eat one slice of cake with a scoop or two of ice cream.


For the cake itself, the main part of the challenge, I used 4 oz of milk chocolate, 4 oz of bittersweet, and 8 oz of semisweet. It was still pretty dark. Since you don't add sugar to the recipe, the sweetness depends entirely on the taste of the chocolate. I think next time I would use half milk chocolate and half semisweet, perhaps.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

I was in a weird mood when I made this recipe, and decided to beat the egg whites by hand. Sometimes it is just fun to work hard for the end result.

On an unrelated note, is anyone on Twitter? I joined this week but am only using it as a place to stick random quotations from books I'm reading, or sometimes movies and songs. Still, if you ever wanted a trip inside the head behind jennybakes.com, there you go.

Categories: Cake, Chocolate, Daring Bakers, Gelato, Ice Cream

Happy Pączki Day!

Inside of a pączki
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I just happened to be in Chicago the week before Lent, which to me meant that this year's culinary adventure during my conference had to be the pączki. There is actually a great Wikipedia entry on the pączki, including Chicago-specific information.

I am somewhat confused at when Pączki Day fell. Traditionally in Poland it is Fat Thursday, but since Americans have a lot of Fat Tuesday celebrations, in some cities here that becomes Pączki Day. It still seems like Chicago celebrated it yesterday, but Wikipedia does say that "Chicago celebrates both Fat Thursday and Fat Tuesday, due to its sizable Polish population." It made me laugh too. If you had pączki too often, sizable would definitely be the word.


Yesterday morning I set off for my culinary adventure by getting directions from Google Maps, because they have a walking and public transit version. As a result I walked 12 blocks including over the river in 18 degree weather instead of just getting on the train and transferring which is what I did on the way back. Well, once I got unlost. I ended up going across the river to the west instead of the north, which probably only makes sense if you know Chicago and are as directionally challenged as me, but I found my way back to the conference (an hour later than I'd planned!).


There are many places in Chicago to have a pączki, but I wanted to go to the Polish neighborhood to get something authentic! I'd had a jelly doughnut grocery store version some years back in Indiana, and while that was good enough to make me crave them when I moved to the south, I wondered if I wasn't getting the full experience.

Inside the Pasieka Bakery, all the customers ahead of me spoke Polish. The women at the counter spoke Polish, and they asked me what I wanted in Polish. I think we can determine that is fairly authentic! They had a bunch of different kinds - rose, prune, blueberry, raspberry, custard, and apricot.

So what is the verdict? Are these "magical mystery doughnuts" worth a trek across town in the bleakest of winter? Of course for me, the adventure is sometimes the best part. But I would say they aren't just doughnuts. The bread is denser than usual doughnut fare, and the fillings are interesting. I was just happy to be back in the midwest when pączki were in season.

Categories: Bakery, Bread, Paczki

Praline Banana Bread

Praline Banana Bread
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

This recipe comes from combining several, crazy thoughts in my head, and things I needed to use (bananas and homemade praline). The praline made the bread sweet and a little crunchy, with more depth of flavor than banana bread alone.

Praline Banana Bread
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup mashed banana (roughly 3 ripe ones)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup homemade praline*

Preheat oven to 350. Prepare a loaf pan.

Cream butter and sugar until well blended. Add eggs, banana, sour cream, and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, on low speed. Mix in praline.

Scrape batter into pan. Bake until bread springs back, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan 20 minutes, then remove from pan.

*If you don't want to make praline, try substituting toffee chips. Or just use regular old nuts for regular old banana bread.

Categories: Bananas, Bread, Praline

Crunchy Cookies

Valentines Treats
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

I don't like crunchy cookies.

Both of the things I made for my student workers were crunchy. I thought maybe it was the recipe - too much flour? Or the weather - too dry? But I was told that some cookies are just crunchy.

Well, okay. But I don't have to like it.

These are both from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman, a cookbook I find myself returning to again and again. The heart-shaped sandwich cookie is a Chocolate Ambivalence Cookie, meant to be sensitive to those who were more excited about Friday the 13th than Valentines Day. The other cookie is actually the recipe facing the first - Candy Bar Shortbread. Not too difficult, just make shortbread and sprinkle chopped up candy bars on top while it is still hot - I used Toblerone like suggested.

Categories: Chocolate, Cookies

Hazelnut Biscotti (Happy Birthday Mom!)

Hazelnut Biscotti
Originally uploaded by watchjennybake.

Today is my Mom's birthday. She lives far away from me, a forty-one hour drive to be exact, so I have to figure out ways to celebrate from afar. This year I sent her some coffee that is roasted locally that smelled exactly like an old favorite she used to drink, and decided I needed to bake something to send along with it.

Biscotti tend to be good travel cookies because they start out life crunchy, and will remain crunchy for a while. I still had hazelnuts left over from holiday baking, and came across the recipe for hazelnut biscotti in Baking with Julia, one of the cookbooks that gets the most use in my house. This is where the amazing hazelnut-skinning method that I mentioned in my last Yule Log post comes from.

It is more common for a mother to tell about the day of a child's birth, but the story of the day my Mom was born is a family legend, so I will retell it here. My Mom was born on a very cold day in February, and it was snowing. (She hates the snow). Her parents had just had the floors varnished, so her mother had to climb out the window to get to the hospital. I might have the details wrong, but it always makes me smile.

Hazelnut Biscotti
Makes about 4 dozen biscotti

2 cups water
3 tbsp baking soda
2/3 cup unblanched hazelnuts

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
2 tsp hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico*
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 F.

To skin the hazelnuts, bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the baking soda and the nuts, and boil for 3-5 minutes, until the water turns black. To test if the skins have loosened sufficiently, drop a nut into a bowl of cold water and rub lightly against the skin - if the skin just slides off, the nuts are ready to go. Turn the nuts into a colander and run cold water over them. Slip off the skins, toss the nuts onto a towel, pat dry, and transfer to a jelly-roll pan.

Place the pan in the oven and toast the nuts, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until evenly browned. The best way to test for total toastiness is to bite into a nut - it should be brown to the center. Remove the nuts from the oven and cool. Lower the oven temperature to 300 F.

When the nuts are cool enough to handle, coarsely chop them and set them aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and reserve until needed.

Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk just to blend.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, liqueur, vanilla, and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon to mix. Add the nuts and continue to mix, just until well incorporated. (Since this dough is stiff, sticky, and hard to stir, you might find it easier just to reach in and mix it with your hands).

Flour your hands and lift half of the dough onto one side of the parchment-lined baking sheet. Pat and squeeze the dough into a chubby log 12-13 inches long. Don't worry about being neat or smoothing the dough - it will even out as much as it needs to in the oven. Repeat with the other half of the dough, leaving about 3 inches between the logs.

Bake the logs for exactly 35 minutes. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes.

Using a serrated knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch thick slices, cutting straight across or diagonally. (You can make the biscotti thinner or thicker, as you wish, and adjust the baking time accordingly.) Lay the biscotti on their sides on a cooling rack - you may need to use a second rack - then place the cooling rack in the 300 F oven, directly on an oven rack. (Baking the biscotti like this allows the oven's heat to circulate around the cookies, so there's no need to turn them over.)** The cookies may need to bake for as long as 15 minutes, but it's a good idea to start checking them after about 10 minutes. When the biscotti are golden brown, dry, and crisp, remove the cooling rack(s) from the oven. Let the cookies cool to room temperature before packing them for storage.

The cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a month.

*I just substituted with vanilla extract
**I baked them on a cookie sheet, and turned them over at 10 minutes.

Categories: Biscotti, Cookies, Hazelnuts