The 12 Hour Daring Baker's Challenge

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child! I, of course, made my Wednesday Bible Study girls be the guinea pigs for this recipe, and I don't think they minded that at all. The smell of the buttery croissants in the oven was almost worth it in itself.

Even though this challenge was extremely time consuming it was very simple and took almost no ingredients. It's something anyone could do with a little advanced planning. My only complaint is that even the low estimate on the baking time turned out to be just a tad too long for my taste. I would have preferred my croissants to be just a tad less crispy on the outside, but overall they were delicious. Perfect with a side of berries on a cool September morning.

To get the recipe go to www.thedaringkitchen.com and try these flaky treats for yourself.

Entremets

The January 2011 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She challenged everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

The basic idea was to make this special sponge cake that has a decorative design baked right into it and then wrap it around a multilayered, multi-textured dessert known as an Entremets. (Think trifle but not chopped into little pieces.)

I used a laser cut scrapbooking design as a stencil for the design on the outside of the sponge. Unfortunately it was so subtle that it didn't translate very well on the outside of the dessert. Next time I think I will pipe a more definite design.

I chose to do a vanilla sponge cake and wrap it around layers of brownie, vanilla pastry cream, raspberry jam, and chocolate mousse and top all of that with chocolate ganache, whipping cream and raspberries.

The result was outrageously delicious!!! I really think this is my favorite Daring Bakers' Challenge of all time, closely followed by the cream puff sculpture. While this dessert looks totally complicated it is really just several components put together. It took me about 3 hours start to finish, but it by no means has to be completed all in one day.

I highly recommend this dish to anyone with a sweet tooth. The flavor combinations are endless. Make it for your next party and you'll be raking in the compliments all night.

To see what everyone else did and to get the complete recipe for the biscuit joconde (the fillings are up to you) go to The Daring Kitchen.

Crostata

The November 2010 Daring Bakers' Challenge was hosted by Simona of bricola. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers' to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi's Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

This was one of the easier and tastier DB Challenges I've done so far. The pasta frolla was not difficult at all and I chose to fill it with a vanilla creme patisserie that I had made before. The result was a beautiful golden crostata which tasted pretty much like a traditional custard pie. The biggest difference (which my Dad pointed out) was that a custard pie is usually a little soggy and sometimes has standing water on top of it. The crostata was firm and spongey with all of the eggy, vanilly goodness and none of the excess moisture.

It was definitely worthy to grace my Thanksgiving dessert table.

To find the recipes and see what other Daring Baker's did with their crostatas go to http://www.thedaringkitchen.com/.

September Daring Baker's Challenge

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

This challenge didn't do much for me. I don't find decorating sugar cookies to be all that exciting. It's actually a little tedious. I also didn't find the recipe to be anything unique or difficult so that wasn't very inspirational either. In short...I didn't do this challenge...or re-do as I should say.

I just found a sugar cookie and icing recipes that I love and I used them to make these cookies for the kids' birthdays in July. I'm going to count that as my contribution to the Daring Baker's for this month. They can sue me if they don't like it.

If you want to see what kind of crazily creative designs the other (more responsible) members of the group did you can go here.

Holy Swiss Roll Batman!

Thanks to my friend Steph for the title of this post. Of course it refers to the Daring Baker's July Challenge, Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake. The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I've never tried to roll any kind of cake before so this was all new to me. I made a chocolate cake, rolled a vanilla whipped cream filling in to the middle of it, sliced it, lined a bowl with the slices, then filled the bowl with layers of vanilla ice cream, fudge sauce and chocolate ice cream.

Voila! A bomb! (Term for a round, frozen ice cream and cake layered dessert.)

Please excuse the pitiful photography. It really was a delicious dessert but I didn't have time to set up beautiful shots of it....because ice cream melts, very quickly in 100 degree heat!

If you'd like to try making one of these babies on your own (which I highly recommend) you can find the recipes and directions here. Happy Baking!

Gingerbread

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.

They offered two distinct types of gingerbread recipes and I tried both of them. I made a full batch of the Scandinavian version known as Pepparkakstuga (right) and half a batch of the Spicy Gingerbread from Good Housekeeping (left).

I also made a template and made two identical houses out of each type of dough.

Here is the Pepparkakstuga after baking.

And here is the Spicy Gingerbread after baking.

This is the Pepparkakstuga house all decorated.

And this is the Spicy Gingerbread House with all of it's sweet decor.

You can tell that the Spicy Gingerbread is much thinner and much crispier than the Pepparkakstuga. I also found the flavor of the Spicy Gingerbread to be a little better. It has ginger and molasses for flavoring which make the flavor really strong. The Pepparkakstuga tastes more like a spice cake turned cookie and a little too dry. For me an ideal gingerbread for eating would be a molasses flavor in a slightly chewy cookie....which is neither of these.

The Spicy Gingerbread was also easier to build with because it was so flat and light weight. Overall I think the Spicy Gingerbread wins my vote. But here are both recipes so you can decide for yourself.

Pepparkakstuga

1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]

1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]

2 tablespoons cinnamon

4 teaspoons ground ginger

3 teaspoons ground cloves

2 teaspoons baking soda

½ cup boiling water (I had to add extra to make it moist enough.)

5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
2. Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
3. Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
4. [I rolled out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. Any scraps I saved and rerolled at the end.]
5. Preheat the oven to 375'F (190'C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

Royal Icing:

1 large egg white

3 cups (330g) powdered sugar

1 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon almond extract

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren't using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. It will dry very hard once piped on to the house.

Spicy Gingerbread

2 1/2 cups (500g) packed dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups (360mL) heavy cream or whipping cream

1 1/4 cups (425g) molasses

9 1/2 cups (1663g) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoon(s) baking soda

1 tablespoon(s) ground ginger

1. In very large bowl, with wire whisk (or with an electric mixer), beat brown sugar, cream, and molasses until sugar lumps dissolve and mixture is smooth. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and ginger. With spoon, stir flour mixture into cream mixture in 3 additions until dough is too stiff to stir, then knead with hands until flour is incorporated and dough is smooth.
2. Divide dough into 4 equal portions; flatten each into a disk to speed chilling. Wrap each disk well with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until dough is firm enough to roll.
3. Grease and flour large cookie sheets (17-inch by 14-inch/43x36cm)
4. Roll out dough, 1 disk at a time on each cookie sheet to about 3/16-inch thickness. (Placing 3/16-inch dowels or rulers on either side of dough to use as a guide will help roll dough to uniform thickness.)
5. Trim excess dough from cookie sheet; wrap and reserve in refrigerator. Chill rolled dough on cookie sheet in refrigerator or freezer at least 10 minutes or until firm enough to cut easily.
6. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (149C)

7. Use chilled rolled dough, floured poster board patterns, and sharp paring knife to cut all house pieces on cookie sheet, making sure to leave at least 1 1/4 inches between pieces because dough will expand slightly during baking. Wrap and reserve trimmings in refrigerator. Combine and use trimmings as necessary to complete house and other decorative pieces. Cut and bake large pieces and small pieces separately.
8. Chill for 10 minutes before baking if the dough seems really soft after you cut it. This will discourage too much spreading/warping of the shapes you cut.
9. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, until pieces are firm to the touch. Do not overbake; pieces will be too crisp to trim to proper size.

10. Remove cookie sheet from oven. While house pieces are still warm, place poster-board patterns on top and use them as guides to trim shapes to match if necessary. Cool pieces completely before attempting to assemble the house.

French Macaroons

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Let me warn you all....this is not an "American macaroon". Like me, most of you have probably only eaten macaroons made of globs of coconut and gooey sweetened condensed milk. And they're good. But they aren't real French macaroons.

These macaroons are a cookie made of egg whites, almond flour and confectioners sugar with a filling sandwiched in between. We could choose any flavoring or coloring for the macaroons that we wanted and we were also encouraged to try different fillings. I decided to go with a cinnamon flavored macaroon and a chocolate ganache filling.

I followed the recipe exactly....well pretty much. I couldn't find almond flour in the lone grocery store in town so I had to grind my own. I had no idea how many almonds I would need in order to produce 2 cups of almond flour. Turn out one bag is only enough for 1 1/2 cups. So I had to add in 1/2 cup of all purpose flour. That was probably the kiss of death, I know.

My macaroons did not develop the "feet" that they were supposed too. Maybe the flour was the problem. Maybe its the rainy weather and the 100% humidity around here. Whatever the cause they are still really delicious. Since I've never had a real macaroon before I'm not sure if they are exactly the right texture, though. They are somewhat chewy, but I like that.

I think they are marvelous and I will definitely try them again some time. I'm dying to go to a bakery now and try a "real" macaroon to see how mine compare. For now, here is the recipe so that you can try it yourself.

Cinnamon Macaroons with Chocolate Ganache Filling

Ingredients

Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar: 2 ¼ cups (225 g, 8 oz.)

Almond flour: 2 cups (190 g, 6.7 oz.)

Granulated sugar: 2 tablespoons (25 g , .88 oz.)

Egg whites: 5 (Have at room temperature, preferably aged)

(For this recipe you need to age your egg whites for 3 days or so. That means leaving them out on the counter at room temperature, like this.....Just remember that we Americans tend to have an obsession with refrigeration that the rest of the world does not share. Eggs are safe even if they are not kept cold. Room temperature egg whites whip up SO much better than cold ones....and "aged" egg whites that have some of their moisture evaporated out are even better.)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.

2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.

3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.

4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip. You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.

5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).

(Just for fun I made two HUGE macaroons, just for me!)

6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or lightly colored.

7. Cool on a rack before filling.

Filling:

4 oz. semisweet chocolate

1/3 cup heavy cream

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature

Heat cream to boiling over medium heat. Add chocolate to cream. Whisk as it melts. Whisk in butter. You will have a beautiful, shiny, creamy chocolate ganache. Pipe into macaroons.

(Please refrain from licking your computer screen!)

This recipe has been linked to Tuesdays at the Table and Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays.

September Daring Bakers Challenge

The September Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Imagine my delight when I discovered that my September challenge would be a Julia Child recipe. Since I am already cooking several of her recipes I was thrilled to find another one that I could try. And then I read the recipe. Oh boy.


The estimated time to prepare this dish is 4 to 5 HOURS. The recipe calls for a french rolling pin with no handles (uh....don't have one) and a cool piece of marble for keeping the dough cold as it is rolled (hello....I'm not a millionaire). It also requires unusual amounts of arm strength. Wow.


But once I got started it wasn't that difficult and the results were fantastic. I actually ended up with two great new recipes in my repertoire.


Puff Pastry

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g)
cake flour1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter
plus extra flour for dusting work surface


Mixing the Dough:

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.


Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Incorporating the Butter:


Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.


Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.


Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.


The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Steph’s extra tips:


-While this is not included in the original recipe we are using (and I did not do this in my own trials), many puff pastry recipes use a teaspoon or two of white vinegar or lemon juice, added to the ice water, in the détrempe dough. This adds acidity, which relaxes the gluten in the dough by breaking down the proteins, making rolling easier. You are welcome to try this if you wish.

-Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.


-Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your paton longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don't want the hard butter to separate into chuncks or break through the dough...you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

-Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don't roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.


-Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the paton a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

-Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.


-Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

-When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.


-Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the
wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.


-You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vols-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

-Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vols-au-vent).

Now to actually make the Vols-au-Vent:

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside. (I never have parchment and I always forget that I want it when I'm at the store. I did not use it at all and everything seemed to turn out just fine.)

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)
On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)
Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)
Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly.

Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.
Fill and serve.

*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to "glue"). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

I filled my Vols-au-Vent with chicken pot pie filling. Today I plan to fill the rest with Julia's chocolate mousse recipe. They really were very delicious and light and flaky....like a Hungry Jack biscuit from a can with out all the grease.I still had the scraps to deal with, however. So I took the advice of the author and looked for another use for puff pastry. One of the options listed was "palmiers" so I looked them up on http://www.allrecipes.com/ and found a recipe immediately. (Of course it called for frozen store-bought puff pastry, but I used my homemade stuff.)

Palmiers (a French pastry)

Roll puff pastry in to a 10 x 12 rectangle. Sprinkle 1/2 cup of sugar on top of pastry and gently pat in to the pastry.Using a knife, gently make a shallow score mark across the middle of the dough. Roll up each side until they meet in the middle at the score mark.Slice in 3/8 inches slices. Place on baking sheet. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes. Flip palmiers over and sprinkle other side with sugar. Bake an additional 5 minutes until sugar has caramelized. Remove to a wire rack to cool.The Vols-au-Vent were good but the Palmiers were SCRUMPTIOUS. They are so rich and buttery and sugary. They are the perfect accompaniment to hot tea or coffee. We've been snacking on them like crazy. Are they worth making my own puff pastry for? Not sure. But I definitely know what to do with my scraps in the future.

If you would like to learn more about being a Daring Baker go here.

Look for the reveal of the October Challenge on October 27th right here.

The Dobos Torte

I know I promised more of our vacation stories today, but I forgot that it is the 27th, and that means it's Daring Baker's Challenge Reveal day. Woo Hoo! I promise that Day 5 of our East Coast trip will be up tomorrow. For now....let's bake.


The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.


The Dobos Torta is a five-layer sponge cake, filled with a rich chocolate buttercream and topped with thin wedges of caramel. It was invented in 1885 by József C. Dobos, a Hungarian baker, and it rapidly became famous throughout Europe for both its extraordinary taste and its keeping properties. The recipe was a secret until Dobos retired in 1906 and gave the recipe to the Budapest Confectioners' and Gingerbread Makers' Chamber of Industry, providing that every member of the chamber can use it freely.


Not being familiar with Hungarian desserts, I of course had never heard of Jozsef C. Dobos or his torte, but I was ready to give it a try. In this challenge I made three things I had never made before: 1. sponge cake, 2. chocolate buttercream, 3. caramel and they all turned out amazingly well....almost.
Dobos Torte


Sponge Cake Layers

6 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
1 1/3 cups confectioner's (icing) sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour
pinch of salt

1.Position the racks in the top and centre thirds of the oven and heat to 400F.

2.Cut six pieces of parchment paper to fit the baking sheets. Using the bottom of a 9" springform tin as a template and a dark pencil or a pen, trace a circle on each of the papers, and turn them over (the circle should be visible from the other side, so that the graphite or ink doesn't touch the cake batter.)

3.Beat the egg yolks, 2/3 cup of the confectioner's sugar, and the vanilla in a medium bowl with a mixer on high speed until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms a thick ribbon when the beaters are lifted a few inches above the batter, about 3 minutes.

4.In another bowl, using clean beaters, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the remaining 2/3 cup of confectioner's sugar until the whites form stiff, shiny peaks. Using a large rubber spatula, stir about 1/4 of the beaten whites into the egg yolk mixture, then fold in the remainder, leaving a few wisps of white visible. Combine the flour and salt. Sift half the flour over the eggs, and fold in; repeat with the remaining flour.

5.Line one of the baking sheets with a circle-marked paper. Using a small offset spatula, spread about 3/4cup of the batter in an even layer, filling in the traced circle on one baking sheet. Bake on the top rack for 5 minutes, until the cake springs back when pressed gently in the centre and the edges are lightly browned.

This step completely baffled me until I realized that you are not baking the sponge in a cake pan. You are baking it in the open on a piece of parchment paper that is laying on a cookie sheet. The traced circle is so that you will have a guide as to where to spread the thin layer of batter to make it relatively round. Why these layers can't be baked in 9 inch round pans I'm not sure, but I decided to follow the directions exactly.

Repeat process until all 6 layers have been baked. Invert cakes onto a flat, parchment covered surface and carefully peel off the paper. Let stand until cool. Completely cool the layers. Using an 8" springform pan bottom or plate as a template, trim each cake layer into a neat round. (A small serrated knife is best for this task.)

Since the layers were not baked in a pan they need to be cut in to perfect circles. I didn't have an 8 inch pan to trace so I used one of my pot lids that was the right size.

The boys enjoyed eating the trimmings left behind.

Now on to the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting:

4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup caster (ultrafine or superfine white) sugar*
4oz bakers chocolate or your favourite dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature.

1.Prepare a double-boiler: quarter-fill a large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil.

2.Meanwhile, whisk the eggs with the sugar until pale and thickened, about five minutes. You can use a balloon whisk or electric hand mixer for this.

3.Fit bowl over the boiling water in the saucepan (water should not touch bowl) and lower the heat to a brisk simmer. Cook the egg mixture, whisking constantly, for 2-3 minutes until you see it starting to thicken a bit. Whisk in the finely chopped chocolate and cook, stirring, for a further 2-3 minutes.

I'll admit that I really couldn't tell when it was thickening or not. I just cooked it until I thought it was hot enough to melt the chocolate but not hot enough to turn in to scrambled eggs. I used the old "stick your finger in the pot" method to determine the perfect temperature.

4.Scrape the chocolate mixture into a medium bowl and leave to cool to room temperature. It should be quite thick and sticky in consistency.

5.When cool, beat in the soft butter, a small piece (about 2 tablespoons) at a time. An electric hand mixer is great here, but it is possible to beat the butter in with a spatula if it is soft enough. You should end up with a thick, velvety chocolate buttercream. Chill while you make the caramel topping.

Make sure that your butter is REALLY soft. It will whip up in to a beautiful frosting if everything is very soft and well melted.

Now it is time to make the Caramel Topping:

1 cup caster (superfine or ultra fine white) sugar *
12 tablespoons water
8 teaspoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon oil

Choose the best-looking cake layer for the caramel topping. Keep that cake layer at room temperature. If it is just out of the fridge it will cause the caramel to harden too quickly.

1. Line a jellyroll pan with parchment paper and butter the paper. Place the reserved cake layer on the paper. Cut the cake into 12 equal wedges. Lightly oil a thin, sharp knife and an offset metal spatula.

2.Stir the sugar, water and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil over a medium heat, stirring often to dissolve the sugar. Once dissolved into a smooth syrup, turn the heat up to high and boil without stirring, swirling the pan by the handle occasionally and washing down any sugar crystals on the sides of the pan with a wet brush until the syrup has turned into an amber-coloured caramel.

The key here is "amber-coloured". I was talking on the phone while cooking my caramel and I let it get a little too brown. It poured and smoothed over my cake layer perfectly, but it had a bitter taste because it had cooked too long. If I would have pulled it off a minute earlier it would have been perfect. (Next time I'll just call my sister back.)

3. Immediately pour all of the hot caramel over the cake layer. You will have some leftover most probably but more is better than less and you can always make nice toffee pattern using the extra to decorate. Using the offset spatula, quickly spread the caramel evenly to the edge of the cake layer. Let cool until beginning to set, about 30 seconds. Using the tip of the hot oiled knife (keep re-oiling this with a pastry brush between cutting), cut around the edges of the wedges removing any caramel that has run over the sides, using one firm slice movement (rather than rocking back and forth which may produce toffee strands). Cool completely.

And now for the moment you've all been waiting for.....The Dobos Torte:

This is what it is supposed to look like (according to our hosts):

This is what mine looked like (minus the caramel layer and plus a little extra buttercream):

This torte was delicious but the chocolate buttercream stole the show. It is absolutely the best frosting I have ever eaten. We all ate spoonfuls of the leftover until we had stomach aches. I saved it in the fridge and spread it on graham crackers for a couple of days too. It is unbelievably smooth and rich and scrumptious. I will definitely make it again. No doubt. If you don't try anything else from this recipe you've got to try the Chocolate Buttercream. I may never make another kind of frosting again. A friend that I served the torte to said, "I'm resisting the urge to lick the rest of that frosting off of my plate."

Overall I would call the Dobos Torte a success. I can't wait to see what our next challenge will be. If you would like to be a Daring Baker you can sign up here. You can also check there in a few days to see pictures of all of the Dobos Tortes made by Daring Bakers from around the world. The creativity will blow you away.

*I just used plain old white sugar because I couldn't find caster and it turned out just fine.