Tuesdays with Dorie: Four-Star Chocolate Bread Pudding
April 21, 2009 at 2:03 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 46 Comments
I’m just back from seriously stuffing myself all over London (I’ll try and tell you more later…you will be either impressed or disgusted by what I was able to pack away in only five short days!), but I still say, “more chocolate, please!” My pal Lauren from A Baking Blog (aka Upper East Side Chronicle) has thankfully obliged by choosing Four-Star Chocolate Bread Pudding for TWD this week.
All the restaurants I’ve worked for have had some version of bread pudding on the menu at some point in time, so it should be old hat. Really, though, I’ve had limited success with making bread pudding at home. It’s my own fault…I usually cut corners with the cream and yolks in an effort to make it a little less fattening, but the end result is a tough, dry let-down. This go-around, I stuck to the recipe…my compromise here was to make just a third. Only a few portions, but each one would have the full effect.
Dorie recommends brioche or challah as the base for this bread pudding. Both yummy, but I happen to have a stash old croissants in the freezer (leftovers from work), so I just used a couple of those. Talk about cutting out that fat– ha! That picture up top may not look too appetizing (it’s just so darn brown), but let me assure you that this is good, squidgy stuff…even with the dried cherries, which I wouldn’t normally go for in a chocolate dessert.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it is also here on Leite’s), or read Lauren’s post. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Chai Cake with Honey-Ginger Cream
April 20, 2009 at 2:23 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 32 Comments
Oh my gosh– I made this cake weeks ago, but my heart still skips a beat looking at these pictures. It’s not from sugar shock, either…it’s from love…true love! Really, this cake will make you (and by “you” I mean me) forget that silly obsession with those achingly sweet iced chai latte thingies from Starbucks.
I am so glad that The Cake Slice group voted to make this cake. I’ve had my eye on it since I got my copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes, and the only disappointing thing about it was that I only made half a recipe! The cake itself is made with chai tea-infused milk. The flavor is delicate, and reminded me more of a well-balanced spice cake than of tea.
And the frosting…oh, the gloriously thick, honey-sweetened cream cheese frosting, dripping it’s way down the side of the cake. Does it get much better? Add a little Bollywood-inspired sparkle on top, and I think not.
Look for a printable link to the recipe, courtesy of Gigi Cakes. Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Don’t forget to cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers— I guarantee that I’m not the only one who loved this cake!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Amaretti Torte
April 14, 2009 at 2:55 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 40 Comments
Much like the Chocolate Armagnac Cake from last month, I actually made this Chocolate Amaretti Torte while we were still living in Sydney, and I’d been keeping it in my pocket ever since. Hmmm…do we see a pattern here with me jumping the gun on the luxurious chocolate cakes?? I am so glad that Holly chose it for TWD this week, because now I can say out loud that this is one of the best Dorie recipes we’ve made (thank you!)!
Since I was in London last week, I was pretty pleased to have the TWD recipe be one that I’d already made. On the other hand, if I had been home, I would definitely have baked this torte again. It is seriously…soooo…good. And so easy, too, that Dorie dubbed it “fifteen minute magic.” All the ingredients need is a quick whiz in the food processor, and the batter’s done. The cake that comes out of the oven is a low-rider…not very high, but really intensely flavored with chocolate and almonds. (And, by the way, I just used cheapo grocery store armaretti cookies with no problems.) Don’t skip the bittersweet chocolate glaze or the almond whipped cream– with very little effort, you’ll have a dessert that’s fit for a swanky dinner party!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (she also has a take on it here on Epicurious), or read Phe/MOM/enon. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Banana Cream Pie
April 7, 2009 at 2:45 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 45 Comments
I’ve had such a busy week, running all over the city after work and on my days off to get errands done for a trip to the UK. I’ll actually be there by the time you read this (so I might not be able to do much commenting on cream pies, unfortunately). I’m Godmother to a friend’s baby boy. His name is Ian, he lives in London and I had lots of bits and pieces to pick up for the Baptism ceremony, which will be at the end of the week. Not to mention that Friday was my birthday, and on Saturday my husband and I went to see a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, which is currently taping in New York. I’ve listened to the show since I was a kid, so it was fun to see goofy Garrison Keillor do his thing live. And Wynton Marsalis was a guest, so that was a pretty good present, I think.
Of course I still made the time to put together this Banana Cream Pie, Amy’s choice for TWD this week. I’ve said many times before that I don’t like raw bananas, but I like to keep an open mind about trying new things. I’ve never made or even had banana cream pie before, so why not give it a go? I had some homemade pie dough in the freezer anyway (it had been there forever, and I was actually itching to use it up), so the hardest part was already taken care of.
Hey, guess what– I thought this was good (and my husband loved it)! I do have a fondness for cream pies…they are tasty and squidgy, especially fresh, homemade ones. I’m not a banana convert, or anything, so I probably won’t make this one again…raw bananas still are a bit slimy in my book. I did really like the way Dorie uses brown sugar in the custard recipe and sour cream in the whipped cream topping. Yum on both counts there! My personal twist was using a little vanilla bean to flavor both.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Sing for Your Supper. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll, and happy spring holidays to everyone!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut Butter Thins
March 31, 2009 at 2:11 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 53 Comments
If Jayne of The Barefoot Kitchen Witch hadn’t chosen Coconut Butter Thins for TWD, I probably never would have baked them. Even though they’re made with some of my favorite things– coconut, coriander and macadamias– they just didn’t sound “substantial” enough for me to have paid them real consideration. I would have missed out, because although they aren’t too fancy, they were just right in so many ways. Just right with lemon curd sandwiched between them; just right with a little bowl of ice cream; just right all on their own. They were golden, crispy, buttery and a little crumbly. Mine didn’t turn lacy like Dorie said they would in her intro description, but that could have been because I parked them in the freezer before baking so they’d hold their square shape.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Daring Bakers in March: Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna
March 27, 2009 at 2:00 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, pasta, savory things | 47 Comments
The Daring Bakers did something a bit unusual this month– we baked lasange! Our hosts Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande chose Lynne Rossetto Kasper’s (from The Splendid Table) Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna. This rich lasagna has layers of homemade spinach pasta, country-style meat ragù, béchamel and Parmigiano-Reggiano. OK, I know that photo is of my unbaked lasagna, but I confess to only having assembled it this afternoon. By the time we sat down for dinner, it was too dark for pictures, so this will have to do.
I make lasagne frequently, and I’ve made my own pasta on occasion, but I’ve never made spinach pasta (what makes this a “lasagne verdi”) before. Since I’ve already confessed to procrastination, I may as well get it all out in the open and also confess to laziness– I used some shortcuts when making the pasta. First, I used frozen spinach (thawed and squeezed well). Next, I made my dough in the food processor and then finished the kneading by hand. Finally, I rolled it with my pasta machine (taken to the thinnest setting) rather than with a rolling pin. Hey–it’s still handmade, if you ask me. The dough came together nicely in the processor. The egg alone wasn’t quite enough liquid to bind it, so I added a couple spoonfuls of the spinach-squeeze water. Let me tell you, the dough was a gorgeous green!
I went with four layers of pasta in total, but I still had several sheets left over. There are so many things that can be done with extra pasta sheets (and I’m sure you’ll see that other DBers have made raviloi, manicotti, etc with their leftovers), but I’m lazy, ya know, so I just took a knife and cut them into thick “rags.” I’ll cook them up like regular fresh noodles and toss them with sauce later in the week.
I’ve made béchamel (white sauce) a thousand times, and can probably do it in my sleep. It’s my go-sauce for things like mac and cheese and pot pies, so I had no problems there. I’m not one for making meat ragù, though, so this was new to me. I don’t eat red meat, and usually go vegetarian with pasta sauces. Here, I decided to swap out the veal, pork and beef in the recipe for a combination of spicy Italian chicken sausage (the raw kind for the butcher) and mushrooms (crimini and reconstituted dried porchini). I minced my onion, carrot and celery base in the food processor, and then did the same with the mushrooms. It made a delicious, thick ragù, and my husband, who certainly is a carnivore, thought it tasted great.
This was such a fun challenge. Silky fresh pasta layered with béchamel, cheese and a tender ragù cooked down in milk, made for a very decadent, lush lasagna. Even though I made just a half-recipe (in an 8″ x 8″ baking dish), between the lasagna and the leftover pasta, I have a few nights’ worth of dinners for my efforts. That’s not bad at all! Visit Beans and Caviar, Melbourne Larder or Io Da Grande for the recipe. And check out the brand spankin’ new Daring Kitchen site– it’s gorgeous, and has lots of fun features to keep you entertained for hours! Thank you, Lisa and Ivonne!!
The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Blueberry Crumb Cake
March 24, 2009 at 9:02 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 47 Comments
Homemade crumb cake for breakfast is something I definitley could do with more often. One small problem…I don’t know about you, but it’s awfully hard for me to put together a cake in the morning that takes almost an hour to bake! Solution…make it the night before, have some for dessert and heat the rest up for breakfast the next morning.
Why am I going on about crumb cake? Well, Sihan of Befuddlement chose Dorie’s Blueberry Crumb Cake for TWD this week. It is loaded with berries (I went with the standard blue ones, but next time I just may try cranberries), and has a crumb topping that is sweet, nutty and crisp. I swapped out a little bit of AP flour for whole wheat in both the crumb and the cake. How healthy, right?! Also, I made a half recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. It’s just perfect with coffee.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Befuddlement. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake
March 20, 2009 at 3:12 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 44 Comments
What’s three times as good as a lemon chiffon cake? A Triple Lemon Chiffon Cake, of course! The Cake Slice group chose to go for a lemon trifecta this month– three layers of lemon chiffon, filled with rich lemon curd and frosted with lemony whipped cream.
I don’t think that chiffon cake itself has a tremendous amount of flavor, but it has an amazing spongy, moist texture that makes me want to take huge bites! This one one of the most successful chiffons I’ve made…nice and tall, with no shrinkage. When making chiffons, the cake pans are often ungreased so the batter can really climb up the sides, and the baked cakes are left to cool completely in the pans. I’ve learned to (gingerly!) run a thin knife around the edges of the pans about five to ten minutes after the cakes have come out of the oven. This helps the cakes to not tear away from the sides as they cool, which I think can cause them to lose some oomph.
Lemon curd must be one of the tastiest things of all time. Even though I made a six-inch cake (half a recipe), I did a full recipe of the curd…intentional leftovers that were then sandwiched between cookies and used as a dip for fresh strawberries. The frosting is just a simple whipped cream with a portion of the curd folded in. Jodie rightly notes that almost every recipe we’ve made from this book (Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes) has used a whipped cream frosting. It’s a little tricky to work with, and you can see in my photos that even though I took care not to whip it too much, by the time I had smoothly frosted the cake, it looked overworked. Oh well, it happens…at least I didn’t turn it to butter! I realized that while I was freaking out about getting the frosting on as quickly as possible, I had not given a single thought to how I’d decorate this cake, so I just went with a squiggle of curd and some pastel sprinkles. OK, it wasn’t my finest decorating effort, but let me assure you that the cake really did taste great!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe, courtesy of Gigi Cakes. Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Don’t forget to cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our lemon cakes this month.
Tuesdays with Dorie: French Yogurt Cake with Marmalade Glaze
March 17, 2009 at 2:50 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 56 Comments
I always have yogurt in the fridge (a granola/yogurt mush-up is my standard pre-work brekkie), but sometimes the expiration date does sneak up on me. A yogurt loaf cake is the perfect use-it-up recipe, so I’m no stranger to Liliana’s (of My Cookbook Addiction) pick for TWD this week. I’ve actually made a similar version of Dorie’s French Yogurt Cake before. There was also the time I made Ina’s lemon yogurt cake. Oh, and I even did yogurt cupcakes awhile back. See– these cakes have saved a lot of yogurt from the bin!
A yogurt cake is kind of like a pound cake, but without that nagging, butter-filled guilt. I used low-fat (2%) yogurt and cut back on the oil in the recipe by a couple tablespoons. My cake still stayed nice and moist for a few days. Dorie flavors hers with lemon, but since TWD just did lemon custards last week (and I’m doing something else lemon at the end of this week, too), I used orange zest and orange marmalade in mine. Any citrus works great here, to tell the truth.
I love the addition of almond meal in this version of the cake…très French, I think. The marmalade glaze gives it some bittersweet stickiness. Dorie says to strain the marmalade first. I’m not sure why…I like the zesty bits, so I didn’t bother.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read My Cookbook Addiction. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Lemon-Clove Cup Custard
March 10, 2009 at 2:58 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 47 Comments
Bridget, from the gorgeous blog The Way the Cookie Crumbles, chose Dorie’s Lemon Cup Custard for TWD this week. I opted to go for the lemon-clove “Playing Around” suggestion in the book, and since it is a cup custard, I naturally baked mine in a cup.
I actually don’t have too much to say on this one, but there was a lot of talk (mostly not-so-positive) on the comment board. For group members who didn’t like the recipe, the main problem was the “egginess” of the custard. I happen to love eggy custards. In fact, I chose Dorie’s flan when my turn to pick came around last March (I was worried that if I didn’t, no one would!). These little cups are prepared similarly to flan custard, and their texture and eggy taste did remind me of flan. But without the caramel sauce, they were rather unremarkable. This recipe was not bad by any means, just a bit boring.
If you’d like to check it out for yourself, read The Way the Cookie Crumbles or see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan for the recipe. Don’t forget to scroll through the TWD Blogroll.
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