It was T & J's housewarming party and I warmed their house by bringing a cake! A belated birthday cake for J, actually - this creation was a tower of crepes topped with chocolate ganache and candied hazelnuts. Yes, I'm in a candy-ing phase... kind of like this summer's ice cream blizzard.I had been wanting to make this cake for a long time - I believe it was originally featured in Martha's January 2006 "Year of Cakes" spread. Yes, I have been holding onto this recipe for almost four years.I'm glad I waited - I think if I had made it in 2006, it would have been a disaster. In the almost-four years since, I've really improved my cake and dessert making skills. Not to mention scheduling.
(above: view of cake in box)Let's take a look at the pictures (unformatted again!) before we begin dissecting:
(upper left: candied hazelnuts with tails - air bubbles - reheated caramel? 'Virgin' caramel yields clear caramel? upper right: originally, I had 'x' amount of hazelnuts in the centre of the cake ONLY. However, I had a plate of caramel tail scraps, and therefore it became a nest of caramel. Bottom left: a stack of crepes. Bottom right: a cross section of the cake - with layers of strawberries and various other fillings. Funny, we ate lasagne for dinner too.)
So. Final thoughts.The recipe called for 8" crepes. I went with 10" crepes because I would be feeding a large crowd. However, I used 10.5" - 11" pan. In retrospect, if I wanted to really duplicate the cake, I would have filled the entire pan instead of trying to make 10" crepes. All the layers were different in diameter and although it really didn't make much difference in terms of height, it just didn't look as nice. I also think making thicker crepes would have yielded a taller cake. This cake was tall, yes, but it wasn't as dramatic as I had hoped.I used a variety of fillings - Nutella whipped cream, chocolate frosting, strawberries, hazelnuts, and icing sugar. I'm glad I used a variety of fillings - I think using the same one would have been pretty boring. Although my final results was a little...lumpy.But like the title, it tasted better that it looked.
(sorry, no formatted pics this post - I spent this Sunday afternoon scrubbing my kitchen down = no time!)As I meandered the aisles of the local drugstore, I realized that the holidays were just around the corner. Well, less 'realized' and more 'hit-in-the-face' with all the seasonal chocolate already on display. Out with Halloween, in with Christmas! I admit, I do enjoy holiday chocolate - especially the novelty box sets. I am looking forward to the Loacker Advent calendar! Maybe I'll buy one for work and one for home. Hee hee....
Anyway - this past week I made two cakes, a Boston Cream and a Maple Pecan. The Boston Cream was for a coworker and I forgot to take photos - but another colleague did, so I'll have to remind myself to ask for the pics.
I didn't quite realize that the Maple Pecan birthday was quite so soon. As a result, I had to pull together a cake in an afternoon. A fully frosted and assembled three-layer cake. It was ambitious, but I knew I could do it - if I was smart. Here are the results:
The cake itself was flavoured with maple with a very generous helping of chopped pecans. It was frosted with a maple buttercream (it worked this time!). I used a different recipe for , provided by the lovely Martha Stewart. It was a lot easier than the Joy of Cooking version, although it did get a little soupy. A quick 15 min in the freezer solved that and it fluffed up nicely after that (also with the help of about 1/2 cup of icing sugar as well as a stabilizer).
I couldn't get a good pic of the finished and decorated cake, I hadn't really thought of a good concept on how to frame the shot, so here are a few of cake slices.A few final comments.... This year for Christmas, I'm going to ask for the following:- cake decorating triangle
- cake decorating turntable
- cake decorating book
Cake decorating is difficult, yo!
Almost forgot - the cake was decorated with candied pecans. Very easy to do - caramelize 1 cup of sugar over medium high heat until medium-amber in colour. Gently stir in 1 cup of pecans and make sure each nut is coated. Take off the heat (if you haven't already) and CAREFULLY remove each pecan onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. They recommended two forks. I recommend a long skewer. It's less messy if you work quickly and doesn't collect as much caramel build-up. Let cool 5 min and then decorate (or eat)!
It was a busy, busy October. You could say I was thoroughly baked out. Much of it went undocumented.
Thanksgiving: Chocolate-coated shortbread tart filled with crushed blackberry-whipped cream and topped with strawberries.
(I'm particularly proud of this creation. What started as a mocha roulade turned into a tart. This is the second time a jelly roll sponge has failed me. I will conquer it! I am determined to make a buche de noel this year. At the end of the night, I was very impressed with my kitchen improvisational skills.)
Boxed cookie hurricane: Classic chocolate brownies, chocolate chip cookies and said maple leaf cookies.
Halloween: Marshmallow Ghouls (upcoming post)
So - you'll have to excuse my lag in posting. I had a great week in Montreal and Toronto where I ate enough foie gras for the next decade and had more drink in one week than in the last few months (which, quite frankly, isn't a lot anyway). It was terrific meeting up with old friends and catching up - it's funny what a few years of adulthood can do to a bunch of college cronies. We've got jobs and commitments now! I miss them already and am hoping to see them again soon!
But November...ohh...November. Birthday of J. Plus two of my best gal pals. Also another Toronto college crony. And a coworker. Mama mia, thas a lotta cakes.
Better get butterin'!
Fall is in the air! Which means it's time for a vacation. This year I'm off to accompany and visit friends on the East coast (Montreal and Toronto) and do some serious (I'm talking suuuuuurious)
shopping. As a thank-you gift to my Toronto host, I'm sending him a box of homemade goodies. On the menu? Chocolate chip cookies, chocolate brownies, and maple cookies.
I have a special story about these maple cookies - (of course, right? Or else there wouldn't be a blog post...) I've been making these cookies for a long time - for at least a decade and they've always been a hit. A little maple frosting on top and you're good to go. Anyway, during one of my many cross-Canadian moves, I managed to lose the recipe! Oddly enough, even though it's a Martha recipe, I could not find it on the website. So after a few years of being deprived of the maple goodness, I emailed the Marthaship - begging for the recipe. "Please...." I pleaded, "I must have the recipe! I've tried and tested so many others....but they don't even come close. Not even close."
A few months go by and I receive my November 2008 MSL - and the Cookie of the Month? Maple Cookies.
Thanks, Martha.
I know, I know, it seems like a 'happy coincidence' right? But I think it was her way of sending her thanks to me - for supporting her all these years.
The often-used Maple leaf cookie cutter.
My triple-decker cooling rack. Purchased at the old workplace. Pretty pimp, right? Only a baker like me needs a triple-decker cooling rack.
I used the bronze coloured pearl lustre on the cookies. I originally wanted it to pick up on the icing detail - but I wasn't fast enough - but I think they look pretty nifty.
The Mothership and I have a good cooking relationship - in my kitchen. In other words - she's a decent sous chef in my kingdom. Or queendom. Or Spoon-dom. Ha. That sounds funny. Anyway - we do particularly well when we have to do wrapping or decorating. As regular readers have seen in previous posts - she's got an excellent icing eye (and hand) and an adept dumping wrapper roller. I did the pleating, in that case. In this particular instance, however, the Mothership revealed some pretty decent won ton wrapping skills!I had just come home from a long day at work - an end-of-day meeting had run long and I didn't even have time to turn on the TV when the Mothership was a-knockin'. She seemed disappointed that our won ton dinner night was off to a late start, but hey - what am I going to do? I quickly whipped up a filling, put the chicken stock on the hob, and away we went!
The filling? Equal parts lean and regular ground pork (1/2 lb each), 1/4 chopped water chestnuts, 1/2 lb chopped peeled shrimp, 3 minced green onions, a spoonful of cornstarch, a generous splash of rice wine and soy sauce. Salt and pepper. Oh, and some of that magic sesame oil. Gotta have the sesame oil. I'd throw in some oyster sauce if I had any.
Take some standard won ton wrappers - trace a line of water around the edges, plop a generous teaspoon of filling in the middle and wrap away. Everyone has different techniques in won ton wrapping - the Mothership employed a more traditional style whereas mine was...Italian-inspired, ha ha. They were cooked in homemade chicken stock and served, with said stock and baby bok choy. And it all took less than an hour!
Well...not really. And it wasn't last night either. The long awaited pictures of H-izzo's cake! Isn't it lovely? I admit, the side frosting job was a little shoddy - but by the time I got around to frosting it, I had run out of ideas.
The "deets":-yellow butter cake layers doused with liquer-sandwiching layers of whipped cream and local blackberries-topped with a dark chocolate ganache and more whipped creamYum.But let me explain this whole "saving my life" story. This is a pretty small cake - probably smaller than a catalogue envelope (5" by 9"), I wanted to keep it small, but dense and full of flavour (success!). Handily, it fit on my lovely Epicurean "Handy" cutting board (picture a thin, flat, wood-composite cutting board about the size of a catalogue envelope with a 4" handle on one end - like a small rectangular pizza peel) and I had been steadily shuttling it in and out of my fridge while assembling. I had put together all the layers and had inserted a few skewers for support (wow! what a hidden lifesaver) and was JUST about to frost - when the unthinkable happened.I dropped it. On the floor.I think I was being too cavalier in the kitchen; whirling around my small space with cutting board in hand - when I looked away for a split second when I heard it.*splat*I looked down, and all I could see was the top of my cake and a ring of whipped cream around it. My heart stopped.But it started beating again when I realized - "hey, it's still upright!" It had landed as perfectly as a dropped cake could. The impact caused some of the filling to spurt out, but otherwise, it was intact. Thanks to that cardboard base and, I suppose, the skewers.With a shaking hand and beating heart, I quickly finished decorating the cake and let it rest in the fridge until presentation time.
There's really nothing like a cake with fresh fruit - it's so underrated! I'd be tempted to make a traditional mango cake - but I don't trust myself around ripe mangoes. They'd never make it to the cake stage.
It was the ??th birthday of one half of my dynamic cooking buddies, T & J. This month - it was T's birthday - but I have J's ??th birthday coming up in a mere two months! That's two whole months to sketch out a cake!
I suppose it's become a bit of a tradition of mine to present my friend with a custom birthday cake for the occasion. I think in the years between school and family - we tend to overlook the tradition of presenting an actual cake! It sort of disintegrates into a birthday dessert at a restaurant or, *gasp* a birthday drink. Not that I am opposed to a birthday drink - but hey! I want to slice a cake!
I had two cake presentations this week - the H-izzo's birthday was earlier this week, so I had to schedule my week strategically so I could get both of them done. I didn't bring my camera to H-izzo's house, so I'll publish T's cake this post.
It was an unintentionally dense coconut cake baked in a round cake mold, 'filled' with sweet lemon curd and topped with seven minute frosting. Yes, it was quite an undertaking. I had no idea coconut cakes were so....rich! All the recipes I looked at contained a sinful amount of butter and eggs, so I opted for a buttermilk-style cake and added coconut and coconut milk (instead of buttermilk). It was baked in a round, Bundt-style cake mold and then I carved out a ring on the top, scooped out some cake, doused the whole thing in a Malibu-syrup, filled it with lemon, replaced the top cake ring and then frosted that mo-fo.
Good times.
It was T & J's housewarming party and I warmed their house by bringing a cake! A belated birthday cake for J, actually - this creation was a tower of crepes topped with chocolate ganache and candied hazelnuts. Yes, I'm in a candy-ing phase... kind of like this summer's ice cream blizzard.
