DB: Tiramisu

Let me just tell you that this has been my favorite challenge so far!

On one hand it's such a simple classic dish and on the other it is so complex. I really enjoyed making it because it is one of my favorite desserts and it was quite challenging as well. I wouldn't say it's hard to make it from scratch but definitely requires some planning.

I made mine the classic way topped with a Kahlua whipped cream and a double layer of dusted cocoa.

Making the Lady fingers

Before and after baking

I really couldn't believe that making mascarpone could be so simple and had my doubts it would firm up but it totally did. This is the Kahlua whipped cream before dusting it heavily with cocoa powder.

Mmm.....

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Mascarpone Cheese – Vera’s Recipe (Baking Obsession) for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese.

Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits – Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home

Tiramisu – Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007

For full instructions and the complete recipe go to The Daring Kitchen (under recipe archive)

Nussecken

Nut corners! Yup that is what Nussecken literally mean. It's a buttery base with a topping loaded with chopped nuts and nut meal. What is great about this is that you could basically use any kind of nuts, I bet this is killer with pecans or even added seeds like sesame or pine nut!

The way I made them is the classic combo for these corners: walnut, hazelnut and almond.

They are fun to nibble on and make quite a nice amount (around 40 pieces)

Nussecken:

(40 pieces, depending on size)

130 gr butter

130 gr sugar

1 tbsp vanilla sugar

2 eggs

300 gr flour

1 tsp baking powder

100 gr apricot jam

250 gr butter

150 gr sugar

2 tbsp vanilla sugar

250 gr chopped nuts (I used walnut, hazelnut and almond)

150 gr nut meal (I used hazelnut and almond)

Base-

Mix the first part of ingredients into a firm ball of dough. Don't knead. (I creamed the butter and sugar first, then added the rest until it came together) Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.

Line your oven tray with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 180C.

Place the dough onto the tray and roll it out (you could roll it on a floured surface first and then transfer it to the tray, whatever you prefer), I doesn't have to fill out the whole tray, but still cover most of it. Spread apricot jam thinly on dough sheet.

Nut topping-

Melt butter in a medium saucepan, add sugars and 4 tbsp of water. Let come once to a short boil. Put all the chopped nuts and nut meal into the butter, mix until combined and gently pour over rolled out dough, spread evenly and bake for 20 minutes until the sugar bubbles and seems to harden.

After baking let cool completely and cut into squares, then half each square to create triangles.

I let the whole sheet in the fridge over night and then cut into it, it makes much cleaner cuts.

Blueberry White Chocolate Cupcakes

Well, I planned to make this a tear drenching post about numerous attempts of making a frosting for these cupcakes, they all were a complete fail! But, at the end of the day I was just glad I got them done so no tears today.

The winning frosting was a classic buttercream with white chocolate. It was truly delicious, but being a swiss meringue butter cream LOVER I felt it was a bit too heavy. If you like buttercream this is one awesome frosting.

Look at those beautiful blueberries...

Love the way these baked and they could easy be eaten just like that as a muffins

After the frosting disaster I treated myself with a little something

Blueberry White Chocolate Cupcakes:

(makes 12 frosted cupcakes)

Blueberry cakes:

1 ½ cups plain flour

½ tbsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¾ cup caster sugar

85 gr unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tsps vanilla extract

½ cup buttermilk

1 cup (320g) frozen blueberries (I used fresh)

Preheat oven to 180C. Line 1 12-hole muffin trays with cupcake cases.

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl.

Using an electric mixer, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Beat in the vanilla.

Beat in the dry ingredients in 3 additions alternately with the buttermilk in 2 additions.

Fold in the blueberries.

Spoon the mixture into the muffin trays and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool cupcakes in trays for 10 minutes and then transfer to wire rack.

White chocolate buttercream:

150gr (5 ounces) good quality white chocolate, chopped into small chuncks

115 gr (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted!

Pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/4 cup sour cream (I used buttermilk)

In a small heat proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, carefully and slowly melt the white chocolate. Remove from heat and let cool until just slightly warm. Meanwhile, in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, gradually add the powdered sugar until well combined. Add the salt, vanilla extract, and sour cream (or buttermilk) and mix until very smooth. Add the melted white chocolate and mix just until incorporated.

Frost the cupcakes and garnish with some more blueberries. Enjoy!

Original from: Cakes- the red deer, frosting- foodnetwork.

Cranberry Shortbread Hearts

My mother has been begging me me to make some shortbread for her, I'v never baked shortbread before and couldn't get why she would not stop nagging me with it- so I ignored her. She was so sweet and bought me Martha Stewart's 'Cookies', though I wonder if it was only an innocent gift because the book had a fair amount of shortbread recipes in it- very suspicious. OK I got the hint. So there you go, shortbread hearts for Mama (or your Valentine).

Before and after baking

This part I questioned quite sometime, I was sure it would be impossible to cut out hearts from the baked dough without it breaking and falling apart. But I kept telling myself that it's a Martha recipe and just couldn't be so misleading. And it's true, it actually works.

The only con (for your hips that is) is that you get loads of buttery crumbs that are just a pity to throw away, so I ate them for breakfast on plain yogurt. It felt more like eating a whole cake for breakfast but it sure was delicious.

I mean how fattening can it be, not much more than my regular granola, right? Right?

Cranberry Shortbread Hearts:

230 gr (1 cup) butter

¾ cup sifted confectioner's sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups sifted flour

½ tsp coarse salt

½ cup finely chipped dries cranberries

Preheat oven to 160c.

Put the butter, sugar, vanilla, flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir together with a wooden spoon until combined but not too creamy. Stir in dried cranberries.

Press dough evenly into an 8 inch (20 cm) square baking pan (or just press the dough onto a baking tray lined with parchment like I did). Bake until firm and pale, about 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack, about 20 minutes.

If baked in a pan, run a knife around the edges; remove shortbread and transfer right side up, to a work surface. Cut out hearts with a heart shaped cookie cutter (whatever size you have or like). Trim any stray bits of cranberry from edges.

Cookies can be stored at room temp. up to 5 days.

Original from Martha Stewart's Cookies.

Easy bread

This bread is so simple and easy to make! I've made bread a few times before and this is definitely a great recipe.

All you gotta do is:

Grab a very large mixing bowl, or a large container that you can cover. In it, mix the water, yeast, and salt. You don’t even have to heat up the water to a precise optimal temperature for the yeast. I’ve even used just regular tap water, and it’s worked well for me. Just let that sit together for a while (you don’t have to wait for the yeast to dissolve completely), then dump the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon. You don’t need to knead this, and you’re not looking to make it come together into a dough ball. You just want everything mixed well, with no streaks of flour left, and you’re done.

Leave it in your container, covered (but not airtight, or it’ll pop), for a few hours. When it has risen and then deflated a bit, your dough is done. It’s ready to be used or stored in the refrigerator.

After twenty minutes of preheating, it’s time to bake. (You can put the bread in after 20 minutes, even if your oven hasn’t reached 225°C degrees yet.) Slide the loaf onto the baking stone, and then quickly (and CAREFULLY) pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler pan. Then quickly shut the oven door to keep the steam inside.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until you get a nice brown crust. The crust will crackle and pop and make all sorts of happy noises as it sits on a wire rack to cool. It tastes best when you let it cool completely. Don’t worry if your beautiful crust seems to soften a bit. It will harden again, I promise.

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake, put a pizza stone in the middle rack of your oven (I didn't use a pizza stone), and put a broiler pan in the bottom rack. Preheat your oven to 225°C degrees. Dust some flour on the top of your loaf, and make your pretty slashes, about 1/4-inch deep. You can do a simple ‘x’ across it, a tic-tac-toe grid.

After twenty minutes of preheating it's time to bake. (You can put the bread in after 20 minutes, even if the oven hasn't reached 225°C yet.) Slide the loaf onto the baking stone (I didn't use one) and quickly pour 1 cup of hot tap water into the broiler pan. Then quickly shut the oven door to keep the steam inside.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until you get a nice brown crust. It tastes best when you let it cool completely. Don't worry if the crust seems to soften a bit, it will harden again.

Easy Bread:

3 cups of lukewarm water

1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

I used all my dough the same day but I bet it tastes even better if you age the dough a little in the fridge. I also used whole wheat flour for some of the amount of flour.

For more pictures and original source go to: The Ivory Hut

Marzipan Midnight Cake

I called it Midnight cake because well...I finished it exactly at midnight for a birthday.

It was more of a random spontaneous idea, but it worked! I'm still smiling looking at this picture (what was I thinking...?!), don't ask me what the inspiration for this caterpillar like design was.

I was tired, I had marzipan, there you go. :)

Don't expect a light cake, it is loaded with marzipan and very rich. The batter is very thick and needs quite a long time in the oven.

Marzipan Pound Cake:

300 gr almond paste (marzipan)

150 gr butter, soft

1 tsp vanilla sugar (or extract)

3 eggs

300 gr flour

50 gr cornstarch

2 tsp baking powder

Topping:

100 gr marzipan

150 gr dark couverture chocolate*

Preheat oven to 200°c. Butter a loaf pan and line with a strip of parchment paper.

Cut 200 gr of the marzipan into chunks (leaving 100 gr aside) and place it in the bowl of your electric mixer, add butter, sugar and vanilla- beat fluffy. Add one egg at a time.

In a separate bowl mix flour, cornstarch and baking powder. While the mixer is on medium low add the flour mixture by the tablespoon.

Now take the leftover (100 gr) piece of marzipan and grate it on a box grater, add the grated marzipan to the batter. Pour the batter in the pan and bake golden for 50 minutes, turn off the oven and let the cake sit in it for another 10 minutes. Let the cake cool completely before covering with chocolate.

To top the cake, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Meanwhile roll the marzipan into little balls or any other shape you like and stick it with some pressure onto the cake then cover with chocolate. ( After pouring the choc I put the whole cake in the freezer for a few minutes so the chocolate would firm up quickly)

*If you don't have couverture chocolate, just melt regular chocolate and after it is completely smooth add a tbsp of neutral flavored oil (like canola), this will thin out the chocolate and you'll be able to cover the cake with a very thin "crispy" layer of chocolate.

Cranberry Banana Muffins

At times I don't really know what to expect from recipes, and this was one of those cases. Of course I knew what a banana muffin tastes like but I've never baked with fresh cranberries before so I was anxious to try them.

Before they were ready I thought I'd give one cranberry a try...... ZING! Oh man, sour is an understatement. There isn't a lot resemblance with the dried version I can tell you that! And then I started worrying the muffins would be too sour, but the sweet bananas saved the day, and these muffins were great for breakfast.

Topped and baked!

Cranberry Banana Muffins:

(makes 12)

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

Dash of mixed spice/cinnamon

3 large very ripe bananas, mashed

1/2 cup sugar (white or brown both work)

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/3 cup melted butter/oil

Dash of vanilla extract

1 cup fresh chopped cranberries

Topping:

1/3 cup brown sugar

2 tbsp oatmeal

¼ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 190°c.

Sift together in a large bowl: Flour, baking powder/soda, salt, cinnamon.

In a separate bowl combine rest of ingredients (except cranberries), fold in flour mixture followed by chopped cranberries.

Line muffin pan with paper cases and spoon batter in until 2/3 full.

Mix topping ingredients and top unbaked muffins evenly.

Bake for 25-30 min.

With my own changes and additions adapted from: bake cook eat