TWD: Apple-Apple Bread Pudding

Honestly, bead pudding is one of my least favorite desserts. It is a texture thing with me. Soft, squishy. Not my cup of tea at all. But my mom LOVES bread pudding, so I decided to participate in this week's Tuesdays with Dorie challenge even though I wouldn't be eating any of it.

So here it is, Mom, this one is just for you. Enjoy.



One thing this challenge did teach me is not to fear bread pudding. I always envisioned it being a complex and challenge dish, but actually it was quite easy. Just a few sautéed apples, a little layering of bread ...



Add the egg and cream sauce, and voila bread pudding just waiting to be baked. Oops, I didn't have enough bread so just ignore that uncovered portion in the lower right corner.



And just out of the oven. Oh so warm, creamy and squishy.



So what did Mom think of the Apple-Apple Bread Pudding? Well she proclaimed it delicious. Butttttt, she did say it needed to be thicker, the bread should be in pieces and not whole slices, and it need A LOT more sauce.

This week's TWD selection was made by Elizabeth of Cake or Death?

Elizabeth, my Mom says THANKS for a great selection.

TWD: Berry Tart

My journey into Tuesdays with Dorie’s Quick Classic Berry Tart started out bad, very, very bad.

1. I forgot the milk boiling on the stove and it boil over and flowed everywhere. What a MESS!!! I ended up with milk baked onto my electric cook top. What a royal MESS!!!
2. I “pulsed” the tart dough a little too much in the food processor and ended up with a gooey paste instead of a sandy, shortbread consistency.
3. The tart shell cooked unevenly and the edges were burnt to a crisp and the center was raw.

I didn’t get a picture of my cook top, but here is the, ummm, tart shell. I removed the foil after 25 minutes of baking and this is what I found...

Doesn’t it look appetizing? Burnt edges and soft, underbaked middle. Yuck.

I started again, and the second time I used my hands to mix the dough instead of the food processor. The shell came out much nicer the second time around. I also decided to use a pie plate instead of the suggested spring-form pan. Here is the second attempt at the tart shell. Much more appealing it think.


In the end (and after much heart ache) the Berry Tart came out quite nice looking. And it tasted pretty damn good to boot.


So many thanks to Cristine of Cooking with Cristine for selecting this week’s TWD challenge. It was well worth the effort.

Chocolate-Almond Coconut Layer Cake

One of my favorite candies in the world is Almond Joy. Yummm. Luscious coconut, crunchy almonds, silky chocolate. What more could a person ask for?

How about cake?

Here is a concoction I threw together last weekend. My version of Almond Joy Cake.



It started out as Shubox Café's Coconut Layer Cake, but the cream cheese icing came out so soft and runny that I decided to cover-up by boo-boo with a crust of sliced almonds.


Almonds and coconut got me thinking about Almond Joy candy bars so I added a layer of melted chocolate and a ring of shredded coconut.


It tasted pretty damn good if I say so myself. Not to sweet, but oh-so rich and satisfying.

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Chocolate-Almond Coconut Layer Cake

Cake Ingredients:

2-3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-3/4 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
10 oz (1-1/4 cups) sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez)
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar


Preparation:

* Preheat oven to 350 deg F.
* Butter and flour two 9-inch diameter cake pans.
* Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl.
* Using an electric mixer beat sugar and butter until fluffy (about 3 minutes).
* Add sweetened cream of coconut to butter/sugar mixture and mix until incorporated. (Important Note: be sure to stir the cream of coconut before measuring. It settles and separates in the can.)
* Beat in eggs yolks (one at a time) and extracts.
* On low speed, mix in 1/3 of dry ingredients and then half of buttermilk. Mix in another 1/3 of flour mixture, and then the other half of buttermilk. Mix in the final 1/3 of flour by hand.
* Using clean, dry beaters, beat egg whites with cream of tarter until stiff but not dry peaks form.
* Fold the beaten egg whites into the batter.
* Divide cake batter between prepared pans.
* Bake cakes until tester inserted into center come out clean. 35-45 minutes.
* Cool cakes in pan for 10 minutes and then turn cakes out onto racks to cool completely.


Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Frosting Ingredients:

2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
4 ounces ( 1/2 cup) sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lopez) - you can add less Coco Lopez if you want a stiffer frosting consistency.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation:

* Beat cream cheese in medium bowl until fluffy.
* Add butter and beat to blend.
* Add sweetened cream of coconut and vanilla extract and beat.
* Add sugar and beat until well blended.


Chocolate Ganache

Ganache Ingredients:

2 oz milk chocolate morsels
2 oz semi-sweet morsels
3 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
1-1/2 Tablespoons butter

Preparation:

* Place all ingredients in a medium bowl and microwave at 50% power for 30 seconds.
* Stir and microwave for another 30 seconds at 50% power.
* Allow to cool completely before using.



Cake Assembly:

Shredded Coconut
Almond Slivers

* Place 1 cake layer on cake plate and spread 1 cup of Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer.
* Sprinkle 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut over frosting.
* Top with second cake layer.
* Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake.
* Press almond slivers into frosting on sides of cake.
* Pour cooled chocolate ganache over top of cake. Using a spatula spread chocolate to top edge of cake.
* Sprinkle coconut around the top edge of the cake.
* Store in refrigerator until frosting and chocolate are set.
* Let cake stand at room temperature for 2 hours before serving.

Ghirardelli Lava Cakes - Disaster

Don't you just love Lava Cakes?

Ooey, gooey molten chocolate flowing from a warm bed of chocolate cake.

Sigh. Too bad my lava cakes didn't turn out that way. Here they are in all their disastrous glory.

I knew I was in trouble from the get-go. The first part of the recipe had you prepare a frozen ball of chocolate that would be inserted into the cake batter just before baking. The recipe said to melt chocolate and cream together, refrigerate it until firm, and finally roll the chocolate into six balls. Well my chocolate would never harden! (Did I accidentally use too much cream? Or not enough chocolate? ) I even put the chocolate into the freezer and still it wouldn't harden.

Finally I just gave up, mixed up the cake batter and spooned the still soft chocolate centers into the batter.


After the suggested baking time I pulled the pan out of the oven. They looked pretty good, and I had high hopes for success.


But after tipping the cakes out of the pan, this is what I found.

DISASTER.

But what my lava cakes lacked in beauty they made up in taste. Yummy! I may have to try them again this weekend and figure out what I did wrong.

Here is the recipe if you want to give it a try.

TWD: Sweet Cream Biscuits

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection was made by Melissa of Love at First Bite. She selected Sweet Cream Biscuits on page 23.



I have to say that I LOVE biscuits. They are my comfort food and rank right up there with chocolate and ice cream. So I'm sorry to say that I didn't like these biscuits at all (sorry Melissa and Dorie). I felt like they were missing something important, something vital.

Here they are about to go into the oven.



And just out. They are a little brown, but that is the way I like them. I love the outside toasty and crunchy and the inside moist and fluffy.



I ate one and felt a big let down. It just tasted so bland and uninspiring. Maybe if I had covered them in gravy or jam they would have tasted better, but just as a standalone biscuit they left a lot to be desired. I'll probably give the recipe another try (one day) just to see if I did something wrong.

TWD: Swedish Visting Cake

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Nancy of The Dogs Eat the Crumbs. Nancy selected Dorie’s Swedish Visiting Cake which is located on page 197 of Baking: From My Home to Yours.

Thank you Nancy!

This cake as moist, almond-y, and oh so good. In fact it is one of the best things I've tasted in a long, long time.

All hail Dorie and her Swedish Visting Cake. Those cake toting Sweds can visit me any time.

TWD: Mocha-Walnut Marbled (Bundt) Cup Cakes

This week's TWD was hosted by Erin of When in Doubt…Leave it at 350. She chose Mocha-Walnut Marbled Bundt Cake on pages 180 and 181 of Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours.


After last week's Coconut Bundt Cake I didn't want to do another Bundt, so I made Mocha-Walnut Marbled Cup Cakes instead. And in honor of Easter I topped my cupcakes with a chocolate ganache bird's nest loaded with pastel eggs (aka Jelly Belly). Too cute, the idea came from Simplebites.


Taste-wise the cakes were good but not great (I liked last week's Coconut cake better). I really couldn't taste the ground up walnuts that were added to the batter..


And I found the mocha-chocolate component a little bland (read: needs more chocolate).


Here are the cupcakes about to go into the oven.


And a freshly baked cuppie with steam still escaping. Hot, hot, hot.


The cup cakes were moist, dense and very heavy. In hind-sight baking them as cupcakes my not have been the wisest choice. I'm sure they would have tasted a lot better as a Bundt cake.

But they still looked cute even though they weren't the best tasting things in the world.

TWD: Coconut Tea Cake

This week's Tuesday with Dorie assignment, Coconut Tea Cake, was selected by Carmen of Carmen Cooks. Let me say that I love coconut and I adore cake so I was in heaven. Yummm. I also had some leftover Strawberry Marmalade and some flavored whipped cream from the March 2010 Daring Bakers' assignment so I slathered it on my Coconut Tea Cake as well.

Triple Yummmm.


Here is the batter being prepared. The recipe called for Coconut Milk, which I had a hard time finding. Wally-World had sweetened coconut water and sweetened coconut cream, but no unsweetened coconut milk. I almost had to make my own (go figure, I was able to find instruction/recipe on the web), but my next-door-neighbor just happened to have a can. What luck. I traded her half a Coconut Tea Cake for a can of coconut milk.



Here is the cake about to go into the oven. The batter looked a little thin and watery, but I have faith in Dorie's recipes so I didn't worry.


I did fret about the length of cooking time. Dorie suggested 60-65 minutes, but I have a oven possessed by temperature demons so I started checking the cake at 45 minutes. At 50 minutes my cake tester came out clean so out of the oven came the cake. It was nicely brown and smelled like a coconut dream. Dorie didn't suggest a glaze for her tea cake, but in my book everything taste better with glaze/frosting/icing so I found a glaze recipe that used up the extra coconut milk. Not content with just a glaze, I encrusted the coconut cake and more shredded coconut.



Ahhh, life is good thanks to Tuesday with Dorie.

DB: Orange (Strawberry) Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.


To me The Daring Bakers' Challenges are always a struggle not so much in the technical aspect (I love learning new things), but in the flavor arena. I'm a wuss when it comes to trying new foods, and I have some very strange likes and dislikes. Citrus is one of the things I'm not overly fond of. Orange juice hurts my stomach, and the white pithy stuff that surrounds the orange segments is very unappetizing to me. I know, I know, I'm weird.

So this month's Orange Tian posed a dilemma. To Orange or not To Orange? I chose Not to Orange. I swapped out the Orange Marmalade for Strawberry Marmalade and used strawberry slices as my topping instead of orange.

The recipe I used for Strawberry Marmalade did include tangerines, so I saved some of the tangerine segments and made one token "Orange" Tian.


Below are the many steps that went into making the Tian.

The Pate Sablee were quick and easy to whip up.



Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings suggested a baking time of 20 minutes, but my Sablees were toasty brown after just 13 minutes.


Next came the Strawberry Marmalade which was made from strawberries, tangerines, sugar, vanilla, strawberry extract and cinnamon. The marmalade took a long time to cook (about 30 minutes), and at first taste was a little bitter. I added more sugar, more vanilla and a little bit of mint. It tasted better after the adjustments.



The whipped cream was a snap to whip up.



Then the assembly. I lined the pan with parchment paper and arranged the fruit. I made one orange and the rest strawberry.


Added a layer of whipped cream.


And topped with a Pate Sablee that had been slathered in marmalade.



I froze the pans for 3 hours and then popped the frozen concoction out with just a twist of the pan.

Everyone who sampled the Tian said they were superb. And what really made my day was that the people who sampled both the Orange and Strawberry Tian said the strawberry was better. Thanks Jennifer from Chocolate Shavings, I really enjoyed your challenge.

Sprinkles Cupcake Mix - Review

I attended a friend's baby shower recently, and came home with a tube/box of Sprinkles' Dark Chocolate Cupcake Mix (I won one of the silly shower games). Now I had heard of Sprinkles before but had never tried one of their cupcakes. And honestly after sampling the cupcakes produced from their mix I don't think I would be in a hurry to buy the original. The cupcakes (from the mix) were moist enough, but I found them very bland and unexciting. There was no explosion of flavor or pop of taste, and if I'm paying $14 for a box of cupcake mix I expect an end product that makes my taste buds stand up and sing.


I made the Sprinkles cupcakes for my Mom's 76th birthday party. I always buy her birthday cake from Swiss Confectionery (the BEST tasting cake in New Orleans), but some last minute additions to the party list made me fear that I wouldn't have enough cake (a serious crime in my family). So I pulled the Sprinkles mix from the pantry and whipped up some cupcakes in less than an hour.

I did make one change to the Sprinkles cupcake: I added a cookie crumb crust. I grind up Lorna Doone shortbread cookies, mixed them with sugar and butter, press the crumb mixture into the bottom of the cupcake liner, and bake the crust for five minutes until it sets. My Mom LOVES cupcakes with cookie crust.


Next came the mixing of the Sprinkles cupcake batter. The sequence of mixing was a little different than normal. 1) Cream the butter then added the dry mix to the butter, 2) add the eggs, 3) and finally the milk. The batter was thick and luscious looking, but even at this point it was a little lacking in flavor.


I spooned the batter on top of my pre-baked cookie crust, and then baked the cupcakes for 20 minutes. My oven runs a little hot so I always remove my baked goods at the lower end of the baking range.


I didn't think the trademark Sprinkles "dot" looked festive enough for a birthday party, so I skipped the blue and black dot and used my own sprinkles.


Looks cute, but taste-wise the cupcake was unremarkable. Even the cookie crust and luscious frosting wasn't enough to perk up flavor of the Sprinkles cupcake.

Triple Chocolate Chip - Chocolate Almond Cookies

Every morning I run on the treadmill and while I'm sweating and panting and cursing my fat thighs I watch cooking shows. Go figure. The other day I watched an Ina Garten - Barefoot Contessa episode entitled Baking Basics. She baked some soda bread and some savory palmiers, but then Kathleen King, of Tate's Bake Shop, came on and together they baked Double Chocolate Almond Cookies. Oh-la-la. As soon as the treadmill timer hit 30 minutes I hopped off that torture device and started yanking ingredients out of the pantry. (No wonder I can't lose any weight, I get off the treadmill and bake cookies!)


But before I actually started to bake I pulled up the recipe on the Food Network web site and read all the reviews. Yes, all of them. Most people LOVED the cookies, but a few complained that the dough was dry and the finished cookies were crumbly. One reviewer suggested adding another egg to the recipe, and another suggested reducing the amount of flour.

I took all the comments to heart and adjusted Kathleen King's recipe slightly. My final cookies were wonderful. Everyone agreed that they were the best chocolate-chocolate chip cookies ever. Thank you Kathleen and Ina, this has become my new Go-To chocolate-chocolate chip cookie recipe.




Triple Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Almond Cookies
Adapted from Kathleen King's Double Chocolate Almond Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 -1/3 cups all-purpose flour
( IMPORTANT, sift the flour and then measure, if you don't sift you will use too much flour and the cookies will be dry)
• 3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
(I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa, it give the cookie dough a pitch black color)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
(Kathleen's recipe called for 3/4 tsp, but I used unsalted butter so I upped this a little)
• 1 -1/4 cups (2 -1/2 sticks) UNSALTED butter, softened to room temperature
(Kathleen used salted butter, but I only had unsalted butter in the house. I upped the amount of salt accordingly.)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
( I added another egg to combat cookie dough dryness)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
(I decreased the volume of semisweet chips and added some milk chocolate. I think the lighter color of the milk chocolate really stands out against the dark cookie dough)
• 1 cup almonds, toasted and chopped


Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time mixing until the yolk disappear. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Add the flour mixture and continue mixing on low just until combined.

Add the chocolates and almonds and using a spatula mix until combined.

Using a small ice cream scoop (2 Tablespoon size), drop the dough two inches apart on sheet pans lined with parchment. Note: the cookies don't flatten or spread very much so if you like flatter cookies press the ball of cookie dough down with moist finger tips.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. (My convection oven runs hot, so I only baked my cookies for 12 minutes. The outsides were crispy and the insides were soft and chewy.)

Cool the cookies on the cookie sheets. The cookies should be very soft when they are removed from the oven. They will firm up as they cool.