Tea time in the garden

This month was a first for me. The posting day dawned today and I hadn't yet made this month's Bakewell Tart. Not for lack of interest in doing it but life sometimes finds away of charging ahead without you sometimes. But I wouldn't let this be the first challenge I would miss in a year and half of being a Daring Baker. And the good thing was that the recipe had few elements and could be put together in the morning before heading out to the enjoy the day picking local strawberries.

I had made my rhubarb-orange jam earlier this month when a friend passed on some of her plentiful rhubarb to me. Never having loved this vegetable as a kid, I've discovered how wonderful it is in baking. The jam is fantastic and probably my favourite part of this challenge.

The rest of the tart is almondy, puffy and a perfect complement to the jam. I couldn't resist taking pictures of it in the garden to show off some of my beautiful flowers. Since it was such a cold spring, I wasn't sure how things were going to fare. I've been pleasantly surprised to see what's survived. Enjoying my tart with tea in the garden was the perfect midmorning break. A few bunny friends thought so too...!

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Strudelicious

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Coming from a very German community, strudel was ever present during apple season in the Fall. But because I don't like cooked raisins, I was never a huge fan. Thanks to this month's challenge, I was able to make strudel the way I like it. And in a nod to spring, I added strawberry and rhubarb to the requisite (at least in our city) apple filling.

Surprisingly the dough was a treat to work with in terms of stretchability. It was almost too pliable - I found many a time my sides got stuck together when I was done stretching and put it back on the table. I got very few holes but I must not have wrapped it too well because during the baking process it split open on one side and a lot of the strawberry juices came out. So, unfortunately, I didn't give Jason much too work with during shooting (beige on beige!) but he did great with what he had.

I'm glad I had the chance to work with strudel dough but I'm not sure that I'll do it again. I found it lost its crispiness and flakiness pretty soon after baking and I didn't love it so much that I'd want to do it at the last minute for best results. If I'm going to be running around baking right before guests come over, it needs to be an "out of the park" experience and this was maybe a base hit, both in terms of taste and presentation. If you want a similar fruit dessert but with more shelf life, I would recommend the Danish from one of the last summer's DB challenges.

Kelly

Cheesecake

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

I looove cheesecake. And I love how easy it is to make, yet how impressed people are when you serve it. I think people have the mistaken impression that cheesecake is hard to make, or maybe too expensive or maybe too time consuming to make at home. I find it to be a dessert that is a crowd pleaser and great for dinner parties since it can (should) be made in advance.

This time I decided to try a version that I've had recently at one of our high end restaurants. I made the DB recipe using a plain vanilla flavouring and no graham cracker base. After refrigerating overnight, I sliced individual pieces and wrapped each in butter coated layers of phyllo. Baked in the oven for 10 minutes at 350 degrees, the cheesecake came out warm and gooey with a crisp phyllo coating. I finished it off with a simple mango coulis. Absolutely decadent!! I can't recommend this twist on the standard cheesecake enough.

"Cook-up" dessert lasagna

I love a good lasagna. Who doesn't?!? But since my blog focuses on the sweet, I decided to forgo the typical tomato based lasagna and make a sweet variation using a slight modification of the noodle recipe that is part of this month's DB challenge. I removed the spinach and replaced it with a little more egg and water to hold the dough together. All other steps were the same as the posted recipe which can be found here.

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.

Why "cook-up" lasagna? In my house growing up, my mom would often make "cook-up" rice which is what she called rice combined with whatever leftovers we had in the fridge. When I looked into my fridge and freezer this month, I saw the remnants of past desserts that needed to be cleared out and I though the lasagna was the perfect recipe for that. I had little bits of lemon curd, whipping cream, and homemade strawberry sauce. Add in a 1/4 pint of strawberries and a small tub of ricotta and the idea was born.

The pasta dough came together quite easily and was nicely smooth and elastic to work with. I enjoyed mixing and kneading the dough but hand rolling it to right thinness was a different story. I'm sure a pasta roller would make this step much easier and efficient but with all of the kitchen gadgets I currently have and the lack of space for more, it's not one that I will be investing in any time soon. Homemade noodles are good, don't get me wrong, but there are other things that I like to take the time to make that give a better return in terms of taste and cost savings over store bought. To me it's like making puff pastry - not necessarily worth the time and effort given some excellent products that you can buy off the shelf for a reasonable price.

Once the noodles had dried and I cooked them for a few minutes in salted, boiling water, I was ready to assemble. I was pleasantly surprised how quickly everything came together and how easy the noodles were to work with. The layers got a little soft while I prepared to photograph them but I thought it gave an a homey feel to the presentation. The taste was awesome and my only complaint was that the softness of the fillings made for a difficult time in cutting precise pieces. It ended up looking a bit like slop on the plate - although very tasty slop!! Not a dessert I would serve to guests but one that was fun to make nonetheless. Thanks to Mary, Melinda and Enza for another great challenge. Come check out the new Daring Kitchen website to see all the great creations and lots of fun and informative forums and articles.

Kelly

I ♥ chocolate

February and chocolate goes together hand in hand. OK, chocolate and anything goes together hand in hand in my book! I couldn't have been happier to make a flourless chocolate cake this month and pair it with homemade vanilla ice cream.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I've never made ice cream before and was a little anxious to see how it would come out without using an ice cream maker. Well, I need not have worried as the ice cream was fabulous and not too difficult to do. In honour of my dear friend Shelly's birthday, I decided to serve the cake and ice cream as part of a grown up version of a sundae bar. Caramel ginger sauce, homemade strawberry preserves, waffle cookies (from a fabulous recipe at King Arthur Flour), vanilla infused whipcream. Wowsers!

Hope you extended the sweetness of Valentine's Day over the entire month and enjoyed lots of chocolate along the way! See you in March.

A spoonful of sugar

After a December of hibernating indoors, eating rich meals and even richer desserts, drinking, talking and too little time spent exercising, January has come and brought with it a renewed energy for getting out and enjoying winter. The snowy weather came very early this year so it felt like the Christmas indulgences extended over a very long period. Not that I'm complaining. Christmas is my favourite time of year and I love all the times we gathered with family and friends to enjoy a great meal and even better company.

But January has made me realize how much I need to get out in the fresh (very fresh!) air and embrace winter. Being a person who loves the sun and is constantly cold, this isn't the easiest thing to do but it does give me the energy to get through the often long, dark days.

So, all this exercise and renewed energy has allowed me to keep up with my baking and avoid making any nasty New Year's resolutions about cutting out yummy indulgences that make life worth living. Not that I didn't appreciate that this month's DB challenge called for making something light. This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Baking Soda and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux. While I can't say that lemon mousse is light in the calorie sense, it sure tastes light and wonderful on the tongue!

Tuiles are made from an easy dough to put together. The ingredient list isn't long or costly. The only tricks I found to making them is to spread the batter evenly so that you get the brown edges and pale center you're looking for and to get them out of the oven and shaped quickly before they are too hard to take the form you want.

Taking inspiration from some pics that I saw on Flickr, I made my tuiles in the shape of spoons to enjoy as a small indulgence with coffee. The lemon mousse recipe was adapted from the December challenge and comes together nicely. I'll admit that I punched up the yellow to give me the sunshine that I've been missing and craving.
Thanks to Christine for her wonderful pictures of the tuiles. She is such a talented photographer - making quick work of the job and letting her exuberance shine forth in whatever she does. Check out her awesome website at www.clickphotography.ca and be prepared to be dazzled by her body of work.

I'm also throwing in a picture of macarons that I finally thought were getting closer to what I see in all of my favourite blogs. These date back to the December challenge when I had extra egg whites to use up. Unfortunately I decided to store them in a ziploc bag in my freezer (all tins being having been filled with Christmas cookies) and many didn't survive my ins/outs of the freezer all holiday season. These were the best of the remaining ones - I'm saving all of the broken pieces to add to some dessert element in the future. Maybe February's challenge will give me just that opportunity...
Kelly

Another year...another log!

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

The Daring Bakers decided to welcome in this holiday season with another traditional French yule log. This version of the yule log was a multi-step, mousse based version. Instead of the buttercream and genoise cake of last year, this year saw a more traditionally European style dessert. Each version is a wonderful addition to any holiday table and I'm not sure I can pick my favourite. Each had its wow factors.

Last year's log was an almond genoise rolled around a buttercream filling and topped with more mocha and rum flavoured buttercream. The decoration was a rustic and somewhat realistic looking log decorated with almond paste mushrooms. The Italian meringue buttercream was wonderfully silky, subtle and the perfect complement to the airy cake.

This year's log has a dacquoise base and I used a hazelnut version. It made a very light and airy base for the dessert. Then there are layers of chocolate mousse, creme brulee insert, praline feuillette for crunch and chocolate ganache. The whole log is then covered in the most decadent chocolate icing which I ate, in large part, right out of the bowl! The finished dessert is frozen for stability and then when brought back at room temperature for 1/2 hour or so. It tastes wonderfully decadent with each layer bringing its own flavour profile to the table. On the whole it may be a little more work than the buttercream version given the various components that need to be assembled. But many of the layers can be made in advance so the work could be spread out over two days. I also had fun creating a chocolate clay poinsettia for decoration.

Thanks to Hilda and Marion for a wonderful recipe. A big thanks also to my photographer Jason who has, by taking photos each month, by default taken on the monthly DB challenge with me. He patiently listens to my vision for the pictures and how I see the dessert being photographed and then does his own thing! The good thing is that his vision always results in a great shot and I'm very grateful for the time and effort he puts in to taking the pictures, editing, sizing them and sending them to me. A big shout out to Shelly as well who never begrudges the time this process takes. Christmas is the perfect time to count your blessings. We've been so happy this year to find such good friends across the backyard fence which now has a section removed and a well worn (and snowplowed!) path between our back doors.

Happy Holidays everyone!