Daring Bakers

Life has very much gotten in the way this month, so I haven't completed the challenge. I did however successfully defend my MA thesis today! I have a few corrections to do, but it will be done no later than Friday and I will have the challenge done this weekend. And then I will rededicate myself to baking and blogging!

Lemon Bundt Cake

Baking has not gone just fantastic lately. I made mini-cupcakes out of the previously used PW recipe so that I could give the "Best Frosting Ever" a try. The batter produced over 100 mini cupcakes and I felt like it was such a waste. This is so so so much better as the cake...and so so so much better with the chocolate frosting. And let me tell you what, this was not the best frosting ever. I didn't even ice all the cupcakes with it. I used some store bought instead (it was almost 1 am and I didn't want to make my own).

Tonight I tried a lemon bundt cake recipe I came across. The glaze was quite nice, though thinner than my favorites. The cake was a real disappointment. The lemon was so faint it can hardly be called a lemon cake. We're going to throw it out. No need to take in all those calories for a sub-par dessert. I'll throw on the recipe anyways, but I would not recommend it unless you were really in a pinch.

Getting a bit disheartened though. The first month was one lovely recipe after another...since then it's been hit or miss. I guess that's what happens when you're pulling recipes from various sources on the internet. :)

Ingredients:

· 1 cup butter

· 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

· 1/3 cup lemon juice

· 5 eggs

· 3 cups all-purpose flour

· 2 teaspoons baking powder

· 1/2 teaspoon salt

· 2/3 cup milk

Glaze

· 1 cup confectioners' sugar

· 2 tablespoons lemon juice

Preparation:

In a large mixing bowl with electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the 1/3 cup lemon juice until well blended. Bet in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the first mixture, a little at a time, alternating with the milk. Pour batter into a greased 12-cup Bundt cake pan. Bake in a preheated 350° oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until cake springs back when touched with a finger. Also, cake will slightly pull away from sides of pan. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan; invert and cool completely on a rack.

Glaze:
Blend confectioners' sugar with 2 tablespoons lemon juice until smooth; drizzle over the cake.

Playing Catch Up

I've kept up with my one a week challenge, but not posting. SO! Let me run through my reactions.

Last week I made the Car Bomb Cupcakes. These were a bit of work. I was working in the kitchen non-stop for about two and half hours to make the batter, filling, and icing, and then putting them together. Let me tell you what, these smelled strong. I'm not a fan of Bailey's so I didn't try them. I could tell just from the scent that they would be too strong for me to be a fan. My husband thought they were fine, but said he would have preferred them without the filling. He thought that pushed them a bit over the top. They were really well received at work and by a few others that tried them though. It seems if you like Bailey's you will love these.

Before that I made my first batch of Triple Chocolate Biscotti using a recipe from my favorite Better Homes and Gardens cook book. This was a really easy recipe. My only issue was that the batter was so ridiculously sticky!! I tried just flouring my hands...not good enough. I ended up adding flour, though I don't remember how much because I did it just a bit at a time. The final cookie was great though. :)

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white baking pieces
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces

directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a large cookie sheet; set aside. In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, cocoa powder, and baking powder. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour. Stir in white baking pieces and semisweet chocolate pieces.

2. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a 9-inch-long roll. Place rolls on prepared cookie sheet; flatten each to about 2 inches wide.

3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 hour. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

4. Transfer rolls to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut each roll diagonally into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake in the 325 degree F oven for 8 minutes. Turn slices over and bake for 7 to 9 minutes more or until dry and crisp (do not overbake). Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool. Makes 32 cookies.

Before that was the already mentioned Chocolate Caramel Espresso Chews. These were fantastic. Be careful not to overfill the cups or they will bloom into a muffin top which just loves to rip off the top...and they're so puffy they want to destroy themselves when you push in the rolo. The second set I filled less and they were perfect! I ate one or two warm, but they were sooo much better the next day when then became really chewy which I love!

I feel I'm forgetting a week, but can't think of what I made. Hmmmm. I'll go back through and see if I can't find what it was.

The PW chocolate cake is still our favorite, with the chews being a close second. I have a feeling I'll be making a repeat of the cake soon as graduation is coming up and we'll have people over. I think I might do cupcakes with it this time.

March Daring Bakers' Challenge

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.

You can't even see the cookie in my picture and that was my favorite part. I grabbed the wrong size cutter when molding these and didn't realize it until I put the cookie on top so they were kind of overwhelmed by the whip. :) The whip actually looks quite nice in the finished product...I was worried when I pulled it out of the fridge because it was quite pocked, but it smoothed out quite nicely!

I was terribly disappointed that this was my first Daring Baker's Challenge. I don't like oranges...I love the smell...peel them for people whenever I get the chance...but hate the taste...no matter how hard I try, I just can't like them. I was going to do lemons, but I thought it would be lemon overload, and my husband prefers oranges.

The actual making of this dessert was not enjoyable in the slightest. None of the steps were particularly difficult, but the whole thing was just finicky. A lot of stirring and beating and careful work all for a dessert neither I nor my husband was very interested in eating. I was especially frustrated with making the marmalade. Spring may have officially hit, but it is still cold and the produce section of my markets is still pitiful. The oranges I could get were pitiful! These would have turned out better with store bought marmalade. I made some of them up with plain old cool whip rather than the homemade whipped cream with orange marmalade. I have a feeling the husband will prefer that.

Oh well! It is done! Haven't tried it yet as my husband is away on business. He'll eat it tomorrow...or try to. I hope next month is more fun! :)

I've been MIA

I know, I'm super lame. I have a hundred excuses...my computer go a virus, I am WAY behind on my thesis and have been trying to catch up, my mother in law flew in from England, my camera batteries died and I packed away all my spares. All true, but still lame.

Despite this lameness, I am still on track baking something new every weekend. and I even have pictures ready to create posts with. But today is for thesis work only. I will start posting again throughout the week though.

To get ready for St. Patrick's Day (possibly my weekend baking trial) I think you should take a look at car bomb cupcakes over at Annie's Eats. What's more Irish than Guinness and Bailey's? I'm thinking a bit of green food coloring might really push these over the top.

Give it a shot

Well, I tried this Brownie Pudding from Annie's Eats this evening.

Mine was not nearly so gooey as her's, and I haven't the slightest idea why. I followed the recipe and I even under cooked it. I knew something was wrong before I even put it in the oven as her recipe said pour the batter in the dish and my batter was in no way pourable.

It was okay. VERY rich. My husband liked it. I won't be having a second helping. I can't imagine it without a scoop of ice cream.

Give it a go though.

Daring Kitchen - Nanaimo Bars

About a week ago I signed up for Daring Bakers. I won't get to participate until March. I had a bit of trouble finding something I wanted to make this weekend, so I decided to attempt this months Daring bakers' challenge.

Since it wasn't officially a challenge for me, I didn't use their recipe. I am mildly allergic to coconut, so that had to go. I also wanted mine to have a bit of mint. I thought I'd add mint extract to the filling, but my husband thought that might be a bit much. Instead we ditched chocolate chips for the topping and used Andes Mints baking bits.

My base:

1/2c butter

1/4 cup sugar

5 tbs cocoa powder

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1.5c graham cracker crumbs

1/2c almonds, chopped

My filling:

1/3c butter

1/4c milk

1 pack vanilla pudding mix

3c powdered sugar

My top:

2tbs butter

Most of a package of Andes Mint baking bits

Base Instructions:

Melt butter in sauce pan

Mix in sugar and cocoa

Let mixture cool

Whisk in egg and vanilla

Add crackers and almonds

Mix well

Spread into 9x9 pan

Chill (I did about 30 minutes, the time it took to clean up from the base)

Filling instructions:

Whip up the butter

Mix in pudding powder and milk

Add powdered sugar (I did a cup at a time into a medium bowl)

Spread over the base evenly

Chill (Maybe 15 minutes for me?)

Topping instructions:

Melt butter and mint pieces in double boiler

Pour and smooth over filling

Back in the fridge

I left it in the fridge for an hour or so.

To cut it up I used a tip I read somewhere, though I don't remember where. Fill a glass with HOT water. Stick two thin knives in the water. Pull one out after about 30 seconds, dry and make a cut, put it back, use second knife, switch, and so on and so forth.

It gave me pretty clean cuts. The only issue was that I probably should have let the dish come to room temp. It was so cold and hard that it got some thin cracks over the top.

Here are the bars after step one. Not really pretty. The layer for this mixture was shiny, not real sticky...easy to press into the dish.

Here it is after layer two. This mixture was a bit rough on my hand mixer. I can't even imagine doing this by hand. Again, very easy to move around...a little hard to smooth out. It wanted to go with the spoon.

And the final layer. Just work the chocolate around as you pour so you don't have to move it much. My recipe called for a cup of chocolate and it seem like barely enough to be the top layer, but once it set up it made for a nice solid layer.

And here is the final product. I think the middle and bottom layers could have stood to set up a bit longer. They wanted to fall apart on me (from each other more than anything).