Check Out These Creative Cakes!

These gorgeous, creative photos are from a blog called Confetti Cakes. 

Pastry chef Elisa Strauss's first book, The Confetti Cakes Cookbook: Spectacular Cookies, Cakes and Cupcakes from New York City's Famed Bakery, was released in Spring 2007 and is in its fourth printing. Her second book, Confetti Cakes for Kids, just came out this fall.

Yup, this gal takes the cake!!

p.s. Here's an interesting interview with Elisa that was posted on Pastryscoop.com

Drool Over This, Baby! (Culinary Olympics Photos)

BEAUTIFUL!

Photographed at the IKA International Culinary Olympics in Erfurt, Germany. 

Uploaded to Flickr in August 2007 by Purpletwinkie

Blogging Inspiration

I just ran across a blog posting by a fellow Buffalo blogger. She paid me the highest compliment possible: she was so inspired by photos of the bagels I made (see my Sunday, October 19 post titled "My Bagels Rocked!"), that she decided to whip up a batch of her own. Hers look incredibly yummy!

Check out her cool blog. Her posting about bagels is on Thursday, November 6: Football Food Face-Off Week 9.

The blogging community is so great!

I'm in Love with Creme Brulee!!

And no, I'm not happy about it. 

BECAUSE CREME BRULEE IS  FATTENING!!!

And it's so easy to make, from only five ingredients, that I doubt I'll find the willpower to not whip up a batch every week or two!!!!

Creme Brulee is an example of a baked custard.  A custard is a liquid thickened or set by the coagulation of egg proteins. Basically, you mix eggs yolks and granulated sugar until well combined. Then, after gradually stirring in heated heavy cream, you toss in a bit of vanilla and salt. Voila!  Your custard mixture is ready to be poured into porcelain ramekins or gratin dishes.

Here, I've chosen gratin dishes, because I like the way they look. But if you just want a taste (and fewer calories), go with small ramekins.

You might notice that I've placed a towel under the gratin dishes. I tried this method, per my baking book, but decided I didn't like it. For two reasons: the towel made the bottom of the hotel pan uneven, and the towel absorbed a lot of water, which made the pan heavier, and thus harder to maneuver. 

The whole point of the towel is to insulate the bottoms of the gratin dishes from the heat of the oven. An easier way to do this is to double-pan: place a second hotel pan inside the first.

Also, notice that I'm using a plastic beverage pitcher to pour the hot mixture into the individual dishes. The plastic doesn't conduct heat, which keeps my hand safe from getting burned, while the spout makes a simple and controlled task of the pouring. 

Here's a better picture of the towel. The next step is to fill the pan with hot water, to create a water bath. You do this so the edges don't overcook before the middle has time to set. I used water from the hot water dispenser in the kitchen next door. It's kept hot enough for hot tea. Using a plastic pitcher is a good idea here, too, as you don't have to struggle with oven gloves, which you'd need with a metal pitcher.

Tip: don't add the hot water to the pan until you've placed the hotel pan on the oven shelf. If you pour the water in before you carry the pan to the oven, you might trip and burn yourself. 

The custards bake at 325 degrees, until set. TIP: don't let the custards get higher than 185 degrees. Or they might curdle. Overbaked custards turn watery when the moisture in them separates from the toughened egg proteins. Use your thermometer to pull the creme brulees from the oven when they're at 180 degrees. The centers may not be completely set; don't worry, they'll continue to cook after being removed from the oven.

Remove the ramekins or gratin dishes from the water bath and let them cool on a rack. Once cool, refrigerate. When ready to serve, sprinkle the tops liberally with white  or brown sugar. Caramelize the sugar using a broiler or hand-held torch. Serve within an hour, before the sugar tops soften. Note: if you don't add the sugar, the creme brulees will happily last in your fridge for over a week. 

YUM!!!!

GGRRRRRR! Bear Claws!

Yeah, that's right, people: I made these awesome-looking bear claws!!

"How?" you ask. "What are the steps to baking up my own?"

1) Whip up a batch of Danish dough. Don't forget that you'll need to fold in a butter insert, and complete a total of three 3-folds. As you need to allow the dough to rest 30 minutes between each 3-fold, make sure you set aside about two hours for making the dough. The 30-minute rest/cooling period between the 3-turns is crucial: it re-chills the butter and gives the gluten in the dough time to relax. Also important: brush any excess flour off of the dough, with a brush, as you fold the dough. Extra flour on the surface can interfere with the dough rising.

I use a small mixer to mix up my dough, but this video, in which the instructor mixes the dough by hand, shows one way of rolling out the dough and adding the butter insert. Note: This instructor also adds one 4-fold, which I don't do. I use 4-folds when making puff pastry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg-zXn_YpLI

2) After the last resting, roll out the dough and fill the bear claws with your choice of filling: cinnamon/sugar/raisins, perhaps, or chocolate, or maybe you're a big fan of almond paste. Or maybe you can't get enough of maple syrup??


3) Here I chose to go with the cinnamon/sugar/raisin combo. Be generous with the cinnamon/sugar mixture.


4) After rolling the dough into a long log, I scaled out 4-oz portions. As you can see from the photo, that makes a hefty claw. A bench scraper is a handy tool to have for cutting through the dough; so much easier than a knife! By pressing down firmly on the bench scraper, you get cleanly cut edges.

5) Don't forget to cut the "toes" into the claws, then spread the toes out a bit to produce the traditional bear claw shape.

6) Proof the shaped dough, in a proof box or warm place in your kitchen, directly on your parchment paper-lined baking sheet. The heat will  plump up the bear claws nicely. Then egg wash the tops with a brush (egg wash is made simply by combining a beaten whole egg with water or milk) so that the tops brown.

7) When the claws are cooled, drizzle a glaze on the tops. Here I've added a chocolate glaze (I used fondant, which I flavored with chocolate) over the tops with a wire whisk. Note: this is a clean sheet of parchment paper. The paper that was under the bear claws for baking got quite "littered" with chocolate during the icing. Always place the finished product on display trays or new paper, so they look nice. And don't forget: New York law requires the use of gloves when handling ready-to-serve food items!

**some things I love: parchment paper and throw-away latex gloves!

Oooh! This Sounds Just Too Delish!

I've just stumbled upon an exciting new group of bloggers that call themselves "THE DARING BLOGGERS."

What's so exciting about them? THEY BAKE!!! In fact, their motto is "WE KNEAD TO BAKE!" HAHAAA!

Now that I've joined the group, so that I can participate in their monthly baking challenge, I get to call myself a "daring baker" too!!!! DELISH!

This rather secretive group collectively dials in for the monthly challenge, which they then individually complete. After taking lots of notes and photos, they collectively post their experiences on their individual food blogs, usually on the last day of the month. 

The blogs are listed on the Daring Bloggers site (http://daringbakersblogroll.blogspot.com), which makes it easy to scroll through everyone's posts. Talk about a great learning opportunity!

Here are just a few of the daring baker member blogs: WARNING!!!! YOU WILL DROOL. A LOT!!

*http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/2006/11/19/the-month-of-bread-perfect-pretzels
*http://llcskitchen.blogspot.com
*http://101dalmatiancats.blogspot.com
*http://awhiskandaspoon.wordpress.com

I get to participate in the December challenge. Alas, I missed the November challenge, as you must join the group by the first of the month to get in on that month's challenge.

Hey! You should join up in time for the December challenge, too!! Come on, you KNOW you're a daring baker at heart!


I accept the challenge!