dystopiandreamgirl
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Posts posted by dystopiandreamgirl
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paskha & kulich:
happy easter!
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i love making buches more than just about anything, and have had a spring design in mind for a while which i finally made for my mother's birthday -
cocoa souffle roll from the Cake Bible
filled with orange zest buttercream
covered in ganache &
white chocolate peeling birch bark
matcha marzipan birch leaves & frog
marzipan mushrooms
bittersweet chocolate nest
white chocolate eggs with espresso powder marbling
milk chocolate squirrel
candied violas, witch hazel, and lilac
pistachio moss
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a very delicious dacquoise can be made with ground pecans - (not sure if pecan "flour" would be too fine or not)
add a little espresso powder and cinnamon, fill with coffee buttercream and cover with ganache.
or vice versa.
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wishing everyone a sweet valentines day!
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dystopiandreamgir, absolutely outstanding as always. I know whenever you post something its going to create alot of wows here. I have that tool for creating woodgrain. Did you create the woodgrain on a sheet of chocolate and then cover the log with that woodgrain chocolate?
yes it was spread on a sheet of acetate; and because I was wary of wrapping it (I'm a bit of a klutz, and if the sheet hits the cake wrong and is then dragged into place, the design is ruined) I elevated the buche on a narrow pan with all four sides free, lowered the acetate onto the top, then pulled down the sides tightly. I put the whole contraption into the fridge to set. I had made a larger design than necessary (in the hope that if I messed some of it up, there would still be enough to use) so had several inches excess on all four sides, which I trimmed off with a warm knife.
thanks everyone for the nice comments...
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I'm no expert but if no one else is going to answer, I have 3 (untested) ideas:
1 - hang the sour cream as you would yogurt to drain and thicken (I have no idea whether this works for s.c.)
2 - My favorite cheesecake recipe calls for letting it rest for 20 minutes after baking, spreading on the sour cream, then returning to the oven for 5 minutes. although this seems a very short time, the sour cream layer thickens enough to stay solid when sliced through. so I'm concluding that gently heating it in the microwave in short bursts, or in a double boiler over low heat may allow it to thicken enough for your purpose...? having not tried this either, I would test small batches - I have no idea at what point it might curdle...
3 - this would probably be the best and tastiest method - add some white chocolate. I have no idea how much, again you would have to experiment. RLB has a sour cream ganache in the Cake Bible (which is delicious on banana cake btw); the proportions are 340 grams bittersweet chocolate to. 400 grams (1 2/3 cup) sour cream. the sour cream must be room temperature to avoid forming lumps and it sets up thick very quickly so must be spread or piped immediately (or rewarmed) I would start with much less white chocolate, I suppose you could just keep adding till you were happy with the consistency.
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this year's buches...
oak leaves, with toasted hazelnut/frangelico buttercream filling:
three botanicals, coffee, chocolate, vanilla:
(disclaimers:
coffee does not blossom and fruit at the same time, except on my cake;
actual vanilla orchids are more slender;
the chocolate cacao leaves were not cast from real cacao as i can't get my hands on them in the pacific northwest;
the cacao pods are from xocoa)
rum and caramelized chestnuts
and my first time playing with a woodgrain tool (chocolate fondant cones, matcha marzipan needles):
happy new year everyone! thanks for all the inspiration and information shared here!
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made petit fours out of a pan of fruitcake with a layer of ganache to adhere the marzipan...
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Thanks, Dystopiadreamgirl. I've been living without a kitchen for 3 months which has been a very testing time - cannot wait to get home at Christmas and cook again. I didn't do any bûches as part of my training so I'm looking forward to trying. Did you use a mould for yours or roll it? (Not sure on etiquette here - should this kind of conversation switch to PM?)
i roll them when i'm after an actual tree look, with branches, like these
last year when i wanted a more modern streamlined look like these, i used a Rehrucken pan
(you can see the ends better in these pictures than in the chocolate cage pic, which gives you an idea of the shape)
however it is fairly shallow, so i made a dacquoise layer on the bottom to give it more height (the cake baked in the pan is genoise) there is buttercream between the dacquoise and genoise, and the genoise is also cut in half to accommodate a layer of buttercream. in the case of the cage it was raspberry imbc and the genoise was doused with framboise.
to make the chocolate cage (and the caramel one from last year) i covered the pan with two folded kitchen (terry-cloth) towels, laid parchment over that, and scrolled away (or in the case o the caramel, dripped away.) the towels were there to ensure the cages were larger than the finished cakes - i'm not sure you can tell from the pic but there is a good half-inch between them
by the way i see Rehrucken pans every time i'm at the Goodwill - along with savarin rings and angel food cake pans.
so (at least in the states) no one should have to fork out more than a couple of dollars for one
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I've been wanting to make fruitcake for decades but am usually too busy. This year, after reading through this entire thread I finally managed to bake a batch in mid-November, which i know isn't enough aging for some of you who post here, but i was pleased with the taste after only a few weeks. I also realized that i didn't want to bake it or even eat it so much as i just wanted to decorate it! (and give it away)
i soaked some small loaves with rum and covered with marzipan (and blanched almonds, candied pineapple, angelica, citron, & candied cranberries):
and included pecans in half the batch which i doused in Maker's Mark bourbon, omitting the marzipan:
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Dystopiandreamgirl, that's a blinder. Do you mind if I am inspired by that, please?
you certainly don't need my permission to try anything! just please post a picture of it. i read your entire blog a while back with pleasure (and a bit or envy).
thanks for the nice comments everyone!
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an early buche, in a chocolate cage:
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winter squash and pumpkin pies
mincemeat tart
apple pies
maple caramel walnut/pecan tart w chocolate maple leaf & whirlybirds
another mince tart
and chocolate walnut rum tortes w homemade marzipan & chocolate oak leaves
hoping everyone is having a long lovely holiday weekend!
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a few years ago someone requested a buche in July as their birthday cake, so i 'summer-ized' it by making it a piece of driftwood in a beach setting. another idea a friend suggested was to make a campfire - which i finally did last weekend, for a donation to a fund-raising event whose theme was 'spark'.
chocolate-walnut-rum torte logs & embers
(logs sandwiched w plum jam and covered w nocino ganache;
embers covered w confectioners sugar)
candied orange peel flames
caramel flames & sparks
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i don't know enough to suggest how to tweak your ladyfinger formula - but if you want to try a different recipe altogether i can attest that the one in the Cake Bible is very dependable - the first time i made it was as successful as the 100th time.
and i ADORE making charlottes...
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i'm no fan of summer but i am fond of making cold creamy desserts. here's some from the last few months:
amaretto panna cotta with bing, lambert, & rainier cherries
currant and elderflower trifle
coffee mousse charlotte
pizzelles filled w white chocolate mousse & red currants
persian lime mousse
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make a lemon charlotte
filled with lemon mousse
and topped with lemon curd.
(i use alice medrich's lemon mousse recipe from cocolat, and the cake bible's recipe for ladyfingers & curd)
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pecan dacquoise with espresso bourbon buttercream; chocolate glaze and viburnum leaves
why did the glaze get grainy as you can see? did i scorch the chocolate? (i did put it through a sieve)...this happens occasionally and is very annoying...
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"O Coffee!
Thou dost dispel all care, thou are the object of desire to the scholar.
This is the beverage of the friends of God."
-"In Praise of Coffee," Arabic poem (1511)
2 coffee genoise layers brushed with kahlúa
alternating with 2 coffee meringue layers
sandwiched with espresso buttercream
mocha glaze
i was annoyed that it wasn't smoother (my meringue swelled) till i glanced at some beans i poured into the grinder and noticed they're not smooth either.
so i'll just say i meant to do that. yeah, that's the ticket...
has anyone seen a coffee cherry up close? are they edible? sweet? bitter? tasteless? toxic? i am never out of the temperate zone...
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i know easter is long over, but i was too busy to post then...
orange / sour cream pound cake
tangerines and blood oranges macerated in cointreau and orange-blossom water
(i found this pan at the goodwill for 3 bucks!)
panna cotta with orange sauce, raspberries, mint and candied violets
(found this pan at st.vincent de paul for 2 bucks!)
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citrus!
7" genoise halves (brushed with the respective juices),
italian meringue buttercream (flavored with the respective juices & oils),
lemon curd,
lime curd,
tangerine curd,
pink grapefruit curd (ok i added some blood orange juice to color)
white chocolate seeds and membranes
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cocoa ladyfingers filled with milk chocolate mousse, topped with marbled bittersweet glaze and a belgian white chocolate arrow...
Happy Valentine's Day everybody!
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i don't refer to his books for much, but adore the entire chapter of yeast cakes in 'how to bake' - barm brack, and babas, and a lovely fluffy pannetone, which i sometimes use as a default recipe for any european yeasted cakes - like this bolo rei, a portuguese epiphany cake (i got a little carried away with the embellishment):
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this winter's buches de noel...
royal icing snowflakes:
shooting star mendiants with candied violets, gold dragees, and freeze dried strawberries, mangoes, & blueberries
(this looked better in person, and WAY better in my head when i imagined it):
white chocolate holly leaves:
caramel cage (and with a nod to the botanical origins of the cakes, a caramel tree ring):
wishing everyone a lovely holiday!
Christmas Eve/Christmas, New Year's Eve/Day 2020/21
in Food Traditions & Culture
Posted
being fond of bûches, i thought why not make a savory one? so for christmas dinner appetizer i shaped chicken liver pate (silver palate recipe) and garnished with mache, cornichon moss, and quail egg/tomato amanitas. offscreen were some leaf-shaped crackers.