Your Daily Sweets: What are you making and baking? (2012–2014)

[heidih]

Adorable - but is that a rabbit with a squirrel tail or are Canadian squirrels endowed with big ears?

[Anna N]

Cake. I beat the eggs in so hard it's almost like an omelette - moist, wobbling & expectant. Which means... yes, I bought an electric mixing tool. Handheld, but 350W. 350 !

Blether, you must tell this non-baker more about both the cake and the handheld mixer. Please?

[Kerry Beal]

Adorable - but is that a rabbit with a squirrel tail or are Canadian squirrels endowed with big ears?

Our squirrels are definitely larger than small red squirrels - and do have bigger ears. Although I suspect this mold was produced in Belgium or Holland. More of a prototypical squirrel than an actual one!

[Ann_T]

Cake. I beat the eggs in so hard it's almost like an omelette - moist, wobbling & expectant. Which means... yes, I bought an electric mixing tool. Handheld, but 350W. 350 !

Love the look of your cake. Would you please share your recipe?

[judiu]

Adorable - but is that a rabbit with a squirrel tail or are Canadian squirrels endowed with big ears?

Our squirrels are definitely larger than small red squirrels - and do have bigger ears. Although I suspect this mold was produced in Belgium or Holland. More of a prototypical squirrel than an actual one!

Um, Kerry, I hate to say it, but that's an Easter Bunny, not a squirrel. Just sayin'.

[rotuts]

Soooooooooooo

Bunnies like Nuts?

North of the Border?

[Kerry Beal]

Adorable - but is that a rabbit with a squirrel tail or are Canadian squirrels endowed with big ears?

Our squirrels are definitely larger than small red squirrels - and do have bigger ears. Although I suspect this mold was produced in Belgium or Holland. More of a prototypical squirrel than an actual one!

Um, Kerry, I hate to say it, but that's an Easter Bunny, not a squirrel. Just sayin'.

That would be one hell of a tail for a bunny - but funny you should say that - I looked carefully at his nut to make sure it wasn't an egg and that I was making an easter mold out of season.

Check out this guy.

[rotuts]

might be a Photoshop'd Rat. Northern versions'

[Blether]

Thanks, Kerry. I like the clean detail on your chocolates.

Anna & Ann - it's a Nigel Slater recipe, "Demerara Lemon Cake". I copied it from the newspaper years ago, but it can be found online easily enough - straight from the horse's mouth, even. It can be a fuss sourcing demerara sugar round here - I used san-on-to which is more-or-less soft brown sugar. It's a cake with lots going on - there's lemon zest in the batter, the lemon slices on top are briefly confit'd in sugar & water before being baked in place, and you pour a syrup of sugar & lemon juice over the top while it's still warm. It's very rich - near half-a-pound of butter, four eggs, to three ounces each of almond powder and flour - but the lemon juice cuts it nicely and there's the bitterness in the topping to keep you engaged, too.

The mixer's a Tefal. Only its second outing (I blooded it on a taramasalata), but so far it doesn't change its tone no matter how heavy the going gets. This one here - comes with beaters and dough hooks. Anna, you probably know that the electric mixer takes the hard work out of creaming the butter & sugar well to get air in the mix, likewise the eggs.

Edited November 27, 2013 by Blether (log)

[keychris]

it's not really a sweet (yet)... but what am I going to do with these:

I can't decide!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

What variety are they? Where from?

[flourgirl]

Cake. I beat the eggs in so hard it's almost like an omelette - moist, wobbling & expectant. Which means... yes, I bought an electric mixing tool. Handheld, but 350W. 350 !

Thanks for the recipe.

Edited December 4, 2013 by flourgirl (log)

[FrogPrincesse]

Blether's cake looks delicious. I wish I had a slice with my tea!

A very rustic tart with Granny Smith apples. I had pastry dough in my freezer (I typically make a double batch and freeze half), so this did not require much effort.

[Carole Grogloth Hawaii]

Kerry, your owl and squirrel look great. Carole

[Carole Grogloth Hawaii]

FrogPrincesse, your rustic apple tart looks very tasty and simple to make. Carole

[jmacnaughtan]

First Bûche de Noël of the year.

Pain d'épices, lemon confit, pineapple crémeux and vanilla mousse, with a white chocolate glaze, spiced meringue kisses and white chocolate. It works pretty well.

[pjm333]

buche de noel

[rotuts]

Yum.

like the little present !

[AnnieWilliams]

Awesome job, guys! I haven't made mine yet.

Hey, what size are the molds ya'll are using? I'd like to upgrade because mine look a little homely/old fashioned. Not that that's a bad thing but it's good to have something new to add to the repertoire every now and then.

Jmac, what is the white glaze on the outside of yours? It looks too shiny to be a ganache. Can you share how you made that?

[jmacnaughtan]

Thanks. I'm using a 35cm x 8cm gutter mould, in aluminium.

The glaze is the white glaze from Philippe Conticini's "Sensations", based on sugar, glucose, condensed milk, white chocolate and gelatin.. If you want the recipe, IM me.

[jmacnaughtan]

Two more bûches, one hit and one miss.

The miss:

Almond dacquoise,

Apricot confit,

Milk chocolate mousse,

Praliné crémeux,

Dark chocolate glaze,

Milk chocolate.

The hit:

Almond financier,

Lemon confit,

Whipped lemon curd,

Vanilla mousse,

White chocolate glaze,

White chocolate.

[judiu]

jmacnaughtan, why was the first bouche considered a "miss"? It looks beautiful to me.

[jmacnaughtan]

Thanks judiu. It looks fine, but the dacquoise didn't hold up its end of the deal- it was supposed to provide a little texture, but almost disintegrated into the confit. I should have coated it with chocolate...

Also, the confit was off-puttingly tart and the milk chocolate mousse was a little soft. Back to the drawing board...

[judiu]

Hmmm, maybe a bit more sweetening in the dacquoise, and a glaze over to "waterproof" it, annd a sweet liqueur in the confit? Just thinkin'. HTH!

[ChrisTaylor]

The chocolate ice cream from Fergus Henderson's second book, Beyond Nose to Tail. I have made some modifications to the recipe--I include a little bit of chilli and cinnamon--but keep the base the same. It's very good. Tastes like, well, chocolate.