Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2015)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Darienne, thanks for your compliments. I wish I could send samples everywhere I have less then a week left and then I go back to normality. Still a couple days of more fun!

 

Today  I made savoiardi again. Savoiardi are really an obsession of mine, like amaretti, so difficult to get them right. I had the misfortune of having a roommate from Sardinia at University and I've been introduced to this wonderful thing that Sardinian Savoiardi are. Light, spongy, not gummy, melt in your mouth. I wish I could make those! They are a dream. 

Today I made these savoiardi, that are more like traditional fresh savoiardi (ladyfingers). I let them dry in the oven again after cooking, in order to get  a little drier and slightly crunchy cookie, like the industrial version, and not as soft as the fresh version. Result is that my parents really liked them very much after I let them dry  in the oven, they didn't like them as much soft.

 

savoiardi 2a 1.JPG

 

savoiardi 2a 2.JPG

Franci,

 

Your savoiardi look wonderfully light, absorbent, but sturdy. Perfect for tiramisu.

 

I would love a link to your recipe for ladyfingers. Even if it's in Italian, maybe I can use Google translate to figure it out.

 

I love tiramisu, and it's expensive and not very available around here. I can't find ladyfingers commercially anywhere. I've tried substituting sponge cake fingers, but they are a very poor stand-in IMO.

[Franci]

Andie, your cinnamon rolls are wonderful. I wished I had some with my coffee right now

 

 

I would love a link to your recipe for ladyfingers. Even if it's in Italian, maybe I can use Google translate to figure it out.

 

I love tiramisu, and it's expensive and not very available around here. I can't find ladyfingers commercially anywhere. I've tried substituting sponge cake fingers, but they are a very poor stand-in IMO.

 

Sure! Here is a link. If google translation is not clear, just ask, no problem at all. But I tried the translation myself. Wow, it's getting better and better. They even got "sac a poche" right. Must have entered the italian dictionary, since it's a French word but it's not the way you say pastry bag in French.

 

Pinella is a wonderful Sardian lady with the passion for pastry. You can find many other ladyfingers recipes on her blog if you have the patience to try them all.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Franci (log)

[Darienne]

I'm with Franci on those cinnamon rolls.  I am almost glad that I've never tried to make such a thing.  You know why of course.

[Franci]

And with today's baking, I'm done for a while!

 

I tried for the first time Parrozzo. A cake from Abruzzo made with mix of almond flour and usually whole wheat flour/ or mix of wheat flour and starch or, like in this case, semolina. It was a total failure! It was so dry and crumbly that I couldn't eat it. I never tried the original so if it's this cake that is not for me or my execution or this particular recipe, I'm not sure.

 

 

 

 

So I lifted all the chocolate and a good part of the cake and crumble it, added some apricot jam, a tablespoon of pistachio paste, finely chopped candied orange peel and rum and worked into a dough. Tomorrow I'm going to make bon-bons out of it.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Franci (log)

[Franci]

Then I made Torta Jolanda (from Queen Jolanda of Savoia), a cake very popular in this area. I have not tried it yet but looks promising: tighter crumb and less crumbly than Torta Paradiso. My mom assured it's very good

 

 

[Franci]

And I couldn't resist trying one more time savoiardi (ladyfingers). These are more similar to Sardinian savoiardi, they are soft

 

 

[Shelby]

Beautiful, Franci!  

 

The Parrozzo sure looks pretty.  That's a great idea to make bon bons out of it!

[andiesenji]

And with today's baking, I'm done for a while!

 

I tried for the first time Parrozzo. A cake from Abruzzo made with mix of almond flour and usually whole wheat flour/ or mix of wheat flour and starch or, like in this case, semolina. It was a total failure! It was so dry and crumbly that I couldn't eat it. I never tried the original so if it's this cake that is not for me or my execution or this particular recipe, I'm not sure.

 

 

So I lifted all the chocolate and a good part of the cake and crumble it, added some apricot jam, a tablespoon of pistachio paste, finely chopped candied orange peel and rum and worked into a dough. Tomorrow I'm going to make bon-bons out of it.

I have a friend who makes the Parrozzo cake for Christmas.  It requires a lot of eggs - and she uses cake flour plus just a small amount of semolina and I know she grinds blanched almonds to a "mealy" texture because they don't like the way it turns out with almond flour. 

The slice I had was not super moist but also wasn't crumbly or dry.

She baked it in a large Pyrex bowl and left it in the bowl until it was completely cool.

[kwankapang]

Baked Char Siu Pao. Char Siu Pao is famous among the Dim Sum restaurants in Southern China and Hong Kong.  It is a steamed bun, BUT this version is to bake it instead of steaming it.

 

 

 

[curls]

Traditional Baltimore rainbow cake. Took a great class with Ann Amernick in May and learned how to make two classic Baltimore desserts (rainbow cake & chocolate topped cookies). For anyone in the DC / Maryland /Virginia area interested in baking, I highly recommend scheduling a class with Ann Amernick. Feel free to PM me for more details.

 

The rainbow cake is vanilla cake with raspberry jam between the cake layers and topped with a chocolate fudge icing.

 

[Shelby]

Curls, that is AMAZING!  I literally just drooled.

[rajoress]

Wonderful pictures everyone!

 

Another birthday cake - this one is a "campfire" cake based loosely on the one on sweetapolita's blog. It's a chocolate cake filled with toasted marshmallow filling and covered with malted chocolate buttercream. Decorated with malted milk balls and toasted mini marshmallows and my poor rendition of a campfire! Thanks for looking!

Ruth

[rotuts]

I really do love cake

 

with more frosting the better

 

a bazillion years ago  Betty (Crocker) had both Cake Mix and Frosting Mix.

 

I used to make 1/2 cakes . I didn't have a scale then  I just guessed . with Id say  2/4 of the dry box with plenty of butter

 

for thew for the frosting.         

 

just to review :

 

Im still alive !

 

I think it was the Ice Cold Milk that saved me  Not Non Fat Then !

 

the dry mix seems to have lost its way as now the have Tubs of Lard-ish Yuck that Ive actually seen in my various

 

'grocers' eat right out of the Tub w a plastic spoon, before they payed for it.

 

they were pretty much round, and Ive seen two on their Cells chatting at the same time

 

would turn me into a I can't say it   a Health Insurance  ( your remember  the Soup Guy from Seinfled ?  the N*** ? )

 

well that'w what I might be

 

so  why no more powdered boxes?

 

as i have a scale  I might get Betty's Best

 

and make my own butter cream

Edited August 14, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[rajoress]

rotuts - it seems like Betty Crocker still makes a frosting mix! I just saw this on the internet so I can't say I've ever used it but it might be something like what you remembered!

 

(haha - fat free at that!) :-O

 

Edited August 14, 2015 by rajoress (log)

[rotuts]

Ill look for it     thanks !  think of all those tasty stabilizers !

[rotuts]

I remembered to look a one of three large supermarkets in my area for the boxed powder frosting.

 

Nada.  from Betty or any one else.

 

I did examine the tubs that sell the pre made stuff

 

they were sugar, palm oil , HFCS or High maltose syrup etc

 

I recall that a long time ago when the switch was made to tubs from boxes the tubs were more or less sweetened flavored cirsco.

 

of course i could just make my own butter-cream frosting.  that's not hard at all .....

Edited August 16, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[cyalexa]

peaches and cream pie

 

 

 

BTW, peaches are easy to peel after roasting. For this recipe no need to blanch and shock.

 

 

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Strawberry-blackberry cheesecake (happy 15th, Valeria - this is a new twist on the "pink cake" and I like it!)

 

Orange-spice cake with bits of candied mandarine orange in it, filled with manjar de leche and covered with bittersweet ganache.  Pastillage flowers (Happy Birthday, Alegria - you always ask me for such interesting flavour combos!)

 

And then a pair of birthday cakes for candy-junkie husband and wife team:  Joyce is all about the Kit-Kats, and her husband Diego is Mr. M&Ms.

 

And I revamped my formula and packaging for Chocobolitas, a sort of soft cookie bon-bon thing that is very popular at parties.

[Darienne]

PanaCan,

 

As usual, your stuff is gorgeous!  Absolutely gorgeous!!!  :wub:

[IowaDee]

So glad to see you posting again...been way too long.  Wonder if the erupting volcano is near you.  If so, I see a volcano cake or two in your future.  That strawberry-blackberry cheesecake is just amazing and what I wouldn't give for a slice of it!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

So glad to see you posting again...been way too long.  Wonder if the erupting volcano is near you.  If so, I see a volcano cake or two in your future.  That strawberry-blackberry cheesecake is just amazing and what I wouldn't give for a slice of it!

 

Which volcano?  Cotopaxi, which has made international news, is 100 km north of me; Tungurahua, which usually doesn't make the international news, is 25 km southeast.  Both are currently spewing ash.  The city I'm in is one of the safest zones in the country - it's where they evacuate the sector between us and Cotopaxi *to* when it blows.

 

Nobody here does volcano cakes - I'll have to suggest it.

[Baselerd]

I made a sort of modern dessert recently. I had a big block of caramelized white chocolate laying around, so I made some caramelized white chocolate sorbet - using David Lebovitz's recipe as a starting point (I added some stabilizer and used some half-and-half in place of milk). This turned out fantastic.

 

To go with the sorbet, I made some chocolate ganache, chocolate crumbs (from the Momofuku Milk Bar recipes), and peanut butter sponge cake (the instant variety with an ISI Whip a la Modernist Cuisine). Topped it off with some micro-basil.

 

[suzilightning]

Ohhhhhh  peach coffeecake and peach cream pie look to die for!!

 

With the good peaches coming in right now it has been peach and blueberry clafoutis,   peach and raspberry clafoutis, and well.......peach clafoutis.

 

I'm thinking of making a Boston cream pie for myself for my birthday next week...I do love that taste of pastry cream, ganache and sponge.

[ElainaA]

[Anna N]

This was a practice session. I have been asked to make a gluten-free "Key lime" pie and intend to attempt it using purchased gluten-free ginger cookies. But I wanted to test it out first without the expense of buying gluten-free cookies. I learned that 300 g of cookies and quarter pound of butter is way too much crust!

I also do not like the idea of the lime slices as a garnish since they are to me quite inedible. I attempted candying some lime slices but the peel remained the consistency of shoe leather even after 90 minutes of simmering in sugar syrup!