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

[Panaderia Canadiense]

My friend Geoffrey turns 54 today.  This is my surprise to him.

 

 

 

And a detail of the Glovey

[Tri2Cook]

That is f'ing awesome.

[Shelby]

I made a recipe from Kim Shook's site.  She is my go-to woman for any kind of baking.  She never ever fails me.   Thank you, Kim!!

 

Cream cheese pound cake.  

 

http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/CAKESandPIES/Cream_Cheese_Pound_Cake.html

 

She says the recipe is from someone here named Shaloop.  I've never had the pleasure of "meeting" him or her, but the pound cake is spectacular.  

 

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

do you think  1 t. of lemon extract would also work instead of the almond ?

[Shelby]

do you think  1 t. of lemon extract would also work instead of the almond ?

Definitely.  That would be very good.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

That is f'ing awesome.

 

Thanks - I hope he'll think so too.  It's too bad about the photos - in life that cake is eye-searingly bright colours, just like the movie.

[Franci]

Greetings from Italy, everybody!

Here it's very hot at the moment but at night, when the heat gets down a little, I'm turning the oven on. Over this month in Italy  I'll try to experiment on  traditional Italian regional specialties, all gâteaux de voyage, as the French would call them.

 

Yesteday, I made an Amorpolenta from Bergamo (to distinguish it from the one from Varese or surrounding towns)  from pastry chef Giovanni Pina. It's a polenta cake with corn flour of course, almond flour, potato starch, white flour, eggs and butter. It's very tender and fragrant.

 

 

[Shelby]

Oh Franci, that is a beautiful cake.  I know you are enjoying being at home again.  

[Franci]

Thank you, Shelby! It's nice to be back...home. Although I confess I'm not sure anymore where home is :-)

 

Yesterday night I made another classic sweet from Lombardy. It's called "sbrisolona" which means "crumbly". It's a simple crumble of butter (in the past was just lard) and hazelnut flour (which has progressively been substituted with almond flour), corn flour, white flour, little egg. Often you'll find whole toasted almond in between the crumbs. Usually it's not cut but broken with a fist. So, to make it more presentable, I've made in the past using pastry rings for individual cookies. This recipe, still from Giovanni Pina, was new to me. I really liked it with my coffee.

 

Edited July 16, 2015 by Franci (log)

[JohnT]

Franci, that looks really scrumptious! When you say corn flour, are you referring to corn starch or actual flour made from corn? Also, is sugar an ingredient?

[Franci]

Franci, that looks really scrumptious! When you say corn flour, are you referring to corn starch or actual flour made from corn? Also, is sugar an ingredient?

 

John, it's really nice. It amazing sometimes how a very simple recipe can give so much gratification. I can PM the recipe if you like it. I know for British English corn flour is corn starch. This is a flour made from corn, finely milled.

[JohnT]

John, it's really nice. It amazing sometimes how a very simple recipe can give so much gratification. I can PM the recipe if you like it. I know for British English corn flour is corn starch. This is a flour made from corn, finely milled.

The recipe would be greatly appreciated! When you do them in individual rings, what are the diameter of the rings you use - I already have about 100 rings each of 70mm and 60mm and these look like they would be great for classy functions.

[Franci]

Either the 70 mm or the 60 mm would be great. I even tried  them in mini pie molds (and they were very pretty), something like this and I think it's even better for functions, just one bite and no crumbs!  I'll PM the recipe later tonight.

[Kim Shook]

I made a recipe from Kim Shook's site.  She is my go-to woman for any kind of baking.  She never ever fails me.   Thank you, Kim!!

 

Cream cheese pound cake.  

 

http://www.recipecircus.com/recipes/Kimberlyn/CAKESandPIES/Cream_Cheese_Pound_Cake.html

 

She says the recipe is from someone here named Shaloop.  I've never had the pleasure of "meeting" him or her, but the pound cake is spectacular.  

 

photo 3.JPG

 

photo 1.JPG

So glad that you liked it!  Shaloop was great and I wish that s(he) still posted here.  I miss a lot of old timers!

[Franci]

yesterday, I made a Torta sabbiosa,  something that is traditional from the region of Veneto but since a cake with the same name is also a well known German cake (Sandkuchen) I'm wondering at what point has been introduced in Italy. I think it's the kind of cake, given its peculiar sandy texture, you either love or hate  . Let's say I don't love it. The Italian version is almost a 4/4 but half of the flour is substituted with potato starch. Any German that can talk about the German version?

I also believe I didn't do a good job with this cake, it was just too hot and the butter was way too soft to start with.

 

 

 

 

[David Ross]

Using the last of the 2014 huckleberry crop.  I usually freeze enough berries to stretch then out through the year.  I'm lucky to have friends in Montana who pick them up in the high country on their ranch and give them to me for free!  Last year a gallon bag of fresh huckleberries was $50.  This year I don't know how the crop will go--very little spring rain out here and intense heat in June into July.  Typically the best berries are late August into the first week of September, but this year I think the poor little fellows got roasted--even at the high mountain elevation.

 

Huckleberry "Dutch" pie-

[Shelby]

Delicious looking pie, David!

 

So, that pound cake that I showed above...SO good, but it's just the two of us and we didn't eat it fast enough.  I should have put it in the freezer.  Anyway, I had about half a cake left and it got stale in the fridge.  I didn't want to waste all that goodness so I made a bread (cake?) pudding out of it.  A couple cups of milk, 4 eggs and about half a cup of sugar mixed up and poured over the cubes of cake.  I also put in some raspberries.  Served warm , just out of the oven.  Pretty good

 

[rotuts]

some chocolate sauce would go well w the C.P. I think.

[leonidas]

Greetings from Italy, everybody!

Here it's very hot at the moment but at night, when the heat gets down a little, I'm turning the oven on. Over this month in Italy  I'll try to experiment on  traditional Italian regional specialties, all gâteaux de voyage, as the French would call them.

 

Yesteday, I made an Amorpolenta from Bergamo (to distinguish it from the one from Varese or surrounding towns)  from pastry chef Giovanni Pina. It's a polenta cake with corn flour of course, almond flour, potato starch, white flour, eggs and butter. It's very tender and fragrant.

 

amorpolenta bergamo 1.JPG

 

amorpolenta bergamo 2.JPG

 

It looks amazing.

With so light texture.

Can you please give me the recipe and if you have a little time,suggest to me with what to replace the potato starch if i don't find to buy...??

 

Thank you so much for your time....!!! 

[Franci]

Leonidas,  I just sent you the recipe

 

This morning I baked a Torta paradiso. It's a rich cake with clarified butter, eggs plus egg yolks, flour cut with potato starch. It was a bit sweet for my liking but not for my parents or my son.

 

 

[cisy]

You are all making delicious food! I don't have an oven and find it hard to make cookies, which are my favorites. It's really a pity! However, I don't think that even I have an oven I will bake regularly.

[JohnT]

Franci, those tortes are really a refreshing break from the cakes more common in the western hemisphere where the norm nowadays is to have a rich, sweet cake piled with rich, sweet and highly fattening gunk. This said, it has become common here at the southern pointy section of Africa as well to adopt such cakes. I tried, a time back, to re-introduce tortes, such as you are baking, at some local coffee shops. Not one proprietor was interested, telling me that their patrons want cakes slathered with buttercream - not a traditional European style torte with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar. I even gave a very popular coffee shop owner a couple of almond tortes for free to try on her patrons. Never worked out and only gunk cakes wanted. Pity, as there is nothing better, in my mind, than a nice slice of torte with a freshly brewed cup of tea or coffee.

[Mjx]

Leonidas,  I just sent you the recipe

 

This morning I baked a Torta paradiso. It's a rich cake with clarified butter, eggs plus egg yolks, flour cut with potato starch. It was a bit sweet for my liking but not for my parents or my son.

 

torta paradiso 1.JPG

 

torta paradiso 2.JPG

 

That looks gorgeous. Is the texture like a slightly more robust schiacciata fiorentina?

[Franci]

Franci, those tortes are really a refreshing break from the cakes more common in the western hemisphere where the norm nowadays is to have a rich, sweet cake piled with rich, sweet and highly fattening gunk. This said, it has become common here at the southern pointy section of Africa as well to adopt such cakes. I tried, a time back, to re-introduce tortes, such as you are baking, at some local coffee shops. Not one proprietor was interested, telling me that their patrons want cakes slathered with buttercream - not a traditional European style torte with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar. I even gave a very popular coffee shop owner a couple of almond tortes for free to try on her patrons. Never worked out and only gunk cakes wanted. Pity, as there is nothing better, in my mind, than a nice slice of torte with a freshly brewed cup of tea or coffee.

 

Thank you, John. I'm enjoying trying these cakes.Here they are  still quite common in the bakeries. More elaborate and richer cakes with cream are found in pastry shops and are regarded as  cakes for occasions, dinner parties, for Sunday lunch etc. but they are smaller and thinner and elegant. Everybody likes Cristophe Michalak also in Italy. I'm going to make a Fantastik myself one of these days.

 

I just got back with the kids from gelato. If you are interested this is what was on display at our favorite gelato/patisserie

 

 

more tarts and torte ready to join the display

 

 

And cakes are not sold by the slice. If anybody wants something sweet with his/her coffee there are cornetti (croissants) or brioche especially in the morning or mignardises

 

 

 

That looks gorgeous. Is the texture like a slightly more robust schiacciata fiorentina?

 

 

thanks, Mjx.  The only time I recall making a schiacciata fiorentina was with yeast but I think for the schiacciata with baking powder the overall technique and ingredients are very different,  you will have a very different product. This is a buttery, rich cake slighly crumbly. Since you ready Italian you can find easily the recipe googling "torta paradiso" Giovanni Pina. I'm so curious to try the torta paradiso from other pastry chefs.

[Franci]

And yesterday, still from Giovanni Pina, I made these chocolate baciotti. They are not really like amaretti but still made with almond flour, sugar and egg whites.

Overall too sweet for me, my mom which has a very sweet tooth likes them.