Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )

[Pete Fred]

Individual steamed sponge pudding...

 

 

 

The topping was from the seemingly infinite stash of plum caramel that I made last year ("freeze up to 3 months"?... pffft!), and the custard was extra-thick from using cream instead of milk.

[Pete Fred]

I'm a sucker for a good almond croissant. The ones at my local bakeries are a bit disappointing, unfortunately. But from time to time one of them will have a bag of discounted croissants, so I make my own...

 

 

 

I punch up the almond flavour by toasting the almonds and not being shy with the bitter almond extract; a good dunk in rum syrup gives the base a pleasant crunchy chew; and overfilling the cream means the overspill caramelises nicely on the tray. Miam-miam, as they say over here.

 

 

Edited February 9 by Pete Fred (log)

[OlyveOyl]

Passionfruit pastry cream and curd, coconut and savoiardi cookies.

[MaryIsobel]

On 2/9/2025 at 5:48 AM, OlyveOyl said:

Passionfruit pastry cream and curd, coconut and savoiardi cookies.

One of my daughters is a passionfruit fanatic - this would be her dream dessert. Fresh passionfruit is almost unheard of in these parts however, I did get a package of frozen passion fruit pulp a while ago. Would you share the recipe for the curd. I've made lemon curd many times and cranberry curd once but passion fruit curd sounds divine.

[oli]

OR, how about the whole recipe?

[TdeV]

@OlyveOyl (and @oli )

 

Yes, please.

 

 

Edited February 10 by TdeV
Err-- (log)

[Pete Fred]

A slab of the meringue brittle from 'Sweet' by Ottolenghi/Goh...

 

 

 

It had a nice crunch with a hint of coconut, and, perhaps most importantly, it's another way to use up surplus egg whites! The book suggests coating the base with white or dark chocolate. I tried one with dark, but thought it too overpowering. I might try white next time, or just leave well alone. (A couple of takes here and here.)

[MaryIsobel]

I volunteered to make 60 cupcakes for a cast party of Wizard of Oz. My daughter is a high school musical theatre teacher and I have volunteered to make cookies, cakes and cupcakes for a few years now. I've made the 60 cupcakes (1/2 chocolate and 1/2 vanilla.) Will decorate the day before. Chocolate ones will be frosted in green and topped with a witch's hat and then vanilla ones will be frosted in pale blue and top with clouds and a rainbow. Did my prototype witch's hats today.

[MaryIsobel]

Found these candy strips at dollarama today so the rainbow ones will look like this but I think I will pipe the clouds rather than use marshmallows and use a sky blue as the base frosting.

[OlyveOyl]

Almond cake with pistachio crème and berry coulis.

[Pete Fred]

I'm a few weeks late with this year's Galette des Rois. They're traditionally eaten here for Epiphany, but you'll find them in shops from before New Year right through to the end of January.

 

 

I wanted to try a technique I've seen pastry chefs employ whereby part way through baking a tray is placed on top to limit the expansion of the puff, resulting in a flatter disc with less of a gap above the filling..

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I slightly misjudged the height of the spacers for the tray, which compressed the layers too much. The texture of the pastry was delicate and melting, but it would've been nice to see all the hard work I'd done during lamination. Here's some of the ropey off cuts that constituted a cook's treat...

 

[Jim D.]

1 hour ago, Pete Fred said:

I'm a few weeks late with this year's Galette des Rois. They're traditionally eaten here for Epiphany, but you'll find them in shops from before New Year right through to the end of January.

 

 

I wanted to try a technique I've seen pastry chefs employ whereby part way through baking a tray is placed on top to limit the expansion of the puff, resulting in a flatter disc with less of a gap above the filling..

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I slightly misjudged the height of the spacers for the tray, which compressed the layers too much. The texture of the pastry was delicate and melting, but it would've been nice to see all the hard work I'd done during lamination. Here's some of the ropey off cuts that constituted a cook's treat...

 

 

What a good idea.  I've always thought that gap between filling and pastry top was a mistake in concept (the galette looks glorious until one cuts it).

[Pete Fred]

@Jim D. Yeah, I'll just have to make a tweak or two next time. My inverted puff rose well, and when I placed the tray on top I could tell my cobbled-together spacers could've done with a few more millimeters; that, together with too much weight, meant I could feel the pastry pressing onto the filling. This video gives you an idea how it works (and some bakers put the tray there from the start; not sure what the difference is).

 

 

Edited Sunday at 06:51 PM by Pete Fred (log)

[Jim D.]

47 minutes ago, Pete Fred said:

@Jim D. Yeah, I'll just have to make a tweak or two next time. My inverted puff rose well, and when I placed the tray on top I could tell my cobbled-together spacers could've done with a few more millimeters; that, together with too much weight, meant I could feel the pastry pressing onto the filling. This video gives you an idea how it works (and some bakers put the tray there from the start; not sure what the difference is).

 

 

 

Great video.  Those containers of weights look fairly heavy.  My guess about adding the tray at the beginning would be that the pastry wouldn't have as much chance to brown.  I've never made inverted puff pastry.  How does it compare to regular?

[Pete Fred]

3 minutes ago, Jim D. said:

I've never made inverted puff pastry.  How does it compare to regular?

 

I prefer it; the texture is more delicate, and it seems to 'dissolve' on the tongue. I know laminating with the butter on the outside sounds a bit crazy, but I find it easier to work than classic.

[oli]

My kind of baking that produces the Wow affect. I have in my files the same pastry by Jaques Torres (waiting for me to make) that he'll make before he goes to a party and will put it in his backpack, jump on his bicycle and off he goes and bakes it there. Not the way I would do things but was fun to watch.

Making the curved lines look so perfect might be a challenge for me and that is probably why I haven't got around to making it.

Edited Sunday at 09:56 PM by oli (log)

[Smithy]

Interesting that a Galette des Rois is usually done for Epiphany, and our King's Cake is usually done for Mardi Gras. Funny old world, idn't it? 😀 

[Pete Fred]

I've been making soufflés this last week. Lots of soufflés. 

 

My interest was spurred by a video David Lebovitz posted about the soufflés at Comice in Paris, and also a podcast that mentioned the Grand Marnier one at The Ritz London. I've never made a soufflé before, and only eaten one once, so didn't have much experience to draw on. I ended up making a fair few in an effort to dial-in the times, temperatures, techniques, ingredients, etc.. I'll post the photos but I'm not sure they add a great deal. You had to be there, tasting, I guess.

 

There's plenty of conflicting advice in books and on the internet, plus endless superstitions about how to achieve perfect results. In the end, I found the section in McGee about meringues and soufflés cut through all the bull and demystified the process. I didn't have soufflé dishes or suitable ramekins so ended up making them in tart rings: large 10x5.5cm (4x2") and shallower 9x3.5cm (3½x1½").

 

First, the Comice chocolate soufflé...

 

 

I was intrigued in the video by the technique of 'mounting' the hot cream and partially melted chocolate with a portion of the egg whites. Lebovitz was so discombobulated by this that he changed the method slightly in his home version by first fully emulsifying the ganache, then loosening with a bit of meringue, and finally folding in. When I tried it that way, the initial chocolate/cream emulsion broke. I rescued it with a splash of hot water and managed to continue as directed, but I wouldn't try that way again. When I did it like Chef Gedalof, everything worked like a dream; I presume the egg whites provide the necessary water for a stable emulsion. Anyway, it's a very good soufflé. Recommended.

 

On to the Grand Marnier soufflés...

 

 

 

 

The base is puréed rice pudding* which gets mixed with the liqueur then the egg whites. (The whiter ones are actually vanilla. There's a LOT of Grand Marnier in the others, and I was reluctant to splash with abandon just for these tests.)

 

Let me tell you, Grand Marnier soufflé is the bomb. Go on, treat yourself.

 

There's a couple of other bases I want to try at some point, more traditionally using pastry cream or a roux or fruit purée, but that's enough to be going on with. A man cannot live on soufflés alone. At least I now know the touch and visual cues to look for, and my preferred level of 'doneness'.

 

*chilled rice pudding purée, by the way, has a fantastic texture, hitting a sweet spot somewhere between pastry cream and a firm, elastic ice cream. Too good.

[rotuts]

@Pete Fred

 

Wow.  That's a lot of souffle  .

 

Im sure there were no leftovers.

 

That's fine , as I doubt it ships well to My Place.

 

Rays.

Edited 22 hours ago by rotuts (log)