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

[RobertM]

My first attempt at a Sachertorte; while not “perfect” I don’t think it looks to bad....

[pastrygirl]

2 hours ago, suzilightning said:

  First I put 8 oz of dark chocolate(pastilles or chips or chopped block) the top of a double boiler with heavily simmering water with 1/4 cup of heated nutmilk into which I have dissolved 1 Tbsp of decaf instant coffee.  Cover and let sit about 10 minutes.  I separate 6 eggs then beat the  yolks with 1/4 cup sugar and a pinch of salt over simmering water until they double in bulk.   I whip the whites  to medium stiff peaks.  Incorporate the melted chocolate into the egg yolks SLOWLY then whisk in about 1/3 of the whites to lighten and fold the remaining whites in.

 

It's a variation on the recipe from Fannie Farmer.

 

 

Is it baked?  Sounds very mousse-y.  I've always thought of pot de creme as a baked custard, basically creme brulee in a deeper dish without the caramelized top.

[suzilightning]

6 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Is it baked?  Sounds very mousse-y.  I've always thought of pot de creme as a baked custard, basically creme brulee in a deeper dish without the caramelized top.

not baked at all.  The original recipe had 2 cups of scalded milk that the chocolate was melted into.  No gelatin either.

[pastrygirl]

8 minutes ago, suzilightning said:

not baked at all.  The original recipe had 2 cups of scalded milk that the chocolate was melted into.  No gelatin either.

 

Was the original recipe too soft, or why did you reduce the liquid so much?  I'm just curious, I'm sure it's delicious, but 8 oz chocolate and 2 oz liquid will be a very thick ganache that may even break when mixed, could be a challenge if someone else uses darker chocolate or isn't as practiced at folding.   Though 2 cups of milk sounds like it would end up soupy  ...  whatever, as long as you start with good chocolate, it's hard to go wrong!

[suzilightning]

23 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

Was the original recipe too soft, or why did you reduce the liquid so much?  I'm just curious, I'm sure it's delicious, but 8 oz chocolate and 2 oz liquid will be a very thick ganache that may even break when mixed, could be a challenge if someone else uses darker chocolate or isn't as practiced at folding.   Though 2 cups of milk sounds like it would end up soupy  ...  whatever, as long as you start with good chocolate, it's hard to go wrong!

It IS a thick ganache but this is what my husband likes.  I don't remember why or  even when I did that since I have been making this recipe for at least 30 years!!!!  I have never had it break on me or seize......

[jmacnaughtan]

11 hours ago, RobertM said:

My first attempt at a Sachertorte; while not “perfect” I don’t think it looks to bad....

 

A good effort!  Is this the classic glaze, with just chocolate, sugar and water?

 

I had a lot of trouble with that when I first started doing Sachertorte, until I learned not to even try smoothing the glaze once it's on the cake...

[RobertM]

This also had geletan in it along with the chocolate, sugar and water.  It was a beautiful Shiny  glaze and then when I tried to smooth it......well, you can see the results.....

[jmacnaughtan]

14 hours ago, RobertM said:

This also had geletan in it along with the chocolate, sugar and water.  It was a beautiful Shiny  glaze and then when I tried to smooth it......well, you can see the results.....

 

I did the same thing the first couple of times, promptly ruining the finish.  I have since learned to pour it over, make sure it's covered and STEP AWAY FROM THE CAKE.

[kayb]

 

It can't hold a candle to the other confections here in terms of looks, but I'll put it up against anything in terms of taste.

 

Homemade banana pudding, with old-fashioned boiled custard and a meringue topping that could have been fluffier but I didn't want to overbeat the whites like I did last time.

 

[Smokeydoke]

@kayb what a beautiful color on the meringue.

[jmacnaughtan]

A little late, but a dessert for Valentine's Day

 

Chocolate, chestnut and clementine tart

 

 

Chocolate pastry

Milk chocolate ganache

Candied clementine

Clementine Chantilly

Chestnut cream

[DianaB]

Sachertorte, best chocolate cake I’ve ever made despite the difficulties in achieving a perfect finish.  Gold leaf is still in the cupboard.

 

[ChocoMom]

I was searching for a relatively light dessert to serve for dinner with hubby's old boss and his wife.  Found this baby on Pinterest.  French Almond Cream& Poached Pear tart..  I had already sliced into it when I remembered to take a pic, so please pardon the cut. 

 

 

[kayb]

A major "Ooooohhhhh!" for the sachertorte and the pear tart.

 

[RobertM]

The first cut is the deepest....

oh, sorry, this isn’t eMusic.org.......I forgot

 But now you’re singing that tune and your tart looks delicious!

[rarerollingobject]

Possibly one of the most rustic-looking things I’ve ever made, but also one of the most delicious; dark muscovado brown sugar pavlova, ginger mascarpone cream, almond and cashew praline toffee, and figs.

 

Lots of figs.

 

[BeeZee]

well, you may consider it "rustic" due to the cracked Pavlova...but the concentric petals of fig make up for that! I'd gladly eat half of that, the flavors sound very appealing.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I made a streuselkuchen the other day, the baking powder leavened, quick kind, which I have made successfully many times before. This time I messed up after seeing images of these with red stuff, that I now conclude was probably fresh raspberries. They looked so good! Fresh out of raspberries, I decided to dollop and spread some sour cherry preserves. Well even after reducing the sugar in the cake part and topping by half, like I usually do successfully, the preserves sunk through the batter to the bottom and made the whole thing too sweet and gloppy for my taste. That did not stop me from eating half of it before I froze the rest for later after a few days. 

 

I won't do that again though. Why is it that when most people get their hands on a nice tart ingredient, they feel the need to over sugar the hell out of it to kill that tartness? Montmorency dried cherries? always over sugared for me. Thank God for cranberries, which I can get unadulterated in the fall and freeze. To me they are a heavenly addition to a lightly sweet coffee cake or muffin especially with some orange zest in the mix. I should have gone that way and will next time I get a streuselkuchen itch.

[shain]

Chocolate babka.

[Anna N]

 

Brutti ma Buoni (Ugly but Good).  Hazelnut and chocolate macaroons. 

[Smithy]

9 hours ago, Anna N said:

 

Brutti ma Buoni (Ugly but Good).  Hazelnut and chocolate macaroons. 

 

That looks a LOT like my mother's meringue cookies.  She used Nestle's chocolate chips and walnuts, but they were one of my very favorite Christmas cookies.  The combination of hazelnut and chocolate sounds good too.

[Anna N]

8 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

That looks a LOT like my mother's meringue cookies.  She used Nestle's chocolate chips and walnuts, but they were one of my very favorite Christmas cookies.  The combination of hazelnut and chocolate sounds good too.

A number of recipes call for cooking the meringue on the stove top before scooping the cookies and baking them in the oven. I suspect that is more the “real” version.  But even Mario Batali‘s recipe skips that step. 

[Anna N]

 

 Cornish fairings from Paul Hollywood’s book. I have made these before but from a different recipe. They are a very simple gingersnap-type cookies and I made them even simpler by mixing them in the Thermomix and baking them in the Breville smart oven. 

Edited February 25, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[shain]

@Anna N Your Brutti ma Buoni looks quite different then the version I'm familiar with, which I guess is a good thing  Anyway, yours seems great, I'll need to make those. My to-do list is always growing faster than I can cook from it.

 

 

Glazed strawberries with pepper. Cream of almonds and bitter almonds. Ricotta with vanilla and honey. Crispy crumble with aniseed. Mint.

[patris]

Going to a dinner party tonight with some friends and as usual, I quickly volunteered to take care of dessert. The hostess is a dear friend and she and I are planning a trip to Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam. The trip won’t be until 2020 but in the meantime I was inspired to make mignardises - volcano chocolates (inspired by @kriz6912), dark chocolate with espresso ganache and milk chocolate with chai ganache; pates de fruits in raspberry and mango-lime; and macarons with salted caramel filling.

 

Edited March 3, 2018 by patris
Got my chocolates mixed up (log)