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

[Anna N]

6 minutes ago, pjm333 said:

Everything Spice Jack Cheese Danish!

Wow.  I would like to become acquainted with these.

[shain]

Bread pudding with coconut cream, bananas, hazelnuts, raisins, rum, dark brown sugar.

Bread pudding, and custard in general, are perhaps my favorite sweets 

 

Edited January 25, 2019 by shain (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

On 11/23/2018 at 10:53 AM, RWood said:

A friend asked me to make her in-laws an anniversary cake for today. I said sure, but don't think I'll do that again when I was the one cooking for Thanksgiving 🙃. Ugh, too much. 

Carrot cake with buttercream flowers, it weighs a freakin' ton.

 

Wow! I can understand it being too much of a burden along with cooking a big Thanksgiving feast, but your sure pulled it off! That is one beautiful cake.

[RWood]

43 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Wow! I can understand it being too much of a burden along with cooking a big Thanksgiving feast, but your sure pulled it off! That is one beautiful cake.

 

Thanks! 😎

[keychris]

Peanut shortbread, pecan dacquoise, cinnamon crunch, chocolate mousse, caramel, caramelised pecans, caramelised almonds in the glaze and a caramel chantilly cream. By the time I'd remembered I wanted a cross section, I'd already finished mine!

[jmacnaughtan]

I came across fresh bergamots for the first time ever at the market the other week, and it looks like they'll stay for another couple of weeks.  I'm annoyed that I've never had them before; they're amazing.  Use them in gin and tonic!

 

Among other things, I wanted to pair them with white chocolate.

 

So I did.

 

Bergamot and white chocolate cake

 

 

Pomelo sponge

White chocolate and bergamot crunch

Bergamot confit

More pomelo sponge soaked in bergamot syrup

Bergamot curd

White chocolate ganache

White chocolate and bergamot chantilly

Kumquat slices

 

The combination of bergamot and white chocolate is excellent  They're sharp and bitter enough to need that rich sweetness - although I still had to soften it a little with salt.

 

I'm still working on the finish though - I've really started liking rough edges on cakes and eliminating glazes (saving a lot of time, effort and clean-up in the process).  I'd like to go a bit further with the texture on the side of the cake though - I find the quarry-surface thing pretty cool.

[pjm333]

Pear & Fig Tatin 

[Franci]

This fig and pear tatin! Love it. 

 

Yesterday we had guests and since I didn’t make galette des rois for Jan 6, I decided to make it yesterday. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 29, 2019 by Franci (log)

[Pete Fred]

A surfeit of egg whites was all the excuse I needed to have a go at pavlova for the first time. This was 'winter fruits'. A baked meringue, spread with vanilla whipped cream and poached, spiced apple and pear segments, a sprinkiing of blackberries, then rolled. Finally, more cream piped on top and a faintly ridiculous 'artful' placement of more fruit.

 

 

 

It was a bit 'meh' in terms of flavour. But this was mainly an opportunity to practise technique and construction ahead of (hopefully) better fruit in the summer, and I was happy with the process and texture of it.

[rotuts]

consider a Winter Bump-Up ;

 

soak your apples and pears in some sort of flavor inhancer

 

Dark rum ? etc ?

[Pete Fred]

I know, I'm always complaining about lack of flavour and blaming it on the fruit. I didn't want to waste any rum or wine on what was just a test run so didn't do myself any favours. Come July, when I make another one, I'll no doubt be moaning about the strawberries or cherries. 😁😉

[rotuts]

it only takes a few drops of Rum or what not / fruit set.

 

its a long long long time until July.

 

and best of luck getting delicious fresh pears.

 

work w what you have , and then

 

done and delicious

 

right now. !

[Matthew.Taylor]

OK, With my Niece' fifth Birthday, my family entrusted me with the creation of the Birthday cake. She requested a Unicorn themed cake several months ago at her brother's party (I made a large Chocolate Chip cookie for the cake, it was dinosaur themes). My sister sent a more specific request, and the end result was this. The buttercream is American Vanilla Buttercream, and the cake is a Vanilla Buttermilk Funfetti cake.

 

I'm really proud of myself for this, I'm even thinking of doing some cakes on the side for people, perhaps finally get my long-wanted business up and running. Nevertheless, here we go.

Edited February 1, 2019 by Matthew.Taylor
Misspelling. (log)

[shain]

Made this earlier this week - I had extra steamed bun dough with which i made lotus seed filled buns.

 

[jmacnaughtan]

More fun with bergamot and white chocolate.

 

Bergamot and white chocolate n°2

 

 

Pretty much the same as the other one, but I put some kumquat in the confit layer.

 

I like the visual, but the balance was a bit off in the cake

[Rajala]

I made a pistachio ball!

 

[julie99nl]

Did you end up adding pistachio to your sablee?

[Rajala]

12 hours ago, julie99nl said:

Did you end up adding pistachio to your sablee?

 

Yes yes! Replaced some butter with pistachio paste and some flour also got replaced with pistachio powder. Really tasty, but it should probably have been 1-2 minutes shorter in the oven.

[Pete Fred]

A batch of Thomas Keller's bouchons.

 

 

These are excellent little cakes. I make them in Ø 45 mm (1¾") dariole moulds. Quite dinky and gone in two or three bites...

 

 

They're a tiny bit crispy on top, and are like a cakey brownie. I find them best warm, when the chocolate chips are still gooey. Once cooled, they're a touch more dense (not that that's a bad thing!).

 

 

Mr Keller certainly knows a thing or two about cookin'. 😀

 

Edited February 7, 2019 by Pete Fred (log)

[lemniscate]

I'm trying to use up some pantry odd-n-ends lately.  Had a bit of cornmeal looking for a project, also some freeze dried pineapple and cherries.  I decided to give Alton Brown's Pineapple Upside-Down Cornmeal Cake a try.  I used small corningware bowls instead of the skillet for convenience/portions.  There was a bit of batter leftover after filling my prepped bowls so I baked another bowl with just the cornmeal cake, adding chopped spice pecans and bacon bits on top.   I am very pleased with the cornmeal cake part, it's moist, smooth and not overly sweet as I feared it might be.  It looks a bit of a mess in the picture, but that's what one-handed phone pics get you.

[akonsu]

On 1/31/2019 at 12:32 PM, Pete Fred said:

A baked meringue, spread with vanilla whipped cream and poached

@Pete Fred thanks for posting. Would you please describe how you made the meringue hollow so that you could fill it with the cream? It was not hollow when you put it in to the oven, right? It would collapse, I think. But I am not sure, I am a newbie...

[Pete Fred]

2 hours ago, akonsu said:

Would you please describe how you made the meringue hollow so that you could fill it with the cream?

 

It's not hollow. It's made just like a Swiss roll. 👍

 

Bake a flat sheet of meringue on a tray lined with parchment. Once cooled, place a tea towel on top, flip and remove parchment. Spread with a layer of whipped cream and cover with fruit. Then roll into a log using the tea towel to assist. As you roll, the meringue cracks into that crazy-paving effect. Place seam side down on a serving tray or plate.

 

It's from this recipe by Ottolenghi. I thought the oven temperature was way too high so did my meringue at 130C/260F until pale beige and suitably cooked (crusty on top, marshmallowy inside).

[blue_dolphin]

Made a batch of the well known Orange Creamsicle Cookies but flavored with lime zest instead of orange.  I believe @Anna N dubbed these Lime Bees when she made them. 

I made a few with the addition of some Ruby Cacao Wafers from Trader Joes in addition to the white chocolate chips the recipe calls for.  

The TJ's website post says they are not recommended for baking but they seem fine.  I'll try them in some chocolate cookies next.  

[Matthew.Taylor]

OK, since i'm still working on my portfolio, I made another cake today, took all day but it was worthwhile.

Real Happy with this one, though i'm gonna need bigger circular cutters for the future.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Carrot cake for my daugher’s birthday:

 

 

Spent a few days at a family gathering in Charleston SC to celebrate my dad and his twin brother’s 80^th birthdays.  I made a couple of No Bake PB Pie (no picture) and some Dream Cookies:

The pie is just about the only sweet thing that my dad likes.  We have a family predilection for peanut butter and it supersedes the sweet avoidance!  The cookies I’ve talked about many times here at eG.  They look utterly plain, but are our families favorite cooky.  I’ve been making these since I was a little girl.