Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Pille]

Megan - I like the look of your glossy madeleines!!!

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Thanks, Pille! I bake them a bit longer than I probably should, because I just love that slightly crispy, light crust. Ooooh, baby.

Interesting about the banana creme brulee...sounds tasty. Can you imagine it with lime?

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That explains the beautiful shine. Sadly, I don't own a madeleine tin myself, so I must just come back here and "eat" them..

Re: the banana brulee - I can definitely "imagine" it with lemon. Don't think I've tried banana&lime combination yet, so must taste it before I can "imagine" it

[Ling]

Ling, your new project sounds amazing, and I'm BEYOND jealous!!  Please keep us posted -- maybe this calls for a blog where you can record pix and results of your creations?!

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Yes - a "Ling Goes Pro" thread!

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I don't think I'll ever be good enough to go "pro". I'm just happy they're letting me help out right now.

[Megan Blocker]

Ling, your new project sounds amazing, and I'm BEYOND jealous!!  Please keep us posted -- maybe this calls for a blog where you can record pix and results of your creations?!

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Yes - a "Ling Goes Pro" thread!

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I don't think I'll ever be good enough to go "pro". I'm just happy they're letting me help out right now.

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P-SHAW!!!! Humility, thy name is Ling. or Lorna. Whatever. It's her, that girl, right up there.

[ruthcooks]

I don't think I'll ever be good enough to go "pro".  I'm just happy they're letting me help out right now. 

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Being good enough is not an issue for you, dear...the issue is keeping yourself from eating all your product!

[kaneel]

I had some swedish princess cake today. I am in a cake club so it was my demo cake. It was good except my least favorite part was the marzipan ..a little too sweet for me.

[Ling]

I don't think I'll ever be good enough to go "pro".  I'm just happy they're letting me help out right now. 

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Being good enough is not an issue for you, dear...the issue is keeping yourself from eating all your product!

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Yes...that could be a problem. I often find myself with chocolate stains around my mouth b/c I am "testing" the Michel Cluizel ganache at Rare. But don't worry, I am very clean and never dip my spoon back into the ganache.

Today:

brownie batter

Nutella

and finally...brownies with Nutella frosting

[Alinka]

In one of the Russian cooking forums this cake was a hit. After seeing countless pictures, I finally got around to making it. Did not bother with decorating, because I was making it to just see how it tastes. It's called Kievsky: meringue with nuts, layered with chocolate buttercream (milk-yolk-sugar custard whipped with butter).

After eating a big slice I realized that it is very similar to Russe Praline from The Art of the Cake: Modern French Baking and Decorating that I made some time ago.

[ludja]

Yum, that looks good, Alinka, decoration or not! Thanks for the pointer on the Russe Praline cake as well. I haven't dipped my toe into Bugat and Healy's book yet other than to read it.

I love all sorts of dacquoise cakes. Inspired by an earlier post by Wendy Debord, I checked out the dense almond cake with almond paste she mentioned from Greenspan's "Cooking with Julia". There is a wedding cake in there I'd like to convert into a birthday cake: dense almond cake layers, almond daquoise layers, apricot glaze and a rum buttercream....

[tejon]

That looks positively decadent, Alinka! Care to pass the recipe along?

[Pille]

In one of the Russian cooking forums this cake was a hit. After seeing countless pictures, I finally got around to making it. Did not bother with decorating, because I was making it to just see how it tastes. It's called Kievsky: meringue with nuts, layered with chocolate buttercream (milk-yolk-sugar custard whipped with butter).

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Alinka - this looks absolutely delicious - any chance of sharing the recipe for this Kiev Cake (?)

[Alinka]

ludja, tejon, Pille, thank you for your interest!

The original recipe is here. I made the cake with modifications, so I’ll go ahead and modify the translation to incorporate my changes.

KIEV CAKE

For meringue:

The following ingredients and baking instructions are for ONE cake layer. We will need TWO of these, i.e. all amounts need to be doubled. Due to the volume of the whipped whites, it’s easier to make one layer at a time.

4 egg whites

1 cup super-fine sugar

1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 cup chopped nuts (in the original, hazelnuts or cashews are recommended, but I used almonds and walnuts; both worked fine)

2 tablespoons potato starch (I used cornstarch)

For buttercream:

3 egg yolks

1 cup sugar

1 cup milk

300 grams butter (1 stick is 113 grams)

1 tablespoon cocoa powder

Make meringue:

Preheat oven to 275 F.

Beat together egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until soft peaks are formed. Still beating on high speed, gradually add sugar intil whites form stiff and glossy peaks.

Sift starch over whites, then sprinkle nuts on top. Fold nuts gently but thoroughly into meringue. Spread evenly onto baking sheet lined with parchment. Make sure there is room for meringue to spread when baking. I drew a 10-inch circle on the parchment, but I think this cake works better in a rectangular shape.

Bake 1.5-2 hours, until firm and pale golden.

Cool on rack; peel off parchment.

Make buttercream:

Stirring constantly, bring milk, sugar and yolks to boil; cook until thickens. Beat cooled mixture into butter; add cocoa.

I actually had a problem here, because it never thickened; besides, I think eggs tend to separate when being boiled. I think here it is best to use a good German buttercream recipe (pastry cream + butter) or another buttercream recipe. I was also tempted to use melted chocolate rather than cocoa powder, and MORE of it, to make it more chocolaty. But I wanted to first follow the recipe precisely because I was curious to taste the much-talked about Kiev cake .

Assemble cake, layering meringue with buttercream; sprinkle with crushed meringue trimmings or nuts.

I will post it on RecipeGullet later.

[I_call_the_duck]

Alinka, we've missed you on the Dinner forum.

That cake looks so good, even without the decorating. I must try it.

[Rehovot]

Wow, the Kievsky cake looks excellent! I'm sure I've seen it in the Russian market I go to, here. Now I'll know how to ask for it.

[Alinka]

Alinka, we've missed you on the Dinner forum.

That cake looks so good, even without the decorating.  I must try it.

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Thanks! I haven't done much cooking lately...

Wow, the Kievsky cake looks excellent! I'm sure I've seen it in the Russian market I go to, here. Now I'll know how to ask for it. 

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Or, you can just point and say, this, please .

[tejon]

Thank you! Have to give that cake a try sometime soon .

[Stephanie Wallace]

Two weeks of desserts in Paris, posted in the France forum. I've got to move there.

(Here is a pic of Sadaharu Aoki's perfect millefeuille.)

[Patrick S]

^ Nice. Is that crushed-up millefeuille on the sides?

[miladyinsanity]

Macarons.

I made them, and this time they do resemble what I've had and seen before.

(Pics tomorrow, when I have more energy, though I ought to have some given the amount of sugar in my bloodstream, and sunlight)

[Rehovot]

Wow, the Kievsky cake looks excellent! I'm sure I've seen it in the Russian market I go to, here. Now I'll know how to ask for it. 

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Or, you can just point and say, this, please .

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Yes, but in Russian.. That's my problem.

Dessert was baklava (sorry, baklava fans, not homemade) and the dwindling leftovers of a gingerbread cake.

[Stephanie Wallace]

You hit it Patrick, crushed caramelized puff pastry.

I just polished off the remainder of two single origin bars from Patrick Roger.

[Swisskaese]

I made hamentaschen for Purim. You can see the Hamentaschen thread.

Edited March 14, 2006 by Swisskaese (log)

[miladyinsanity]

I'm eating more of Andiesenji's cocoa cookies.

It's very strange. My first tray was fine.

But my second tray smells like popcorn. Both were from the same batch of dough.

I know I last used the trays for macarons. And I did change the setting from convention to pastry, to find out what it'll do--nothing, as far as I can see or taste.

[Ling]

The recent pics have been beautiful! I haven't taken any pictures recently as I've only been baking brownies and peanut butter cookies, and you have all seen those before. I also had the CI chocolate class with the kids in my cooking/baking class and posted pictures in the chocolate cake thread.

However, this week I'm making the Pierre Herme Black Forest cake and will be sure to get a picture.

[SweetSide]

The recent pics have been beautiful! I haven't taken any pictures recently as I've only been baking brownies and peanut butter cookies, and you have all seen those before. I also had the CI chocolate class with the kids in my cooking/baking class and posted pictures in the chocolate cake thread. 

However, this week I'm making the Pierre Herme Black Forest cake and will be sure to get a picture.

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Please do -- I've been eyeing that cake and would love to know what you think of it!

[tejon]

Cream puffs from Beard Papa's. Got a vanilla one and a caramel and both were so crisp, airy, and full of delicious pastry cream. The caramel was my favorite by far - just a hint of flavor and sweetness that hit the spot. They were filled while I waited, and devoured almost as quickly .