Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[demiglace]

DesertCulinary, I'd love to make those mouthwatering-looking chocolate cupcakes for a friend's birthday. Would you be able to post the recipe or PM it to me? Thanks!

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Bittersweet Brownie Peanut Butter Bonbons

Ditto..would love the recipe.

[Tri2Cook]

More fun with Sam Mason recipes...

...grapefruit tart, edamame ice cream, celery leaf, black sesame seed (except I didn't have black seeds and it was much too late for the store here to be open so I toasted some white sesame seeds and called it good enough).

[plafield]

I've been lurking and drooling for months! Thanks everyone.

Here's the cake I made for my husband's birthday. Almond butter cake which I served with fresh berries, vanilla bean ice cream and hot fudge.,

[gfron1]

Tri2Cook - I knew I was genius when I used celery! So how did the flavors do together? I had a dessert with edemame when I was in LA last week, and it makes sense to me as a component in a dessert.

Plafield - lot's of love went into that cake with your decorating - good job!

[Tri2Cook]

Tri2Cook - I knew I was genius when I used celery!  So how did the flavors do together?  I had a dessert with edemame when I was in LA last week, and it makes sense to me as a component in a dessert.

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Rob, we already know you're a genius... celery or no celery. The cilantro cheesecake/chocolate air experiment was more than enough proof of that without even getting into all the other cool stuff you've shared with us.

The flavors of this dessert are beautiful together. I was borderline on whether or not I loved the edamame ice cream on it's own but in combination with the rest it made me smile. The grapefruit marmalade puree for the tart is a bit on the bitter side to me but, again, when experienced as a whole it worked perfectly. The celery and sesame were the salt and pepper of the dish, they enhanced it nicely without jumping out and shouting at you. I would (and will) do it again.

[Tri2Cook]

The folks at Ideas in Food created a recipe for Ritz Cracker Ice Cream. It's a thing of beauty. The warm base tastes like the best pudding ever and the ice cream is creamy, smooth and tasty. I had to do something with it for a dessert after tasting it so this is what I came up with. Snack Time:

Ritz ice cream, peanut butter shortbreads, peanut butter sauce, celery coulis, sugared celery leaves.

Thanks to Rob for inspiring me to play with celery, it was the perfect thing to break up the rich sweetness of the ice cream and peanut butter sauce a bit.

Edited March 25, 2008 by Tri2Cook (log)

[SanaaSol]

Cupcakes again for me...

These let me use up excess easter egg candy )

Robin's nest cupcakes:

Vanilla buttercake, fudge frosting, toasted coconut

Plafield: That cake is so sweet...and your lettering is perfect! Do you have any tips? I can never write on cakes so neatly. The strawberry hearts are adorable too.

Tri2Cook - those sugared leaves are so beautiful!! How do you do that?(if you don't mind me asking)

[gfron1]

Tri2Cook - Isn't it more fun on "this side of crazy"? So are those Ritz crackers actually the shortbread? That's very fun.

[Tri2Cook]

I'm definitely having fun with it. Even with some of the concerned looks and "I'm not eating that" comments that accompany sharing some of my ideas it's still fun. Yep, the "Ritz" are the peanut butter shortbreads. I just brushed the tops with a little egg wash so they'd get the shiny browned Ritz look.

[gfron1]

I have never made a dessert that was as swooned over as this. I'm not sure what it was, but I had people stuffing extras in purses and arguing over who was going to get them. It was a very good ego day

Strawberry macarons (3" across) dammed with grapefruit infused white chocolate ganache, decorated with fresh blueberries, and filled with celery curd - that's right Tri2Cook - celery curd, and it was awesome!

And now I understand better how to fill these so I can do a better job next time to get "pretty points."

[Tri2Cook]

Those are awesome Rob!

Celery curd! I think I may be conceding the win to Rob on brainstorm: sweet celery. I'm not sure I can't think of anywhere to take it beyond that one. That's too cool.

[gfron1]

I know people think we're nuts but this isn't over yet. Anything that is ultra sweet can be paired with it. Next up for me is ice cream.

[andanand]

I've been experimenting with a version of "Gajar Halwa" and came up with this:

Carrot Ribbons, Cashew Barfi, Clementine Gel, Ghee Powder

[Tri2Cook]

I know people think we're nuts but this isn't over yet.  Anything that is ultra sweet can be paired with it.  Next up for me is ice cream.

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Ok then, I still have about 500g or so of celery puree in the freezer from the last project so I guess I won't throw in the towel quite yet. Gonna be tough after celery curd though.

andanand: That's beautiful. Welcome to the asylum.

[gfron1]

andanand: Open up the chemistry set for us...I'm assuming tapioca maltodextrin on the ghee. What did you use in the other components?

[andanand]

thanks tri2cook

andanand: Open up the chemistry set for us...I'm assuming tapioca maltodextrin on the ghee.  What did you use in the other components?

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ribbons: carrot juice (my local grocery store, on a college campus, had pathetic looking carrots and i was lazy...i liked odwalla's better than bolthouse farm's, but both are 100% carrots, nothing else), 1.5% gelatin, 0.5% agar. I got this ratio from Michael Laiskonis's blog (he made grapefruit "film"), and it was really good. The ribbons were nice and flexible and were easily drapeable. Someone with steadier hands than I could have made this a lot prettier.

ghee: yup, maltodextrin (free from national starch's website!)

clementine gel is just juiced clementines and 2% agar (the acidity requires double the usual), set in the fridge and then pureed and loaded into a squirt bottle.

the cashew barfi is actually another example of me cheating: I used my mom's.

[Verjuice]

Made the milk chocolate and salted butter caramel mousse from Trish Deseine's book, but I added a layer of Chef Neil Wyles' incredible caramel on the bottom beforehand... insanely good.

[Renka]

It's been a while since I've checked this thread, and it's quite obvious I've missed out on a bunch of amazing creations! Wowee.

lannie: PH is my hero too. I should post up some pictures of previous PH bakes after this one I made on the weekend.

Tri2Cook: I'm having so much fun seeing and reading about your creations. Now if only I could try them (as in eat, not having to make it) myself! And noting that you're in Ontario...

Rob: You and those crazy celery combinations. Love it!

plafield: Your cake is super sweet!

andanand: Very cool. Looking forward to more.

Verjuice: That hidden caramel surprise certainly surprised me! Did it incite giggles of delight?

I was bit by the baking bug the past few days.

Fresh Strawberry Mousse Cake with Mango-Peach Gelèe

Made for our church's induction service of Rev. TT. (click link for the recipe)

Pierre Hermé's Philadelphia Almond Cake

Components:

Soft, chewy, brown sugar-sweetened almond cake

Extra-creamy cream cheese mousse

Golden raisins macerated in grappa (instead of macerated griottes)

Crunchy almond streusel

I love streusel:

This was for a friend's birthday.

Meyer Lemon Bars made for a special group of ladies. I added some ground almonds to the base.

[AmritaBala]

passionfruit, espresso and salted caramel macarons =o)

[Tri2Cook]

Verjuice: that mousse looks great.

Renka: every time you post I know there's going to be a feast for the eyes, everything always looks beautiful.

AmritaBala: awesome macarons.

I was experimenting with a couple ideas that weren't for anything in particular, I just wanted to see if they would work. In the interest of sharing it here, I added a couple other components and plated it. I'm not at all happy with the plating but the ideas I was trying worked so I'll post it anyway.

steamed rice cakes, ginger sorbet, candied water chestnuts, sweet soy syrup, nori glass

The cakes are flavored with coconut milk and tinted with the nori paste I made for the glass. The candied water chestnuts and sweet soy syrup were the ideas I was experimenting with initially.

[Renka]

Verjuice: that mousse looks great.

Renka: every time you post I know there's going to be a feast for the eyes, everything always looks beautiful.

AmritaBala: awesome  macarons.

I was experimenting with a couple ideas that weren't for anything in particular, I just wanted to see if they would work. In the interest of sharing it here, I added a couple other components and plated it. I'm not at all happy with the plating but the ideas I was trying worked so I'll post it anyway.

steamed rice cakes, ginger sorbet, candied water chestnuts, sweet soy syrup, nori glass

The cakes are flavored with coconut milk and tinted with the nori paste I made for the glass. The candied water chestnuts and sweet soy syrup were the ideas I was experimenting with initially.

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Tri2Cook: Looks like you're having lots of fun in the kitchen. I'm wondering about the nori glass. I'd love to know how you made it. Esp. keeping the nori non-clumpy and crispy.

I was also wondering about your sweet soy syrup. I recall the soy caramel I had at Avenues a while back. It was a brilliant and tasty paint on a savoury course. Was this possibly what you were trying to achieve? I can imagine how a kinako base could add a nutty/toasty flavour to your Asian inspired dessert components.

BTW, how did the candied water chestnuts taste? Are they still "crisp"?

[Tri2Cook]

Tri2Cook: Looks like you're having lots of fun in the kitchen.  I'm wondering about the nori glass.  I'd love to know how you made it.  Esp. keeping the nori non-clumpy and crispy.

I was also wondering about your sweet soy syrup.  I recall the soy caramel I had at Avenues a while back.  It was a brilliant and tasty paint on a savoury course.  Was this possibly what you were trying to achieve?  I can imagine how a kinako base could add a nutty/toasty flavour to your Asian inspired dessert components.

BTW, how did the candied water chestnuts taste?  Are they still "crisp"?

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Well, I hadn't seen or heard of that soy caramel so I wasn't trying to achieve it by inspiration but I guess that's basically what I was up to. I basically made my own version of kecap manis by caramelizing sugar, adding light soy sauce and water along with fresh ginger, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise and sichuan peppercorns. I cooked it, let it infuse overnight, reduced it and sieved out the aromatics. Then, because I wanted a syrup, I reduced it even further. To me it tastes like a really good variation on molasses (apologies for the lack of modesty there but I'm really happy with the results of that one).

For the nori, I hydrated nori sheets, pureed it, cooked it with water, glucose and agave nectar until the liquid reduced, pureed it again, sieved it, chilled it overnight, spread it on a silicon lined pan and dried it at 200f for about an hour. It would (in my opinion) work much better on the savory side.

I candied the water chestnuts in the same manner as doing marrons glace except I flavored the syrup with the same aromatics that I used in the soy syrup. They taste nice but I'm not thrilled with the texture. They lost their crispness and instead are kinda dense and gummy. Rob suggested maybe dehydrating them would make them crisp and delicate, I'm going to try that next. If I did them again and wasn't going to try drying them I would probably just give them one or two rounds in the syrup to keep the crispness.

[David Ross]

Sorry for the poor photo. The taste of the dessert far outweighed the fuzzy photo.

Toasted Coconut Cake, Grilled Pineapple, Whipped Cream:

[David Ross]

passionfruit, espresso and salted caramel macarons =o)

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Those are beautiful. Good Lord package them up and sell them!

[Tri2Cook]

Orange Smoke...

smoked orange curd, cornmeal shortbread, chipotle-caramel popcorn, orange coulis