Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Aloha Steve]

New York Style Crumb Cake......lots of crummy, yummy crumbs.

First attempt.....have not tasted it yet.

DELICIOUS.....now it won't matter that I cannot find crumb cake in NYC

[Aloha Steve]

Linser Sable Cookies..adapted from a recipe by Dorie Greenspan's in her cookbook " Baking, From My Home to Yours"

3/4 Black Raspberry Jam & 1/4 Strawberry Jam (Both jams bought from Barb Schaller-to die for)

This dessert, at present, is my most favorite which I make.

[jsmeeker]

Pecan Pie. Recipe from Cooks Illustrated. I always have "shrinkage" issues with my crusts!

Plated with Bourbon Créme Anglaise (for the curious, I used Knobb Creek)

[RichardJones]

Here's the tart I made for my parent's 35th wedding anniversary. It's a sweet pastry crust filled with an almond paste made with crème fraîche. This was scattered with white chocolate chunks (Cacao Barry) and torn raspberries. Once that had baked and cooled I added the top which is raspberries alternating with a white chocolate mousse sitting on a thin layer of raspberry jam (which holds the fruit in place). The mousse is made with the same white chocolate, whipped cream and Italian meringue. It is piped with a St. Honoré piping tip.

Edited November 16, 2009 by RichardJones (log)

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Richard, that looks so very good! I know I would love it, since I am a big fan of all those elements, and the presentation is great, I haven't really seen a tart decorated like that before with big waves of mousse...

[Kim Shook]

MattyC – lovely brioche. I’m up late tonight and wish I had the energy to make those. How wonderful they would taste with some sweet butter or my Tiptree strawberry preserves!

chocoera – just utterly gorgeous!

Jeff – do you chill your crust after rolling and before filling? That’s supposed to help with shrinkage.

Just some bragging from me – daughter Jessica made her wonderful apple pie:

This one was maybe her best ever. Perfectly cooked apples, not too juicy, not too dry. She really is the pie baker in this family!

[PopsicleToze]

Fall-themed cake: white layer cake with classic buttercream.

Darcie -- that is an amazing cake!! How long did it take you to do that?

Rhonda

Edited November 17, 2009 by PopsicleToze (log)

[RichardJones]

And here's a hastily prepared savoury tart from the same event as the concoction 4 posts above.

[jsmeeker]

Jeff – do you chill your crust after rolling and before filling? That’s supposed to help with shrinkage.

Yup. I sure do.

[Kim Shook]

Jeff – well, then, I have nothing further to offer .

As I mentioned in the dinner thread, I had a job catering desserts and nibbles for 100 for my daughter’s sorority. It was all delivered last night. The menu was:

Coconut Cake w/ Strawberry Filling and Fluffy White Frosting:

Detail:

Chocolate Cake with Fudgy Buttercream:

Detail:

The cake was the CI German Chocolate cake with a frosting that I concocted from combining chocolate buttercream and Abigail Johnson Dodge’s Fudgy Frosting. The buttercream was too stiff and the Fudgy Frosting too loose, but together they piped beautifully and tasted lovely. The decorations are just Snowcaps candies on top of frosting rosettes. The only problem was this:

My frosting sweated! There were these little beads all over the entire cake. I froze the frosted cake and thawed it in the morning and a couple of hours after I set it out, I discovered this. I tried to blot, but that didn’t do any good. After it set out for a few hours, they had diminished somewhat, but were still very evident. So I took some clear sprinkles that I had – very large grains – and drifted them all over the top of the cake. It camouflaged it just fine, so crisis averted, but I’d like to know what I did wrong because freezing a fully decorated cake is a wonderful timesaver and I’d like to be able to do it again.

Half of the Spicy Glazed Peanut Clusters:

Close up:

Cheddar Pecan Cheese Straws:

Half of the Bleu Cheese Shortbread with apricot preserves:

Close up:

Butter Mints in sorority colors:

It was an exhausting experience – one I don’t think I’d want to try again so close to the holidays and while working full time – but a really fun one, too. Jessica said that everyone loved all the food. She was supposed to get a picture of the cut cake, but didn’t.

After we got everything set up Mr. Kim took me to Millie's Diner - a favorite local place for a celebration dinner. With everything – this catering job, work, going to NC to visit/help sick relatives and the holidays coming up – I haven’t been cooking much. We’ve been having quick food – sandwiches, breakfast, canned soup, take out – and I was in need of something real and good and well made. This really fit the bill. On topic, our dessert was their version of a Kit Kat - incredible little sticks of a firm chocolate mousse-like cream and a crust layer of darker chocolate with tiny crunchy bits. I really would love to know how they make this! I know that Michel Ricard does this dessert at Central in Washington, but haven’t had it there and don’t know if it’s the same thing. Does anyone have a recipe for this?

[laniloa]

On topic, our dessert was their version of a Kit Kat - incredible little sticks of a firm chocolate mousse-like cream and a crust layer of darker chocolate with tiny crunchy bits. I really would love to know how they make this! I know that Michel Ricard does this dessert at Central in Washington, but haven’t had it there and don’t know if it’s the same thing. Does anyone have a recipe for this?

Wow! Great job -- looks like a lot of work and a lot of love. Richard's recipe is in Happy In The Kitchen and that page is available on Google books. I've made it before and while very good, it doesn't quite live up to the restaurant's version. It is greatly improved by the use of feuilletine instead of crushed corn flakes.

[CanadianBakin']

Jeff – well, then, I have nothing further to offer .

As I mentioned in the dinner thread, I had a job catering desserts and nibbles for 100 for my daughter’s sorority. It was all delivered last night. The menu was:

Detail:

The cake was the CI German Chocolate cake with a frosting that I concocted from combining chocolate buttercream and Abigail Johnson Dodge’s Fudgy Frosting. The buttercream was too stiff and the Fudgy Frosting too loose, but together they piped beautifully and tasted lovely. The decorations are just Snowcaps candies on top of frosting rosettes. The only problem was this:

My frosting sweated! There were these little beads all over the entire cake. I froze the frosted cake and thawed it in the morning and a couple of hours after I set it out, I discovered this. I tried to blot, but that didn’t do any good. After it set out for a few hours, they had diminished somewhat, but were still very evident. So I took some clear sprinkles that I had – very large grains – and drifted them all over the top of the cake. It camouflaged it just fine, so crisis averted, but I’d like to know what I did wrong because freezing a fully decorated cake is a wonderful timesaver and I’d like to be able to do it again.

What a lot of work! You did a great job. Did you freeze the cake unwrapped? It should be wrapped after it's frozen. Then with the cover on, placed overnight in the fridge or a cool place (right now my trunk would work )Then let it sit at room temp for about an hour before removing the wrappings.

[Kim Shook]

What a lot of work! You did a great job. Did you freeze the cake unwrapped? It should be wrapped after it's frozen. Then with the cover on, placed overnight in the fridge or a cool place (right now my trunk would work )Then let it sit at room temp for about an hour before removing the wrappings.

Thank you! I did freeze the cake unwrapped and then wrapped once the frosting was frozen. But I unwrapped it and defrosted at room temperature. That was my mistake, obviously. What I'm wondering about is how my frosting won't get messed up if I defrost with the plastic wrap still on it. Won't it pull it away/mess it up?

[CanadianBakin']

You could loosen the wrap right away and take it off before it's totally soft but give it a chance to warm up a bit first. It's way easier if you have a box but I know that's a pretty large size. Another thought, I've seen pastry chefs use large clear garbage bags to wrap their product in the freezer. When you bring it out of the freezer maybe you would have enough room to prop the edges up a bit so it wasn't touching the whole top.

Maybe some of the decorator's who do this for a living could give us some tips. I do bake professionally but cakes are not my speciality.

[christinajun]

What a lot of work! You did a great job. Did you freeze the cake unwrapped? It should be wrapped after it's frozen. Then with the cover on, placed overnight in the fridge or a cool place (right now my trunk would work )Then let it sit at room temp for about an hour before removing the wrappings.

Thank you! I did freeze the cake unwrapped and then wrapped once the frosting was frozen. But I unwrapped it and defrosted at room temperature. That was my mistake, obviously. What I'm wondering about is how my frosting won't get messed up if I defrost with the plastic wrap still on it. Won't it pull it away/mess it up?

The best way I've found to do it is freeze the cake, then place it in a cake box vs. wrapping with plastic. Then for defrosting you keep it in the box, in the fridge. It will take much longer to defrost than at room temp, but your cake won't sweat.

[Kim Shook]

Thanks for the info on freezing/thawing frosted cakes - I've printed it out to put with my cake recipes!

This week I made a Margarita Pound Cake for a United Way auction for Mr. Kim’s office. It went for $22 :

[Chioco]

^That margarita cake is gorgeous!

Would you mind sharing the amount of alcohol in the cake? Or did you use a syrup? I'm trying to find the best proportions for an eggnog cake for the holidays

[Kim Shook]

^That margarita cake is gorgeous!

Would you mind sharing the amount of alcohol in the cake? Or did you use a syrup? I'm trying to find the best proportions for an eggnog cake for the holidays

Thank you! It is an extremely easy cake that everyone loves. Here's the recipe. Hope that helps.

[Chioco]

Thank you! To be honest, I wasn't expecting a box, and haven't used on in forever, but I'm suddenly nostalgic for Funfetti And I love the idea of a pretzel crust. Can't wait to try it with brownies!

[stuartlikesstrudel]

I don't have any pictures or fun stuff to show right now, but I'm in the middle of making my first batch of Vanilla ice cream, and my fingers are smelling so good from handling the vanilla bean I just had to mention it! I'm using paulraphael's recipe, and looking forward to churning it in a few hours...

Not really sure what kind of ice creams I like best yet (custard based vs. cornflour/philly/other additives) but i'm hoping I'll like this so i can use it as a base for other flavours and add-ins.

Mmmmm.

(it's the first day of summer here in Aus, so icecream is very appropriate... though many would agree with me that it's appropriate at any time )

[Darienne]

Hooray for you Stuartlikesstrudel making your first, but NOT your last, ice cream and hooray for ice cream, and hooray for Paulraphael, my ice mentor.

[gini]

I have to stop baking pies and bake something else for a change. Pumpkin, cherry and two individuals.

[stuartlikesstrudel]

Hooray for you Stuartlikesstrudel making your first, but NOT your last, ice cream and hooray for ice cream, and hooray for Paulraphael, my ice mentor.

I've made a few other icecreams before, but it was my first try with a vanilla one (which i see as an important one, since there's not a lot going on (such as add-ins, unusual flavours), so the texture, flavour and everything need to be right!).

It worked out well, I was surprised at how strong the vanilla is, it's terrific! The end result was a little icy, but that's probably because I had a bit less cream than I should, and my ice-cream churner is super-old... it's one of the ice-and-salt ones.

Hooray for ice-cream indeed! And for Paul!

Next on my list is the orange szechuan pepper icecream from DL (which you brought my attention to, actually, Darienne ). Looking forward to it very much.

Gini, those pies look so good. I don't know if i've ever had a straight cherry pie. But I very much want to, along with a scoop of my vanilla icecream.

[rena]

Wow Gini those pies look great! I love cherry pie and your lattice ( i think that's what it's called) looks great too!

Rena

[BerrySweeet]

Wow Kim Shook! What an interesting idea for a bundt cake...never thought of doing a Margarita flavored one!