Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[jumanggy]

Mary Elizabeth: A friend just gave me The Sweet Spot as a congratulatory gift, so I may be able to help you on your problem pretty soon.

Kim: Ah, you're being too hard on yourself! The use of jelly roll is pretty imaginative, and the execution's good. That's a chocolate swiss roll with the same IMBC to fill it?

Randi: Humph, make me jealous with your abundance of berries why don't you?! it looks really good!

Sugar Plum: Well done! I've never done a tiered cake before (no occasion for it, PLUS I'm frightened), so I'm very impressed! I can just imagine your hand mixer huffing and puffing, heh It looks really beautiful (plus I am once again jealous of the berries...)

Here's a few I've collected over the months..

Hidden Berry Cream Cheese Torte from Baking: From My Home To Yours. Really good, though I would add way more jam next time.

Frozen Banana Parfait with a fudge sauce (okay, ganache. whatever...)

White Chocolate Poundcake with Peanut Butter Ganache and Strawberry Ice Cream filling. Peanut Butter Ganache made with bittersweet chocolate is a horrible, horrible idea. As is pairing it with strawberry ice cream. Gross.

Pear Belle Helene with Maple Walnut Ice Cream and Salted Butter Caramel Sauce. The last two components are from The Perfect Scoop. I was supposed to put it in the plated desserts topic but I don't think it's complex enough.

Spice Cake with Penuche Frosting. Hah, "frosting" my *ss. Really thin and runny, more like a grainy glaze. But it did taste good.

Poached Plum Frangipane Tart, inspired by a recipe from Gordon Ramsay's Recipes from a 3-Star Chef

"Tarzan": crepe filled with bananas and served with condensed milk, chocolate sauce, and dulce de leche ice cream. The last bits are store-bought of course... (whaddya mean, "of course?!")

Passionfruit vacherin with blackberry sauce. I wish I had made raspberry sauce so it'd stand out more. Oh, and I wish this country had passionfruits that tasted like passionfruits and not water.

Edited July 28, 2008 by jumanggy (log)

[Chufi]

Yesterday I made blueberry madeleines (I simply added some blueberries to a basic madeleine batter). They were good but because I added a lot of berries, they were very fragile and ´jammy´.

today I made pancakes with the leftover batter, and to be honest these were better than the madeleines.

Edited July 28, 2008 by Chufi (log)

[Kim Shook]

Kim: Ah, you're being too hard on yourself! The use of jelly roll is pretty imaginative, and the execution's good. That's a chocolate swiss roll with the same IMBC to fill it?

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I wish! I am very embarrassed to admit that those are Little Debbies:blush: ! I don't know if you even have those. They are very cheap, icky packaged snack cakes consumed mostly by children . I did peel off the waxy, terrible chocolate before pressing them into the cake .

Those desserts are just awesome! I am very impressed and now hungry, too! That gooey fudge over the banana parfait is so gorgeous and glisten-y and wonderful! And the Poached Plum Frangipane Tart is adorable - I especially like the little heart petals in the sauce !!

Chufi - ohhhhhh! Those pancakes. I want pancakes for dinner tonight!!! Lovely!

[judiu]

Yesterday I made blueberry madeleines (I simply added some blueberries to a basic madeleine batter). They were good but because I added a lot of berries, they were very fragile and ´jammy´.

today I made pancakes with the leftover batter, and to be honest these were better than the madeleines.

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Chufi, darlin', of course they were better; they're FRIED!

[Mary Elizabeth]

jumanggy--You do a beautiful job plateing. The photos of the cheese torte from overhead and the pear belle helene are as good as it gets.

[emmalish]

I made Pierre Herme's chocolate madeleines this morning. I'm not sure how I feel about this recipe. It's the first madeleine recipe I've made where the butter isn't melted, which made for a heavier batter. I'm not sure I like the texture. And I'd definitely like something with more chocolate flavour. I'm going to try another recipe tomorrow and see how it compares. I will say, however, that this is the best hump I've ever gotten on a madeleine.

I also made Ina Garten's cheese dill scones, but without the dill (it's not a sweet – do savouries count?). I've only tried a little piece so far. I'll let you know tomorrow how I like these, but what I tasted was pretty flavourful.

Edited to say I couldn't wait for breakfast – I'm eating one of the scones right now and it's delicious. So buttery and cheesy. I'll definitely make these again.

Edited July 29, 2008 by emmalish (log)

[nakji]

I will say, however, that this is the best hump I've ever gotten on a madeleine.

I'm not quite sure why, but this made me laugh out loud.

My husband came home with some punnets of raspberries that he got for the unbelievably low price of 150 yen each. Considering they usually retail for about 900 yen each (around $8 US), I was thrilled. I didn't want to waste them all on out of hand eating, and I already had some frozen in the freezer. Then I had a brief flash of kitchen serendipity, when I saw a had a few lemons that needed dealing with, and a box of Fauchon butter cookies that a student had given me. Ta da! Lemon raspberry parfaits. I made a custard with the lemons and crushed the cookies up, which was about all I could manage in a hot summer kitchen.

This thread makes me so sad I don't have an oven

Edited July 29, 2008 by nakji (log)

[Lisa2k]

This is a cake that I made for work.  I'm not terribly pleased with how it ended up looking.  The humidity made my meringue buttercream 'slump' a bit, I think.  It tasted great, but wasn't as fluffy as it has been for me in the past.  Also, I obviously need some practice with spacing my lettering!  The little swirly things are slices of Swiss Roll.  I thought they'd look cute.  The cake is devil's food and the icing just plain vanilla - my idea was doing a Swiss Roll cake.  Good idea, I think, but execution needs some work!

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KIm..I think it looks awesome..besides, when you look at it, you just want to dig into it instantly. As gorgeous as it is, it has that 'homemade' cozy look to it, which makes it all the more appealing I would LOVE to get that as a birthday or celebration cake. Besides, I know what you mean about the lettering. I've been baking and decorating cakes since I was 10, and I still can't do a decent lettering on a cake!

Also, that apple tart recipe is in my blog, and thank you for the compliment. You MUST try the green apple ice..so refreshing and delicious!

[Kim Shook]

KIm..I think it looks awesome..besides, when you look at it, you just want to dig into it instantly.  As gorgeous as it is, it has that 'homemade' cozy look to it, which makes it all the more appealing   I would LOVE to get that as a birthday or celebration cake.  Besides, I know what you mean about the lettering.  I've been baking and decorating cakes since I was 10, and I still can't do a decent lettering on a cake!

Also, that apple tart recipe is in my blog, and thank you for the compliment.  You MUST try the green apple ice..so refreshing and delicious!

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Thank you, Miss Lisa!!! Lettering are hard !

Thank you also for directing me to the recipes for the apple tart, ice, etc. I cannot wait to make them! We go apple picking every fall and this will be the first thing that I make!

[emmalish]

I will say, however, that this is the best hump I've ever gotten on a madeleine.

I'm not quite sure why, but this made me laugh out loud.

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Whoops.

No pics yet, but I made the 2nd madeleines recipe this morning. MUCH better. VERY chocolatey. Pierre Herme's used cocoa powder with the flour, this new one has bittersweet chocolate melted with the butter and folded in at the end. They have the delicately spongey texture I'm looking for in a madeleine.

Oh, and Kim, I agree with everyone else – I love the jelly-roll spirals you used to decorate that cake! I'll totally steal that idea.

Edited July 29, 2008 by emmalish (log)

[John DePaula]

I've been working my way through my New Year's resolution of following a new pastry/baking recipe a week. Last week it was Dorie Greenspan's extraordinary lemon tart. Added some fresh raspberries too:

I managed to goof up the crust recipe, but it turned out very well. I think I got one teeny slice of it before my husband finally polished it off yesterday!

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Wow, that's a beauty!

[apronless]

(Originally posted in the confections thread because I got too excited about the prospect of sharing to make sure I was in the right thread. siiigh!)

I've been working my way through my New Year's resolution of following a new pastry/baking recipe a week. Last week it was Dorie Greenspan's extraordinary lemon tart. Added some fresh raspberries too:

I managed to goof up the crust recipe, but it turned out very well. I think I got one teeny slice of it before my husband finally polished it off yesterday!

[emmalish]

Wow, those berries are perfect. How was the lemon filling? I'd like to try that one myself...

[apronless]

Wow, those berries are perfect. How was the lemon filling? I'd like to try that one myself...

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I saw a carton of those berries when I went grocery shopping and knew they were destined for a lemon tart.

The filling is divine. Very, very silky. I've read that its hard to get the egg/sugar mixture up to temp (160F I think) when making, but I had no problems with it. I'll definitely recommend giving it a go.

Edited July 29, 2008 by apronless (log)

[sanrensho]

No pics yet, but I made the 2nd madeleines recipe this morning. MUCH better. VERY chocolatey. Pierre Herme's used cocoa powder with the flour, this new one has bittersweet chocolate melted with the butter and folded in at the end.

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Good to hear you found a recipe you liked. I'm also not a fan of PH's cocoa madelaines. In fact, I need to sticky that page to remind myself not to make it again.

[emmalish]

No pics yet, but I made the 2nd madeleines recipe this morning. MUCH better. VERY chocolatey. Pierre Herme's used cocoa powder with the flour, this new one has bittersweet chocolate melted with the butter and folded in at the end.

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Good to hear you found a recipe you liked. I'm also not a fan of PH's cocoa madelaines. In fact, I need to sticky that page to remind myself not to make it again.

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sanrensho, this is the recipe I tried this morning. They're not as dark as PH's, but they have a much richer chocolate flavour. I did like PH's idea of adding lemon zest tho – I'll probably try that next time I make these.

Edited July 30, 2008 by emmalish (log)

[gfron1]

Not my prettiest, but here's a passionfruit curd tartlet with mango slices. I've only used glazes once before (I prefer natural looking desserts), and so its not an even glaze.

The only reason I made this is I need to find a shell that works consistently for me, so I went to Baking with Julia and her chocolate shell. The shell was fine. The rest was just okay.

[Mary Elizabeth]

gfron--I've experienced various clear glazes beading up like that. I wonder what the trick is to get the glaze to evenly cover the tart.

panettone from a recipe from Emporio Rulli in San Francisco

chestnut squares from Healy/Bugat French Cookie Book

sables from Healy/Bugat

Edited August 4, 2008 by Mary Elizabeth (log)

[Kim Shook]

For dessert last night, I made pots de creme:

I had never made this before and had no idea how easy it was! I got the recipe from Pioneer Woman. This is a no cook recipe - everything done in the blender. I'm not a coffee fan, so I used skim milk as the hot liquid. So good! I'll be making this recipe over and over again!

[DesertCulinary]

I was in the mood for something decadent today and these Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts really hit the spot.

Fudgy brownie base, studded with salted peanuts, with a chunky peanut butter frosting slathered on top and a slick layer of melted bittersweet chocolate and butter to finish them off.

Edited August 10, 2008 by DesertCulinary (log)

[amdellutri]

I was in the mood for something decadent today and these Peanut Butter and Fudge Brownies with Salted Peanuts really hit the spot.

Fudgy brownie base, studded with salted peanuts, with a chunky peanut butter frosting slathered on top and a slick layer of melted bittersweet chocolate and butter to finish them off.

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Did you get this recipe from a cookbook? If so, which one?

[jumanggy]

Mary: Oooh, that chestnut square is killing me!

Kim: (You guys seem to be torturing me with chocolate-- not that I don't have any sitting in storage ) I love that the pots de creme is no-cook. By how much does the texture differ from a baked PDC, or a stovetop pudding?

Joe: Cool, they look like peanut butter brownie millionaire's shortbread, I love it.

Honey Castella (as per Pichet Ong's recipe): I'm following a discussion of this at the eG Japan Baking forum. I've already gotten a request to repeat it, but I don't like repeating so soon after I just made it a few days ago. Good thing it's quite easy to make.

[Shelby]

Banana cream pie!

[David Ross]

Huckleberry Ice Cream-

Sorry-I didn't use this season's fresh Huckleberries for the ice cream. I always stretch out my yearly allotment of Huckleberries so that I have a small bag from the previous years crop in the freezer as we approach August.

As a final farewell to the '07 vintage crop, I made this delicious ice cream. You don't need hot fudge sauce or nuts on Huckleberry Ice Cream. You just serve it unadorned in all of its natural glory.

In about two weeks I'll head up to the mountains to get a couple of gallons of this year's crop of Huckleberries. It should be interesting. I'm not hopeful of a great crop of sweet berries this summer. We had our longest winter and heaviest snowfall in fifty years. Didn't see much sun until June and it hasn't been overly hot. That's not the perfect weather for Huckleberries-they like lots of sun early in the summer and into late August.

I always resist the temptation to be the first person in line to get Huckleberries every year. The longer you wait, the longer the berries stay on the bushes and that means they get sweeter.

The problem is, if you wait too long into late summer for the berries to ripen, you have to compete with the bears who start fattening up on Huckleberries as they prepare for hibernation!

[thecoffeesnob]

I've recently been going through a citrus craze so i couldn't resist making a couple batches of mini lemon madeleines.

Also i made a batch of banana cupcakes with chocolate and sour cream ganache the other day for a couple of friends my mum had over. Unbelievably good!