Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Patrick S]

Patrick, your layers are always so perfectly level.  How the heck do you do that? 

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Depending on which dessert we're talking about, its some combination of refrigeration, banging on a table, a thin sharp chef's knife, acetate strips, and a cake leveler. Its funny because when I look at my own pictures, I immediately notice all the deviations from perfect geometry, and it makes me cringe.

[Abra]

Thank you, that was very educational! Because, of that list of techniques I've only done 2 - refrigeration, and a thin sharp knife. Well, I'll admit to banging on the table occasionally, but I've never banged the actual dessert. No, that's not true, I've banged cake batter before putting it in the oven. But is that what you mean? Acetate and a leveler might help me, actually. Although I felt like I was turning pro when I got a cake decorating turntable.

And that beautiful translucent caramel? I have to admit to lurking a lot with your gorgeous photos.

[Megan Blocker]

Patrick, your layers are always so perfectly level.  How the heck do you do that? 

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Depending on which dessert we're talking about, its some combination of refrigeration, banging on a table, a thin sharp chef's knife, acetate strips, and a cake leveler. Its funny because when I look at my own pictures, I immediately notice all the deviations from perfect geometry, and it makes me cringe.

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You make your bed with hospital corners, don't you?

Seriously, your desserts are really gorgeous...you have true talent.

Edited May 1, 2006 by Megan Blocker (log)

[gfron1]

gfron1, can you give us the recipe for the dessert itself please? It looks and sounds amazing!

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Eeks - I'll do my best since I used a few recipes and kept modifying, but here we go:

The pistachio disk was this recipe. But then I modified it a bit by nearly doubling the pistachios because I wanted it to be more crumbly than pastey. Very nice taste and fun to work with on the flower.

The mango curd:

1 C. Sugar

2 T. Orange zest - I would use lime or lemon next time

4 L Eggs

3/4 C. orange juice

1 C. Pureed fresh mango

10.5 oz unsalted butter at room temp, cut into tablespoon sized pieces

1. Boil water in pan big enough to set a mixing bowl in without the water touching.

2. Rub sugar and zest together until fragrant

3. Whisk eggs into sugar and then add the juice and mango.

4. Place the mixing bowl in the double boiler and whisk constantly until the cream thickens and reaches 180 F. Its done when the whisk leaves tracks (180 F).

5. Immediately pull the cream from the heat and strain into bowl, rest until it cools to 140 F.

6. Add butter in blender. After all the butter is incorporated, continue blending for 3-4 min.

7. When a bit cooler add some disolved gelatin if you want to mold it

(Pierre Herme fans will recognize that this is a modification of his lemon recipe).

I then lined my dessert forms with transfer paper, cut the paste into disks and lined the bottom. Poured in the curd and chilled overnight.

Very simple, pretty quick, really delicious.

Edited May 1, 2006 by gfron1 (log)

[Megan Blocker]

I was going to eat these with a little whipped cream...but I couldn't wait. Probably better for me in the long run in any case!

[C. sapidus]

We made Balinese grilled bananas with coconut caramel sauce from the Barbecue Bible. The sauce had carmelized brown sugar, coconut milk, cinnamon, and lemon grass. Thes bananas were coated in coconut milk and sugar, then grilled. Vanilla ice cream for accompaniment.

Thank you, Steven Raichlen. Next time I'll make it with palm sugar, and toss a few cloves in the sauce.

Bruce

[CanadianBakin']

4 layers of Double Chocolate cake with whipping cream/Oreo filling, Fine Cooking's Chocolate Buttercream over all and a chocolate glaze dripping down the sides. It was made with 3 12-year old girls in mind but it was appreciated by the adults as well. I took a picture but I'm not in the digital world yet.

Edited May 1, 2006 by CanadianBakin' (log)

[SweetSide]

gfron1, can you give us the recipe for the dessert itself please? It looks and sounds amazing!

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Eeks - I'll do my best since I used a few recipes and kept modifying, but here we go:

The pistachio disk was this recipe. But then I modified it a bit by nearly doubling the pistachios because I wanted it to be more crumbly than pastey. Very nice taste and fun to work with on the flower.

The mango curd:

1 C. Sugar

2 T. Orange zest - I would use lime or lemon next time

4 L Eggs

3/4 C. orange juice

10.5 oz unsalted butter at room temp, cut into tablespoon sized pieces

1. Boil water in pan big enough to set a mixing bowl in without the water touching.

2. Rub sugar and zest together until fragrant

3. Whisk eggs into sugar and then add the juice.

4. Place the mixing bowl in the double boiler and whisk constantly until the cream thickens and reaches 180 F. Its done when the whisk leaves tracks (180 F).

5. Immediately pull the cream from the heat and strain into bowl, rest until it cools to 140 F.

6. Add butter in blender. After all the butter is incorporated, continue blending for 3-4 min.

7. When a bit cooler add some disolved gelatin if you want to mold it

(Pierre Herme fans will recognize that this is a modification of his lemon recipe).

I then lined my dessert forms with transfer paper, cut the paste into disks and lined the bottom. Poured in the curd and chilled overnight.

Very simple, pretty quick, really delicious.

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Beautiful dessert and sounds delish! But, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this... Ummm, very simple except... How do you make a Mango Curd from Orange Juice?

[gfron1]

Beautiful dessert and sounds delish!  But, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this...  Ummm, very simple except... How do you make a Mango Curd from Orange Juice?

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Oops! I said I had improvised...I took 1 C. fresh mango and pureed it...i thought you could just read my mind.

Edited: I just added the change to the recipe on the previous page.

Edited May 1, 2006 by gfron1 (log)

[miladyinsanity]

gfron1, can you give us the recipe for the dessert itself please? It looks and sounds amazing!

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The pistachio disk was this recipe. But then I modified it a bit by nearly doubling the pistachios because I wanted it to be more crumbly than pastey.

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gfron1, can I take that to mean you just baked pistachio paste for the disk?

[Patrick S]

Patrick, your layers are always so perfectly level.  How the heck do you do that? 

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Depending on which dessert we're talking about, its some combination of refrigeration, banging on a table, a thin sharp chef's knife, acetate strips, and a cake leveler. Its funny because when I look at my own pictures, I immediately notice all the deviations from perfect geometry, and it makes me cringe.

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You make your bed with hospital corners, don't you?

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I'm not obsessive in general, just about food. Honest. I actually fall more into the camp of 'Why make the bed if you're just going to mess it up again later?'

[gfron1]

gfron1, can I take that to mean you just baked pistachio paste for the disk?

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No, I didn't bake it at all - it was a gummy base that had some crumbliness because of the extra pistachios that I added - noted in a previous post.

[Pille]

Mango curd atop a pistachio paste disk with a flower made of sugar dried pinapple with pistachio paste petals (the flower was very fun to make).

Beautiful dessert, Gfron1! I like the pineapple flower!

Here are some flourless strawberry & curd cheese cakes I made the other day:

[Ling]

Yesterday: apple turnover, cookie dough, half a bar of Valrhona

Saturday: Korova cookies with peanut butter cream in the middle, mango strawberry mousse cake

Friday: more Korova cookies, a very rich hot chocolate with whiskey foam, a really nice cheese plate (including my first Humboldt Fog) and candied hazelnuts, caramelized pineapple-lime sorbet, chocolate bavarois and Sauternes

ETA: I also made a pound cake yesterday. Mmm!

Edited May 1, 2006 by Ling (log)

[kaneel]

I have been eating el rey 70% chocolates buttons since saturday.

I better start baking with them before i eat them up..

[kaneel]

Saturday we went to a bakery called dessert gallery and i had the lemon vacherin.....forgot to take a pic .

I have been eating el rey 70% chocolates buttons since saturday.

I better start baking with them before i eat them up....

[miladyinsanity]

gfron1, can I take that to mean you just baked pistachio paste for the disk?

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No, I didn't bake it at all - it was a gummy base that had some crumbliness because of the extra pistachios that I added - noted in a previous post.

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Ah, I see now. Thank you.

[godiv@]

Beautiful dessert and sounds delish!  But, and I'm sure I'm not the only one thinking this...  Ummm, very simple except... How do you make a Mango Curd from Orange Juice?

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Oops! I said I had improvised...I took 1 C. fresh mango and pureed it...i thought you could just read my mind.

Edited: I just added the change to the recipe on the previous page.

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Back to the orange juice in the recipe as well as the zest. Did the mango taste come through? Or does the zest overpower it? I've got someone comming in for a consultation who wants a mango filling and I was thinking a simple mango curd, but yours sounds good.

[Joni]

Patrick...love the idea of a caramel layer on top of brownies! How did you do your caramel...did you make it from Sherry Yard's cookbook?

[Patrick S]

Patrick...love the idea of a caramel layer on top of brownies!  How did you do your caramel...did you make it from Sherry Yard's cookbook?

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No, basically those brownies are (basically) CI's turtle brownies minus the pecans. The caramel recipe is as follows:

1/4 cup heavy cream plus 2 additional tablespoons

1/4 teaspoon table salt

1/4 cup water

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 1/4 cups sugar (8 3/4 ounces)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the cream and salt. Set aside.

Combine the water, corn syrup and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cover for a few minutes so that they steam will wash away any stray sugar grains on the side of hte pan. Uncover and cook over medium-high heat until the sugar is caramelized, about 360F.

Remove from heat, and carefully stir in the cream. You might want to wear an oven mit so you're sure not to get any steam burns. I find that if you stir the cream in slowly rather than dumping it all in at once, the caramel doesn't sieze up so much and you don't have to spend time remelting the caramel -- but watch out for that steam!

One the cream in incorporated, add the butter and vanilla. Pour about 3/4C of the caramel over your 9" pan of brownies, a chill in the fridge. The brownies should be kept somewhat cool because the caramel will "melt" a little at room temperature.

[gfron1]

Back to the orange juice in the recipe as well as the zest.  Did the mango taste come through? Or does the zest overpower it?  I've got someone comming in for a consultation who wants a mango filling and I was thinking a simple mango curd, but yours sounds good.

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The mango did come through loud and clear. I was worried initially worried that the curd would be too mild, which is one reason I added the orange (which I chose over lemon because I was afraid lemon would be too strong and overpower the mango). This all depends, of course, on which mango and which oranges. My oranges were very sweet, and not biting at all, so the flavor blended well with the mango.

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Now, in general, my apologies to the regulars of this thread. I had no idea that my pic would generate such interest. Had I anticipated the interest I would have been much more explicit up front, thus saving us from so many posts. So thank you for being patient, and moreso to everyone for being excited about this dessert - it was really yummy - the only major change I will do next time is make a pistachio shortbread for the base and save the pistachio paste for the flower decorations.

[Patrick S]

I finally got around to using my new hemisphere molds. This is a frozen mousse bombe with a flourless chocolate cake base, a honey/Manjari glaze, and some cocoa macarons for garnish. The only thing I wasnt happy with was that the glaze turned dull as soon as it went on the mousse dome . . . which I guess is unavoidable since the mousse was frozen.

[CanadianBakin']

WOW!! It's gorgeous!

[SweetSide]

WOW!! It's gorgeous!

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No Kidding -- great work Patrick!

[Patrick S]

Thanks, CB and Cheryl!