Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[Ling]

I like this recipe but I don't use all the spices (sometimes I just use what I have on hand). I also increase the amount of raisins. (I also use the jumbo sized raisins that come in a plastic package...they are moister than the dried out little things in the bulk bins!)

[Chufi]

Oh, now I have a serious craving for oatmeal raisin cookies!

I made a pretty nice pistachiocake yesterday. It has ground pistacios, eggyolks and whipped eggwhites, sugar, a little bit of flour and only a tablespoon of butter. Flavored with orangezest. Orangejuice poured over when it came out of the oven, so it's nice and moist.

[Abra]

Klary, will you give us the pistachio cake recipe? I love pistachios, and eat some almost every day.

Those Sanafir desserts are sure gorgeous, Lorna, especially that chocolate sushi. As to the espresso chiffon, I was surprised at how little it tasted like coffee, considering how dark the espresso had been, and how much of it there was in the batter. It tasted good, but only slightly of coffee. More nutty, I'd say.

Now I want panna cotta - a perfect summer dessert.

[Eden]

Our garden is providing tons of blackberries right now, so Bill on a whim yesterday afternoon decided to riff on peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.

He made a fresh blackberry sorbet, whipped up some Dreyers Vanilla ice-cream with a bit of PB into a surprisingly good peanut butter ice-cream, and talked me into making him little bread shaped cookies. the result was incredibly tasty - great flavor & texture combinations, and you had to laugh while you ate them because they were SO adorable & goofy at the same time.

the artist at work

[Ling]

Klary, will you give us the pistachio cake recipe?  I love pistachios, and eat some almost every day.

Those Sanafir desserts are sure gorgeous, Lorna, especially that chocolate sushi.  As to the espresso chiffon, I was surprised at how little it tasted like coffee, considering how dark the espresso had been, and how much of it there was in the batter.  It tasted good, but only slightly of coffee.  More nutty, I'd say.

Now I want panna cotta - a perfect summer dessert.

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and I think the chocolate sushi is quite ugly and gimmicky. It didn't taste good...it was a thick chocolate shell (not so tasty) around a goopy rice pudding (lots of thickener, I suspect). I think the other two desserts are gorgeous--actually, all the food I photographed from Sanafir is gorgeous, though unfortunately didn't taste as good as it looked.

The coffee chiffon is very mild in flavour...it is similar to those cakes sold at HK-style bakeries.

[Chufi]

Klary, will you give us the pistachio cake recipe?  I love pistachios, and eat some almost every day.

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I heavily modified the recipe from Bugialli's book Foods of Sicily and Sardinia. First of all, I halved the recipe, because when I bake, I try to bake small cakes (portion control, you know).

So here's what ended up in the cake:

4 ounces finely ground pistachios

1 whole egg and 2 yolks (keep the whites of those)

1 tablespoon of butter

2 1/2 ounces sugar

pinch of salt

teaspoon baking powder

2 ounces flour (he says potato sarch, but I didn't have any)

1 teaspoon orangeflower water (my addition)

grated rind of 1 orange (keep the orange)

All mixed together. Then beat the 2 eggwhites until stiff and fold them in.

This was enough for a small 7 " springform tin (buttered and lined). Bake at 375 until risen and golden and firm on top (mine took about 30 minutes)

Juice the orange and soak the cake with the juice.

The original recipe uses Marsala to soak the cake, and an icing (glassa) of sugar, orange juice and saffron.

The flavor combo of pistachios and orange is really good, I think.

[maggiethecat]

My birthday cake -- Martha Stewart's Pineapple/Mango Unside Down cake from her new baking book. Sensationally good, but you know -- I sort of miss the maraschino cherries.

[Megan Blocker]

ling, it seems to me that at every canadian restaurant you eat in, they garnish so many of the desserts with gooseberries.  are they indigenous to the western regions?

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I actually had a dessert the other day, here in New York, garnished with a few gooseberries. I thought of Ling!

[Abra]

Happy Birthday, Maggie! I love pineapple upsidedown cake. Hmmm, maybe I'll have to bake that for Chufi when she's here, it's so ultra-American.

Thanks for that pistachio recipe, Klary. I'm going to try that for sure.

It's true, Ling, that taste influences the perception of beauty. I would have a hard time thinking something was pretty if I knew it tasted crummy. I like the look of that sushi though - maybe I'm just a sucker for gimmickry at heart. For example, I totally love this sushi gimmick too.

[Ling]

^The candy sushi is adorable! I missed that the first time it was posted.

I had dinner with my family today...for dessert, I had the Mozart cake (meringue, chocolate buttercream, some sort of vanilla cream filling?), and sampled my brother's tiramisu, my sister's cheesecake, and my dad's Russian cake dessert. It reminded me of the mille crepes and the filling was kind of tart, like whipped cream and creme fraiche, and there were sour cherries on top. That was the best. (My mom also had the Mozart cake so I didn't steal any of hers. )

[miladyinsanity]

(My mom also had the Mozart cake so I didn't steal any of hers.  )

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Ling, if we ever meet for a meal, I'll know what to do.

I had chewy, cracked macarons with no feet. I've a theory that less sugar = more cracking and harder macarons. We shall find out whether it pans out soon.

I also had another slice of RLB's Chocolate domingo cake--I agree, RLB's cakes tend to be very very very dry.

[Becca Porter]

Last night I had Cooks Illustrateds Classic white layer cake with raspberry almond filling. It was really fantastic. The confectioners frosting was a little sweet, but most people love that. I just don't eat the majority of the frosting.

I am sorry I do not have a cut piece, I ran out of film.

[Lumas]

Hello everyone, it has been a while since I have posted on these forums. I am a novice who really does not have much experience with cooking or baking, but I am doing my best this summer (3 months off from college) to bake as much as I can. I am still working on my lack of photography skills so be gentle when you view my pictues. Ok, the past few days I have baked two things.

Brownies from Chocolate Obsession:

Almond Tart from Molto Italiano:

The brownies turned out well. They are very moist. I've tryed CI brownies before and I did not like them at all.

The almond tart was....um... different. The pastry crust was enjoyable. It had a nice almond taste to it. The filling is where it goes wrong. Apricot jam, ground almonds and a macaroon type top. I wont be making this again.

I have learned so much already by reading posts from all of you. Im jealous of Ling and all the desserts she is able to eat Tomorrow I will be attempting to grill some pinapple slices with cracked peper, a orange juice type sauce and vanilla ice cream. I will post it up if all goes well. Grilling and me = noone wants to touch my food. Take care everyone.

[Ling]

Ling, if we ever meet for a meal, I'll know what to do.

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Beautiful cake, Becca!

I had mango mousse cake today from a HK-style bakery, and some maple flavoured nougat candies.

Lumas, you're too modest...the brownies look great. Is that the recipe with dark, milk, and white chocolate in it? I was going to make the almond tart from that book one day, but I guess I'll be giving that a pass...

Edited July 11, 2006 by Ling (log)

[Lumas]

Lumas, you're too modest...the brownies look great. Is that the recipe with dark, milk, and white chocolate in it? I was going to make the almond tart from that book one day, but I guess I'll be giving that a pass...

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I really am extremely new to baking. I've been cooking and baking on and off for the past year, but have only made maybe 20-30 desserts. I am only 22 right now so I have alot of time to still learn. But thanks for the compliment ling. I appreciate it.

The brownies were made with 5oz of unsweetend chocolate. Half of it gets melted with butter and the other half gets chopped and folded in at the end. Theres no cocoa powder or anything.

Yea, I really love almond desserts and this Almond tart looked so good in Batali's book. To be honest, im not the biggest Batali fan. For the filling, I folded the ground almonds and chocolate into the eggwhites. After baking, the ground almonds and chocolate sank down instead of really being mixed into the macaroon. Maybe I didn't beat the egg whites until they were stiff? They were very glossy, but they only held soft-medium peaks? Should I have beaten them until they were stiff?

So I had a macaroon layer, almond layer and jam later. This could be why I did not care for the recipe. I was basically eating an all almond layer with nothing else in it. I do have another tart shell in the fridge (the recipe makes two) so I will try this recipe within the next week or so again. I might add a little more than the 1/2 cup of jam he suggests and I will beat the egg whites until they are really stiff. Ling, I will let you know if it comes out any better next time.

Edited July 11, 2006 by Lumas (log)

[gfron1]

Lumas...if your pastries are as good as the photos...you're no rookie. These look fantastic.

[gfron1]

I tried something new that has been stewing in my mind ever since Patrick posted a jaconde cake a while back. The bottom was a thin jaconde layer, topped with mascarapone mixed with limoncello, lemon zest, and whipped cream, topped fresh blackberries, then with another jaconde layer soaked with limoncello, more cheese/cream with berries, wrapped up in jaconde. It was pretty good, but I think I could have made it a bit sweeter and liquory-er.

[Stephanie Wallace]

Very Nice! Coincidentally, my boss just gave me a huge bushel of blackberries picked from her property. I made a lime cream tart topped with blackberries:

[Lumas]

Went out into the city with a good friend today. We went to Jacques Torres' chocolate shop in Manhattan. Sampled a bunch of his chocolates inlcuding: melon (was soooo good), ginger (not strong enough), chai tea (ok), wicked (chiles, very good) and a few others. The melon was really good. I could eat a whole small box (12 count) of them. I also got a frozen orange hot chocolate. Tasted too orangey, overpowering the dark chocolate. I had a mudslide cookie, which was brownie like and contained walnuts. I don't know excatly why they called it a mudslide cookie, but it was good.

I bought a extra mudslide cookie and a bag of chocolate covered graham crackers.

[Ling]

^Oh wow, you're so lucky!

Your blackberry desserts look incredible...wish I could have some!

Today I had some vanilla ice-cream and I'm busy trying to decide which two desserts to make this week. One has to be a Sicilian dessert for our Sicilian dinner (I'm thinking of doing an interpretation of cassata) and the other will be a Southern dessert for a biscuits and gravy meal!

[Abra]

Ling, for a southern-style dessert at this time of year I don't think you could do better than a strawberry (or raspberry) rhubarb pie. It's what's fresh.

I sampled cinnamon buns I made for my Thai neighbor, and for my husband

My neighbor wanted not too sweet, no nuts, some raisins, not too much cinnamon, no frosting. Chefpeon gave me her recipe suggestions to meet that request. In an effort to make them more Thai-style, I used palm sugar in the swirl, and it really disappeared into the dough. For my husband I used no raisins, but instead I added ground hazelnuts, with brown sugar and a little frosting.

If I'd been making them for myself, they would have been sweeter, cinnamonier, and way stickier.

[LindaL]

Ling, for a southern-style dessert at this time of year I don't think you could do better than a strawberry (or raspberry) rhubarb pie.  It's what's fresh.

I sampled cinnamon buns I made for my Thai neighbor, and for my husband

My neighbor wanted not too sweet, no nuts, some raisins, not too much cinnamon, no frosting.  Chefpeon gave me her recipe suggestions to meet that request.  In an effort to make them more Thai-style, I used palm sugar in the swirl, and it really disappeared into the dough.  For my husband I used no raisins, but instead I added ground hazelnuts, with brown sugar and a little frosting.

If I'd been making them for myself, they would have been sweeter, cinnamonier, and way stickier.

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Hi Abra,

Normally I would just look and drool but your cinnamon buns look soooo yum to remain quiet. Which recipe is this? I have always used Peter Reinhart's recipe in his Baker's Apprentice book, I'm happy with it but wondering if I can be even happier . Thanks for sharing.

[Ling]

The sticy buns look so good, Abra...better than ones I see at bakeries. I have to make some for myself sometime, and cover them with a really rich, buttery caramel.

Ling, for a southern-style dessert at this time of year I don't think you could do better than a strawberry (or raspberry) rhubarb pie.  It's what's fresh.

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Henry was reading over my shoulder and begged me to make a strawberry pie for our Southern meal. I actually haven't made strawberry pie before! I hope I'll have time to render lard for the crust.

[Lumas]

I had some blueberries that were getting soft in the fridge so I decided to make a few mini berry tarts. A fast, simple crust made in the food processor, chilled for a brief period, and kind of rolled out and set in the tart pans quickly. I was in a rush today so the pastry didn't come out too pretty I Layered plain blueberries on the bottom and poured over a custard type filling containing Kirsch. They tasted pretty darn good.

Blueberry Tarts:

Edited July 13, 2006 by Lumas (log)

[Abra]

The bun recipe is one I got from Chefpeon, it's very eggy and buttery. I tweaked it a tiny bit by adding a little fiori di Sicilia As predicted, my neighbor did want it fluffier, but her husband said he'd eaten 5 in a row, so I'm glad they aren't going to waste. I'm going to try again but double the yeast, to try to get that airy crumb.

Ling, would you do the caramel as a smear then invert them, or really put it on the top?