Your Daily Sweets (2005-2012)

[RodneyCk]

For dessert, apple cake from a recipe found at Payard's website. Simple but satisfying.

Flickr

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Very nice Patrick. I see this cake calls for 3 T of dark rum as part of the liquid portion. How discernable was the rum flavor in the cake? If not very, do you think it would have been better served in the glaze or as a glaze?

[Patrick S]

For dessert, apple cake from a recipe found at Payard's website. Simple but satisfying.

Flickr

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Very nice Patrick. I see this cake calls for 3 T of dark rum as part of the liquid portion. How discernable was the rum flavor in the cake? If not very, do you think it would have been better served in the glaze or as a glaze?

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I only used 1T of rum in this cake (none of us here are big fans of rum), and the flavor is definitely discernable, but not strong. With 3T, I imagine the flavor would be fairly strong. If you like a strong rum flavor, I would make the cake with 3T rum. I would then sample the cake, and if you decide you want more rummishness, I would mix some rum with the jelly glaze.

[Chufi]

Applepie Season is here!

this one is made with Bramley apples, chopped prunes and bits of marzipan, and oatcrumble on top.

[Chihiran]

Such gorgeous pictures! Chufi, your applepie looks so rustic! Do you have a recipe?

As for me, I went on a huge chocolate binge yesterday. Oh well, it happens.

[Chufi]

Chufi, your applepie looks so rustic! Do you have a recipe?

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It is basically this recipe for Dutch applepie: Click

except, instead of raisins and candied citron, I used chopped prunes and some grated marzipan for flavorings. Also, I had scaled down the recipe for my small springform pan (trying to bake small pies so we won't eat as much ) and then I did not have enough dough to make the lattice crust, so I made a quick crumble by mixing together some oats, sugar, butter and flour.

The prunes were really good in the pie!

[amccomb]

I made the groom's cake for my brother's wedding, and had both wedding cake and groom's cake for dessert!

The cake was the Double Chocolate cake from the "best chocolate cake" thread and it was filled with peanut butter mousse AND peanut butter frosting (my brother's choice!) and iced with a ganache and then a mirror glaze. The decoration was peanut butter bark from epicurious.com.

The cake:

The inside (it's sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate it!):

Next to bride's cake (for sense of scale - it was actually about the size of the bride's cake! It was about 15 inches across and 13 inches high.):

Boy am I glad that's done! Too much pressure for me.

[Ling]

Beautiful cake! I love how you did the peanut butter bark. It reminds me of the topping on a Dobos Torte.

Yesterday was the last of the cheesecake, some gingersnaps, and at Feenie's--sticky toffee pudding with nutmeg ice-cream, and a trio of ice-cream/sorbets (caramel fleur de sel, poire williams, and cherry.)

[Pam R]

The groom's cake is gorgeous. How did it taste?

[amccomb]

The groom's cake is gorgeous.  How did it taste?

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Thank you! It tastes pretty darn good! But I am overly critical and I noticed a million things wrong with it. I probably won't do the mirror glaze again. I prefer straight ganache.

My brother was thrilled with it and was going on and on about the groom's cake being the talk of the wedding, so I was totally floating. I hate to brag, but it tasted better than the wedding cake!

[Kim Shook]

I made the groom's cake for my brother's wedding, and had both wedding cake and groom's cake for dessert!

The cake was the Double Chocolate cake from the "best chocolate cake" thread and it was filled with peanut butter mousse AND peanut butter frosting (my brother's choice!) and iced with a ganache and then a mirror glaze.  The decoration was peanut butter bark from epicurious.com.

The cake:

The inside (it's sideways and I can't figure out how to rotate it!):

Next to bride's cake (for sense of scale - it was actually about the size of the bride's cake! It was about 15 inches across and 13 inches high.):

Boy am I glad that's done!  Too much pressure for me. 

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Gorgeous! I want to try to duplicate this because my very favorite flavor combination is chocolate and peanut butter. I went out on the internet searching for 'mirror glazing' which I had never heard of - from what I found, I think it is probably beyond my capabilities, but it was funny - I think I found Wendy DeBord on an old discussion from 2000 on a board on WebFoodPros.com! Was that you Wendy, all those years ago trying to get a bunch of French guys to explain a clear glaze to you???

[RuthWells]

Last night I made the Croque-Tele cookies from Dorie Greenspan's "Paris Sweets". It's a simple sable cookie, made with ground almonds and plenty of butter, and a soupcon of salt. They're very good, and I have no pix. It occurs to me that every cookie I've made from this book is a winner; I should try more of them!

[amccomb]

Gorgeous!  I want to try to duplicate this because my very favorite flavor combination is chocolate and peanut butter.  I went out on the internet searching for 'mirror glazing' which I had never heard of - from what I found, I think it is probably beyond my capabilities, but it was funny - I think I found Wendy DeBord on an old discussion from 2000 on a board on WebFoodPros.com!  Was that you Wendy, all those years ago trying to get a bunch of French guys to explain a clear glaze to you??? 

I had issues with the mirror glaze I made. I think I misunderstood what it was for (just the top, apparently), and used it for the whole cake. Then, I didn't know the exact weight of my gelatin sheets, so I added too little, but then used powdered gelatin to correct my mistake and used too much! So instead of a glaze, it was more of an icing. Edited to add that the texture was very similar to pudding with the amount of gelatin I used.

But it was very shiny! The taste was like hot cocoa with a floral note. I used a layer of ganache underneath to smooth out the surface before applying the glaze, and I'm glad I did because I prefer the flavor of the ganache and it tamed the floral note a bit.

Here's the recipe I used (I multiplied it times 4):

1 cup cream

1 1/4 cups water

2/3 cup sugar

2/3 cup honey

1 1/2 cups cocoa powder (I used Valrhona, which has a nice dark color)

12 g leaf gelatin

Bring cream, water, honey and sugar to a boil. Whisk in cocoa powder cook and about 2 more minutes, stirring the whole time. Pour into a bowl and cool 10-15 minutes. Soak leaf gelatin in cold water until soft. Stir gelatin into cocoa mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Edited October 9, 2006 by amccomb (log)

[miladyinsanity]

Mocha cake. Great recipe. I'll be making another one to frost sometime.

I can't believe I ruined Ling's brownie recipe! I've made it a dozen times before. Okay, that's exaggerating. I've made it at least half a dozen times before now. But I still ruined it.

Going back through what I did, I found out that I put less chocolate than I should have, more butter, and only half the amount of eggs.

No, I'm not on drugs. I just think I should be.

ETA: I just came back from the kitchen. When I was in the kitchen, I found out that I had forgotten to use pieweights for my blindbaked crusts.

PS Please laugh at me. I'd like to know that after all the trouble I've gone through, at least somebody's enjoying my series of mishaps.

Edited October 9, 2006 by miladyinsanity (log)

[gfron1]

For those of you not following the challenge thread...here's my dessert from last night:

Mincemeat (suet, meat, pineapple, apricot, raisin) tamale with homemade masa (posole, fresh corn, orange zest); Sage ice cream sweetened with agave nectar; Burnt cinnamon bison flag; plated with pineapple coulis and green chile marmalade. RECIPE

Edited October 9, 2006 by gfron1 (log)

[Patrick S]

Way to go, gfron! Very creative, as usual.

[Abra]

gfron1 and ammcomb - WOW!

Patrick, too funny! I made that same apple cake on Friday, and was very underwhelmed. It looks like you diced up the apples, which is the smart thing to do. I spent the time doing the finicky arranging the recipe calls for, and then it was almost invisible in the finished and sliced cake. I was out of rum, so I used Calvados, the whole 3T, and it wasn't too much, especially given that there's no vanilla or salt in the recipe. I even used my home-dried raisins, and then regretted wasting them in such a boring cake.

[Chihiran]

Ruthwells, I love the tv cookies. I think it's the salt!

I had sables today (a little early, dessert as a snack )

[Ling]

Today, I made the chocolate cherry pound cake from the Macrina cookbook. It is tasty, but unfortunately rather unphotogenic by nature as it contains a ton of cocoa and a slice shows up as a rectangular black square on the plate.

Edited October 10, 2006 by Ling (log)

[Domestic Goddess]

A thoughtful friend from sent me these from Singapore. Guess what I will be having dessert for the rest of the week? Mooncakes!

[Ling]

The sun came out so I got a decent shot of the chocolate cherry pound cake I made yesterday. I ate this for a mid-morning snack. Mmmm...

This afternoon, I made the chocolate chip cookies out of the Macrina cookbook. They're really good. I had this as my mid-afternoon snack!

[Desiderio]

Lorna those chocolate chips cookies look deliciuos , I mean I know they just cookie ( is there anything like "just a cookie" in the dessert world ?!!! No ).

DG those mooncakes looks very tempting , can you explain to me how they are made ( not the recipe ) just what they are made of , I have never had one and honestly never seen one,in the area where I live we dont have a big asian community so mostly speciality foods are hispanics .Thank you

[gfron1]

Vanessa, I had never seen nor had a mooncake either, and then I saw this thread. Now I'm obsessing over them!

[Domestic Goddess]

Desiderio - mooncakes have their origins in China. They are made traditionally for the Autumn Harvest Festival or the Mid-Autumn festival. Mooncakes are traditionally baked this time but have been a common feature at most Chinese celebrations, mooncakes are inextricably linked with the Moon festival.

One of the more traditional mooncakes are filled with lotus seed paste that are roughly the size of a drinking glass circle. The filling is usually very sweet and heavy that is why my chinese friend recommends to eat them thinly sliced with a nice cuppa tea on the side. The expensive and elaborate ones contain a full yolk of a salted duck egg. Some of the fancy ones include crunchy watermoon seeds, red bean paste, black bean paste and even four egg yolks (representing the four phases of the moon). A word of caution though: all mooncakes are rather high in calories.

The traditional way to make them can take up to four weeks. There are some that include: dates, nuts, and fruit to Chinese sausages. More exotic creations include green tea mooncakes, and ping pei or snowskin mooncakes, a Southeast Asian variation made with cooked glutinous rice flour. Haagen-Daz has even gotten into the act by introducing a line of ice cream mooncakes in Asian markets.

Given the difficulty of making them, most people prefer to purchase their mooncakes instead of making them. You'll find some Asian bakeries offering mooncakes beginning around mid-August. Or you can have a special Chinese friend who remembers how you go bananas over one and thoughfully sends you a batch every year.

Edited October 11, 2006 by Domestic Goddess (log)

[LittleIsland]

A word of caution though:  all mooncakes are rather high in calories.

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I saw recently a single yolk lotus seed mooncake is 1,000 - yes ONE THOUSAND -calories!!

I love traditional mooncakes - not all the new fancy schmancy ones - but thankfully (because of afore-mentioned caloric content) have not had too much of a craving this year - been sampling too much of my own baked goods!

[Ling]

^Yes, but rarely (if ever) does one eat an entire mooncake. Even I can't eat an entire mooncake!