eG Foodblog: Darcie B - Bakin' with bacon

[avocado]

That coconut cake is gorgeous. I love the way it looks, snow white with the toasty brown coconut. I'm salivating. I really am.

[Rebecca263]

That coconut cake is gorgeous. I love the way it looks, snow white with the toasty brown coconut. I'm salivating. I really am.

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I KNOW!!!! It's terrible, I can't get my fork through the screen!

[Darcie B]

That coconut cake looks yummy, and not over-toasted at all, to my eye.  How come you put it in that deep dish?

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Because I'm an idiot. If I really wanted to use that dish I should have used a cake round, decorated it, then transferred it. However, I am out of cake rounds and the tray I was going to use is at the neighbor's house. I really don't have a lot of serveware, a situation I plan to remedy this coming year now that I finally have a china cabinet in which to store such niceties.

Wait, I forgot.  You galloped around the house making horsey noises with your coconut shells???  Would you please upload that photo!

I can't because my Knights of the Round Table costume is at the cleaners so the effect wouldn't be right.

[Darcie B]

Back to project #2, Orange Chocolate Crown. Last night I made the ladyfingers (called Biscuit ala Cuilliere (sp?) in The Cake Bible. I don't know why, but I just love making meringue. It is so light, fluffy, smooth and shiny. It seems, I don't know, elegant.

Rose Levy Berenbaum suggests using a slotted skimmer to fold the egg whites into the yolks. It really works well but the sound of the metal on metal really grates on my nerves.

My husband kept calling me Marie because I was so intent on my cakes and hadn't made lunch or dinner. He made us bagel sandwiches for dinner.

Because of the cat vet trip, I wasn't able to get to the cake decorating supply place to get a large pastry bag to pipe the batter. So I made do with parchment triangles formed into bags, which are quite a bit smaller than what I needed. Also, I don't have a 3/4 inch tip called for in the recipe so I used a 1/2 inch tip, figuring I would just pipe things closer together.

Well, that didn't work out as well as planned. Rose tells you to pipe them in a zigzag pattern about 1/4 inch apart and they will ooze together and make a long strip of ladyfingers. Plus I forgot to sift the powdered sugar over the top. Here's what I got:

Off to make a second batch; this was a cheap mistake. I decided to cut down a plastic tip I had for an old decorating tube I had so I could pipe bigger lines. The batter is too runny to pipe separate ladyfingers, and I don't quite have the hang of the zigzag thing, but once I get the right tools it should help. And again, I forgot to sift over the powdered sugar. I was so proud of myself because I didn't swear. Very loud.

Anyhoo, I said "to heck with it" (actually that's not what I said) and since they tasted okay, I went with this batch. Thankfully the spiral base worked out okay on the first go-round. Here is the second batch out of the oven.

And here is the base assembled.

I reduced some blood orange juice for the bavarian cream and made some candied orange peel for the top. Then I went to bed, but didn't get much sleep because the new kitty is quite anxious. He kept us up most of the night, but I am now ready to resume the project. First, breakfast to fuel me up. I made a sweet potato/red potato hashbrown:

And it actually held together when I flipped it!

Here was breakfast:

Back at 'ya later with the Orange Chocolate Crown.

[Zucchini Mama]

Wow, Marie, vous faites les beaux gateaux!

I can't believe you made your own ladyfingers from scratch-that's commitment!

The coconut cake looks perfect. I can't wait for you/(us) to eat them!

Zuke

Edited January 29, 2006 by Zucchini Mama (log)

[patti]

I am sincerely appreciating your wonderful blog. Thank you.

[Rebecca263]

I'm VERY impressed!

I made ladyfingers ONCE. Well, they SUPPOSED to be ladyfingers. And, I had all of the correct equipment. After baking and attempted removal of said ladyfingers from the baking sheets, they ended up becoming very nice tasting, albeit crispy and browned, ladycrumbs. Let's put it nicely, I'm late to the baking with success game. Brownies with vitamin pills in them was not my only teenaged disaster!

I hope that the kitty is OK. Our Lillypins ate an extra bit of salmon this morning, in empathy. She's a calico, and knows what it's like to have pains and problems.

I'm hoping that you will remember to have a camera near when you cut into these lovely, actually devilishly scrumptious cakes!

[Darcie B]

Drum roll please....

I finally got all three delectable delights finished. I have tasted two and will have to wait a bit before I do the final. Then I am off to the neighbors to give this stuff away before I gain 20 pounds!

Where did I leave off....oh, I made the ladyfingers (next time I'm buying them ), reduced the blood orange juice,

(that's three oranges' worth!)

and made the candied orange peel. Next up I made the orange Bavarian cream, which is basically a pastry cream with gelatin from what I can understand. I made the light whipped ganache, which is a chocolate ganache heavy on the cream. I poured both into the ladyfinger base, then I worked on trying to make chocolate curls. I think I did this once years ago but usually don't fuss too much with my baking (if you can believe that). Anyhoo, I tempered some dark chocolate (Lindt) and smeared it onto a piece of marble.

I waited just a bit to let it cool, then scraped it into curls with a bench scraper.

I guess I let it cool a few seconds too long, because the curls were not really smooth. I may have messed up on the tempering, too, since I don't do that very often. When I went to move the curls they all broke into pieces. Oh, well.

The final result:

A slice (none too neat, but the chocolate curls make it difficult to cut cleanly):

The taste on this was a little underwhelming. The bavarian cream was not very strongly flavored, even though I added a little extra orange juice "concentrate" and a healthy glug of Grand Marnier. The flavors did blend together well, and I liked the contrast between the smooth cream and silky ganache and the crisp chocolate curls and chewy orange peel. I can't imagine making this one with the ladyfinger top like Rose Berenbaum suggests, because it would just be mushy then.

Now, for my take on the White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake. I used a roulade from The Cake Bible instead of the white chocolate genoise shown on epicurious because I noted several reviewers had problems with the genoise. I rolled up the cake with raspberry preserves, then sliced it and put it into a plastic wrap-lined bowl.

Then I made the raspberry and white chocolate mousses. I spooned the raspberry mousse into the cake lined bowl and topped with the white chocolate mousse. Then I put more cake rolls on the bottom and stuck it in the fridge to chill. Voila,

I should have pushed the rolls together more tightly because you can see the mousse in between the spaces. It still looks pretty neat, though.

Although it really was supposed to chill for a few more hours, I decided to try a piece anyway.

It would hold its shape better if I had let it chill. The taste, however, was fantastic. Even my husband liked it and he does not have a sweet tooth at all. The contrast between the tart raspberry and the subtle sweetness of the white chocolate were great, and the cake roll added a bit of texture.

I had to eat some real food today, too, so I made bistecas rancheros from All About Braising by Molly Stevens.

I will show you the coconut cake later.

I still have to bake cookies for work tomorrow I already did some choc chip/oatmeal cookies (I can do these in my sleep)

I have Ling's Lime Meltaways in the fridge right now, and I am going to make some Chocolate Walnut Meringues in a minute (I have a lot of leftover egg whites to use...maybe macarons tomorrow night if I'm not too exhausted). Then I have one more cookie to do, and I am leaning toward peanut butter, but might do a spice cookie for color contrast. Stay tuned.

For those who wondered if my kitchen was always neat, here's what it looked like earlier today amidst the baking frenzy:

It's on its way back to neatness, but it will be a few more hours...

Edit to add photo.

Edited January 29, 2006 by Darcie B (log)

[Randi]

You can definitely taste the bacon. They are pretty good all around; good spice flavor. I am thinking that they would be even better if I used drippings from peppered bacon and added some freshly ground pepper into the dough. I think that would really set these off.

Hi Darcie,

Coincidentally, I cooked bacon today to get the bacon fat to make these cookies (and hadn't yet peeked at your blog!) So when I began to read and saw you made the same recipe I was planning to make, I was pretty excited to see the photos and read about your experience with these cookies.

I love your idea of adding pepper. I also had someone suggest brown sugar instead of white. Do you think it would make a difference, since there is already molasses in the recipe?

Also, I was considering adding candied ginger bits. Do you think that would be a good addition?

I am really enjoying your blog!

Randi

[Darcie B]

You can definitely taste the bacon. They are pretty good all around; good spice flavor. I am thinking that they would be even better if I used drippings from peppered bacon and added some freshly ground pepper into the dough. I think that would really set these off.

Hi Darcie,

Coincidentally, I cooked bacon today to get the bacon fat to make these cookies (and hadn't yet peeked at your blog!) So when I began to read and saw you made the same recipe I was planning to make, I was pretty excited to see the photos and read about your experience with these cookies.

I love your idea of adding pepper. I also had someone suggest brown sugar instead of white. Do you think it would make a difference, since there is already molasses in the recipe?

Also, I was considering adding candied ginger bits. Do you think that would be a good addition?

I am really enjoying your blog!

Randi

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I think brown sugar might make the cookies spread too much due to the extra moistness. I don't think it would contribute much more flavor, either. Candied ginger bits would be a delightful addition to these cookies - great idea!

I'm glad you are enjoying the blog. It's tiring, but fun.

[helenjp]

I love that tea-ball with its own cup to sit in! Would you believe, hours after I posted my earlier comment, a parcel arrived from my sister containing a very similar tea-ball. Now to find a cute thing to put on the end of its chain...

Congratulations on all your baking. As for husband making lunch while wife bakes, it's been known to happen, definitely...

[Kouign Aman]

My husband kept calling me Marie

This, and the coconutshell-hooves (Ni!) have brought a good laugh to my day. Thanks!

Those cakes (actually,all the food) look gorgeous! Delish, and well-shot. Thank you for the vicarious pleasure. I have to bake cookies for a coworker tomorrow, and am looking to your blog for inspiration. Ling's lime cookies are tempting.

Best wishes to your new kitty for a good prognosis.

[Ling]

Your cakes turned out great, Darcie! (And Happy Birthday!) Have you tasted the Peninsula Grill coconut cake yet? I also toast the coconut for colour contrast, although I've never made it with real coconut before! (Come to think of it, I don't come across fresh coconut too often in Vancouver.)

I think the raspberry mousse cake looks delicious. Too bad about the orange cake though.

Hope you enjoy the lime meltaways too! I can't keep away from those...they are addictive.

And now I have some questions for you...

1. Which of RLB's Cake Bible recipes do you enjoy the most?

2. What is your specialty in the kitchen? (A dish that you're known for?)

3. What are you most fond of baking? (And what do you enjoy eating the most?)

Thanks!!

(That's so awesome that you made three birthday cakes...I'm going to have to make multiple cakes for myself next year too! Such a smart idea!)

[prasantrin]

I still have to bake cookies for work tomorrow   I already did some choc chip/oatmeal cookies (I can do these in my sleep)

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Those look great! I've been thinking of making oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and after seeing yours, I really want some now!

[Darcie B]

And now I have some questions for you... 

1. Which of RLB's Cake Bible recipes do you enjoy the most?

2. What is your specialty in the kitchen? (A dish that you're known for?)

3. What are you most fond of baking? (And what do you enjoy eating the most?)

Thanks!!

(That's so awesome that you made three birthday cakes...I'm going to have to make multiple cakes for myself next year too!  Such a smart idea!)

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1. I like the Cordon Rose Banana Cake a lot, and the Buttermilk Country Cake too. My go to recipe is the Cordon Rose Banana Cake with the Sour Cream Chocolate Ganache. I adore that ganache. I haven't made all the "fancy" cakes yet (but I got a good start this weekend!).

2. I guess I am known for baking in general because I bake cookie trays and take them into work, plus I make birthday cakes for coworkers. If it came down to 1 recipe, though, it would be the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies I made upthread. I have been tweaking that recipe for years. My "secret" ingredient is Kahlua. I have a secret ingredient in my peanut butter cookies, too - soy sauce. I use it instead of salt and it really punches up the flavor.

3. Hmmmm...I really like to bake just about anything, but I enjoy eating coconut cream pie, chicken pot pie, the above mentioned banana cake, CI's lemon cookies, profiteroles, and the oatmeal choc chip cookies mentioned above. I do make a variety of things, though, and I am probably forgetting something...

[Darcie B]

HolyOats, I LOVE the way that cake came out! Based on your results, I've decided to ask kiddle to make me a coconut cake, but with the addition or a berry/mango/ pineapple filling that I adore. Can you tell me how much extract you added to the batter?

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I almost forgot to answer this...I used about 1/4 tsp. extract in the filling and 1/4 tsp. in the cake batter. Plus I also subbed 1/4 cup Coco Lopez for cream in both too.

Edit cuz I cain't spel.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Darcie B (log)

[constanela]

I am really enjoying this blog too! And my hat is off to someone that bakes two cakes from scratch, two different cookies AND then cooks something for dinner as well. How productive!

[Rebecca263]

...For those who wondered if my kitchen was always neat, here's what it looked like earlier today amidst the baking frenzy:...

It's on its way back to neatness, but it will be a few more hours...

[end quote]

DarcieB, THAT is a pretty neat mess! My kitchen should look so good on a 'clean' day! I know, I've said it already, but, WOW, you've got mad amazing cooking skills! Really impressive!

[Swisskaese]

Darcie, the White Chocolate and Raspberry Mousse Cake looks incredible. Good job! I will have to try it that way next time.

I didn't have a problem with the genoise. You just have to have a very large knife to cut the cake and also be very patient.

[Darcie B]

Darcie, the White Chocolate and Raspberry Mousse Cake looks incredible. Good job! I will have to try it that way next time.

I didn't have a problem with the genoise. You just have to have a very large knife to cut the cake and also be very patient.

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Thanks for that info. Actually, I have somehow misplaced my large serrated knife so I don't think I could have cut it had I made it. I think I might have brought the knife to an event and left it there . I really wanted to do the roulade anyway, so it worked out fine.

Also, thanks for your earlier post about the rum substitute for kirsch. I went to look for kirsch but the liquor store was out of stock. I see it called for in a lot of recipes. I also struck out on good canned/jarred cherries. Do you know of any online sources in the U.S.? Or does anyone know of stores in the DC area that would have them? (I get to DC a few times a year for work.)

[Becca Porter]

Trader Joes Morello Cherries are supposed to be really good. Unfortunately I do not have access to a TJ.

I happen to have the best Black Forest cake recipe. It is in the Dec. 2005 Cuisine at Home. It is incredible!

It makes a cherry compote using dried cherries, (I buy walmarts house brand. It is actually pretty good.), cherry juice, (health food store), cherry preserves, and frozen dark cherries, (I can't get those, so I used canned tart cherries, worked great.).

You then make a stabilized whipped cream with a pudding like corstarch mixture.

It also uses their awesome basic chocolate cake recipe.

It is beautiful and absolutely delicious.

[Darcie B]

This morning I decided I needed coconut cake for breakfast. Cake has eggs, right? And flour, and milk.....so it must be a good way to start the day...

This cake is very good. I washed it down with a tall glass of milk...yum. I am really impressed with the texture of this cake, especially considered it uses all purpose flour and not cake flour. I think the cake part would be a very good wedding cake base because it is quite firm and sturdy without being too dense. It's moist and slices well, too. It is not the most delicate cake but after the lightness of the cake portion of the previous two cakes, this is a welcome change. I will definitely put this cake on the rotation, perhaps varying the fillings and icings.

I had to finish the cookies last night. In addition to the chocolate chip cookies, I made Ling's Lime Meltaways:

These are a great combination of sweet and tart - good thing I am making these for work or I would eat them all myself.

I also made chocolate walnut meringues to use up some of the many egg whites I had left from the ladyfingers.

I thought these were pretty good but my husband hated them. He didn't like the texture and thought they were too chocolately. I ask you, how can anything be too chocolately?

I decided to make peanut butter cookies as the last type of cookie. They are just so yummy.

I brought these in and put them on trays we keep at work for my baked goodies. Actually the trays are for anyone to use but I seem to be the only one who brings something to put on them. Right next to my trays of lovingly made cookies was a container of Walmart cookies.

Reminds me of an episode I witnessed during the holidays. A young woman had her daughter at the grocery store. We were in the dairy aisle near the eggs. The woman asks her daughter if she wants to bake cookies that evening. The daughter excitedly says yes and reaches for the Pillsbury cookie dough. The woman says, 'no we don't want those,' and I think how sweet, they are going to bake cookies from scratch, which is so much fun with little kids. Then the mom reaches for the newest Pillsbury cookie, saying, 'these are already cut into shapes.' 'Hey kid, do you want to turn on the oven and put the cookies onto sheets? Won't that be fun?'

Edit to fix photo links.

Edited January 30, 2006 by Darcie B (log)

[jeniac42]

I am envious of all your baking! It really makes me want to get out the KitchenAid, and my boyfriend was just complaining that I needed to make blueberry muffins again soon. I'd like to make cookies, though I have to admit that they're not my favorite thing to make or eat! Those lime meltaways sound fantastic, though.

I wonder if I could make a little bit of time this weekend to bake.

I've wanted to make the orange chocolate crown for a long time - I'm sorry to hear it didn't taste that good!

[Kouign Aman]

I had a visceral reaction to that photo of the coconut cake slice - I can practically smell that cake. Nice photo of a beautiful cake. Now I MUST bake a cake! Wow. Havent felt that way in .....um, never mind..... Thank you for the inspiration.

I second the opinion on Trader Joe's canned morello cherries.

I'm also going to have to try sweet potato hashbrowns. More veggies for breaky.

[ludja]

All the cakes looks just wonderful, DarcieB! I'm tempted to try the White Chocolate Raspberry Mousse Cake and I am now craving coconut cake again! (I do think it is also wonderful with milk for breakfast!)

Congrats also on your wonderful cookie tray; your co-workers are very lucky. How do you flavor your chocolate merinques? cocoa powder? grated chocolate? Can you give rough amounts for how much chocolate to egg whites you use? They look great.

You mentioned that the fryer might make an appearance again in the thread, but I wanted to make sure and ask you about the model and brand you have as you seem to be quite happy with it.

Bless you for taking in another kitty, and one that needs special care as well. Whatever the diagnosis ends up being, I hope that the cat does as well as he or she can and is able to get along with the other cats.