November 2008 Daring Baker's Challenge

Unfortunately, due to time constraints with uni and so forth i have not been able to partici[ate in the last two daring Baker's challenges. This month, however, with uni finished i eagerly participated in the event. This month'c challnge was hosted by along with the help of Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo), Jenny of Foray into Food and Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go and comes from a recipe by Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater for Caramel Cake with Caramelised butter frosting. I for one, loved this cake, especially the frosting. Thanks for the wonderful challenge guys- I sure enjoyed every last mouthful of it and so did my brother and sister in law for whom i made the cake. To view all the other wonderful Daring Bakers' challenges go to the blogroll. Enjoy!

August 2008 Daring Baker's challenge

This month our assigned task was to create Chocolate Eclairs by Pierre Herme from the book Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé, by Dorie Greenspoon. I don't actualy like chocolate myself, but i bake with it anyway becaus everyone likes it and it is a great excse to bake and not feel like you want to eat what you bake. Everyone seemed to enjoy them, although i was dissapointed with the choux pastry- it didn't turn out as well as other recipes i had used previously. Another problem i encountered was the addition of extra butter to the chocolate glaze. Chocolate has so much oil as it is and adding extra is just ludicrous really as it isn't necessary. It didn't so much effect the creme patissier, but some of the oil seperated in the glaze. It was just as well i had extra sauce to cover it up, as it was slightly unsightly.

Anyway, they were enjoyed by all and thanks goes to Meeta of What's for Lunch and Tony of Olive Juice for the challenge. If you;d like to see the other wonderful daring baker's challnges, go to the blogroll and click on their names

June Daring bakers challenge- late but completed

Hey everyone, I know it has been a long time since i posted, but i was overseas in Japan for a while. I did complete the June challenge beofre i left but was unable to post it. I didn't, however, get a chance to do the July challenge. I thought i would post the june one now so you don't think i don't care anymore, cos i do. I look forward to completing the August challenge now, but for the meanwhile, enjoy these photos of the June challenge, a danish braid, which i filled with apple in one half and cherries in the other. Enjoy!

May 2008 Daring bakers challenge

Firstly, i must apologise for the lateness of this post. The truth is i had done the cake already, but with all these assignments and exams i have at the moment, i forgot to post it on the posting date, and suddnely just thought of it then. So, this month we had to make an opera cake, which is a cake with layers of jaconde, syrup, buttercream, mousse and glaze. Usually these cakes are made with coffee and choc flavours, but seeing as it is spring time in the us, Lisa and Ivonne, decided to opt for light colours to reflect the season. It ain't spring here though! But the light colours made me feel as though it were.

I flavoured my buttercream and syrup with rosewater, which gave it a nice turkish delight kinda taste. I then added some amaretto to the white choc mousse, which did little to overtake the strength of the white choc and i left the white choc glaze (ganache really) as was.

I was happy with the way the cake turned out, although if i did it another time i think i would take the time to trim the layers of jaconde cake and make them even. The only one thin i didn';t like about the cake was that the buttercream after being refridgeratedwas too firm. I tried some of it before i spread it on to the cake layers and it was delicious. The refrigeration spoils it, and you would really have to leave it out in the open for a long time to soften it to the core.

Thanks to Lisa and Ivonne for the challenge. To visit other people's blogs and see their creations visit the daring baker's blogroll

Daring Bakers challenge- Cheesecake pops

Unfortunatley i just didn't have time to particiapte in the challenge this month. I have a heap of assignments due for uni. Thanks to Elle – Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah – Taste and Tell for the challenge. Sorry i couldn't complete it. Check out the blogroll to see the wonderful cheeseckae pops that the other daring bakers posted.

Homemade Crumpets

Thursday mornings are my sleep in mornings, because i don't have to start uni to 1. So, this morning i woke up and decided that i would have a go at making some crumpets. I had never had homemade crumpets before, infact never seen them before, and i have never been a huge fan of crumpets, because the supermarket ones are pretty awful. Let me tell you, these are nothing of the sort. Soft and fluffy and moorish and just altogether fantastic. You must all try them! You'll never want a storebought crumpet again. These are so different, yet so much more satisfying. Try them and you'll see why. For recipe visit the BBC food website.

Apfelstrudel- More apples to use

Yesterday, seeing as i still have an enormous quantity of cooking apples, i decided to challenge myself with an Apfelstrudel . The thing is, it really wasn't that much of a challenge. I have rarely heard of people making strudel from scratch, instead opting for filo pastry, but now that i have ndone it, i wonder why on earth not. It has to be rolled out thin, yes, but it isn't hard. Infact it was rather a breeze. I found the recipe from aboutaustria.org although, i wouldn't pay attention to the time and temp indication, because mine was a little more browned than i would have lioked and it was at a significantly lower temp for only about 40 mins. Here is the recipe and some photos. Do check out the site though, they have some other great austrian fare there too.

Apfelstrudel

IngredientsPastry
300 grams bread flour
pinch of salt
30 ml vegetable oil
0,2 l water (lukewarm)
Filling
2 kg apples (Golden Delicious)
150 grams granulated sugar
30ml dark rum
150 grams raisins
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon
2 lemons (juice and peel)
Buttered breadcrumbs
300 grams butter (unsalted)
300 grams bread crumbs
RecipeKnead flour, salt, oil and water into a medium-firm dough. Divide into 3 small round loaves, brush each loaf with melted butter and let sit for 1 hour. Peel, core and slice apples. Mix in granulated sugar, raisins, grated lemon peel, lemon juice, rum, cinnamon.Roast butter and bread crumbs.Roll the dough loaves with a rolling pin, then stretch rolled dough on a strudel sheet with the backs of your hands. Coat 2/3 of dough sheet with buttered breadcrumbs, spread apple filling over remaining 1/3 of dough. Tear off edges, shape strudel into roll by lifting strudel sheet. Place strudel on a buttered baking sheet and brush with melted butter.Bake strudel for 60 to 90 minutes in a 400 degrees F to 425 degrees F (200 to 220 degrees Celsius) oven.