Daring Bakers: Danish Braid

I was so excited to find out that Kelly of Sass & Veracity and Ben of What's Cookin'? chose this month's Daring Bakers' challenge to be a danish braid! I knew this would be a real challenge for me because I've never made anything like it before. But I've wanted to make a laminated dough for a while and I really want to try making my own croissants, so this was just perfect. And how awesome does the pastry look when it's braided??

I definitely had some butter oozing out the sides (due to the butter block) and air bubbles being formed when I was rolling out the dough, but overall it went well! I didn't add the cardamom, and I don't think I'd make it using so much orange next time. I dreamed about how delicious a lemon curd filling would be enveloped in this beautiful danish braid, but then went the easy route and did the caramelized apples. And my boyfriend loves apple pie so I thought I'd be nice.

Of course I tried it right out of the oven, and as gorgeous as it looked it didn't have the texture I was expecting. I think I expected a more flakey croissant type pastry (which I realize was probably a strange thing to expect), but it was a little bit chewy? I don't know if that's the way this dough is, or if it was me (quite possible). When I had it after it had been refrigerated though, the texture was just perfect.

Edit: I just realized that I was not paying attention and didn't realize that this was enough dough for TWO danish braids, so I used the entire dough to make one braid. My braid was twice as big as it should've been! Ah well - it still turned out okay and hopefully I learn to read recipes more carefully. ;)

Other Daring Bakers' challenges I've done:
Cheesecake Pops
Perfect Party Cake
Lemon Meringue Free Form Tarts
Yule Log

Caramelized Apple Danish Braid
The Secrets of Baking

Danish Dough

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Apple Filling
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

Danish Braid (putting it all together)
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Daring Bakers: Cheesecake Pops

First off, I have to apologize for my absence in the blogging world. School and interviews for a summer job (I found one! at a place that makes waffles and pancakes) have kept me very occupied, and with finals and what not coming up soon I'll continue being busy for a while. I'm updating my blog when I can but I know I'm greatly falling behind in visiting other people's blogs. I love and appreciate all of your comments and visits to my blog though! I look forward to being done finals (end of May) so I can have more time to bake (I'm already compiling a long list of the things I want to make this summer) and do food blog things. I'm not trying to be a snob by not visiting and commenting!

Deborah from Taste and Tell and Elle from Feeding My Enthusiasms chose cheesecake pops for this month's Daring Bakers' challenge. I wasn't really excited by the idea of cheesecake pops, though I am a huge fan of cheesecake. They seemed like more work than they were worth and I didn't want to have to find lollipop sticks. (I ended up using sticks meant for caramel apples.) BUT of course this story turns around.

I loved these cheesecake pops. Like really loved them. They were so cute! I especially fell in love with the one I coated with broken Reese's pieces (not the peanut butter cups but the pieces that are like smarties/m&m's which are so much better than peanut butter cups). It was really fun to come up with different chocolate/topping combinations and I had lots of yummy things in the house to play around with.

The variations I made were: white chocolate & oreo, white chocolate & oreo & gummy bears (had to have one with gummy bears!), white chocolate with toasted coconut, milk chocolate with crushed Reese's pieces, and milk chocolate with crushed animal crackers. (Speaking of animal crackers, I am still dying to make this lemon cheesecake that uses them in the crust.)

For the first pop, I attempted to first coat the ball in crushed up oreo cookies and then in white chocolate - which is why you see cheesecake pops that just look like "cookies & cream" because it all mixed together. Delicious though.

All the flavour combinations were really yummy, and I was surprised at how much I liked the cheesecake when it was covered in chocolate like that. I didn't add shortening to my chocolate (an allowed deviation), and found the texture of it perfectly matched the cheesecake. The chocolate hardens really quickly on the frozen cheesecake pops though, so you have to work fast. This might not happen if you add the shortening to the chocolate though.

I would definitely make these again for a special occasion or party. Or maybe have a cheesecake pop decorating party! Mmm. I 1/5 the recipe and it turned out really well. You can see the measurements that I used at the bottom of the recipe. Go check out the other Daring Bakers' cheesecake pops!

Cheesecake Pops
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5 8-oz packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed

Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped – you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white (Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.

When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Note: I 1/5 the recipe and the measurements worked out really well. I made sure that the batter would come up 1 1/4 inch in the baking dishes I used (3 little ramekins). I baked it for the same amount of time as you're supposed to bake the regular cheesecake.

The measurements I used (makes about 6 or 7 pops):

1 8-oz pkg cream cheese
86 grams sugar (0.4 cups)
7.6 grams all-purpose flour (0.05 cups)
a little less than half of a 1/8 tsp measure if you have it
1 large egg
0.4 egg yolk (eyeballed this obviously)
0.4 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tbsp (15 mL) heavy cream

Daring Bakers: Perfect Party Cake

It's kind of odd that I would post two cakes in a row (seeing how I don't often post about cakes) but my last entry was a cake too. But it's cake time in my family with so many birthdays right now and the Daring Bakers challenge demands it! I was extremely happy with the Daring Bakers' challenge for March - a Dorie Greenspan recipe. It's a 4 layer lemon cake, with lemon buttercream icing, layers of strawberry jam (which no one would suspect is just regular jam), and covered with shredded coconut on the outside.

I made the cake for my boyfriend's birthday and everyone really liked it. The flavours and textures went really well together (loved the coconut on the outside). The cake itself was perfectly soft and a bit spongey - kind of like an angel food cake mixed with a light cake. In other words, very awesome.

I will definitely make the cake part again, and want to try out different frostings. And actually for this challenge, people were free to change up the flavours being used so I can't wait to check out other people's cakes and get inspired! I used to think I hated buttercreams, but this is the second Daring Bakers challenge that has made me love it. I realize now that there are different kinds of buttercream, and some of them are just beating together butter and icing sugar pretty much. But the one used in this recipe is Swiss buttercream which is oh so tasty.

The only bad thing about this cake making experience was that I used a spatula for the icing that had the taste of burnt plastic. So the icing to me had this faint burnt plastic taste. And as you can see, my layers are not very even so I need to work on learning how to slice a cake into 2 layers.

Thanks Morven for choosing this most delicious recipe. Check out the other Daring Bakers and see how beautiful their cakes are! (I really need to develop some cake decorating skills.)

Perfect Party Cake
Baking: From My Home to Yours

For the Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces, 1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
1. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
3. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light. Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed. Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated. Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
4. Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
5. Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
6. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
7. Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
8. Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
1. Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes. The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream. Remove the bowl from the heat.
2. Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
3. Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
4. Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes. During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
5. On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla. You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
1. Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
2. Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
3. Spread it with one third of the preserves.
4. Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
5. Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
6. Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
7. Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Daring Bakers: Lemon Meringue Free Form Tarts

The January Daring Bakers' challenge was lemon meringue pie! Which is one of my favourite kinds of pie. At first I didn't think it would be that challenging because I've made lemon meringue pie a couple of times. But there was an added challenge for those who felt up to it - free form tarts. Originally I was going to use either my new tartlette pans or these other cute even tinier tartelette pans that I recently found out my mom has, but after I looked up the free form tart in David Lebovitz's Ripe for Dessert I knew I had to try it. Doing free form tarts added that level of Daring Bakers-ness that made the whole thing quite challenging and fun, with of course a bit of stress added in.

As for the making of the pie, the lemon custard part went smoothly as did the meringue (aside from having to crack a couple of extra eggs because I got some yolk in my whites and was paranoid it wouldn't whip up properly). The pie crust was where I had trouble. The dough was insanely crumbly - maybe because I didn't mix it long enough in the food processor? And we were in the middle of making dinner while I was trying to roll out the crust so I wasn't having a lot of patience. I ended up just mashing it together in my hand (pie crust blasphemy, I know). This of course resulted in a very crispy and weird crust (though the flavour was good). I was actually happy that the crust didn't turn out because now I know what's considered a crust gone wrong. I've made a few crusts and was never sure if they were "right", but now I have a comparison. I definitely still need to practice my crust making skills though. How do some people get it so smooth and beautiful??

I found the lemon curd was quite tasty though a bit too tart for me. A bit more sugar and it would have been perfect, but for those that love their lemon desserts on the tart side, this would be perfect. I know some people had issues with watery pies, and I discovered that I did too when I checked on it the next day. Not sure if that's something that just happens the day after with a pie like this.

Anyway back to great things about this challenge! I liked how there was vanilla added to the meringue. I also extremely loved how the free form tarts looked. Very different and cute - I would make this style of tart again, though try to be more tender with the crust. And now I'm wondering why I would still want to make tartlettes when I get frustrated working with pie/tart dough. Ah well, I just have to practice!

Oh and I had no idea that the lemon-y part of lemon meringue pie was lemon curd and not lemon custard! I'm sure many of you knew this but all this time I've been wanting to make lemon curd and eat it on scones and things, when actually I've made lemon curd several times! (Lemon curd and custard are similar, but curd has more lemon juice and zest, according to Wikipedia anyway.)

Go check out the other Daring Bakers' yummy lemon meringue pies and free form tarts, mmm! The recipe is on The Canadian Baker's site.

Yule Log Daring Bakers' Challenge

The Daring Bakers' challenge this month was yule log - a genoise cake rolled, filled and iced with coffee buttercream and decorated with meringue or marzipan mushrooms.I wasn't sure if I was going to participate in this month's challenge, due to my finals recently ending and then recovering from a swollen foot. Last night I decided that I wouldn't do the challenge as I only had 2 days left, no idea what I would do with this yule log, was scared of making the meringue mushrooms, was scared of the buttercream going very wrong (as many people seem to have had this happen and some posted frightening photos!), and don't like buttercream. However, last night I was reading through some food blogs and admiring the yule logs. I pined (haha) for a yule log! I had to make it.

I took the butter out of the fridge last night, woke up early this morning and started baking. And let me tell you, I am so incredibly astoundingly happy that I made the yule log! Everything went really smoothly (aside from forgetting to save meringue to glue the mushroom tops and stems together, but I used buttercream icing and it was okay). I love working with eggs, as this recipe for yule log has you do for the meringue, icing and genoise cake. It was amazing to see how the genoise batter thickened and fluffed up, changing to a lighter colour.

The thing I was the most happy about (and when I say happy I mean can't stop talking about it ecstatic) was the coffee buttercream! Who knew how delicious this would be?? I'm kind of picky about the type of icing that I like on cakes, and buttercream is one that I've always despised. To me, it tastes like they whipped up some butter and added a bit of sugar. Whereas this buttercream icing is pure magic. And the coffee flavour! Wow. This coffee flavoured icing is exactly the coffee flavour I've been craving ever since having a coffee cake over a year ago. I know I'll be using the buttercream icing recipe repeatedly and sharing it with friends! The other thing I was really happy about in regards to the icing was how well it came together. I was so scared it would separate and curdle or whatever bad things can happen, but it came together so perfectly.

And then there were the meringue mushrooms. So much fun to make! I recently bought an icing bag and a couple of tips, but haven't used them yet. So this was a great opportunity to try them out. I loved piping the mushroom caps and stems. And couldn't stop eating them when they came out of the oven. The one thing I wonder though is why does the recipe ask you to make 48 mushrooms? Who's going to put 48 mushrooms on their yule log? Anyway not a big complaint as the little pieces of meringue are delicious. And the mushrooms are so incredibly adorable.

I've never made a genoise cake before. Like with my first Daring Bakers' challenge where we had to make a chiffon cake, I didn't really know what I was doing when it came to the cake making part. I have no idea if it turned out the way it was supposed to. It tasted okay but not anything special, and was a bit sticky. But I do know to listen to the directions when it says to butter the parchment paper before pouring the batter in. I often ignore that step in recipes because 99% of the time you don't seem to need it, and it just adds extra butter. Anyway, I let it cool for 45 minutes or so, then rolled it (as several other people suggested to make it easier to roll later on and minimize the risk of the cake breaking). Unfortunately, later on when I put the icing on the inside of the cake, and then rolled it up again (this time taking it off of the parchment paper it baked on), the cake started to rip off of that. Ah well, the wonderous buttercream icing fixes all!

As for how it's decorated. Well I'm not exactly the most skilled cake (or anything) decorator. I'd rather just slap the icing on and start devouring the cake. Many of you added so many cute touches to the yule log, using fruit rollups for greenery and other things. I just kept it simple and stuck the mushrooms on there.

Thanks Ivonne & Lis for choosing this challenge! And thanks to all the Daring Bakers that posted on the blog with their successes, failures and tips for the different parts of this cake. Check out the other Daring Bakers' beautiful yule logs, and go to Ivonne's post for the recipe.

Daring Baker's Challenge - Potato Bread

My second Daring Bakers' challenge! And I don't know that I'll ever make bread again. Well I'm sure one day I'll feel ready to give it another shot, but not for a long while. Anyway, I was a bit disappointed to find out that this month's challenge was savory as I really love making sweet things. But it was also a really great challenge for me because it was a real challenge. It pushed me to make something that I love but have never tried making (potato bread specifically but I've always wanted to try making bread).

I made one large loaf and 8 rolls, a few with cheese. I forgot to put the cheese on the rolls before putting them in the oven so had to grab them back out. Then regretted baking the rolls on my Silpat as I didn't want to clean melted cheese off it. I also forgot to slash my loaf before putting it in the oven so I took it out after a few minutes and did that - unsure at the time if I had messed it up as the loaf seemed to already be developing a bit of a crust. The slashed part turned out fine though, and I love how it looked.

I must've been doing something wrong because I was kneading the dough for a good 20 minutes at least. My mom and brother said that seemed like a long time, but it said to knead for 10 minutes, then add the flour 1/4 cup at a time, which means more kneading. The dough was so sticky for most of that first 10 minutes and I really extremely hated that. Is there anything I can do to avoid that? How can you even knead the dough when it's constantly sticking to your hands? Keep flouring up your hands? I ended up using about 6 1/2 cups of flour (the minimum amount) because I was scared of using too much (since it said beginners always use too much flour). And holy crap my forearms got so insanely sore from kneading for so long. I have never had such sore forearms. I must be doing it all wrong (very possible). But I'm sure it didn't help that I was kneading on a flimsy plastic cutting board that kept sliding around.

I must admit that once I smelled the potato bread/rolls baking, and saw them brown it made me really happy and excited. Not excited enough to be making bread again anytime soon though. As for how it tasted - for me, just okay. Apparently my niece really liked it though. I cooked the buns too long and they were pretty chewy unless microwaved. The loaf was soft in the middle, but didn't taste like anything special. To me this bread tasted just like regular white bread. And not very good white bread at that. I didn't taste or notice that the potato had been added (though that could be because I misread the recipe to mean only use 8 ounces of potato total, or maybe that was what I was supposed to do). I don't fault the recipe for how the bread turned out though. I'm sure many of the other Daring Bakers had beautiful delicious loaves and variations that I will be coveting.

Overall, I guess it was a successful enough first bread making experience. It was edible and not rock hard, though when I took the loaf out of the pan to cool it felt like it could be used as a weapon since the exterior was hard and it was so heavy. Throughout the bread making experience I kept thinking to myself, it's okay if it doesn't turn out, it doesn't have to, I'm challenging myself. That helped to make the pressure off my perfectionist self. I am glad that I participated in this challenge, despite all my whining! And I can't wait to find out what the next challenge is.

Check out all the other yummy potato breads made by other Daring Bakers. The recipe is on Tanna's site My Kitchen In Half Cups. Tanna did some amazing things with this bread that I can only aspire to be able to do with bread one day.

I'm a Daring Baker!!

(This photo was taken by my brother. I have never thought to put food on the floor and take a picture of it! An obvious idea to many of you I'm sure but I'm glad my brother introduced me to this.)

I'm extremely excited to have participated in my first Daring Bakers' challenge! I wasn't sure if I'd have time for it with school keeping me busy but I decided to just make the time since I knew it would make me really happy. For those of you that don't know, the Daring Bakers are a group of bakers who choose one baking recipe a month and all make the same thing, following the recipe without alterations, then post about it on the same day. This month Mary at alpineberry chose the bostini cream pie for us all to make.

(I had my brother take a photo of my adorable niece holding the cake. She knew exactly how to pose with it!)

I was hoping for something with pumpkin for the October Daring Bakers' challenge, but I know my boyfriend was happy to find out it was something that combined orange and chocolate. I've never heard of bostini cream pie before so it was definitely something new for me. The recipe didn't seem like it would be too difficult, just putting a few separate parts (orange chiffon cake, vanilla custard, chocolate glaze) together.

I've never made a chiffon cake before and haven't actually made that many cakes at all. I thought it would go okay but when it came time to folding in that massive bowl of whipped egg whites into the cake batter, I started to get a bit anxious. I found it really hard to fold the egg whites into the batter without collapsing the egg whites and at the same time making sure everything was properly mixed. It seemed like the batter didn't want to be pulled up from the bottom to mix with the egg whites. Perhaps using a giant spatula (like ridiculously giant) would've been more helpful for that amount of batter.

I was really happy when I took the cake out of the oven and it smelled good. The recipe just said to gently press the middle of the cake with your finger and if it springs back then it's done. I stuck a toothpick (or three) into it just to make sure. The next problem was when I thought it wasn't going to come out of the pan (I made it in a sheet pan type thing), but a little coaxing with a spatula, and thankfully it fell out.

(The goo on the cake.)

When I took the cake out of the oven, the top was dry. But after cooling for a couple of hours, the top became wet. No idea why that happened or if that was supposed to happen or how I could've avoided it. Another problem was the bottom of the cake looked like it had all these little lumpy things (which I'm glad I didn't notice when I was eating the dessert so they didn't end up being that big of an issue.) I picked one out with a spoon and tasted it and I think it might've been a bit of the batter that hadn't mixed properly with the egg whites? Even though it seemed like I might've overmixed the batter. So overall, I was not really happy with the cake making experience. I tried a little piece of it separately and it tasted okay. It's pretty spongey, not sure if that's what it's supposed to be like.

Now the custard, I love making custards (though I do get quite hot standing over a hot stove for at least 15 minutes.) And I loved the taste of this custard. It had a really comforting homey taste to it (if that makes any sense). Some people are really good at pie crusts, at cakes, or whatever else, but for me I think it's custards. I know some people are scared that they won't stir fast enough and it will burn or curdle, but I think the trick is to use a big pot so you have lots of room to whisk. I really enjoy the whole process. Mixing a bit of the hot cream into the egg mixture to temper it and then quickly whisking the egg mixture back into the cream and watching it all thicken up.

This recipe definitely made a huge amount. Since I cut the cake into pieces to put on top of the custard, I just mixed the leftovers together (custard, cake, chocolate) and put it in the fridge. When I had the dessert after it was first put together, I thought it was okay but not my favourite or something I'd want to make again. After it sat all mixed up in the fridge overnight, it was so insanely delicious. The chocolate had hardened a bit (but was still a bit soft due to the butter in the glaze) and the cake had soaked up some of the custard. I almost couldn't believe it was the same dessert because it just tasted so different. I would definitely make it again and do it that way, with putting it in the fridge all mixed up overnight, but probably try a vanilla cake instead of the orange (since I'm not a huge fan of orange). I can't wait for next month's challenge!

For the recipe, check out Mary's post, which has some beautiful photos. To see all the other lovely Daring Bakers' bostini cream pies, you can go to the Daring Bakers' Blogroll.