Heavenly Cake - Cradle Cake

ב''ה

This fantastic cake was fun to eat and fun to make.

Mis en place: I tried to prepare for parts parts of the recipe ahead as much as possible.

Chocolate and pecans for the dacquoise. I put all the sugar in by accident since it was not so clear in the instructions and had to sift it out. When it says, "Combine ... and sugar" as the header it threw me off.

Eggs and sugar.

After folding in the chocolate and pecans mixture.

I spakeled it all the way up the sides so it would make a nice "cradle", then pushed the excess back down to even it out once I put in the buttermilk batter.

This is the first time I've noticed that when you simulate buttermilk by adding vinegar the milk actually does thicken and get gloppy like buttermilk. 

 Ready to toast!

It looks a bit funny, that's alright we are turning it upside down.

For the chocolate drizzle, I did not have heavy cream so I just used milk. I cut down on the liquid amount and added a bit more of the chocolate (maybe .10 oz of each) and it seemed to work fine!

In conclusion, we all loved this cake. It was easy to make and easy to eat. I wish I had made two!

Heavenly Cake - Genoise Tres Cafe

ב''ה

I was pleasantly surprised to find that Medaglia D'oro, the recommended instant espresso, had an OU kosher certification.

As usual, I mix the genoise right in the pot with the hand beater.

Fold.

I made a double recipe as Rose's syrup and ganache recipes she includes are too much for one cake layer.

The "Ez Man" got to the very last cup of Wondra flour I had laid out for Mis en Place. I was not sure how cake flour would do for the genoise as I had never tried it without Wondra. It worked fine, tasted fine and only had some small flour pellets that were almost not noticeable. Aside from that it got a nice height and good texture. This cake got a nice brown color!

 Chocolate and espresso powder.

 This cake was nice but not as yummy as the coffee chiffonlets. The ganache got a bit grainy but I really think it had to do with the lower quality chocolate I used, rather than the amount I mixed it. I was pretty careful not to over-mix and I have had the graininess issue with this chocolate when I make ice cream with it. It had a great flavor though!

Challah With Pastry Flour

ב''ה

The Greenstein's bakery standard recipe for Challah is:

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 cups bread flour

3 cups AP flour

1 teaspoon yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup oil

2 cups water

3 eggs

This week I decided to experiment and exchange the AP flour for pastry flour.

The texture was much more crumbly but the taste was nice. I still think I prefer the AP flour.

The reason I attempted this was because I read in Gisslen's Professional Baking that bake shops don't stock AP flour but use cake, pastry and bread flours more precisely. I am now temped to think that is a bunch of hooey and AP flour is just fine.

Heavenly Cake - Free Choice Cake - Chocolate Butter Cupcakes

ב''ה

I somehow did not realize that I already made this. My excel file with all the cakes I baked had this marked as 'no.' At any rate it came out much better than the first time and we all enjoyed these immensely.

Here is a list of cakes I still need to bake to catch up with Marie:

She Loves Me  Cake

Spice Cake With Peanut Buttercream

Marble Velvet Cake

Rose Red Velvet Cake

Black Chocolate Party Cake

German Chocolate Cake

White Gold Passion Genoise

Fruitcake 

Chocolate Rasberry Trifle

Ginger Cheesecake with Gingerbread Crust

No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake

Tiramisu

Yellow Butter Cupcakes

Plum Round Ingots

Deep Chocolate Rosebuds

15 cakes in all.

I actually wanted to do the Tiramisu and even was going to pipe my own lady fingers. However, the eggs that I placed on the counter every evening in hopes of inspiration languidly taunted me as I plotzed down in a stupor from a hard days work. 

Hopefully next time. :)

Heavenly Cake - White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache

ב''ה

This cake was very rich but we all enjoyed it, nonetheless. It got polished off within two days, even though I doubled the recipe.

Mis en place.

 יב עֵינָיו, כְּיוֹנִים עַל-אֲפִיקֵי מָיִם; רֹחֲצוֹת, בֶּחָלָב... שיר השירים פרק ה

"Its looks were as doves sitting by flowing water; white as though they had been washed with milk..."

Song of Songs 5,12

Rose must be getting to me as I not only made a cake strip out of tin foil, I weighed each pan to make sure they were equal. (They took turns in the toaster. :)

I forgot to use parchment and a spray. This turned out to be good as the bottom of the cake got just a bit burnt, but all the burnt part stayed in the pan. 

ה שְׁחוֹרָה אֲנִי וְנָאוָה... שיר השירים פרק ה 

I am dark and beautiful... Song of Songs 1,5

אִכְלוּ רֵעִים... שיר השירים פרק ה 

Come and eat, my friends... Song of Songs 1,5

Heavenly Cake - Chocolate Bull's Eye Cake

ב''ה

Not as indulgent as the Bostini but still pretty fab!

If you get bored at any point during this post just play some Bach:

I know I did. :)

Mis en place:

I only got three cakes out of the first batch of genoise batter so I made a second batch. My little spring-forms must be bigger than maryanne pans. The first batch, shown below, came out pretty spongy. I actually forgot to add the sugar to the eggs until I was half way through the beating.

The second batch came out a bit denser for some reason and I only got two cakes out of it, even though I added the sugar at the right time and made sure the eggs were good and warm before I beat them. Perhaps it was affected by the mixing bowl that I neglected to clean in between genoise batters (since I'm  being honest here, and would like to figure out what went wrong.)

After cutting the holes. I wonder if there is a more precise method for doing this?

After the syrup. I used cheap brandy since I was not about to blow $53 on a bottle of cognac. One of these days..

 Bubbling apricot preserves...

After straining. I added apricot brandy.

De glaze. 

Looking good. That chocolate stuff sure is yummy!

On closer inspection, I think I see Hello Kitty...

Maybe its just me, but I'm starting to see that face in everything since we got my daughter one of these toasters for Chanukah. :)

I poured the drizzle into only one side of the sandwich bag so it would not all squirt out when I cut the other end.

The "Ez Man" wants more chocolate...

The apricot syrup and glaze added a really nice flavor and chocolate center was really tasty and creamy.

We also made some Jewish ginger bread from our new favorite cookie book:

On the BBA bread baking front, some Vienna bread torpedos. These made the most incredible peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. :)

With this, I officially finish my way baking through The Bread Baker's Apprentice. There are just a couple variations of breads I have already baked I would like to try. Maybe I'll bake trough it again using the mixer with dough hook, since I have never really gotten used to using the mixer/dough hook. Or, Maybe I'll start going through Maggie Glezer's book.