Strawberry Mirror Cake for Poppy

I'm back! Sort of. Well, not really. Hmmm. Not sure. I've been back from Toronto for about 5 days and have spent most of that time hanging out with my niece and nephew. Fun! Except when you are looking after a 3-year-old with some sort of nasty stomach bug and you catch it by the end of the day. What a sorry pair we were by the time his mom got home.

So, I'm not in Montreal, as that was cancelled very last minute. I'm still planning to go for a long weekend, though, as we have tickets to the tennis final (Go Nadal!). With my intermittent internet access I've been trying to sort out another short contract for the end of August and had to spend yesterday getting my passport renewed (oh, the photos are awful--why won't they let you smile?) and shopping for tickets. I do enjoy the search for contracts and plane tickets, though I'm glad I don't have to do it nearly every month, like I did for a few years.

Anyway, that's my excuse for not posting much recently, and for not visiting any of you dear readers. Are there any of you left? More apologies, for the poor photos: I took these at my mother's where the light is either blindingly bright or non-existent. I haven't even got a recent recipe for you--I made this cake in June, when strawberries were at their finest. It's 2 layers of sponge with a kirsch syrup surrounded by strawberry mousse and topped with a fresh strawberry mirror. It was fairly easy, as the components were all quite simple and there was lots of refrigeration time in between. We loved it. And who is Poppy, you may be wondering? She's my niece, who turned one in early July.

The Daring Bakers overdose on chocolate!

Daring Bakers around the world hover on the website on the first of the month, refreshing their screens to find out what the month's challenge is. Or is that just me? I'm not sure why I want to find out what the challenge is on the first day, as I rarely complete it until shortly before the deadline, but maybe it's because I'm insatiably curious about almost everything. Once I find out the challenge, I do nothing. For weeks, sometimes. Not this time, though: I made this challenge early, even though I wasn't very excited about it. You see, I don't love chocolate and this was a rich chocolate mousse, with torched meringue, creamy caramel sauce and sugar-coated nuts. Oh, and the recipe was enormous! It called for 11 eggs and made 18 servings and needed some last-minute attention, so wasn't something I wanted to make for a crowd. What's a girl to do? Get out her calculator and divide the recipe by 11, of course! It made for some ridiculously small quantities, but only took me about 15 minutes to whip up.  It made 3 servings, meaning I would have got over 50 from the original recipe. That's a lot of chocolate mousse.

I knew that I wouldn't enjoy more rich and creamy accompaniments with this, so I went with candied sour cherries and kirsch. Frozen sour cherries have been my sour fruit stand-in from January when I ran out of rhubarb and even though my fridge is bulging with rhubarb right now, I'm still on a sour cherry kick. I made a quick candied cherry recipe from David Lebovitz, reducing the water and adding a few tablespoons of kirsch. For the nuts, I used green almonds, but didn't like them much. They were sour, but are a taste I haven't acquired yet. Maybe that's why I forgot to put them on the plate and left them on the counter instead, only noticing them when I took the empty marquise plate in to the sink. You'll find a picture below. The meringue was a great excuse to dust off my blowtorch, and its sweetness was a nice foil to the mousse and cherries. I hadn't used my blowtorch since making the amazing roasted marshmallow ice cream sandwiches last year. The verdict? I liked it, but found it incredibly rich. I kept going back for another taste until it was all gone. This was a dangerous thing to have in the freezer, and I'll definitely keep it in mind for my chocolate-loving friends.

green almonds

Many thanks to Emma and Jenny for the challenge! I certainly wouldn't have made this otherwise, and if it weren't for the Daring Bakers and Tuesdays with Dorie, this blog would be made up entirely of rhubarb and cardamom recipes! Though I do have a few kilos of rhubarb in the fridge...

Original challenge and recipe PDF.

Blog-checking lines: The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma ofCookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

The Daring Bakers make fancy cake

Well, what we really made was a joconde imprimé and wrapped it around a filling, making an entremet. Fancy cake is a bit clearer, no? This was a fantastic challenge from Astheroshe of accro. I would never have made something so fancy-looking on my own, and I was thrilled to see the challenge and discover that it was not too complicated, though there were plenty of components. In fact, I was so eager to get started that I neither read all the instructions nor watched the video that was described as 'MUST WATCH THIS'. So, I was a bit disappointed with my results. It tasted amazing, but it just didn't look as nice as I wanted it to. If you were in a nice French bakery, your gaze would pass over mine, unless you're a real softie. Anyway, I'm being a bit melodramatic. If you decide to make one of these, please read the PDF and watch the video. No, I still haven't watched it.
:)

I used the passionfruit mousse from a couple of weeks ago to fill my entremets, and topped them with some passionfruit gelée (that's the fancy name for homemade Jell-O). The decor paste was tinted with cocoa, and the cake is an almond sponge. It was the construction where I messed up. I had it in my head that the entremets needed a cake base (they don't--it's in the instructions), but it just looks kind of stuck on. I also wrapped my molds completely in plastic wrap before lining them with parchment, meaning I mangled them a bit when trying to unmold them. Again, it was in the instructions not to do this. Like a few others, I discovered the gelée had run down the outside of the entremet, staining the cake a bit. Not tragic, but I definitely plan to make more of these, as I have so many ideas for designs and fillings. Stay tuned!

Thanks so much for a great challenge, Astheroshe! The Daring Bakers really went all out this month, so head over to The Daring Kitchen to see the slideshow of gorgeous entremets. 

Blog-checking lines: The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Passion fruit mousse

I've had a hard time getting back into the swing of things since the holidays. I've been surprisingly busy at work this week, and daylight has been fleeting. I actually made this on Monday, and just managed to get some pictures today, so I can tell you that this mousse is a good keeper. Not that it'll last long once you try it. Isn't it just the dreamiest colour? Well, maybe not in Ottawa's dull light, but trust me, it was a beautiful pale orange.

I love passion fruit, but it's so expensive to buy them fresh here, and sometimes you get a dud, with almost no pulp inside it. I lucked out just before Christmas, because my aunt brought me back a shopping bag full of them from the Dominican Republic. I ate a lot over the holidays, but still got almost a kilogram of pulp from the rest. I've been sneaking spoonfuls and using it in smoothies, enjoying it thoroughly, but I wanted to make something I've never made before with passion fruit. When I was at my mother's over the holidays, I looked through some of the cookbooks I keep there and found a recipe for a bavarois, or Bavarian cream. Now, I'm not sure that it actually is a Bavarian cream, as they don't usually contain meringue. My Larousse Gastronomique is in storage, so I've just called this a mousse, and enjoyed it thoroughly. A rose by another name and all that.

This recipe started with a passion fruit curd, which got lightened with an Italian meringue and whipped cream and set with a bit of gelatin. Perfect: it would dirty all my dishes! I had also been loaned a set of small metal molds, by a friend who went hunting in her childhood home over the holidays. This recipe did indeed require lots of bowls, but the results were worth it. The texture is light, from the meringue, and tart, but still a bit creamy. It really is January diet fare, if you ignore the 7 egg yolks and cup of cream. That said, it made a lot! I filled all my ramekins, molds, and even set some aside for another dessert. According to The Cake Bible, it can even be frozen, so I'll try that with a few ramekins and let you know how it turns out.

Passion fruit bavarois
From The Secrets of Baking, by Sherry Yard
Serves 8

½ cup cold water, divided
1 ¼ ounce envelope powdered gelatin
1¼ cups granulated sugar, divided
3 large eggs
4 large egg yolks
¾ cup strained. pureed passion fruit pulp (can use frozen)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (I skipped this, as my passion fruit was very tart)
1 cup heavy cream
4 large egg whites

a 2-quart/litre decorative mold or smaller individual ones

1. Pour ¼ cup of the cold water into a small bowl and sprinkle the gelatin over top. Set aside to soften. Bring a medium saucepan of water to a simmer over medium heat. 
2. Whisk together the egg yolks, eggs and ¾ cup of the sugar in a medium heatproof bowl. Place over the simmering water and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in the passion fruit and continue whisking until the curd reaches 160℉/71℃, or is the thickness of sour cream.
3. Melt the softened gelatin by heating for about 20-30 seconds in the microwave, and stir into the curd.
4. The recipe recommends straining and cooling over an ice bath, but I just put it in the fridge while I prepared the other components, and stirred it occasionally.
5. Whip the cream, then place in the fridge. Wash the beaters.
6. In a small saucepan, combine the remaining ½ cup sugar and ¼ cup water. Swirl to moisten the sugar, then cover and bring to a boil over high heat. Uncover and cook to 235℉/113℃. While you are waiting...
7. In a clean bowl, whip the egg whites to the soft peak stage. When the syrup is ready, drizzle it into the whites while you are beating. Be careful not to get the syrup directly on the beaters, as it will harden there, or be spun onto the sides of the bowl. Whip until stiff, shiny peaks have formed.
8. When the curd is cool (70℉/21℃), but not set, fold the meringue in with a spatula or a whisk. When it is almost incorporated, fold in the whipped cream. 
9. Immediately pour the mixture into the mold(s) and refrigerate. It will be set in about 2 hours. To remove from the mold, invert it onto a serving dish and rub the outside of the mold with a warm damp towel. Tap the mold to loosen the gelatin. This did not work for me! I had to dunk the molds into hot water before they would release. Perhaps I'll oil them lightly next time. If you wet your plate first, you will be able to slide the bavarian into place more easily. Stays fresh, refrigerated and covered with plastic wrap for up to 3 days. Garnish with extra passionfruit pulp, or other tropical fruit.

The Daring Bakers make chocolate pavlova!

Lots of pictures and not so many words today. I'm sure many of you are grateful! I made this challenge only days after it was revealed, which is very unusual for me. As I didn't write it up then, I can't remember much. What I do remember is that it was delicious, and I took it on a picnic along with the Daring Cooks' challenge of pâté and bread. This pav wasn't exactly what I think about for a picnic dessert, but it was certainly good. Even though I'm not a big fan of chocolate, the chocolate-mascarpone mousse was rich and delicious. The meringues were nice and crisp, and the crème anglaise-mascarpone-Amaretto mixture was the most amazing dessert sauce ever. 

I made a vanilla meringue, as chocolate on chocolate does not appeal. I'm glad I did, because this was already an incredibly rich dessert. I garnished with some wonderful organic cherries I had found on sale that morning. They were the reason I decided to make this dessert on a very busy day, what with the pâté and bread I was already making. 

I had fun piping the meringue and mousse in swirls. This is the sauceless version I packed up for the picnic, so we could add it at the last moment. I may even have tried to lick the jar it was in. The one I kept right-side-up travelled surprisingly well. 

They looked just like this on our picnic. In our minds' eye, anyway. But, I still had a few baked meringue bases left over, so a few days later, on a very cloudy and rainy day, I put together a blackberry curd pavlova with the curd left from these shortcakes. Click on the link for the curd recipe. It was a perfect combination, though the colour looks a bit weird in the gray light.

A few days after that, with my move date looming, I thought I had better use up some of the egg whites that were still in the fridge. This time I made a soft, marshmallowy meringue in the true pavlova style. There was lots of discussion in the forums about whether a crisp meringue was actually a pavlova, but I just stayed out of it and kept baking. I topped this pav with some strawberry-white chocolate mousse left over from the wedding cake, and topped it with some fresh strawberry coulis. This was fantastic! I'd go make another now if all my baking equipment weren't in storage. 

Blog-checking lines: The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

Original challenge recipes can be found here.

Strawberry wedding cake

It still amazes me that anyone would ask me to make their wedding cake. Sure, it would probably taste good, but would I finish on time? I'm happy to say that I finished this cake with 6 minutes to spare. Yeah, 6 minutes didn't leave much time for piping, hence the rather rustic coat of whipped cream on it. Oh, and it tasted good! Sadly I didn't get a photo of the cut cake, which had a lovely pink filling, but I was so relieved by then that it hadn't collapsed that I just sat down and ate some. In fact, this is the only picture I got of the finished cake.

This cake was for my friends M and D, and it was the most relaxed wedding ever. Nobody could be further from being a Bridezilla than M. In fact, her only requirement was 'cardamom', and we did discuss berries, and there was a definite preference for whipped cream rather than buttercream, but that was it. And D, well I think he'll eat anything. I got pretty stressed out by this cake, which is unusual, especially when it comes to baking. I usually throw things together without too much of a plan, and because I have enough experience, it usually works. However, I wasn't willing to have a big, slumping, melting mess of a cake unveiled in front of lots of people I didn't know, and some that I do. So, I thought about it a lot. I read books and looked at websites and forums.  I bought new pans and lots of accessories. I stole a dozen straws from Starbucks. Not exactly stole: I paid $3.25 for a latte, and took them in lieu of sugar.

Those of you who have seen my kitchen are probably wondering how I did it. There are 6 layers of cake, all made on my 16" (40 cm) of counter space, and baked in my apartment-size oven. No worries, I have a breakfast table that's 13.5' (4.1 m) from said counter. Did I mention that I am moving? I am, on Monday, meaning that the space between counter and table is littered with half packed boxes, and requires hopping, turning sideways and taking a very circuitous route. Needless to say, it was a tight squeeze, and I broke 3 plates in the process, including my lovely old cake plate. I was upset about that one, as good cake plates are hard to find, but, as for the other two plates: less to pack. I also managed to drop a full container of cornstarch off the kitchen counter and discovered that it can fly all the way to the breakfast table, and even stick to the curtains. I came home the other day to discover a set of white footprints leading from my apartment to the elevator. I keep thinking I've got it all cleaned up, but it's hard with all the boxes in the way.

Anyway, back to the cake. All the recipes were from The Cake Bible, by Rose Levy Berenbaum. No recipes, as I've already packed the book. I made the génoise classique in 6", 8" and 10", with 2 layers of each. This took 22 eggs, but less than 200 grams of butter! It was a light sponge cake, spiced with freshly ground cardamom, soaked with a rum syrup and filled with a strawberry-white chocolate mousse. This mousse was a combination of Rose's strawberry cloud cream and white ganache. I frosted it with sweetened whipped cream flavoured with vanilla and stabilized with cornstarch. There was more than 2 litres of whipping cream in the cake, more than making up for the lack of butter, I think.

I baked the cakes on Thursday evening, syruped and put the layers together on Friday night (after the civil service and a great Chinese dinner), meaning I finished at 3 am. On Saturday morning, I woke up at 9 and thought I had better find a box to transport it in, and pick up some strawberries to garnish it. As you can see, I went a bit overboard with the strawberries, buying a flat (12 pints). I finally finished them yesterday. :) I got the tiers put together, using those straws to support them, and got the whipped cream on at 1:24 pm. My ride was arriving at 1:30. All I needed to do was get dressed. I was really worried about the cream melting, so I ripped a rack out of my fridge by force, and jammed the cake in.

When my ride arrived, I got the cake in its box and got it in the car, but sat in the backseat with it, as I was really worried. It was then I noticed I was wearing my house flip-flops, which did not match my dress at all. Oh well. Even though I had pushed a wooden dowel down the centre (a long cooking chopstick, actually), I could envision it sliding apart. Sure enough, on a corner that T took like an F1 driver, the whole thing tilted dramatically. Once I saw that it was okay, I relaxed. A bit too much, apparently, because as we took off from a stoplight, the box and cake lurched backward, smearing on the back of the box. Luckily it wasn't too bad, and I fixed what I could and put that side against the wall. I put the strawberries on at the venue, and watched the cake through the whole dinner, as I was really worried about it melting, or just collapsing entirely. It seemed the time to eat it would never arrive, to both me and the four year old at our table. He kept asking, "Is it time for cake yet?"

Well, it's always time for cake, in my world, but I think I'll stick to simpler things for the next little while. See you Tuesday!