Archive for May, 2009

Another month went by and as usual it is time to show how we managed to complete the monthly DB challenge.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Strudel… I love strudels and I tried making strudel dough several times until now. The results were not as I would have liked so I always turned to store bought phylo. This time it was mandatory to get it right. I made this dough 3 times this month. The first time it was great – it was the dough I have been searching. I made mini tarts with lemon mousse and topped with cherry sauce. Some of the tart shells have been served as ice cream cones to the chidren and they loved them – that is how the second time appeared. My daughter wanted her ice cream only in phylo cups.

As with the last few challenges this one also allowed millions of combinations and of course it was really difficult to make a decision. So, I made: peach mousse and cashew crumble mini tarts, mango and papaya strudel, cheese and cherry berry jam strudel and a few chocolate – biscotti triangles.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it’s about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Peach mousse and cashew crumble mini tarts
To make the cups

30 g brown sugar
30 g pistachios
butter to brush the dough

After step 2 above, I divided the dough in 40 g balls.
Roll two balls of dough as thin as you can. Brush the first one with melted butter and sprinkle the sugar/ pistachio mixture all over. Top with the second one. Using a cookie cutter, cut as many circles as you can and place them in well buttered muffin pans or mini tart pans.
Bake them at 200 degrees Celsius for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown.

Peach mousse

3 g gelatin + cold water
125 g peach puree (about 2 medium peaches)
25-35 g brown sugar (depending on the tartness of your fruits)
125 g whipped cream

Sprinkle the gelatin over cold water and let it bloom for about 10 minutes. In the meantime heat the peach puree and the sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and add in the gelatin stirring until the gelatin is dissolved. Let it cool to room temperature. Add half of the whipped cream and gently incorporate it. Add the rest of the cream.
Pipe the mousse inside the tart shells.

Cashew crumble
As a note, this is the crumble that i always use when I crave fruit crumbles. It is adapted from David Lebovitz

105 g whole wheat flour
90 g cornmeal
80 g cashews
60 g brown sugar
112 g cold butter
cinnamon (a lot if you ask me )

In a food processor combine the first 4 ingredients and the cinnamon if using. Pulse until the nuts are as fine as you like them. Add the butter cut in cubes. Pulse until the butter is finely broken up and the mixture no longer looks sandy and is starting to stick and clump together. Refrigerate until ready to use. I usually freeze part of the crumble.
Preheat the oven at 175 degrees Celsius. Spread part of the crumble in a pan covered with parchment paper and bake for 12-15 minutes.
Let it cool completely and sprinkle over the tarts (as my tarts are very small, I dipped them in the crumble).

Mango and papaya filling

150 g mango cubed
50 g papaya cubed
25-30 g brown sugar
2 tsp cherry berry jam (I used St Dalfour four fruit spread)
rum to taste
home made biscotti crumbled (chocolate and cashew)
butter for the dough

Preheat the oven at 185 degrees Celsius.
Mix the fruit, the sugar, the jam and the rum. Set aside.
Crumble the biscotti in a food processor.
Brush the dough with the butter. Sprinkle some biscotti crumbles on one side (leave about 1.5 cm on top and on the bottom). Spoon the fruit mix over the crumbles and top with the rest of the crumbles. Fold the upper and bottom edges over the filling. Fold the closer edge over the filling as well and start rolling the strudel as a jelly roll using the cloth underneath. Place the strudel on the baking pan lined with parchment paper. Brush more butter on top and sprinkle some brown sugar. Bake the strudel for about 30-40 minutes until golden brown.

Biscotti and chocolate triangles

shaved bittersweet chocolate
crumbled biscotti
butter for the dough

Roll another ball of dough. Brush with melted butter. Fold it in 2 lengthwise. Place chocolate and biscotti at about 1.5 cm from the top and start folding the dough. Check this post for great pictured instructions. Brush the top with melted butter. Sprinkle sugar, or crumble on top and bake as above.

Fresh curd cheese and cherry berry jam filling

200 g fresh curd cheese (I followed this recipe to make it and it was delicious)
30 g brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 vanilla bean
75 g jam
40 g crumbled biscotti
butter for the dough

Place the curd and the sugar in a clean bowl and beat them until smooth. Add the egg and beat until well blended. Scrape the vanilla bean and mix everything.
Proceed as for the above roll: butter, then crumbles, them cheese mixture, jam and finish with another sprinkle of crumled biscotti.

Happy Mother’s Day to all moms out there!
Even if we celebrate Mother’s Day on March 8th, I personally celebrate being a mom every minute of my life and my daughter is my most precious gift I could have gotten: every word she says, every smile she offers, every kiss she gives me. She gives sense to my life, she teaches me to view life through her innocent eyes, she is just marvelous.
She loves helping me out in the kitchen in any way she can: she cracks eggs, measures ingredients, tastes whatever we do together. She is amazed to see how things happen: how sugar caramelizes, how eggs and a sugar syrup become marshmallowy, how chocolate melts and hardens again to coat our desserts. I love that she already has preferences and tries to pair flavors. The desert we made this past weekend contains flavors that she loves: chocolate, caramel and coffee. It became her favorite cake, and she ate 2 portions in 10 minutes (which is totally unlike her) .

For the chocolate cake
I used this recipe. I doubled it and baked 2 29*38 cm pans.

For the white chocolate cardamom mousse
This is from the wonderful Aran
3 egg yolks
112 g sugar
30 g honey
60 ml water
130 g white chocolate
340 ml whipped cream
6 g gelatin + 30 ml water
1 tsp ground cardamom
Place the sugar, honey and water into a pan and over medium high heat cook them to 115 C (240 F).
Place the yolks into a clean bowl and whip them until pale. Add the sugar syrup while still beating the yolks. Whip this mixture until it is pale, thick and cool.

Place the gelatin and water in a bowl and let it bloom.
Melt the chocolate over a pot of hot water. Set aside.
Whip the cream and cardamom together – not fully. Melt the gelatin and slowly add it to the cream and whip just until combined.
Measure 85 g from the yolk mixture above and add it to the cream. Them add the melted chocolate and slowly fold it in.

For the coffee caramel syrup

150 g sugar
75 g honey
60 ml water
15 ml strong espresso
40 g salted butter

Place the first 3 ingredients in a pan over medium heat and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Rise the temperature and let them cook until thicker (about 5 minutes) and they start to become caramel in color.
Remove from heat and add the coffee. Add the butter and stir it in. Let it cool.

To assemble

Remove the cake layers from the freezer. Cut each one in half.
Place the first layer on your cake board and pipe 1/3 of the white chocolate over. Spread it evenly. Drizzle 1/3 of the caramel syrup over. Very carefully place the next layer and repeat.
Place the cake in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. To cut it, dip your knife in water.

I always loved fruits, with no exception. But some of them are more dear to me and I keep on using them over and over. Mango is one of my strongest fruity love affairs. I love it plain, or with some natural yogurt in the morning or in more pretentious presentations like the mousse in this cake or poached as in the DB cheesecake. One of the latest delights made with mango was a mango and strawberry jam flavored with orange water. It was so good on a hot pancake on Sunday morning.

For the cocoa cake base
9 egg yolks (142-145 g)
120 g sugar
4 egg whites (135-140 g)
25 g sugar
50 g cocoa powder (natural, unsweetened)
68 g flour
45 g melted and cooled butter

Preheat the oven at 185 degrees C. Butter and line with parchment paper a 29*38 cm pan.
Sift the flour and cocoa together and set aside.
Whip the egg yolks with the 120 g sugar until pale in color and thick (when lifted from the bowl the mixture should form a ribbon when falling back in the bowl).
Whip the egg whites to soft peaks. Add the sugar slowly while beating until stiff peaks are formed.
Add 1/3 of the whites to the yolk mixture and fold it in gently. Add the flour-cocoa mixture and fold it gently. Add the rest of the whites.
Last, fold in the melted butter. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 10-12 minutes (the cake should spring back when lightly pressed).
Let the cake cool on a wire rack.

For the soaking syrup

100 ml water
sugar to taste
rum extract to taste

Bring water and sugar to a boil until sugar is melted. Let cool a little and add the rum.

For the mango mousse
2 egg yolks
65 g sugar
50 ml water
4 g gelatin powder
300 g mango puree
175 ml whipping cream

Place the gelatin and 2 Tblsp of water to bloom.
Whip the cream to soft peaks and refrigerate.
Place the sugar and water in a pan over medium high heat, cover it and boil until all sugar is dissolved. Uncover the pan and cook the sugar syrup to 238 degrees F.
When the syrup is ready, melt the gelatin in the microwave.
Whip the yolks while slowly pouring the sugar syrup over. Next add the melted gelatin while still mixing. Continue beating the yolks until tripled in volume, thick and cool.
Add the mango puree and slowly blend it in. Add the whipped cream and incorporate it gently.

For the milk chocolate caramel mousse
150 g sugar
45 ml water
42 g butter
360 ml whipping cream (divided: 250 ml refrigerated, 90 ml heated)
255 g milk chocolate

In a double boiler melt the chocolate. Set aside.
Heat 90 ml of cream and keep it warm until the sugar is melted.
Place the sugar and water in a pan over medium high heat and caramelize it.
*tip: I cover the pan and let it boil until all sugar crystals are dissolved. Uncover the pan and let the sugar turn caramel.
Add the butter to the pan (make sure it is at room temperature). Be very careful as it will bubble and splitter. Add the cream to the pan as well. Whisk until all caramel is dissolved.
Add the caramel over the melted chocolate. Mix until completely incorporated and smooth.
Let cool to room temperature and combine with the whipped cream.

To assemble

Place the cake base inside your cake ring (or in a pan). Brush with the rum syrup. Pipe the mango mousse, smooth the top and refrigerate until set.
Pipe the caramel chocolate mousse, smooth the top and refrigerate.

Decorate as you see fit: I just dusted it with some cocoa powder