Dorie's Perfect Party Cake

This year when Steven and I celebrate our birthdays together in July, I want to bake an extra special cake for the two of us. I don't make many layer cakes because I think they're too fussy to make and frost. I'm more of a muffin/quick bread kind of gal where I only need two bowls and don't have to bust out the KitchenAid. But I just can't resist the sheer beauty and elegance of a pristine white layer cake with buttercream frosting. There's really no substitute for a tall layer cake for a special occasion so I need to get as much practice in as possible before making the official birthday cake. I don't want to screw up like last year because screwing up a birthday cake is something I never want to do again. A white layer cake something I've always wanted to make, it's even on the list! So when Morven chose Dorie's Perfect Party Cake, I really couldn't have asked for a more perfect challenge.



We had a lot of flexibility this month. We could play around with the cake flavor, the fillings, and the buttercream flavors, as long as we stuck to Dorie's basic recipe for the cake and frosting. At first glance, I was shocked by the amount of butter and sugar the entire recipe called for: a full POUND of butter and 2 1/2 cups of sugar (not counting the sugar in the preserves). Oh my! I didn't mess with the butter content but I simply couldn't put 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the cake alone! First I scaled down the recipe by 3/4 for my 8 inch cake pans and then decreased the sugar to 3/4 cups. I tasted a piece of the cake and it was sufficiently sweet so I can't imagine how cloyingly sweet it would have been if I had used the full amount. Many Daring Bakers had an issue with the cake not rising very much and I ended up with the same problem. I used cake flour and followed the instructions to a T and yet my cakes did not rise very much at all. After baking, the layers were about 1 inch high. I worried that my cake would end up like my first chiffon cake, dense and rubbery. I cut off a tiny piece and surprisingly, the interior of the cake was light and fluffy and tasted amazing, it just didn't rise very much. Odd but nothing catastrophic. I compared the recipe to a Cook's Illustrated recipe for white layer cake and found that CI used the same amount of flour, more butter, but also more baking powder and eggs whites. Maybe next time I should try adding a little more baking powder?

I knew I wanted to fill the cake with blackberry jam because I still had a huge gallon size bag of blackberries in the freezer from last summer that I needed to use (to make room for strawberry season). With my recently purchased shiny new food mill, I was able to make seedless jam since the first thing Steven did the last time I made jam was complain about all the seeds. I kept the lemon flavor in the cake because I think it pairs very well with blackberry. Instead of filling the cakes with buttercream and preserves, I boosted the lemony flavors of the cake by making Pierre Herme's lemon cream, also found in Dorie's book, to go inside. I still made the buttercream to frost the outside of the cake but since I had a 8 inch cake and no longer needed it to fill the cake, I only made half the recipe, just enough to frost the outside of the cake. Finally I made some candied lemon slices to decorate the outside. I used my new frosting spatulas that Bettina got me for Christmas for the first time (yay thanks Bettina!). This was my first time frosting a layer cake and all I can say is I definitely need more practice frosting cakes. Even though I did a crumb coat to seal in any loose crumbs, I still ended up with some crumbs on the outside of the cake. Oh well, go figure. And I spent a good 5 minutes trying to get the exterior to look perfectly smooth, but I gave up in the end. I planned to do a shell border on the top and bottom of the cake but only had enough frosting for a top border. At first the buttercream was too cold so it was difficult squeezing it out through the tip, then it started to melt from the heat of my hands and got a little too liquidy. I ended up with only half a dozen perfect shells, the rest were either chunky or blobby. It's okay, practice practice.

The cake was absolutely delicious. The blackberry and lemon flavors were perfect together. The cake was light and the frosting was sinfully creamy. I had 2 slices and then I realized I had just ingested roughly half a stick of butter. Eek! Better not think about that and just concentrate on how yummy it is. This is definitely a cake I will be making over and over for special occasions; it really is the perfect party cake.

I think everyone did the cake a little differently this month so be sure to check out all the great cakes by going to the Daring Baker Blog Roll

Dorie's Perfect Party Cake: Lemon and Blackberry
from Dorie's Baking: From My Home to Yours
Lemon White Cake (for 2 9inch pans)
2 1/4 C cake flour
1 Tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 C whole milk or buttermilk (I used buttermilk, Dorie says she prefers this with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp grated lemon zest
1 stick (or 1/2 C or 4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 tsp pure lemon extract (I used some vanilla extract)

for 2 8 inch pans
1 2/3 C cake flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 C whole milk or buttermilk (I used buttermilk, Dorie says she prefers this with the lemon)
3 large egg whites
1 1/4 C sugar (<- oh my god that is so much sugar, I used 3/4 C and the end result was fine)
1/4 tsp pure lemon extract (I used 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

For the Buttercream (I made half of this recipe)
1 C sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 C fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
Lemon Cream Filling
2 tsp lemon zest
1/3 C sugar
2 large eggs
1/3 C lemon juice
8 (1/2 C or 4oz.) unsalted butter, very cold cut into 8 slices

Blackberry preserves (I had some homemade)
(I skipped the coconut on the outside)

Getting Ready
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and adjust a rack to the center position. Butter 2 8 inch (see adjusted recipe for 8 inch pan) or 9 inch cake pans and line the bottom with a round piece of parchment paper. Set aside.

Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Whisk the egg whites with the whole milk or buttermilk. Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar feels moist and smells lemony.

Using either the whisk or paddle attachment, add the butter to the sugar and beat at medium speed until the sugar and butter is fluffy and light, 3 full minutes.

Beat in the extract, then lower the speed and add one third of the flour mixture. If you continue to mix on medium you'll get flour poofing out. The add half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in the rest of the dry ingredients, mix until incorporated. Finally add the rest of the milk-egg mixture and beat for a full 2 minutes on medium speed to insure that the batter is homogeneous and aerated.

Divide the batter evenly between the two prepared pans and smooth out the top. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes (or 25 - 30 minutes for 8 inch cakes) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Check early.

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pans, peel off the parchment liner, and cool the cakes to room temperature (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Lemon Cream Filling
Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer. Place the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or heatproof bowl and rub the two together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and lemony. Whisk in the eggs, followed by the lemon juice. Place this ontop of the pan of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 180 degrees. As it approaches 180 degrees it will thicken considerably and the whisk will begin to leave tracks. Be very diligent about checking the temperature at this point. As soon as it reaches 180 degrees take it off heat. With a rubber spatula, scrape the mixture into a blender or food processor and let it cool until it is 140 degrees, this will take about 5 - 10 minutes. When the mixture has cooled, turn on the blender or food processor and with it running, add 3 1-tablespoon pieces of butter at a time, waiting until each addition has been incorporated before adding more. Blend for a full 2 minutes to emulsify and aerate the cream. Chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes before working with it. It will store overnight but you will need to let it warm up and soften before you can work with it.

To Make the Buttercream (I made half of the recipe)
Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer. Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or heatproof bowl and place this bowl over the pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until the mixture feels hot to the touch and the sugar has completely dissolved, about 3 minutes. The mixture will look white and shiny like marshmallow cream.

Using the whisk attachment, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes. It will become very white, fluffy, and sticky. Switch to the paddle attachment and add the butter one stick at a time. Since I was only using 1 1/2 sticks I added 1/2 a stick at each time. Beat the buttercream until it is thick, fluffy, and smooth. At some point it will curdle but don't worry, this is normally and with continued beating it will come together. Gradually add the lemon juice, making sure each addition is absorbed before adding more and finally add the vanilla. I don't know how well buttercream keeps in the fridge. It is best to work with it right after you make it. You can make the cakes and filling ahead of time, but make plan to make the buttercream and finish the cake on the same time. However after frosting the cake you can refrigerate it for 2 days or freeze it for a month.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a serrated knife, gently saw each cake layer into two layers. I like to first slice an outline around the perimeter of the cake then work my way in.

Dab a little frosting in the middle of a cardboard cake round or a cake plate and center the bottom layer cut side up. The frosting will act as the glue so the cake doesn't skid around when you are trying to frost it.

Spread 1/3 of the lemon cream on the layer. Then spread blackberry preserves on top. Place the top cake layer, cut side up. This way the domed top will be face down. Repeat with the spreading of the lemon cream and blackberry preserves. Now place the top layer of the second cake layer cut side up. Repeat with the filling, then filling place the final layer cut side down, the bottom of the cake layer should be facing up.

First apply a thin layer of frosting all around the cake as the crumb coat. This helps seals in all of the crumbs that you don't want on the outside of your cake. Then, use the remaining buttercream to evenly frost the outside of the cake. If you have any leftover frosting you can pipe designs on the outside. I made some candied lemon slices for the outside of the cake.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but it will keep well covered and refrigerated for up to two days or you can freeze the cake (freeze it solid then wrap it well) for up to two months (defrost it well wrapped in the fridge overnight). Bring it to room temperature before serving. I find that the buttercream tastes the fluffiest the day it's made.

Playing Around
You can use whatever flavors or fillings your heart desires and decorate the cake however you like. In the original recipe, Dorie covered the outside of the cake with coconut but but you can also used grated chocolate, chopped nuts, or fresh berries.

French Bread

Did I ever mention that I like to procrastinate? I would be a professional procrastinator if I could but I'm sure the pay is pretty crappy. I figured I would have plenty of opportunities to do the Daring Baker challenge but before I knew it, it’s the last week of February! I'll just blame the fact that February is a super short month. The only day I had time to do the challenge was today, which is technically posting day. Eek! Down to the wire here!


As always, we have lovely hostesses who select our secret recipe and this month, the wonderful duo Mary aka Breadchick, writer of The Sour Dough, and Sara of I Like to Cook chose something that I’ve always wanted to make, French bread! And not just any French bread, Julia Child’s French bread, the bread she devoted 18 pages to in her Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol 2. If you’ve read her memoir, My Life in France, you will know just how much of Julia loved to bake and how much time and effort she devoted to that one recipe. She made boulangerie style French bread accessible for the home cook!

The day started off beautifully, it was bright and sunny and my kitchen was 68 degrees, perfect dough rising conditions. After a donut and tea for breakfast, I rolled up my sleeves to tackle the dough making. Nothing like feeling the warm morning sun hit your face and hearing the *slap slap slap* of bread dough hitting the side of the KitchenAid bowl. After the machine did most of the work, I kneaded for a few minutes by hand to feel the dough, making sure to give it a good poke to test its springiness. Then back into the bowl, covered with a towel, for a long 5 hour rise. Who wouldn’t like a warm 5 hour long nap?

Then after the dough tripled in size, I gently shaped it for the second rise of 2 hours. It was beautiful after the second rise. The top was smooth and domed and it was absolutely gorgeous. After reading the instruction on how to form a batard, I was afraid I would mess up because it sounded pretty complicated so I decide to just make one large loaf. Then I gently coaxed the dough out of the bowl again and shaped it into a large loaf. It made some funny hissing noises as some of the gas bubbles popped, which made me giggle. Then after shaping the dough into the loaf, I gently placed it on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for the final nap. It was like my little bread baby, so cute! Then under covers again for the final 2 hour rise.

Finally, I preheated my stone, slashed the loaf with a razor blade, brushed water on the outside, and slid it into the oven.


The Results:
After 25 minutes, I checked the internal temperature of the bread with my Thermapen and it was only 160 degrees F. Weird! Either my brand new Thermapen is off or my oven is off. I kept the loaf in the oven for another 5 minutes and took it out because I was afraid of overbaking.

The crust was a beautiful golden brown and shatteringly crisp, it was just gorgeous. Unfortunately, my slashes didn’t serve their purpose, I thought they were deep enough but on the finished loaf, they looked very superficial and they didn’t allow the steam to escape, instead the bread split open near the bottom. Am I suppose to slash a little deeper or should I not have brushed water over them? After cooling for 2 hours, I sliced into it and I was a little disappointed. The crumb was too dense and a little chewy/gummy. Where did I go wrong? I was really careful when I handled the dough but maybe I didn’t let it rise enough the third time. Maybe I should have baked it longer since the crumb was a little gummy, is that because the bread is underbaked and the interior is still too moist? It tasted really good but it was a little yeasty. Did I do something wrong? What should I do differently next time?

All in all, I still give myself a pat on the back for making a pretty decent loaf of French bread. I wish the interior could have been a little airier and fluffier but I’m still happy with how it turned out. I’m really proud of the crust because I’ve never been able to get bread to look that good. The crust was my favorite part, it was so thin and crispy. Yum! Now I can cross French bread off my list but I know this is a recipe I will repeat over and over until I can get it just right.

As for the recipe? Head on over to Mary’s blog for the whole shebang, all 18 pages. Thank you so much Mary and Sara for choosing this wonderful recipe and for taking the time to type up the whole thing! The side notes you gals added were especially helpful!

Recipe here

The recipe is long and the process takes almost all day. I started at around 10 in the morning and finished at 6 or so?

I already ate half my loaf and I bet I’ll finish the other half tomorrow. Here are some idea’s for any leftover bread you may have.

Cover the inside with roasted garlic and butter for roasted garlic bread.

Make sandwiches:
Ham and Butter
Salami, Baby Spinach, and Cream Cheese
Pate and Cornichon

Stale French bread is wonderful on top of French Onion Soup

Make sure to see all the beautiful breads everyone made by heading over to the Daring Baker Blogroll

Lemon Meringue Pie

When Jen revealed the January Daring Baker challenge, it immediately made me think of the Desperate Housewives lemon meringue pie episode. Bree, who everyone knows is the best cook and baker in the neighborhood, gets one-upped at a luncheon by Katherine, the new housewife on the block, who surreptitiously swaps Bree's pie with her own and conveniently sticks Bree's in the fridge. (*gasp* I know! The nerve right?!) Bree goes to no end to crack Katherine's secret recipe, which includes toiling away in the kitchen attempting to reproduce the pie but to no avail, an unsuccessful recipe exchange, and finally a friendly neighborhood breaking and entering into Katherine's house and padlocked recipe box. Who padlocks their recipe box? Luckily for us Daring Bakers, the recipe was given to us so no felonies were committed in the making of this pie. But there was a blow torch involved. Okay, okay, it was one of those little tiny kitchen ones BUT a blow torch nonetheless.

I think this is the first pie Daring Baker's challenge and it is actually my very first time making pie. I've baked tarts before but I've never baked a pie. I'm not crazy about pies because all of the ones I've tasted have had soggy crusts and theres really nothing worse than a soggy, greasy crust when a flaky crust is arguably the best part. Unlike a fruit pie where a wet filling is baked in the crust, a lemon meringue pie is must like a lemon tart where the crust is baked separately, filled with a lemon filling, and topped with meringue, then baked only briefly to color and cook the meringue. It sounded like the bottom crust had potential of being crispy and flaky. I held out hope. Then reports from other DBs around the globe started flooding in about watery, runny lemon fillings. I began to have my doubts.

Another thing I was a little wary about was the meringue. It seems like the meringue is still fairly fluffy and soft (to me that reads uncooked) when the pie is served. Some people love meringue, whether its the crisp, airy crunch when its baked into cookies, or soft, pillowy billows on top of meringue pies. Me? I'm not crazy about meringue. I think it tastes like sweet, sweet nothing. I was a little worried about eating uncooked egg whites because I get a little paranoid about food poisoning. But I was still eager to make the pie and play with my kitchen torch.

As a procrastinator, I didn't actually finish the challenge until the day before the due date. God that sounds like college all over again. But I did do my research. Before making the recipe, I read the Cook's Illustrated recipe to see what problems they encountered with lemon meringue pie (LMP) recipes. To my horror, LMPs are plagued with a multitude of problems some of which Cook's Illustrated wasn't even able to consistently solve. Cook's Illustrated is like my cooking bible. If they can't nail a recipe, how can I be expected to not screw it up? Conditions like humidity and temperature of your filling or oven can wreck havoc on your meringue. The filling can be too runny or the meringue can bead or weep. Crying meringue? That doesn't sound too happy. (Weeping meringue is when the egg whites start coming out of the foam state and back into liquid state and puddle on the top of your lemon filling. Yuck...) So by now I was a little intimidated.

But I made the pie and here are my thoughts.

Pie crust:
I used the food processor and it was easy peasy. Gimme a food processor and I can whip out a pie crust in less than a minute. Hand me a pastry cutter or 2 forks and I will look at you with a blank stare. Yes it is probably a bad thing I'm so dependent on my food processor but it is undeniably fast. Anyway the crust was the easiest part.

Lemon filling:
It started to get clumpy during the cooking stage after I added the egg yolks so I took it off the heat. I'm don't think it was boiling yet so I might not have cooked it enough so it probably could have been a little thicker. As for the clumps, they were nothing a fine mesh sieve couldn't take care of. After adding the lemon juice the filling seemed a tad thin.

Meringue:
Easy to make *pats trusty KitchenAid*. I made one tart with the classic tall billowy layer of meringue and another with little meringue kisses. I baked the billowy tart in the toaster oven and used a kitchen torch on the kisses tart.

The Verdict:
Meringue... still not a fan of it. I gave it a try. It tasted kinda spongy. Really bleh... Maybe I didn't make it right. I've actually never had a meringue pie so I don't know what it's suppose to taste like. It wept a little on the bottom so the fact that I had raw egg white running on my tart kinda put me off. I ended up scraping the meringue layer off. By now I had a plain lemon tart. I like lemon tarts. I found that the filling tends to run if you cut it when its warm out of the oven but after a chill it sets up nicely. But my god it was WAY too sweet for me. This is coming from someone who usually cuts the sugar in baking recipes by 25% to 50%. I know you're not suppose to fudge with baking recipes and their liquid to dry ratios but I do it anyway. I don't do it for DB recipes (they are the exception). So I found the filling cloyingly sweet. I ended up spooning out some of the filling out of my tart. But the crust. Oh the crust... it was the best pie crust I have EVER made. It was so shatteringly crisp and flaky. Oh my god, the little tartlet pie shell covered in a thin layer of lemon filling was deeeelicious. Good dinner. :P

Anyways enough of my rambling so here's the recipe. (Bout time you say?) I made half the recipe into little tartlets. I also included tartlet instructions.

Lemon Meringue Pie
from Wanda's Pie in the Sky by Wanda Beaver

Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

For the Crust:
3/4 cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/3 cup (80 mL) ice water

For the Filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
3/4 cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

For the Meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
1/4 tsp (1.2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
3/4 cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

To Make the Crust:
Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes.

Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling. For smaller tartlets, bake first for 20 minutes then remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes until the shell is golden.

To Make the Filling:
Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

To Make the Meringue:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

For tartlets bake at 425 degrees F on the upper middle rack of the oven for 5 minutes or until the meringue is golden brown.

Cool before serving.

Now go and see all the other beautiful and daring lemon meringue pies made by my fellow bakers at the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

Yule Log

It's a marshmallow world in the winter,
When the snow comes to cover the ground,
It's the time for play, it's a whipped cream day,
I wait for it all year round.

Those are marshmallow clouds being friendly,
In the arms of the evergreen trees,
And the sun is red like a pumpkin head,
It's shining so your nose won't freeze.

The world is your snowball, see how it grows,
That's how it goes, whenever it snows,
The world is your snowball just for a song,
Get out and roll it along.

It's a yum-yummy world made for sweethearts,
Take a walk with your favourite girl,
It's a sugar date, what if spring is late,
In winter, it's a marshmallow world.

This month's Daring Baker challenge, a Yule Log complete with edible mushrooms, totally reminded me of a "Marshmallow World", one of my favorite Christmas songs. If you haven't heard it you can listen to it here (I love Dean Martin Christmas songs). I had a beautiful vision for my Yule Log. I would make a miniature Marshmallow World/Winter Wonderland on it with miniature evergreen trees, friendly marshmallow clouds, and a sweetheart couple taking a walk. Unfortunately, I lacked the appropriate miniature figurines to make this picturesque world on my Yule Log. *sigh* It was an adorable daydream. Sadly, not only was I unable to make this Marshmallow World Yule Log diorama, but long story short, I didn't have my camera to take a picture of the cake afterwards! So no pictures of this challenge. :( But I will still take everyone through my process.

The Yule Log consists of three components (the recipes are at the end) and we had lots of freedom with the flavoring this month.
Genoise cake - I kept it plain
Coffee buttercream frosting - I added a tiny bit of melted chocolate for a darker frosting
Meringue or Marzipan mushrooms - I chose the meringue mushrooms

The Cake:
My first impression of the cake was "holy cow that's a ton of sugar." 3/4 C of sugar for 1/2 C cake flour + 1/4 C cornstarch?! A lot of eggs and a lot of sugar went into this cake. The texture was a tad too eggy but it was way, way, way too sweet for me, especially with the filling and buttercream. Next time I make this I will probably use 1/4C or 1/3 C of sugar. I have a feeling my oven runs a little high, because after 10 minutes at 400 degrees F, my cake was a little overbaked and cracked when I went to roll it.

The Frosting:
Instead of making the full recipe of buttercream, I only made 2/3 of the recipe. I chose to fill the cake with Nutella whipped cream because coffee and chocolate pairs beautifully with hazelnuts and even more chocolate. Nutella whipped cream... yum!

As for the buttercream, mine didn't whip up as fluffy and beautiful as some other DB's but it was my first attempt at buttercream. I wanted my frosting to be a little darker so I added an ounce of melted dark chocolate. I skipped the rum/brandy in the recipe so I attempted to dissolve my instant espresso in the chocolate but this didn't work and the espresso stayed somewhat granular in the frosting. But this wasn't too big of a deal, only an aesthetic problem.

The Mushrooms:
I chose to make the meringue mushrooms. Many of my stems toppled over and lots of the mushrooms were somewhat deformed. I also pulled them out of the oven too quickly to assemble them because after the second drying they looked somewhat... shriveled and even more deformed. Ah well, they were tasty, like crunchy cotton candy!

The Assembly:
The recipe didn't specify which way I should roll the cake. Short fat log (the 10inch side of the cake) or a long skinny log (15 inch side of the cake)? I ended up making a short fat stump. Although the cake cracked, that was nothing a little frosting couldn't fix. ;)

The Verdict:
The cake was way too sweet (recipe's fault) and a little overbaked (my fault). The finished product with the buttercream and then the Nutella whipped cream filling, it was too rich for me too but that's not to say that it wasn't delicious because it certainly was. I loved the coffee buttercream (we Seattleites love our coffee) with a bit of chocolate and the Nutella whipped cream filling was perfect. I would definitely make this again, whether it's another Yule Log next Christmas or just a roll cake/layer cake for everyday eating.

Make sure to check out the Daring Baker's Blog Roll for more beautiful Yule Logs. They'll have pretty pictures!

I hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

Yule Log
Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri and The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert
Serves 12
Cake should be stored in a cool, dry place. Leftovers should be refrigerated

Plain Genoise
3 large eggs
3 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt
3/4 C of sugar (use only 1/3 C)
1/2 C cake flour
1/4 C cornstarch

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 1 10x15 inch jelly roll pan and line with parchment, then butter again on top of the parchment.

Bring a saucepan of water to a simmer.

Whisk the eggs, yolks, salt, and sugar together in a heatproof bowl like the bowl of a stand mixer. Place over the simmering saucepan of water and whisk until the mixture is about 100 degrees. It should feel lukewarm.

Whip on medium high speed until the egg mixture is light yellow, thick and foamy, and tripled in volume. It should fall off the whisk in ribbons that slowly dissolve.

While the eggs are whipping, sift together the cake flour and cornstarch.

Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the beaten eggs. Fold this in, then sift another 1/3 of the flour in, fold, and repeat.

Scrape the batter into the jelly roll pan and smooth the top. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the cake springs back when touched and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, begin making the buttercream.

Coffee Buttercream
4 large egg whites
1 C sugar
3 sticks (1 1/2 C) unsalted butter, room temp, softened
2 Tbsp instant espresso powder
2 Tbsp rum or brandy
1 oz melted dark chocolate

Whisk the egg whites and sugar together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Set the bowl over simmering water and whisk gently until the sugar is dissolved and the egg whites are hot.

Attach the bowl to the mixer and whip with the whisk on medium speed until cooled. Switch to the paddle and beat in the softened butter and continue beating until the buttercream is smooth. Dissolve the instant coffee in the liquor and beat into the buttercream.


Nutella Whipped Cream
1/2 C heavy whipping cream
1/4 C Nutella

Add the two together in a bowl and whip until stiff peaks.

Filling and frosting the log:
Turn the cake out of the pan onto a clean sheet of parchment and peel away the parchment on the bottom. Spread with filling. Roll the cake into a tight cylinder. Refrigerate for several hours.

Unwrap the cake. Trim the ends on the diagonal, starting the cuts about 2 inches away from each end. Position the larger cut piece on each log about 2/3 across the top. Cover the log with the reserved buttercream, making sure to curve around the protruding stump. Streak the buttercream with a fork or decorating comb to resemble bark.

Transfer the log to a platter and decorate with your mushrooms and whatever other decorations you’ve chosen.


Meringue Mushrooms
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ cup (3-1/2 ounces/105 g.) granulated sugar
1/3 cup (1-1/3 ounces/40 g.) icing sugar
Unsweetened cocoa powder for dusting

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Have ready a pastry bag fitted with a small (no. 6) plain tip. In a bowl, using a mixer on medium-low speed, beat together the egg whites and cream of tartar until very foamy. Slowly add the granulated sugar while beating. Increase the speed to high and beat until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. Continue until the whites hold stiff, shiny peaks. Sift the icing sugar over the whites and, using a rubber spatula, fold in until well blended.

Scoop the mixture into the bag. On one baking sheet, pipe 48 stems, each ½ inch (12 mm.) wide at the base and tapering off to a point at the top, ¾ inch (2 cm.) tall, and spaced about ½ inch (12 mm.) apart. On the other sheet, pipe 48 mounds for the tops, each about 1-1/4 inches (3 cm.) wide and ¾ inch (2 cm.) high, also spaced ½ inch (12 mm.) apart. With a damp fingertip, gently smooth any pointy tips. Dust with cocoa. Reserve the remaining meringue.

Bake until dry and firm enough to lift off the paper, 50-55 minutes. Set the pans on the counter and turn the mounds flat side up. With the tip of a knife, carefully make a small hole in the flat side of each mound. Pipe small dabs of the remaining meringue into the holes and insert the stems tip first. Return to the oven until completely dry, about 15 minutes longer. Let cool completely on the sheets.

Garnish your Yule Log with the mushrooms.


Marzipan Mushrooms
8 ounces almond paste
2 cups icing sugar
3 to 5 tablespoons light corn syrup
Cocoa powder

To make the marzipan combine the almond paste and 1 cup of the icing sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on low speed until sugar is almost absorbed.

Add the remaining 1 cup of sugar and mix until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.

Add half the corn syrup, then continue mixing until a bit of the marzipan holds together when squeezed, adding additional corn syrup a little at a time, as necessary: the marzipan in the bowl will still appear crumbly.

Transfer the marzipan to a work surface and knead until smooth.

Roll one-third of the marzipan into a 6 inches long cylinder and cut into 1-inch lengths.

Roll half the lengths into balls. Press the remaining cylindrical lengths (stems) into the balls (caps) to make mushrooms.

Smudge with cocoa powder.

Cinnamon Buns and Sticky Buns (v 2.0)

(From left to right: Maple Cream Cheese Frosting, Icing, Cream Cheese Frosting)

Did you know Cinnabon first started as a single bakery in a Seattle area mall? I guess that's another overprice chain (Starbucks I am looking at you!) that Seattle is responsible for spreading to the rest of the world. (Don't worry Seattle, I still love you) It was the perfect excuse to put the trusty stand mixer to work when Marce picked cinnamon buns and sticky buns for this month's DB challenge. Mmm... I can smell them already!

I love working with sweet bread doughs. This is maybe because my very first yeasted baked good (other than the foolproof no-knead bread) was a batch of pecan sticky buns. Those fluffy and gooey sticky buns helped me overcome my fear of yeast. Active dry yeast intimidates me; the proofing, hoping the water isn't too hot, fearing my yeast is dead, wondering if the weird yeast brew ready, was enough to deter me from baking bread for years. But instant yeast changed all that. It's great to work with, no proofing, no guesswork, just toss it in with the dry ingredients and it'll do its thing. I love the soft supple feel of sweet bread doughs, they're more tender than the average flour, water, yeast, salt bread doughs, and their gentle buttery aroma. Sticky buns, brioches, challah, and the likes hold a special place in my heart.

This month, I wasn't the only one excited for the challenge. Steven L-O-V-E-S sticky buns. I found it absolutely endearing to see him so excited, asking me when I'm going to make those sticky buns. Sticky buns are now a morning staple and it's even encouraging us to eat breakfast everyday! Hooray!

I have to say that this challenge was the easiest of the DB challenges I have completed so far.

Now lets get into the recipe.

The allowed modifications to the recipe were:
- You can use any spice mix you'd like, ginger, allspice, cardamom, etc. But I chose to keep it simple with just cinnamon sugar.
- You can do cinnamon buns or sticky buns or both.
- Nuts are optional
- Can substitute another dried fruit for raisins in sticky buns.

Cinnamon Buns & Sticky Buns
Adapted from Peter Reinhart´s The Bread Baker´s Apprentice

Days to Make: 1: 15 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 hours or longer fermentation, shaping and proofing; 20 to 40 (mine were done in 15 - 30) minutes baking
Yield: Makes 8 to 12 large or 12 to 16 smaller cinnamon or sticky buns

Dough
6 1/2 Tbsp (3.25 ounces) granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
5 1/2 Tbsp butter
1 large egg
1 tsp grated lemon zest
3 1/2 C AP flour (I think AP flour makes them more tender than bread flour)
2 tsp instant yeast (I have a big jar of yeast but if you had a 2 1/4 packet of yeast you can use the whole thing)
1 1/8 to 1 1/4 C buttermilk at room temp

Cinnamon Sugar Filling
6 1/2 Tbsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or your own combo of spices)
1 Tbsp melted butter (my addition)

White Fondant Glaze for Cinnamon Buns
1 C powdered sugar
1 1/2 to 2 Tbsp warm milk

Caramel Glaze for Sticky Buns
1/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 C corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
Nuts and fruit of your choice: pecans, walnuts, raisins, etc. (I used 3/4 C pecans)

Note about yeast: Instant yeast is also called perfect rise, rapid rise, fast rising, and bread machine yeast. Different names but they're all instant yeast. It is dried differently from active dry yeast and as a result it requires no proofing, can be added to your dry ingredients, and goes to work faster. I like to keep my yeast in the freezer so it lasts longer. (Here's a link about yeast: Understanding Yeast)

Cream the butter, sugar, and salt with a hand mixer, or paddle attachment of a stand mixer, or by hand. Add the egg and lemon zest and beat until smooth, be sure to scrape down the bowl often. Start by adding 1 1/8 cups of buttermilk, the flour, and yeast. Mix on low speed until the dough comes together then switch to the dough hook if using a stand mixer.

Increase the speed to medium and knead for about 10 minutes (or 12 - 15 by hand). The dough should be silky and supple and somewhat tacky but not sticky. If you're using a stand mixer, as the dough is kneading on the dough hook, it should stick to the divot in the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is sticking to the sides of the mixing bowl, it is too wet and add a bit more flour until it clears the sides of the bowl but still sticks to the bottom. However if the dough is not sticking at all to the bowl, it is too dry, so add a little buttermilk and continue kneading.

Coat a large bowl with oil then roll dough around in the bowl to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until the dough doubles in size, about 2 hours.

My tip of the day: I have a large 2 quart pyrex measuring cup that I always use for rising dough. The markings on the side are perfect for knowing exactly when dough has doubled. In a large bowl, it's hard to tell just how large the dough should be.

Also, always make sure the dough has doubled, do not stop the rising short because the recipe says about 2 hours. Kitchen temperatures vary and it can depend on the kind of yeast you use and how old it is. Just be patient and let the yeast do its job. My dough took almost 3 hours. However, if after an hour or 2 your does not look like it's rising at all, the yeast may be dead and you'll need to make another dough with newer yeast.

After the dough has doubled, lightly flour your work surface. Roll out the dough to a large rectangle. If you are making large buns, roll it to about 2/3 in thick and 14 in by 12 in (8 to 12 buns). For smaller buns, roll it out to 18 in by 9 inches (12 to 16 buns). Keep the dough thick, if you roll it out too thin, it will be tough and chewy instead of soft and fluffy after baking.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the dough and roll the dough up very tightly into a long cylinder. I had a problem of keeping the cinnamon sugar on the dough as I rolled and sliced them. The best trick (I learned from Cook's Illustrated) is to melt a tablespoon of butter and mix it with the sugar, forming a sandy mixture. Then you can press the sandy sugar onto the dough and it will stay put. After rolling, pinch the seam shut. The middle will be a little bigger than the ends, so gently roll it so the log evens out.

Cut the buns into 8 - 12 pieces for large buns or 12 to 16 pieces for smaller buns. Sometimes the 2 end buns are really tiny, so I unroll one and reroll it around the other. This makes a bun that's the same size as the rest but you end up with 1 less bun that you cut. The first time I made this recipe I ended up with 15 buns total, 9 sticky buns (3 by 3 in an 8 in baking pan) and 6 cinnamon buns. If you are making a full recipe sticky buns (9 x 13 pan) cut the log into 15 pieces so you can do 3 by 5 buns in the pan.

Here is where the recipe diverges depending on which buns you want to make.

Cinnamon Buns (Sticky Bun Instruction to Follow)
For the cinnamon buns, line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the buns so that they aren't touching but somewhat close to each other, and cover with plastic wrap.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Bake cinnamon buns on the middle shelf. Cinnamon buns will bake for about 15 - 20 minutes. (Most DBs found that the buns baked faster than the recipe suggests which was 20 - 30 minutes for cinnamon buns).

Let the buns cool until they are warm but not hot before serving, about 10 minutes for cinnamon buns.

Make the fondant glaze for the cinnamon buns. Whisk the warm milk in with the sugar until a thick paste forms, add more milk if you need to. Drizzle over warm buns to serve.


Sticky Buns

For the sticky buns, make the caramel glaze, beat the 2 sugars and salt with the softened butter in a mixer. Then add the corn syrup and vanilla extract and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Spread about 1/4 in of the glaze on the bottom of a baking dish. This will make enough for a 9 x 13 pan. Since I used an 8 x 8 pan, I halved the recipe (2 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp brown sugar, 1/2 stick butter, 2 tbsp corn syrup, 1/2 tsp vanilla).

After you have prepared your pan with the glaze, sprinkle your dried fruit on the glaze if using, then place the sticky buns (pretty side down, since they will be turned upside down after baking) on the glaze. Cover with plastic wrap. I don't like to add my nuts at this point because they will get steamed and softened baking under the dough. The best way to keep them crisp is to toast them separately and sprinkle them on the buns before serving.

Let the buns rise for a second time, for about 75 to 90 minutes, until they have grown into each other.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Bake sticky buns on the lowest shelf. Sticky buns will take about 20 to 30 minutes. (Most DBs found that the buns baked faster than the recipe suggests which was 30 - 40 minutes for sticky buns). Keep an eye on the sticky buns, if the glaze overbakes it will harden into a candy-like substance rather than stay a gooey caramel. By using a glass baking dish, you can easily monitor the color of your glaze. You can also take a knife and gently slide it under a bun and peak at the consistency of the glaze. It will depend on your oven and take a little practice to know when they are done.

Meanwhile, toast your pecans in the hot oven as the buns bake. Let them cool then roughly chop.

Let the buns cool until they are warm but not hot before serving, about 20 minutes for sticky buns. Flip them onto your serving pan, add your chopped toasted pecans, and spoon any run off glaze or any glaze remaining in the pan, on top of your buns.

***

Additional Recipes & Variations
I personally prefer cream cheese frosting on my cinnamon buns so here are some recipes for cream cheese frostings.

Cream Cheese Frosting
1 bar, 8 oz. cream cheese
2 Tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 C powdered sugar

Whisk everything until smooth. This will make enough frosting for 1 full batch of cinnamon buns.

Maple Cream Cheese Frosting
1 bar, 8 oz. cream cheese
3/4 C to 1 C maple syrup

Whisk everything until smooth. This will make enough frosting for 1 full batch of cinnamon buns.

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Variation
Replace the granulated sugar in the cinnamon sugar with packed brown sugar.


Maple Sticky Bun Variation
Replace the corn syrup for maple syrup in the sticky bun caramel glaze

***

Just for fun, I decided to do a comparison between this sticky bun recipe and the recipe from Cook's Illustrated, which you can find here.

The Dough

Bread Baker's Apprentice
3 1/2 C flour
1 1/8 C buttermilk
1 large egg
6 1/2 Tbsp sugar
5 1/2 Tbsp butter
2 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp salt

vs.
Cook's Illustrated
4 to 4 1/4 C AP flour
3/4 C buttermilk, room temp
3 eggs, room temp
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
6 Tbsp melted butter
2 1/4 tsp of yeast (1 packet)
1 1/4 tsp salt

Comparisons:
The CI version makes more dough, since it uses more flour. It uses more egg and more butter, but less sugar. The yeast is about the same and the lemon zest can be omitted or replaced with some vanilla extract.

In the CI recipe, a loose batter is made with the eggs, buttermilk, and melted flour then the flour is added. In the Bread Baker's Apprentice recipe, the butter is creamed with the sugar in the first step of this recipe. Both are very easy methods to make the dough. I would have to say I preferred this recipe. I'm a big fan of buttermilk so I liked that this recipe used more of it. However since the CI recipe used more egg and butter, those buns are a bit richer and more brioche-like.

Caramel Glaze

Bread Baker's Apprentice
1/4 C sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 C corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt

vs.
Cook's Illustrated
3/4 C brown sugar
1 stick butter
6 Tbsp corn syrup
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

Comparisons:
No major differences other than the CI recipe used a lot more sugar and a bit more corn syrup. The only major difference is that the CI recipe separated the glaze into 2 parts. About 2/3 was baked with the buns and 1/3 was made separately to spread on top of the buns before serving. Sure it makes the buns gooeyer but again like with many CI recipes, it's an extra step and more work. Also the Bread Baker's Apprentice book called for beating everything together and the CI recipe melted everything together. Not that big of a difference.

Overall:
So which recipe is better? CI touts that their recipes are always the best version since they test dozens and hundreds of different recipes to come up with their own. But in many cases, the recipes end up a little fussy with extra steps that can be avoided. I would have to say that the two recipes are really comparable. The only major difference is in the dough. The CI recipe is richer and more brioche-like but both doughs are beautifully soft and supple and a dream to work with. So it doesn't matter which you choose. Personally I liked this recipe more because the steps were more straightforward and I like using lots of buttermilk in my baked goods.

***

Whew that was a long post! I want to thank Marce for picking such a great recipe. Now go and check out my fellow DB's experiences this month.

Chocolate and Caramel Tart

I have already professed my affection for tarts so when Veronica and Patricia unveiled this month’s Daring Baker challenge featuring the heavenly combination of chocolate and caramel, it was love at first sight. Their luscious selection from Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts is made with a chocolate shortbread crust, caramel filling, and a layer of chocolate mousse. Bettina (Steven’s little sis) and I had planned to make it together, but things kept coming up and pretty soon she was getting ready to leave for college again. It was the last week of August and Steven said, “Hey... don’t you have to do your Daring Baker thing soon?” I’ve been feeling a little under the weather lately but managed to set aside some time to make the tart just yesterday. If you've been checking out all the beautiful tarts made by my fellow DBs (you can find them here, you’ll notice that there are a few things wrong with my tart but hopefully I will answer all your questions.

You can find the complete recipe on Veronica's or Patricia's blogs.

Part 1: The Crust
The original recipe made enough for three 9 1/2 in square tarts or 10 in round tarts. I decided to make some little tartlets so I made 1/4 of the original recipe (it was easier to scale down by 4 than by 3). One thing that struck me as rather odd was the addition of cinnamon in the crust, and quite a bit of it too. I had never heard of combining cinnamon, chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut. Luckily Veronica said we could omit the cinnamon, which I chose to do because I’m not the biggest fan of it and many DBs felt the flavor was just way too overpowering in this case. Here are the ingredients I used for the crust:

Chocolate Shortbread Pastry
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 C + 1 1/2 tsp powdered sugar
2 Tbsp ground hazelnuts (I toasted some at 350F, rubbed the skins off, and ground them in the food processor)
1/2 beaten egg (I beat an egg and measured out half)
1 C + 2 Tbsp cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I omitted this)

In a food processor or stand mixer cream the butter.
Add the powdered sugar, ground hazelnuts, and cinnamon if using, and mix.
Beat 1 egg and measure out half of it, add it the food processor or stand mixer and mix it into the butter.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder, and mix well.
Form the dough into a ball and chill overnight.
Preheat the oven to 325F. Roll out the dough and line the pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Another thing you’ll notice is that although it’s suppose to be a chocolate shortbread crust, the amount of cocoa powder the recipe calls for is very tiny (original recipe called for 1 1/2 tablespoons and for the proposes of my scaling, I rounded down to 4 teaspoons). I scrounged around the pantry for the cocoa powder I rarely use and it looked absolutely ancient, must have been a few years ago. I didn’t trust the quality of the cocoa powder to use it so as a result, my crust is pale blond and not the pretty shade of chocolatey brown like it should be.

After the chill overnight, I went to roll out my dough. While it was very easy to roll out, when it came time to lift the dough into my tartlet plans, it cracked and broke into pieces. Not pretty. I was able to use a bench scraper to lift the dough into the tartlet pans and push together the pieces of the crust. I can only imagine the nightmare this dough caused when attempting to lift the whole thing into a larger tart pan.

Part 2: The Filling

Caramel Filling
1 C sugar
1 C heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 Tbsp flour

Although I only made a quarter of the dough recipe, since I was going through all the trouble, I made the full caramel filling recipe. Plus, extra caramel is an added bonus. The caramel making was a bit of a fiasco but in the end it turned out okay - it wasn't a complete failure. I started by taking my butter and cream out of the fridge so they could warm up to room temp. I poured the sugar into a saucepan and placed it over medium heat. There are two ways to make caramel, the dry method, which is just sugar in a pan (method called for in the recipe), and the wet method, which is sugar with some water and corn syrup. The dry method is more difficult because the sugar can burn easier, whereas the water and corn syrup in the wet method helps to stabilize the sugar. I didn't have any corn syrup on hand, so I decided to try my luck with the dry method. I really had no idea what I was doing. I started to panic, “Oh no what if the sugar on the bottom is burning, I better stir it!” and as soon as I stirred it, the sugar clumped up and stuck to my spoon, to the sides and bottom of my pot; it was a mess.

I kept the pot over low heat and slowly it began to change colors. However, I thought the sugar was getting too dark, and I panicked again. “Oh no, I think the sugar is getting too brown, should I add the cream? But not all of the crystals have melted yet.” So to prevent the sugar from get any darker, I added the cream and the whole thing immediately seized. At this point what I had was very light brown colored cream with crystallized sugar stuck to the sides of the pot and caramelized sugar stuck on my spoon and floating in the cream soup like pieces of amber glass.

Again I kept the mixture over low heat and the sugar was slowly starting to melt into the cream. Maybe the light was playing tricks on me but I thought now the cream was getting too brown. Cue panic attack 3. “Oh no maybe I should add the butter, maybe I should just strain what I have into the flour and egg mixture.” So I added the butter, turned the heat up to medium low so the caramel was barely bubbling. At this point, it had already been 45 minutes into the caramel making process and my patience was wearing thin but now things started to take a turn for the better! The caramel started to thicken up really nicely, the sugars on the bottom and sides of the pot started melting, and after what seemed like an eternity, I had relatively chunk-free, thick, gooey caramel. The strange thing is, it didn’t look very dark anymore, rather, it looked a bit too light. As I let it cool, I slowly sifted and whisked the flour into the eggs. When the caramel was cool enough, I tasted a spoonful and my god this stuff was delicious (well with a whole cup of sugar and cream and half a stick of butter what wouldn’t taste good?). I whisked the egg mix into the caramel and then poured the mix into the baked tart crusts half full (ended up using only half the caramel mixture) and baked them at 325F. The filling firmed up quite nicely in the oven after about 10 minutes.

Part 3: The Mousse

Chocolate Mousse
1/2 C heavy cream
3 1/2 oz. milk chocolate

Uh oh... I don’t have milk chocolate! Because I wasn’t feeling well that day, I didn’t want to go down to the store just for some chocolate. I know we weren’t suppose to use dark chocolate (I’m sorry Veronica) but I used the bittersweet chocolate in my pantry and that explains why my mousse is such a dark brown. I melted the chocolate and while it was melting I whipped the cream to stiff peaks. I was afraid my chocolate was too hot and would deflate the cream so I waited for it to cool. I waited... and waited... and waited... and by the time I finally added the chocolate to the cream, I had waited too long. As I began to fold it into the cream, the chocolate solidified into chunks and streaks in the cream and the mousse became very grainy and weird. I spread it on top of the caramel filled tarts and after an hour or so in the fridge, the mousse solidified into a thick, grainy, chunky mess. It definitely didn't look like the light brown, airy mousse in the picture from the cookbook. I had originally planned to pipe some decorative stars on the tart, but the mousse was so stiff and gross, it wasn’t pipeable at all; luckily it still tasted good. Ironically, I completely screwed up the easiest part of the tart.

As for the sugar decorations on top, I melted some more sugar and this time I resisted the urge to stir it (just the occasional gentle swirl) and it melted into an even amber color without any crystallizations.

The Verdict:
In the end, I don’t think I did proper justice to the tart because I totally failed at making the mousse. The crust was a little difficult to work with but it was tasty and I liked the subtle hazelnut flavors. I should have bought some new cocoa powder for it. I panicked multiple times about burning the sugar, but I don’t think I caramelized my sugar enough because the filling didn’t have enough caramel flavor. When I sliced into the tart, it looked a little light compared to the darker, richer hues of other DB’s caramels. Lastly, I really shouldn’t have used dark chocolate for the mousse because the intense chocolate flavor completely overpowered the very light caramel flavor of my filling. Perhaps if my caramel had a stronger and more developed flavor then it could properly stand up to a dark chocolate mousse. In the end the tart was still really delicious. I was able to make 4 6 in tartlets and we gobbled them up so quickly there’s only 1 left! I will most definitely make the caramel filling again and try my hand at the mousse again too.