Sep 27, 2010: Daring Bakers - Decorated Sugar Cookies

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

She has challenged us to make Decorated Sugar Cookies. She's not talking squiggles random squiggles and dots. She's talking about beautifully decorated cookies that are perfect to give as a gift or to make for party or wedding favours. On top of that, we should theme the cookies around the month of September.

For the cookie, Peggy Porschen’s recipe is ued for the challenge recipe. Sugar cookie recipes commonly have either baking powder or bicarb of soda, but this recipe is a little different in that it doesn’t use a raising agent which makes them great so if you’re using intricate cookie cutters, they hold their shape while baking. Perfect for decorating with royal icing!

[My comments are in red... I'm inexperienced at decorating so there's no way I can make wedding favors... lol.]

[This will be my last Daring Baker's challenge.]

[Life has been very busy and trying to do both a Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks challenge in a month has been difficult to complete with the detail and time I like putting into each challenge.

Also, I don't feel right calling myself a "Daring Baker" if I'm not doing ALL the challenges (even if we are given an option of miss a few challenges a year) or cherry picking the challenges that fit my schedule.

Since I have two years of Daring Baking under my belt where I completed 26 out of 27 challenges, I've decided to retire from Daring Bakers and focus on Daring Cooks. :-)

Who says that guys are afraid of commitment? lol!]

Recipe Source:
Basic Sugar Cookie recipe adapted from Peggy Porschen : http://www.peggyporschen.com/images/press/pdf/Coso-Bride-Oct-Nov-2008.pdf
Also found in her book: “Romantic Cakes” http://www.peggyporschen.com/book-detail.asp?ID=2
Royal Icing recipe adapted from The Joy of Baking : http://www.joyofbaking.com/RoyalIcing.html

Mandatory: You must make the Basic Sugar Cookie recipe provided (unless specific diet restrictions apply) You must make your cookies with the theme of September, whatever that means to you.
Variations allowed:
You are allowed to add your own flavourings to the dough
You don’t have to make your own royal icing from scratch, you may use a store bought mix.

Basic Sugar Cookies:
Makes approximately 36 x 10cm / 4 inch cookies
200g / 7oz / ½ cup + 6 Tbsp Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
400g / 14oz / 3 cups + 3 Tbsp All Purpose / Plain Flour
200g / 7oz / 1 cup Caster Sugar / Superfine Sugar
1 Large Egg, lightly beaten
5ml / 1 tsp Vanilla Extract / Or seeds from 1 vanilla bean

[Fortunately, this challenge doesn't require a lot of ingredients and fancy preparation or equipment.]


Directions:
Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C Fan Assisted) / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.

Cream together the butter, sugar and any flavourings you’re using. Beat until just becoming creamy in texture. Tip: Don’t over mix otherwise you’ll incorporate too much air and the cookies will spread during baking, losing their shape. Beat in the egg until well combined, make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Add the sifted flour and mix on low until a non sticky dough forms. Tip: I don’t have a stand mixer so I find it easier to switch to dough hooks at this stage to avoid flour flying everywhere.

[I used a hand mixer to incorporate a majority of the ingredients. The dough needed some kneading to consolidate the crumbly dough. I poured it all into a ziploc bag and kneaded. No messy hands! lol!]


Knead into a ball and divide into 2 or 3 pieces.

Roll out each portion between parchment paper to a thickness of about 5mm/1/5 inch (0.2 inch) Refrigerate for a minimum of 30mins.

Cut out shapes with cookie cutters or a sharp knife. Arrange shapes on parchment lined baking sheets and refrigerate for another 30mins to an hour. Tip: It’s very important you chill them again otherwise they’ll spread while baking. Re-roll scraps and follow the above process until all scraps are used up.

[After the dough was rolled between parchment paper, a 3" cookie cutter was used to make rounds.]


[Rounds ready for baking at 350F for 15 minutes. 8 minutes didn't brown the cookies enough]


Bake until golden around the edges, about 8-15mins depending on the size of the cookies. Tip: Bake same sized cookies together otherwise mixing smaller with larger cookies could result in some cookies being baked before others are done. Tip: Rotate baking sheets half way through baking if your oven bakes unevenly.

Leave to cool on cooling racks. Once completely cooled, decorate as desired. Tip: If wrapped in tinfoil/cling wrap or kept in airtight containers in a cool place, un-decorated cookies can last up to a month.

[I opted to avoid using raw egg whites so I used Wilton meringue powder instead.]
Royal Icing
3 T Meringue Powder
1 lb Powdered Sugar
6 T Water

Beat until stiff peaks.

[For the meringue, I used food coloring to make a yellow color and 1 tsp of cocoa powder mixed with a little water (to form a slurry which makes for easier mixing into the royal icing) to make a dark meringue.]


SEPTEMBER THEME: SUNFLOWERS
I've always been fascinated with sunflowers. These are tall, majestic plants that are able to follow the sun and give us sunflowers seeds to eat. Sunflowers are usually abundant in September.

Last year, a sunflower grew in a patch of soil where no seeds were planted. I think it was a seed from two years ago that survived the winter and decided to grow the following year.

Here's my "evolution of the Sunflower" photo. As I mentioned, I'm not that good at piping, especially when using a plastic storage bag with a end cut off. You can see the different things I've tried to to come up with something decent looking.


Early attempt at piping the petals. I tried to form a leave.


As I experimented around, I started piping lines... which looks better.


Finally, more lines and a ring in the center to hold the eye.


My flower arrangement... lol


Of course, the best looking cookies were in the center. :-)


My inspiration... I'm not sure if this is a sunflower that was in the bouquet, but I think it is. :-)

I've had fun in my 2 years (and a bit) as a Daring Baker. I enjoyed learning new things... My favorites are salted caramels, making puff pastry and making cannoli. The salted caramel is a recipe I make quite often as gifts. :-)

On to Daring Cooks!

Aug 27, 2010: Daring Bakers - Ice Cream Petit Fours

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Recipe Source: The brown butter pound cake recipe is adapted from the October 2009 edition of Gourmet. The vanilla ice cream is from ice cream genius David Lebovitz, adapted from The Perfect Scoop. The chocolate glaze for the petit fours is a larger adapted version of this ganache from Godiva Chocolate and the meringue for the Baked Alaska is a larger version of this meringue from Gourmet, May 1995.

Mandatory: Whether you make the Baked Alaska, the petit fours, or both, you must make the brown butter pound cake as written and the ice cream from scratch.

Variations Allowed: Both desserts can be made in any size or shape, and the ice cream can be any flavor you can think of! For the Baked Alaska, you can flavor the meringue however you want. For the petit fours, you are not required to use the chocolate glaze, or you can add additional flavors. You can also brush the cake with a simple syrup if desired.

[My Comments in Red: Alright now! Another chance to use my ice cream maker I purchased for the previous Daring Baker Challenge!]

Vanilla Ice Cream

1 cup (250ml) whole milk
A pinch of salt
3/4 cup (165g) sugar
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract [No Vanilla Bean - all gone from last month's challenge]
2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
5 large egg yolks [I'm bold and daring... pushing the salmonella envelope! lol]
1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)

[Dissolving the sugar and salt in the milk.]


2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2 litre) bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.

[Straining the heavy cream... making sure no chunky bits of butter end up in the ice cream?]


3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.

[Five yolks ready to mixing! One yolk jumped the gun and is ahead of his buddies :-) ]


[Tempering the yolks with the hot milk... adding a little at a time to raise the temperature of the yolks slowly.]



4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon [5ml] if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons [15ml] if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.

[The milk-yolk mixture was cooked until thickened to a thin pourable custard. Strained while adding to the heavy cream. Again, we don't want chunks of in our ice cream.]


[Lastly, 1 T of vanilla was added to the ice cream base. The base was refrigerated 4 hours before adding to the ice cream maker]


5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker.

[20 minutes later... Ice Cream!]



Brown Butter Pound Cake

19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter
2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring)
1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt
1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar
1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.

2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.

[Browning the butter]


[The finished butter ready for a quick freeze to firm up. Looks like I made beurre noir (black butter) instead of beurre noisette (brown butter). A quick taste of the butter I found no bitterness. Whew!]


3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.

4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.

[I left the butter a little to long in the freezer. I had to break it down a little with the sugar before mixing.]


[Finally, the butter and sugar fluffed up with the hand mixer. At this point an egg was added one at a time until thoroughly incorporated.]


5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.

6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.

[A very thick batter was poured (actually scraped into a floured baking dish.
Bake 325 F for 25 minutes... Reality - it took 45 minutes.]


7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

[Out of the oven... the pound caked domed a little in the center. I'll just have to trim it off to level the cake. Personally, the crust is the best part of any cake. :-) ]



Chocolate Glaze (For the Ice Cream Petit Fours)

9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream
1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar
2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

[Chocolate and the hot cream mixture... before mixing. ]



Assembly Instructions – Ice Cream Petit Fours

1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.

[Two cups of ice cream spread out into a thin layer on a baking dish. Wrapped and placed in the freezer]


2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.

3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.

[A large ice cream sandwich is made.]


[Wrapped and frozen... overnight]


4. Make the chocolate glaze (see above.)

5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).

[Squaring off the edges. Note - only three edges are shown. The forth went towards a quality control taste test. Me!]


[Eyeballed the cutting... not too bad. The pieces are sort of square... lol]


[Ready for more... but first a little freezer time to firm up.]


6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.

7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.

[Some pieces were dunked in the chocolate glaze. Wow!]


The Finished Petit Fours

[I'm not that good at piping, but I used melted white chocolate with a little cream.
From Left to Right: Unglazed/Nekkid Ice Cream Petit Fours, Chocolate Glazed Petit Fours and Wedges dipped in chocolate... I call them Petit Threes. :-) ]


I had fun making the Petit Fours. I'm not sure if the freezing did the brown butter pound cake justice. Freezing dulls flavors. The beurre noisette (in my case beurre noir) did not offer up a strong flavor.

Warm pound cake served with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce is probably a better dessert. :-)

Jul 27, 2010: Daring Bakers Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

The recipe for this month’s challenge has been adapted from this Swiss swirl ice cream cake from the Taste of Home website. Slices of Swiss roll are used to line a bowl and then filled with vanilla ice-cream, hot fudge ice cream topping and chocolate ice cream. The picture looked like so much fun that I have been waiting to make it for a while. What better timing than to make it along with fellow daring bakers to celebrate my three years with this amazing group. I have taken the basic idea from the above website and have developed the recipe. Hope you like it. The recipe does not require a lot of hands on time, but definitely requires a lot of cooling and freezing time between layers. Unlike the original recipe, we are going to make each layer from scratch. So, if you are planning to make it in one day, it might be a bit of a struggle.

Recipe source - Inspired by the Swiss swirl ice cream cake from the Taste of Home website

Mandatory-
* You must make the Swiss rolls, a filling for them, two ice creams and a fudge sauce, from scratch.

* You must set the dessert in a bowl/pan etc in the order given in the recipe-Swiss roll, first ice-cream, the fudge topping and, finally, the second ice cream.

[Eat4Fun: This is my 2 year anniversary as a Daring Baker! I've made 23 of the 24 Challenges. It's hard to imagine the variety of recipes I've made as a Daring Baker. Fun Stuff!]

Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

[The ice creams were made first so they'd have a chance to set/harden in the freezer. Also, the ice cream recipes are very simple. For the vanilla, it's only cream, vanilla bean and sugar.

In honor of the warm summer we're having, I purchased an ice cream maker. :-) ]

Vanilla Ice Cream-
Ingredients-
2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar

Method-

1. Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor.

[I've never used vanilla straight like this before. I was expecting to steep the bean in the cream.]


In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.

[Blend all he ingredients and pour into the ice cream maker.]


[The ice cream/soft serve ready for a container to harden in the freezer.]


Chocolate Ice Cream-
[For some reason, the chocolate ice cream never hardened in the freezer. It remained like a slightly firmer version of soft serve.]

Ingredients-
2C/ 500 ml whipping cream
1 C/230gms/8 oz caster sugar
3 tblsp/ 24 gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Method-

1. Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .
2. In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
3. Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
4. Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.

The Swiss rolls-
[It's been about 18 years since I've made a jelly roll/Swiss roll. This is all new to me since I really dont' remember what I did back then. :-) ]

Sponge cake
6 medium sized eggs
1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling
6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans


Method-
1. Preheat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

[Mixing the egg and sugar on high took about 10 to 15 minutes... a surprisingly long time.]


[The volume of the two ingredients pretty much doubled in volume. Amazing! I don't remember that happening 18 years ago.]


3. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.

[Folding in the flour/cocoa mixture created a nice striated pattern. I had to take a picture of that. :-) ]


4. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.

5. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.

6. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.

7. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.

[I used one pan - an 11" x 17" pan... Results look good, especially trimming off the edges.]


8. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

[Wrapped in a linen bed sheet that I boiled and dried before using.]


For the filling
2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

1. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.

2. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.

3. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).

[Cream was whipped to soft peaks and spread out as shown below.]


4. Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

[Wrapped in plastic film for refrigeration.]


Hot Fudge Sauce

Ingredients-
1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar
3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch
1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water
1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter
1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract

Method-
1. In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
2. Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
3. Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

[Shot of the chocolate porridge... I mean chocolate sauce. :-) ]


Assembly-
[Assembly is pretty straightforward. The longest part is waiting for each layer to set before adding another layer.]

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).

[Looking at the cross-section of the Swiss Roll.]


2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.

3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

[Layer Swiss Roll - Complete]


4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)

[Layer Vanilla - Complete]


5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour)
[Adding the chocolate sauce layer... The sauce seemed a little loose, but I made it according to recipe. ]


6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .

7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

The Finished Product

[Pretty neat have a Swiss roll layer on my dome cake.]


[I don't know if the chocolate sauce was supposed to be a thick layer or a thin layer. I just spooned in some of the sauce for this layer.


Overall, both ice cream recipes turned out delicious and very chocolaty. The vanilla was good too!