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a Piece of Cake...

Sunday, 31 August 2008
Daring Bakers August Challenge: Chocolate Eclairs

I've sat out the last few challenges, but this month's -- Chocolate Eclairs -- was absolutely irresistable. Thank you Meeta and Tony for the great selection, and the delectable recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé.
The challenge was perfect because I love eclairs, but my one attempt to make them was a bit of a flop and I'd shied away from pate choux since. Well now was time to conquer my fears. After reading through other Daring Bakers' experiences and plenty of tips, I finally hit the kitchen this past week. I decided to go the whole chocolate hog, making the chocolate pastry cream and the chocolate glaze.
And I'm proud to say the results were great, even if I do say so myself. Well actually, a bunch of my colleagues said so too! Truthfully I could have eaten all those eclairs by myself but I thought the better of it and took more than a dozen to work. (I made the eclairs just before I headed to work -- I start in the afternoon. So while I was able to bring in the eclairs while they were still fresh, I did have to rush to get to work on time. Hence I didn't get a chance to review my photos, otherwise I would have caught those awful fingerprints in the glaze. Oh well.)
Oh, and my super picky 4-year-old ate two. That's a success in my book!
The leftover pastry cream, glaze, not to mention sauce, means I'll be making the eclairs again sometime very soon.
Do check out other Daring Bakers' creations!

Posted by aisha at 01:04

Labels: chocolate, daring bakers, pate choux, pierre hermé

21 knuts

Wednesday, 27 August 2008
truth about enzyte Another chiffon cake

Can you tell I've become a convert to the religion of chiffon! What amazing results and taste with such little heartache. After my first attempt convinced me it wasn't hard, I thought I'd give it another go, for dinner
with friends. I knew the kids for sure would be happy. The only problem was our water being cut off from 10 am to 4 pm... yes six whole hours while the plumbing system is overhauled in our apt complex. This is the third day it happened. What sucks is that you don't know when it might happen. You have a few days of no problems, you're complacent and the next day they hit you. Only another four weeks. *crossing fingers*
So as you might guess, I started at 4 pm. Wrong. Due to various other emergencies (DH+work) I didn't start till 6.

Posted by aisha at 22:35

5 knuts

truth about enzyte Thursday, 21 August 2008
Mango chiffon cake

So I recently made this yummy Mango chiffon cake. For a few weeks now, what with California flooded with mangoes, I'd been day-dreaming about mango cake, one that incorporates mangoes in the batter, not just as garnish or mousse, which I'd already tried. At last I put thought to action and using my Google muscles, found that those clever folks in Southeast Asia had already been there, done that. So I used this apparently tried and tested recipe that I found at Cook Bake Legacy.

I liked the result, though I think my oven was acting up and it didn't rise as well or cook through as much as it should have. But I will be making this again. I also plan to try using mango puree in place of buttermilk in a regular cake. I think the mango should provide enough acidity to replace the buttermilk and should be about the same consistency. Watch this space for updates!

Recipe and more photos after the jump.

The cake after taking it out. It seemed kind of OK to me, then I realized it was underdone and put it back in the oven, but evidently not long enough.

Posted by aisha at 12:00

Labels: cake, chiffon cake, mango

7 knuts

Wednesday, 30 July 2008
Bet it's a record!

So how much time did you take to make your Filbert Gateau?

Posted by Aamena at 20:26

Labels: buttercream, cake, carol walters, daring bakers, Filbert Gateau, great cakes, Praline, recipe

9 knuts
Friday, 18 July 2008
Plums galore!

There is so much lovely summer fruit to choose from these days. The other day I bought several pounds of plums and thought I should use them up before they got too soft. So I made this easy peasy plum tart from the Contessa herself. Her recipe called for a lot of plums, and I found I didn't have enough to get a tightly packed tart, so I added some apricots I had on hand.

Then I got my hands on some Italian prune plums, which the Contessa's recipe had called for, and I thought I should take a shot at clafouti.

Posted by aisha at 23:55

Labels: apricots, clafouti, Contessa, italian prune plums, plums, tart

1 knuts
Friday, 11 July 2008
Very berry cake

I made this cake a few weeks ago, but never got around to posting about it. I used a victoria sponge recipe and topped it with a little leftover white chocolate ganache and lots and lots of raspberries and blackberries, to cut the cloying sweetness of the white chocolate. I always get excited when I see blackberries -- partly because the sightings are so rare and I love the fruit. But also it brings back childhood memories of a hardy little blackberry bush we had in a house we stayed in for a few years. I loved eating them half-ripe -- so tart and sweet at the same time. hmm.

Posted by aisha at 12:46

Labels: blackberries, cake, raspberries, sponge, victoria sponge

6 knuts
Thursday, 10 July 2008
Chiffon cake - two halves make it whole

This is my first attempt at Chiffon cake -- I had shied away from it so far because I hate making things that require separating the egg whites and yolks, and I especially hate it if I have leftover yolks. But I finally bit the bullet, and I must say it was easy-peasy and so delicious! I am mentally kicking myself for not trying it sooner. I divvied up the cake to make two variations -- one the classic strawberries and cream, and the other with mango mousse, using a delicious ataulfo mango a friend at work brought in for me.

Some more photos after the jump.

Posted by aisha at 06:16

Labels: cake, chiffon cake, cream, mango, strawberries

1 knuts
Tuesday, 8 July 2008
Thrice as nice!

I missed my niece's first birthday coz of my darn exams... and it's not like I am going to do very well because I was good and studied... I didn't. But I just couldn't bake a cake because that was like admitting that I'm not going to study.. so I just sat and didn't bake a cake and didn't study... But you see I did not want to give myself the opportunity to say that I didn't study because I was baking! But then I scraped thru my exams somehow and I'm enjoying my holidays (:D) now and i felt it was time I put things right.

Posted by Aamena at 14:45

Labels: cake, cupcake, madeira, recipe, vanilla

1 knuts
Sunday, 29 June 2008
not quite danish...

Of all the crazy things I have done, this has to be the craziest. Trying my luck at danish pastry in the middle of Indian summer (did I say trying, oops, i meant pushing!). But then that's what the Daring Baker's are all about. Making you do things you won't normally even think of. I do make croissants sometimes, but never never in summer. I also happen to have bad case of hot hands. And man, did this challenge drive me up the wall or what! If the heat and humidity don't kill you, they sure can finish off your Danish.

Posted by Aamena at 20:11

Labels: danish braid, daring bakers challenge, pastry

22 knuts
Saturday, 21 June 2008
Zebra cake

Zebra cake

So finally, here is the photo of the zebra cake I made using Farida's recipe and technique. My ladle wasn't big enough, hence the thin whispery "stripes" -- really more like veins. I will definitely be making this again soon.

Posted by aisha at 01:17

Labels: zebra cake

6 knuts
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Daring Bakers August Challenge: Chocolate Eclairs
Another chiffon cake
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