Daring Baker's Dobos Torte

Seems like I'll never be able to meet the dateline with Daring Baker's eh? I always forgot about the posting date until after everyone else have posted theirs!!

AAARGHH!! *bonks head to the wall*

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ehem~

Anyway, let's get back to the topic shall we,

Dobos Torte;
All Hail DARK Chocolate!!

this time around, it's Dobos Torte. Honestly I was scarred with the ingredients and assembly of the cake. I was so scarred that I only made half of the batter! No Kidding!! Usually I'd make almost double the recipe (even on two separate occasions) with Daring Baker's, but I had to make it so because

1. it's the fasting month, people don't eat much

2. the whole thing reeked of sugar and butter (with comments in the forum saying it's very very RICH)

3. I don't have time while running around screaming my head off with the amount of unfinished assignments I had left..

So,

I made 1/2 of it. Big Mistake cause it was a hit!! Since I was making half the batter, I thought of making small portions too, so I make about 24 4 inch rounds before cutting it into 3". then I stacked it together to make 2 small-cut-goneinfourbites-cake. Yup people, it was finished in an instant!! hahaha...

gone in 4 bites, can you believe it??

and get this,

I forgot to half the buttercream, yeah, I know, I know... I'm unbelievably crazy. There's like a huge tub of dark chocolate buttercream in the freezer now. Owh, what ever shall I do with it? hehehe~

All in all, a good one cause I managed to make it rich and yet not too (sickly) sweet for the fasting palate. All it took was some modification with orange zest in the sponge cake, bitter marmalade syrup drenching the cake layers and topped with DARK chocolate buttercream! ahh!! Heavenly!!

Loving Dark chocolate to bits now.. wonder if Raya this year's biscuits would have dark chocolate theme.. hahaha!!

OMG!!

almost forgot (what's with me and this abundace amount of synaps breakdown nowadays??)

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful
of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

And please look at the others too at the blogroll (if you haven't already)

OWHHHH!!!!

by the way,

I couldn't participate last month as I was busy preparing and organizing a student camp in Langkawi. I did not even managed to see my lovely oven or my trusty balloon whisk in almost one whole month. *sob-sob*

wonderful experience with the participants there, hope we can meet again sometime!!

FIIMAAAA!!
p/s: KIKH OVER!!

TIll then!!

byeeeeeeee~

Daring Baker's: Bakewell Tart.. err.. Pudding

OH MY!! it's one day past the reveal date!!

OPPPSS!!

well, I've been held up for a lot of things lately, there's some posts that are still in the draft section just collecting dust there, haha!!

I must make vow to be more careful with deadlines after this ~_~

anyway,

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell Tart(lets).. err Pudding..

the crust recipe was a good one. I just love a good buttery crust, mmm~

making the whole thing wasn't hard, but a daring baker's challenge just wouldn't be the same if there weren't some mishaps, no?

when I decided to make the tartlets instead of a big 9" tart, I contemplated on how many tartlets I'm going to get with the filling and crust. I wanted to make 12-15 tartlets but there were only 10 moulds. So in the end, I stuffed all the crust into 10 moulds and blind bake em for 15 mins. Then, I made the frangipane which was by my calculation could fill about 15 tartlets (wow, I'm right!!)

so there, another contemplation in the kitchen.

and guess what I did?

YUP, I stupidly stuff almost all (only 5 tablespoon was left) of the frangipane into the shallow crust. Why? because i thought the frangipane resembles a macaroon batter where it holds it's shape even if you turn it into a mountain. Yes, people, my Bakewell Tart was crown with a mountain of frangipane.

the moment the tartlets enter the oven, they begin to glisten, and then without warning, the mountains slide down the tartlets. I almost yelled " avalaaaancheee!!!! AAAAaaaa!!"

so it spilled right off the tart onto the cookie sheet (thank God there was a cookie sheet!!) untill the whole thing level up with the moulds. And I sat there, mouth open as if saying "nooooo" only my voice didn't came out.

Another Big OPPPSSie!

See? there's still some messy frangipane left on the moulds. HAHA!!

well, the tart was good, the taste that is. I put peach jam on some while the others got chocolate chips as fillings :) I made 10 tartlets and there were only 5 left when I wanted to snap some pictures. Mind you, this was 1 to 2' O clock in the MORNING!! (also justifies my stupidity to make 15 tartlets instead) So it was that good okay!

And the overflowing blanket of frangipane on the cookie sheet? my Mum and I clean the whole thing up right into our tummy. hehehehe~

Chocolate Chip Filing!!

And we ate~

And ate~

Until there was no more :(

so, you can see others (I bet you already did) here

Here's the recipe;

Bakewell tart
Makes one 23cm (9” tart)
Prep time: less than 10 minutes (plus time for the individual elements)
Resting time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 30 minutes
Equipment needed: 23cm (9”) tart pan or pie tin (preferably with ridged edges), rolling pin

One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
Bench flour
250ml (1cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
One handful blanched, flaked almonds

Assembling the tart
Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

Jasmine’s notes:
• If you cannot have nuts, you can try substituting Victoria sponge for the frangipane. It's a pretty popular popular cake, so you shouldn't have any troubles finding one in one of your cookbooks or through a Google search. That said, our dear Natalie at Gluten a Go Go has sourced some recipes and linked to them in the related alt.db thread.
• You can use whichever jam you wish, but if you choose something with a lot of seeds, such as raspberry or blackberry, you should sieve them out.
• The jam quantity can be anywhere from 60ml (1/4 cup) to 250ml (1cup), depending upon how “damp” and strongly flavoured your preserves are. I made it with the lesser quantity of home made strawberry jam, while Annemarie made it with the greater quantity of cherry jam; we both had fabulous results. If in doubt, just split the difference and spread 150ml (2/3cup) on the crust.
Annemarie’s notes:
• The excess shortcrust can be rolled out and cut into cookie-shapes (heck, it’s pretty darned close to a shortbread dough).

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Jasmine’s notes:
• I make this using vanilla salt and vanilla sugar.
• If you wish, you can substitute the seeds of one vanilla bean, one teaspoon of vanilla paste or one teaspoon of vanilla extract for the almond extract

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Annemarie’s notes:
• Add another five minutes or more if you're grinding your own almonds or if you're mixing by hand (Heaven help you).

that's all for now :)

Daring Bakers: Apple err... Mango Strudel

UPDATE: finally manage to put on some pictures!! and the links :)

crispy skin and sweet filling *yum*

well well,

seems like I'm back on track!! thank God for the holidays!!!

I'm currently on a baking streak, will share them later! First, let's get down to business!!

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.

That's right people! It's time for Daring Bakers!! *yeay*

and this time around, we did a strudel!! *double yeay*

honestly, if it weren't for this group, I don't think so I'd make so many different kinds of baked goods.

So anyway,

I was making through the dough and peered at the stack of fruits in the house; no apples but there are some mangoes. Owh well, I can just make mango strudel then... but little did I know other people have other plans for them.

So when I was already spreading the dough paper thin (see through my ringers) I take one look at the fruit stash and almost scream "AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa!!" (read: almost!!)

The fruits are MISSING!! @^#%&#%&!#!!!!

Only one measly over-ripe mango left.

The rest were already eaten by my family members!!

So what did I do?

Salvage as much pulp from the small mango and try to compensate with other fruits available, i.e; dried prunes, raisins, walnuts, dates, etc... but then I thought, isn't this suppose to be a MANGO strudel???

Thankfully, someone gave my mom a plump australian mango (you know, those big plump ones) and heck was I happy to see the victim.. err... fruit.

So there you go, half of the mango was cut into cubes while the other half went into the stomach.. opps... hahaha!! 25 minues in the oven and tadaaaa~~

see the layers?? :)

There were some changes made in the recipe tho, first I made a MANGO filling instead of apples, then I reduced the sugar by half as the mangoes were reaaally sweet!! (even with the sugar halved, there still a lot of caramelized mango juices seeping through the pastry as it bakes) then, there's extra currants and raisins, plus I didn't melt the butter but just spread them on the dough (lazy bum I am)... it turned out okayh, not the best one yet but it's still good. the dough was crispy but lack some taste. would definately use more flavoring or salt into the dough next time. Other than that, the filling were pretty good I tell ya :))

And here's the link to see other daring bakers :)

anyway, will upload the pictures later. the connection is too lousy here and I can't upload a single thing (been waiting like one hour, haish!!)

the whole thing was just too long for the plate :P

*******************

The Recipe

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

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

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

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.

The Lasagna Challenge, A Spicy Makeover!!

my God I didn't know the date was changed to the 27th. opps. but then again, posting at the 30th is still LATE for the initial reveal date! Arghh!! blame the poor management skills and uni work! huhu.

anyway,

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Okay,

this is my first time ever making a pasta from scratch! It was almost a disaster *again!*

I was chopping through the spinach very finely (and very very slowly) when my mom enters the kitchen.

"why don't you just use the chopper if you want it to be THAT fine"

ahaha, I don't know what i'd do without her! make it so much easier than slicing and chopping bit by bit. So into the chopper machine it goes. A few buzz later and tadaa!! nicely fine chopped spinach ready to be inserted to the dough.

As I have learned from the previous challenge, I just put the whole flour into a bowl instead of a flat surface to avoid messy goey masses on the floor (danish bread challenge), make a hole in it and pour two great eggs.

Flour well with eggs

next is a mountain of spinach! weeee~ ever so healthy!

mix it up till it form a ball... OMG, just look at the lumpy-ness! haha!

and knead!!

err, wait, why is it all sticky?? urgh!!

maybe it'll be smooth (as stated in the recipe) after the kneading.

with a sticky-monster-green-hand ten minutes later (hence the absence of pictures depicting the sticky pasta ball from goey hell) i thought of adding more flour to the dough.

I have been making bread for a long time and dough is not really my enemy. thus when I make bread, or anything to do with dough, I'll follow my instinct and feel for the texture. But I was trying to follow the recipe to the dot since it is my first ever pasta making (and people say you have to follow every single thing within the recipe) I hesitated to add any flour. It was like committing a sin every time I add another tablespoon of flour (yes, ppl I added by tablespoons, hahaha) I kneaded patiently and the dough keeps on sticking.

there's this Malay saying; "sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit"

literally means little by little, it (the amount) will pile up.

after adding ONE whole cup of flour by tablespoons, I say, to hell with it! I'll just add acorfing to my taste and feel!!! I ended up adding a one and a quarter cup extra flour to the dough before finally giving it a rest(read; giving up) for about one hour.

and since I've modified the recipe, i was in the mood for another chaotic mess with the ragu. there were saute' onions and garlic, throw in the minced meat, cumin, oregano, more herbs and spices poured (in malaysia, this is called rempah campak, literally you throw in a number of random spices in unmeasured quantities) into the pan and finally some tomatoes plus a bit of tomato puree. Simmer for some time and it's done! I know, not exactly a ragu for a lasagna but I was exhausted with the dough :P

the bechamel sauce was modified too. I boiled three potatoes, mash it up and stir into the bechamel sauce to thicken it up and give it some texture. Yumm~

If only the Italians knew, what blasphemy!!

hey it's all the dough's fault!! It triggered some neurotic change

anyway, back at the pasta dough,
looking at the videos provided in youtube, the pasta was perfectly rolled on without sticking together. how i wish I could get a hold of a long rolling pin too!! knowing mine was rather unconventional, I laid a huge piece of plastic sheet on the table, pour some more flour (actually it was a LOT more) on the sheet, my hands, and the rolling pin before proceeding with the rolling :D

cut the dough to quarters and rolled away till what I presume was paper thin cause I can't see through the pasta no matter how thin it was. The only thing I could see was GREEN all over the table! then i cut it into loooong pieces before drying it off. Owh btw, there were some that stuck to the plastic sheets (imagine that!!) and end up with holes here and there! hahaha!! something like what Lisa had!

the rest was a synch! boiled some pasta, arrange the layers and pop into the oven.

err wait... my mom walk into the kitchen again

"so, is the lasagna ok?"

"nope, the ragu's not red enough!"

"here, put some of this squid sambal in"

"but, it's spicy!"

"yea, the spicer, the better!!"

and I plonk in a GENEROUS amount of sambal into the lasagna in between the sea of cheese. In case you people don't know what sambal is, it's actually a mixture of herb, spices and lots and lots of chilies! And this time around, the sambal was extremely spicy! Hah!! A spicy lasagna! But it was gone in an instant! My mom loved it to bits. she ate like two plates right after it came out of the oven. Hehe~ the whole family liked it too.

The Final Product ~ abit burned (on the top) since I went upstairs and forgot about it for a good 30 mins, hey, I was TIRED okay!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Mary, Melinda and Enza for hosting this challenge! I'd never try making pasta from scratch before. Now I know I can do it!! Next time I'd make ravioli too :)

check out what others did here

Daring Bakers; Fresh Out of the Oven

Another one completed, in the nick of time!!


I contemplated on when to make this challenge. And before I realized it, it already 28th of June and I'm racing against the clock to finish this one in time (typical procrastinator!) haha. well, yesterday, I finally made the dough and learned quite some tricks. Had been browsing the net for some instructions on how to make the danish dough. I never knew it was so simple to make those complicated designs!! I learned a lot on liquids too.

In almost all of the videos I saw, they used the same technique of making a flour mountain before pouring the liquid into a hole. well, being me, I made a mountain of the flour the table surface (at the edge of the table). made the hole and pour down the liquid. I underestimate or should I say overestimate the thickness of the mountain. Suffice to say, the liquids made it's way down to the floor, on my shirt and pants (now, where's that darn apron I'm suppose to wear) and I had to make another one.

I know, know, I'm helplessly clumsy!

After that everything moves smoothly, despite some of the butter block got sqeeze out from the dough between each rolling. I did 4 turns with one of them had 4 folds. The final turn was great as there were no longer any spilling or oozing of the butter. the dough was quite hard to work with in the first two turns but after the second one, I let the dough rest a bit (as per indicated in the recipe) before rolling it out, and it turn out better.

Check it out, this is really fresh from the oven!





And here's the little one plus croissants still in the oven as I'm typing this :)

Aahh, croissants!!

I made one with the apple filling, some with mango filling, mango cream and plain croissant.

The apple Filling

Do check out the blogroll to find out how everyone's doing. Thanks Ben and Kelly for hosting such a wonderful challenge.

Shoot, I have to check on the croissants now.

Here's the recipe:

Danish Braid, inspired by Sherry Yard, The Secrets of Baking:

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Dough:Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

Butter block: Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
- After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. - Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Danish Braid:
Makes enough for 2 large braids
1 recipe Danish Dough
filling of your choice

- Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
- Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
- Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Proofing and Baking
- Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
- Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
- Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

The Case of the Single Note Opera

Firstly, I'd have to apologize for so late to post this challenge. truth be told, I ran into some unforeseen circumstances, I'm forced to postpone making the cake. Hope I can still make it.

On to the cake,

I had been looking forward to bake this one in years ever since I saw them in the bakeries! I even secretly wanted to propose the recipe for the upcoming challenges, but it seems like Ivonne and Lisa have already thought of it first, huhu... and Fran and Shea is the hosts too. :)

the whole mess :)

I halved the recipe provided and wanted to add orange and mango flavor to the cake. however, mangoes seems to be unavailable this time of year so I proceed with only oranges. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, instead of two flavors infused into the cake I just used one contrary with most of the other bakers :)

clearer one

The orange buttercream was certainly very intense!!
It turn out so good, even my mother liked it (and thats something as my mum hates buttercream) I reduced the syrup to minimize the sweetness as I don't want the cake to be too sweet. through we are still left with some excess after assembling the cake. I just used it like a jam preserve on white bread and it was awesome! the cake was what I had expected. a bit spongy and a bit dry to absorb all those syrup.

here's a list of what I used

Jaconde
115g ground almonds
15g sugar
3 egg whites
3 eggs
1/2 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup flour
3 tbs butter

Buttercream
100g butter
1 egg
vanilla
1/4 cup orange juice
zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup sugar

Syrup
zest of 1 orange
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 sugar

chocolate ganache
3 bars (150g) white chocolate
50 ml cream


The assembly of the cake was easy enough through I had a bit of a problem while spreading the white chocolate mixture. iIt hardens as soon as it touches the cake!! Well thats exaggerating, but yea, I didn't manage to spread the chocolate evenly on the cake. I will learn from this. this challenge have been a great one. I got my chance to make one creamy buttercream and even learn a bit about the spreading technique. Through the batter was really hard to spread to begin with. It was so thick, I thought it won't ever rise. Thank God it did. :) Maybe should add more orange juice or another egg??

and definately I should make more buttercream to practice spreading? hmmm.. :P


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something I made to release some stress. Baking is so therapeutic!

Daring Baker's Challenge April

First of all, let me apologize for being late for the entry (and it’s my first time for DB too, talk about first impression eh?)

But really, between having exams and then cut off from the net for three days, I couldn’t post anything in a while.

So,

Here goes,

This month’s challenge was hosted by Elle and Deborah. A tough one I might say. Through I made a few cheesecakes before, cheesecakes have never been my forte. So when I read that the cheesecake was going to get molded and covered in chocolate, I was both excited and nervous at the same time. Excited because it’s coated in my favorite ingredient of all time; chocolate and nervous as it’s not your normal cheesecake.

I planned the whole thing way early of the month. But as the saying goes, not everything goes as we planned. I just got back from a cousin’s wedding and decided to take a quick nap. When I woke up, I look at my watch and it’s 11.30 pm, one hour before I must pack my bags. Shooot.. I quickly go downstairs and measure the ingredients, mix everything up and pop it into the oven. 35minutes later, the cake was golden and I happily leave it to cool before packing my bag and leaving for my hostel with the cake. It took me some time before I realized that I forgot the chocolate and colored decorations thingy (don’t know what it’s called). Well, suffice to say, I just bought the chocolate on the way but it was clear the cheesecake pops won’t have much décor.

The cake wasn’t even soft from the start, it was firm out of the oven and when it was cooled in the refrigerator, it became even firmer. Initially I wanted to cut it out into small pieces and work it into a ball from there, but it seemed like the cake wasn’t budging at all. Maybe I over measure the flour a bit. I was dumbfounded. I read about something similar happened to another blogger and she put it into a blender/mixer before shaping it into a ball again. However, being in the hostel, I have limited access to the kitchen utensils. I stare at the solid, now cube-like cake for a minute before deciding to go with the dipping. The chocolate hardens pretty fast. it was getting thicker as I was dipping the twelve one. But after a minute in the microwave, it was spreadable and I continued with the other pops.

Overall, the cake had a bit too much flour and cheese making it firm and too cheesy. The whole thing was funny now that I think about it. Racing here and there and forgetting my stuff along the way. I’d have to plan the next challenge better. Through It’d give this recipe another try next week. As my mum always say, “you have to keep on trying the recipe until you got it just right!”

I Told You So

So,
I was waiting at the bus stop, when a group of Arabic guys came. There were six burly guys, just chatting away and the look at this one scrawny fella (read: me) sitting at the bus stop. One by one looked at me before settling down. Three guys on each side. I'm in the middle. What was their problem lah kan? I just grab my bag and felt for something inside it. Luckily, there was an umbrella inside (umbrella yg kecik boleh lipat2 tuh) I held it tight. Just in case. You can never be too sure with the foreigners in cyberjaya. Silap2 kang die kerjekan pulak!! But the bus stop was just infront of Sri Putri, so I can still run away if anything happens. And it was in the broad daylight, so I just sat there with an umbrella in my hand. They were talking among themselves about something and I just stare straight at the school in front of me. Then, I thought one of the guys were looking straight at me while saying something. The first thing running through my mind was, why is this guy looking at me like that. I kept on staring at the school. Then, he looked irritated and raise his voice a bit.

Then the thought hit me.

The guy was trying to talk to me! In arabic! ahahahaha!!

me: Sorry, I don't speak your language.
Then he spoke in a different dialect. (eh, pulak lah kan, mamat nie!)

Blurr me: Do you speak english? big burly guy: Yes, can you tell me how I go to Petaling Street? me: Owh, just take a bus to Putrajaya and then another one to KL central and then take the monorail. BBG: Do they have a bus from KL central to Petaling Street?
me: yeah, but I don't know the bus number. BBG: owh ok. thank you.

I was laughing at myself inside. It was so damn embarrassing! Itulah, dulu mak ko suroh balja Arabic, ko lari blaja Japanese. Kan da kene org nak cakap arabic ko tekontang-kanting.

AAaaaaaaaaaaaa!! Gi arr blaja arabic!!

rahsie pekong didada: I'm the only one in the family who don't know how to speak in arabic :P Even my Japanese have gone karat already because there was no one to talk too. hehehe.

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I made some Brioche à tête after seeing it on Su Yin's blog. It was somehow, a pain in the ass to make this soft bread. Perhaps it was because I was stressing on it too much. But then again the websites in the internet were giving so much warnings all over their instructions, it scarred the hell out of me while making the dough.

So, here's a recipe I came up with after editing here and there. This time, I even edited the instructions. Maybe that's why it was so much work. haha..

yeast
1/3 cup milk
1 tbsp sugar (warm)

2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
12 tbsp butter (unsalted is the best cause you're going to use alot of it)
2 tbsp milk (optional)
5 tbsp sugar
4 eggs

preparations:

Mix the yeast with some warm milk and sugar. set aside for half an hour or until it becomes active/ bubbly and frothy.

sift the flour. (as highly as you can)

Separate one egg yolk. set aside.

Beat the egg yolk with the remaining eggs.

If using butter sticks, chop it to smaller pieces.

Instructions:

Mix one cup of the flour with yeast mixture and sugar. Using a wooden spoon, incorporate the eggs bit by bit. The dough will become very wet and cake-like mixture. Sprinkle the remaining flour to the dough and mix lightly for around 8 minutes. The dough will shape up a little bit. Then, you'll need to knead by hand and incorporate the butter.

On a flour-dusted surface, spread out the dough to form a square. dust a bit of flour and fold the dough together. repeat several times until it became elastic and not sticky. (don't worry if part of the dough is sticks to the surface, thats normal)

Once the dough is not sticky, spread it out again, then put the knobs/chunks/small pieces of butter on the dough. fold it and knead again by hand. (the dough will become 'wet' again) This time knead the dough faster until it is smooth again.

put it in a buttered bowl and let rise for 1/2 hour. It will have doubled twice the volume. Punch it and then refrigerate the dough for 3 hours. The dough will have rise again. Punch it for the second time and let it rest for 30 mins.

the dough will have rise a bit. But just take the dough and roll small balls. I made twelve balls out of it. separate 1/3 of each ball and roll it until it became a round ball. Now you'll have twelve pairs of balls. Put the bigger balls into a big muffin pan. with one finger, poke the balls and the fit in the smaller balls on top of the bigger balls.

Beat the egg yolk until it is glossy but not overeaten, and wash the brioche. Let it rest for 30 mins before popping into the oven for 30mins.

**It took the whole day to make this one. IF I were to make it again in the future, I'd make it in two days. The whole ordeal was just too much. I sifted the flour in hopes that the product won't become a cake-like texture (as the recipe is quite rich in butter and eggs) I beat the egg too much that I had to be careful while mixing it with the flour in fear of overbeating the egg. that means it'll require a wooden spoon and naturally I end up with a slightly tired arm after mixing a heavy dough for 10 minutes non-stop. I was panicking when I added the butter. The dough lose shape all together. It took some time to make it back into shape. I suggest if you guys are going to make it, work the dough on a plastic surface. It'll HELP, seriously. Then there were the thrice resting time. Aiyooh, I even slept throughout the 4 hours the bread was in the fridge. (Penat ok tunggu!!) But in the end, the bread was great!! the texture was soft and bread-like (yeay!!)

Tired~

ps: the bread name was quite a controversy, and so was the vulgarity of the shape. Get it? Brioche à tête. Here's some pics from the internet. (I don't have a camera so no pics)

Roti Lepas Geram

so you know when someone (or a whole lot of people) pissed you off, and you're looking on a way to vent it out? Here's a suggestion, make a bread or something from the bread family.

I was making my own dough, when my mom came into the kitchen saying she want to eat Pau. So I turn it into a pau dough instead of a bun. haha

here's the ingredients;

500 g flour
100 g sugar
50 g butter/ shortening/ others
1 cup water
pinch of salt
yeast mixed with sugar and water.

sift the flour and salt, put in butter and sugar. mix till it become crubmly.

then add in the yeast and water.

it will become sticky and bit too waterry, so add in the water slowly.

when it finally taken shape and absorbed all the liquid. You can start the cursing.

curse all you want while pounding on the dough.

punch it, slam it, throw it in the air, scream your lungs out for a better feel.

when you're all out of idedas, thats when you can stop. the dough would be smooth to touch. very very tender from all the pounding. So let it rest for around 30 mins minimum.

then when it double up the size, pound it again.

smooth it out. the take some of the dough.

make it into a ball. then flat it out.

put the filling in it.

then close all the seams and shape it up like the pau you see in the shops.

steam it for 30 mins. and tadaaaa~

one of the best way to vent out your anger, exercise and get some good food at the end of it.

package kan?? haha. try it folks.

p/s: through if you're the type who sprays when you talk, do wear a mask because of obvious reasons. and you might want to use a metal bowl or something strong so you don't break those ceramic or glass bowl while pounding the dough.

A HOT chocolate

remember this movie??



remember this guy??




remember what he did in the movie??

huhu.

He made a very delicious-looking hot chocolate that I just had to recreate!

so;

half a bar of Lindt 75% chocolate
one cup of full cream milk (stole some from my cat)
about 100 ml of whipping cream (it's a bit too much)
one pair of kit kat bars
two chunk of mashmellow (you could just put one)






grate some chocolate before putting the rest into the milk. bring to boil.

whip up the whipping cream till stiff peak.

spread the cream over the top of the hot chocolate. sprinkle some grated chocolate.

grill the marshmellow and put it ontop of the cream. top it with a bit more cream.

plonk in the kit kat bar. Serve.

weee~

***

actually, I chat about donuts with Milla today and I remembered the simpson movie. Was too late to make a donut or buy any, so I made the hot chocolate instead. hahaha

Owh Gosh!!

here's some of the pics of my latest creation...



thanks to Fini for telling me I could use an A4 paper for easier handling of the cake.

~malam abis lah kot kek nie~

through it doesn't look that nice due to erm... cincai punye potong... hehe...but it taste quite okay. the strawberry flavor wasn't too strong, the crust was slightly too sweet. will reduce the sugar next time.


Milla said it was good, so that's a relief.. haha... she took some of em 'home' and the rest was history that night... hehehe

one thing I learned in making this cake is that using aluminum foil would be much easier than A4 paper. ah well, there's always next time. Would definitely try to make some more chilled cheesecake in the future.

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on other news,

I'm joining the Sakit Belakang club with Husna! hehehe... seriously I have been having this sharp pain at the lumbar region for more than 3 weeks already... (sekse takbley buat position maut lagik!! ciss!!) Mr. Azlan said it might be a slipped disk... matilah aku...

Prof. Hamdan have been asking me to cook at his house for a long time now... I'm considering his offer...hmm... what should I cook ah?? any ideas people??

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okayh, next recipe to tackle is;

Cranberry Mousse



(you can find the recipe from the website; http://seriouslygood.kdweeks.com or just click the picture)

lalalallala~~

Cheesecake Blunder

Aside from tiramisu, I've never made a non-bake cheesecake before. Come to think of it, I should just be confident as I've made tiramisu before, right? I mean, it's the same concept (a cheesecake), right? haih....

I wanted to recreate the Secret Recipe's Yogurt Cheesecake for Milla (tgk, aku baik tau). I got the genereal idea, what to do for each layer, but when I was making it, due to some problems, the ideas went down the drain as I panicked my way through the whole process!! so here's what happened;

ingat nak buat macam nie...

The first problem was, based on what I've read last week, most of the non-bake cheesecake demands an incorporation of gelatine in the cake batter. It is almost impossible for me to get a hold of this stuff here in cyberjaya. Gelatine is made from piggies (thus making it a BIG NO-NO) and through there are now bovine sources, if there is no Halal sticker on it, I wouldn't buy it. At home, I could find some pectin to replace gelatine, but here... aih.. wahh.. dilemma... finally, I just bought an agar-agar powder to replace it (pandai tak).

then came the process of making the actual cake, Problem two: I've made too much crust with 10 pieces of digestive cookies. so what did I do? just tepek all of it into the mould!! (kes tanak bazir... but Adi said he wouldn't want too much crust in his cheesecake... hummm..) I've also (dengan pandai tak hengatnyer) used a thin plastic bowl to mix everything. Bad mistake, the plastic was cracked and punctured here and there when I was done with the whole thing. Guess the blades from the mixer was too strong for the plastic (my mum's gonna kill me when she finds out about this... ahh...) So, as I was preparing the batter, I realized there is no fresh milk in the fridge. So my quick-thinking reflex was to throw in some strawberry milk instead! Problem three: the batter is now strawberry flavored when I wanted it to be a plain one! Fine, fine... then I proceed to the next step: putting in some agar-agar powder. the whole 10g of powder was for 1 litre of water. First, I just dissolve around 3/4 of the content (about three teaspoon). Mix it all up... then I realise it was kinda slurry and runny... I was like, "owh shit... can it really hold after assembling all the layer? Will it hardens in the fridge? why is it runny?? Is the batter more than 1 litre? should I put in more agar-agar mix?" (my housemates must have been annoyed since I asked every minute if the cake can hold... haha...) Sorry mates, I had a panic attack... In the end, as I was going to pour the batter into the mould, the panicked me (blame nadj, okeyh!!) pour all of the agar-agar mix into the batter....

habislah jadik macam nie kot...

around 10 minutes later, I realized the agar-agar mix take a while to hardens, and it's normal to be slurry and runny in the first 15 minutes!!!! the SHOCK!!! shoott!! and the cheese mixture was just 100ml shy of reaching 1 litre. There's also cheese in it (duh-uh) that'll help to solidify the cake! damn, I'm in trouble!! so, Problem four: may have put too much agar-agar powder! Hope it wont be to hard! waaaaaaaaaa.... then, I remembered the yogurt layer wasn't done yet and it was supposed to be hold together by some more bits of agar-agar which I had completely used up! *gasp*


AAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!


hope I can get it together, somehow...
it's in the fridge now... tommorow's gonna be a moment of truth, seriously.

matilah besok tgk kek tak jadik!!

but the best part is; Adi said he'll take the blame if the cake tak jadik.. hehehe (jahat tak aku... ahaha)

so here's the recipe (yg konon2 dibuat... really should have followed it!!!)

Crust:
6 digestive biscuits
4 tablespoons brown sugar
1 stick melted butter (around 70g)

Cheese Filling:
250 g cream cheese
100 g sugar
200 ml whipping cream (whipped)
150 ml fresh milk
7 g agar-agar (around 3 teaspoon)

Yogurt layer:
2 cups yogurt (thickened)
20 ml milk
3 g agar-agar

method:

prepare the crust and chill.

cream the cheese with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat the whipping cream until soft peaks form. Fold the cream into the cheese. boil the milk and add the gelatine/ agar-agar until the powder dissolve. remove from heat and pour into the cheese mixture.

pour the cheese mixture onto the crust and refrigerate for at least two hours.

thicken the yogurt by putting it into a thin cloth and hang overnight. (it should be all thick like the Greek style yogurt) Boil the 20ml milk with the remaining agar-agar. Mix the two up and spread over the cake. Chill until serve.

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suddenly, I wish I can make this as well... a Japanese strawberry shortcake (my fav)

matilah sume kek nak letak strawberry!

-------------------------------------------------

EDIT:

looked at the cake just now, it's kinda.... cake-y... and not agar-agar like (thank God!!) so now the problem is to make the yogurt layer... hurm....

too bad Adi's camera isn't running... kalo tak dah post the pics.

Short-break Promise!

to celebrate the end of the YM 4 event,

to pass time when I'm absolutely tension,

to finnish up the things in the fridge before it gets bad

I just HAD to do it,

I'll be damned if I let all of it go,

and so...

I had to break the promise,

I made shortbread cookies today.

(this is in between Adi's and my bed, wuahaha)

the butter was going to be ruin if I let it stay any longer in the fridge, so.. (banyak lak lah alasan ko, cakap je lah tujuan sebenar oii!! haha)
so I made the dough, in my ROOM because Zaimi and Adi was sleeping in the common room.

so here's the recipe

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup butter
• 1/2 cup castor sugar

cream the sugar & butter until light and creamy, add in flour with a pinch of baking powder. knead until it forms a shape (no more gumpal2) and store in fridge to cool it off until it is ready to be rolled and cut.


hmmm... creammy... :P

the chilled dough



nothing special really, there's not even an egg in the mix, I would decrease the sugar content through... it was a bit too sweet for me. since I don't have a cookie cutter here, I just used the big knife to cut it out. owh, and since the round glass kept on sticking to the dough when I was rolling it (no rolling pin, sob-sob) I just used my hand! hahahaha to maximize the production, I cut the first batch into small square biscuits but it BURNED!! it was still edible through and slightly much more crunchier than the others. For the other batches, I cut it into larger pieces and it turn out quite well.


Cool it off first



the last batches (had to rush back to college as soon as I poped these into the oven)



Decided to put some chocolate on the biscuits


Tadaaaa.... macam kuih raye la pulak, siap ade bekas lagi!



well it was just a tincy-wincy promise break, heck it wasn't even a crack, right??

thee hee...

--------------------------------------

Pictures of the strawberry cheesecake

the ingredients, huhu



fresh from the oven


can you see the strawberries?? yumm!


the first cut!



pour some cream and dig in!! okayh, I'm drooling all over again!

let's compare with the original one by her


shoot, I have a lot more room for improvements