Daring Bakers Cake turned MACARON! weeee

What to do with leftover buttercream, preserves, nuts, and ganache?  

Seriously, this cake's leftovers were screaming macarons.  

So we get cashew macarons with peach preserves, cashew praline buttercream, and dark chocolate ganache with grand marnier.  Tastes just like the gateau.  But much more fun.

=)

Daring Bakers - Filbert (read: cashew) Gateau with Praline Buttercream!

This is what happens when Allison is reunited with an oven after two months of basically living in a hotel.  I like to think it was a magical reunion.  =)

I got back from Japan Wednesday night, when alll the other Daring Bakers were posting about this wonderful cake, brought to us by July's host, Chris of Mele Cotte, and all I could do was pass out in bed and dream about it since I had been up and riding planes for the previous 30 hours.  4 countries in 1 day, baby!!!!  But no cake to show for it... yet!

So naturally the first thing I did when I woke up yesterday was plan out my baking schedule for the next week.  I decided this cake should come first because, even though I missed the posting date, it's close enough that this can count as a late post rather than a skipped month... hopefully?  And also because my grandmother's birthday was in June, and I know she loves praline and chocolate, and she happens to be visiting us in Canada this week.  

I had my doubts about this cake before starting it... I wasn't really sure how all the flavors would work together, and while I know hazelnuts and chocolate to be a killer combination, the idea of hazelnut praline with apricot and chocolate was kind of rubbing me the wrong way.  So I decided to use cashews instead, since I had never used cashews in anything before, and I guess I was just in a cashew mood.  I am generally not a fan of apricots, and my mom had about 40 peaches in a huge basket in our kitchen that she was begging me to do something with... so I made a year's worth of peach preserves and used some of that for the cake!  And ooh it was peachy.   Also, my grandmother doesn't like rum, so I just used grand marnier and vanilla throughout.  However, in the peach preserves, I added some lychee liqueur and cinnamon.  

Every Friday, my dad's band comes over and they practice their rockin' music in our garage.  Lucky for my cake, today is Friday!  So it was eaten and well appreciated after band practice, and then was packed up in yogurt containers and sent off to the band members' wives.  

Everyone loved it, even my mom who always says she doesn't like buttercream (but who eats it every time I make it!).  I was actually surprised at how awesome it was!  I think I will definitely make this cake again in the future - definitely.  Cause it was prettty ridiculously wonderful.

So thanks Chris!  I don't think I would have made this cake normally after just looking at the recipe, but I'm so glad you gave me a reason to because it turned out to be incredible!!  YAY for Daring Bakers!!  

If you're interested in making this cake, get the recipe from the host's blog here!

Caramel Soufflés

And this is what I made the night after the pie...

Because I did not have access to internet on this trip, and because I packed and left home in a huge rush, took with me only one cookbook, and didn't have time to put together any recipes before I left...  because of all this, I ended up making dessert from that same cookbook two nights in a row; oh my!  But oh, it is an amazing book.  And oh, they are amazing desserts!

Though it may look complicated, I assure you, this is a very simple recipe!  There's some crème anglaise, some hard caramel, some almonds... and the caramel soufflé itself is nothing but egg whites and caramelized sugar.  Ok, I admit, I was supposed to put some other stuff in it and kind of forgot... I'm a terrible baker, I know.  But in my defense, I was caught up in the glory of two of my favorite things in the world - meringue, and melted sugar.  Combine those two and Allison is sure to lose her wits.  So I completely forgot that other things were supposed to go in the mix... oh well, they clearly weren't all that important, because my results were fantastic!  So the recipe I'm giving has been modified to disclude anything that Allison forgot to include in her caramel meringue distracted state.  These things happen.  If you want the complicated version, I suggest you buy the book (I suggest you buy it, anyways), Lost Desserts by Gail Monaghan.  

Caramel Soufflés (adapted from Lost Desserts by Gail Monaghan)

For the soufflés:

4 egg whites

a small pinch of salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 425 F.  Butter and sugar 4 ramekins. 

Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff peaks form.

Place the sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved.  Let boil, covered for 3 minutes.  Uncover and continue to boil until the syrup becomes caramel in color.

Once it is ready, immediately remove caramel from the heat and pour slowly into the egg whites, beating constantly.  

Once the caramel is incorporated, gently spoon the mixture into prepared ramekins and place in a bain marie.

Put in the oven and immediately lower the oven temperature to 400 F.  After 5 minutes, turn off the oven, keeping the door closed.  After 15 more minutes, remove from the oven and place the soufflés on a wire rack to cool.  

For the crème anglaise:

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream

4 egg yolks

1/3 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Beat the egg yolks until they are lightened and thick.

In a saucepan, heat the milk, cream, sugar, and salt.  Once it is simmering, slowly pour it into the egg yolks, beating constantly.  

Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and the mixture coats the back of the spoon.  

Strain into a bowl, add the vanilla extract, and refrigerate.

To assemble:  When both components are cool, spoon the crème anglaise onto serving plates.  Carefully invert the soufflés onto the plates.  Sprinkle with sliced almonds, if desired.  

To make the hard caramel drizzle, cook 1/2 cup sugar with 3 tablespoons water as described in the soufflé recipe.  When the mixture is ready, pour it directly over the plated soufflés in a decorative manner.  Let harden.  

Triple-Caramel Cupcakes

I am a baker who loves to be exploited.  As much as I love eating sweets, I would be lying if I claimed that this is the reason I love to bake.  I'm not quite sure why, but the two greatest reasons why I love to bake are: 1. Creating desserts is somehow comforting and exciting, so I do it to escape from my other life when it is being neither comfortable nor exciting.  2.  I love feeding people, knowing that they are eating something delicious, and watching them enjoy it.  These two reasons are so prominent that it seems that nowadays I rarely end up consuming more than a taste of anything that comes out of my kitchen.  And I am completely OK with that!  So when my roommate told me that she had a "job" for me, and that it involved baking something for her brother's pre-wedding party (the bridesmaids were all supposed to bring desserts), I couldn't have been more excited!  A chance to feed people I had never even met= Fun times.  
I suppose I was just aching to melt some sugar (an especially comforting activity) because I created these triple-caramel cupcakes.  The cupcake batter has a caramel syrup incorporated in it, which provides the cake with extra moisture as well as the caramel flavor.  I filled and frosted the cupcakes with a chocolate-caramel ganache, which has a slightly chewier texture than regular ganache, as well as a deep, rich caramel flavor underneath the chocolate.  And because my then double caramel cupcakes didn't look like they had any caramel in them at all, I decided to garnish with some simple hard caramel.  

For the cupcakes (adapted from recipes on cooks.com):

3 c sifted cake flour

1 c + 1/2 c granulated sugar

1 c milk

2/3 c butter, softened

1/2 c boiling water

2 egg whites

2 egg yolks

3 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375 F.

To make the caramel syrup, melt 1/2 c granulated sugar in a small saucepan. Once it becomes dark amber in color, slowly add the boiling water, and stir to combine.  Cook this mixture for 1-2 minutes, and then set aside to cool.  

Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl, adding the sugar gradually and beating until fluffy.  Add the egg yolks one at a time, and then the vanilla extract, beating after each addition.  Mix in the caramel syrup once it has cooled.  

Sift the flour together with the salt and baking powder, and then add to the cake batter gradually, alternating with the milk.  

Whip the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold into the rest of the batter.

Pour batter into lined muffin tins, filling each cup 3/4 of the way to the top.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  

Makes about 24 regular-sized cupcakes.

For the filling/frosting:

12 oz bittersweet chocolate

2 c heavy cream

1 1/4 c sugar

4 tbsp butter

Chop the chocolate into small pieces, put in a mixing bowl, and set aside.  

Slowly heat the cream and butter together in a small saucepan.  Meanwhile, melt the sugar in another saucepan and cook until it is dark amber in color.  Slowly add the heated cream and butter to the caramel, and stir until well combined.  

Immediately pour the caramel mixture over the chopped chocolate.  Let sit for 1 or 2 minutes, and then whisk until all the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.  

Chill in the refrigerator to set, and microwave to re-melt.  I filled the cupcakes using a pastry bag and chilled ganache.  Then I topped them by spooning melted ganache over them.  

For garnish, melt 1/4 c sugar, and then drizzle it on tin foil or parchment paper.  Once it is hardened, peel it off and arrange it on top of the cupcakes.  yummmm =)