Daring Bakers - Opera Cake

Cake Love.

=)

What a wonderful month this was - apart from the bliss of being in Japan, this has been my favorite Daring Baker`s challenge so far!  It was hosted by our wonderful co-founders, Lis and Ivonne, as well as Fran of Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie and Shea of Whiskful, and they chose to have us make Opera Cake!  This is a cake that is traditionally made with chocolate and coffee, but the hosts specified that we keep the cakes light in color and flavor.  Apart from that, the flavors and decorations and all that were up to us!  And oh... what that led to... a ton of amazing and very unique cakes!  

I was so excited to make this that I couldn`t decide on what flavors to use, so I kind of just gave in to my indecisiveness and made two.  And what a delicious indecision it was...

I made the first cake with a pistachio jaconde, a vanilla and lemon buttercream, a strawberry lemon syrup, a strawberry glaze, fresh strawberries in the layers, and chopped pistachios on top.   

The syrup for the buttercream looked so cool when it was boiling that I had to take a picture...

I had been wanting to try pistachios and strawberries together for a long time, and thought this was a perfect opportunity because of the nut based cake and... strawberry season!  Also, I wanted to use a fruit glaze instead of white chocolate because my mom is one of those white chocolate haters, and I was actually at home and baking for my parents when I made this.  

But of course, I love white chocolate, and of course, there was another flavor combination that I have been wanting to try forever that works so perfectly with this cake.  Yes, it's green tea and white chocolate...  I think a ton of other people have done this, too... as well they should, because it is seriously amazing.  And what can I say, I made this the day before I left for Japan, so it was probably the Japan excitement that made me do it.  (mmm Japan excitement is a glorious thing!)

I did an almond and green tea jaconde, a white chocolate and green tea buttercream, a vanilla and jasmine syrup, and the white chocolate mousse and glaze. I actually finished this cake 2 minutes before bolting out of the door to catch my flight to Japan, so I was only able to taste one bite of it, but it was an amazing bite! The green tea went perfectly with the white chocolate, and the jasmine gave the whole thing a wonderful flowery essence underneath the big flavors.

mmmm green tea buttercream.... amazing.  

I said that this was my favorite Daring Baker's challenge to date, and that's because I feel like I have accomplished so much with it!  I made both cakes without any problems, they tasted amazing, and I think they are pretty much the most aesthetically pleasing things to ever come out of my kitchen (I'm always so bad at making stuff pretty...).   

Plus, I had never even heard of an opera cake before this challenge, so it opened my eyes to a piece of pastry I had never before known, and I always love it when that happens!  It's happening every day I'm here in Japan, by the way. =)

So thank you, wonderful hosts, for another fantastic Daring Baker's challenge!  I loved it, and I look forward to seeing everyone's cakes!

If you want to try your hand at opera cake, see here for the recipe!

Daring Bakers - Cheesecake Pops

Yay! It's Daring Bakers time again! This month's challenge was hosted by Elle of Feeding my Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell. And they chose cheesecake pops!

I was ecstatic when I saw the selection at the beginning of the month, because I absolutely love cheesecake! So creamy and cheesy and mmmm.... yeah. I'm also kind of obsessive about cheesecake quality, and am on a neverending quest for the perfect cheesecake recipe, so I always jump at the opportunity to try a new one! And this was more than just a new cheesecake recipe, it was an entirely new method of preparation and serving! See how cute each pop was on it's own little stick?

Awww. So happy. We were allowed to dip the pops in any kind of chocolate we wanted, and then decorate with anything we could think to stick on it! Needless to say, mine look rather plain compared to some of the pops those other Daring Bakers made. But they still make me really happy. I chose to dip them in white chocolate, because I was feeling like I wanted something that would add mild sweetness without too sharp or overpowering a flavor. After all, the cheesecake is the most important part in my book! And also because white chocolate was all I had in my freezer at the time... hehe. And since it was all I had, I decided the least I could do was make it colorful... so I made purple and blue cheesecake balls.

They had so much personality, though. See, this one is the "Allison ran out of sticks and dipped me with her fingers and then ate me so that no one would know" ball:

And this one is the "I'm so swirly and it makes me cool, even though it's really because the chocolate cooled too fast on me" texture-happy ball:

Haha I had way too much fun with these...

In the end, they all tasted amazing. I carried them around with me everywhere I went the day I made them, and received more than one marriage proposal in response. And seriously, I can't ask any more than that from any dessert recipe... =)

So thank you, Deborah and Elle, for a seriously fun challenge! The Daring Bakers are fabulous!

Strawberry White Chocolate Mocha Macarons

So, one day a couple months ago, I ran into my friend Amy as we were both on our way and running late for the same class. She offered me gum, and while I don't normally enjoy gum, this was strawberry gum, and it's hard to pass up any kind of strawberry sweetness that's being offered to me... So I accepted, and began to chew it just as we walked through the cinema courtyard (where they have a small coffee stand). I paused, "Why does this gum taste like coffee??" Amy looked at me like I was insane. The conversation that followed was something like this:

"omg it does taste like coffee!"

"I'm pretty sure there's no coffee in the gum."

"mmmmm strawberry and coffee..."

"that sounds disgusting."

"I am now inspired to make cookies."

But I didn't actually make the cookies... I had this idea that white chocolate would be a good cohesive flavor for the strawberries and coffee, and it took me forever to procure decent white chocolate. And I got caught up in other things to bake... but these were always lurking in the back of my mind. So when I went to the grocery store last week and saw a ton of beautiful strawberries under a sign that said 69c/lb, I knew exactly what I had to do.

I have made macarons before, with much success, but this was my first time making plain shells. The macarons I have made in the past have always been chocolate or pistachio. So I tried a recipe that I had not used before, and was very happy with it! The shells baked perfectly, and any macaron baker will know that perfectly baking shells equals love. You can find the recipe here at à la cuisine.

As for the filling... it ended up a product of much improvisation, when I couldn't for the life of me get my white chocolate ganache to set. I wanted to have a coffee buttercream and incorporate the strawberries into a white chocolate ganache, and then just have both fillings in each macaron. But apparently strawberries equal liquidy ganache? I even tried this twice, reducing the cream content to barely anything the second time, and the ganache still would not set. Soooo I kind of just dumped it all into the buttercream (half expecting a disaster) and danced around happily when it all came together and tasted lovely. The result of this was delicious filling and a ridiculous Frankenstein recipe for it. But here is the recipe, nonetheless.

Strawberry White Chocolate Mocha Buttercream Filling

1 cup chopped white chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 medium/large strawberries

1 tsp granulated sugar

2 egg whites

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup butter

3/4 tsp instant coffee granules

3 tsp water

Whisk the egg whites with the 1/2 cup sugar over a pan of simmering water until they are warm and the sugar has dissolved.

Beat until stiff peaks form.

Add the butter a tablespoon at a time, beating after each addition. Continue to beat until buttercream is smooth.

Dissolve the coffee in 3 tsp water, and gradually beat this into the buttercream.

Dice the strawberries, sprinkle the tsp of sugar over them, and toss to combine. Set aside.

Heat the cream in a saucepan. When it reaches the simmering point, pour it over the white chocolate. Let sit for a minute or so, and then whisk to combine. When the mixture is smooth, stir in the strawberries. Cover and refrigerate, and hope that it will set up like ganache is supposed to. When it doesn't do this, chuck it in the buttercream (gradually), and beat it in until the mixture is uniform and smooth.

Pipe the filling into the cookies and refrigerate overnight. Let the cookies come to room temperature before serving.

And see how beautiful those strawberries were? This is what I had for breakfast. Me and my toast with nutella and fruit.... =)

Raspberry and White Chocolate Pastry Flowers

I recently decided that it would be a good idea to learn how to make puff pastry.  Because of all the hype around making puff pastry, and because I was sure they must sell it pre-made in stores for a good reason, I was rather terrified to make my own.  But I thought about it, and I researched it, and I thought of all the great things I could do if I could whip up puff pastry whenever I felt like it, and I decided that I should just go ahead and attempt to make it immediately.  Coincidentally, it was already about 8 PM on New Years Eve.  So at the stroke of the new year, I was in my kitchen, happily rolling out and folding puff pastry dough!  It didn't go perfectly, but luckily all the problems I ran into were easily fixed; my first batch had melted butter leaking out, as well as considerable pastry shrinkage.  So I let the dough rest longer and I turned the oven heat up, and my second batch baked perfectly.  And now I can happily say that I have conquered puff pastry!  

Afterwards, I just had to decide what to do with all my pastries...  Well, I had a ton of raspberries in my freezer, and I was out of raspberry jam anyways, so I made some jam and filled the pastries with it.  I thought they needed a touch of something sweeter than the jam, so I made a white chocolate ganache and piped it all over them.  mmm.  Sadly, I gave most of them to my neighbors, since I am currently the only one in my house who can eat sweets.  But I ate quite a few of them right after they were finished... they aren't too sweet so you can eat a good many in one sitting!  Here is the recipe:

Puff pastry (I used this recipe)

Preheat oven to 420 F.  

Use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of the dough.  I used a flower shape, but many shapes would work for this.  Use a knife or a smaller cookie cutter to score a circle on each pastry.  Arrange 1 inch apart on a baking sheet, and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until puffed and golden.  Then use a knife to remove the inside circles created on the pastries from the scoring.  

Raspberry Jam

2 cups raspberries (frozen or fresh)

1 scant cup sugar

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp ceylon cinnamon (if you use regular, use less of it)

Mash up the raspberries in a small saucepan, and bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 or 2 minutes, and then gradually add in the sugar.  Add the spices once the sugar is incorporated, and continue to boil, stirring constantly, until the mixture begins to thicken.  Take off of the heat, and let cool a few minutes before pouring into the pastry shells.  

White Chocolate Ganache 

1 cup finely chopped white chocolate

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl.  Heat the cream in a small saucepan until it begins to boil, and then pour it over the white chocolate.  Let sit for 1 or 2 minutes, and then whisk until all the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream.  Mix in the vanilla extract, and then refrigerate until it is a good consistency to be piped.  Using a very small round tip, pipe over the pastries in a decorative manner.  =)