Is it greedy to eat the WHOLE braid?!?!

O.K., I didn't eat the whole thing but I must admit, I was tempted to. This is a great recipe that I hope to make again.

I had my laptop nearby to the YouTube video on making Danish pastry. I wanted to make sure that I did the butter block was done correctly. I was very happy with the results (even if it wasn't a perfect square):

I followed the recipe almost exactly and used the Apple Filling but I added a cream cheese layer along with it. Since I didn't want to mess up on the actual braiding part, I totally did a knock off of Button's danish braid because it looked so pretty (thanks, Button!).

I'm very happy with how it turned out. I did have some butter leakage as I was rolling my dough out pretty vigorously and some apple spillage during baking but no harm done (thank goodness for Silpat). This was one of the tastiest things I've ever made and I'm very proud of myself. Thanks, Daring Bakers!

Danish Braid

I'll was pretty excited about partaking in this challenge. The only experience I have with yeast is using a bread maker - and I usually still manage to screw it up somehow.

I really enjoyed making the dough with my KitchenAid mixer - although I'm not sure the mixer was quite capable of handling the dough. It was shaking the entire table! I didn't have any problems rolling the dough. On day 2, when I was going to roll out my braid and fill and bake it - I ran into some issues. I was not able to roll the dough out to the 15 x 18 size, so I did a smaller roll. I chose to make the almond strawberry filling that was used by another one of the DB's. I still had 2 cups of almond meal in my kitchen from the opera cake, so I thought why not? I was originally going to fill with creamcheese and chocolate chips - but I will save that for another time.



I let the bread proof for two hours - but I'm not sure it rised as it should have. After baking the braid, it did not look as flaky as I would've liked. I would like to try this again sometime to see if I have better luck with the yeast rising.

My First Challenge - Danish Pastry

I am happy to report that my first Daring Baker challenge was a success! I have wanted to try a laminated dough for a long time so I was thrilled with this month’s recipe. Inspired by the wild blueberries that grow in my area, I switched the orange zest & juice to lemon and made an oozy blueberry-rosemary jam for the filling. I made two braids. The first one I filled with blueberries and ricotta, the second with blueberries and mascarpone.


Despite the urging of the recipe, I did *not* mix the yeast with cold milk. I warmed the milk to about 80 degrees and let the yeast and milk sit for a while before proceeding. I read that some people were having trouble getting their dough to rise and suspected that the lack of rise could be because the yeast wasn’t activated in the first part of the recipe.

The dough was actually a bit dry in the mixing. I ended up adding a bit of water during the kneading to keep it soft. My little kitchen helper stood by the whole time lending his ‘support.’


I made the blueberry jam with some cane sugar, a squeeze of lemon juice and a sprig of rosemary. I mixed vanilla in with the soft cheese in both the recipes.


The rolling out went okay. I had a tiny butter leak on one side, but it resolved itself after a turn or two. Do not be fooled by the perfect rectangle in the photo! I ended up trimming my dough to fit onto my tiny baking sheet.


A Note About the Small Oven: Being an apartment renter and a baker, I got so fed up with crappy unreliable ovens I got myself a fancy mini convection oven for Christmas. So worth it! It does bake things very fast though. Both my braids ended up being a shade or two darker than I would have preferred.


Aesthetics aside, the results were fantastic! I couldn’t really decide if I preferred the ricotta or the mascarpone; the latter was deliciously creamy but the ricotta was nice as well. I probably should have drained it though so it was fluffier. I made the second braid the next day and I found that the dough was much easier to work with after being in the fridge overnight. Not wanting to waste even the littlest scraps, I made teeny tiny little croissants.


Looking forward to the next challenge! :)

Daring Bakers June 2008- Danish Braid

After taking last month off to adjust to life in new house with a new puppy, I was excited to get back into the swing of things. Once again, this recipe was a perfect example of why I joined this group. Just as I am starting to get comfortable working with yeast in traditional bread recipes, here comes another curve ball!

I was able to find vanilla beans and cardamom at a local farm store for reasonable prices and had all of the other ingredients on hand. I made the dough and the filling one day and assembled and baked it the next.

I was really intrigued by some of the techniques in this recipe. I did end up having to add extra flour to my dough because it was quite sticky. I was worried about the butter squeezing out during the rolling, but it all stayed put. The apple filling looked delicious and I can imagine making it in the future for a variety of uses. Although the process was time consuming, both the dough and the filling all came together very well. At the end of the day had a lovely dough and container of apple filling resting in the ‘fridge, awaiting phase 2 tomorrow!

My weakness with this challenge was definitely the rolling. Each time I was rolling I wish I had a ruler or tape measure, but still never remembered to get one before it was time to roll again. Also, when it was time to assemble to braid I was a little confused with the amount of dough and filling to use, but went ahead and divided the dough and the filling into two braids. Well, it was a good thing I had two shots at it because the first one was not very pretty. I now realize I did not roll the dough thin enough, which made my braid short and wide. The next one together correctly and looked a lot better.

I let the braids rest for over two hours in the oven with the light on. During this time they did not rise that much. I know it wasn’t 90 degrees as suggested in the recipe, but it was at least 80. Anyway, I decided not to wait any longer and went ahead to bake. The definitely grew a lot during the baking and came out looking golden brown and delicious!

I decided to make this for my father’s birthday (he agreed to forgo the traditional cake in support of my baking habit) and serve it with vanilla bean ice cream. It was quite a hit! I am so excited to know how to make puff pastry on my own and to be able to create such a beautiful and tasty treat! Thanks again for the fun and the challenge!

- Sarah T

A pastry by any other name is still a pastry…

And therefore, MMMMMMMMMM… good. This month's challenge was obviously inspired. I happen to be on vacation in the United States and I was excited to be using kitchen utensils that I haven't had for the last 2 years. What better way to make use of them then to make a Danish Braid. I was getting all my ingredients together and for the life of me couldn't find any cardamom at any grocery store in the vicinity. I looked at every store in the city. Kinda of odd that I can find cardamom in Korea but not here. Anyway…. I had to kinda fudge that part of the recipe and just added a little spice to the dough. (to be honest can't really remember what I added….but there were some brown speckles in the dough) I will say making dough with a mixer is a whole lot easier than by hand. Those of you who did use hands I say BRAVO!!!

My biggest issue was rolling out the dough the first time after it had been chilling.

Now I'm gonna be honest…that is not my hand, and I feel I owe it to my reading public to be completely honest.
This is my hand

I had to call in a guest roller outer. One thing I learned in this challenge is that sometimes physical size makes a difference. I'm about 5'4 on a good day. My mom is about 5'10 ¼ on a bad day. I begged her to come in and roll it out for me…(she rolls like no other) and she said she's so good at it because she has leverage. Well that is absolutely true!! (that's my story and I'm sticking to it!) Once I had added the butter and it had been "fold & rolled" a couple times I was better able to roll it out. At first it didn't start out so rectangular, but by the end it was perfectly rectangular. I just forgot to take a picture of it. Oops.

I split the dough in half and on one day used the instructed apple filling. It was fantastic in texture and taste.

The dough was not what I had expected it to be and I had wanted to make a savory filling, but then I changed my mind and made another sweet filling. Apricots are in season and I knew they needed to be in the braid. I made a cream cheese filling with cream cheese, a little sugar & vanilla, a little egg beaters and a pinch of flour. I then sliced the apricots in half so that you could see them through the braid. It was fantastic. So fantastic they ate it before I got back to photograph it. Argh!!!! I loved this recipe and am anxious to make smaller sized pastries to take to get-togethers. Thanks to Kelly and Ben for picking out such a great recipe…and thanks to all Daring Bakers for making me look like I know what I'm doing in the kitchen.

- Amber

Not Even an Altercation Can Stop a Daring Baker! :)

This is my first Daring Bakers Challenge and I was very excited when I saw this month's recipe. I love cooking but I'm new to the baking thing so this was a great challenge - I mean there was YEAST involved! We throw a lot of parties in my house - small impromptu parties and "Oh my god there are way too many people in my house" planned (sort of) parties. People always ask what they can bring and I recently decided that I no longer wanted my response to be "Well you can bring dessert because I don't bake". So for Christmas my boyfriends family showered me with gifts that would help me conquer my baking fears, including a KitchenAid mixer (WAY too generous but so AWESOME!) and Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, probably knowing that my baking experiments would surely benefit them.

I must admit though that this month has been packed with weddings and work parties and family visits and as June 29th got closer and closer I was thinking "Maybe I'll skip this month's challenge" more and more! But, luckily, my Danish loving boyfriend would not allow that. I started my Danish Wednesday night and as I was about to run around the corner to get whole milk people started fighting in front of my house! They were yelling things that sounded completely ridiculous coming out of fat white men's mouths like "Yo I'm a gansta for real" and "That was a jab! I knocked you out with a jab!" so that delayed things for a minute. It's still funny to me that people are getting in fist fights outside my door while my boyfriend and I listen to NPR and bake Danish! So anyway I eventually got my milk and made the dough. I was concerned about butter leakage but luckily it was minimal. I did put the butter in the fridge after I made it because I still had about twenty minutes to wait for my dough and I worried it would get too soft. Things were looking good. I made an apple blackberry filling with apples, blackberries, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice and a sweet cream cheese filling with softened cream cheese, lemon juice and honey. I finished my final folds and put it in the fridge to rest.

Thursday after work I rolled out the dough and added my filling, cream cheese on the bottom, apples on top. Next time around I'll add more, I think I was too worried about over stuffing. The braid didn't look so good but I didn't have time to worry about it – I had a party to get ready for! So I gave my boyfriend the instructions for egg washing and baking the Danish and left it in his hands. He did a great job as you can see from the photos. Although he did confess that he forgot to turn the oven temp down and ended up just baking the whole thing for twenty minutes on 400 but it still looks and tastes delicious. I can't wait to play with the other half of
the dough that's sitting in the freezer!

Thanks Daring Bakers for an awesome challenge!

- Sara F

Respect, or, Walk A Mile In My Clogs

We’ve all seen them before. On the lounge area table of the discount motel chain. Huddled in miserable groups next to giant, cottony muffins, an urn of burnt coffee and pitchers of watery orange juice serving as sentinels. You probably bypass them in favor of a puffy, doughy bagel. Occasionally, someone will be foolhardy enough to select one, but can only muster a handful of bites before consigning it to the trash. They are often prepackaged in cellophane, like members of a suicide cult. Their fillings are congealed white globs of “cheese” or, even worse, dark brown smears of “prunes.” It’s as if they had been created by someone who had no sense of taste or smell, and, in fact, they served as punishment for those that do. Indeed, why would anyone willingly subject themselves to such abasement?

I speak, of course, of the Danish.

Prior to this month’s challenge, my experience with Danish consisted of the exact scenario above: repulsive, overly sweet and artificially-flavored discuses of pastry found primarily in the hushed and awkward breakfast areas of motels. I readily admit my preference for sweet things for breakfast, but even these Danish defied my palate. In short, they were awful. Yet, Danish come from a long and storied baking past, so surely in their original incarnations they must have actually tasted like, you know, food.

The announcement of the challenge, Danish Braid, actually thrilled me. Laminated dough! Yeast! Braiding! This is why I signed on to be a Daring Baker, to expand my baking repertoire, become a better person. Surely I would develop a new respect for these much-maligned pastries if I had to make them myself.

The process proved to be a good deal more manageable than I had anticipated. By dividing the actual mixing and shaping of the dough into two days, I was able to tackle each step without feeling overwhelmed. Detrempe (dough)—check. Beurrage (butter block)—check. Turns (rolling and folding the dough to create layers)—check. I’d always wanted to try making puff pastry, and this was a good introduction to the process. Perhaps I might attempt croissants de boulanger soon. (Or maybe that should wait until the mercury drops below a drillion degrees, and my apartment without air conditioning.)

To fill the Danish, I took fresh cherries and made an extremely easy but appallingly tasty jam, following a recipe from Baking With Julia, and also made a frangipane (almond filling) from the same book. Smeared on the frangipane, topped it with the cherry filling, and then it was time to braid. Braiding is the social currency of little girls. What would sleepovers and summer camp be without the constant braiding and unbraiding of each other’s hair? Like grooming chimps, girls seal social networks through French braids and fancy, princess-like hair arrangements. Throughout elementary school, junior high and high school, I had short, pixielike locks, which meant that, in addition to being mistaken for a boy, my own braiding capabilities were sadly compromised. Or maybe I’m blaming my hair for me being unpopular. Anyway, when it came time for me to do my Danish Braid, there was a small glitch. I miscalculated the measurements and had a slightly different number of dough strips on one side of the pastry than the other. Ah, well, it’ll sort itself out in the oven.

There was extra dough left over, so I experimented with making small Danish, using strawberry jam, frangipane and mini chocolate chips in sundry combinations for the fillings. A rise, an egg wash, a sprinkling of pearl sugar, and into the oven, me pretties!

While they baked, the apartment filled with the evocative scents of cardamom and orange, the traditional Scandinavian flavorings for Danish. And when I pulled them from the oven, they did, indeed look like actual Danish only, you know, edible. Whilst the pastries were hot, I brushed on a simple glaze of powdered sugar, lemon juice and milk. It melted into the dough, creating a lovely sheen.

Waiting to taste the Danish was an exercise in self-control, and my gluttony won, so that I cut and ate my first piece before it was cool. And lo, a revelation. I wondered why anyone would label the motel monstrosities “Danish,” when the difference between those and what I had produced was as sizable as me slapping on shoulder pads and calling myself a defensive lineman for the Cincinnati Bengals. (I am, dear reader, a mere five feet tall, and flinch when a Nerf football is tossed gently in my direction.) Z. took the remainder of the Danish into work the following day, and many declared it the best Danish they had ever eaten, or so I am told. It did not last long on the craft services table. The piece I had set aside for my mother-in-law was eaten by yours truly. (I’m sorry, Pauline!)

(You may be wondering, what happened to the individual Danish? Dear Reader, I accidentally burnt them into hard briquettes. Vanity prevented me from having them photographed.)

So, thanks to the Daring Bakers, I learned a new lesson in respect. Mock not the true Danish. It is a noble beast that deserves a far greater tribute than being relegated to the rubbish bin of the Motel 6.

I remain,
Yours, &c.
Ami

Danish braids...yum

Well, I find recipes fall into 3 categories. Bad, Good, and Really Super Duper Good. This recipe was so super duper good, i made it twice. Lets go back to the beginning.

Any of you who actually know me, know that I'm in culinary school right now for Classic Pastry Arts. We started a venoissierie section just before this challenge and I was literally thinking when I came on to the DB site to find out what the challenge was, hm..danish would be a GREAT challenge...most people at home don't work with laminated doughs. So I came on and I was like YES!!! (I got just a little excited and did a little happy dance) and then I got to thinking..oh, what oh what can I make as a filling. And the ideas just started pouring out of my head and on to paper. I literally had a page and a half of things i could do! My husband thought I was obsessing just a bit to much. So on to baking day.

The followed the recipe and I love cardamom, it's what we used in the danishes at school. So the first one I did was a bit traditional. Almond creme and raspberry jam and topped it with a strudel topping. And Oh, it was good. The second was the apple compote. I liked it, I wasn't crazy about it though. Then my dear dear hubby told me on a thursday night that he had invited 2 of his co-workers and their wives over for dinner friday night! Ack! I hate when he does that!!!! So I decided to go a bit different. I wasn't quite in the mood for "normal" dinner party food, so I decided to make another danish braid! But this time, I made it with cream cheese and smoked salmon. I put everything bagel seeds on the top and it was soo yummy. I served it with fruit salad, coffee and OJ in lovely wine glasses. And I gave slippers and pjs to all our guests and we had a breakfast party. They thought it was the greatest thing ever. I was a great change from a traditional dinner party. And the last one I made I had some fun with. I made a pecan pie filling, it was so gooey and messy but so good.

So there you go, my four different but very yummy danish braids. I know, I know, still no pictures. I've given up with my darn mac and trying to get it to do new things. I'm off to go read more about danish braids..you should too!!

The Danish that never was

I am sad to report that my danish never happened... and here is why:
I'm in the process of moving cross-country and had to finish my job and a major part of my dissertation before we left. However, I was really excited when I saw what this month's challenge, especially since I've never made a laminated though. So I decided to tackle it as a birthday present to myself.

I decided to make it apricot-lime, inspired by a lovely jam from the Hi-rise bakery. I thought the orange flavor would clash with the apricot-lime, so I substituted lime juice for orange juice... but then I realized that those two are far from substitutable because my lime juice (straight) was VERY acidic. I tried to fix it by adding more sugar to the dough, but alas it didn't work. My dough tasted overpoweringly lime-y and for some reason, made my fingers sting when I played with it (maybe it was the paper-cuts I had from filing last minute paperwork). To make matters worse, my Kitchen-aid mixer went crazy again, as with my cursed party cake. When I turned it on to low (or to anything), it started going faster and faster, beyond the fastest usual speed, and then would turn off. I took it as a sign that I should stop and go work or pack!

Another reason I'm sad my Danish never happened is that, between the move and some traveling we'll be doing, I will miss the July and August challenges too! I'll try my best to make it for August but I think it's unlikely... In any case, I hope everyone had fun in this challenge and the next ones and I will see you in September!

L’Opéra Party!!

I mistakenly poured all the cream into the ganache. So I had to scoop some of the ganache into the white chocolate when I made the glaze.
But that part worked out OK. I used lemon juice instead of water in the syrup and that was delicious. To go with the lemon, I used spiced rum and vanilla so the cake had a tropical drink flavor.

My friend Genie had called to say her family was away for the day and would I join her at church then come to her house to grill burgers? I told her about the challenge and we decided I should bake it at her house. I ground the almonds at home and pre-measured all the ingredients and took everything with me. I worked on it all afternoon.
We had so much fun that she invited friends, her family came home unexpectedly, and we turned it into a party.

It is morel mushroom season in northern Michigan so we had burgers with grilled morels and onions and white cheddar melted on top, chunky redskin potato salad, baked beans with pimentos and spicy red peppers, a huge bowl of baby greens, some good wine, and lots of happy conversation.

The cake got a little rushed at the end and I was chilling things in the freezer so it would be ready in time. I did not get the lovely, smooth, even look some of you got, the ganache was undulating and the glaze only partially smoothed out the top. We took it out into the afternoon sunshine on the deck and picked some springtime dandelions and pink begonias to decorate. After a photo session, we discovered the piece we had cut to photograph was entirely too big to eat. Wow!
Was that thing sweet and rich!

Even so, most of us had a second piece. I left a huge section for my friend's teenage son who fell in love with it. More went home with her friends, and the rest came home with me. I sliced and put 2-packs in the freezer -- it freezes and serves really well. I gifted two of my neighbors and the manager of our complex with more pieces.

It was rich and sweet and completely over-the-top and I doubt I will put this much work into a cake again. But the experience was worth it.
We had a lovely afternoon and I was able to get better accquainted with some new neighbors while sharing a really special cake.

What an adventure! And this was my first challenge. I hope it doesn't get any more hectic than this. I don't think I could stand the excitement.

PS: Genie's friends decided we were going to have another party so they could help me eat next month's challenge.

PSS: My friend Genie cut really thin slivers and covered them with strawberries and even those who thought the cake was too sweet loved it. Even her husband who dislikes any desserts except fruity ones.

- Betty

Strawberry Opera Cake

L’Opera was a grand success. I decided to go with strawberry as my principal flavor, with lemon in the background. I began by making the syrup, using lemon juice as the flavoring. I found that even with ¼ cup of lemon juice it wasn’t strong enough flavored for me, so I added some strips of lemon peel to the hot syrup and let it steep, which gave it a great flavor. Next up, strawberry buttercream. I used the 1 cup sugar, ¼ cup water, 1 ¾ sticks of butter version of the recipe. I was kind of nervous about the syrup, especially since I don’t have a candy thermometer. My instant-read meat thermometer only goes up to 200 degrees, so once it got up that high I just let it cook another 2-3 minutes and crossed my fingers it was hot enough. Beating it into the eggs was tricky; the syrup seemed to only want to go either onto the side of the bowl, or onto the whisk and splatter everywhere. Eventually I got it all in, and then all the butter. At this point, I had some of the best tasting frosting ever, which got even better after adding in about a cup of strawberry puree. It did become sort of curdly looking after adding the strawberries. I probably put in too much of the puree, but it had an intense strawberry flavor, and was very creamy. Into the fridge it went.

On to the white chocolate mousse. I followed the recipe exactly other than omitting the liqueur, and had no problem other than wanting to eat it all immediately. I used Ghirardelli baking chips for my white chocolate, and they melted just fine, although I did have to whisk quite a bit to get the last little bits to melt. For my cake, the almonds were out due to a nut allergy. I used oat flour instead, which was recommended on the alternative bakers forum. The batter came together easily, and the cake baked up golden and smelling really good.

Assembly time – as a slight variation I layered my mousse in the middle instead of on top, for symmetry, along with a layer of sliced strawberries. I wasn’t sure exactly how much of the syrup to use, and after tasting the cake it could have used a bit more. The glaze was easy to make, but I had a hard time spreading it onto the cake, maybe because I had buttercream on top instead of mousse. I had a hard time slicing the cake neatly, even though it sat overnight. I ended up using floss to get a clean cut.

In the end, all I can say is, yum! Creamy, strong strawberry flavor, great texture all around, and really nice to look at. Unfortunately, the lemon flavor just didn’t come through, and it would have been nice to have another flavor present. The cake made with the oat flour was tasty, and made a great base for showcasing the fillings. I would definitely make this again in other flavor combinations, and the buttercream is a definite keeper. While I was initially disappointed with the chocolate prohibition, it turned out to be a great challenge, and a delicious dessert!

- Brooke

Oh! Gasp! Le Opera!!

Well, Le Opera. It's me against you. You win. But in reality, I win, HA! I ate you!!!

 After not making the last challenge, more being late, I'm back! Alas, without pictures. 

 I must say, this was a bit of a challenge for me. More time than anything else. The opera is a beautiful cake, all those layers of yummyness. It's just to darn time consuming!! It was gorgeous, and made the perfect ending to a dinner party with hubbs' bosses. His leiutenants  wife was thoroughly impressed. I almost said to her Ha! It's not me, it's the Daring Bakers!! but no, I kept my mouth shut..I enjoyed the compliments =)

I know, it's a short one..I've been up for SOO many hours and need some sleep. 

Thank you daring bakers! And I can't wait to have the time to look at all of your Opera's!!!

XOXOXO

Marisa

Operation Opera Cake!

Back again for my second Daring Baker challenge...

Eagerly awaiting the post for the challenge earlier this month while vacation in Miami - I was a certainly impressed when the Opera Cake was revealed.   Though I don't typically bake anything that is not chocolate (what's the point?), I still was excited about the challenge. I didn't have an event in mind for the cake, so I just planned on making it the last weekend so I'd have time. I wish I would've made some of the parts earlier in the week, but I spent most of a lazy Saturday putting everything together except for the glaze and buttercream.

I had to run out and get a candy thermometer for the buttercream.   I need to do a little research and find something better, because the one I bought from Target didn't really submerse into the small amount of liquid I was heating for the buttercream.  Even so, my buttercream turned out really well.  I was nervous after reading some of the posts from others who had problems.  One thing I learned from making this recipe was the importance of beating things the correct amount of time.  I still love beating egg whites and watching them turn into stiff peaks!

One of my layers of jaconde didn't bake as well as the other - so next time I might do them separately.  Construction of the cake went well.  I finished the glaze just in time to serve to some friends on Memorial Day.  The cake wasn't my favorite, because of the lack of chocolate, but it was still quite tasty.  

 

Dating Up; or, Take On Me

I’m not going to lie. Some people of my acquaintance consider me to be an accomplished baker. They make appreciative and occasionally awed noises when I present my latest baked creation. But, most of the time, I find it easy to shrug off their compliments. “It’s just a matter of following a recipe,” I mumble, still taking gratification when I see another forkful of cake disappear into waiting gullets. The majority of what I bake consists of what I’d term to be “American style” baked goods. Your garden variety butter layer cakes, cookies, brownies, blondies. All very American in their simplicity and reliance on typical home baking methodology. I really don’t aspire to making the kind of architectural European masterpieces one might find at their local schmancy bakery. Maybe it’s because I’m a mouth-breathing cretin, but I’d just rather have a big ol’ honking cupcake or bar cookie than the ethereal genoise, mousse and gold leaf tortes that look out from their bakery case with sly, knowing eyes.

Still—I couldn’t help but wonder, do I not attempt to bake these cakes because I don’t like them, or because they intimidate me? Like the six-foot-two hottie with golden hair and shimmering allure, toting his surfboard towards the Malibu breakers. Is he not my type, or do I know I don’t have a chance? (I’m happily married, but you get the analogy.)

Maybe the fault lies not in the stars, but myself. If it was just intimidation, then I’d have to face my fears and bake one of these ornate, multi-step cakes. Then, at least, I can know that the hottie called me, we went out, and there was no chemistry, so I went home and watched makeover shows for the rest of the night. So, “Euro-cake” went onto my personal challenge list. I didn’t know when I’d get to it, but I would…someday.

Well, thanks to the Daring Bakers, I was kicked out of my complacency. The May challenge was announced: Opera Cake. A traditional layer cake comprised of no fewer than five separate components. Joconde (an almond-based sponge cake), soaking syrup, buttercream, mousse and a ganache glaze. Our esteemed hostesses for the month (Ivonne, Lis, Fran and Shea) selected a variation of the traditional chocolate and espresso buttercream version, substituting vanilla buttercream for the chocolate and espresso buttercreams, and white chocolate for the bittersweet in the ganache. When I saw the challenge, I knew that I was finally going to have to pick up the phone and call the blonde hottie. Whether or not he hung up on me remained to be seen.

There was a considerable amount of flexibility in choosing our components for the cake. I went with almond flour in my joconde, as Z. had purchased some for me. The buttercream would be a raspberry meringue buttercream. I’d flavor the syrup with lemon juice. Instead of the white chocolate mousse for the top, I opted to try a yogurt mousse recipe I’d take from Tish Boyle’s Cakes. And the glaze was white chocolate with a dash of Grand Marnier.

It was a two-day process. On the first day, I baked the joconde, made the syrup and also the buttercream. The hottie and I had pleasant conversation—nothing soul-searing, but pleasant. He and I actually laughed at the same jokes, which is to say, I assembled the layers of the cake easily and popped it all into the fridge to firm up overnight. So, maybe we’d get a second date.

Day two: the mousse. Very easy and pretty damned tasty, too. There was extra mousse, so I chilled it separately, and Z. and I ate it with some sliced strawberries. I’d definitely make it again to have with other summer fruits, and it came together without any problem. Maybe the hottie and I had more chemistry than I’d originally thought. Now, onto the glaze. I mixed up the ganache, following a slightly different recipe than the one provided by the challenge’s hostesses. Here was the finishing touch. But on the third date with the hottie, he showed up at my door and I answered, wearing a hideous ensemble. We went out for dinner, but I could tell I’d lost him. He kept looking around the room, and didn’t pay much attention. When his friends waved at him from the bar, he pretended not to know me. And he dropped me off later without even a handshake. I’d blown it.

Intending to tint the ganache a lovely shade of pink, to compliment the raspberry buttercream, I used a heavy hand in the food coloring and wound up with a Pepto-pink glaze. Not the delicate blush I’d been hoping for. Trying to salvage the situation, I added a tiny bit of yellow food gel, and came up with the most vivid shade of Miami melon this side of South Beach. Unwilling to make a new batch of glaze, I went ahead and spread the cooled glaze onto the cake. But it still looked plain, so I drizzled plain white chocolate over the top in what I hoped was a Jackson Pollock homage.

Instead, I wound up with a cake that looked straight from the ’80s, all neon bright and splatter paint. I’m pretty sure I had a sweatshirt in the 5th grade that looked just like the top of my Opera Cake. All I had to do was break out my Dolphin shorts, L.A. Gear shoes and legwarmers. It was not rad. It was bogus.

When I sliced the cake, it looked great, except for that hideous glaze. The white chocolate drizzle splintered. But It tasted pretty terrific. Not amateurish. Almost, dare I say, sophisticated. I had actually made a Euro Cake, but lost my chance at happily ever after with the Hollywood hottie by poor fashion choices. Ah, well. Screw that guy. He was too superficial anyway.

Meanwhile, Z. and I ate our cake together.

I remain,
Yours, &c.
Ami

P.S. Please observe a moment of silence for the metaphor that was beaten to death over the course of this posting.

HI MY NAME IS AMBER.....

and I am a perfectionist. (hello Amber) Yes…I admit it and it gives me comfort. Throw in some Daring Baker challenges and I think that I will definitely have a stroke. But alas, it is all for the better good eh? This month's challenge was one I was psyched about….I love opera and I love cake. How could I not love Opera Cake? The recipe was fantastic in that you could make the recipe in stages or all in one day. I freaked out a little bit as I read the part for the Joconde. I live in Korea and my oven-is not so large. Luck was on my side though and I found a smaller jelly roll pan that happened to fit perfectly.

I waited for the perfect day to begin. I waited and waited…..waited some more and then I had ONE sunny perfect day. I don't know about you, but I can never whip egg whites unless the weather is perfect. However, I did not blanch the almonds since I only had slivered almonds on hand….I'm curious though to know what the difference is. Anyway, the Joconde was perfect and so tasty that my son loved just eating that. (I did find out that I am an idiot as it took me a while to figure out how to do the parchment part of that whole thing….seriously….I'm a rock) I took the easy route and decided that I would have a Pina Colada flavored Opera cake. Killer flavor which was gonna make my cake the best cake ever. I'm talking EVER. With the recipe being so many different parts I had a flavor for each step. I was a little nervous about the buttercream after reading all the issues people had been having, but it worked out. I will say I never knew buttercream could taste so good..

• Joconde
  
• Coconut Syrup
  
• Pineapple buttercream
  
• Rum white chocolate mousse
  
• Maraschino Cherry flavored glaze
  

After I layered everything…oh it was beautiful. And then I tasted it. Something was lost in the translation….not sure what went wrong, but I could not taste the individual flavors separately or together. Therefore my perfect cake is not so perfect. ARGH!!!!!!! I vow to one day make this again so that I do it the way it was meant to be….full of flavor and oh so perfect. June is gonna be fantastic as I will be in the states using a normal kitchen….I'm talking a normal size oven with normal size pans…even a counter that is at a normal height. Oh the fun…

p.s. I have no experience with alcohol….cooking or otherwise…but rum made that mousse BANGIN!!!!

- Amber

Strawberries AND Chocolate Coffee Operas!

My modifications were to use hazelnut meal as I already had those in the pantry.
I used a Rosy Levy (Cake Bible) buttercream with strawberry puree as decoration to top it off. I did use the round version (other modification) as an excuse to make my niece’s communion cake. Unfortunately I could only send her the photo as she lives in Melbourne but she did appreciate the thought.

I also decided to make a chocolate version as you’ll see from the pics. Only because hubby preferred it.

There were no problems in assembling the whole thing as I did it in stages and taste wise, though hubby liked the chocolate coffee version, my daughter, mother-in-law and collegues at work enjoyed the paler version.

- Antonietta

Not Your Usual Birthday Song and Cake

Thanks to this month’s DB challenge, brought to us by our fearless founders Lis and Ivonne and newbies Fran and Shea, I was able to make my in-laws a special birthday cake for their double birthday. In the spirit of the Opera cake challenge, we brought the cake to the table while singing “Happy Birthday” in our best operatic voices. The singing was hilarious due to our almost tone-deaf rendition, but the cake was a huge hit!

Like what I imagine a well choreographed opera would be to bring to the stage, there was much preparation in advance of the birthday dinner. I was grateful for a recipe that could be prepped and assembled mostly all in advance and I took advantage of that by spreading out the steps over 2 days.

I decided to keep the flavours clean by sticking to an almond and vanilla palette. The simple syrup was flavoured with almond extract and the buttercream had hints of almond as well. The jaconde was a pleasure to make. I mistakenly bought whole almonds rather than blanched so the texture was a little “grittier” than I would have liked but it still turned out light and moist.

The buttercream was fabulous although I did have my first curdling experience. My mixture cooled down too much before I added all of the butter resulting in a disappointing mess in my mixer. Thanks to past DB challenges, I figured out the problem and solution quickly. I reheated 25% of the mixture and whipped it back in to bring it all together. It was silky, smooth and I would double the amount next time to make sure everyone got a generous helping.

The white chocolate ganache/mousse was a wonderful addition to the cake. The delicate flavour was enhanced by the addition of Baileys. I think this was my favourite layer of the cake. My only disappointment was the white chocolate glaze which I found a little too sweet and overpowering – especially covering the delicate flavour of the underlying mousse. I would either make a thinner layer in the future or try to find a substitute. Thanks again to my talented neighbourhood photographer Jason who took stunning pictures again this month. The DB experience wouldn’t be so much fun if I had to muddle my way through the photography and food styling process with my little point and shoot camera!

Kelly

A Standing Ovation

This month’s challenge was somewhat odd for me. You see… for the past 7 challenges, I have stayed really close to the recipes, often making them exactly as stated. I would then gaze in awe at the other DBers who had chosen to do wonderfully creative variations that could not be described as anything other than daring. I would then feel somewhat disappointed, feeling like my own productions were kind of plain and boring.

Not this month! I was really excited and inspired by this very elaborate production, but thoroughly uninspired by all the white chocolate components (I have been known to describe white chocolate as sweetened Chap-Stick). I was also pretty disappointed that we couldn’t use dark colors or flavors (chocolate would have been my preference), so I decided to branch out and be creative. I considered keeping my joconde almond (buying packaged almond meal would have been much easier) but decided to go with hazelnut, my favorite kind of nut, and immediately thought of raspberry as a good pairing.

Here came the odd part of the challenge. Since I wasn’t going to keep to the recipes provided, I had to do a fair amount of research to find alternate recipes. This really felt like cheating, although I double-checked and all my modifications were allowed (except maybe for the raspberry mousse recipe… that part was kind of ambiguous, though other DBers also seemed to use their own). In the end, I only used the joconde and syrup recipes provided by the challenge, and used other recipes for the buttercream, mousse, and glaze.

For the joconde, I decided to make my own hazelnut meal. I wasn’t sure how many cups of hazelnuts I would need for 2 cups of meal. As it turns out, I bought maybe twice to three times as much as I needed, which wouldn’t have been a big deal since I love hazelnuts, except that peeling them took FOREVER! It pretty much took a whole afternoon, even with blanching (my peels were really stubborn). And yes, I peeled all of them (at least I didn’t grind them all). Here is the finished product:

The rest of the joconde, flavored with a bit of Frangelico, was pretty uneventful. I baked it in a 17.25x11.5inch baking sheet (it was all I had and was pretty similar in area to the one the recipe called for). I baked the layers one at a time, about 8 minutes each, and they came out fine. I realized while baking the first one that I had forgotten to fold in the butter. I added half the butter to the leftover batter but, to tell you the truth, I couldn’t really tell the difference. The syrup, flavored with Frangelico, was also uneventful, although I didn’t use even half of it. Here is a picture of the joconde cooling:

As for the buttercream, I decided to make it hazelnut flavored too. My past experiences with buttercream have been mixed. For the Perfect Party Cake challenge, my mixer went crazy and the texture never quite got there. For the yule log, the texture was fine but I flavored it with hazelnut syrup (like the one for coffee or Italian soda) and thought the result was too sweet and artificial-tasting. This time around, I decided to use a can of hazelnut praline paste to flavor the buttercream and used the recipe I found on the label, which was just like the Perfect Party Cake one. It came out delicious! My husband said it tasted like real hazelnuts, only better. Here’s a picture:

For the mousse, I used this recipe for raspberry mousse. It was super easy and quite possibly the best part of the cake. I’m usually not a fan of mousses with gelatin but thought that, since it was going to be layered, it really needed the extra structure. This recipe is definitely a keeper. The raspberry glaze came from this recipe, which was also super-easy and tasty. My only variation was that I used all the frozen raspberries from the beginning and strained out all the seeds (the recipe calls for half strained and half whole berries). Here’s a picture of the glazing in progress:

Audience Response:

I served this cake at dinner with some our best friends, gave them some leftovers, and then took the rest to work. After my husband cut the edges, I thought the cake looked very professional. Everyone LOVED it. I got a ton of compliments and several requests for recipes, although when I described the work that went into it, most people withdrew their requests. I got a ton of questions about why it was called an Opera cake, and I did my best to make up a good answer (created for the premiere of an Opera in Paris, the word opera means “work” in Italian, the many layers are like the acts of an Opera, etc.). Overall, it was a show-stopper!

What I learned:

1) Peeling hazelnuts is very time-consuming and a pain in the back (literally, as I could barely stand up after hours of sitting and peeling).

2) Making buttercream is a very stressful endeavor. There is always that point in which the mixture looks curdled and awful and you want to cry. Here is a picture of the “moment of heartbreak”:

Now that I have made it a couple of times, I know I have to suspend disbelief and continue to beat the mixture, and eventually it comes together. Still, very anxiety-provoking!

3) The moment to take pictures of your work is not when your guests are sitting around waiting to eat it! Instead of taking our time and cleaning up the edges and posing everything just right, we just took the pictures quickly. I think they came out a bit sloppy.

The Verdict:

I LOVED the cake and will definitely make it again. It has a definite WOW factor, is very tasty, and if you break up the recipe along a couple of days, not too difficult or overwhelming. Perhaps the next one I make will be a chocolate one. YUM!