Daring Bakers: Filbert Gateau

Finally.. my first challenge as a Daring Baker is completed! Ever since I started blogging, I've had the opportunity to try new desserts and learn new techniques, but this filbert gateau was at a whole other level. I actually didn't complete this until late July because I didn't really know where to start... praline paste? buttercream? the ever so delicate sponge?! Although there was a lot of recipe re-reading and not to mention, a whole day's worth and more dedicated to this gateau, it was totally worth it. The most frustrating part was trying to skin the hazelnuts, which was like a marathon spread over a couple days. Some of them were so stubborn that even after multiple toasts the skins still remained stuck on.

I started off with the praline brittle, thinking it would be easy.. haha. After patiently waiting 10, then 20 minutes for the sugar to caramelize and nothing happened, I spooned in some water (what was I thinking!). Rather than speeding up the process, there were random chunks of sugar everywhere. The only way this could be salvaged was by turning the 'brittle' into the sugar syrup that I flavoured with the Jamaican rum suggested by the recipe. For my second attempt, I cranked the heat up to medium and the sugar slowly melted into a beautiful caramel. This time, the sugar was ever so slightly burned, but it actually added a nice deep butterscotchy flavour.

The cake part was not as scary as I anticipated, but how could I not be worried. The most crucial part was done by hand, no KA could do the folding component for me. I tried to be as light handed as possible and repeated the 'down through the middle, scrap up from the bottom, twist and up' until everything was incorporated. For the buttercream, I only made 1/4 of it because I didn't want any leftover. I can't stand all frosting except for cream cheese, whipped cream and 7 minute icing. This on the other hand was suprisingly delicious! It didn't taste like a stick of butter, but was smooth, silky and melt in your mouth with the occasional crunch from the praline brittle. By mistake, I added double the amount sugar because I forgot that I was making 1/4 of the recipe instead of 1/2. I'm actually glad I screwed up on that because it still had the perfect amount of sweetness. Since there was so little frosting, there was barely any left for decorating so I had to compromise by piping dots on the bottom instead of continuing with the stars.


After all that work, I was a little hesitant to cut into it, but was tempted to taste it because I've never eaten a cake made with nuts before. Flavourwise, this has to be the best cake I've ever eaten. It was so nice to taste the hazelnuts, rum, buttercream and chocolate ganache all in one bite. The texture was a little coarse, but that was probably from underprocessing the nuts and because my mesh strainer didn't catch all the bits. For the bits that were leftover, I just topped it on my cake (I could not waste any hazelnuts, especially since I spent forever skinning them!) It might take a super special occassion for me to make this again, but the buttercream on the other hand.. I'm going to have to experiment with different flavours. Next time I'll definitely have to find already skinned hazelnuts!

TWD: Summer Fruit Galette

No TWD for me this week. In a few hours, I will be on my flight to England for 2 weeks.. any TWDer's in England? I feel so bad for not doing this week's TWD, but with all the packing and everything I had to do before leaving, it was just not possible. I hope everyone's galette turned out well.. with the blueberry pie crust as the base, I'm sure it's amazing!

By the way, I finally got a new camera just in time for my trip! No more blurry images and no more using cookie jars and ziploc/sour cream containers as camera stands. Shaky hands? No problem.. well at least I hope so!

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

The chocolate chip cookie entry... finally! It's been a month since I've started blogging and I can't believe I haven't made a single chocolate chip cookie. I've waited so long because along with the TWD challenges and baking in between, that's a lot of butter! Everytime I make chocolate chip cookies, I end up 'testing' way too many ie. straight out of the oven, still warm, completely cool, completely cool after a few hours. Then I end up nibbling on them everytime I walk past the cookie sheets, starting on the corners and eventually make my way to the center.

Cookies straight out of the oven are always delicious, but once cool, they tend to be hard. The ultimate chocolate cookie for me has to be crisp and crunchy on the outside and soft and chewy in the middle. When I was still in search of a chocolate chip recipe that actually tasted good cold, I noticed that most recipes are pretty much the same with a few variations. It killed me when the dough always tasted great raw and warm from the oven, but transformed into a hockey puck later.

I love how this recipe from Cook's Illustrated uses melted butter because I always find it difficult to incorporate the flour into the creamed butter or sugar and adding in chocolate chips without having to struggle a bit. Usually I like to cut down on butter whenever I can (even if its one or two tablespoons... somehow it makes me feel better), but when it comes to the chocolate chip cookie, I want the whole thing.. not some spongy, cakey, weird ingredient filled version. By the way, this batch of cookies was inspired by the article posted by the New York Times, claiming that refrigerating the dough makes for better tasting cookies because it allows the dough and other ingredients to fully soak up the liquid. I decided to give it a try, but to keep it as controlled as possible, I only made one batch and baked half of it the day of and half on the next day. Although I didn't wait for the recommended 36 hours, my taste testers and I have to admit that the cookies actually did taste better after a day in the fridge. I was so excited about my first batch that I totally forgot to take pictures. 8 cookies does not take long to finish when you have 4 people in your family. I snapped some quick pictures of the second batch though before they got devoured.

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Wilton Decorating Course 1: Class 4

July has gone by way too fast! For my final class, we finally learned how to do the wilton rose. We were so slow with learning how to coordinate twisting the flower nail while squeezing the piping bag and moving the petal tip up and down that we didn't even get a chance to learn the leaves. Being the clumsy person I am, 4 of my roses didn't actually make it to the cake and landed on the table. By the time class was over, I only piped the center 7 roses onto my cake so again, I had to finish the rest at home.

Now the question is.. what to do with the cake? Everytime I get back from class, I can never bring myself to eat it, but feel like it's such a waste to throw out. Shortening freaks me out a little.. I don't know if it's the slimy feeling it leaves on your tongue or the pure whiteness of it. What makes it worse is I used noname transfats shortening so that the roses would pipe better. Apparently, we need those transfats to keep the frosting stabilized. As my instructor always says, desserts are not meant to be healthy...

TWD: Strawberry-Blueberry Cobbler

I wanted so badly to make a cherry rhubarb cobbler because I've never eaten rhubarb before and because cherry + rhubarb sounded like a nice combination. Somehow, I never made it to the supermarket to pick up a bag of frozen rhubarb. Without the rhubarb, it just didn't feel worth it to pit a pound of cherries! Instead, I used a half a box of strawberries that were a little too ripe to be eaten, but would make a delicious filling and tossed in some blueberries so that there would be more filling.

Usually, I make my TWD recipes during the weekend, but it got so busy with birthday parties and work. To make clean up a lot faster and more convenient, I just rubbed the butter into the flour with my fingers and mixed the rest of the dough by hand. Somehow, I forgot about the whole wheat flour and added all purpose twice. I was afraid that the biscuit would be done before the fruit so I popped the filling in the oven first for 25 minutes as I prepared the dough (a trick I learned from Cook's Illustrated). Good thing the filling was precooked or the biscuit would have been way overdone... although that may not have been a bad thing as the filling made it a little soggy.


I didn't have a deep dish for baking and had to settle with my 8x1.5 inch cake pan. Thankfully the biscuit tasted so good because it was overtowering on top just a couple berries. This was the first time I've had cobbler, but I knew it wouldn't be the dessert for me. Sogginess has always been something that turns me away.. I can't even use mayo in my sandwiches because of the sogginess factor. I actually had to eat this hot before the juices soaked into the biscuit.


Thanks to Amanda of Like Sprinkles on a Cupcake for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her site and in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours. Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!

Wilton Decorating Course 1: Class 3

This week we decorated cupcakes in class. Since we were given the freedom to pipe whatever we wanted to, I couldn't finish and ended up only decorating 3/8. This is so typical of me.. I can never decide!


I finished the rest of the cupcakes at home...


Thanks to everyone for the encouraging words in my other post. I'm still confused, but I'm sure I don't want to be dietitian after speaking with a few of them. It defintiely wasn't the job I was expecting it to be, but at least I know I won't be spending the next 4 years in school for dietetics.

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

This is only my third enty and I'm so glad that I joined TWD despite packing on all the pounds! It's been something that I look forward every week because I get to try and learn new things. Sometimes I wish the summer could last forever so I wouldn't have to think about school or the 'future'. I'm going into fourth year, but still feel so undecided with what to do next. Even when I graduate with my majors in nutrition and psychology, I don't think I'm actually employable. The only thing I can think of is entering a dietetics program, since that is accredited, but that would basically mean redoing at least 3 years of undergrad. I guess the other option would be to enter grad school, but I don't even know if my marks are good enough. I hate myself so much for being so undecisive the past three years and failed to make smarter decisions earlier. Now I feel like I've wasted time and money. Even if I were to become a dietitian, I don't even think I could find a job. It's so nice when I get to bake away and forget all about the scary things or important decisions I have to make. Sorry.. that was totally unrelated, but I so needed to get it off my back before I go crazy.

Anyway.. back to TWD. The chocolate pudding was such a great pick.. not too much butter, but lots of chocolate! Before I started, I thought this would be a clean and quick challenge. While I was right about the quick, I was all wrong about the clean. Thank god for my 12 cup food processor or I'm sure I would've had pudding on my walls. I only made half the batch and it still approached the leak line. I felt like I was scrambling a lot, especially since I always put my book far away from potential damage so there was a lot of walking back and forth combined with the fear of overdrying the chocolate, overheating the milk and cooking the eggs. This was the first time my pudding didn't scramble! Now I think I'm confident enough to tackle pastry cream and make a boston cream pie. I was actually suprised how rich the pudding was considering it was made with milk, but there was a slight chalkiness to it.. although that could have been my fault for using Chipits instead of squares. Here, have a bite!

Thanks to Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen for choosing this recipe, which can be found on her site and in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours. Don't forget to checkout the TWD Blogroll!