I DID Dare to Bake

So.... I know it's been forever, but I did do the Daring Baker Challenge for July. I even took pictures!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

I was staying with my mom for a week when I made this cake, and that was kind of fun, because I had a humongous kitchen to play in and plenty of freezer space. I'm not at all sure how I would've pulled it off in my itty-bitty kitchen at home. I also had three extra willing taste testers as I finished each layer.

So, to create this ridiculously decadent dessert, I made two Swiss Rolls (for those of you who grew up with Hostess products, think giant Ding Dongs), sliced them and then made a layer of vanilla ice cream, a layer of fudge sauce and a layer of chocolate ice cream. I think if I had it to do over again, I would double the ice cream recipes. The center of my cake didn't quite even out, so the picture of the slice looks a little funny. But I can't imagine doing this one again.

Many thanks to my friend Elizabeth, who had a barbecue, where I brought this cake to be devoured. I'm sure if I did manage to make it in my tiny kitchen, I would have to eat almost the whole thing. This way, I just had a piece.

And the best thing about this challenge was a friend of mine who was at the barbecue. As soon as she tried the ice cream cake, she said, "Gretel, will you marry me???" Now that's cake.

Dobos Torte

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

This torte was SO yummy! And, I had the perfect occasion for it. We ate it for dessert at a picnic for my 30th birthday. We sat around all day, grilled bratwurst and burgers, played frisbee and euchre and ate cake! The only problem I had making this cake was that the buttercream was absurdly soft. But after chilling it for a while, it held up alright.

All the Daring Bakers are posting their tortes today. You should check out the rest of them.

At LAST!

I've been meaning to post. I did the Daring Bakers' challenges for the last two months but I keep forgetting to post. So, this month, I just barely remembered. The pictures are not very good, and certainly don't do this strudel justice.





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.

This was not a terribly difficult recipe, but rolling it up was a little tricky for me. I will definitely be doing it again, though, because HOLY COW was it good! I not only couldn't stop eating it, but I gave some away to a friend and he couldn't stop eating it either. It's almost like pie, only it wasn't too sweet. And the walnuts were fantastic in it. I'm a strudel fan now. YUMMY!!! I'm so glad I tried this one.

Daring Bakers

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.



These cakes are really yummy. They're light and delicious and chocolatey. The ice cream I made wasn't so good. I couldn't get my freezer cold enough to freeze my ice cream maker's cooling thingie, so it wouldn't set up. I ended up freezing it, but it had little shards of ice in it. The flavor was good, though. I made it cinnamony.

I like the little heart-shaped pan I used, and I thought it was kinda cute doing the two hearts in chocolate and vanilla just like the Tummy and me. It made a nice Valentine's dessert.

Yule Log and other holiday treats...

It's Daring Baker time again!

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.
They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand


Since this dessert was all frozen, it presented some unique challenges. My refrigerator and freezer are... well... tempermental. Really, they're just old. And I have trouble with custards, so my creme brulee did not turn out very well. But all in all, this dessert was DELICIOUS.


There are SIX yummy layers to this frozen masterpiece. From the bottom up, we have the almond dacquoise biscuit, the cinnamon-milk ganache insert, dark chocolate mousse, the praline feuillete (crisp) insert, (more mousse), the frozen vanilla creme brulee, (more mousse) and the dark chocolate icing.


What a fun holiday challenge! And let me tell you, after a piece of this, your chocolate craving is taken care of for a while. Ah.....

Be sure to check out the other Daring Bakers!

But, since I couldn't leave well enough alone, and since I finished this challenge halfway through the month, I went on and made other holiday treats. Like lots and lots of fruitcake...

And tons...and tons of cookies...And now, after the Tummy and I have done nothing but eat and eat and eat, we are ready to put the New Year's Resolutions to the test and not over-indulge like this any more. Oh, but it was fun while it lasted...

Caramel Cake

It's that time of the month again. That's right, it's Daring Bakers Post Day.

This month, our challenge was hosted by Dolores, assisted by Alex and Jenny and Natalie. They chose a Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting by Shuna Fish Lydon. You can find the recipe here.
My picture turned out pretty awful, but the cake was pretty good. I was a little concerned about how sweet this would be after reading other people's reactions. Since the challenge was just making the cake and the frosting, I figured, why not add stuff that's NOT sweet. So, I layered the cake and put a layer of 80% cocoa dark chocolate ganache in the center. Then I toasted some pecans and sprinkled the over the ganache in the middle and over the entire cake. All of my official tasters agreed that the ganache filling and the pecans helped to cut the sweetness. Overall, this was not their favorite cake, because of how sweet it was, but I didn't have any leftovers I couldn't get rid of.

Challenge completed. What's next?

Eclairs!

I just realized I'd forgotten to post about the August Daring Baker's Challenge! See, they've been baked and eaten so long ago that it slipped my mind. With the school year starting, I decided to get them out of the way early. So as soon as we packed up Medium Dude and brought him back to his mom, I bought my butter and cream and chocolate and I made...... ECLAIRS!



Our hosts this month were Tony Tahhan and MeetaK, and we made Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé. I used the Pate a choux recipe and the chocolate glaze from here, but I decided I didn't want to do chocolate and chocolate, so I made a coconut pastry cream. I found that recipe here.

The first batch of eclairs came out a wee bit underdone. They looked fine coming out of the oven, but after I let them cool for a minute, they looked like this:


So I started over. The next batch worked much better, but if I did them again, I would be sure to make them a little smaller. They were a little bit messy to eat and probably more eclair than anyone should eat in a single sitting.The Tummy and I thoroughly enjoyed this challenge! Can't wait for September's! Be sure to check out the other daring bakers. Their eclairs look amazing.