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?

Wait wait!!! I dare to bake!

It's still Wednesday, right? I've had a marathon day and just got home. And then I realized that it's daring bakers' posting day. So, fortunately, I already have the challenge done. This month, we made pizza! The challenge was hosted by Rosa of Rosa's Yummy Yum Yums and you can find the dough recipe we used there.

I made six pizzas and invited the Composer and Shrek the Medic over to eat with the Tummy and I. It's helpful to have a couple of big guys around when there's a lot of pizza to eat. The dough turned out pretty well, I thought. I'm not a huge thin crust fan, but it got rave reviews.

It was a little too wet to toss effectively, though Shrek got a good one in.


I ended up rolling it out, which worked pretty well. Then, I topped two of them with tomato sauce, mozzarella and bacon. Shrek and the Tummy both preferred these, labeling them the "Manly" Pizza.

The Composer and I opted for the Goat cheese and veggie pizza.

I found this recipe online, but I don't really have a good source for it. I lost the page. It's been a chaotic month.

Goat Cheese and Veggie Pizza
2 already baked thin pizza crusts
1/4 cup olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 cups (packed) baby spinach leaves (1 1/2 to 2 ounces)
1 1/2 cups thickly sliced mushrooms (5 to 6 ounces)
1/2 cup drained roasted red peppers from jar, cut into thin strips
1/2 cup paper-thin red onion slices
8 large fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips
1 5-ounce package soft fresh goat cheese, coarsely crumbled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 425°F. Place pizza crust on large baking sheet. Mix olive oil and minced garlic in small bowl. Using pastry brush, brush 2 tablespoons garlic oil evenly over crust. Top with spinach leaves, then sprinkle with sliced mushrooms, roasted red peppers, red onion slices, fresh basil, and crumbled goat cheese. Drizzle pizza evenly with remaining garlic oil.

Bake pizza until crust is crisp and cheese begins to brown, about 18 minutes. Transfer pizza to board. Cut into wedges and serve warm.

Then I made a dessert pizza with the last two. I sorta tweaked this recipe that I found on the same pizza web page:

Cherry Cheese Dessert Pizza

2 pizza doughs
8 ounces Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
42 ounces Dark Morello Cherries

Directions:

Roll out the pizza dough and put on a 16 inch pizza pan. Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Blend the cream cheese, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together until well blended. Pour into the pie crust and bake an additional 10 minutes. Cool until cold and top with the cherry pie filling. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

I think the dessert pizza was my favorite to eat, but I really enjoyed making all of them. It was a lot of fun to get the chance to be creative with toppings. Check out my big sister's fabulous pizzas over at Shazam in the Kitchen and all the other Daring Bakers. What a great group to belong to!

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.

I dare to Shish Kebab?

Whew..... What a long afternoon it's been. I worked on the August DB challenge, which I'll post about just as soon as I'm allowed. But I also made a lovely dinner for the Tummy and myself and a good friend of ours, the Composer. The Composer likes to hang out while I do daring baker challenges. I think it's because he's a bit sadistic and likes to see me struggle, but he might just like to be here when I have fresh baked goods.

This weekend, the Tummy and I delivered Medium Dude back to the midwest. We had a lovely visit with Mary, and I even got to have a birthday breakfast with my grandma! But now, we're back to the big city and I even brought a new recipe with me, so I had to try it out. When Mary made me such a yummy birthday dinner, I asked for the recipe. It turned out that she gave me another recipe when she xeroxed it that happened to be on the same page.

Lamb Shish Kebabs!

Unfortunately, the grocery store I went to this morning didn't have any lamb pieces (other than chops). So, I made beef shish kebabs. They ended up delicious! And they were easy enough that I could make them after baking all afternoon.

Beef Shish Kebabs
based on the Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook

1 onion, chopped
2 Tbsp lemon juice
6-7 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh dill
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 pound beef stew meat
1 onion, cut into wedges
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1-inch pieces
2 small zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1 1/2 inch pieces

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a food processor and puree.

Put the meat into a plastic zip-top bag and add marinade. Seal the bag, removing as much air as possible, and mush it around until the meat is coated. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight, turning occasionally.

Remove meat from refrigerator an hour before cooking. Soak 5 bamboo skewers in water about 45 minutes so they don't burn in the broiler.

Preheat broiler. Thread meat, onion, bell pepper and zucchini onto skewers. Broil 5 minutes on either side.

Corrupting the youth....

Mwahahahaha.... I'm so proud of myself.

My step-son, Medium-Dude, is a little bit of a picky eater. He's not terrible about it, but we do have a few issues with green veggies and with foods he hasn't tried before. Not a real adventurous guy. The thing is, the Tummy and I love to try out new recipes. And there's no way I'm eating hot dogs for a month just because we have a ten-year-old. Gross.

But sometimes I take his visit as an opportunity to sneak new foods (and new ideas) past his radar. So far this visit, I've impressed on him how cool it is to be environmentally friendly. When he complains about walking to/from the subway, I remind him that it's not easy being green, but it's cool. I know I'm successful when I hear him quote me to the tummy later.

Anyway... I'm very excited because when I asked Medium-dude what I should make for dinner, he answered, "CHEESY RICE!" See, and that would not be exciting except that what he meant was Sage Risotto with fresh mozzarella and prosciutto! It's one of my favorite Cooking Light recipes. Unfortunately, the blogger will not let me put up a picture. But here is the recipe:

Sage Risotto with Fresh Mozzarella and Prosciutto
Cooking Light
2 (14oz) cans low-fat, low-sodium chicken broth
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup diced leeks
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 1/4 cups arborio rice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp fresh sage (chopped)
1 cup diced fresh mozzarella cheese
2 oz prosciutto (chopped)
black pepper to taste

Heat chicken broth until it just starts to simmer, and then turn it off.

Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook leeks and garlic for about 5 minutes, or until soft.

Add rice and salt and cook for one more minute, stirring.

Add wine, and cook, stirring, until it is absorbed. Then add 1/2 cup hot chicken broth and stir until absorbed. Continue to add the broth about 1/2 cup at a time, waiting after each addition until it is absorbed and stirring frequently.

When all the broth has been absorbed, add sage and cook for about 2 more minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in mozzarella. Sprinkle chopped prosciutto and black pepper on top.

Makes 4 servings.

I dare to bake!

Hooray! It's here! Finally! I have been waiting nearly two weeks for this day. I AM A DARING BAKER!!!! Mwahahahaha.....


See, for months, I've been salivating over my sister's lovely baked goods. She's been bugging me to join the Daring Bakers, but these people are so darn skilled! And I do not bake much. I cook. I love to cook. But baking... well... I'm not so artistic. And when I got this month's recipe, I panicked. I mean, I nearly cried. It looked so hard! But I did it. And I did it well, if I do say so myself. See:



The recipe this month was a Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream, from Great Cakes, by Carol Walters. The recipe can be found at Mele Cotte. I made mine a little bit different because I didn't use filberts. I used almonds. And I used a raspberry glaze instead of an apricot glaze. I used dark rum wherever the recipe called for alcohol. And when I finally sliced it and had a piece, it was delicious! It was so yummy that I wanted to run down the street with it, handing people pieces of cake and then saying, "I MADE THIS MYSELF!!!!" But I didn't do that, because then my beautiful cake would be all gone much too fast.

This cake took a long time to make, but it came out beautifully, and it was fun. Thanks, Chris, for picking such a wonderful first challenge for me. And I have to send out a big thank you to my sister Mary who took all of my many many phone calls over the course of the day that I made this. Without her, I would not have dared to bake, and I'm so glad I did. Check out her cake, and the other daring bakers.

Archimedes

So it's been a very busy week! My step-son, Medium-Dude, is in town. He visits every summer for about a month and hangs out in the big city with us. He lives the rest of the year in the midwest with his mom. He's ten, and he's a great kid with lots of energy.

Since the Tummy's at work all day, and I have the summer off, Medium and I hang out during the day. Last week, we went to Brooklyn Museum and saw the mummies. (There's even a cat mummy!) We went to the Prospect Park Zoo and the Lefferts House and then wandered around Prospect Park all day. We went to Coney Island and swam and rode the Cyclone. And, my favorite trip so far, we went to the NY Hall of Science in Queens.

Now, I am a self-professed math geek, but it's rare that my geekiness really comes out like it does at that museum. They have such cool stuff! And I just have to share something. Archimedes is just the coolest guy ever. I mean, wow. They have, in the math section in the Hall of Science, a model that Archimedes thought up. He didn't build it (I don't think). But he thought of it and realized that it could be built. It's a balance with a cylinder on one side and a cone and sphere on the other side. The cone and the sphere are each the same height as the cylinder. And the diameter of the cylinder, base of the cone and the sphere are all the same. And it balances. Of course it does, because a cylinder has a volume of pi*r*r*h and a cone has a volume of one-third*pi*r*r*h and a sphere has a volume of four-thirds*pi*r*r*r which, since 2r = h, is two-thirds*pi*r*r*h. (I'd use better math symbols, but it won't let me post them.)

So, I can understand it using algebra and some formulae I already know, but how did Archimedes do it in his head???? Without the algebra, because it wasn't around at the time. In fact, he's the one who came up with the formula for the volume of a sphere, because the volumes of a cylinder and cone were already known. It just blew my mind.

One last thing before we go get stuff to make cookies to take on our picnic in Bryant Park tonight. I received an award! From my sister, the amazing Mary at Shazam in the Kitchen. It was so sweet of her to think of my little ole blog. And I love her too! (because she's the only one who read and understood my whole Archimedes thing.