My very own Bundt SourCream Lemon Pound Cake

Ok, I know its a long name but hey, I invented this recipe. I am travelling to US tomorrow for 5 weeks but whats the relation between this and today's post, you would ask. Well, I had to finish up the ingredients and that included my favorite sour cream too. I am not kind of a person who repeats the recipe very often and I wanted to use my silicone bundt pan mold for a long time. I had this recipe of quick bread (coming soon) from Daring Bakers which I made last week and it came out delish. But I had only two eggs so I decided to go by own recipe and eye-balling and sixth sense method and trust me it turned out too good. My one year old son who is a complete sweet tooth like me had this for lunch. I threw in some golden raisins also and it was just complete. Moist, soft, tangy from zest and well-rounded taste of sour cream, this will be my go-go recipe for sure.

Bundt SourCream Lemon Pound Cake
recipe source - me (how I waited for this day ;))


Ingredients


Eggs 2
Sugar 3/4 cup
Lemon zest 1 tsp
Flour 1 1/3 cup
Baking Powder 1/4+1/8 tsp
Golden Raisins handful
Salt two pinches
Butter 3 1/2 tbsp melted and cooled
Lemon juice 1 tbsp


Method
1. Pre-heat ove at 350 F.
2. Beat eggs, sugar and zest.
3. Sift flour, salt and baking powder. Add in raisins.
4. Add flour mixture to the eggs. Beat just to incorporate.
5. Add melted cooled butter until just combined.
6. Spoon into silicone bundt pan or greased loaf pan.
7. Bake for about 45 mins until light golden and looks done.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

I am addicted to baking, its like therapeutic for me. I can't resist. If I am sad, I will bake, if I am happy I will bake, if I am having guests over, I will bake, if I am invited somewhere, I will bake. When I am trying to loose weight, I will bake healthy breakfast and oven roasted veggies. In festive moods and season, I get into indulgent desserts which needs baking ofcourse (think cheese cakes and mousse cakes). I hardly buy any cookies and stuff for kids, I always make them at home. I have a long list which needs to be marked off. There are many things in it. This blog is result of my addiction. 

Today I had a friend coming over, next thing in my mind, what to bake. She loves chocolate (hence my friend he he). I decided to mark-off one more item from my list. Whoopie pies, oh but I realized there's no brown sugar. Boscotti, yes that would be nice with tea and lots of gossip. So, I decided to try chocolate almond biscotti and if I am posting something immediately after trying it, man it is surely good. So go and try this amazing double baked biscuits and please don't give your kids those chemical ladden and hydrogenated oil factory packed cookies. Atleast these contain fresh ingredients, no chemicals and lots of love. 

A few words about biscotti. They are Italian origin double baked cookies (like we have cake rusk in Pakistan, which reminds me I have to post them too and they are my hubs favorite cookies) and insanely easy to make and delight to eat. Not fully crisp, not chewy, they are just in between and sans lot of butter, a little is there though. (whats better without butter ;) ). I have one recipe with olive oil and whole wheat too and I will post that soon too. I picked the recipe from Dorrie Greenspan who has this regular event tuesdays with dorie but thanks to my insanely insane schedule, I can't follow this. So I was sure that this recipe would be a winner and it is.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Recipe source http://daisylanecakes.blogspot.com/2011/06/twd-chocolate-biscotti.html

Ingredients
Flour 1 cup
Cocoa powder 1/4 cup
Instant espresso powder 1 tsp
Baking soda 1/4 +1/8 tsp
Baking powder 1/4 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Butter soft 3 tbsp
Sugar 1/2 cup
Egg 1
Vanilla essence 1/2 tsp
Chopped almonds 1/2 cup
Semi-sweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate 2 oz (optional, I did'nt use)
Sugar for dusting


Method
1. Sift all the dry ingredients.
2. Beat butter and sugar till light.
3. Add in egg and vanilla.
4. Add in dry ingredients until just mixed.
5. Add in nuts and chocolate.
6. Mix with hands until just comes together.
7. Shape it into 12 inches log almost 1/2-3/4 inch thick.
8. Bake it in a pre-heated oven at 350 F for 25 mins.
9. Take them out, cool for 5 mins and cut into 1/2 inch thick pieces and re-bake for 10 mins.
10. Cool and serve and enjoy.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Couple of days ago, I made the best brownies.Yes, you read that right, best. Best by all means, the ones I made before and the ones I have tasted and trust me,I have done this alot.Needless to say, these brownies didnt last long to see the daylight. [I made half proportion so stop rolling eyes ;)].I just saved one for my daughter and for photo shoot.

For me baking is perfection.Perfect in taste and looks. Both are extremely important but the first one is a little more important. If it tastes good, no matter how good it looks, it will be slurped up. Vice versa is not true. 

Ok, so coming back to the brownies, my hubs had this strange craving late night, "isn't there any cake, can you make something?" Officially I had to bake something for my son's first birthday but he was very disappointed that we wont be able to eat it now. So the plans changed and as per his suggestion, I decided to try brownies. I had two good recipes that I blogged about as well, Cocoa Brownies from BettyCrocker and Fudgy Brownies by Baked. 

But this was perfect for me, moist, not too fudgy, not too sweet, not too cakey, just the right amount of everything. For now this is my to-go recipe and why not its originally from Martha Stewart afterall.

Double Chocolate Brownies

adapted from firstlookthencook, originally from Martha

Ingredients

Unsalted butter 6 tbsp

Semisweet chocolate 6 oz, coarsely chopped [I used dark chocolate 41% cocoa]

Cocoa powder 1/4 cup [hence the double chocolate]

Flour 3/4 cup

Baking powder 1/4 tsp

Salt 1/4 tsp

Sugar 1 cup

Eggs 2

Vanilla essence 2 tsp

Method

1. Preheat oven at 350 F. Grease and line 8x8 inches with parchment paper leaving 2 inch overhang for easy lifting. Grease the lining. 

2. Put butter, chocolate and cocoa powder in a heat proof bowl placed over simmering water. Stir until melted and combined.Cool.

3. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.

4. Beat sugar, vanilla and eggs until pale and fluffy, about 4 mins.

5. Beat in chocolate mixture until just combined.

6. Mix in flour mixture.

7. Pour in prepared pan.

8. Bake for 35 mins. until just done. The tester will not be wet but may have few crumbs attached to it which is ok. DO NOT overbake. They will be dry.

9. Cool in pan for 10 mins and then take out and cut squares.

10. Enjoy with fresh cream.

Lemon Madeleines

Today we are making Madeleines in a silicone mold. Two new things. First a bit about Madeleine. They are small French cakes baked in a special shell like mold. A girl with the same name once baked these and they got popular among masses and elites. 

I picked my silicone mold from a local 2-riyal shop (aka dollar store) and surprisingly it turned out fantastic. No greasing, dusting with flour and easy to take out. I had always thought that silicone molds are expensive, may be some variety is. Mine was also the same characteristic orange color and the cakes came out smooth and shiny. Nice.

I always had madeleines in my to-do list and had never tasted one either so one fine morning I decided to kill the curiosity and they  did'nt disappoint me either. Very light, delicate cakes, perfumed with lemon zest and juice. Many people dunk in tea or milk, dip in chocolate or cream, drizzle with glaze or dust with icing sugar. I liked mine plane. Many recipes are made with flour only but the recipe I decided to try from Martha's baking handbook had some almond flour as well which gave a wonderful flavor and texture. Since I had that in hand, I decided to try this.  I now have chocolate madeleines in agenda. There's no end right? :) So next time, your butter is not at room temperature and you are craving for some nice cake treat, go for it.

Ingredients

Flour 3/4 cup

Castor Sugar 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp

Almond flour 1/2 cup 

Salt 1/2 tsp

Eggs 3

Lemon zest 2 tbsp

Lemon essence 1/4 tsp

Butter 1/2 cup

Method

1. Melt butter on a low heat till melted. Cool.

2. Whisk all the dry ingredients in a bowl.

3. Add lemon zest and essence to the cooled butter.

4. Whisk eggs till frothy.

5. Whisk in the dry ingredients.

6. Lastly whisk in the butter.

7. Cover and refrigerate for atleast two hours or overnight.

8. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spoon the mixture with the help of two spoons nearly 3/4 full.

9. Bake for 12-15 mins until corners are light brown. 

10. Cool and enjoy. Incase you are not using silicone mold, grease and flour the pan.

11. Makes about 24. Dust with icing sugar if required.

Croissants for Daring Bakers

My baking-to-do list is never ending. I have to try many things which reminds me of couple of egg whites lying around in fridge. Croissants is one such item. Well, who does'nt like croissant. On our recent visit to Paris, I was amused to find croissants as their staple bread. Infact, rule is any continental breakfast must have croissants in their menu. Not only croissants, I wanted to try my hands on laminated dough as well - a term used for dough of puff pastries and croissants which means, layers of butter in between flour dough. These layer are what causes the final products to 'puff up' during baking yielding, crunchiness, melt in you mouth feeling. 

The Daring Bakers go retro this month!  Thanks to one of our very talented nonblogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from 
the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

Julia Child is the pioneer of cooking shows and her book is quite popular among French cook books. If you havent seen the movie "Julie and Julia" , you should. I completely enjoyed it watching the frustration in kitchen, blogging and the determination to get the recipes perfect. 

The recipe that were given to us was quite simple and didn't require any special ingredients , however the process in lengthy. I broke the process into two days which made things little easier. But you should try it once and I feel next time, it will be easier for me. You cannot beat the freshness of a home baked bread or pastry. There are many varieties of croissants, chocolate and almond being the most popular but I personally prefer plain ones and wanted to make plain atleast for the first time.




I am providing the basic recipe here. For detailed instructions and pictures, you can go to Daring Bakers home page.

French Croissants
Ingredients
¼ oz (7 gm) of fresh yeast, or 1¼ teaspoon (6¼ ml/4 gm) of dry active yeast (about ½ sachet)
3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water (less than 100°F/38°C)
1 teaspoon (5 ml/4½ gm) sugar
1 ¾ cups (225 gm/½ lb) of strong plain flour (I used Polish allpurpose flour, which is 13% protein)
2 teaspoons (10 ml/9 gm) sugar
1½ teaspoon (7½ ml/9 gm) salt
½ cup (120 ml/¼ pint) milk (I am not sure if the fat content 
matters. I used 2%)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) tasteless oil (I used generic vegetable oil)
½ cup (120 ml/1 stick/115 gm/¼ lb) chilled, unsalted butter
1 egg, for egg wash


Method
1. Mix the yeast, warm water, and first teaspoon of sugar in a small bowl. Leave aside for the yeast and sugar to dissolve and the yeast to foam up a little.
2. Measure out the other ingredients
3. Heat the milk until tepid (either in the microwave or a saucepan), and dissolve in the salt and remaining sugar
4. Place the flour in a large bowl. 
5. Add the oil, yeast mixture, and milk mixture to the flour
6. Mix all the ingredients together using the rubber spatula, just until all the flour is incorporated
7. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and let it rest a minute while you wash out the bowl
It’s a little difficult to explain, but essentially involves smacking the dough on the 8. Knead the dough eight to ten times only. The best way is as Julia Child does it in the video (see below). It’s a little difficult to explain, but essentially involves smacking the dough on the counter (lots of fun if you are mad at someone) and removing it from the counter using the pastry scraper.9. Place the dough back in the bowl, and place the bowl in the plastic bag (Photos 1 & 2)
10. Leave the bowl at approximately 75°F/24°C for three hours, or until the dough has tripled in size. (Photo 3)
11. After the dough has tripled in size, remove it gently from the bowl, pulling it away from the sides of the bowl with your fingertips.  (Photo 4)
12. Place the dough on a lightly floured board or countertop, and use your hands to press it out into a rectangle about 8 by 12 inches (20cm by 30cm). (Photo 5)
13. Fold the dough rectangle in three, like a letter (fold the top third down, and then the bottom third up) (Photos 6 & 7)
14. Place the dough letter back in the bowl, and the bowl back in the plastic bag. (Photo 8)
15. Leave the dough to rise for another 1.5 hours, or until it has doubled in size. This second rise can be done overnight in the fridge (Photo 9)
16. Place the double-risen dough onto a plate and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Place the plate in the fridge while you prepare the butter. (Photo 10)
17. Once the dough has doubled, it’s time to incorporate the butter
18. Place the block of chilled butter on a chopping board. 
19. Using the rolling pin, beat the butter down a little, till it is quite flat. (Photo 11)
20. Use the heel of your hand to continue to spread the butter until it is smooth. You want the butter to stay cool, but spread easily.
21. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured board or counter. Let it rest for a minute or two. (Photo 12)
22. Spread the dough using your hands into a rectangle about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). (Photo 13)
23. Remove the butter from the board, and place it on the top half of the dough rectangle (Photos 14 & 15)
24. Spread the butter all across the top two-thirds of the dough rectangle, but keep it ¼ inch (6 mm) across from all the edges. (Photo 16)
25. Fold the top third of the dough down, and the bottom third of the dough up. (Photos 17 & 18)
26. Turn the dough package 90 degrees, so that the top flap is to your right (like a book). (Photo 19)
27. Roll out the dough package (gently, so you don’t push the butter out of the dough) until it is again about 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm). (Photo 20)
28. Again, fold the top third down and the bottom third up. (Photos 21 & 22)
29. Wrap the dough package in plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge for 2 hours. (Photo 23)
30. After two hours have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and place it again on the lightly floured board or counter. 
31. Tap the dough with the rolling pin, to deflate it a little
32. Let the dough rest for 8 to 10 minutes
33. Roll the dough package out till it is 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
34. Fold in three, as before
35. Turn 90 degrees, and roll out again to 14 by 8 inches (35 cm by 20 cm).
36. Fold in three for the last time, wrap in plastic, and return the dough package to the fridge for two more hours (or overnight, with something heavy on top to stop it from rising)
37. It’s now time to cut the dough and shape the croissants
38. First, lightly butter your baking sheet so that it is ready
39. Take the dough out of the fridge and let it rest for ten minutes on the lightly floured board or counter
40. Roll the dough out into a 20 by 5 inch rectangle (51 cm by 12½ cm). (Photo 24)
41. Cut the dough into two rectangles (each 10 by 5 inches (25½  cm by 12½ cm)) (Photo 24)
42. Place one of the rectangles in the fridge, to keep the butter cold
43. Roll the second rectangle out until it is 15 by 5 inches (38 cm by 12½ cm).
44. Cut the rectangle into three squares (each 5 by 5 inches (12½ cm by 12½ cm))
45. Place two of the squares in the fridge
46. The remaining square may have shrunk up a little bit in the meantime. Roll it out again till it is nearly square
47. Cut the square diagonally into two triangles. (Photo 25)
48. Stretch the triangle out a little, so it is not a right-angle triangle, but more of an isosceles. (Photo 26)
49. Starting at the wide end, roll the triangle up towards the point, and curve into a crescent shape. (Photo 27)
50. Place the unbaked croissant on the baking sheet
51. Repeat the process with the remaining squares of dough, creating 12 croissants in total.
52. Leave the tray of croissants, covered lightly with plastic wrap, to rise for 1 hour
53. Preheat the oven to very hot 475°F/240°C/gas mark 9.
54. Mix the egg with a teaspoon of water 
55. Spread the egg wash across the tops of the croissants. (Photo 28)
56. Put the croissants in the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the tops are browned nicely

57. Take the croissants out of the oven, and place them on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before serving. (Photo Above)

Fudgy Brownies

If you are looking for a recipe for fudge brownies that uses dark chocolate and cocoa for deep intense flavor and fudgy texture with crisp sugar crust on top then you should try this recipe. Many people have loved my cocoa brownies and its still my to-go recipes but I was for very long been trying to try a truly fudge brownies. After searching alot, I short-listed two recipes, Fudge Brownies from Baked and King Arthur no fail recipe of Fudge Brownies, both looked really promising, had raving reviews and I want to try both but I started with Baked. It It is a bakery in NewYork and they have recipe books written by Matt Lewis featuring these brownies among many more recipes that are quite popular as well. To add to the hype, these are Oprah's favorite brownies as well. On the other hand King Arthur claims that they fudge brownies recipe is guaranteed. Interesting. But the King Arthur one had one negative review and it uses chocolate chips and a little tedious method so I preferred Baked over KA.

For now I am settling down on these since no doubt they are amazing. Fudgy, intensely chocolaty,  moist, crisp crust and dense. Don't overmix or overbake otherwise the results can vary alot. Let me know if you try it and how they turned out for you. If you have already tried them, do you think they are the best.

When I saw the same recipe at Smitten Kitchen, I knew they would be amazing. But I was looking to make a smaller batch. So I found a nice halved recipe here.

Fudge Brownies

Ingredients
Flour 3/4 cup
Cocoa powder 1 tbsp
Butter 1/2 cup plus more for pan
Instant espresso powder 1/2 tsp
Chocolate, 5 ounces ,finely chopped or chips, I used 62% dark chocolate,cut into pieces
Granulated sugar 2/3 cup
Light-brown sugar 1/4 cup
Salt 1/4 tsp
Eggs 3
Vanilla essence 1 tsp

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. 

2. Butter a 8-by-8 inch pan, line with baking parchment paper, and butter the paper as well. 

3. Sift together the dry ingredients: flour and cocoa powder.
4. On medium-low heat, melt the butter in a heat-proof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir until the butter has melted completely. Add the espresso powder and chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted and incorporated, remove from heat, add vanilla, and let cool.
5. Meanwhile, using a whisk beat together by hand or with a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, the eggs, both sugars, and salt until light and frothy. 

6. Fold the mixture into the cooled chocolate. 

7. Add the sifted dry ingredients and fold until just combined. Do not over mix. 

8. Spread batter in prepared pan and smooth top.
9. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few crumbs. 

Tips

- If the toothpick comes out clean, the brownies will end up being over baked. 

- Let cool completely before cutting the brownies. 

- Use the parchment paper to lift the cooled brownies onto a cutting board. 

- Cut with a serrated knife that has been run under hot water; do so after every cut. 

Homemade Chocolates with Daring Bakers

I have been missing from the Daring Bakers recently, well I have been missing from the blogging scene altogether. But this month's Daring Baker challenge was something I could'nt resist at all. I have been wanting to try this for so long and infact tried to attempt also couple of times with not so much success. The Daring Bakers challenges are thorough, complete and detailed to the core. Inside out things are explained and pointers are provided. Missing this challenge was unthinkable. First things first, the blog checking lines.

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks athttp://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

The challenge provided lot of recipes for chocolate and non-chocolate candies but being a chocolate lover, I had to try the chocolate ones. This involved tempering chocolate - a quite hi-tech word but in reality quite simple. Chocolate tempering is the process of melting chocolate in a special way such that the temperature of the chocolate remains under control. This as opposed to 'just melting' method results in a high quality chocolate that not only has a wonderful mouth feel but great snap when broken and shiny look simulating all three senses. Pure indulgence. The reason is quite complicated but in one simple word 'chemical'. 

But my ambitions were melting away given the heat in Riyadh but I was determined. I could'nt find chocolate thermometer necessary for this process but I still wanted to give it a go. There are many methods of tempering methods but I will provide you with the simplest one that worked for me.

I had planned to make non-chocolate candies (peanut butter fudge and pate de fruits) but after I was done with chocolate ones, there were so many sweets in the house that I had to stop. Though there were plenty of giveaways and everyone loved them.

Tempering Chocolate through "Seeding" method:

Tempering Ranges:

Celsius
 Dark: 45°C-50°C > 27°C > 32°C
 Milk: 45°C > 27°C > 30°C
 White: 45°C > 27°C > 29°C

Fahrenheit
 Dark: 113°F-122°F > 80.6°F > 89.6°F
 Milk: 113°F > 80.6°F > 86°F
 White: 113°F > 80.6°F > 84.2°F


Chocolate is melted and heated until it reaches 45°C / 113°F. Tempered un-melted chocolate is then stirred and melted in until it brings the temperature down to 27°C/80.6°F. It is then put back over heat and brought up to its working temperature of 32°C/30°C/29°C /// 89.6°F/86°F/84.2°F depending on the chocolate you’re using. It is now ready for using in molds, dipping and coating.

• Finely chop chocolate if in bar/slab form (about the size of almonds).

• Place about ⅔ of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl

• Set aside ⅓ of the chocolate pieces

• Place bowl over a saucepan of simmering water (make sure the bowl does not touch the water)

Tip: Make sure that your bowl fits snuggly into the saucepan so that there’s no chance of steam forming droplets that may fall into your chocolate. If water gets into your chocolate it will seize!

• Using a rubber spatula, gently stir the chocolate so that it melts evenly

• Once it’s melted, keep an eye on the thermometer, as soon as it reaches 45°C / 113°F remove from heat (between 45°C-50°C / 113°F-122°F for dark chocolate)

• Add small amounts of the remaining ⅓ un-melted chocolate (seeds) and stir in to melt

• Continue to add small additions of chocolate until you’ve brought the chocolate down to 27°C/80.6°F (You can bring the dark chocolate down to between 80°F and 82°F)

• Put it back on the double boiler and bring the temperature back up until it reaches its working temperature of the chocolate (milk, dark or white) as seen in the above chart. (32°C/89.6°F for dark, 30°C/86°F for milk and 29°C/84.2°F for white)

• If you still have a few un-melted bits of chocolate, put the bowl back over the simmering water, stirring gently and watching the thermometer constantly.

• IMPORTANT: You really need to keep an eye on the temperature so that it doesn’t go over its working temperature

It’s now tempered and ready to use.


Milk Chocolate Almond Praline Truffles

Servings: Makes +- 30 truffles, recipe easily doubled or halved

Adapted from the Cook’s Academy Curriculum, Dublin

Active Time: 1 - 2hrs

Ganache Setting Time: 2 - 4hrs or Overnight

Praline Ingredients:

½ cup (2 oz/60 gm) almonds
½ cup (4 oz/115 gm) granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) water

Making the praline and ganache. Once set, making balls of the set ganache then rolling in crushed almonds

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to moderate 180°C / 160°C Fan Assisted (convection oven); 350°F / 320°F convection / Gas Mark 4
2. Place whole almonds on a non-stick baking tray and dry roast for 10mins
3. Allow to cool
4. Line a baking tray with parchment paper or a silicon mat
5. Place the almonds onto the prepared tray
6. Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium low heat, stirring until the sugar is dissolved
7. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil (do not stir), brushing down the sides of the pot with a pastry brush dipped in water to remove any sugar crystals
8. Boil until the mixture turns amber (160°C - 170°C / 320°F- 340°F on a candy thermometer)
9. Remove from heat immediately and pour the syrup over the almonds
11. Allow to cool completely
12. Break into small pieces
13. Transfer pieces to a food processor and process until desired texture, either fine or rough
14. Set aside

Ganache Ingredients

1¾ cup (9 oz. / 255 g) Milk chocolate, finely chopped
½ cup (4 oz. / 125 ml) Double/Heavy Cream (36% - 46% butterfat content)½ - 1 cup Crushed or Ground Roasted almonds for coating

Directions:

1. Finely chop the milk chocolate
2. Place into a heatproof medium sized bowl
3. Heat cream in a saucepan until just about to boil
4. Pour the cream over the chocolate and stir gently until smooth and melted
5. Allow to cool slightly, about 10 minutes
6. Stir in the praline
7. Leave to cool and set overnight or for a few hours in the fridge
8. Bring to room temperature to use

Forming the truffles:

1. Using teaspoons or a melon baller, scoop round balls of ganache
2. Roll them between the palms of your hands to round them off
Tip: Handle them as little as possible to avoid melting
Tip: I suggest wearing food safe latex gloves, less messy and slightly less heat from your hands
3. Finish off by rolling the truffle in the crushed roasted almonds
Tip: You can also roll them in almond praline
4. Place on parchment paper and leave to set
Tip: They look great when put into small petit four cases and boxed up as a gift!

                                     

Note: I tempered around 9 ounces of milk chocolate for the next two candies. 

Deluce le Leche Chocolates aka Bonbons

Ingredients
Dark or milk chocolate melted, preferably tempered, about 5 ounces
Home made deulce de leche (Source:
http://www.bakersroyale.com/basic-baking-series/baking-basics-how-to-make-homemade-dulce-de-leche/ )

Equipment
2 or 3 quart, heavy-bottomed pot
Candy thermometer
Whisk

Paint the moulds with lustre dust if you wish.
Directions:

1. Empty the contents of about 1/2 can (180gm) into an oven-proof dish; sprinkle with some salt and tightly cover it with foil.
2. Place the covered dish in a larger roasting or casserole pan and fill it up with water until it reaches three quarters of the up the covered dish to create a water bath.
3. Bake at 425 degrees F for 60-90 minutes checking every 30minutes on the water level and adding more as needed.
4. Dulce de leche is ready when it takes on a brown and caramel-like appearance. Remove from the oven and whisk to smoothness. Let cool before storing.
5. Coat the molds with chocolate using the method mentioned above. You can either paint the moulds with chocolate or pour the chocolate withe ladle and then empty the contents, cleaning the surface of the mould by rubber scraper such that only mould wells remain coated with chocolate.
6. Fill chocolate coated molds with prepared filling. You can use a spoon or through a squeeze bottle.
7. Finish off with a layer of chocolate.
8. Once fully set, carefully knock the chocolates out of the mold

Milk Chocolate dipped Coconut Squares - Bonbons

Ingredients
Tempered Chocolate
Coconut squares

For Coconut Squares

150 ml cream (25%)
50 gm butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp powdered cardamom (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups desiccated coconut

Method:
1. Place the cream, butter and sugar in a saucepan and slowly bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. 

2. When it starts to boil (bubble up), take the pan off the heat. 

3. Add the coconut, salt and cardamom and mix well. If the mixture seems too wet add a little more desiccated coconut, but not too much. Remember that once it cools down the coconut mixture will thicken. Press into 8” by 8” tin lined with parchment paper and refrigerate overnight. 

4. Remove from the tin and turn the set coconut mixture onto a board and peel off the parchment paper. 

5. Cut with a sharp knife into 30 squares. Refrigerate till ready to coat with chocolate.
6. Dip each square in tempered chocolate and place on parchment lined baking sheet. Chill until set and cut the feet for finished look.

Chocolate Bark (Base Recipe)
Chocolate bark is really fun and easy to make (kids love making this stuff!). You can also decorate it with almost anything you like, nuts, dried fruits, seeds, crushed candies, honeycomb etc. The whole idea of chocolate bark is that it’s rough in texture and look, just like bark. You can cut it in neat squares, or my favorite, break it up in rough pieces. It’s also great to use up left over tempered chocolate, either plain or if you’ve mixed in crushed nuts to use for coating truffles.

Ingredients

Milk/Dark/White Chocolate, tempered (any amount)
Various nuts, seeds, candies, dried fruits or anything you like in any quantity you like, I used roasted pecans and raisins.

Directions:

1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper
2. Temper your chocolate using your preferred method
3. Once tempered, spread the chocolate over the parchment paper
4. Sprinkle your ingredients over the chocolate
5. Leave to set
Tip: To help speed up the setting, you can put it in the fridge for about 15-30min. Don’t leave it in the fridge to avoid the chocolate from sweating (water droplets will form on the chocolate)
6. Either break or cut into pieces
7. Store at room temperature in an airtight container

Go crazy with this Black Forest Gateau!

Back in my home country Pakistan, Black Forest Cake is undoubtedly the most popular cake typically paired with fresh fruits of the season. We have grown up with it and it is the first 'decorated' [who knew decorated cakes would take this much height ;)] cake I learnt to make. In Riyadh, Saudi Arabia also, where I am currently residing due to Hubs' work, this cake is available off the shelf from almost all super markets but somehow, I have never liked the cakes here. They all have same taste (my guess is they use the same mix) and that also not quite appealing. 

 Another reason, I wanted to perfect this cake is that its my hubby's absolute favorite. He either likes plain pound/evening cake or black forest cake. I have tried my hands on this before also here but I knew then only that I had to improve it. I first spotted this genoise recipe at Passionate About Baking and it was further endorsed by the Rose's book successful recipes which I recently got. Mind you that I tried this cake before as well and it didnt turn out as expected, it got really hard and rubber like. Reason, in my opinion,can be two. You have to cool the chocolate mixture completely and second you have to beat eggs and sugar really really well. This is by far the best BlackForest cake I have ever made. 

I intended to make this cake for our anniversary but somehow could'nt manage time to assemble it, so I delayed it to our Independence day which was 4 days later. Nevertheless, this anniversary delayed independence cake turned out awesome. My neighbors who got some share loved it too.

A little bit of information on genoise. It is an Italian sponge-type cakes (as opposed to butter cakes) that are aerated with beating of eggs, the baked sponge is then moistened with syrup and is made into a gateau with fresh whipped cream and fruits of your choice. Traditionally cherries go with it but strawberries, mango etc. work equally well. The shavings of chocolate completes the look and taste.  

Moist Chocolate Genoise                               Adapted from The Cake Bible, Rose Beranbaum                                                                                         
Ingredients:

Dark chocolate 8 ounces

Water 1 cup
Eggs 8
Sugar 1 cup
Vanilla essence 1 tbsp
Cake flour 1 1/2 cup [or make by using 1 1/2 cup flour minus 3 tbsp flour plus 3 tbsp corn flour]

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. 

2. Prepare 2 9 x 2″ spring form cake tins – greased, bottoms lined with baking parchment, greased and floured again.
3. Sift the flours. Reserve.
4. In a pan, bring the chocolate and the water to boil over low heat, stirring constantly. Simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the chocolate thickens to a pudding like consistency. Cool completely [This is a very important step, cool completely].
Beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on high speed till tripled in volume, about 7-10 minutes. {I use an electric hand beater}
5. Sift 1/2 the flour mix over the beaten egg mixture, and fold in gently but rapidly until some of the flour has disappeared. Repeat with the remaining flour until all the flour has disappeared. 

6. Fold in the chocolate mixture until incorporated.7. Pour immediately into prepared pans {about 2/3 full}, and bake at 180C for 30-35 minutes, until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean. Loosen the sides with a metal spatula/butter knife, and invert onto lightly greased cooling racks. Re-invert to cool.

Simple Syrup:
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
Bring the sugar and water to a rolling boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Take off heat, stir in the liqueur if using, cover and allow to cool. 

Stabilized whipped cream

Ingredients:

Fresh Whipping Cream 1 cup

Sugar 1 tbsp

Gelatin 1/2 to 1 tsp

Water 4 tsp

Vanilla 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Whisk cream and sugar really well until it thickens.

2. Dissolve gelatin in water and heat until just liquid. Cool.

3. Keep on whisking and add gelatin. 

Assembling the Cake

Split the chocolate genoise horizontally to get 4 layers. Sprinkle both sides of each layer with the syrup, and reserve on platters. Place the bottom layer on the serving platter.

Reserve about 1/2 the cream for the topping and frosting. Take a third of the remaining cream and spread over the bottom later. Repeat with the remaining 3 layers.Put about 1/2 a cup of cream in a piping bag to make rosettes on top if desired. Frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining cream. Pipe rosettes on top, sprinkle chocolate flakes in the centre. Chill until ready to serve. 

Best Ever Pound Cake

 I will not explain why I have been missing from the blogging scene lately. I am really feeling guilty as my regular followers have been asking me this. Well, lot of things and to summarize it all, its my Cake Decorating business, my frequent travelling, Ramadan (more details here), new baby (now 6 months old) and my weight loss plan. You can well imagine, how blogging took back seat among all this hodgepodge. My apologies once again, but there was hardly a day when I didnt miss blogging. It doesnt mean I wasnt cooking or baking, I badly need to get a light setup which can work in evenings as well for some decent photographs.

Coming back to today's post, this is my family's favorite, a plain butter or evening or pound cake. My mother, mother-inlaw and hubby absolutely love plain cakes and I make this pretty often. It has been fairly straightforward over the years, like typical pound cake ingredients and proportions, but as I am always in the quest of the best recipe, I tried sour cream (how I love this ingredient) pound cake and it turned out absolutely delicious and perfect. Before that I also tried Perfect pound cake from Rose Levy's Cake Bible and although the texture was melting in mouth, it lacked the structure, a little crumbly for me. So here for you is my best take on an evening pound cake which I can guarantee will not disappoint you at all.

Best Ever Pound Cake
Recipe source Sweet Kats Kitchen here


Ingredients


1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 ½ cup sifted cake flour (I make my own from 1 1/2 cup flour - 3 tbsp and add 3 tbsp cornflour)
¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2 3/4 cup granulated sugar
6 eggs, room temperature
1 cup sour cream
1 tbsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp honey (I did not use this)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. 

2. Grease and flour a 12-cup Bundt or 10-inch tube baking pan. I used 8 inches loaf pan for half recipe.
3. Sift together the flours, baking soda and salt. Sift again. Set aside. 

4. Combine the sour cream, vanilla extract and honey (if using) in a small bowl. Set aside.
5. In large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 10 minutes, or      until light and fluffy. I cannot stress this step enough, its absolutely important to beat sugar and butter really well, it give the volume, fluffiness and air to the cake. 

6. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. 

7. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the sour cream mixture and ending with the dry ingredients. Mix just enough to blend the batter after each addition. 

8. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 65-75 minutes (40 mins for half recipe) or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. It is beautifully golden when done. 

9. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 25 minutes. Remove the pan and place the cake on a wire rack and allow to cool completely. 

10. Dust with confectioner's sugar before serving although not required.

My blog turns two and its coconut all over!

It never occured to me that this April, my blog is two years old. I havent been fair to it and to all my followers for which I want to apologize. This was the beginning of BakeFresh - name I thought of my blog has spread in other directions. From there, I have come quite a way but the makeover of this blog and updating it more regularly is still in pipeline.  I have a brand new BakeFresh logo (and visiting cards), website (www.bakefresh.net) and I have been busy in cake decoration orders and conducting classes. Managing all this with two kids is never easy but BakeFresh gives me the reason to be managed, more active and re-charges my energy in a way that nothing can. 


So, although, the blog is starving for more posts, why not give it and to all my lovely followers a double doze. I have been obsessed with coconut lately, mostly because of the orders and utilizing leftover frostings. I tried not one, not two but three coconut cupcakes recipe and interestingly they all turned out great. Luckily I managed to take some pics as well so here is a grand post, in honor of my 2 year old baby and all the wonderful followers of BakeFresh.

Coconut Cupcakes Version 1 (with coconut milk and unsweetened coconut)
Source: A Sticky Affair

Ingredients
Shreded Coconut 1/2 cup
Flour 1 cup + 2 tbsp
Pinch of salt
Baking powder 1 tsp
Eggs 2
Egg white, 1 extra
Unsalted butter 100gm
Caster Sugar 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence 1/2 tbsp
Coconut milk 1/2 cup
Toasted coconut, for decorating (optional)

Method
1. Using a food processor, process the coconut until very fine - about 3 or 4 minutes (If you're using fine desiccated coconut you can skip this step). 

2. Add coconut to a bowl with sifted flour salt and baking powder. Mix evenly until combined.
3. In a separate bowl combine eggs and egg whites. Do not beat.
4. In another bowl, cream the butter for 1-2 minutes. Add the caster sugar a third at a time, beating for 2 minutes after each addition. After the last addition beat until the mixture is light and fluffy and sugar has almost dissolved.
5. Add the eggs a quarter at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition or until the mixture is light and fluffy. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
6. Add a third of flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Add half of the coconut milk and beat until combined. Repeat this process. Add the remaining third of the flour mixture and beat until thoroughly combined; do not over-beat as this will toughen the mixture.
7. Spoon mixture into cupcake papers, filling each about 3/4 full. Bake in a pre-heated oven for 18 minutes or until a fine skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove cupcakes from the trays immediately and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Coconut Cupcakes Version 2 (with/without coconut milk and sweetened coconut)
Source: Home Cooking in Montana

Ingredients
All purpose flour 1 3/4 cup
Baking powder 2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Egg whites 3
Coconut milk or whole milk 3/4 cup
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Almond essence 1/4 tsp (optional)
Sugar 3/4 cup
Unsalted butter, room temp. 1/2 cup
Sweetened shredded coconut 1 cup

Method

1. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

2. Measure coconut milk in a measuring cup and add the egg whites and extracts. Combine.

3. Cream the sugar and butter on medium speed using a mixer. Mix until the butter lightens in color as well as texture, about 4 minutes. 

4. Alternately, add dry and wet ingredients in 3 additions. Starting and ending with dry ingredients.
5. Fold in the coconut. Scoop batter in prepared paper lined muffin tin.
6. I like to use an ice cream scoop. Much easier. Fill about 3/4 full. 

7. Bake in a pre-heated oven until toothpick comes out clean...about 25-30. Check at 20 minutes as all ovens are different. 

8. Cool in pan for 5 minutes. Remove and cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting 


Ingredients
Cream Cheese 4oz
Butter 2 1/2 tbsp
Icing Sugar 2-3 cups
Vanilla essence 1 tsp


Method
1. Beat butter and cream cheese until creamy.
2. Add in essence and icing sugar beating till combined.
3. Frost with a spatula or piping swirls with an open star tip.


Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes with Fudge frosting
Source: Baking Obsession

Ingredients
Coconut (unsweetened) 1/2 cup
Egg 1
Sugar 1 cup
Flour 1 1/4 cup
Cocoa Powder 3/4 cup
Baking Powder 1 tsp
Baking Soda 1/2 tsp
Salt 1/2 tsp
Sour Cream 1/2 cup
Coconut milk 160 ml
Vanilla essence 1 tsp
Butter 4oz (4 tbsp)


Method
1. Sift together all the dry ingredients except coconut.
2. In another bowl combine coconut milk, essence and sour cream.
3. Beat butter till creamy. Add sugar and beat until light an fluffy.
4. Add egg to the butter mixture and beat.
5. Alternately add dry and wet ingredients beginning and ending with dry ingredients and beat on low speed.
6. Fold in coconut until just combined.
7. Fill the paper lined muffin tray about 3/4th full.
8. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180 for about 20 mins. Don't overbake.


Fudge Frosting
Source: Martha Stewart

Ingredients

Semisweet chocolate chips 1 bag (12 ounces)
Icing sugar ¼ cup
Salt ½ tsp
Evaporated milk ¾ cup
Vanilla ½ tsp 

Method
1. Place melted chocolate chips, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Heat evaporated milk in a small saucepan over medium-high heat until it just comes to a simmer.

3. Remove from heat and pour over chocolate mixture; let stand for about 5 minutes.

4. Add vanilla, whisk until filling is smooth and well combined. 
5. Transfer chocolate filling to refrigerator; let chill until slightly firm, but still spreadable, about 2 hours.

Verdict: I like all three versions and thats why they have made they way to the blog. It all depends on ingredients availability (coconut milk, sweetened/unsweetened coconut, left over egg whites and so on). All three yields moist, flavorful and soft cupcakes. If you are like me and love chocolate and coconut combo then the last option is for you.