Monday, May 2, 2011

Walnut Twix Dobos Torte for My Mom's Birthday!

So, for my mom's birthday, I took a traditional Dobos torte recipe and replaced the hazelnuts with walnuts and on top, coated shortbread wedges with the caramel and chocolate because she really likes Twix!
Here is the result. I figured I should post these pictures before I fell into a sugar-induced stupor :P
Pretty tasty!


My mom cracking up and Jordan wielding a fork

( :



Dobos Torte Recipe
from Krystina Castella's "A World Of Cake"

Sponge Cake
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1/4 tsp salt
9 eggs, separated
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Caramel Glaze
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 tbs unsalted butter
1 tbs lemon juice

Toppings
6 oz chocolate, melted
6 cups bittersweet chocolate buttercream
1 cup hazelnuts

Makes 1 cake (serves 6 to 8)

To Prepare
Preheat the oven to 350F. Butter and flour four 9-inch round cake pans.

To Make the Sponge Cake
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl; set aside. In a separate large bowl, beat the egg yolks, 1 cup of the confectioners' sugar, and the vanilla with a mixer until pale and thick. Add the egg yolk mixture to the flour mixture. In another separate large bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy but not stiff. Add the remaining 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into batter.
To Bake
Pour 1 cup batter into each of the prepared pans and bake for 5 to 8 minutes, or until springy to the touch. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 5 minutes, then remove them from the pans and set them on the rack to finish cooling. Repeat until the batter is used up, washing and regreasing and flouring the pans if necessary.
To Make the Caramel-Glazed Layer
Bring the sugar, water, butter and lemon juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Cook, stirring until the sugar is dissolved and the mixture is caramel colored. Spread the caramel over one cake layer and let set for 30 seconds. Then cut with a sharp knife into 8 wedge shapes. When they're cooled, drizzle the glazed wedges with melted chocolate.
To Assemble
Set one cake layer on a large plate, and spread with chocolate buttercream. Top with another cake layer and repeat until you've used up all the layers. Frost the top and sides of the stacked cake with chocolate buttercream.
Reserve eight hazelnuts and chop the rest. Coat the sides of the cake with the chopped nuts.
Using the remaining hazelnuts and dollops of buttercream as props, arrange the glazed wedges on the top of the cake, overlapping one another. Cut inbetween the wedges to serve.

Bittersweet Chocolate Buttercream
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped (about 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips)
2 1/2 cups (5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

makes about 4 cups
Melt the chocolate in a microwave or double boiler; let it cool but not harden. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the confectioners' sugar, cocoa, vanilla, and melted chocolate. Mix until smooth.

Note: I made this cake with walnuts instead of hazelnuts and made twix cookies for the beautiful spiral topping. This recipe for chocolate buttercream is simply the most delicious I have ever had. I use it for everything now. Enjoy!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Easter Brunch

This post has been moved to tiramipursuit's new website. Find it here.
Thank-you!

Max's Birthday-April 15th The Beagle Cake

Max loves See's candy, so for his birthday, I made a cake with layers of butterchew (brown sugar buttercream), butterscotch (butterscotch buttercream) and milk chocolate frostings. The whole cake is covered in chocolate sprinkles, which is the hallmark of See's Bordeaux, whenever you are trying to find one in the box. The cake is topped with brownies.





I can't give you the full recipe for this cake, because it's top secret! :P But I can give you the recipe for indisputably the BEST part of the cake: the brown sugar buttercream. You will want to eat it with a spoon!

Brown Sugar Buttercream
From How to Cook Like Your Grandmother


1 cup milk
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1½ cup brown sugar
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 teaspoon salt (if you use unsalted butter)
Stir the milk and flour together and mix over medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until it thickens. It changes suddenly, so don’t walk away from it.Set the milk aside to cool, and combine the sugar, butter and vanilla in a mixer.Beat on medium speed for 5-10 minutes — colder butter will take longer — until the sugar is dissolved and you don’t taste the graininess of it any more.Add the milk mixture to the butter mixture and stir until smooth.The finished texture is light and fluffy.

http://cooklikeyourgrandmother.com/2009/07/how-to-make-brown-sugar-buttercream-frosting/



Sunday, April 10, 2011

Babysitting Snacks

Such a great way to keep the kids happy and busy!


You'll need a bag of pretzels, sprinkles and white chocolate chips.

Melt half a bag of white chocolate chips in the microwave. Stir until creamy and slowly keep adding more chips, stirring all the while to melt the rest in.
Then, I just set the kids up with a bowl of chocolate to dip and trays to sprinkle over (so they don't end up ALL over the floor!)
We let them cool on some parchment paper for a few minutes, then they're ready to eat.

The final product is super delicious and disappears quickly!


Saturday, February 26, 2011

The Months of January and February

I took a fantastic vegetarian cooking class this month.



I also had a chance to try out cakespy's sweet benedict.





To check out the original recipe, go to: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/cakespy-cadbury-creme-eggs-benedict-dessert-breakfast-recipe.html



Friday, December 31, 2010

Inception Cupcakes

These cupcakes are vanilla with a really creamy vanilla buttercream, then topped with edible totems and sugar crystals. The totems are made with gum paste and painted with edible gel paints.
Note: You can get sugar crystals like these by breaking them off of those coffee stirrers that are covered in crystals and are supposed to melt in your coffee :)



Back in the States

Hey Everybody!
So, I don't know what happened to December, but here are all of the photos since my last post! Before I left for home, I went to Wales to visit Hannah, we had snow, I did a wedding cake class, went to a Paramore concert , the ballet and Oxford. Lots of fun stuff!
Hope you enjoy seeing what I was up to and I am very happy to be home and excited to go back again soon!
<3

The wedding cakes I made from the workshop.

Sarah and I tried out my new techniques in the Lobby.


Paramore at the O2

Oxford

The Oxford Camera

Hannah and I in Wales

                                                  Spontaneous snowfall in Cardiff!
Snow!

The Christmas Tree Lighting in Trafalgar Square

Snowy London Streets

Opera House

At the Ballet

In the Tube.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Catch-up!

 Hi everybody!

Well, let's see, since I last posted, my mom has visited, I went to Bath and also went to visit the Scotts again!

My mom and I had a really great time. We saw lots of fantastic plays and spent time together every day.
I was very sad when she had to go home.

This Friday, I went to Bath and got to see the Roman Baths. I even got to taste some of the spring water. Bath has England's only hotspring and it has long been thought that the water has magical or healing properties. It sort of tasted metallic and sulfuric, like if you hard-boiled eggs in  a metal pot and then drank the water once it cooled off to sort of a lukewarm temperature. Not too bad ( ;

On Saturday, I took the train to Chesterfield and met up with Lee. He, Chris, Francesca and Stephen took me to see caves of Blue John ( a special stone that is unique to the area) and even bought me a necklace and earrings with Blue John stone in it.  We also took a nice, scenic drive around the countryside in search of a town where the plague hit, but we didn't end up making it there, I didn't mind, but the family teased Lee endlessly for the rest of  the weekend ( ;
Then we had a really nice dinner with most of the family at the Dog and Duck. Everyone came back to Chris and Lee's for coffee afterwards. It was a really nice time. By the time I got to bed, I was exhausted!

On Sunday, we went to Whitby, which is a seaside town. I tried fish and chips and chowder (the chowder was sort of an accident, but it tasted good) and we had a really good time looking around all the little shops. At one point, there was a big commotion and a window was broken at this fortune-telling place and this woman came out screaming that she was a thief. It was pretty exciting! ( ; There is also a creepy church where Dracula was supposed to have landed when he arrived in England! We went inside and got to look around.
Then, we went to Robin Hood's Bay and looked around. The sea is pretty dark here and choppy. It's very pretty though!

I went home on a pretty late train and was bored out of my mind the whole way home, but at leaat it was fast AND I sat on first-class the whole way! Noone even asked to look at my ticket and I got complimentary tea and everything! (#: Usually, Lee asks and gets me on first class anyway, but I felt like I was being a little sneaky!
Anyway, I'm sending my love home!




Saturday, October 23, 2010

I love Scotland

The title really says it all. I am so in love with Scotland. It is gorgeous here. I have been to castles, fallen in the mud, eaten (the vegetarian equivalent of ) haggis, seen dozens of hairy 'coos' up-close and personal (cows) and seen some of the most beautiful terrain on the earth. I will post more details when  I can!
I have been learning so much and heard some fantastic stories.
Sending my love home