0 Daring Bakers Do Martha

It's that time again. And, my oh my, how the Daring Bakers have grown! From just 2 (founders Ivonne and Lisa), to 5, 7, 10, 16, and now 30 members. For this month's challenge, we didn't bake, but we were definitely challenged. Brilynn's choice was Martha Stewart's Darkest Chocolate Crepe Cake. An extravaganza of delicate chocolate crepes layered with a hazelnut cream filling, covered with a glaze and adorned with candied hazelnuts. Sounds like heaven, right? Nope, it was more like hell.

Delicate, lacy crepes? Umm, not quite. And from the chatter among the Daring Bakers over the last couple weeks, I wasn't the only one who had trouble with the crepes. Some ladies made modifications to Martha's recipe from the get-go and others tried multiple batches before achieving something decent. I tried the crepe recipe just once and that was enough for me. I'm normally not a quitter in the kitchen, but crepes shouldn't be this difficult. But on the plus side, I had fun flipping my crepes. I flipped them by picking them up by the edges with my fingers and I only burned myself once. After the first 3 crepes, the rest turned out nicely. The flavor of the crepes was good but the texture was all wrong. And once my crepes cooled, they were a bit stiff.



Now, I love the Martha. Even during her tough times, I stuck by her. But even so, my success with her recipes has been 50/50. Although the crepe part was a bust, the meringue buttercream filling was delicious. Martha's recipe called for hazelnut cream but I used strawberry jam instead. And since the jam was already sweet, I decreased the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. The crazy amount of butter in the filling was a little scary too but when it's all whipped up, the filling was light as air.



Instead of making one 8-inch round cake with 32 crepe layers, I made 5 miniature cakes (4-inch round cakes with 12 crepe layers). From the beginning, I was really excited to try my hand at making caramel for the candied hazelnut decorations. I even tested my new candy thermometer in boiling hot water to make sure it was working properly. But as the deadline approached, my disappointment grew, and so did my disinterest in this recipe. In the end, I glazed the cakes and just served them with diced strawberries. It wasn't as breath taking and dramatic as "decorative nuts dipped in caramelized sugar and hung in bat fashion" but the tart strawberries were a nice, fresh addition to the all the chocolate and cream.

Would I have tried this recipe if it hadn't been part of the Daring Bakers' challenge? Probably not. Would I try this recipe again in the future? Definitely not. But despite my failed crepes, I still learned a lot. I hope the other ladies' crepe cakes fared better than mine. See my right sidebar for links to the other Daring Bakers.

Original recipe can be found on Martha Stewart's website.

Modifications I made to the original chocolate crepe recipe:
I decreased the amount of chocolate from 8 ounces to 5 ounces.
I used 3/4 cup flour + 3/4 cup cornstarch in place of 1 1/2 cups flour.
I added 1 tablespoon of Dutch processed cocoa powder.

Modifications I made to the original filling recipe:
I used strawberry jam instead of the hazelnut cream.
I decreased the sugar from 1 2/3 cups to 1 1/4 cups.

I omitted the candied nut decorations.

0 Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake

I don't know what my problem is. Here I am posting my Hay Hay Donna Day entry at the very last minute AGAIN, just like I did for last month's cheesecake HHDD. I'm not normally a procrastinator but somehow I've been missing a lot of blog events lately. And once the deadline passes, I don't even bother making whatever it was I planned to make. I just mentally move on to the next event and mentally make it in my head and then actually miss the deadline without physically making it and so on and so on. I mean, I haven't participated in Sugar High Friday since September. Yikes, that's 7 months ago! But believe me, I made some fierce pastries for the past 7 SHFs. Too bad they were all in my head!

So I resolved to participate in more blog events and be timely with my posts. But of course life gets in the way of blogging and I continue to be an event slacker. I was sure I wouldn't get my act together in time for the Friday HHDD mousse deadline and begged forgiveness from HHDD hostess and fellow Daring Baker Helene. But thank my lucky stars she extended the deadline!

I decided to make a chocolate peanut butter mousse cake. Since I was taking this cake to my nephew's birthday party, I thought this classic combination would please both the children and the adults. And I wanted to make a mousse without raw eggs since there would be toddlers at the party.

Although it looks like a long recipe, it is actually pretty easy to make. The crust is just crushed Nabisco chocolate wafers held together with some butter. You don't even need to bake the crust. The chocolate mousse is basically melted chocolate with whipped cream folded into it. Easy, right? And the peanut butter mousse is no more difficult than making cake frosting. But it's more like cream cheese frosting with the goodness of peanut butter all suspended in luxurious whipped cream. Maybe it's not as super easy as the chocolate mousse, but it's definitely not hard and definitely well worth it.

I think the hardest part was waiting to taste it at the party. But luckily I made a mini tart by stealing a bit of the crumbs for a tiny tart shell and using the mousse that was left on the sides of the bowls. (I scraped the bowls so clean there was almost no need to wash them!) So I got to sneak a taste before the party and it was so creamy and delicious!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse Cake
(Adapted from Tish Boyle's "The Cake Book")
(makes one 9-inch cake)

Chocolate Wafer Crust
1 1/2 cups (6.3oz) Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafer cookie crumbs
4 tbsp (2oz) unsalted butter, melted

Peanut Butter Mousse
5 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tbsp (1oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (4oz) confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup (7oz) creamy peanut butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream

Chocolate Mousse
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/3 cup whole milk
3 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To make the crust:
Lightly butter the bottom of a 9x3 inch springform pan. In a bowl, stir together the cookie crumbs and the melted butter until combined. Press the crumbs onto the bottom of the pan in an even layer. Refrigerate the crust while you make the PB mousse.

To make the PB mousse:
In the bowl of a standing mixer using the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until creamy, about 1 minute on medium-low speed. Mix in the confectioners' sugar. Add the peanut butter and salt and mix until well blended. Remove the bowl from the mixer and set aside.

In a clean mixer bowl, using the whisk attachment, beat the heavy whipping cream at high speed until soft peaks form. Fold 1 cup of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture until almost blended. Fold in another 1 1/2 cups of the whipped cream until completed blended. (Save the remaining whipped cream for making the chocolate mousse.)

Scrape the peanut butter mousse into the prepared pan and spread evenly over the crust. Refrigerate while you make the chocolate mousse.

To make the chocolate mousse:
Place both chocolates in the bowl of a food processor and process until finely ground. Leave the chocolate in the bowl.

Combine the milk and sugar in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. With the food processor running, pour the hot milk mixture through the feed tube and process until the chocolate is completely melted. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the vanilla, and process until blended. Scrape mixture into a large bowl.

Gently fold one-third of the remaining whipped cream into the chocolate. Fold in the rest of the whipped cream until completely blended. Scrape the chocolate mousse over the peanut butter mousse layer. Loosely cover the cake and freeze for at least 1 hour, until firm.

To serve:
Run a thin-bladed knife under hot water (or dunk into a pitcher of hot water) and wipe dry, run the knife between the cake and the side of the pan to release the cake; reheat the knife as needed. Remove the sides of the springform pan. The cake is ready for serving. Store in refrigerator for up to 3 days.



Optional: You can also glaze the top of the mousse cake with your favorite bittersweet chocolate glaze. Refrigerate the glazed cake for 1 hour before serving. (Although I think I liked it better without the glaze.)

Thanks to Barbara of Winos and Foodies who started Hay Hay Donna Day with those now famous self frosting cupcakes. And make sure to visit Tartelette Helene to check out the mousse round up and for the voting information.

0 Home Sweet Home

I'm back from my vacation at the so-called happiest place on earth, Disneyland and the California Adventure. After almost a week of eating overpriced, deep-fried crap and a side of limp salad shoulder-to-shoulder with thousands of other people, I'm so glad to be back home and back in my own kitchen.

I actually missed my kitchen, and more specifically my oven, while I was away! That's my late cat Diane staring at "the Wolf".

It's not that Orange County has nothing to offer. It's just that I didn't know where to find the good casual eats in the O.C. My internet research was fruitless and the local newspapers weren't much help since most of the recommended places were in the Los Angeles area. And I definitely didn't want to fight my way through traffic to get to L.A. I already sit in enough traffic during my daily commute.

But every meal wasn't terrible. The La Brea Bakery Express in Downtown Disney was okay. Although practically everything substantial like sandwiches, salads, breakfast cost nine dollars. At least the bread was decent (but definitely not up there with my beloved Acme Bread). But it makes me a bit sad that the most positive thing I can say about a place is that it was decent. But on the plus side, I did eat at a pretty good and surprisingly affordable sushi restaurant in nearby Tustin. (Thanks to O.C. food blogger elmomonster for the recommendation.) But aside from the food issues, the children had a great time. Each night we were exhausted but we still woke up at sunrise to begin the next day at the park. Even so I think I've had my fill of all things Disney for at least 5 years.

Upon my return, all I wanted was food that was the opposite of the food I had on vacation. I'm not even sure what opposite really means in this case but I didn't want hamburgers or fried anything. Courtesy of my parents, the first meal I had when I got back was a dinner of sautéed gai lan (Chinese broccoli), roast duck, tofu soup, and steamed rice. My first breakfast was jambon-gruyere and frangipane croissants from Tartine Bakery in the Mission District. Tartine has the best croissants in the area. And the first thing I baked was these simple, satisfying oatmeal muffins.



Oatmeal Dried Plum Muffins
(adapted from Gale Gand)

2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
3/4 cup light brown sugar
6 oz (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cups dried plums*, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F. Line 15 muffin wells (4 fl oz capacity) with paper liners or butter well.

Combine oats and buttermilk in a large mixing bowl. Let mixture sit for 30 minutes at room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in another bowl. Set aside dry ingredients.

Add eggs to oatmeal/buttermilk mixture and mix. Mix in brown sugar and then mix in melted butter. Mix in vanilla extract.

Add dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated. Batter should still be slightly lumpy. Gently fold in chopped dried plums.

Fill the muffin wells about 3/4 full. Bake at 350 F until muffin tops have risen and are lightly golden, and a tester comes out clean (a few crumbs are okay), about 20-25 minutes.



* Dried plums used to be called prunes until someone decided it was fancier (and less geriatric) to call them dried Italian plums. But a prune is still a prune.

0 To Infinity and Beyond

Well, not exactly. But I am going away with the family. The children (aka the niece & nephews) are all excited. And I have to admit that I am a little bit too. I guess it's my inner child. I'll be back in a few, because, it's a small world after all. Okay, I'll stop with the dorky references now.

0 A Good Looking Surprise

I may not have my dog anymore, but the photograph of my chocolate brownie hearts was awarded Best in Show for the March edition of "Does My Blog Look Good In This?".

The idea behind DMBLGiT is to give everyone a chance to enjoy some of the best photographs of the month posted on food blogs. Thanks to hostess Dolores and the judges Bron, Ivonne, Jeff, and Sean & DPaul. I will wear this badge with honor.

0 Anniversary Celebration

A year ago today I signed up with Blogger and posted a photograph of a meyer lemon bar I made with lemons from our garden. I named my blog Alpineberry because my original intention was to blog about food with a bit of gardening thrown in. Fast forward 365 days later and I'm still blogging, but mostly about the food I bake.

To celebrate my blog's first anniversary I wanted to create a lemony treat. In my head I envisioned a simple moist cake bursting with lemon zest. I didn't want a pound cake or a filled and frosted layer cake. Maybe a cupcake infused with lemon, but not soaked in lemon syrup. I found a recipe for buttermilk cupcakes and gave it my own meyer lemon twist. The lemon combined perfectly with the buttermilk which made the cupcake doubly tangy. The resulting cupcake had a nice crumb and was tender and moist too.

As good as the cupcake was unadorned, the simple lemon icing elevated it to a whole other lemony level. My husband usually isn't overly excited by anything I bake, but he told me the cupcake was really, really, really good. He's my number one taste tester (well, he's my number one, period). This is now our favorite cupcake.



Iced Meyer Lemon Cupcakes
(yields 24 cupcakes)

Cupcakes:
3 cups cake flour (or 2 1/4 cup cake flour + 3/4 cup AP flour)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
12 ounces (3 sticks / 1.5 cups) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
2 cups granulated sugar
1 tbsp finely grated meyer lemon zest
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (12 fl. oz.) buttermilk
2 tbsp freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar (you may not need all 2 cups)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed meyer lemon juice

To make cupcakes:
Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 24 (4 fluid ounce capacity) cupcake wells with paper cupcake liners.

Sift together both flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside dry ingredients.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add lemon zest and beat for 1 minute. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Mix in vanilla.

Stir lemon juice into your measured buttermilk. Alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk to your batter, beginning and ending with the flour.

Fill each well approximately 3/4 full. Bake until a skewer inserted into the middle of a cupcake comes out clean, about 20 minutes. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then gently transfer cupcakes to a cooling rack. Cool completely before icing.

To make icing:
Combine 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and lemon juice. Whisk until smooth. Add some or all of the remaining 1/2 cup powdered sugar for a stiffer icing.

PS: It's also our wedding anniversary. We've been officially married for 4 years but been together for almost 16 years. Happy Anniversary dear husband!

0 Red Velvet Cake

I think red was in the air when our monthly baking group, now officially named the Daring Bakers, voted to make to red velvet cake for our March recipe. As a departure from our usual modus operandi of everyone using the exact same recipe, we decided to use a recipe of our choice. The New York Times printed a recipe recently and our very own Peabody shared a traditional recipe from Mrs. Wilkes Boarding House in Savannah, Georgia. But in the end, after browsing through a dozen recipes, I chose a cake recipe from the Martha Stewart website that was very similar to Peabody's recipe.

I've never made or tasted red velvet cake before. (But I do remember the groom's cake from the movie Steel Magnolias which was shaped like an armadillo and was blood red on the inside. I've been told that it was a red velvet cake.) Now, as far as I can tell from the recipe, red velvet cake is basically a yellow cake with a bit of cocoa powder for flavor. And the red part comes mostly from adding food coloring. I say mostly because the chemical reaction between the cocoa powder, buttermilk and vinegar creates a slightly reddish cake.

I originally decided that I would skip the red food coloring because that just seemed too unnatural. I read that beet root juice could color the cake red but I was worried how it would affect the delicate flavor of the cake. So I made a "tester" cake without the coloring or beets just to see how red, or how un-red, it would be. The cake was reddish brown but it was definitely brown and nowhere near velvety. It was then that I decided a bit of food coloring was not a bad thing. After all, this cake is supposed to be red.

When the time came to make the real thing, I proceeded with the recipe and added the entire one ounce bottle (30ml) of red food coloring to batter. It was at that very moment that I felt I had a made a huge mistake. The batter was scary red! But after adding the flour and buttermilk to the mix, the batter became less red and I calmed down. Who knew adding food coloring to a cake could cause such an emotional response? After the cakes were baked, they were a nice mahogany color.

I wasn't sure what kind of frosting was traditionally used for red velvet cakes. There were boiled frostings, seven minute frostings, and cream cheese frostings. There were frostings with and without nuts, using pecans or walnuts. Egg white, milk, heavy cream, or butter based. After tasting my tester cake, I thought a straightforward cream cheese frosting without nuts would pair nicely with the fluffy cocoa cake.

My overall impression of my red velvet cake was mixed. Although the frosting was nice, I actually preferred the cake plain. I really liked the subtle cocoa taste that was not quite chocolate nor was it vanilla. The texture of the cake was similar to a chiffon cake but fluffier and less elastic. As far as aesthetics, the deep velvety mahogany cake layers and the creamy frosting resulted in a visually striking cake.



Our Daring Bakers group is growing! I've added the DB blogroll to my sidebar, so check out all the red velvet cakes that you can handle. And see that cool James Bond-esque silhouette and the snazzy meringue mountain above? Thanks to the wonderfully talented Ximena, we now have our very own logo! If you don't know her work, please visit her at Lobstersquad, where she combines food blogging with her illustrations.



Red Velvet Cake
(from marthastewart.com)
(one 2 layer 9-inch round cake)

2 1/2 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups flavorless oil (I used grape seed oil)
2 large eggs
2 tbsp red food coloring (one 1-ounce bottle)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tsp vinegar (white or apple cider)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Generously butter two 9-by-2-inch round cake pans. Sprinkle with flour, and tap out the excess. Set your pans aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together cake flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside your dry ingredients.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix the sugar and oil on medium speed until well combined. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add food coloring and vanilla, and beat until well combined.

Add flour mixture, alternating with buttermilk, scraping the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add vinegar to batter, and beat for 10 seconds.

Evenly divide the batter between your prepared pans. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center of each cake comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from the pans, and return to the rack to cool completely.



Cream Cheese Frosting
(enough to fill and frost a 2 layer 9-inch round cake)

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
12 ounces (1.5 bars) cream cheese, softened at room temp.
1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add sugar and vanilla and beat until combined, about 2 minutes.

Note: One of my cake layers was more domed than the other. So I shaved off the dome to level my cake layer. Then I crumbled the shavings and lightly coated the sides of my frosted cake.