Bridal Shower: Chocolate Peanut Butter Brittle Cake August 18, 2008

So, I decided to use my friend’s bridal shower as a test of my baking skills. I’m made the same peanut brittle chocolate peanut butter cake that I had made for my friend’s birthday earlier this year. Although I used a different chocolate cake recipe since this cake has to be for 20+ people.

It’s a chocolate cake (using a chiffon recipe) with peanut butter filling and a whipped chocolate ganache frosting. I also make peanut brittle and broke it into tiny pieces to put into the peanut butter layers. Then decorated the outside with bigger pieces.

I made two half sheet chiffon cakes, which I then cut in half to create a four layer cake.

Unfortunately, because it was hot when I was frosting the cake with the whipped ganache, things got a little melty and it wasn’t as light and fluffy as I had wanted. It ended up just being a really thick layer of dense chocolate ganache. And as good as that sounds, it was a bit much since the rest of the cake was already very rich.

Also, I wouldn’t use the chiffon cake again. While it was good cake, I think a more hearty cake would hold up better to the chocolate filling.

 

Dark Chocolate Chiffon Cake

Frosting: Whipped Dark Chocolate Ganache

Peanut Butter Filling (times 3 for this cake)
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy)
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Place the confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium-low speed until creamy, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high speed until the mixture is light and smooth.

 

Peanut Brittle: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/OLD-FASHIONED-PEANUT-BRITTLE-2682?recipename=OLD-FASHIONED%20PEANUT%20BRITTLE&saved_to_box=y

Makes about 3 1/2 pounds

3 cups sugar
2 cups water
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup dark corn syrup
3 cups salted roasted peanuts
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter 2 heavy large baking sheets. Stir first 4 ingredients in heavy large saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and boil without stirring until candy thermometer registers 260°F., about 40 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low. Mix in peanuts and butter and cook until thermometer registers 295°F., stirring constantly, about 15 minutes. Add baking soda and vanilla and stir briskly (mixture will foam up).
Immediately pour out onto prepared baking sheets, dividing evenly. Spread out brittle as thinly as possible. Let stand until cold and hard.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Showdown (kinda) August 13, 2008

Cathy and I decided that we should do a side-by-side chocolate chip cookie comparison.

 

We tried the Neiman Marcus cookies (http://www.neimanmarcus.com/store/service/nm_cookie_recipe.jhtml) and Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookies book (page 58).

 

The NM cookies had espresso powder (or in our case, instant coffe) in it. Also, the NM had a much higher flour to butter ratio–making a more dense cookie that definitely didn’t spread out as much when baked.

 

We also tried making bigger cookies with 2x as much dough. For the NM cookies, these turned out pretty well. But the MS cookies spread out A LOT.

 

Cathy took these into work and it was a tie between the two cookies. While I really like the texture of the NM cookies, I think the coffee taste is a little strong for me. I’d like to try it again cutting down on that or leaving it out altogether.

 

The next one to try? I think its going to have to be Alton Brown’s The Chewy: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/the-chewy-recipe/index.html. But what other recipe to pit it against? I’ve been wanting to try David Lebovitz’s recipe (http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/000158.html), but I think I’ll have it give it a little more thought!

Potato Buttermilk Bread August 11, 2008

This recipe is from page 319 of The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

 

This is the first time I’ve made a potato bread but I love the texture. Its chewy and the crust has a nice crunch. Now I have to try some other potato recipes! I made this into 2  smaller boules.

 

I did not do the ice cubes or water spray when I put this in the oven. But I brushed the bread dough with heavy cream, which gave it a nice color.

 

There is a Tangy Cornbread variation on this recipe, that I definitely want to try.

 

Cauliflower Puree August 11, 2008

I love cauliflower. Always have. So I’ve been wanting to try making a cauliflower puree. I mixed together a few recipes and this is what I came up with.

Head of cauliflower (about 1.5 lbs)

2 garlic cloves

2-4 Tbps of vegetable broth

1.5 Tbps of heavy cream

salt, pepper, crushed red peppers to taste

 

I steamed the cauliflower and garlic until the cauliflower was soft enough for a knife to go through very easily (about 10 minutes).

I took the cauliflower out to a bowl, added the rest of the ingredients (adding the broth a little at a time) and used the immersion blender until it was creamy.

Yum!

Blueberry Cornmeal Muffins August 5, 2008

So, I needed to use up the buttermilk I had in my fridge as well as the extra blueberries I had bought (why can’t I pass up blueberries??).

I made a few changes to the recipe (swapped out WW Pastry Flour, removed the cinnamon, and switched from orange to lemon zest).

While these weren’t bad, I think they could have used something. Maybe a little more salt next time? Or more zest? Maybe I’d even add a little agave nectar or honey to sweeten it up a little more. But really, these are pretty healthy so I’d like to try to tweak them a bit to see if I can make them taste a little better.

http://marthastewartliving.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.fc77a0dbc44dd1611e3bf410b5900aa0/?vgnextoid=94ed9fb82b484110VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&vgnextfmt=default&rsc=header_1&autonomy_kw=buttermilk+blueberry

Ingredients

Makes 12.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour (MY CHANGE)

3/4 cup cornmeal

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest

1 1/4 cups low-fat buttermilk, plus about 2 tablespoons for tops

2 large eggs, separated

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups blueberries (about 1/2 pound), picked over and rinsed

2 1/2 teaspoons coarse sanding sugar

Nonstick cooking spray

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, with rack in center. Lightly coat a standard muffin tin with cooking spray. In a medium bowl, whisk together flours, cornmeal, granulated sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and zest.

In a small bowl, whisk together buttermilk, egg yolks, and butter. Stir buttermilk mixture into flour mixture until just blended. In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg whites until just stiff. Gently fold whites and blueberries into the batter until just combined.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin tin, filling each cup three-quarters full. Bake 12 minutes. Remove from oven; gently brush tops with buttermilk, and sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Continue baking until tops are golden and a cake tester inserted in a muffin center comes out clean, 6 to 8 minutes more. Let muffins cool slightly, about 10 minutes, before turning out of tin.

Ice Cream August 3, 2008

Things have been busy around here, so I’ve taken a bit of a baking hiatus. But that’s about to change since I’m getting some time off!

Also, there are visitors this weekend and I have a new Kitchen Aid Ice Cream attachment to test out. I’ve decided to play around with my own combo…vanilla ice cream with chocolate covered pretzels. I’m using the ice cream recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and I bought some dark choc covered pretzels at Trader Joe’s. I considered making those myself…then realized that I am still supposed to be working through next week.

Overall, I think the ice cream turned out well–definitely extremely decadent. I think I might play around with some other recipes to find something that is a little lighter. I also think that a swirl of caramel would be great with the vanilla ice cream and choc covered pretzels. Mmmm-mmm-mmmmm.

1 1/2	cups whole milk
1 1/2	cups heavy cream
3/4	cup granulated sugar
4	inch piece vanilla bean , slit lengthwise and seeds removed, pod reserved
4	large egg yolks

1. Heat the milk, cream, 1/2 cup of the sugar, and the vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally to break up the vanilla seeds, until steam appears and the milk is warm (about 175 degrees), about 5 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks until pale yellow then add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar until combined. Whisk half the warm milk mixture into the beaten yolks, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. Whisk the milk-yolk mixture into the warm milk in the saucepan; set the saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until steam appears, foam subsides, and the mixture is slightly thickened or an instant-read thermometer registers 180 to 185 degrees. (Do not boil the mixture, or the eggs will curdle.) Immediately strain the custard into the bowl s; cool the custard to room temperature. Cover and refrigerate until an instant-read thermometer -registers 40 degrees or lower, at least 3 hours or up to 24 hours. 3. Pour the custard into the ice cream machine canister and churn, following the manufacturer’s instructions, until the mixture resembles soft-serve ice cream. Transfer the ice cream to an airtight container, press plastic wrap flush against the surface, cover the container, and freeze the ice cream until firm, at least 2 hours. (The ice cream will keep for up to 2 days.)