Tuesday, December 29, 2015

White Christmas Victoria Sponge Cake



This was supposed to be Rose's 
White Christmas Peppermint Cake
which 
Marie made and you can see
how it is meant to be.
When she mentioned this cake
could easily be adapted to other flavors
I wondered if finally I could
duplicate my wedding cake.
Happy to say this is even better.

The cake batter Rose has us make
is a butter cake dream.
Honestly, it is the most beautiful,
fluffy batter imaginable.
Super simple to mix up, too.
Egg whites, sugar, cake flour, baking powder,
milk, salt, butter and extracts.


The frosting is divine.
Buttercream from a white chocolate custard base
transforms into a fluffy frosting.
I used Lindt Classic White Chocolate bars.

Here's where I veered off course.
The wedding cake was almond with raspberry filling
and white buttercream frosting.
I forgot to buy raspberry jam but had a new jar 
of strawberry.

I started remembering all those Great British Bake Off Victoria Sponges
and visions of Mary Berry began to swirl 'round my head.

I looked up her recipe and it's the same sort of basic ingredients,
minus the extracts  and butter ( hence "sponge")
but with choice of jams,
and powdered sugar showered over instead of frosting.

Adjusting the almond extract for the peppermint 
and spreading warmed jam
between the layers before frosting 
substituted easily.


We really love this cake
and I can see this next year made at
Christmas 
in it's peppermint form decorated with
marching soldiers among the candy cane crunch.
They've been in storage since my
children were little.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum








Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Cranberry Walnut Christmas Bread


Cranberry Walnut Christmas Bread.
This may well be the recipe 
that put me over the edge.
And it has nothing to do with the recipe.
Although I was fooled
thinking it would be a lovely, simple tea bread,
like banana, zucchini, etc.
It is not a typical tea bread.
It is a full fledged 
yeast bread.   
And a very nice one at that.
One that calls for biga
slumbering away in the frig for three full days.
Fine by me.
I forget a lot of things these days
so being instructed to purposely 
ignore ingredients was a reprieve
in the midst of holiday must do lists.
I could swear this recipe called for candied orange rind.


It's always a good sign to pull the bowl
out of the refrigerator and find bubbles.


Snipped biga in cranberry water

As the name suggests, there are cranberries in this bread,
dried not fresh, plumped in hot water.
The strained water is used to flavor and tint the dough.
Mixed together with the usual cast of bread characters:
regular and whole wheat flour, yeast, salt 
and the main characters, cranberries and walnuts,
it turned into a dense dough.


After a few warm risings,
it quickly transformed into a lovely mound.
The magic of yeast, like Drosselmeyer
waving his cape and the Nutcracker comes to life.


It is a fun dough to press and fold and slash into shape.


The aroma started to fill the cold, wintery house
with cozy warmth.


This bread surprised me.
I didn't think I would like it.
It is delicious.
I still have no idea what recipe I read
that made me think it called for 
candied orange rind and zest
to soak with the cranberries.
Which makes me wonder if
I've taken to having baking hallucinations?
Sounds good though.


~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum

Monday, December 14, 2015

Renee Fleming Golden Chiffon Cake


The Renee Fleming Golden Chiffon Cake
is a light, refreshing dessert
in the middle of gloomy weather.

It was incredibly easy to make,
probably one of the easiest of
Rose's sponge type cakes.
The egg whites folded in
so easily.


Finished late last night,
Ms Fleming was wrapped for the night,
and with an early morning wake up call,
sliced for breakfast!


The lemon curd was stirred up
while the cake was baking
and then mixed into the whipped cream today.
I only had 3/4's of a cup of heavy cream
but it suited me fine.
I love lemon curd and honestly
could have even gone down to 1/2 cup cream ratio.



The dried lemon zest was a bit off
instructions.
I heated up the oven, placed it inside
on a plate and turned it off.
It dried out while I tackled the
mountain of dishes.


Can't tell by this picture but it
dipped down as the recipe indicated.


Perfect for cradling lemon curd heaven.
More visible in this one.


This cake is 
definitely on the Bake Again list.

~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum




Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Posh Pie

See the camera reflection?

This is Rose's ultimate chocolate pie creation,
aptly named Posh Pie.

It's a high maintenance pie,
that's for sure.
can fill you in on all the details.


This is the only picture I took which was from
making the chocolate cookie dough for the chocolate
cookie pie crust.
It's not that this pie was particularly difficult,
it was just many different components
and a lot of chilling times.

My new deep dish pie pan
arrived today after
making this yesterday!

So I used a ten and half inch pie plate
and had enough leftover filling
to make two small parfaits layered with
Speculoos cookies and whipped cream.
There aren't any pictures of those either.

With Rose's chocolate lacquer whipped cream

Was this pie worth the time and effort?
For a special occasion, yes.
Light and airy in texture,
not too sweet.
Definitely a pie for chocolate lovers 
and truly a show stopper.
I did follow 
tip to cool the filling in an ice bath
and Jen's
observation about the crust sticking
to the pan.  
I used a wooden espresso tamper to
barely tap it in.


It holds up really well overnight in Tupperware
even after being sliced

I am wondering what crushed candy canes
would be like over the top or peppermint
flavored whipped cream for the holidays?


It is spectacular! 
The peppermint whipped cream 
and crushed candy canes
really hit the mark with the chocolate.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum










Thursday, December 3, 2015

Traditional Challah



Challah
has to be one of the most
beautiful of all braided breads,
when made properly.

My challah resembled
the giant fish
Julia Child tackled.

Image result for julia child images with giant fish

It just kept growing!
 All the while, a challah
song kept coming to mind
but it wasn't as cute 
as this little sweet 
one.


First up making the sponge;
the most fun step in Rose's bread recipes.
Flour, water, honey and eggs whisked together
and then blanketed with flour, yeast and salt.

Time to add the rest of the ingredients:
eggs, oil, honey and vinegar.
Mixed with the dough hook until
 nice and smooth and definitely tacky.


A few steamy warm risings in between 
a quick knead, the proverbial 
business letter fold, dividing the dough
and braiding.

It baked up to the required internal
temperature
and voila!
Giant challah.



What to do with this massive loaf?
First, toast and tea.


And then a French Toast Casserole. 
It's been on my bucket list forever.
I used this recipe, 
subbing the Trader Joe's dried fruit blend
with golden raisins, cherries and blueberries,
plus one added teaspoon of orange oil.
The aroma bubbling out of the oven
was amazing.


A slight drizzle of  maple syrup
and it was delicious.
The challah texture stands up
perfectly during baking.



I had fun reading about the 
significance of challah
in the Jewish faith.
Very glad this lovely bread
is shared with the rest of the world.
Now I'm off to surprise
my brother with most
of this casserole.
~
by
Rose Levy Beranbaum