Daring Bakers: Lemon Muffins

The Daring Bakers' challenge this month seemed not very daring at first sight. The challenge was to make quick bread, something most people, even non bakers can usually do. The more interesting part was that you could choose any flavor combination you liked.

Still, I honestly wasn't very inspired and almost skipped this challenge. But after reading the provided recipes I changed my mind. The Meyer Lemon Loaf looked really promising and so I made the recipe into some muffins. Unfortunately we can't get Meyer Lemon here in Germany, I even doubt that many people have heard of them. I managed to bring some back from California last year, maybe I should have kept the seeds to grow a tree. ;-)

Well, back to the muffins, even with regular lemons they tasted very good and had a very nice texture. I will definitely make them again, when I need a quick recipe, as I usually have all the ingredients on hand.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Daring Bakers: Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic Biscuits)

After two months of absence from the Daring Bakers' I didn't want to miss another one, especially a challenge hosted by one of our most active and helpful members, Audax Artifex.

He chose basic scones as the challenge, also known as biscuits in North America; that's something I didn't know, as I always thought a scone is a scone everywhere. Apparently what North Americans call scones are known as rock cakes in England and Australia.

I like them both, and usually we eat them for breakfast. Something you can really manage to bake in the morning, since they are so quick to make. They were really tasty and I even managed to get original clotted cream from England.

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Daring Bakers: Povitica

For this month's Daring Bakers we made Povitica. You might have never heard of this before, at least I haven't. It's origin is from Eastern Europe and it is basically a yeast bread with a nut filling. It becomes its nice pattern from rolling and layering the dough with its filling. I made the suggested recipe provided, just changed the dry yeast to fresh yeast, since I like to use fresh yeast a lot better. The bread tasted really good, not to sweet, and moist enough that you didn't even have to spread anything on top.

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

Daring Bakers: Strawberry Pâte de Fruit & Milk Chocolate-Passion Fruit Truffles

It's Daring Bakers time again, and this month's challenge were candies and confections. There was a choice of a wide variety of recipes. One option was the Pâte de Fruit, which is fruit gelée, something I wanted to make for a long time. You can use any fruit, which would be suitable for making jam. The process is also very similar to jam making. You puree the fruit, add sugar and pectin, then boil it until it sets. I thought the recipe given by the organizers was a little too meticulous on temperature measurement. I found another recipe which is a lot easier and doesn't need a thermometer. If you made jam before, it's a really easy treat to make. And they taste fantastic!

My second choice was chocolate truffles. They were dark chocolate filled with a milk chocolate and passion fruit ganache. It was really too hot to make anything with chocolate (how do you maintain the mixture at 27 C when the room temperature is already 30 C?), but I gave it a try anyways. I have made different types of filled chocolates before, but I still find the process of tempering the chocolate intimidating. One reason is that I usually do it by feel, since my thermometer is not very precise. So I usually estimate the temperature with my lips. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. This time it didn't go so well, and I got some white streaks on the chocolate. They still tasted very good, though.

I will definitely keep both choices of confections on my list for gift ideas later this year. I hope by then I will have a better candy thermometer.

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!

Daring Bakers: Fraisier - Strawberry Bavarian Cake

I have to say this has to be the most delicious Daring Bakers Challenge so far. What's not to love about the the combination of strawberries, cream and a soft spongy cake. But all the components of this recipe were exceptionally delicious. No wonder it comes from one of my favorite baking books, Tartine. The cake is not only tasty it is also a showstopper and would impress your guests at any party.

I changed the instructions for the pastry cream a little bit since I found it had a few unnecessary steps. I also used strawberry preserves instead of the syrup. The chiffon cake by itself was already very good, and could be used as a base for many different fillings. I was lucky to be able to pick my own strawberries for the cake, for the last time this year since the season is now over. I am planning to make the cake with other fruits soon, maybe with blackberries, but I think it would be good with all kinds of fruits.

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

Daring Bakers: Baklava & Phyllo Pastry

For this month the Daring Bakers challenged us to make Baklava with homemade Phyllo Pastry. I have never tasted baklava before, because I always thought it is overly sweet. The real challenge was making the phyllo pastry dough, and rolling it out paper thin. I am always up to making all kinds of challenging doughs, like puff pastry, fresh yeast dough or crossaint dough, but this one was really difficult.

I managed to roll out the dough really thin, but it took a lot of arm strength. Then I made the mistake of waiting a little to long to continue making the baklava and the dough got stuck together. I thought I had floured it enough, but I had to re-roll at least a third of it. I never got it as thin as before. It was great to learn how to make phyllo, but this is one dough I will prefer buying at the store in the future.

For the filling I made a mix out of almonds, pistachios and milk chocolate, flavored with lemon and cinnamon. Since I wanted it to taste fresh but not too sweet, I made a mint sirup with some lemon zest, and only a little bit of honey. It tasted quite good, and the sweetness was okay. I have to say this will never be one of my preferred desserts, but it was a good experience.

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Marquise on Torched Meringue with Spiced Almonds and Caramel Sauce

It's Daring Bakers time again, and this month's challenge was a "Chocolate Marquise on Torched Meringue with Spiced Almonds and Caramel Sauce". Quite a mouthful, and intimidating to make on the first look, but if you plan ahead and make each component early enough it comes together quite easy.

I really loved this month's challenge. Many delicious components, beautifully plated. But I think I could do without the torched meringue next time. The marquise was definitely the best chocolate mousse I have ever made. So silky and smooth, everybody loved it. I made them in little Half Sphere Molds instead of the suggested cubes.

The nuts were very tasty, but it was a lot of work to get them out of the coating. I also needed a much shorter baking time, since they were already getting very dark on the bottom after 20 minutes. I mixed almonds and walnuts. Next time I would only use almonds, since the walnuts were hard to identify in the sugar covering.

The caramel sauce was delicious, the added rum made the sauce really stand out. I think I will try this again with grand marnier one day.

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Daring Bakers: Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

This month the Daring Baker's chose a yeasted coffee cake, formed into a wreath as their challenge. It's a little early, but this would make the perfect bread for your Easter brunch. The special thing about this recipe is the addition of a meringue layer in the filling. The dough was very easy to work with. I chose to use fresh yeast, instead of dry, and it was a really smooth dough.

For the filling I used a combination of dark chocolate, dried cherries and pecan nuts. The bread was moist and very yummy. A trick to get an even round shape in the middle is to bake the cake around an upside-down turned ramekin (or any round ovenproof bowl). Be sure to brush the bowl with a little oil, which makes it easier to remove it after baking.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

Daring Bakers: Honey Panna Cotta and Ginger Florentines

Creamy and crunchy was this month's theme of the Daring Bakers. We were asked to make Panna Cotta and Florentines. I made panna cotta many times before, and really like it for its creamy consistency and easy preparation. As I usually make the original vanilla version, I was looking for something new. I found inspiration at Alice Medrich's Pure Dessert, which has three different versions of panna cotta. I thought the version with honey would go well the florentines, which also consist of honey.

I always wanted to make florentines. I went with the original version with sliced almonds instead of the ones with rolled oats from the challenge recipe. I added crystallized ginger instead of the typical candied orange or lemon. They tasted amazing, especially after dipped in dark chocolate. I will definitely make them again.

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Daring Bakers: Biscuit Joconde Imprime with Apple, Lemon and White Chocolate-Rosemary Entremets

This month for the Daring Bakers we made a special french dessert. It is called a Biscuit Joconde Imprime Entremets. When I was first reading it I had no idea what it is, but a look at the pictures clarified it. I always admired these kind of desserts and wanted to make it for a long time. It makes a great presentation for a cake, and looks very elegant. I will definitely make them again, since you can get really creative with the flavor combination.

A Biscuit Joconde is a kind of sponge cake which is flexible and can be wrapped around a cake. The impreme means that a pattern is printed on the biscuit. This is done buy using a different color of dough first, letting it cool, and then apply the Joconde dough, before baking. An Entremet is a cake which consists of several layers. This is where the Joconde is wrapped around.

My Entremet consisted of the following layers: First a layer of sauteed apples cooked in wine and calvados, spiced with some vanilla, which was then thickened with corn starch. Next I added a layer of lemon curd. After cooling I made a layer of White Chocolate Mousse with a hint of Rosemary, which matched good with the apples. The top layer was a glaze of mango puree, which gave a beautiful color.

Unfortunately my Biscuit Joconde got a little dark. It is very important to closely watch it in the oven, as it browns very fast. The recipe makes a whole big sheet, so you can freeze some for another cake.

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Daring Bakers: Crostata

It's time for Daring Baker's again, and looking back, my last post was also for the Daring Baker's. I have been absent from my blog, because I have a lot to do right now., exciting things. The big news I want to share with you today is: I am getting married, and this will be already in less than two weeks!

We didn't take a lot of time for planning, only about three month, so with a lot of DIY projects, there was not much time for anything else. As it looks right now we are gonna have a romantic Winter Wonderland.

I still managed to make the Crostata though. I really like this type of cake. I made lots of jam over the summer, so this was perfect. I went with a Greengage jam for the filling, which is a kind of plum. It is a little on the sour side, so it made a perfect filling for the Crostata.

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Daring Bakers: Doughnuts

Oh my, it's Daring Bakers time again, and wasn't my last post also for the Daring Bakers. Time really flies and I am sorry to say that I didn't have the time or muse to post anything in between. But these doughnuts were too good to just let them go.

I never made doughnuts before, but I always loved them. Here in Germany we have the "Berliner", which are just doughnuts without a hole and filled with jam. Sometimes during carnival or on New Years Eve, it can happen that somebody plays a joke on you and fills one with mustard.

I made a variety of the yeast doughnut recipe, regular doughnuts, Berliner filled with strawberry jam, and just some small round ones. Those I usually get during any summer fair or at the Christmas market. They were so good, I couldn't believe it. Unfortunately so good that all but a few of the little rounds didn't survive to the photo shoot.

I will definitely make this recipe again, but what I wouldn't recommend is to store the dough overnight in the fridge and fry another badge the next day. They didn't taste close as good as the first ones. I don't know if it was the used oil or the storing though.

In the meantime I have won third place with my "Berry Lovely Cake" picture in the September DMBLGIT Contest. I am very happy that I won two times in a row, and the submissions were again awesome. Thank you SunshineMom for hosting.

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Daring Bakers: Decorated Sugar Cookies

I was afraid and excited about this month' Daring Bakers Challenge at the same time. We had to make sugar cookies. Well, you might say, everybody makes sugar cookies. But we had to make those beautiful decorated ones, which you will see in many books, as favors or in pretty stores.

I always admired those, but after one not so successful try, I just stayed with my old time sugar cookies, just "painted" with a sugar glaze. OK, now I had to try again. And yes, they really deserve the high prices in stores, because it is really difficult to decorate them so immaculate. I guess I have to practice a lot more.

I decided to make graduation cookies, since my sweetheart finally finished his PhD this month. I am very proud of him and I had them ready when I picked him up from the airport. So, my darling these are for you. Congratulations!

I didn't have the right cookie cutters for them, so I cut them out from cardboard. This is a good idea if you need a special shape, but don't find it anywhere or don't wanna buy it just for one occasion.

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

Daring Bakers: Baked Alaska with Blueberry-Ricotta ice-cream

Well, I never thought of putting ice-cream into a hot oven, but this month it was time to try something daring. Yup, it's Daring Bakers' time again. This month challenge was to make a Baked Alaska. A Baked Alaska is a dessert which contains of a cake base, in this case a totally yummy brown butter cake, this is topped with ice cream. Then the whole cake is spread with meringue, which serves as an insulator, when the cake is put in the oven.

For the ice-cream I made a Blueberry-Ricotta ice-cream. We were lucky the other day, when we took a hike to find a huge patch of wild blueberries. There were endless bushes of ripe and juicy berries, and in no time we had filled our basket. Those wild berries have a lot of flavor and made the ice-cream really stand out.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Daring Bakers: Swiss Swirl Ice-Cream Cake

Perfect for the hot summer weather the Daring Bakers' theme this month was an ice-cream cake. Lucky for me, I was just reunited with my ice-cream maker in Germany and couldn't wait to bring it to use, after a long time in storage.

The outside of the cake contains of a biscuit roll, which in the past I always had problems rolling. This recipe was great and it was easy to manage. I was very busy picking fresh strawberries this season, so I filled the roll with homemade strawberry-vanilla jam and vanilla whipped cream.

The ice-creams I made were also strawberry and dark chocolate. I never thought I would make an ice-cream cake before, but I really liked it, and will definitely make it again. There are so many endless flavor combination that this is really a cake for all seasons. Check out some of my fellow Daring Bakers and there awesome flavor ideas.

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Daring Bakers: Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

Pavlovas was this month Daring Bakers' challenge, more specific Chocolate pavlovas filled with a chocolate mousse. This dessert is named after the Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova and probably originated in New Zealand. The base is a meringue which is crisp on the outside, but still chewy on the inside. It is usually topped with whipped cream and various fruits. I made a version with berries last year.

The chocolate mousse is very rich and pairs very good with strawberries. I was lucky that just this weekend the fields for picking your own berries opened. Those self picked berries are always the best and half always go to my tummy right away. It was a very nice dessert, but I think for next time I would probably just make one of the chocolate components, as they were really rich.

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

Daring Bakers: Orange Tian with Blood Orange-Kumquat Marmalade

It's time for another Daring Bakers challenge. This month the challenge took advantage of the citrus fruits widely available right now. We were asked to make a Orange Tian, a dessert I have never heard of before. You start with a pate sablee topped with orange marmalade, whipped cream and segmented oranges, and served with an orange caramel sauce.

I decided to make a blood orange - kumquat marmalade, as I have just discovered to use kumquats recently. I also added a layer of génoise, because my cake rings are pretty tall, and I thought the whipped cream alone would be just too much compared to the other levels. The original recipe added gelatin to the whipped cream, which I don't find necessary. If your heavy cream has a high percentage (about 33%), it will be stable enough on its own.

The orange tian was a pretty little dessert and also quite tasty. Trough the citrus taste it was not too sweet and very refreshing. After 10 minutes in the freezer it was easy to unmold and kept its form very well. All in all it was a very good challenge.

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

Daring Bakers: Tiramisù with homemade ladyfingers and mascarpone

When I read this month Daring Bakers Challenge I was pleasantly surprised to see that it is one of my favorite desserts: Tiramisù. I have made Tiramisù many many times. Whenever there is a party this is what I am asked to bring, even when we lived in Rome. Just making Tiramisù is of course not daring enough, so we also made our own ladyfingers and, yes, even the mascarpone.

I tried the recipe for the mascarpone before, but it wasn't successful.  This time it came out great. I think my mistake last time was that I didn't wait long enough before I put it in the fridge and also didn't layer my cheese cloth thick enough.

I never made ladyfingers before. Now I really wonder why. They taste so much better. They are also very easy to make and the ingredients are usually always in my kitchen.

The recipe for the Tiramisù is very different from what I usually do. You basically have to make three different creams, which are later combined. There are also no raw eggs in this recipe, and the zabaglione is based on Marsala. I usually fold in beaten egg whites in my cream, which is flavored with Amaretto.

I made a few minor changes to the original recipe, as I used a lot more mascarpone, less sugar and added some amaretto. I assembled my Tiramisù in a bowl, lined with cellophane, refrigerated it overnight and then put it in the freezer for about 2 hours. That made it easier to unmold it. It came out perfectly and was also easy to cut.

In the end it was a great recipe, very yummy and creamy, but I still prefer my version as it doesn't require you to make 3 different creams and I think the beaten egg whites give the zabaglione a good stability. I loved the ladyfingers, they are so easy to make and so much better than store-bought ones. I was also very happy that I mastered my mascarpone this time. With over $10 for a small box in North America I will definitely make it myself in the future.

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

Daring Bakers: Graham Crackers and Nanaimo Bars

It's Daring Bakers time again. After not participating last month I was excited what the new year would bring. The challenge consisted of two parts, first we would make homemade graham crackers, either regular or gluten free, and second use the graham crackers to make Nanaimo bars.

I always wanted to make my own graham crackers, and they turned out really good. I made the regular version, since I don't know anybody with food allergies. This is a really nice recipe, which I will use again as a cheesecake base in the future.

Well, to say the least I wasn't really excited to make the second part, the Nanaimo bars. Living in Vancouver for a couple of years now I have seen them around in several places, but never had the urge to try them. They just didn't appeal to me, but I still wanted to be a good sports and make them. Well, you always have to try everything at least once, right. Unfortunately, my intuition was right and I didn't really like them. Of course I knew they would be sweet, so I already used less than half of the sugars, but I also thought the butter-cream in the middle level was just too heavy. My Canadian sweetheart said they were better than all the other Nanaimo bars he tried before, but he is also not a fan of them.

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Daring Bakers: Cannoli

It's Daring Bakers time again. This month, our challenge was the popular Italian classic: Cannoli. I honestly was never a fan of cannoli, even when we were living in Italy. I think it's because the traditional Sicilian cannoli uses candied fruit in the filling, which I don't like. But after making them, I have changed my mind.

The recipe we were given was really great, and also very easy to work with. I was at first afraid if I could roll them out so thin. It was no problem, however, because the dough was very elastic and easy to roll. I was also a little scared of the deep frying part, but my sweetheart helped me with that.

I made the filling out of a mixture of whipped cream and ricotta, with some vanilla sugar. Then I added some chopped pieces of pistachio and chocolate. The cannoli were very yummy and easy to make. This is something I will make again, since I usually have all the ingredients in stock, and I am glad I also bought the cannoli tubes, which were pretty inexpensive.

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.